hSenid's blog on Outsourcing

Sri Lankan information technology companies are trying to attract business process outsourcing (BPO) work from European small businesses, an industry group said in a statement.

Sri Lanka is a unique and competitive destination for specialized and SME (small and medium enterprise) sourcing,” said Reshan Dewapura of the island’s state-run Information and Communications Technology Agency.

“We see an increasing interest from European SMEs who are looking to extend their organizations globally for access to quality and cost effective talent,” he was quoted as saying at the International Outsourcing Forum in London.

IOF attracts leading buyers and supplier of IT/BPO services around the world.

Sri Lanka was the lead sponsor of the 2010 IOF event aiming to draw attention as a fast emerging sourcing destination for IT/BPO work.

It was part of an aggressive promotional campaign to promote Sri Lankan IT/BPO capabilities in the UK and Europe by the industry body Sri Lankan Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM).

“We are focusing on UK and Europe as one of our strategic markets to promote the Sri Lanka IT/BPO industry,” said Ashique M Ali, Director and Global Trade Forum Leader of SLASSCOM.

“The UK has been a long standing trade partner of Sri Lanka and we aim to extend this to the emerging IT/BPO industry.”

SLASSCOM also organized matchmaking meetings for participating Sri Lankan companies including Eureka, Eurocenter, Hellocorp, hSenid, JKCS, Orion, Talliance, and Virtusa, with key decision makers from buyer organizations.

Sri Lankan firms developeing mobile and telecom software have teamed up with other players in the the sector to set up a ‘centre of excellence’ to foster collaboration, an industry body said.

“Our national strategy is to focus on several high potential niche areas to compete globally as a niche player,” Chairman of Sri Lankan Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) and CEO of hSenid Software International Dinesh Saparamadu said in a statement.

“Mobile & Telco is one of the verticals we have chosen after careful market study and internal strength analysis”

SLASSCOM say telco solution providers including Dinota IT, Eurocentre, hSenid, Informatics, Motorola, Sabre, Virtusa and Wavenet are in the grouping.

“Mobile Telecommunication is a fast growing industry sector with massive global growth potential,” DinotaIT chief Nayana Serasinghe, who leads the collaboration centre said.

We believe in the next five years, large part of IT solutions will be mobile based in a way which is unimaginable today.

“Our focus is to stay ahead by leveraging our collective forces as an industry.”

SLASSCOM’s Mobile & Telco Centre of Excellence will drive joint marketing, research and build capacity.

The International Outsourcing Forum (IOF) is the premier annual event in the international outsourcing events calendar in London. IOF attracts leading buyers and supplier of IT/BPO services around the world. The conference is represented by all major IT/BPO service providers from many countries including Sri Lanka, Egypt, India, Mauritius, South Africa and countries from the Eastern European block and Latin America.

Lead by SLASSCOM and ICTA, Sri Lanka was the lead sponsor of the 2010 IOF event attracting the spot light as a fast emerging sourcing destination for IT/BPO in focused niche verticals. 2010 is Sri Lanka’s third consecutive showcasing at the IOF event.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) which acquired Sri Lanka’s Millennium Information Technology late last year, delivered the keynote address on LSEs journey to Sri Lanka which created significant interest from many potential buyers. SLASSCOM and ICTA showcased Sri Lanka capabilities at the event.

To promote business, at the heels of the conference, SLASSCOM also organized matchmaking meetings for participating Sri Lankan companies including Eureka, Eurocenter, Hellocorp, hSenid, JKCS, Orion, Talliance, and Virtusa, with key decision makers from buyer organizations.

Speaking at the event in London, ICTA COO, Reshan Dewapura noted that “Sri Lanka is a unique and competitive destination for specialized and SME sourcing. We see an increasing interest from European SMEs who are looking to extend their organizations globally for access to quality and cost effective talent”. The event was supported under the Industry Capacity Building Program by ICTA.

Sri Lanka presence at the IOF was a part of the SLASSCOM initiated aggressive promotional campaign to promote Sri Lankan IT/BPO capabilities in the UK and Europe.

“We are focusing on UK and Europe as one of our strategic markets to promote the Sri Lanka IT/BPO industry. UK has been a long standing trade partner of Sri Lanka and we aim to extend this to the emerging IT/BPO industry” said Ashique M Ali, Director and Global Trade Forum Leader of SLASSCOM.

Speaking on the success of the UK industry promotion program, Dinesh Saparamadu, Chairman of SLASSCOM and CEO of  hSenid Software International said, “Sri Lanka is ranked among the Top 50 Global Outsourcing destinations by AT Kearney and ranked among Top 20 Emerging Cities by Global Services Magazine. The opportunity for Sri Lanka is significant and this is the time for us to accelerate our National focus. We must focus on market development and capacity enhancement as priority actions.”