The Pakistan Software Export Board has been given the go ahead and funding to help IT companies in Pakistan get internationally certified. With the project titled ‘Enhancing IT Exports Through Industry Support Programs’, PSEB is aiming to boost Pakistan’s IT exports from 2 billion PKR per annum to 10 billion PKR per annum by 2025.
Planning Commission, Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform, in its Central Development Working Party (CDWP) meeting, chaired by Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal, gave the nod to PSEB to start the project.
The 265 million PKR plan, which has been formulated in close collaboration with the industry, will see 30 IT companies being assisted in getting Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) certifications and 50 IT companies being helped to get ISO27001/20000 certifications. 76% of the costs will be borne by the government while the remaining will be filled by the IT industry.
Currently, there aren’t a lot of companies with international certifications, which is concerning since IT services are among Pakistan’s specialties. These certifications will open up a lot of new doors as well as make our industry more competitive in the international market.
We should mention that initially the project was submitted with a cost of 709 million PKR and having the following components:
- CMMI Certification Program
- ISO 27000 and ISO 20000 Certification Program
- Internship Program
- Marketing/Branding of IT Industry Program
- Project Management Unit
In response, the Ministry of IT submitted a modified plan having only two components i-e CMMI Certification Program and ISO 27000 and ISO 20000 Certification Program. Furthermore, the project costs was reduced to 265 million PKR.
PSEB has done such projects in the past. With the help of the board, 23 companies have successfully acquired CMMI-Level 2 to CMMI-Level 5 certifications including NetSol and Digital Processing Systems. 11 companies have acquired ISO27001 certification including Systems Pvt Ltd and iEngineering. And 110 companies have acquired ISO9001 certifications. To build IT human resource capital, more than 5400 interns have also been placed in the industry by PSEB till date.
