Lanka’s BPO/IT sector can contribute 20% of GDP by 2020

Newly established BPO academy aims to train 1000 students by next year

By Azhar Razak

Sri Lanka’s Business Processing Outsourcing and Information Technology (BPO/IT) sector has the potential to contribute 20 percent to the country’s economic output by 2020 if emerging opportunities are harnessed properly, a top industry expert has said.

According to BPO Certification Institute, Executive Vice-President and Global Operations Head, Sanjeeva Shukla, Sri Lanka could maximise revenues by concentrating on the opportunities provided by the niche sub-segment of the BPO industry, Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) which includes functions such as Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) and Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO).

“As far as the global BPO industry is concerned, Sri Lanka is now where India used to be in the late 80s and Sri Lanka is now trying to join the BPO bandwagon. Because of this, opportunities for front office outsourcing - which includes customer-related services such as call center services, have been exploited by countries like India. However, what Sri Lanka could do now is try to leverage on the niche segment of it, such as KPOs,” Shukla said addressing a launching ceremony.
 
In his address, he said the advent of the BPO industry has democratised the world with countries like India and Sri Lanka gaining more recognition with the growth of the industry.
 
“If Sri Lanka is to make a mark in the millennium, there is no scope for mistakes,” he pointed out.
 
He said that at the start, Indian BPOs had made a mess of the BPO promise by not building the right capacity.
 
“Apart from that they also failed to take account of the social costs involved in the business. Due to this, several Indian BPO giants have lost millions while most nations in Africa couldn’t also grow because of wrong advisors,” Shukla remarked.
The Lanka BPO Academy (LBA), which was launched in Colombo last week, will be the island’s first BPO capacity building organisation offering international BPO Certification programmes.
 
With this initiative, Sri Lanka joins the elite league of 40+ nations who are now on the BCI HCMS21 global standards on BPO human competence.
 
“BCI expects this association to trigger the process of establishment of a sustainable BPO talent development infrastructure in the island which will eventually ensure a regular supply of world class human resources for the growing Sri Lankan BPO industry,” Shukla said.
The academy will be the exclusive Sri Lankan partner of BPO Certifications Institute Inc. (BCI), the world’s largest body for BPO Certifications and Credentialing and offer entry level courses, specialist and manager level courses assisting new entrants as well as experienced employees in Sri Lankan BPO Companies.
 
“We have mandated the academy offering it comprehensive assistance to train fresh talent, associates, team leaders and managers for the BPO industry and develop a pool of at least 1000 pre-trained and internationally credentialed BPO professional talents by 2011-end,” said Shukla.
 
BPO Certification Institute (BCI) is the world’s largest competency certification company in the BPO domain offering certification for BPO professionals and research/advisory services to the global outsourcing industry.
 
Meanwhile, the President, SLASSCOM Dinesh Saparamadu, addressing the occasion said that the fact that Sri Lanka is starting late in the industry is also a hidden opportunity since it helps us learn from others.
 
“Today, the IT BPO sector is the country’s fifth largest income earner with revenues nearing US $400m. The fact that this academy has been set up in Sri Lanka, will today help our overall vision to make the BPO/IT sector a billion dollar industry and to increase the trained workforce in the sector to one million by the year 2015,” Saparamadu said.
 
He said Sri Lanka is already a confirmed potential hotbed for higher-end BPO services and many leading multinational BPOs are establishing subsidiaries in the island to harness the cost and talent advantages it offers.
 
“One of the key needs in the market is to keep on nurturing and enhancing the talents of this demand constrained industry and this partnership with BCI would help the Lanka BPO Academy introduce the very best of global skill development and credentialing practices in the country,” Lanka BPO Academy chief executive officer Yasas Vishuddhi Abeywickrama said.
 
He said the Academy is the first and only authorised Certification Training Provider of the world BPO standards leader, the BPO Certification Institute (BCI) which offers the widest range of BPO certifications across more than 400 global locations.

http://www.thebottomline.lk/2010/11/14/it1.html

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