IT has made fast inroads into the Pakistani community over the years.Today, people are more aware of the information technology and its subsidiaries than they ever used to do in the past. As a result, the country holds huge prospects of becoming one of the finest software exporting countries in the region,only if efforts are made at both public and private level.
At the turn of the century, Pakistan boasted IT exports of worth 20 million USD only. This value, however, has increased substantially with experts forecasting around 700 million USD forex earnings during the current fiscal year. Even these $700 million isn’t the actual export value of IT related services as the government was found clearing to the Senate Committee on IT that more than 1.7 billion USD of software export money is out of the country.
Although Pakistan’s IT related industry isn’t as big as India’s but it has the potential to grow many folds if focused efforts are made in this regard. With new software houses opening up and increasing number of students seeking admissions in IT related courses, we will definitely get to see Pakistan making strides towards becoming an IT giant in near future.
As already mentioned, planning, strategy formation, and implementation processes need to be carried out,at all levels, to increase software export revenues in the country. Here, we have briefly discussed some of the changes which need to be implemented at the earliest.
Long term planning
It is extremely unfortunate that businesses in Pakistan are considering software export and other IT services as short term money making processes only. This is why investors are reluctant to splash large fortunes in this particular business.
This mindset needs to be changed if you want to see software export revenues increasing in future. The government can play a crucial role in this by subsidizing startups and business expansion processes. Similarly, private investors can also play their role by making loans and investments available to entrepreneurs.
Strict Policy Making
The second thing which needs to be done here is strict policy making. A large amount of software export money rests outside the country to avoid taxation. The government should take strict actions so that the export money doesn’t stay abroad.
Human Resource Enrichment
Another thing which you can do improve the software export potential in Pakistan is work on the human resource development. This will include the development of IT universities and establishment of software parks. Moreover, international conferences and seminars should also be held where foreigners should be invited for counseling.
Intermittent Training Programs
Lastly, efforts should be made to ensure that the IT concerned people are exposed to advanced training on an intermittent basis. IT is an ever changing field of study and to keep pace with its evolving dynamics you need to undergo training on a regular basis.
These are some of the many things which can be done to build on the mediocre state of affair of the IT export industry in the country.
Author’s Bio: Aaron William the writer of this article, is studying Computer Engineering at a renowned private university, in England Assignment help service he aspires to become an entrepreneur in future.
