Lanka BPO Academy to Train 25,000 Professionals Annually in Sri Lanka

10th November 2010, www.dailynews.lk, By Indunil Hewage

The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry is capable of contributing 15 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) if the foremost requirements are adopted well, BPO Certification Institute, Executive Vice President and Global Operations Head Sanjeeva Shukla said.

Addressing the launching ceremony of the Lanka BPO Academy he said the Sri Lankan BPO industry needs to differentiate its services projecting on where it is moving and what it can successfully deliver to the world market.

The BPO industry is democratizing the world and small countries in the world have a potential to deliver services to the superpowers in the world.

The major segments in the BPO industry which are customer interaction, backup transactions, financial accounting and technical support have a huge demand from the world.

“Small countries like Sri Lanka are able of catering to this demand by using its demographic advantage,” he said.

“At the initial stage India lost billions of money making simple mistakes in the BPO industry and Sri Lanka needs to be mindful not to make any errors whilst reaching world expectations and delivering services to the world market when it comes to the BPO industry in Sri Lanka.”

He said people with lower professional qualifications should be provided orientation training to join the BPO industry while creating more well paid qualitative job opportunities.

“Sri Lanka is gaining world attention and has been recognized by the world for its ability to produce more intellectuals. Sri Lanka should aggressively look at expanding the Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) industry.

The development of sub sectors specially tourism industry mostly depend on knowledge and university undergraduates need to be empowered with knowledge which is commercially demanded by companies in the world,” Shukla said. The BPO industry is heavily based on proficient investments and the capability of the BPO industry to generate more revenue to the country and employment opportunities for youth needs to be identified whilst having right numbers and trained human talents to attract new businesses in the global companies.

The IT and BPO industry is expected to reach US $ 750 million and US $ 400 million export revenue by 2015 respectively. Currently, IT and BPO industry earns US $ 290 million and US $ 97 million in exports respectively.

“Lanka needs to train around 50,000 and 25,000 personnel respectively for the Sri Lankan IT and BPO industry in five years to cater to the increasing demand from the world,” Virtusa Vice President Madu Ratnayake said.

Image: ICTA Private Sector Development Program Head Fayaz Hudah, Virtusa Vice President Madu Ratnayake, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce President Dr Anura Ekanayake, Uva Wellassa University Vice-Chancellor Chandra Embuldeniya and UNOPS Sri Lanka and the Maldives National Portfolio Development Head Rohantha Athukorala are at the panel discussion. Picture by Thushara Fernando