SLICTA stands at the forefront of a key industry sector in Sri Lanka in its awareness of the need for effective lobbying, consensus building and strong policy advocacy, and market promotion of Sri Lanka's capabilities in terms of ICT products and services.

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IT Workforce Survey Findings Launched

"Geared for Growth" is the title of the National IT Workforce Survey report launched on February 22nd, 2005 at the Ceylon Continental Hotel in Colombo.

Prof. V.K. Samaranayake, Chairman-ICT Agency was the Chief Guest while Mr Harris Miller-President of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) was the Guest of Honor who is also the President of the World IT Services Alliance (WITSA).

According to the survey findings the IT industry shows signs of maturity.The survey also highlights the need to keep increasing the supply of high quality IT professionals.

Some of the findings include;

  1. The IT workforce in Sri Lanka as at the end of last year (2004) stood at 20,276 which is a growth of 30% from 2003
  2. ICT product and service suppliers employ 47 % of IT workers while ICT users employ 44% leaving public sector with only 9% of the IT workers
  3. The overall attrition rate for the IT workforce has dropped from 19% in 1999 to a respectable 6.6%
  4. The demand for IT workers this year is 5,724, in 2006 another 5034 IT workers are required
  5. Around 4,300 graduates will be required this year by the industry, the supply is just over 3,600
  6. Employers find that essential soft skills are deficient in new recruits

This Survey was implemented by Sri Lanka ICT Association (SLICTA) in collaboration with The Competitiveness Program, IT Mentors Alliance, Software Exporters Association, Sri Lanka Association for the Software Industry and Association of Computer Training Organizations. SLICTA is recognized as the independent, unified organization representing Sri Lanka’s entire ICT Industry encompassing all nine ICT associations.

Mr Lionel Perera, who led the Human Resource and Workforce Development Team of SLICTA in his opening remarks said: “At its inception SLICTA realized that the availability of information pertaining to the ICT Industry and particularly its human resources was totally inadequate. This information however is frequently needed by industry players, potential investors and policy makers. This report is priced at Rs. 5,000 and is available at the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL), 275/75, Stanley Wijesundara Mawatha, Colombo 7. Tel. 2592762.

MG Consultants, a survey specialist was employed to implement the survey. Nalina Wijesundara was engaged by TCP as the consultant for this survey. The questionnaires were developed with the guidance of the Steering Committee that comprised of members from SLICTA, the academia and industry representatives. Technical assistance from the World Information Technology Services Alliance (WITSA) helped in validating the survey instrument. WITSA is involved with a similar survey for the IT Association of America (ITAA), which has become a widely cited annual publication in the USA.

The Competitiveness Program (TCP), a USAID funded program aimed at increasing competitiveness of Sri Lankan industries and the IT Mentors Alliance based in the US were the primary sponsors of this survey. They were complemented by SLICTA, Software Exporters Association (SEA), Sri Lanka Association for the Software Industry (SLASI) and the Association of Computer Training Organizations (ACTOS).