hSenid's blog on Outsourcing

SLASSCOM the IT/BPO Industry association in Sri Lanka in its endeavor  to share knowledge and best practices and develop the human resources of the industry, is conducting  yet another ”Knowledge sharing Workshop” , on  the 6th of April 2011 from 5.30pm onwards at the Dialog Auditorium at the Future Center  at  Excel World.

The speaker for this session on Entrepreneurship is none other than serial entrepreneur Roamal Perera who has over 30 years of experience in IT, communications and related technology industry. He will speak with much passion on the topic that he holds close to his heart – “Entrepreneurship: Lessons learned the good, the bad, and the ugly”.

Currently an Adjunct Professor, in the Entrepreneurship Department at Insead, (www.insead.edu), he lectures on fund raising, and entrepreneurial field studies and mentor INSEAD students and alumni on their entrepreneurial ventures and aspirations. Raomal has been a guest speaker at the University College of Dublin (UCD), Trinity College, Dublin, Irish Management Institute (IMI), Queen’s University Belfast, University College of Colombo, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Google Marketing Academy & SalesForce.Com and at a number of international conferences.

Raomal Perera is the co-founder of two technology companies; Network365/Valista and ISOCOR.  ISOCOR was listed on NASDAQ in 1996 and subsequently acquired by Critical Path in 1999. Valista was acquired by Aepona in 2009. Prior to setting up his own companies, Raomal was working for US Multi-Nationals setting up R&D centers in Ireland.  His most recent venture is ThousandSeeds (www.thousandseeds.com), a meeting place to stimulate entrepreneurship, business growth and learning through programs, workshops and online communities

Winner of the Irish Software Association’s (ISA) Outstanding Software Achievement Award in 2003, Raomal was also a finalist in the Ernst & Young ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ awards. He was one of 40 entrepreneurs worldwide chosen to join as a technology pioneer the prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF); which provides a collaborative framework for world leaders to address global issues

Raomal is on the Advisory Board of SLASSCOM (www.slasscom.lk), Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies.  He is a Strategic Consultant and Board Member for a number of companies, advising in strategic direction and the rationalisation of the core business operations.

Chairman of Slasscom – Dinesh Saparamadu opined that it is a great opportunity for those in the industry to learn from the experience of such an renowned entrepreneur and  knowledgeable speaker and has opened this session to participants from the industry and the general public.

To register for this “Knowledge Sharing Workshop” please emailevents@slasscom.lk or call Roshan on 0117884460 to reserve your place, as seats are limited.

In 2004 Microsoft came to Sri Lanka with the ambition of bringing the magic of software to all Sri Lankans, and positively transforming the local IT landscape. This year, the company marks 7 years of empowering businesses and enriching lives of over 1.5million people across every corner of the country.

This year also marks the celebration of successful partnerships and far-reaching affiliations, with the Government, the ICTA, the Ministry of Education, NGO partners, and leading Corporates that have helped Microsoft to take the role of a tiny pebble that sets off giant ripples across a vast pool that is the IT industry of Sri Lanka.

Over the years, the company has contributed significantly to change the way ICT adoption permeates in Sri Lanka and thereby help our nation stand tall in the competitive global arena. His Excellency, President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his message of felicitation on the occasion stated, “Among the primary objectives of my government is to increase ICT literacy to assist in the forward march of the country. Supporting this vision, Microsoft has contributed greatly to increase ICT literacy in Sri Lanka since its establishment.  Microsoft has played a commendable role in increasing ICT penetration into the rural sector of the country by its Gamata IT initiative, which has now established a strong partnership with the Tharunayata Hetak Movement, the ICTA, the Ministry of Education and Singer Sri Lanka. It has also facilitated training and knowledge transfer to many thousands of students and teachers in our schools while its Software for the 21st Century initiative greatly benefits undergraduates. In addition, its assistance in training Secretaries of Ministries, Heads of Departments and other key administrators have helped increase efficiency and productivity in the public sector.

Another significant contribution by Microsoft Sri Lanka is the introduction of local language enabled software that complemented the work initiated during the year of English and IT. I look forward to the support of Microsoft Sri Lanka towards the nation’s economic growth and its continued collaboration with my government, especially with the Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology, to realize the nation’s goals of economic development and progress.”

