SL’s future lies in tech companies
View(s):Remember that pithy saying “talk till the cows come home”. While Sri Lankan businesses and investors wait for government handouts, state facilitation and until the Government stops changing the goalposts in policy formulation (VAT as an example), Sri Lanka’s growing community of tech companies is surging ahead – with or without a helping hand from the state. A cluster of articles in today’s Business Times shows the speed at which tech companies, popularity known as start-ups, are being set up and why they are succeeding. Disrupt is their name; challenging conventional wisdom is their game.
Most start-ups have emerged after their founders decided to do something about an issue that they faced in daily life. That is what we gathered during a recent and absorbing conversation with Sanjiva Weerawarana, founder of WSO2, a hugely successful open source company, in Colombo last week. Consider then the starts-up that this newspaper has featured. Hire1 (see Start-ups page) is a simple service that delivers what you want, even a mobile phone charger! The start-up community, which the Business Times has been profiling very aggressively as the sector of the future and the sector to watch, comprises those in the age group of 20 to 35 years, according to a survey by SLASSCOM, the association that represents IT companies.
Their motto is simple, according to Weerawarana: “Don’t complain (about an issue); do something about it”. That creates a company, not one, many. Today hot shot techies earn big bucks but have few (office) assets and are often comfortable going around in ‘tuks’, mobikes, cycling to work or even doubling up as a ‘Uber’ driver with their own car. They would never have imagined growing up without a traditional steady job in sight! This is so unlike the ‘big guns’ of yesteryear who seat in backseats of spanking new cars and frown if they have to ‘jump a tuk’ or travel by bus or train. Today’s tech companies will grow fast; much faster than Unilevers or other global giants took (at least 50 years). In a recent conversation with a group of software engineering students,
Virtusa Executive Vice President Madu Ratnayake explained how today’s tech companies have taken the US by storm and challenged the old order and more established competitors; with just a few years in the business. Recent example: Amazon’s market value has surpassed Berkshire Hathaway, the company founded by America’s richest man Warren Buffet. To put it another perspective. Sri Lanka’s debt (accumulated over the years) stood at Rs. 7.18 billion or US$55.19 billion at the end of March 2016. Berkshire’s revenue alone for 2015 was $210.82 billion proving that some of these companies are bigger than Sri Lanka’s GDP!
California (a state in the US) became the world’s eighth-largest economy surpassing France as of last year, according to Irena Asmundson, chief economist of the California Department of Finance. California is where Silicon Valley, home of the microelectronics industry, is located, providing the impetus to a robust economy and an example of how tech companies (and small start-ups) will be the mainstay in the fourth Industrial Revolution. Thus for many of the start-ups going from ‘good’ to ‘great is faster and happens in a matter of years compared to older, established companies in Sri Lanka who celebrate many anniversaries (10 to 50 years) before becoming ‘great’.
As we speak (or write) a new start-up is being formed by an individual or a group of enthusiastic youngsters and heading to be a world beater in five years or less. Virtual Reality, Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence – is the new deal. Even Facebook which baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are only now coming to grips with this, is going out of vogue as hands-free communication and voice recognition takes over. Soon Virtual Reality – creating an artificial environment – will help you meet a client, shake hands, start a conversation (with many others) while seated in different locations. Put on the VR headgear and you are transformed to a live-like world.
Many traditional jobs will soon be extinct. Some examples from www.quora.com:
- Driving a truck, car or believe it or not a plane will be obsolete with self-driving technology or robots. Aerial drones will deliver retail goods.
- Cashiers will be no more as smartphones or touchscreen kiosks will do the work of transferring money to a business. Computer kiosks don’t demand paid overtime or call in sick.
- Supermarkets and drugstores will slowly transform to enormous vending machines. Automated picking will allow you to go buy everything from potato chips to emergency contraception 24/7.
- Robots will control kitchens in fast food outlets.
- Certain construction jobs will yield to automation.
During the conversation with Weerawarana, it was revealed that while technology is a positive, on the negative side it will make the rich richer and the poor poorer. “That’s my concern. Disparities will grow,” the WSO2 founder said. In the meantime there were many issues of public concern but rather than ‘talk till the cows come home’, technology and its’ mind-boggling advances won the day for this week’s commentary.
The human race, robotics and new technology will converge into one product. There are also worries with new technology. The sooner Sri Lanka ups its game in technology and is able to sift the good from the bad, the better it is for development and keeping pace with the modern world.