Information Technology in Sri Lanka
Information Technology in Sri Lanka refers to the business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing, software development, IT Services and IT education in Sri Lanka.[1] Sri Lanka is ranked among the top 50 outsourcing destinations by AT Kearney, and Colombo is ranked among "Top 20 Emerging Cities" by Global Services Magazine.[2] The export revenue of this industry grew from USD 213 million in 2007 to an estimated USD 720 million in 2013.[3][4][4]
History
For the purpose of developing IT in Sri Lanka, Computer Society of Sri Lanka was started in 1976.
Sri Lanka's IT, KPO/BPO industry has a short span of history starting around 2000.[1]
IT/BPO sector has been identified as a priority sector for economic development in the country.[3]
Business process outsourcing
Sri Lanka is an offshore development center and Joint venture hub for several Fortune 500 companies from North America, UK, Australia, Sweden, Norway and Japan. Well known customers of Sri Lankan BPO industry include Google, J.P. Morgan & Co, Microsoft, Emirates and Qatar Airways.[3][4]
Sri Lanka's BPO cost is 30% lower than other offshore destinations.
Sri Lanka also won the Outsourcing Destination of the Year award by National Outsourcing Association.
Rankings[3]
Publication | Publisher | Rank |
---|---|---|
Local Trends Reports | IBM | 12 |
Global Services Location Index | AT Kearney | within top 25 |
Leading Locations For Offshore Services | Gartner | within top 30 |
Global Centers of Excellence for Finance & Accounting Outsourcing | Global Services | within top 19 |
Emerging Global Cities For Finance & Accounting Outsourcing | Tholons | 7 |
Outsourcing Destination of the Year | National Outsourcing Association | 1 |
Authorities
Government Bodies
The prominent government body related to IT in Sri Lanka is the Ministry of Technology and Research. Other than that Ministries of Education, Skills development are working on developing the education while Ministry of Industry and Commerce is on industrial level activities.[5]
IT in Sri Lanka is governed under the Information and Communication Technology Act No. 27 of 2003.[6][7]
Agencies
The Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) is the government agent of ICT.[6][7]
Computer Society of Sri Lanka founded in 1976 is a professional body of IT professionals.
Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) similar to India's NASSCOM is another agency working on the development of business, education and employment.[8]
Recent development
There are many global IT services companies established in Sri Lanka such as HSBC, IFS, Intel, Motorola, WNS,RR Donnelley, Virtusa, Pearsons and Accenture.[3]
IT parks
![](../I/m/Virtusa.jpg)
Sri Lanka has few government owned and privately managed IT Parks.[9]
Orion City IT Park established in 2009 is a privately owned IT park situated in Dematagoda area in Colombo. The Park is spread over 16 acres and currently has 550,000 sq feet of developed space.[10] Currently this park houses, Virtusa and several other IT and non-IT companies.[11]
In 2011 a full featured IT park was proposed to be built at Hambantota as a government project.[12] In 2012 this project was approved by the Cabinet.[13]
Trace Expert City is a similar one. This was developed by Urban Development Authority, working with the Ministry of Defense, This is situated in Maradana.[14]
In February 2016 India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced that they are offering an IT park for Sri Lanka considering the IT industry's importance in the country.[15]
Employment
According to the National ICT workforce Survey 2013, the positive domestic developments and gradual recovery of the global economic situation have created a conducive environment for growth of the industry’s workforce and the projection figure shows that this trend is likely to continue. The overall workforce has grown to 75,107 in 2013 with a projection. In 2013, 63% of the workforce held graduate or post-graduate level qualifications.[3]
IT education
Secondary Education
In the national level curriculum, first computer related subject taught at public schools is Information and Communication Technology. This is an elective subject for GCE Ordinary Level in Sri Lanka. For GCE Advanced Level in Sri Lanka a compulsory subject and an exam called General Information Technology was introduced considering the need of IT literacy for every student. Under the technology stream introduced for GCE Advanced Level in past years a new main subject for IT, Information and Communication Technology is added.[16][17]
Higher Education
With the rapid development of IT industry and job demand in 90's, steps were taken by both government and private sector to improve the IT education in the country.
Criticism
CEPA Controversy
In 2016 January, Sri Lankan government announced that Indo-Sri Lankan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement will be finalized. It is assumed that Sri Lankan IT industry's job market will be opened to Indians by this agreement causing unemployment among Sri Lankans.[18][19][20]
Future
Sri Lanka's IT industry's goal is to achieve USD 5 billion in exports by 2022 while creating 200,000 jobs and uplifting 1,000 tech start-ups.[21]
In 2012 Computer literacy of Sri Lanka was 38%.[13]
This industry also has a target of USD one billion export revenue by 2016.
See also
References
- 1 2 "Key Sectors For Investment - Knowledge Services". Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ↑ "CT/BPO Services". Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Sri Lankan IT/BPM Industry - 2014 Review" (PDF). Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- 1 2 3 "ICT/BPO Industry In Sri Lanka" (PDF). Sri Lanka Business. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
- ↑ "THE CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA" (PDF). The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- 1 2 "ICTA". Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- 1 2 "INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY ACT, No. 2 7 OF 2003" (PDF). 9 September 2003. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- ↑ "About". Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- ↑ "BOI Administered Zones". Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ↑ "What we do". Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ↑ "Orion City fulfills need for top-notch IT Park in Colombo". Info Lanka. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ↑ "Hambantota IT Park : prospects, opportunities and challenges". Digit.lk. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- 1 2 "Hambantota IT Park receives cabinet approval". Business Times.
- ↑ "TRACE Expert City". TimeOut Sri Lanka.
- ↑ "India offers to open up IT park in Sri Lanka". Ada Derana. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
- ↑ "Information & Communication Technology" (PDF). National Institute of Education. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
- ↑ "G.C.E. (A/L) ICT Syllabus (Revised)". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
- ↑ "CEPA: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly". The Sunday Leader. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ↑ Kirindagoda, Thilina. "CEPA With India: Opportunity Or Threat To Sri Lankan Professionals?". Colombo Telegraph. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ↑ ජයමාල් චන්ද්රසිරි, කෞෂල්ය සමින්ද. "ලංකාව ඉඟුරු දී මිරිස් ගන්නයි හදන්නේ". Lankadeepa (in Sinhala). Retrieved 26 January 2016. zero width joiner character in
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at position 13 (help) - ↑ "SLASSCOM: Driving the IT/BPO Industry of Sri Lanka". Business Today. Retrieved 28 December 2015.