Sri Lanka Among Top 20 Outsourcing IT/BPO Destinations - The Tholons 2012 Top 100

07th February 2012, www.island.lk

The Tholons 2012 Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations report identifies the top global cities and counties for outsourcing IT/BPO services. With the improvement in the country’s value proposition in IT/BPO, Sri Lanka is clearly emerging as a global sourcing destination in the region. The positive socio-political developments driven by the country’s improving security conditions have been highlighted as key reasons for attracting more companies focused on FAO (finance and accounting outsourcing) and Software Development, in addition to the vast pool of accountants and software engineers in Sri Lanka.


In this year’s report, fourteen cities have been cited from the South Asian region, with Colombo, Sri Lanka moving up the ranking by one position to number 19th position. The report highlights that South Asia is experiencing a continuing stream of investment from outsourced service providers with high- value solutions to across vertical specific industries.

Leveraging on the location advantages, recently the global IT/BPO company Mphasis (an HP Company), set up their delivery center in Colombo to provide high- value Finance Accounting Outsourcing services out of Sri Lanka. The leading BPO service provider, First Source entered Sri Lanka with a joint venture with Dialog. Several others have set operations during the last two years, adding to the fast growing IT/BPO exports out of Sri Lanka.

The reports goes on to state that the growth has also been accelerated by the conclusion of the 30-year civil strife in the northwestern region of the country paving the way for recovery and rehabilitation, serving to attract investments into the country. These positive developments in the country serves to move Colombo up one spot to 19th place this year, and remain as one of the top emerging cities in the report.

"Sri Lanka moving up the ranking highlights the improving strengths as an outsourcing destination. During the last two years, we witnessed steady expansion of existing players and a new interest from global companies to operate out of Sri Lanka. The IT/BPO and Knowledge Service industry is targeted to grow to become a billion dollar industry by 2015." said Madu Ratnayake, Vice President of SLASSCOM.

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Sri Lanka IT/BPO Sector Targets Niche Markets in Finance & Accounting, Telco, Travel and Aviation

24th March 2011, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Sri Lanka's information technology and business process outsourcing sector is positioning itself as a niche player targeting finance and accounting, telco, travel and aviation sectors, an official said.

"We will focus on SMEs (small and medium enterprises), more that 90 percent of us are working with SMEs in other countries," Dinesh Saparamadu, head of Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM).

"We want to be known for quality and ethics, which will be the differentiator."

SLASSCOM has 120 members who account for 90 percent of the exports.

Saparamadu said IT was now the country's fifth largest export and the industry wanted to push revenues to a billion dollars by 2015.

SLASSCOM was working with universities and higher education institutes to expand capacity and was also increasing awareness is schools with students and parents about opportunities available in the sector.

Saparamadu said the association has engaged a public relations firm in the UK to build international awareness about the country.

Recently a sector report on financial and accounting services outsourcing had been released which potential investors who want to set up shop can use.

Related Info :

• Sri Lanka an Attractive Location for Finance & Accounting Outsourcing FAO BPO Operations. Has World’s Second Largest Pool of CIMA Professionals

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Sri Lanka an Attractive Location for Finance & Accounting Outsourcing FAO BPO Operations. Has World’s Second Largest Pool of CIMA Professionals

14th March 2011, www.lankabusinessonline.com

Sri Lanka is becoming an attractive location for 'Finance and Accounting Outsourcing' (FAO) with the world’s second largest pool of management accountants and wages lower than India, a report said.

"The availability of a large pool of skilled finance and accounting professionals makes FAO one of the most logical niche competences to continue to build capacity," said Dinesh Saparamadu, chairman of Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Association (SLASSCOM).

"The key export markets for Sri Lankan FAO industry are USA, Europe and Asia Pacific regions."

Sri Lanka has been recognized as a service hub for financial services outsourcing globally for its niche competency, he said in a statement.

Many global companies, including UK Accounting and Legal Services Center of WNS, Investment Research Center of Amba Research, UK Banking Center of HSBC, and Finance & Accounting Center of RR Donnelley, have set up their delivery centres in Sri Lanka.

SLASSCOM has published an industry report on the FAO sector in Sri Lanka, prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers and sponsored by Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

It provides information on Sri Lanka's accounting talent and statistics about the FAO industry, which will help to market the island.

"Colombo is comparatively cost competitive and has a lower upward wage pressure than many established global sourcing destinations, and the country’s labour costs rank 15 – 20 percent lower than in India," the statement said.

"The attractiveness of the sector is also underscored by the availability of a sizable skilled workforce of finance and accounting professionals.

"Sri Lanka now has the world’s second largest pool of CIMA trained students and members outside of the UK."

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants is the world's largest professional body of management accountants.

The pool of students and fully qualified accounting professionals (including technicians) in Sri Lanka is estimated at around 86,000 and 25,000.

Higher education in accountancy is offered by five main professional accountancy bodies, 15 state universities and numerous foreign affiliated private universities operating in the country.

"Sri Lanka offers a rapidly growing skilled workforce which is low cost, highly productive, English speaking and loyal," said the statement by SLASSCOM, a Sri Lankan IT and BPO industry outfit.

In 2009, global consulting firm, AT Kearney, ranked Sri Lanka at number 16 on their top 20 global outsourcing destinations list, while Global Services Magazine ranked Colombo amongst their top 20 emerging outsourcing cities in the world.

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• NY Times Highlights Sri Lanka’s Contribution to Global Outsourcing - Accountants & Accounting Services BPO

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• Sri Lanka to Promote Finance BPO Services with Investment Professionals Body Tying up with IT Trade Group

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