In the face of the pandemic, the country’s IT-BPM sector has emerged as a beacon of hope. Various companies in this sector have risen to the occasion and adapted their business and work models to cope with the global disruptions caused by the pandemic. Approximately 90% of IT-BPM companies in Sri Lanka were ready to act to ensure zero or very minimal interruptions to their regular operations, said Chairman of SLASSCOM, Ranil Rajapakse.
The Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) appealed to the Government to provide assistance to the IT-BPM sector; in the form of allowing for essential operations to continue such as access to servers and movement of essential personnel for troubleshooting and mission critical systems maintenance.
Sri Lanka’s telecommunications companies also stepped-in to assist companies by boosting bandwidth and enabling VPNs and other required services for sensitive businesses to remain operational, remotely. SLASSCOM also liaised with companies across the board within the sector to provide and connect them with all support that they needed to keep their operations ongoing without interruptions.
“Companies that continue to make wise investments in upskilling talent, IT modernisation and digital transformation during the period of inevitable demand deceleration will emerge stronger and better positioned for growth and to serve customers better in a post COVID-19 new norm,” he said.
‘Drifting the curve’ is the SLASSCOM industry strategy for building momentum to come out of the ‘corner’ (current situation) stronger.
When race car drivers approach a bend on the track, unlike ordinary drivers who slow down, they accelerate. This is known as ‘drifting the curve’.Companies such as Mitra Innovation, a digital advancement company, used the crisis as an inspiration to develop new products such as their Dynamedics platform, which allows for remote and accessible healthcare services by connecting patients and healthcare professions digitally.
Stax Inc, a global management consulting firm in Colombo, supported the digital transformation of its local clients by drawing on support from its cross-functional teams of consultants and technical specialists.
Other examples include companies such as CMS, who provide bespoke remote IT teams to SME clients globally. Acuity Knowledge Partners leveraged its BCP to transition to WFH completely without any lags, with minimal disruption to their global client-dependent operations.
Companies such as BISTEC Global went the extra mile and offered free IT support and consultancy to any business that required it to set up their own WFH operations. Others such as Sixer Video pledged to allow companies to use their platform free to continue with virtual interviews and keep their recruitment processes running.