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The second annual CEO Forum was held on the 4th of June at IBA Main
Campus. The industry and academia came together to discuss the
future of the Faculty of Computer Science (FCS) at IBA. The session
started off with a welcoming note by Dr. Ishrat Husain. The agenda
for the Forum was primarily the future of FCS at IBA and its
students. It also included a rigorous discussion on the current MS
(CS) program at FCS IBA and its future directions. Proposition for
work experience for FCS students as well as a BS program in
Information Systems were put forward and were met with enthusiasm.
This year participants included:
• Abid Butt- Director, Tele Care
• Adnan Siddiqui- Territory Manager, IBM
• Ashraf Jafri- Country General Manager, UNISYS
• Ashraf Kapadia- CEO, Systems Ltd
• Badar Khushnood- Country Representative, Google Pakistan
• Dr. Ishrat Husain- Dean and Director, IBA
• Dr. Sajjad Haider- Associate Professor, IBA
• Dr. Sayeed Ghani- Associate Dean, FCS, IBA
• Dr. Shakeel Khoja- Professor, IBA
• Dr. Zaheeruddin Asif- Program Director, FCS, IBA
• Farooq Alam- Associate Director, Game View Studios
• Imran Daudi- CIO , Engro Corp
• Jehan Ara- President , P@SHA
• Naeem Saeed- Head of IT , Pak Oman Investment Company
• Naveed Siraj- Country Manager, Intel Pakistan Corporation
• Owais Zaidi- Executive Director, Access Group
• Rabia Garib- Editor-in-Chief, CIO Pakistan
• Rahim Lalani- TRG
• Syed Asif Shah- CIO, CDC
• Syed Asim Zaffar- VectraCom (pvt) Ltd.
Dr. Ishrat Husain, the Dean and Director IBA, initiated the session
by bringing participants up to date on all the changes that have
recently been made by IBA. He said that IBA was creating those niche
professionals in the market who have both; the technical and the
managerial skills. Of late the changes have not just been in the
curricula but in the entire process of learning that the CS students
undergo in IBA. Learning a foreign language is just one example. IBA
CS students are also well equipped with business skills such as soft
skills of being presentable and having the ability to negotiate and
make deals.
Mr. Adnan Siddiqui started off the discussion by praising the IBA
faculty for taking the direction it has. He commended IBA on playing
on its strength. He said that IBM started a consultancy group within
Pakistan for the region. They have 250 consultants as of today.
Their aim is of taking it to the level of 1000 consultants. They
have recently recruited IBA graduates as well. IBM and the market in
general feel that there is a need for graduates from a high value
space. He said that IBA is just that, with the level of technical
expertise that it is gaining and developing.
Mr. Badar Khushnood shared his point of view and said that we are in
a globally expanding market of Digital media marketing. We are
severely lacking in graduates in the middle ground between
management and techies. When members from the international industry
come in, they are unable to find individuals who fit their required
criteria. This is not for the lack of the presence of talented
individuals but rather due to their inability to communicate their
skill set to outsiders. Mr. Naveed Siraj pointed out that even
within the growing local industry employment depends on the power of
articulation of an individual. Mr. Naeem Saeed added to it saying
that even after employment the growth of an individual within an
organization depends on his communication skills.
Mr. Ashraf Kapadia pointed out that in the IT industry, it is the
techie who is the creator of success but it is the manager who takes
the fame and glory. Techies who don’t have any knowledge of the
running of the organization, power of articulation and the ability
to negotiate tend to get ignored despite their achievements and
never make it to the center stage. A proposed solution to this
problem was that the hiring team for techies, which usually
comprises of pure techies as well, needs to be trained to look for
business savvy techies instead of the pure techies.
Another aspect that came to light was of the IT industry which
existed on the web. Individuals with good communication skills can
do free lance work or start their own entrepreneurial venture at
minimal cost. From a Pakistani culture’s perspective this field is
very lucrative for the Pakistani women, who despite being
exceptionally talented, are forced to give up professional lives and
chances of building careers, to care for their families. Our culture
still hasn’t adapted to the idea of working women. An example is of
123greetings.com which was started off by 4 Pakistani women working
from home.
