Good response from customers:

IT-BPO productivity commendable

Charumini de Silva

The productivity of the IT-BPO industry is very commendable and we have a good response from our consumers as well. The IT-BPO industry in Sri Lanka is growing steadily.

The industry expects a growth of 23-30 percent per year and the Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) has taken steps to increase the capacity of the industry.

"At present we are in the process of linking the Sri Lankan diaspora to promote the IT-BPO industry, especially in the UK and European countries. The assistance of the diaspora is vital for the growth of the IT-BPO industry and we expect a higher demand for the IT-BPO industry in the year 2010," Vice President, SLASSCOM, Dinesh Saparamadu said.

"SLASSCOM has identified a few niche markets in the IT-BPO industry such as Financial and Account Services, Travel and Aviation, Telecommunication and Mobile Industry and Open Source Development markets. These niche markets are unique to a Sri Lanka as the country is growing steadily and we are keen on investing in these niche areas," he said.

"The UK and Europe are lucrative markets, as there is great potential and demand for our services," Saparamadu said.

Earnings from exports in the IT-BPO sector have shown an upward trend during the past decade and in 2007 IT-BPO exports recorded over US$ 200 million, which makes the IT-BPO industry the fifth largest industry in the country.

A key pre-requisite for this growth is the acceleration of human resource capacity development in the country.

Sri Lanka is emerging as an IT-BPO destination of choice in a number of key focussed domain areas.