With the objective of defining and developing a framework for professional skills which will fulfil the current soft skills gap in the IT/BPM industry and support its stakeholders to have a more comprehensively competent workforce, SLASSCOM as the nation’s catalyst for the IT/BPM industry, will be launching “The Professional Skills Program” which is the first of its kind to be launched in the country.
The programme is centred on the core concepts of Personal Growth, Communication & Relationships, Ethics, Leadership skills, Inclusivity, Team based skills, Remote Communication, Verbal & Written Communication, Presentation Mastery, Networking, Analytical skills, Learning Agility, Entrepreneurship skills and Creativity and Innovation, all of which will complement the technical skills acquired by the recipients. It would also host interactive training programs on a monthly basis, led by renowned trainers and professionals.
Offered through the SLASSCOM Academy, a new venture of SLASSCOM, the first stage of the program is due to be launched soon. The absence of a national level Professional Skills Framework and the need to accelerate its implementation due to industry demand, lead SLASSCOM’s capacity forum setting up a team to define, enhance and rollout the topics and related course materials to develop the framework and the program.
Speaking on the importance of the Program to Sri Lanka’s IT/ BPM workforce, Board Director and Head of the Capacity Forum at SLASSCOM, and the Executive Director and Technology Consulting Leader at PwC Mr. Nishan Mendis stated,” Sri Lanka’s IT/ BPM industry competes on the global stage not on the numbers we generate, but on the value we create. This is what we promise in our ‘Island of Ingenuity’ brand. By being a niche player and being small and nimble, a client working with a Sri Lankan organization will communicate with all its employees related to the relevant project. This means we have a responsibility to develop the interpersonal and leadership qualities of our workforce as a whole, and that is what we hope to accomplish with the launch of this program.”
The framework of the SLASSCOM Professional Skills Program has been defined by taking inspiration from the PwC professional career progression framework and with the collaboration of the IT industry as well as academia, and the team at SLASSCOM have ensured the program would be a salient supplementary qualification for any IT professional.
Haresh Perera, SLASSCOM General Council Member and Digital Transformation Leader at PwC speaking on how the program could positively impact IT professionals in their careers explained, “Sri Lanka is the island of ingenuity with a skilled and hardworking workforce. However, as the industry grows and steps out into the global stage in a big way, we still have much to learn. Some of the most salient skills that we need to bridge the gap are important soft skills such as interpersonal and leadership skills and these are some of the key focus areas of the curriculum. The first 9 units that will comprise the 1st stage of the program is set to be launched on 4th Oct and we will also be launching all 28 units of the programme through the portal, in time.
SLASSCOM’s Chairperson, Sandra De Zoysa said, “We are proud to have put together this revolutionary program with the support of some top professionals in IT/BPM and we look forward to launching it to the public via the SLASSCOM Academy Portal. Our workforce is what makes our industry a success and we at SLASSCOM will look to empower the workforce with the right programmes and initiatives for development of the current future workforce”
The development of Sri Lanka’s IT/ BPM workforce is a critical aspect to SLASSCOM’s progress towards the achievement of creating 1,000 new start-ups and 200,000, contributing to an export revenue worth USD 5 billion by 2025, and this initiative is one of the key agendas that will pave the way towards making this vision a reality.