By Uwin Lugoda Globally, nations have accelerated their national digital transformation to unlock the potential of new technologies for economic growth and the overall betterment of society. Sri Lanka is no different, having come up with a holistic strategy to address all pillars of digital transformation, according to Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) Chairman Oshada Senanayake. He explained that this strategy includes a cluster of digitisation projects and organisations that have come together to form impactful digital transformation in the country. He said that to have an impactful digital transformation, the country needs to look at things objectively, taking into consideration even the most basic aspects of the digitalisation road map. “It is not just the ICTA that’s involved in this; we have other organisations like the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) and the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (SLCERT), which are also under the Ministry of Technology, working towards digitalisation,” explained Senanayake, speaking to The Sunday Morning. Connectivity Senanayake shared that the first step and key in any national digital transformation strategy should be looking at the country’s connectivity infrastructure. He explained that understanding this, the TRCSL took up the mantle of handling the connectivity side of Sri Lanka’s digital transformation. To improve the country’s connectivity, the TRCSL launched the “Gamata Sanniwedanaya” project in early 2020, which showcased a concise plan to address the connectivity needs of the whole country with national and district-level intervention. Senanayake, who is also the Director General of TRCSL, stated that those in the project first reached out to the 14,022 grama niladhari (GN) divisions in the country in order to complete a survey on which areas have coverage of 4G, 3G, and 2G and below, as well as the underserved and unserved areas. “We reached out to the GN divisions because they are the smallest administrative bodies in the country. And once we had the data in our hands, we understood that this needed to be addressed on a national/district level.” The project took each district separately, used the data they gathered to do a gap analysis, and harmonised the telecommunication industry to help fill in the gap. The “Gamata Sanniwedanaya” project’s pilot phase commenced in Ratnapura, where a steering committee gathered data from 575 GN divisions, and simulations were conducted with the telco operators. According to Senanayake, this helped the TRCSL understand what sort of additional infrastructure was needed to cover connectivity gaps, which was concluded to be an additional 38 towers to give 100% 4G coverage to the district. The TRCSL introduced a unified approach between them and the telco operators in order to achieve this extent of coverage with only an additional 38 towers. This new model called for the sharing of towers by the operators, which would lead to lower environmental impact, less capital overheads, and faster acceleration of connectivity. “Gone are the days where each telco operator puts up their own towers just metres away from each other. The TRC will be co-ordinating this new paradigm, and we have stated that every tower needs to be shared by up to three operators.” He stated that the TRC went beyond just co-ordinating the project, also incentivising the operators to get on board by investing 50% in the towers. He explained that this was done based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) mandate of universal service obligations, which calls for every country to have a fund for investing in connectivity. “At the end of the day, all these operators are listed companies that have stakeholder obligations, so they need some financial feasibility. So, by investing up to 50%, we give these operators the incentive to go deep into rural areas, which would not have initially made sense for them to do.” With the first tower being completed in July, the Ratnapura pilot project has already managed to increase 4G coverage within the district. Senanayake stated that out of the 38 towers, 10 towers have already been established in the areas of Napawala and Kachigala. Following this success, the project has also expanded to other districts such as Kurunegala, which is a bigger district with 1,610 GN divisions, and begun the construction of 23 towers in the Matara District. Moreover, the construction of more commenced in four more districts – including Kandy, Badulla, and Anuradhapura – last week. “Rural connectivity is important for the digital transformation of the country, because without it, we can’t move forward in digital development. Our target is to start work in 10 districts by the end of this year and have 100% connectivity across Sri Lanka by the end of 2023.” The “Gamata Sanniwedanaya” project has also gone on to spawn a new industry, with several players building towers domestically. Senanayake stated that local telco companies were building towers of better quality compared to the towers that are imported. Digital inclusivity The next pillar in Sri Lanka’s digital transformation comes in the form of inclusivity, which is also something President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has called for. Senanayake stated that the ICTA was largely involved in this, helping create a digitally inclusive Sri Lanka with a citizen-centric government and a smart society. “Under this, we ascertain the extent of our digital skills. Our digital literacy is still at a low point, and therefore, we need to extend it. Now that we are giving (connectivity) access to all these districts, we need to empower the people in those areas to get into things like e-commerce and sell