IT industry on track, but needs policy support: analysts

Analysts attend a workshop organised by BASIS at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka yesterday. Photo: STAR

The IT industry is moving in the right direction to see exports worth $1 billion within 2018, analysts said at a workshop yesterday.

They, however, said the progress in the sector is slow due to a lack of support from the government.

Habibullah N Karim, a former president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), said the trade body might not have done enough research or homework when it set the $1-billion target, but the goal can be met.

He said the private sector is doing a lot of things such as developing infrastructure, and building IT parks and data centres.

The IT trade body organised the workshop at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka to get suggestions from experts on preparing a roadmap on how to reach the export target under its One Bangladesh campaign.

Raihan Shamsi, chief executive officer of Accenture Bangladesh, said the $1-billion target is easily achievable if three issues are addressed: human resources, infrastructure development and policy support.

Accenture, a leading global IT firm, is working in Bangladesh as the country has huge potential to grow in the sector, according to Shamsi.

“The Indian IT industry also faced the same critical situation 15 years ago. So we should learn from their (Indian) experience,” he added.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) should be the main focus of the IT industry to reach the target, said Syed Almas Kabir, chairman of the standing committee on access to internet and infrastructure of BASIS.

But, he said the country does not have enough human resources to tap the BPO potential.

Fahim Mashroor, another former president of BASIS, said Bangladeshi entrepreneurs did not initially concentrate on e-commerce. As a result, the sector is being dominated by foreign companies now, he said.

"The local IT companies have to be successful, otherwise the government's vision of a Digital Bangladesh will not materialise."

AK Shabbir Mahbub, chairman of the standing committee on call centre and BPO of the trade body, said multinational companies operating in Bangladesh do not use locally-made software.

Many countries make policies that bind businesses to use local software. "Bangladesh needs such a policy," he said.

Forkan Bin Quasem, chairman of the standing committee on e-governance, said even the government institutions do not use local software.

The government has to invest in the IT industry and purchase local software, he said.

TIM Nurul Kabir, a former director of BASIS, suggested the trade body conduct a survey to find out the obstacles in the industry.

Russell T Ahmed, senior vice-president of the trade body and moderator of the workshop, said the government listens to the suggestions that BASIS puts forward, but hardly acts on those.