Looking Ahead..... Where will the kaleidoscope take us?

"He whoever controls the sands of time, controls destiny". Now, that statement is a little outdated. Let's add a little contemporary zing to it.

"He whoever dominates the field of ICT, dominates the world."

Sri Lanka was an agricultural country. Yes. Sri Lanka was self sufficient in the ancient times. Yes. Sri Lanka's beauty was defined by beds of golden rice fields and reservoirs that stretched for miles.

But today, things are very much different. Our small and humble farmers cannot compete with the heavy artillery used and bulk harvesting methods used in other parts of the globe. Trying to establish agricultural self-sufficiency with this fact and the global market taken to consideration, it would be a suicidal investment.

But Sri Lanka has already invested on something greater. Something that has not been taken seriously enough; ICT education. Our educational system has somehow or rather centered itself around ICT.

Engineering is the first choice of Math stream students and then ICT is the first choice taken by those Engineering graduates.

So while the cream of the crop pursues ICT, and while giants in the ICT field walk amongst us, it's safe to say that our world domination theory is kind of going our way.

But unlike the apparel industry which has become a boom, the ICT industry is not really sewed up properly. It needs more nourishment, care and guidance. For all we know, the future of the industry is still a huge leap of faith in Sri Lanka.

Ms. Visaka Nanayakkara, the head of the Computer Science & Engineering Dept. in the University of Moratuwa made an interesting statement the other day. She says the thousand surplus computer graduates passing out annually from different institutions are not enough to meet the needs of the ever expanding ICT industry.

"We don't know what level of proficiency the industry expects from us. Engineers, technicians, people who are more specialized in other areas, or do we just need a cheap labor force like in India? What will happen in next 5 to 6 years?"

She further goes on to say that one of the reasons why the textile industry is so successful is that they have collaborated intensely with the educational institutes and given them their share of government aid for the upbringing of new courses like Textile Design.

"Individually, the industries have come forward and told us what they need. But we don't want short term requests like 'give us 50 JAVA coders', we needthe industry to come together and say in one voice where our ICT industry is headed."

While Ms. Nanayakkara definitely needs to be concerned over which path she needs to involve her students in, we on the other hand need to be very much concerned over where the ICT industry will take us.

Conquering a town or city is not merely conquering the infrastructure, the walls, buildings and monuments. You need to conquer the hearts and minds of the people living in it. For that being the chief architect of the city doesn't help much. Rather you have to be a true creationist that speaks out to the sorrows and joys of the people. Therefore 'Conceptual engineers' will be the dominant force in the field of ICT and throughout the world.

The decisions taken by industrial representatives will not be final, but it will portray an image that will influence the growth of ICT in new directions. We just hope that cheap labour will not end up being the country's motto. Quality over Quantity, always rule in the modern world.

(Comments are welcome at [email protected])

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Abstract - Panel Discussion

Finding the niche...

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) from the western hemisphere has resulted in a rapid growth of the service sector in the east. Firstly due to the lower cost and later for their rich resource pool and the high standard of quality in the products resulted in the birth of Silicon Valley of the east.

As a result the GDPs in south East Asian countries especially India has enjoyed a rapid growth over the last half a decade. These BPOs varies from IT to Finance, Accounting and sometimes Insurance. With the increasing demand for technology in the service sector, IT based solutions has become a major export. Last year India reported a $40 billion worth of exports from their IT sector. During the last few years, Sri Lanka too has had the taste of their share of the pie.

But yet are we enjoying the share we are worth? Or do we have the capacity to grab a bigger slice? It is a fact that we would not be able to compete on cost with India. Their large resource pool is an evidence of their capability and their early start in the race has given them an edge.

So would the strategy to focus on a niche be a better bet? Should the IT sector in Sri Lanka focus on a particular market segment as the tourism industry in Maldives or the electronic industry in Taiwan?

Should Sri Lankan companies focus towards marketing products or being effective in Business Process Integration (BPI)?

A helping hand...

The major players in the IT industry have come forth with their requirement as individual entities but not in cohesion. The lack of direction has made it difficult in laying policies and procedures and also very importantly to give focus to the education framework that supports the requirements of the industry.

The identifying the requirements of the undergraduates are very important to the educational institutes since they directly influence the employability of their products. Unlike other sectors such as healthcare, IT graduates are more dependent upon the corporate sector. The employability of the graduate depends on how well he can fulfill needs of the organization. Moreover, revision of the curriculum or the other parameters in the degree course is easily be modified in a short term.

Companies can no longer state they are serving the society by indicating the number of recruitments. With the concepts such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Social Accounting a single entity cannot act as a philanthropist. It should become an active stakeholder and focus on improving the community from which they pull resources.

Taking an example of the IT sector itself, an organization should focus on improving the quality of the future graduates in an academic entity which will directly result in better quality IT graduates to the community thus indirectly better employees in the future. From the perspective of policies and frameworks, the organization should assist the government in formulating proper policies and procedures which will enable the IT sector as a whole to grow where the organization would be able to claim a part of the growth.

The governing body of the nation should believe that the growth of one sector expands many other sectors and opens up the scope for many more industries. IT being an infrastructure could bring value addition to other sectors such as telecommunication, health care, banking and finance etc. This creates more opportunities in the BPOs and creates a never ending cycle where it would enhance the living standard of the citizens.

In conclusion the IT sector as a whole should sound one voice that describes their direction in the coming years and truly believe in it. This belief should extend to acts their involvement in improving the education sector and helping the governing body to lay a proper framework on which every organization would thrive.

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