SLASSCOM conducts new projects in NE:

IT, BPO professionals to reach 100,000

Harshini Perera

[IT BPO industry]

* The direct IT BPO professionals will be elevated to 100,000

*Place Sri Lanka as the IT BPO destination in the region

* Sri Lankan IT BPO sector has to cater the small and medium scale companies

Sri Lanka’s skilled resources are on par with top professionals in the world when considering the IT as well as the mobile sector, Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) Chairman, Dinesh Saparamadu said Daily News Business at the launch of MobileMonday, Colombo in Sri Lanka.

Mobile phone use will saturate in the future and innovative applications to mobile phones will have to be introduced instead. Today, mobile phones have various applications through which one can access the internet and perform transactions.

It is expected that this will bridge the digital gap between the haves and have nots, SLASSCOM Chairman, Dinesh Saparamadu said.

In the next five to eight years, direct IT BPO professionals will be elevated to 100,000 which is 30,000 at present.

“Sri Lanka was one of the very first to adopt latest technologies in mobile such as MMS and 3G technology. There was fierce competition in the mobile industry and the price was dominated by the operators. The situation should be altered with stable prices for the industry to be stable,” he said.

Saparamadu said Sri Lanka is in the process of developing more advanced mobile applications in the region, especially software applications which at present taken to the world. Sri Lanka has developed a market even in South Africa for software applications.

SLASSCOM is focused on conducting projects in the Northern and Eastern areas. “We want to bring out awareness and recruit the resources from those areas. Later, we will take projects into those areas. We have conducted a career fair in Jaffna in collaboration with the ICTA. And we want to assist University students in those areas to go inline with the IT BPO industry,” he said.

He said SLASSCOM will work closely with University students to increase capacity.

“We expect to place Sri Lanka as the IT BPO destination in the region focusing on product developments. To achieve that Sri Lankan IT BPO sector has to cater to the small and medium scale companies that are interested in doing their product innovations in Sri Lanka, especially in the research and development areas,” he said.

He also said interactive opportunities such as MobileMonday Colombo will be a stage for issues in the mobile sector while it builds healthy relationships between the professionals and interested parties in the mobile sector.

MobileMonday is a global community of mobile industry visionaries, developers and influential persons fostering cooperation and cross-border business development through virtual and live networking events to share ideas, best practices and trends from global markets.