ICT gives rise to ‘me-too’ successes

On the eve of the 21st century we are heading towards a world which is entirely dependent on ICT. Scientifically, everyone knows that the world is sphere, however the world can still be considered as flat because of the blessings of Information Technology. In the last fifty years or so, the world has been moving so fast technologically that an enormous demand for IT has developed globally. In light of the outsourcing phenomenon, Bangladesh should leapfrog into the ICT Sector. Bangladesh has some competitive advantages over other outsourcing options (China and India) in terms of its potential population in the ICT sector. Unfortunately in Bangladesh, there are technology challenges caused by the country's infrastructure problems. Some of these problems include poor telecommunication facilities, few software development firms in country (to help develop local talent and expertise), and lack of e-Governance policies. One positive is that the country is now linked with the submarine cable, which will help facilitate better internet and telecommunications connections and help enable further technical development.

There are many opportunities for ICT professionals in Bangladesh to prosper through outsourcing, similar to the India. Every year, Bangladesh is producing approximately 4,200 ICT graduates from both private and public universities. It is now a great challenge for Bangladesh to move forward to have a strong ICT workforce. This is not an impossible task, but the country needs to boost up its infrastructure so that it can transfer its liabilities into possibilities. Bangladesh can gain the competitive advantage in this region if we can capitalize on these opportunities as a nation.
Mobile phone penetration has been among one of the highest in the developing economies with a tele-density of over 40 per cent. The internet penetration rate is estimated to be at 7 per cent - with most people using mobile internet. The use of international bandwidth has risen 200 per cent in 3 years to 2011 with capacity upgrades for international bandwidth of over 500 per cent underway into 2012/13.7 As in December 2011, Bangladesh had over 2.1 million Facebook users. Over 600,000 computers (including laptops) were sold in Bangladesh in 2010, with estimates of around 3 million laptops/PC being available in the country.
All of these factor and indices indicates that Bangladesh is well under way to adopt the mass realm of ICT. IT sector in Bangladesh is over three decades old and has been catering to established clients both globally and in the domestic market. Most players initially targeted the IT potential in the domestic industry. The DANIDA aid programme in 2003 jacked the nascent home-grown industry up and enhanced access to Scandinavian markets created the first wave of IT companies serving global markets in Bangladesh. Currently there are over 800 IT and Non-Voice IT companies in Bangladesh, out of which around 200 works on a global basis for outsourcing and project based delivery models.
The availability of trained manpower at competitive prices -and well-established delivery capabilities, has led to many global players looking at Bangladesh for captive development centers in recent times. Notable among them is Samsung (having set up a 250 person R&D center with aggressive growth plans), VizRT (Acquiring product companies from Bangladesh and building scale) and media giant WPP (buying into GraphicPeople and developing it into a global delivery location)
In the recent years, Voice based BPO services are also evolving in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Call Center and Outsourcing (BACCO) -an association with over 70 members- claims over 15000 agents are working in the sector. Though small in comparison to IT services, these BPO services have clocked over 2 million USD in revenue in 2010, and are growing fast. World Bridge Global- a US-based outsourcer has expressed interest in setting up BPO operations with around 10000 seats in Bangladesh with a proposed investment of USD 150 million. The development of Bangladesh's outsourcing business has important implications for global customers seeking to explore it as a new destination for outsourcing work. Decision makers primarily judge outsourcing locations by cost, availability of skills and manpower, both current and future, and across all these areas, Bangladesh scores well.
Most of the work done by the Bangladeshi outsourcing pioneers comprises low- value added jobs such as graphics design and website development. Some companies also work on product development, mobile application development and software development. However, today many global companies - once clients of these pioneer, have bought into them, and are using them for mid-range software and IT outsourcing projects. Companies like VizRT (Norway), Bording Data (Denmark) and WPP (Graphicpeople) are examples. The Bangladeshi companies provide the parents with a range of services from back office administrative work, graphic designing, DTP and customer service requests, to high-end IT, product development and enhancement jobs. In recent years there has been a move towards Business Process Outsourcing also, further strengthened with enhanced connectivity and bandwidth.
Quality improvements in skill levels and delivery capabilities have been steady. Many of Bangladeshi outsourcing vendors have got certifications in CMM level 3 or higher over the last 3 years. Also, a few companies got themselves certified to robust information security processes by getting ISO:27001 certified. Owing to a huge domestic market in BFSI and telecom sectors, Bangladeshi vendors have also advanced to offering specific business knowledge in areas such as Core Banking solutions, Micro credit solutions, Islamic Banking and Mobile application development and deployment. Such insights create closer links between vendors and clients, resulting in higher productivity and profitability for both. In addition, Bangladeshi companies are working extensively on desktop publishing, graphic design and content development for web applications.
Bangladesh has over 80 universities that produce over 185,000 graduates a year including more than 14,500 graduates and post graduates in IT-related areas. Over 5,000 of these students specialise in software engineering. Bangladeshi students have proved their mettle in the international competitions by winning a number of programming contests. Almost 5.0 per cent of the population- almost 7 million people in the country know English as the second language. The quality of engineers and scientists produced by the Bangladeshi universities is at par with most developing countries - in fact some of the global publications rate Bangladeshi graduates better than many of the developing countries.
The global IT training giant NIIT has re-entered the Bangladeshi market recently. Such niche training providers would help in developing job ready resources for the IT sector. BASIS also runs specialized finishing schools for technology graduates to provide qualified job ready pool of resources. According to BASIS and BACCO estimates, the country has close to 35,000 professionals working in the IT and BPO industry. In addition, there are over 5000 freelancers who together clock over USD 7 million in revenues - the 4h highest among all countries in the world. The IT sector thus has shown immense mettle in both the demand and supply side. There is a ready labour pool to supply quality resources to the industry. And along with that, the industry has been offering new doors of opportunity to this labour pool due to the increasing global interest.  So, the day is not far, when IT will prove to be dominant sector earning foreign revenues for the country and helping in the overall development of the country.
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