The PBSS Group plans to diversify its operations by setting up its education wing PBSS Academy (Pvt) Ltd with a startup investment of over Rs 200 million, Dr. Madura Gamanyake, Managing Director PBSS Group said.
“We are going to start graduate level business training programs combined with IT and ERP syswtems in new premises wherein a new building will be set up. The PBSS leisure wing too will be moved to the new building which is planned to be set up this year.
He said under their business diversification drive they have already started their leisure wing and have received authorization to do inbound and outbound tourism including ticketing and maintaining their own bunglows.Dr Gamanayake said they have already started outbound tourism with Malaysia and Thailand tours for some corporate customers and soon would start inbound tourism as well.
PBSS’s globalization of IT operations were also in full swing and in June-July this year the company will open their USA office to cater to the North American market. Next year in 2025 they plan to start their own office in Australia after regulation clearance is received. He said all these foreign offices will also be used to promote their leisure activities and inbound tourism.
He said that despite all economic and social challenges they managed to complete the 5 storey state of the art PBSS Tower with an investment of over Rs 200 million and moved into the premises last year.
“Basically what we are expecting is good governance and fair economic policies and business practices.” He said that they expect benefits from the government as a local company paying taxes and bringing in foreign currency to the country through their foreign operations.
Dr. Gamanayake said with the commencement of the economic and political crisis most companies wanted to move into more digitalization, cut down costs and improve productivity to face the economic crisis. He said that trend was a good advantage to them and they absorbed that advantage and did a good implementation. For this endeavour in 2023 the PBSS Group was awarded the ‘Partner of the Year Award 2023 – South Indian continental (including South India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh)’ for SAP Business One products for SME in March 2024.
This was one of the biggest achievements for this period with a lot of economic challenges in Sri Lanka competing with Indian partners including Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai, Bangladesh and Sri Lanan partners. He said they are also the Huawei cloud partner for Sri Lanka and Maldives for the last five years and was awarded the Best Industrial Software Partner for South Asia Continental for Huawei cloud awarded in China last March competing with all South Asians companies which was a great achievement.
Dr Gamanayake added that the third achievement they received in March 2024 was the certification as a Great Place to Work 2024/25.
This recognition marks PBSS as the first company within the Sri Lankan ERP Software industry to achieve this global accolade.
Fizel Jabir