The past, present and the future of

the Sri Lankan IT industry

A.M.W. Sirimanna K.T.P. Dilhara W.G.S. Prabuddha

ASP/19/20/064 ASP/19/20/085 ASP/19/20/046
Index: 4820 Index: 4832 Index: 4811

Sagith Lakshan Tharindu Udayanga

ASP/19/20/082 ASP/19/20/070
Index: 4830 Index: 4823

Introduction in the export market and attracting foreign

investors for investment. Today, IT is not
a support function of a business, but a
critical factor in the success of a business
Information technology is a branch of
by adding value through IT and enhancing
business that deals with computing,
the company's competitive strength. It
including hardware, software,
shows the solutions for the burning
telecommunications, and generally
problems of hindering the development of
anything related to the transmission of
the country. If it develops over the other
information or systems that facilitate
competitive countries, this can be
communication. In the distant past, Sri
considered as a key source of competitive
Lanka was well known as an agricultural-
advantage.
based economy, which was more focused
on paddy, tea, rubber and coconut.
However, recently it has shifted its
direction from an industrial-based The Past of the Sri Lankan IT industry
economy to a knowledge-based economy.
The IT industry plays a critical role in
enhancing productivity and economic
Society is changing from industry based
growth in the knowledge-based economy.
society to knowledge based society.
And also, IT industry has created many
According to the survey, the total strength
job opportunities. Not only that, this
of the labor force has grown from 82,854
industry contributed to increasing earnings
in 2014 to 124,873 in 2018, a growth of
50.7% and is projected to further increase
to 146,089 in 2019.
In the distant history, IT industry is not
famous because in this time period, there
was agricultural-based society and
economy. Furthermore, Sri Lanka's
technology was not good enough to
compete with the world. So, many people
tried to develop IT industry because we
can increasing earnings in the export
market and attracting foreign investors for
investment using IT field. For the purpose
of developing IT in Sri Lanka, Computer
Society of Sri Lanka was started in 1976.
Mr. Vidya Jyothi V. K. Samaranayake
pioneered computing & IT development
industry in Sri Lanka and thus considered
as the "Father of information technology"
in Sri Lanka. And, Mr. Yasa Karunaratne
was one of the pioneers and a key figure in
the Computer Society of Sri Lanka
(CSSL) which was inaugurated in 1976.
He has served in the Council of CSSL for
three decades. From 1991 to 1999, Mr.
Karunaratne was the President of CSSL.
And also, the oldest software engineering
company in Sri Lanka is Virtusa. It’s
founded in 1996. They specialize in
providing industry IT solutions for large
enterprises to keep up to date with
changing global business trends along with
new technological advancements.
In the past, technology gadgets or devices
were simple, so big, Controversial, or only
a few people had access to that gadget. For
example, in the past the IT industry used
mainframe computers, PCs, etc. And, the
IT industry was small growing in that
period, specially software development
and exports. The Sri Lankan software
industry is small but still growing
impressively. Exports which were around
US$5.0 million in 1996 increased to
approximately US$58.0 million in 2001
and are estimated to be around US$80.0
million at the end of 2003 according to the
Central Bank report.
The Present of the Sri Lankan IT
industry
Modern technology has paved the way for
multifunctional devices like smart watches
and smartphones. Computers are faster,
more portable and more powerful than
ever before. With all these revolutions,
technology has made our lives easier,
faster, better and more enjoyable. Sri
Lanka's IT sector comprises over 300
companies, the country's fourth largest
export earner. According to the statistics
of 2019, provided by the Sri Lanka
Association for Software and Services
Companies (SLASSCOM), the IT sector
has been able to generate revenue of $ 1.5
billion. Sri Lanka's success in ICT exports
is chartered through an impressive upward
trend in annual statistics. The sector's
export revenue grew from US$166 million
in 2006 to US$1.2 billion in 2021 with a
workforce of over 120,000. With more
than 90% value addition and high-paying
jobs, it has had a significant impact on the
growth of the Sri Lankan economy. Sri
