'Over 15,000 proffesionals in BPO industry'

The Computer Society of Sri Lanka is organizing many events and activities to support professionals in Sri Lanka. One such event concluded recently with immense success was a joint seminar with the Organization of Professional Associations in Sri Lanka (OPA). OPA is the representative body of leading professional organizations in Sri Lanka. There are 42 member associations, with a total membership of about 36000 professionals.

This joint seminar was on BPO – Business Process Outsourcing. ‘Outsourcing’ is to contract out an organization’s operations to a third party. If Business Processes such as customer service (call centre) activities, financial accounting, ICT support, data entry, data management, administration and other organizational functions are outsourced, then it is termed Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). This sector is emerging as an important sector for foreign revenue generation and youth employment creation.

The speakers were Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama, CEO Lanka BPO Academy, Dharshana Illamperuma, Director Lanka BPO Academy and Amjad Ibrahim from Carsons Shared Services BPO. The joint seminar had attracted a full house audience. Abeywickrama said that BPO industry has spread across the world as it’s cost effective for organizations to outsource business related work to cheaper destinations like Sri Lanka.

He further added that there are about 15000 professionals currently working in the BPO industry in Sri Lanka and also the fact that industry has grown at a rate of about 20% year on year in terms of revenue. Dharshana Illamperuma spoke about trends in the industry and he predicted that mid-market companies would also be joining the BPO band wagon in the near future while more knowledge intensive work will be outsourced to Sri Lanka in the future. He explained that due to Sri Lanka’s size as a country, we would be better of competing for quality than quantity.

CSSL President Mahesh Perera and OPA President Architect L.T.Kiringoda also attended the event. The CSSL is also in the process of organizing the 30th National Information Technology Conference (NITC), which will be held from 9th to 11th of July at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo under the theme ‘ICT for GAP: Governance, All, Peace'.

The National Information Technology Conference, one of the topmost ICT conferences held annually in Sri Lanka, provides a forum for industry practitioners and academia to keep up to date with current technology trends, interact with industry experts and network with peers.

NITC’12 emphasizes the role of ICT in strengthening good governance; promoting equal opportunities; and sustaining peace. This year’s conference will comprise of three parallel sessions namely e-governance, mobile computing, Social media and cloud computing, in addition to the general sessions.

The 30th NITC would create a platform for discussion on different perspectives as to how ICT could be used to overcome challenges the nation is confronting with in its transition to a developed nation.