Sri Lankan IT BPO Industry Targets FAO with the Second Largest Pool of UK Qualified Accounting Professionals outside of UK

23rd July 2009, www.itpro.lk

Sri Lankan IT BPO Industry Targets FAO with the Second Largest Pool of UK Qualified Accounting Professionals outside of UK ....

Tell us something about the Sri Lankan IT BPO industry?

Sri Lanka has a vibrant young IT-BPO industry which is poised for rapid growth. It is currently about 250 million dollars and grew at over 23% YoY prior to the global recession. This level of growth was achieved while a significant negative risk perception prevalent due to the LTTE terrorist activities in the north. We have sound basics in place for growth. Now that the war is behind us, as the global economy bounces back, Sri Lanka will take of on a significant growth trajectory. In fact right now, Sri Lanka must be the country with the highest growth potential in Asia.

AT Kearney Global Location Services Index is a well known index of where a country stand in terms of its attractiveness for IT and BPO services. In 2007 Sri Lankan was ranked 29th on this index and in 2009 the ranking has significantly jumped to 16th. This was also done "before" the war ended, so in the 2011 index this will further climb up. Only one or two other counties had a 13 point jump in the AT Kearney Global Location Services Index during 2009. This is a great testament to the potential.

What is the USP of Sri Lanka as an outsourcing destination?

We don't have millions of people like India or China. Sri Lanka is A small country with 21 million people. So our focus clearly is on few key niche areas.

First is Finance and Accounting (FAO) BPO. Sri Lanka has the second largest pool of UK qualified accounting professionals outside of UK. This makes it very attractive for BPOs who are looking for FAO. We have some early movers like WNS, RR Donnelly, Amba Research, HSBC etc. taking advantage of this. There are several other verticals we are focusing on to build Centers of Excellence where we will be able to command a lead position globally. Mobile and Telco Engineering, Software Testing, Travel and Leisure sector are the core verticals Sri Lanka is focused on. So, city Center of Excellence is one of the USP. We are actively working to bring in leading global players, international conferences in these verticals to Sri Lanka to create awareness.

Sri Lanka also offers a unique advantage for SMEs who are looking to outsource. In a larger market like India, SMEs will not have the right level of service and attention. Our market being small, matches very well with the needs of the SME sector. SMEs are also a growth sector for offshoring. Many SMEs who have not looked at outsourcing earlier now look at this as an option to reduce costs, due to the global slowdown. We see an increase number of new SMEs are looking to take advantage of offshoring. Sri Lanka is an ideal place for an SME to outsource their services or for an SME who is looking to set up a small BPO or a R&D Center. SMEs will have premium quality resources at affordable prices and above all a superior service.

Third area that Sri Lanka has an advantage is the low industry attrition (typically 10-12% for IT and BPO). In other well developed markets IT attrition is as high as 20-23% and BPO attrition can go as high as 40%. Even the larger global players such as Infosys, Cognizant, IBM etc can take advantage of this low attrition environment by locating their high investment competency centers in Sri Lanka. For example, if you are building a global sourcing center for SAP skills, which is a high cost investment, if the center is set up in Sri Lanka, your chances of loosing people will be very very limited as not many other players will be in the same space. Many companies have taken advantage of this and build their niche competency centers in Sri Lanka out of harm's way.

Complete Article : http://www.itpro.lk/node/2702