SLASSCOM

Sri Lanka’s largest state owned training body Vocational Training Authority (VTA) and Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) today announced the first project under the partnership formed last month to enhance the IT skills of graduates in the country.

The qualified IT workforce in Sri Lanka is not adequate to meet the country's need of being the most preferred IT/BPO destination in the world.

Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services companies (SLASSCOM) and the BCS The Chartered Institute for IT in Sri Lanka Section (BCSSL) entered into a MOU recently to recognize and encourage ICT entrepreneurs at the National Best Quality ICT Awards (NBQSA) to be held in October 2011. NBQSA has been the only National competition of its type in Sri Lanka that recognizes exceptional local ICT achievements.

SLASSCOM (Sri Lanka Association of software and services Companies) together with Australian Technical & Management College (ATMC) will be holding a thought leadership session on 15th August 2011at Taj Samudra Hotel, On Golden Pond, 5.30pm onwards.

Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service companies (SLASSCOM) would be facilitating a one day workshop for IT faculty members at all State Regional Universities on ICT Curriculum Development. This would be held on 26th August 2011.

By Sandun A. Jayasekera

Proficiency in English in every stratum, ethnic and social divide is the best weapon to fight class division and social discrimination, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga observed.

A recent ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) initiated business mission 2011 to Australia has proved a great success, says the delegation. This success is articulated by Australia seeing Sri Lanka as a vibrant IT outsourcing destination, the delegation attested.

Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM), partnered with the AIIA (The Australian Information Industry Association) the nation’s leading industry body for the technology sector in Australia. The objective of the coalition is to develop links between the two counties and to promote Sri Lanka as a preferred IT/ BPO destination.

The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) under its Mahinda Chinthana programme (Mahinda is President Rajapaksa’s first name) wants to make Sri Lanka a knowledge hub, but GoSL’s contribution to this thus far has been a mere US$ five million over a seven year period.

Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) in collaboration with Latitude655, will be holding a thought leadership session featuring Mani Kulasooriya, CEO and Founder of Monvia, a product innovations company based in Silicon Valley, on June 23 at Taj Samudra hotel. The event targets entrepreneurs, academics and IT professionals.

Motorola and SLASSCOM sponsored Inter University Enterprise Mobility Software Development Competition 2011 is gaining momentum with high participation and keen interest from  IT undergraduates in Sri Lankan Universities. With the high success it had in its first ever competition last year, Motorola Solutions Lanka (Private) Limited  once again invested on this very important event to impart the Enterprise Mobility Application Development knowledge and skills to IT  Undergraduate Community in Sri Lanka with the blessings of Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM).

By Anjana Samarasinghe

SLASSCOM Director and Vice President Madu Ratnayake

The Sri Lankan IT and BPO industry targets US$ 420 million export earnings for this year.

SLASSCOM Director and Vice President Madu Ratnayake told Daily News Business that the profitability of IT and BPO companies in Sri Lanka is improving and the industry is growing at a 26 percent annual growth rate. Last year the total export earnings were recorded as US $ 400 million.

Slasscom together with ESI will present the following workshop on June 9th at the Taj Samudra , this event is targeted at the BA community, system analysis - project management professionals , consultants and process improvement professionals, aspiring BA’s who want develop their knowledge on Business Analysis. The Speaker for this event is Glenn R. Brûlé, CSM, CBAP, Executive Director of Global Client Solutions, of ESI International who brings more than two decades of focused business analysis experience.

The IT/BPO industry aims at achieving an annual turnover of US$ 1 billion by 2015, said Chairman Sri Lanka Association of Software Services Companies (SLASSCOM), Dinesh Saparamadu. He was addressing the SLASSCOM HR Summit 2011 on Wednesday.

Unemployment levels are high among young graduates, because they lack soft skills such as communication, particularly in English, teamwork and leadership, a panel of eminent local business leaders opined.

At a Leadership Forum held during the SLASSCOM HR Summit, industry leaders Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Hiran Cooray, Dr. Anush Amarasinghe and Ramesh Schaffter were of the view that university graduates possessed the required technical or hard skills but lacked heavily in soft skills that has resulted in a high rate of unemployment.

By Indunil Hewage

Sri Lanka has a good work ethic compared to other countries, a top corporate official said yesterday.

Dialog Axiata PLC Group CEO Dr Hans Wijayasuriya said compared to other countries, work ethics in Sri Lanka is quite good.

A presentation themed - Sri Lanka as a Finance and Accounting destination was organized by the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM).

It was delivered by Hayleys Business Solutions Managing Director Dr Arul Sivagananathan.

In the prevailing globalized business environment, the IT/BPO industry is emerging as one of the significant contributors to the Sri Lankan export market, an EDB media release said.

Sri Lanka is well poised to increase its stake to 1 percent of the astronomical US $ 450 billion global Business Process Outsourcing market within the next three years, a frontline industry resource person said yesterday.

Dr. P. B.  Jayasundara, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and Planning, in his keynote speech to the CIO forum of Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) a few weeks back, illustrated the key changes that happened in the Sri Lankan economy roughly from 1990 to 2010, without referring to any particular government.

In December 2010 SLASSCOM confirmed the appointment of PwC in order to carry out a salary and benefits study for the IT and BPO sector companies in Sri Lanka. To this end, SLASSCOM had taken the lead to encourage its members to confirm participation in the said study to be independently carried out by PwC. 

Motorola/SLASSCOM sponsored Inter-University Enterprise Mobility Software Development Competition 2011 was launched recently at Prof. V.K Samaranayake Auditorium of University of Colombo amidst a full house participation from many state and private sector Universities.

SLASSCOM the IT/BPO Industry association in Sri Lanka in its endeavor  to share knowledge and best practices and develop the human resources of the industry, is conducting  yet another ”Knowledge sharing Workshop” , on  the 6th of April 2011 from 5.30pm onwards at the Dialog Auditorium at the Future Center  at  Excel World.