Itan, Nasscom Others Collaborate on IT Development

National Software and Services Companies  (NASSCOM) of India, the  premier trade body and  chamber of commerce of the IT business-processing outsourcing, (BPO)  industries in India are expected in the country this week for the  2010 edition of the Information Technology Chief Executive  Officers, summit organized by the  Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (Itan) in conjunction with the National Information Technology Development Agency (Nitda) and the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (Witsa) Africa Regional Secretariat.
 This is part of the commitment of ITAN to retool the Nigerian ICT industry   for global competitiveness in the 21st century knowledge economy.
Dr Jimson Olufuye, President of ITAN, disclosed that the forum would bring  together  CEOs from the Information  Communication Technology (ICT) industry for networking, broad synergy, capacity enhancement and strategic focus on the huge immediate and future potentials of the IT and IT-BPO industry to enable, empower and enrich the Nigerian economy.
The event which will focus on Information Technology Enabled Services, (ITES) for business-processing outsourcing, (BPO), according to Olufuye will have in attendance Nasscom members including Eastern Software Systems, AES Technologies India Pvt Ltd, Agile Labs Pvt Ltd, Aujas Networks Pvt Ltd.
Others include, C1 India Pvt Ltd, Comviva  First Source Solutions Ltd, International Institute of Information Technology, Pune,  Karrox Technologies Ltd , Newgen Software Technologies Ltd
Nihilent Technologies,  Octaware Technologies, Ontrack Systems Ltd ,Oracle Financial Services Software, Payoda Technologies Pvt Ltd, QAI Global Services, R P Infosystems Pvt Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd , Tricom Information & Technology.
At the end of the Summit, according to Olufuye who is very passionate about human capacity building, would have achieved among others, progressive development of the Nigerian internal Outsourcing businesses and industry, Locking-in of Nigeria as the hub of IT-BPO in Sub-Saharan Africa as it meets the Indian Investors’ desire to serve Europe and America ITES ever-growing market, Match-making Indian and Nigerian IT CEOs in a B2B for investment, partnership and networking and Exposure of more CEOs to the Off-shoring and Outsourcing business potentials.
Mr. Amos Emmanuel, Chairman Local Organizing Committee, (LOC) and Council member of Itan, had earlier disclosed that this year’s IT Future 2010 with the theme empowering IT CEOs   is a follow up to the series which started in 2006.
 The IT CEO Summit 2010, according to him, will be unique as it will for the first time bring together IT Industry CEOs in Nigeria and from India, the National Software and Services Companies of India.
“The IT CEOs in Nigeria and NASSCOM will be joined by the foremost IT Industry association in the USA, TechAmerica and PIKOM, Malaysia to boost Nigeria’s participation in the annual over US$600 billion IT BPO business. India is currently the leader in this sector earning more than 60% of the annual market value. The synergy which is captured by the theme: Empowering CEOs for off shoring and M-outsourcing projects is a strategy to empower the Nigerian IT CEOs in collaboration with their international counterparts to tap into the huge potential for IT-BPO growth in Nigeria.
“It is expected that one of the prides of the Nigerian IT BPO industry – the Kano ICT Park, will be showcased for investment to the cream of the IT BPO success stories in India, Malaysia and the USA among many others” he explained.
The event, he said is a follow-up to the recent workshop by the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) and the World Bank aimed at growing the Nigerian Business Process Outsourcing sector with the aim of creation jobs and wealth as part of broad strategy for the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals and the attainment of the Nigerian Vision 20: 2020.