Bangladesh's IT sector has witnessed remarkable growth in recent years, establishing itself as a significant player in the global IT landscape. Precise figures can vary in this regard but it is sure to tell that Bangladesh has been a home to hundreds of IT companies. From small startups to multinational corporations, the IT in BD spectrum is quite high. These companies contribute significantly to the country's GDP (gross domestic product) and employment generation.
Bangladesh is still catching up to global IT outsourcing giants such as India, Philippines, Vietnam but the continuous progress is noteworthy. The country has made significant strides in software development, IT services, and business process outsourcing (BPO). However, challenges such as infrastructure limitations and talent gaps persist. And if we tend to mention one of the basic lackings in Bangladesh with this sector, it is the most basic facility of internet availability and the connection strength.
Not much ago, we just faced a whole new aspect of our attachment towards the internet and different angles came out about how we are helpless without it. Communication through digital media -- both in personal and professional life -- has become so significant for us that an internet blackout is all we needed for a harsh reality check. And it was more crucial for people who earn their livelihood by means of online freelancing. They do not have a specific office space nor do they have a permanent job section. So, they all have to deal with short deadlines and across the globe work sphere. And without a strong internet connection, both of these are nearly impossible if someone does not move their location to a place of internet availability.
Moreover, years of reputation built by numerous IT companies working with clients spanning all over the world have eroded due to the internet blackout. Many companies left with their team members to other countries for the time being. Team which stayed back faced backlash from clients. Even now, IT professionals are trying to make up for the lost time and work during the blackout and reduced internet speed days.
It can be said with conviction that the recent internet outage in Bangladesh dealt a significant blow to the country's IT sector. The prolonged disruption caused substantial financial losses for IT companies, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars by entrepreneurs. Many clients switched to competitors, particularly those based in India, which holds the most dominant position in the global IT market. This event has severely damaged Bangladesh's reputation as a reliable outsourcing destination.
SM Monjur Morshed works in the property preservation industry. His company's nature of work requires them to stay connected to the internet all the time and need the internet to deliver the work fast. Once a client goes to another country, they usually never come back. He is a team lead at IMPIT Limited and shared a first-hand experience of the damage, "During the internet shutdown, some of the clients left and gave away the projects to our competitor companies in other countries, specially India." Although they lost work and trust of some clients, after getting back to work and thanks to their high spirited and resilient founders, they are confident to grow even further by putting more focus and passion to their work.
As freelancers not only have local employers and their employment sector is spreaded throughout the world, it was also not possible to convince them about the national emergency. When the internet blackout happened, global clients were just delegating the tasks to freelancers of other countries and this clearly did not leave a very good impression on the Bangladeshi workers from the IT sector too. Being almost always available is a very crucial condition for freelancers and the 'out of sight, out of mind' scenario is real for them. Many clients take freelancers not available as someone fraud and compensating the lost reputation with a reason of internal national boundaries does not seem very smart for the workforce. This created a bunch of dilemmas for freelancers in Bangladesh and they faced hurdles more than ever. To get a solution out of the situation, many Bangladeshi freelancers, remote workers and other IT professionals had to move to other neighbouring countries where a visa wasn't required such as Nepal, Maldives, or close to the Bangladesh-India border areas.
Sometimes there is no right choice before our eyes and we just have to choose the less wrong choice to survive. This is what game designer and product manager of foreign tech company, Munshi Saeed Hasnat had to do -- choose the lesser evil to continue his professional journey at the moment by travelling to Nepal. It was not a very preferable option for him to leave his close ones at a national turmoil, but it was all he could do to save his present and future. He said, "During the blackout, it was impossible to reach out to my manager or anyone else at the office through any means, given that even international phone calls and SMS were blocked. A lot of my teammates' work was also blocked progress wise because their work is dependent on mine. If I hadn't made it out, I would have been fired and replaced in a day or two."
But the process of leaving the country was not also a cakewalk as there were many obstacles already laid out-- emotional and logistical, "Departing Bangladesh was intense and full of suffering. No internet meant that I could not check flight schedules on July 20 nor I could gather any necessary info on my destination or even book a hotel. I had to travel all the way to the airport to get a ticket and obviously there was a shortage of tickets. Freelancers and business people were sitting on the ground crying for a ticket, to save their contract, job or business. A few foreign nationals were also begging for tickets, just to get out of this hellhole. There was only one person at the ticket counter, so it took a few hours before I got my ticket for July 23. Even on the respective date of departure, while I was ready to fly there was an airline official who was calling out names to us saying that everything was fine and we were just some escapists."
It has not been a short-term theory that people need to adapt with the changes around them and evolve for betterment. But certainly it was not a fruitful debate for our previous government that shut down internet and subsequently reduced speed for everyone and built up a panic frenzy all over the country. Munshi Hasnat believes that the situation could be handled with a better adaptation, "The government should have done what most civilised governments do. They could have done a parliamentary hearing with all parties involved, keeping a channel of dialogue open. There was no clear channel of communication between the masses and the government. Other countries always provide this channel as you can email and schedule an appointment with your local MP, or talk directly with politicians, local authority or ministry. Shutting everything down means only one thing universally -- you simply do not have the confidence or capability of tackling the current situation in a legitimate manner."
Many IT professionals like him are quite sure about the notion that if this shutdown happens again, it is just a matter of time for a mass migration of people who can afford to move out. Already industry insiders say that IT teams are planning to move to Dubai or Thailand. These professionals just also pointed out the figures that the loss that occurred for the IT outsourcing industry in the recent blackout is going to be irrecoverable in the next five to 10 years. As a result, professionals also mentioned that due to lack of remittance, the rise of inflation and dollar price is something we cannot avoid in near future. However, time after time it has been proven that Bangladeshi young professionals and people are resilient, so we can be hopeful that we will fight back to our previous position and go even further.
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