Bangladesh IT/ITeS Industry Development Strategy

From the previous deliverables – Global Demand Assessment, Competitive Landscape, and Industry Statistics and Competitive Advantage and Identified Competitive Niches & Templates and Methodology for Data Collection – the Industry Development Strategy evaluated the current industry landscape of Bangladesh’s IT/ITeS sector and generally deduced specific potential opportunities matched with ongoing global market trends. Belonging to similarly emerging outsourcing destinations, a comparison of the inherent qualities among existing competitors was included in order to determine the positioning of Bangladesh against its peer group.

The country’s inherent propositions, such as a large, untapped population and prevailing cost advantages, are significant in showing the service delivery capability and corresponding potential of the industry, as these are foundational components needed to build a robust and sustainable IT/ITeS sector. As an emerging outsourcing destination, gradual progress in the sector can only be attainable if the persisting developmental barriers are improved and addressed in a timely and deliberate manner. To be completely competitive, the IT/ITeS sector must be capable of delivering outsourced services in a manner that is in-line with global market requirements and standards - the industry based requisites, quality standards and service levels that services outsourcing supply markets are all subject to. The ability of Bangladesh to keep pace and compete, and more importantly, position itself against the backdrop of established and emerging destinations, will be the key determinant to the success of its IT/ITeS sector. Bangladesh’s IT/ITeS sector can still be considered to be in the developmental phase, where more expansive market potential, particularly in the service exports space, is yet to be reached.

The local BPO sector for example, remains largely focused on providing outsourced services to the domestic market, while enabling ICT policies, though in place, still require further refinements (reforms), implementation and enforcement. Moreover, while a large working population and cost arbitrage are the country’s primary value propositions, improvements on critical growth factors such as infrastructure, quality of training and relevant ITeS skill sets, and overall business environment must be addressed. Without the proper and decisive interventions to these significant ecosystem considerations, the country will face difficulties in establishing itself as a viable services outsourcing destination, and consequently, near-term market opportunities in the export services market are likely to be jeopardized. The concise identification of current and specific strengths and future opportunities can lead to better alignment of current IT/ITeS capabilities towards the relevant and addressable global services outsourcing market. While the previous deliverable dealt with pertinent findings of the nation’s IT/ITeS industry, this deliverable will discuss the competitive advantages of Bangladesh as a services outsourcing location and an analyze the competitive niches that should be considered and focused on. Identification of real-world delivery advantages of the country will also assist local industry stakeholders in properly positioning the sector’s competitiveness in target markets as well as against other emerging and established outsourcing destinations. Additionally, it is important to efficiently and accurately utilize these identified advantages in order to maximize the service capabilities and market identity of the country. For instance, the identification of the ‘large country population’ of 160 million people, can be misleading to both supply and demand perspectives, if © 2015 Tholons 5 of 37 the percentage of services outsourcing relevant talent is in reality, a minute percentage of the total population. Considering inherent location advantage and industry demand, a Capability vs. Opportunity Profile will be articulated upon, in order to identify relevant global market opportunities that the Bangladesh IT/ITeS industry can be matched with. Based on the analyzed data, the Bangladesh proposition as an IT/ITeS destination will then be conceptualized, founded on the cumulative analysis of the IT/ITeS industry, and proposed developmental path the industry should consider charting. The proposition will also aid the Strategy Framework, serving as a guide in actuating the plans and developmental goals of the IT/ITeS industry.

As included in the previous deliverable, respective institutions from where critical statistical information needed to monitor industry size and growth trajectories were identified and outlined, leading this report to include the different templates and methodology for data collection. It must be noted that without clean and updated industry data, the strategy and plans on strengthening the industry could lag behind or worse, become altogether misguided. Thus, Tholons emphasizes the crucial role which accurate and relevant industry statistics will play in charting the developmental course of the country’s IT/ITeS sector. Overall, this report will contain the identification, evaluation and analysis of IT/ITeS relevant data, culminating in the presentation of pragmatic developmental recommendations for local stakeholders to consider in establishing Bangladesh as a competitive and sustainable global destination for services outsourcing.