Integration Xperts CEO wants concerted efforts to increase Pakistan’s IT exports

Umair Azam, CEO and founder of IT firm Integration Xperts, has said that YouTubers, freelancers and other IT professionals are leaving Pakistan in large numbers owing to lack of concerted efforts to promote the sector.

Speaking to a group of journalists on Tuesday, he stated that IT sector has the potential to multiply country’s exports.

“Investment in technology sector is the fastest way to grow Pakistan’s exports,” said Azam at his office in Karachi. “People (different companies and government departments) in Pakistan are working as if they are on separate islands. There are no concerted efforts at all.”

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Integration Xperts is a cloud implementation and professional services providing IT company. The company has over 180 employees and has presence in Pakistan, UAE, Australia, Malaysia and USA.

“IT can help the ailing national economy get back on track by not only directly contributing to inflows and job creation, but also by supporting local organisations in improving their efficiency and profitability, which will generate more revenues for the government.”

He said that the IT sector has continually contributed to GDP over the past 10 years but its exports account for just 1% of GDP. It possess ample potential to increase exports by around four times in the next few years.

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“Exports from the industry can be increased from the current $2.6 billion to $12-15 billion in the next few years but there is a dire need for vision and a collected efforts by different entities.

“If the nation prepares 1 million youngsters to enter this sector, they can easily earn $1,000 monthly. This will be tough but doable if collected efforts are made,” he said.

However, he lamented the fact that out of the 25,000 students graduating to join the sector every year, only 1.5-2% are fit for hiring.

“Companies have to work on the remaining graduates for 6-12 months to make them fit for generating revenue for them. After that, many of them leave for better opportunities abroad. Around 1 million people have left Pakistan over the last one year.”

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Meanwhile, he said that the manufacturing sector in Pakistan must respond to international demand to digitise otherwise countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam would consume its business in the next few years.

“Foreign companies want to have real-time access (to the production facilities of their suppliers) in order to keep a check on quality control as well as compliance requirements. If you don’t provide them what they need, they will go elsewhere,” he said.

Meanwhile, he cited that businesses looked beyond the cloud and investigate IoT, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, which have the potential to fundamentally alter how business is conducted.

For instance, SenseR, a cutting-edge retail demographics solution created by IX, helps organisations better understand customers’ in-store behaviour using CCTV cameras to aid in sales forecasting, customer segmentation and assessing the effect of marketing campaigns on footfall generation.

“A leading fashion retail outlet has been utilising the solution at over 100 stores for a number of years now and has considerably enhanced their customer experience,” said Azam.

While sharing his company’s future plans, he said that they may go for an IPO at the Pakistan Stock Exchange in 2027. HBL, UBL, K-Electric, Jazz, JS Bank and MCB are among its clients. Azam said that his firm is the biggest partner of Oracle in Pakistan.