Microsoft Country Manager, Sriyan de Silva Wijeyeratne, whilst thanking His Excellency the President for his words of encouragement sent especially on this momentous occasion, went on to pay his gratitude to His Excellency for his untiring commitment towards making the country reach its fullest potential. He further said, “The last seven years have been tremendously exciting and littered with milestones for Microsoft in Sri Lanka. We have demonstrated very significantly how we can support the development of the local IT industry, and have grown into a company which is valued by all stakeholders for its contributions that extend far beyond a ‘business as usual’ approach. The sheer magnitude of our grants and other funding initiatives have easily made us the strongest contributor towards ICT capacity building in Sri Lanka, but what really inspires us most is the manner in which IT has transformed the lives of millions during the past few years, including students and teachers mainly from outside the cities, migrant workers, rural youth, small businesses and marginalised community segments.

We have directly engaged over 200,000 Students and Teachers through our initiatives, while our Gamata IT program has reached a further 80,000 people and trained 27,000. A staggering US$ 40 million worth of free software donated over these years, has enabled more than 25,000 University students and many NGO’s to use some of the world’s best software for their own initiatives. Four global case studies, and many Enterprise Agreements with top corporates have helped Sri Lankan businesses leverage IT in many new ways, and some of our local Partners have grown their businesses significantly, and currently employ thousands of people across the island, due to their interaction with Microsoft.

We are deeply indebted towards the Government, our many Partners and other stakeholders who have been our inspiration and the platform upon which many of these initiatives have been built. They continue to inspire us to reach greater heights, and a very energetic young Microsoft team is looking forward with great anticipation to doing lots more in the years ahead.”

Outsourcing refers to the process where in a business contracts with a third party service provider to provide services that might otherwise be performed by in-house employees of the business.

Unlike the popular belief that outsourcing is a recent phenomenon, it actually has been in existence as long as work specialization has existed. In fact, companies have been known to have used outsourcing in some form or the other since a long long time. Typically, companies have been known to outsource those functions that are considered non-core to the business or such functions which needed specialized skills unavailable in the open market.

Of  late, outsourcing has been attracting a lot of debates. And the main reason for the ongoing debate is the emergence of service providers from various countries trying to provide services in foreign locations. To understand the growing debate on outsourcing, it is pertinent to understand the pros  of outsourcing.

The main advantages for business to opt for outsourcing are :

1. Cost Savings:-

The costs associated with an in-house employee is always higher than the cost of an outside service provider and this is the primary reason for most of businesses to opt for outsourcing non-core functions.

2. Quality services:-

Since most of the third party service providers excel at the services they provide, businesses are guaranteed of better quality than an in-house employee would give. Additionally, any service provider will always look to give the best of services since their reputation is at stake.

3. Access to specialized skills:-

Any third party service provider will be expert at the service that it provides. In fact, to beat competition, it would have to keep honing the skills of its employees. Also, the service provider would build up specialized skills in it’s niche area of operation. By outsourcing to such a service provider, business gets access to such specialized skills, which may be of use in some other field of operation of the business.

4. Contractual Obligation:-

The liability of a service provider is higher than that of an in-house employee. This makes working with them a safer bet for businesses.

5. Staffing issues:-

By outsourcing a non-core function, a business avoids all the headache associated with recruiting and hiring staff for such non-core function.

6. Risk Mitigation:-

Many a times, non-core functions may become critical and would need skilled intervention, which the business may be lacking. At such times, if the same function is outsourced and becomes critical in the hands of the service provider, because of the talent pool available at the service provider’s end and because of all the experiences it would have gained by way of servicing other clients, it would be in a much better position to counter any kind of risks.

7. Capacity Management:-

There may be times when the non-core function may need additional hands to meet deadline. In such times, it would become difficult for an in-house employee to tackle the pressure. However, if the function is outsourced, the headache of meeting the deadline is of the service provider. Besides, since the service provider would have a significantly large talent pool at it’s disposal, it can easily tide over such issues.