As the deadly Covid-19 pandemic began spreading, its economic impact also began to gradually dawn upon every country the world over, resulting in nearly all the industries and sectors bearing the devastating financial impact of this global health crisis and facing unprecedented danger. Amidst this, there is one industry which is mistakenly believed to be immune to the effects of the virus and benefiting from it – the information technology (IT) sector. However, the world-renowned IT-centric market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) published a report last week forecasting a decline in overall revenue in the global IT industry by up to 3-4%. It says the pandemic is set to cut into global IT spending by 2.7% in 2020, as businesses and individuals cut their spending to compensate for the economic losses due to the pandemic and containment consequences. In the Sri Lankan context, this point was reiterated by IronOne Technologies (Pvt.) Ltd. Co-founder/CEO and BoardPAC (Pvt.) Ltd. CEO Lakmini Wijesundera last week at an online panel discussion conducted by BLUE LOTUS 360. “It’s a misconception that IT (industry) is fine, because we are not. There are pockets that are doing okay and it will pick up, but IT is also affected since most of our clients are from sectors like retail and finance,” said Wijesundera. She explained that the global industry is impacted as a vendor due to the current lockdown and will take a couple of months to settle down, depending on the financial impact they have had. Wijesundera stated that they are part of an ecosystem – a supply chain in which they are the providers – and therefore, there has to be someone on the other end ready to obtain their services and pay them. “We have a unit in our company looking at US retail and we had projects running for 18 months that had also been already ordered, but now they have just stopped,” she stressed. However, Wijesundera added that out of all the industries impacted by the virus, the IT industry would be the first to bounce back, purely out of necessity and its ability to work remotely with just a computer and an internet connection. She also stated that the virus has been a great equaliser for SaaS (Software as a Service) companies around the world, opening up opportunities for the local industry to compete with international companies. SaaS is a software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the internet. It is one of three main categories of cloud computing, alongside Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS). Wijesudera further noted that before the virus and its resultant aviation restrictions, SaaS industries in countries like Sri Lanka were limited by travel when it came to international clients. Taking the US as an example, she explained how a SaaS vendor in the US would have an easier time approaching clients by “wine and dining” them, while SaaS vendors from other countries would have to travel all the way to the US to get the same sort of attention. “Since we run on a B2B (business to business) model, we had to travel to certain countries to meet with clients and showcase demos to them. So this has been a great equaliser,” she added. However, Wijesundera stated that while this opportunity is available to use now, it might end once the travel bans are lifted. Therefore, she suggested that we focus on which markets to look at and the strength of the local industry in order to market ourselves to international clients. “We have to prioritise and figure out the countries we would be stronger in and what kind of modes we are going to do. It’s not just a fancy situation where we put out all the marketing material; we have to get the sales back,” she pointed out. According to Wijesundera, while these possibilities are available, they have to look after their reputation and be extremely cautious when reaching out to clients. She explained that unlike most retailers, their clients cannot make a personal call on the services the industry provides, and instead the IT managers in these companies take a lot of precautions when choosing software service providers as they do it on behalf of the company. Due to this, Wijesundera stated that her company is currently doing things like giving out free work so that the clients can try them out, which ultimately leads to a quicker decision-making process on their part. “If you buy a product, you have to go through things like vulnerability testing, etc. Therefore, we are counting on them trying out these free products and liking the experience,” she added. While Wijesundera suggested that the local industry use this opportunity, she also suggested that they practise caution, since they have to first stabilise their own companies and do not know when this outbreak would end. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we might not get it again. Yet, we must be cautious when trying to approach it. As much as the potential is there and everyone has been neutralised, we have to make sure we are careful with our money, efforts, and the limited resources available,” Wijesudera noted.