their products via online marketplaces and make revenue.” He stated that on this front, the ICTA has introduced a well-articulated strategy to ensure an increase in the digital skill levels of the people. This strategy is being extended to the citizens via job skilling systems spread across all of Sri Lanka at a district level, and to government servants via digital training. “At the end of the day, we don’t just need software and good digital infrastructure; our people also need to be skilled and augmented to run these things.” Digital economy The next pillar Senanayake elaborated on was the country’s digital economy, which has a target of reaching $ 3 billion in exports by 2023 or 2024. He stated that the Government is currently working on accelerating growth of the information technology (IT) industry and the digital economy. Firstly, he stated that Sri Lanka will be positioned and branded as a tech destination and a regional hub where innovation-related services can be pivoted by multinational companies. Parallelly to this, he explained that they will also be working towards scaling up the IT industry’s human capital, which is currently insufficient. “When multinational companies come in, they require around 2,000 skilled individuals. But the resources we have in this context are not sufficient. So, while branding the country as a tech hub, we need to ensure that we have a very sound build-up of human capital.” Senanayake stated that they are currently looking at increasing the number of IT workers in Sri Lanka to around 300,000, from its current 148,000. To achieve this, he stated that they have introduced several lateral training programmes and are introducing the latest technologies to universities so that when multinational companies come in, there will be IT professionals who are up to date with all the global trends.  The second aspect of the digital economy comes in the form of the “1,000 start-ups strategy”, which is aimed at enabling and empowering the local start-up ecosystem.  “We are not going to achieve the $ 3 billion mark (in exports by 2023 or 2024) by just depending on multinational companies setting up shop here. We need to move beyond the traditional ways of focusing on digital services and move towards encouraging our local businesses to create their own IT products; we need to have a product ideation strategy,” said Senanayake. He explained that these start-ups can potentially take their technologies to other countries, thereby adding a new revenue stream to Sri Lanka’s economy. In order to promote this, he stated that there is a need to empower and invest in local start-ups. The ICTA has already introduced programmes such as “Spiralation”, an incubation and funding programme for IT start-ups, which they plan on further expanding. The ICTA is also in the process of setting up start-up ecosystems throughout Sri Lanka, with hubs already being launched in the Uva Province and one being launched more recently in the Sabaragamuwa Province. “This is just like cricket; if you want the best players, you need to go out of Colombo, and into the rural areas. There are smart people out there who are just not enabled. We see that the best of Sri Lanka`s IoT (Internet of Things) companies are actually coming from places like Vavuniya and Jaffna, not Colombo,” explained reasoned Senanayake. He pointed out that, out of the 1,000 start-ups, if one or two turn into unicorn companies, which have valuations of over a $ 1 billion, it would be a game-changer for Sri Lanka’s economy.  Finally, Senanayake stated that the Government is also developing five technoparks across Sri Lanka, giving the multinational companies an immediate ecosystem to plug into.  Digital government According to Senanayake, this is the pillar that looks at digitising all the government sector services in Sri Lanka, by engaging them and empowering them to go online. He stated that two projects under this pillar include the “e-Grama Niladhari” project and the automation of the Department of the Registrar of Companies, enabling individuals to form companies online. “This will be similar to what is done in countries like Singapore, where they facilitate company formation online within a couple of days. This will immediately increase the ease of doing business in Sri Lanka.” He stated that the ICTA is supporting a lot of similar initiatives that will digitise different government institutions, from the basic step of having a website enabled to ensure the availability of services online for citizens, to enterprise-level digital transformations. Senanayake stated that the ICTA was looking at releasing a circular to get government officers to use digital signatures, which were legally acknowledged in Sri Lanka via the Electronic Transactions Act, No. 19 of 2006.  “The digital government pillar is about ensuring digital transformation within the country’s public sector. The Ministry of Technology is also looking at several projects such as the ‘e-Procurement’ system, which will be able to cut out fraud and corruption that is there in the manual systems. Government workers will also be trained to handle these new systems.” Digital services The final pillar in Sri Lanka’s digital transformation is its digital services, which involves the development of the infrastructure needed to manage the other digital initiatives. Senanayake stated that this includes important aspects such as cloud environments, local data centres, and cybersecurity.  