Lankan ICT companies export software
products and services to regions like North
America, European Union, Australia, East
Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the
Nordic region. Their core competencies
include automated application testing,
infrastructure outsourcing, advanced R &
D, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP),
cloud technology, mobile applications and
many other business solutions. Sri Lanka
acts as an offshore development center for
several Fortune 500 companies in
countries like USA, Ireland, UK, smart assistants in our phones like Siri,
Australia, Sweden and Sweden, Norway, Alexa, and Google Assistant are the most
USA, Japan, etc. Sri Lanka facilitates obvious examples of AI that most of us
100% foreign investment and the safety of know and use.
foreign investment is guaranteed by the
Constitution.
The Future of the Sri Lankan IT
industry
There are many IT companies in Sri
Lanka. Virtusa is one of the largest and
oldest IT services companies based in Sri
The industry’s Vision 2025 aims it to
Lanka. And, Nexdin is another biggest IT
become the number one foreign exchange
company in Sri Lanka. Nexdin is a newly
earner of the country, with US$ 5 billion
established, fast-growing internet
in revenue, creating 200,000 direct jobs
marketing company in Sri Lanka. They
and 1,000 start-ups. Today, about 50% of
excel in mobile app development, web app
jobs require workers to have technical
development, website design and
skills, but by 2030 it is estimated that 75%
development, search engine optimization,
will have such requirements in Sri Lanka.
game development, and local business
The IT industry is constantly evolving, and
SEO. And also, 99X Technology,
IT professionals must continually update
Codegen, Wso2, Xiteb, Johnkeellsit,
their skills to stay competitive. In the
Epictechnology, Arimaclanka and
future, more emphasis will be placed on
Syscolabs are another top level IT
digital skills such as coding, data analysis
companies in Sri Lanka in the present.
and machine learning. The AI market will
grow to a $190 billion industry by 2025,
and global spending on cognitive and AI
In the present, the IT industry use systems will exceed $57 billion in 2023.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine AI will spread its wings across sectors,
Learning, Smarter Devices, 3D Printing, developing, programming, testing,
Robotic Process Automation (RPA), supporting and creating new jobs.
Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality maintenance. On the other hand, AI offers
(AR), 5G, Cyber Security, etc. Artificial the highest salaries today, ranging from
Intelligence is the most useful technology $1,25,000 per year (Machine Learning
that use in IT industry. Artificial Engineer) to $145,000 per year (AI
intelligence is the imitation of human Architect). Sri Lanka's IT industry is
intelligence processes by machines, expected to reach $3 billion in revenue by
especially computer systems. A subset of 2024.
Artificial Intelligence is Machine
Learning, the concept that computer
programs can learn and adapt to new data
Worsak notes that from 2020, the world
automatically without the help of humans.
will move at an exponential rate to mature
Robotics is a field where artificial
from the current digital age to the artificial
intelligence applications are widely used.
intelligence (AI) age around 2100.
AI-powered robots use real-time updates
Technology has disrupted the world and
to sense obstacles in their path and
forced people to abandon what they were
instantly pre-plan their journey. Built-in
doing for age for new things that are more
efficient and effective. Disruption of slide
rule by scientific calculator, film camera
by digital camera, landline by smart
phones, manual typewriter by word
processors, fossil energy by solar energy,
physical banks by virtual banks, etc. are
some of the examples used by Worsak. AI
can only recreate the brain of a rat today.
But by 2025 it will have recreated a
human brain and by 2055 all human
brains.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine

learning (ML), Blockchain and Web3
technology, Intelligent automation and
robotic process automation (RPA),
Internet of things (IoT) and Quantum
computing are the emerging technologies
in the future of the Sri Lankan IT industry.

References
https://www.ijmae.com/
https://www.digitalokee.com/
https://www.ict-history.lk/
https://www.srilankabusiness.com/
https://economynext.com/