Lack of commitment from upcoming young employees; a challenge most businesses face today
The Sri Lankan Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector with its ambitious target of achieving US$5 billion by the year 2022 is facing numerous problems with the upcoming IT experts. There is a lot more talent among the uiversity graduates and IT/BPO experts, but many of them lack in commitment. Most businesses face this challenge in the present office environment which leads the employee to move from one job to another.
During a panel discussion held at a breakfast briefing on ‘Finance Transformation’ organized by the Ernst and Young, ACCA and SLASSCOM last Wednesday at the Kingsbury in Colombo, this festering issue was raised out by some of the panellists.Further during the discussion it was revealed that the post O/L and A/L students need to be tapped into the IT/BPO industry not only from Colombo but also from elsewhere in the country. It is a war for talent in Colombo but the people in the South are also talented, one panellist said. It is not only the employees who need to work for the betterment of the company, but the management as a whole should also involve in the business process. When the Business Times spoke to Imran Furkan, Executive Director of SLASSCOM, he said, “An individual working for an organizational framework will get more benefits like transportation and accommodation. But when it comes to IT, you can outsource the work to anyone to complete it from home or elsewhere if he/she has a computer.”
Accounting needs to done under an organizational structure because it deals with the company’s confidential information. Also the Business Process Management provides flexible working hours to the employees while managing time with studies, added Mr. Furkhan.
He also stressed that when outsourcing, it’s about the relationship and agreement between the two companies; a lot of information would be shared. But there are constraints in terms of sharing legal documentation.
The IT industry in Sri Lanka has been exponentially growing in the last five years with 238 per cent growth in terms of revenue. He says there is no problem at all in reaching the target by 2022.