He explained that as Sri Lanka progresses with the digitalisation drive, a parallel attempt is underway to build a robust cybersecurity structure to safeguard it. [AF4] Due to this, he stated that CERT is currently working on a Cyber Crimes Act, which is in its last stages of formalisation. “It is wishful thinking to assume that we can do all this digitisation and not experience cyberattacks. As such, with all this data going online, we need to be very careful and have the right governance and security frameworks to ensure a robust environment. This new Cyber Crimes Act will turn CERT into our very own cybersecurity agency.” According to Senanayake, countries in the region are currently placing a lot of focus on digitisation, and Sri Lanka should do the same. He explained that compared to other emerging markets within the region, Sri Lanka has an advantage in its high literacy rate, making it easier to augment individuals into digitally skilled individuals faster. “While digital acceleration is currently happening in the country, we need to make it our prime focus. Digital transformation can increase our productivity, and it can create market openings for new industries. If we look at 5G right now, we started trials last year and we already have around 70 to 80 locations covered with the 5G trials. Pandemic accelerates digital transformation The pandemic has continued to accelerate Sri Lanka’s adoption of technology, leading all industries towards digital transformation. Following this boom in digitisation, local IT professionals have predicted newer technologies entering the market, and a need to pave the way for them. Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) – the national chamber for IT/business process management (BPM) industry – Chairperson Sandra De Zoysa stated that Covid-19 has led to the digitisation of both the economy and society of Sri Lanka. “Several of these technologies were available and were being used pre-pandemic. However, the pandemic has forced rapid adoption and compelled businesses, including the more traditional businesses and business leaders, to adopt digital alternatives. Consequently, this has created confidence and spurred the next wave of digitisation and some great innovations.” She explained that this “new normal” will continue to grow, while also opening the country up to technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), which will be used increasingly in decision-making support, from hiring to performance management and marketing initiatives. Seeing this upcoming trend, SLASSCOM’s AI Centre of Excellence is now focussing on AI adoption in key economic sectors including traditional industries such as agriculture. De Zoysa also stated that there is an increase in the adoption of cloud, intelligent automation, and cybersecurity. She explained that this was due to smart offices, smart buildings, and smart homes increasingly becoming the norm. She further added that other sectors, such as banks and governmental institutions including Customs and the Inland Revenue Department, have made several strides in adopting digitalisation. She highlighted that government agencies such as the ICTA have started implementing a comprehensive programme towards digital citizenry and “e-Government”, which will benefit all of Sri Lanka. De Zoysa shared that the digital transformation of a country has an immense impact on its development. She explained that it leads to significantly faster cycle times and speed of response, improved accuracy, greater efficiency, and flexibility. “As painful as the pandemic has been, it has spurred innovations in several areas, and we have seen numerous brick and mortar businesses going digital, which has given them access to new markets. At a macro level, digital initiatives have the transformational capability; for example, agriculture powered by AI can transform our agricultural industry, and we are already seeing our education and health sectors going digital.” Moreover, she stated that technologies such as intelligent automation have the potential to transform every industry via automation of a host of manual tasks which will free up time for human beings to focus on innovation and value creation, where the possibilities are limitless. However, De Zoysa stated that with all these digital transformations comes the concern for policy, privacy, and ethics that needs to be addressed. Due to this, SLASSCOM has made shaping the policy framework related to these aspects a key focus area. “SLASSCOM, as the industry association for IT/BPM and one of the most active and influential chambers in the country, has several initiatives to accelerate the adoption of digital transformation, and we have launched an AI Centre of Excellence, Intelligent Automation Centre of Excellence – a product and platform council, and a Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence to support our member companies to innovate and create world-class digital solutions and services for the local and global markets.” She went on to state that the chamber works as an accelerator to increase the adoption of cutting-edge technologies, build competencies, and acts as the think tank for advancing innovation, and regularly hosts conferences, webinars, and industry discussions, which help to position Sri Lanka as a centre of excellence. SLASSCOM also actively works with universities and schools to encourage capacity development, to facilitate the doubling of the IT/BPM workforce by 2025. Furthermore, their marquee events held annually such as the AI Asia Summit and Intelligent Automation Conference, bring together global thought leaders to share knowledge and best practices. Finally, De Zoysa stated that Sri Lanka has a unique opportunity to leapfrog and capitalise on its amazing talent and innovation to be a regional IT/BPM hub and accelerate as a digital economy that can take the country to “first world” status. She stated that the country is ideally positioned to attract global innovators to set up, test, and expand into fast-growing South Asian markets.