Cricket is big in Sri Lanka, so is software development.
Companies develop globally. Especially in the technology sector, there has been a track record over the last quarter century (if not longer) of working with innovation hub offices in various nations world nations away from home soil. Sometimes this process is done to lower operational costs, but increasingly today it's taken on as an approach to embracing 24x7 global follow-the-sun support and to access new, talented and diversified skilled labor forces.
As with many terminologies these days, we're not really calling this process outsourcing anymore. Rather, these innovation centers are now regarded as first-class citizens in a global development strategy.
If anything, the west has been behind some of our Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) and Asian subcontinental neighbours in championing gender equality in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) and the ability that emerging nations often have to promote younger self-starting development in tech.
This year celebrating 25 years in-country with headquarters in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, enterprise cloud company IFS says it is more than happy with its decision to invest in technology skills in this modestly-sized island nation located off the southeast tip of India.
Separation with integration
But developing, managing and growing a technology operation at this level (given that IFS is European-headquartered with major offices in the US) doesn't come without its challenges. When software development teams work in disparate locations, there are always questions of integration, delegation and not to mention regression equations... so how and why has this dovetailing of enterprise platform software engineering worked?
As IFS celebrates its silver jubilee year anniversary in Sri Lanka, the company is supporting skills development within the country via its affiliation with a number of universities across the region. By culturing and nurturing software engineering professionals working in all disciplines - but with developer programming skills being front-and-center - IFS says it is building a working fabric that enables co-located development projects to flourish without gaps, holes or tears.
But even with a quarter century of work in the country under its belt, does Sri Lanka remain a sensible bet for IFS? Reuters recently reported news of the Sri Lankan economy is continuing to shrink, so is the gamble to invest in the country 25 years ago continuing to pay off in terms of productive software creation - and does disconnected software application development of this kind really work in the first place?
“It’s not disconnected, it’s connected - that’s the first misconception to deal with first and foremost,” explained IFS executive VP and COO, Ranil Rajapakse. The Colombo-based VP joined IFS from the start on day-1 of its operations and has worked his way through the IT engineering ranks to now lead the IFS operation in Sri Lanka - as such, he would arguably know how real development projects do actually execute.
“We have Sri Lankan execs here that lead global teams overseeing work carried out in Europe and North America. Where an individual has the skillset, domain knowledge and aptitude for excellence, then that person is generally chosen to drive a fully connected and integrated software development process from the start,” clarified Rajapakse. “The time difference is not so huge between Sri Lanka and Western Europe [3.5 or 4.5 hours difference with central Europe, depending on where the clocks sit in the year] and we can share a good amount of the day with the USA as well. This is fully connected development in every sense.”
Obviously reinforced by the remote work phenomenon that resulted from Covid-19, Rajapakse further explained that some employees might choose to start their working day after lunch and have their evening in the morning (so to speak). It’s all about whatever works for the person and project in hand.
But bringing off this kind of dovetailed software engineering is tough, especially perhaps in the area of enterprise cloud application usage that we see IFS work in i.e. Enterprise Resource Management (ERP), Field Service Management (FSM) and related areas of Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) - and in the verticals that the company selectively remains focused on i.e. construction & engineering, manufacturing, aerospace & defence, telecoms, energy & utilities and the services sector - all of which are detail oriented and exacting.
“To run an internationally distributed software organisation, you already have to have the right pieces in place across engineering governance, software delivery and artefact management, security and resourcing - to name just a few areas,” said Jon Collins, VP of research at GigaOm, a software-specialist analyst house with extensive experience in enterprise technologies. “Doing so is not without its challenges and requires the organization to already be mature in terms of development best practices, as well as both technical and management skills. It is no small feat for IFS to have succeeded in this venture.”
So what else has happened to drive so many of the shifts happening here? The IFS COO suggests that the country as a whole is developing rapidly and now being regarded not just as an ‘outsourcing’ destination (it’s almost becoming a dirty word) it’s becoming an IT sector that has even developed its own start-up culture. This is a big change for a place like Sri Lanka, where new technology graduates coming out of university would typically have looked to try and secure a job in a company with a large established brand.
What does IFS Sri Lanka do?
In terms of what actually happens in the region, IFS lists its top activities (in order) as: research & development, global consulting services, global support and cloud services, global IT infrastructure services, global training services, marketing… and then sales, HR, finance and so on. The most pertinent part of that grouping might be ‘ global training services’ i.e. IFS Sri Lanka software engineers are training European and North American staff and customers on product functionalities and scope.
“It’s not like products get developed and then handed to Sri Lanka to look after,” explains COO Rajapakse. The company says that it is inherently structured to champion work methodologies that support distributed software development and collaboration.
“IFS now has over 10,000 customers in over 50 countries and 5,500 employees – and in the last three years (despite Covid) we had added over 1000 staff… all of which now sees us increase our cloud revenue growth by some 80% year-on-year and the IFS Sri Lanka operation is the powerhouse that underpins that growth,” said Oliver Pilgerstorfer, chief marketing officer at IFS.
Talking about how customers come first to IFS and view its product portfolio across ERP, FSM and EAM with additional competencies in ITSM, the IFS marketing lead openly admits that very few firms ‘phone up and ask for a new ERP system’ i.e. it’s far more likely that they want to take advantage of a market opportunity or address a business problem and look to IFS and its partners to guide them towards a future implementation. High-profile customers on this roster include Emirates Airlines, Ericsson, the US Navy and many other big brands.
“At IFS, the creation, implementation and support of our products is all connected to and involves our Sri Lanka operation,” added Pilgerstorfer. “Now looking back on our 25 years in the country and the investment we continue to make in the national skills base in Sri Lanka, our work here is only set to become more expansive and prolific in terms of our ability to deliver what we call ‘moments of service’ to our global customer base.”
Developer diaspora?
Could the kind of enterprise cloud software application development happening here ultimately lead to a diaspora of some Sri Lankan nationals coming back to the country after having previously emigrated (or as the children or grandchildren of previously emigrated families) at some stage in the future?
Who knows… but it’s a pleasing thought in terms of international development and sustainability isn’t it?
What we can say - and let’s resonate COO Rajapakse’s words one more time, this is not outsourcing, this is not disconnected development and this is not just support - this is hardcore research & development and subsequent product development.
To suggest anything otherwise just wouldn’t be cricket.
