Export earning to reach $ 375m in five years
Mehdi Musharraf Bhuiyan | Sunday, 1 March 2009
After years of scramble for the North American market, local IT companies are now eyeing the Scandinavian Peninsula as their next potential market.
Apart from a largely untapped IT outsourcing market with far less number of competitors, local software exporters also believe that the economies of Nordic countries relatively remain stable amid the global economic recession.
"We are particularly vying for the Scandinavian market," said Shamim Ahsan, CEO of E Generation, a leading local software developer. "Because in spite of worldwide economic recession, these countries' economy remained relatively more stable and therefore offers a more secured and sustainable market," he added.
"Until now, approximately 30 percent of our IT export earning is usually generated from Europe," Shamim said. "But with successful business manipulation, we can divert 40 to 45 percent of our outsourcing to the European region and in such case, our export earning from the Scandinavian region through ITES can reach $ 375 million within the next five years," he added.
"Moreover, there is virtually an extensive Indian monopoly in the US outsourcing scene," Shamim observed. "So given the type of IT solutions, we, the Bangladeshi IT companies provide, which is more optimized for small and medium sized entrepreneurs, there are ample opportunities for the local ICT companies to make a strong foothold in the Scandinavian countries," he added.
Since the emergence of offshoring and outsourcing drift in the country's ICT scene at the turn of the decade, United States has remained the topmost focus and the largest market for the ICT exporters and until now shares approximately 60 percent of the total software and ITES export.
The scenario did not change until recently when the exporters in this sector gradually began to shift their focus to other parts of the globe including the European Union, Middle East and lately to Japan and other parts of East Asia as other potential market.
Leaders in the sector now however observe that out of all these explored or possible destinations; Scandinavian markets- especially that of Denmark and Sweden offer the most fascinating opportunities for the local ICT exporters.
Encompassing some of the wealthiest nations on earth, Scandinavian Peninsula offers one of the finest IT infrastructure in Europe, with countries in the region often ranked highly in the international IT and telecom surveys.
Nevertheless, the high cost of labor as well as the difficulty of finding the right kind of competency within their own borders due to a small labor market and a very low unemployment rates remains the major shortcomings for the region; with a senior software engineer in Norway for example, earning 10 times as much as his Asian counterpart.
"The total market for software and outsourcing services in the Scandinavian region is estimated to be around 12 billion Euro, a large part of which is still up for grab thanks to an almost 6 percent annual growth, although countries from the Eastern and Central Europe appear to be the largest competitor for outsourcing in the region," informed Papias Hawlader of Leadsoft Bangladesh Limited, a leading outsourcing company venturing out for the Scandinavian market.
"Local IT companies have already made a name for themselves in Denmark, especially in the graphic designing arena," informed A. K. Sabbir Mahbub of Devnet Limited,"with around 50 local companies; out of them, 22 in joint venture with their Danish counterparts; are exporting or outsourcing their IT related services to the Nordic country.
"So now, using our Danish experience as a gateway, we are setting our eyes at other potential markets in the Scandinavian region and particularly Sweden which is one of the biggest market for Document Processing Outsourcing (DPO)," he observed.
"In the coming months, we are looking to participate more and more in various ICT related events in those countries and aiming to showcase our expertise and technical capacities to the entrepreneurs over there to promote our products and services," Shamim Ahsan said.
A 20 member delegation; comprising representatives from 16 local IT companies as well as delegates from Export Promotion Bureau is already on their way to Denmark and Sweden in that view.
During the visit, the delegation will participate at an ICT expo in Denmark and after that will take part at a networking event as well as a seminar in Sweden.
Apart from a largely untapped IT outsourcing market with far less number of competitors, local software exporters also believe that the economies of Nordic countries relatively remain stable amid the global economic recession.
"We are particularly vying for the Scandinavian market," said Shamim Ahsan, CEO of E Generation, a leading local software developer. "Because in spite of worldwide economic recession, these countries' economy remained relatively more stable and therefore offers a more secured and sustainable market," he added.
"Until now, approximately 30 percent of our IT export earning is usually generated from Europe," Shamim said. "But with successful business manipulation, we can divert 40 to 45 percent of our outsourcing to the European region and in such case, our export earning from the Scandinavian region through ITES can reach $ 375 million within the next five years," he added.
"Moreover, there is virtually an extensive Indian monopoly in the US outsourcing scene," Shamim observed. "So given the type of IT solutions, we, the Bangladeshi IT companies provide, which is more optimized for small and medium sized entrepreneurs, there are ample opportunities for the local ICT companies to make a strong foothold in the Scandinavian countries," he added.
Since the emergence of offshoring and outsourcing drift in the country's ICT scene at the turn of the decade, United States has remained the topmost focus and the largest market for the ICT exporters and until now shares approximately 60 percent of the total software and ITES export.
The scenario did not change until recently when the exporters in this sector gradually began to shift their focus to other parts of the globe including the European Union, Middle East and lately to Japan and other parts of East Asia as other potential market.
Leaders in the sector now however observe that out of all these explored or possible destinations; Scandinavian markets- especially that of Denmark and Sweden offer the most fascinating opportunities for the local ICT exporters.
Encompassing some of the wealthiest nations on earth, Scandinavian Peninsula offers one of the finest IT infrastructure in Europe, with countries in the region often ranked highly in the international IT and telecom surveys.
Nevertheless, the high cost of labor as well as the difficulty of finding the right kind of competency within their own borders due to a small labor market and a very low unemployment rates remains the major shortcomings for the region; with a senior software engineer in Norway for example, earning 10 times as much as his Asian counterpart.
"The total market for software and outsourcing services in the Scandinavian region is estimated to be around 12 billion Euro, a large part of which is still up for grab thanks to an almost 6 percent annual growth, although countries from the Eastern and Central Europe appear to be the largest competitor for outsourcing in the region," informed Papias Hawlader of Leadsoft Bangladesh Limited, a leading outsourcing company venturing out for the Scandinavian market.
"Local IT companies have already made a name for themselves in Denmark, especially in the graphic designing arena," informed A. K. Sabbir Mahbub of Devnet Limited,"with around 50 local companies; out of them, 22 in joint venture with their Danish counterparts; are exporting or outsourcing their IT related services to the Nordic country.
"So now, using our Danish experience as a gateway, we are setting our eyes at other potential markets in the Scandinavian region and particularly Sweden which is one of the biggest market for Document Processing Outsourcing (DPO)," he observed.
"In the coming months, we are looking to participate more and more in various ICT related events in those countries and aiming to showcase our expertise and technical capacities to the entrepreneurs over there to promote our products and services," Shamim Ahsan said.
A 20 member delegation; comprising representatives from 16 local IT companies as well as delegates from Export Promotion Bureau is already on their way to Denmark and Sweden in that view.
During the visit, the delegation will participate at an ICT expo in Denmark and after that will take part at a networking event as well as a seminar in Sweden.