Like several nations in the region, Pakistan’s Information Technology (IT) sector is currently seeing a digital revolution, which is carving a differentiated position as the preferred source for software development, BPO and freelancing.

Pakistan, which has about 60% of its 220 million population in the 15 to 29 age group, represents an enormous human and knowledge capital.

Currently, the country has more than 2,000 IT companies and call centers and the number is growing every year.

Pakistan has more than 300,000 English speaking IT professionals with expertise in current and emerging IT products and technologies, and 13 Software technology parks, while more than 20,000 IT graduates and engineers are being produced each year coupled with a rising start-up culture.

 Pakistan is ranked the fourth fastest growing freelance marker with 47% growth in freelance earning, aside from a 70% surge in its IT exports over the past three year.

The country’s digital growth is going through a rapid evolution.

 IT/IT Enabled Services Sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in Pakistan, contributing around 1% of the GDP, which amounts to 3.5 billion dollars.

IT exports have surged up to 2.616 billion dollars (July 2021 to June 2022) with a growth rate of 24.1%, in comparison to 2.108 billion dollars during the fiscal year 2020-21, reported by Ministry of IT and Telecom.

 Pakistan’s IT exports have increased by 26% during the first eight months of the current fiscal year,  compared to the same period last year.

 They have been doubled over the last four years, with experts  for seeing a further 100% growth in the next two to four years, amounting  to 7 billion dollars.

Pakistan’s software exports are currently worth 700 million dollars, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. However, the country’s freelancers add another 1.2 billion dollars to exports, an amount not recorded by the central bank as they are not registered.

In accordance with Pakistan Vision 2025 and the Digital policy of Pakistan 2018, the ICT industry size is targeted to reach $20 billion by 2025.

 Most importantly,  the country’s otherwise deteriorated security situation  has seen a drastic improvement in recent years.

 A number of successful startups, like careem, daraz, zameen.com, rozee.pk etcetera, are bringing an additional investment to Pakistan.

Traditional investors from other Pakistani sectors like textile, and fertilizers are also taking special interest in the startup ecosystem.

 In the traditional IT outsourcing, other South Asian nations are become increasingly expensive and  are finding it hard to compete in the technology areas like artificial intelligence, internet of things, cyber security, automation etc.

 According to a report by a San Francisco-based organization Deel, Pakistani freelancers’ salaries are among the world’s fastest rising.

Pakistanis ranked third with 27% hike in salaries after Mexico (57%) , and Canada (38%).

A survey conducted by Payoneer in 2019 showed that Pakistani women freelancers were earning $22 an hour, 10% more than the $20 an hour by men. Pakistani male freelancers’ earnings are at par with the global average.

The multi-billion dollars China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)  project has also added to the rapid growth of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.

The Pak-China Science, technology, commerce and logistic park will be established at an estimated cost of 1.5 billion dollars at  an area of 500 hectares in Islamabad.

 Islamabad will provided land to China’s Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, while Beijing will  bear the investment cost for 10 years.

Science and Technology Parks (STPs) are an outcome of collaboration between community, academics, government and businesses.

Technology (IT) Parks have become a primary source of innovation induction in areas which range from small sectors to large economies.

Given the growth in economic activity fueled by the expansion in business dynamics, both innovation and technology have come up as the new frontiers for competition.

Technological advancements can be matched by the world but one thing which can serve as a competitive advantage among the other professionals and Pakistani professionals is the empathetic customer dealing.

We need to focus on developing segment-orientated value propositions taking the best-in-class offers of all businesses’ and bring them to customers worldwide in a consistent way.

Focussing on digital transformation,  we need to role model to demonstrate “customer first”, that surprise and delight customers by anticipate their need and go the extra mile to build deep relationships with our customers, develop opportunities for growth and mobilize our infrastructure to deliver a great customer experience.

Companies should consider measuring their performances in terms of assessing their customer experiences not just through the revenue they earn. This is a far neglected area as most of the companies and service providers focus on winning new business and forego the need of maintaining good and loyal relationships with the customer. They often forget that the studies show that 85% of the business comes from the already acquired customers and their retention is solely depends upon the quality of services and the customer satisfaction they feel while working with your companies.

Trainings and Quality certificates with regular accountability and continuous improvement projects are inevitable to create an environment where the global buyers know that if they are hiring a professional from Pakistan even as a freelancer, they will be getting the best business experience. Continuous Improvement delivers positive customer experience, improving quality & increasing efficiency, sustainability and mindset. But also, Continuous Improvement allows to get better return on investment.

Capacity building is the need of the day to implement all this and achieve more, companies needs to work on improving the communication skills and also make their people to learn how to deliver an outstanding experience to their customers end-to-end. To support this ambition, companies and freelancers must consider this is key to better know the expectations of their customers, in order to delight them.

Without customer service, retaining customers and success would be impossible. In fact, the flywheel would probably stop spinning altogether. With excellent customer service, you’ll attract new customers, prevent customer churn, and build your brand reputation and image. Plus, the data continues to support the fact that great customer service is an expectation, not a “nice-to-have.”