UK Small Businesses Outsource BPO to Sri Lanka. SLASSCOM to Bring in more Business

04th May 2010, www.dailynews.lk, By Harshini Perera

Many people have moved into the mobile computing and knowledge management approaches now. The new waves in the IT technology will need high end skilled personnel. It is where the Sri Lankan niche market stands.

Sri Lanka has earned a name for back office operations in the IT BPO industry and Sri Lankan’s IT BPO industry has been recognized in the UK market, SLASSCOM Chairman Dinesh Saparamadu told Daily News Business.

“There is fierce market competition in the IT BPO industry among countries like Egypt, India, Mauritius, South Africa and countries from the Eastern European bloc and Latin America. Sri Lanka is well prepared to compete with these countries with its specialty to cater to the small and medium companies,” he said.

Saparamadu said companies with 50 to 250 employees in the UK are attracted to establish services it needs in Sri Lanka with 100 to 150 employees. Sri Lanka caters to these companies with focused and concentrated public relations activities in the UK and it has been able to attract favourable responses from those companies. Saparamadu expressed these ideas after attending the International Outsourcing Forum (IOF) in London.

He said the forum paved way to match-making with possible customers for IT BPOs in Sri Lanka.

The process of developing relationships has been successful and 50 percent of these meetings were productive. The relationship built with customers in those countries will progress in the future,” he said. Saparamadu said the industry has been increasing after the war and it is expected to grow with double digits in the future.

There has been a spotlight on Sri Lanka as a destination for the IT BPO industry. Sri Lanka could gain a keen interest from the UK and other European countries. “We have also briefed the Sri Lankan Diaspora in UK to promote IT BPO industry as ambassadors. The response we received from the participants has been very good and the Forum ended with result-oriented activities,” he said.

Saparamadu said SLASSCOM is in the process of promoting and making a platform for IT BPO industry in Sri Lanka. SLASSCOM conducts awareness creation activities in other countries.