Mr. Owais Zaidi said that the IT industry within Pakistan is not
very mature as yet. It has a long way to go before it can create
success stories like Silicon Valley. This process is progressing
very slowly due to the severe lack of tech savvy managers. These
particular hard core managers are probably the only ones who can
take this industry to the next level in Pakistan. There is a lot of
untapped talent which needs to be explored and then set in to the
right direction. His agency Access Group took two MTs last year and
has had very good results. The new blood entering the industry is
saturated with talent. The IT industry can exploit it with the
opportunities that are being presented to Pakistan due to the rising
prices in India. Although Pakistan may never have the same amount of
manpower as India there is a huge window for the Pakistani IT
industry to take a leap. All small and medium sized Pakistani firms
are now entering in to the South Asian and the Middle Eastern
markets.
Mr. Rahim Lalani came in with the point of view that it is the hard
core techies who are changing the dynamics of the global IT
industry. People like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg
paint the landscape of the industry worldwide. He was pleased to
learn that at IBA, the students have the options to pursue the
chance to be hard core techies.
Ms. Jehan Ara said that we need is a social innovation program.
Currently P@SHA has started such a program worth Rs 20million in
collaboration with Google. She extended invitation for BS (CS)
students at IBA to work on a social innovation program as a
community welfare program of volunteer internship. Simultaneously
Mr. Imran Daudi invited IBA FCS to come in and volunteer with Engro
CSR department. Both of these notions were highly appreciated by Dr.
Ishrat Husain, Dr. Sayeed Ghani as well as by all those present. The
general perception was that for the industry to move forward in the
global arena, the industry itself needs to invest in the academia to
prepare the fresh blood which will take the industry forward.
The ensuing discussion revealed that the industry, in general,
understands that since the IT bubble burst students are reluctant to
enter this particular industry. The economic situation makes the
matters worse. Students opt for fields where they know that they
will have job availability as well as job security in the
professional arena. The new motto is to change that perception and
help students who are passionate about technology and taking a
stance. The industry also understands the need to build training
grounds in forms of formal training sessions as well as incubators
which allow the students to experiment and let their thought process
flow. IBA FCS has already covered the former with its new
departments and programs of study. The latter is in the process of
development and very soon IBA students will have incubators to give
them hands-on practice for the real world and to make their ideas
come to life. This will also provide an opportunity for the industry
to invest in to concrete ideas and guide the students through every
step of the way. All of this will help built the trust of people in
the industry and will encourage more students to choose IT as their
field of study.
Mr. Asim Zaffar said that in the past 2 years VectraCom has taken 25
students through incubators. For a developing industry within
Pakistan these are very encouraging numbers. Mr.Naveed Siraj said
that they, as job creators or hirers are also facing a lot of
problems because the students set high expectations on the amount of
the pay checks that they should be getting or should be offered.
This leads to dissatisfaction on their side and they then tend to
pursue Masters in Business Administration rather than mastering and
building careers in the field of IT. This is one of the issues that
the industry is focusing on solving.
The problem of the mismatch between the skill set and the expected
compensation is rapidly mounting. Mr. Farooq Alam stated that when
Game View Studios parent Japanese company asked them to recruit
about a 1000 people from Pakistan they just couldn’t find the right
people who could match the skill set. Opportunities such as this are
passing us at a rapid pace. We don’t need a quick fix; instead work
has to be done to reach a permanent solution.
Dr. Sayeed Ghani highlighted all the changes that have been brought
about since the annual CEO Forum of 2010. Propositions and
suggestions were exchanged in the ensuing vigorous discussion
between the CEOs and the faculty. Changes to be brought about in the
near future were outlined. Dr. Sajjad Haider also made a
presentation on the performance of the Karachi Koalas in the RoboCup
Soccer IranOpen 2011. This was one if the major steps taken by FCS
IBA and the comments from the panel made it clear that such
achievements were highly appreciated and weighed the scales heavily
in the favor of FCS IBA.
The final presentation was made by Dr Shakeel Khoja regarding the MS
(CS) curriculum. Feedback was gained from the panel regarding their
views on the current curricula and suggestions that they had.
Possibility of a new undergraduate in IS was put forward before the
panel broke up for lunch. All in all, the entire session was an
enlightening one for all and provided FCS IBA with valuable insights
in to the industry and industry participation in its programs which
will be of immense help in the long run.
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