ICT sector's prospects
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
Nighat Sultana
ONLY having a connection with the ultrafast information superhighway through submarine cable will not automatically catapult Bangladesh into an information communication technology (ICT) products exporting country of significance. Adoption of appropriate plans followed by their proper implementation would be necessary to achieve such a status.
Data entry firms in Bangladesh are likely to become competitive following connectivity to the international fibre optic backbone. This can ensure the desired speed in two-way data communication required by data entry customers abroad. But data entry is only a small part of the immensely prospective fields of exports of ICT products. Substantially greater gains can be made by a country like Bangladesh from making and exporting software. But this will require appropriate internal developments to attain capacity and reliability as a software producing country.
It is necessary, as a precondition, to develop a pool of capable software makers in the country. This task can be accomplished relatively easily and quickly by increasing the demand for software products in the home economy. The government should encourage widespread use of locally made software, both to get the benefit of ICT for the domestic economy and to support the process of adding to the pool of skilled software producers. It would create a major stepping stone to exporting software at the desired level. Software making and their applications internally will, therefore, have to be energetically promoted as part of a short term strategy .
Government bodies should start the process by encouraging and using locally made software in their offices. The multinational companies operating in Bangladesh need to be persuaded to increasingly use locally developed software. An increase in the sale of software within Bangladesh will automatically, boost its production. A good local market for such software will grow making more firms take an interest to make software considering its business prospects. As the software makers attain a level of efficiency to develop the quality and volume of products they can easily compete for foreign markets. This would accelerate the export of software from Bangladesh.
ICT companies like Microsoft are likely to start operations in Bangladesh soon. They are showing interest to come to Bangladesh lured by outsourcing possibilities at competitive costs. Bangladeshi ICT businesses should get their act together and learn from the operations of the foreign companies.
As software development crucially depends on the quality of ICT education the opportunities scope for such education at public institutions will have to be increased manifold. The quality of ICT education must be upgraded as well. As a long term strategy government should formulate and implement a dynamic nation-wide education policy that will facilitate human resources development in ICT. Only a handful of private sector education centres are providing specific ICT education of any value. It is imperative to monitor the curriculum of these education centres to encourage their development to create human resources in this field consistent with clearly defined objectives.
The assistance of the non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) should be actively sought for ICT development. Given incentives they would set up software companies in Bangladesh. The establishment of an ICT village, like the software technology parks in India, is still on the drawing boards. The village requires faster implementation to achieve the goal.
ONLY having a connection with the ultrafast information superhighway through submarine cable will not automatically catapult Bangladesh into an information communication technology (ICT) products exporting country of significance. Adoption of appropriate plans followed by their proper implementation would be necessary to achieve such a status.
Data entry firms in Bangladesh are likely to become competitive following connectivity to the international fibre optic backbone. This can ensure the desired speed in two-way data communication required by data entry customers abroad. But data entry is only a small part of the immensely prospective fields of exports of ICT products. Substantially greater gains can be made by a country like Bangladesh from making and exporting software. But this will require appropriate internal developments to attain capacity and reliability as a software producing country.
It is necessary, as a precondition, to develop a pool of capable software makers in the country. This task can be accomplished relatively easily and quickly by increasing the demand for software products in the home economy. The government should encourage widespread use of locally made software, both to get the benefit of ICT for the domestic economy and to support the process of adding to the pool of skilled software producers. It would create a major stepping stone to exporting software at the desired level. Software making and their applications internally will, therefore, have to be energetically promoted as part of a short term strategy .
Government bodies should start the process by encouraging and using locally made software in their offices. The multinational companies operating in Bangladesh need to be persuaded to increasingly use locally developed software. An increase in the sale of software within Bangladesh will automatically, boost its production. A good local market for such software will grow making more firms take an interest to make software considering its business prospects. As the software makers attain a level of efficiency to develop the quality and volume of products they can easily compete for foreign markets. This would accelerate the export of software from Bangladesh.
ICT companies like Microsoft are likely to start operations in Bangladesh soon. They are showing interest to come to Bangladesh lured by outsourcing possibilities at competitive costs. Bangladeshi ICT businesses should get their act together and learn from the operations of the foreign companies.
As software development crucially depends on the quality of ICT education the opportunities scope for such education at public institutions will have to be increased manifold. The quality of ICT education must be upgraded as well. As a long term strategy government should formulate and implement a dynamic nation-wide education policy that will facilitate human resources development in ICT. Only a handful of private sector education centres are providing specific ICT education of any value. It is imperative to monitor the curriculum of these education centres to encourage their development to create human resources in this field consistent with clearly defined objectives.
The assistance of the non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) should be actively sought for ICT development. Given incentives they would set up software companies in Bangladesh. The establishment of an ICT village, like the software technology parks in India, is still on the drawing boards. The village requires faster implementation to achieve the goal.