A US-based IT company, Aeturnum, which set up a delivery centre in Sri Lanka in 2006 is today signalling its local operation will be the hub for Asia Pacific region sales which will make up 30% to 40% of the company's business in the next two years.
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| Rajat Bhakri |
Providing IT product engineering, implementation and integration services to emerging technology providers and Global 2000 organisations, Aeturnum also develops business portals for employees and customers, mobile applications, business intelligence systems, software quality assuarance and testing, and electronic billing and online self-service platforms. Having started in 2001, the company currently has more than 120 employees, with around 100 of these based locally out of two service delivery centres In Nugegoda. It has also been signalled that these delivery centres, which have a 200-seat overall capacity, will be fully staffed in the next two years, with its US team also having witnessed a 25% expansion this year.
Speaking to the Business Times on the sidelines of a media conference this week to highlight its five years in Sri Lanka, Aeturnum Founder, President and Chief Executive Rajat Bhakri revealed that his company had been growing at a double digit pace every year, except for 2009, and that in 2011 the company experienced its "best year ever" in terms of revenue, and expanded customer base, with a 30% year-on-year growth. He also noted that Sri Lanka had started significantly contributing in a sales capacity from 2010 when it became the hub for projects in the Middle East. This was later also followed by projects in India.
Now, in line with the company's "new, look east policy," Sri Lanka would also serve as the hub for Aeturnum's push into Singapore and Malaysia.
Mr. Bhakri also shared that the planned hiring of 100 staff locally over the next two years was more a result of necessity, a requirement for meeting growing customer demand. Also emerging, mobile applications, both Apple and Android based, were becoming increasingly popular services, being responsible for 5% to 10% of all business currently. And future areas of focus for the company included mobile solutions, mobile gaming, enterprise search and collaboration. The last being a result of the significant emphasis placed on collaboration technologies by Microsoft (Sharepoint) and Oracle (buying Indecca for US$ 1.2 billion), which Aeturnum is in a unique position to service because of its strong partnerships with these two global giants.
Meanwhile, Chief Guest at the event, International Monetary Cooperation Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama suggested that Sri Lanka's IT sector was in a singular position to benefit from recent changes to the industry in India, the first of these being increasing staff salaries in India attracting companies locally. He also opined that Sri Lankan employees were historically more oriented towards loyalty to employers and this would help be another point in favour of Sri Lanka compared to the issues of the worker attrition that are pervasive in India's IT industry.
Dr. Amunugama also made reference to a recent report by Japan's international cooperation agency (JAICA) which stated that Sri Lankans were very good in terms of adapatability, especially at the middle management level. This conclusion was supposedly based on the observation that a number of Sri Lankan middle managers had quickly picked up the Japanese language to facilitate better communication.
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