"There is a perception that India is more capable to handle IT related industries but the truth is we are way ahead of India in many aspects. What is missing is the marketing aspect. We have not marketed the country as an ICT destination even though the ICT sector hopes to become a US $1 billion industry by 2012 said Jayantha De Silva, Vice President South Asia, IFS Solutions Asia Pacific Pvt Ltd (IFS).
He said that this perception was a problem which the industry is trying to change by working closely with embassies. "We are also working closely with the government more than ever before," he said.
De Silva pointed out that apart from marketing the biggest problem is attracting the right kind of people.
"Over 100,000 students who qualify to enter university do not get the opportunity to actually enter the university system because of space constraints. This is a captive force. If they can do a part time IT degree (such as BIT which is outside the conventional university structure, where students pay) they can easily be integrated into the ICT sector.
"The industry of 300 ICT companies have agreed to employ at least 10 students a year on a part time basis so that they can be trained and by the time they finish their degrees they will also have experience," De Silva said.
He said that 120 university students are currently sponsored by IFS and that the universities need to change their curriculum and modules to make the university students work-ready.
Several recent forums highlighted the fact that our university graduates are not work ready even though they are technically competent because they lack communication skills, particularly in English.
"English is not a problem. The industry has a shortage of software engineers and youth armed with just a diploma will suffice. They can be trained. The problem is that young people seem don’t seem to be aware just how lucrative it is to be employed in this sector," said Dinesh Saparamadu, CEO, hSenid Software International (hSenid).
IFS and hSenid entered into a technical partnership to develop software that will give businesses enterprise resource planning and human resources solutions.
Lack of competent marketing and negative perceptions can be combated if companies in the ICT sector created synergies and partnerships so that, relying on each other’s strengths, accessing global markets will be much easier and viable rather than going in alone.
