IFS is renowned for developing and delivering global cloud enterprise software for companies that manufacture and distribute goods, build and maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations. Within its single platform, IFS’ industry-specific products are innately connected to a single data model and use embedded digital innovation so that their customers can be their best when it matters to their customers—at the Moment of Service™.
In the wake of IFS Sri Lanka celebrating its 25th Anniversary, IFS Chief Executive Darren Roos shares his thoughts on this milestone and what the future may have in store for the global tech landscape and Sri Lanka.
IFS Sri Lanka is celebrating 25 years. How do you view the impact the company has made in its history?
In the past five years as the CEO of IFS, I have seen Sri Lanka proving itself to be a gem in the crown of IFS. On my visits since I joined in 2018, it was immediately apparent from the beginning the great wealth of talent of really passionate, enthusiastic people who love what they do and who had a natural aptitude to provide high-quality work that is customer-focused. I love Sri Lanka and what we do here, and our Sri Lankan operation is a vital part of our business.
The company reaches this milestone while navigating through one of the most challenging periods of this country’s history and in the wake of a possible global recession. How will the current circumstances affect IFS and its operations in Sri Lanka?
I think the challenges we’ve faced, from COVID to the subsequent economic crisis and political unrest, have only proven the resilience of our operations in Sri Lanka. Not every country deals well with such circumstances, and being a global business, our investment in Sri Lanka has been a cause for concern, which is normal, but it has never proven to be an issue.
In the time I’ve spent as CEO, we prepare for hypothetical potential disaster recovery scenarios and have fallback plans, but at the end of the day, it all comes back to the passion, enthusiasm and commitment that our employees have because it is difficult to motivate yourself to get up, work and get the job done in such circumstances. When you engage with the team here, you see their passion, energy and enthusiasm.
Frankly, that’s why we continue to invest here. We have other options, but why go somewhere else when you have great employees and colleagues passionate about the customers and their work?
IFS has been transforming Sri Lankan businesses with modern solutions backed by the cloud since the pandemic. How will the technology that IFS delivers evolve in the future?
The technology and the products we deliver will continue to evolve. We leapt forward with our cloud services for both local and global customers. Because deploying the software was on-premises before, any major upgrade because of changing business models, innovation, and new requirements would take time and effort. Even when these upgrades are deployed, there would be another period where innovation takes place, and a new upgrade is required.
By moving to the cloud, customers are now on an application that is constantly changing and regularly updated to meet any new requirements in their business or changes in their business model. Because we frequently infuse the application with new capabilities, updating it continually, customers always have the latest and greatest technology available.
How will new technologies, including AI and machine learning, influence the development of new technology and products?
Artificial intelligence can only mirror what humans are taught and learn what we teach them. This is about us continuing to innovate. The horse-drawn carriage became redundant with the automobile, but it was a step forward. AI will take over many of the mundane tasks humans have today, freeing up human capacity for people to pursue more engaging tasks that require their unique talents, jobs that only humans can do.
We should embrace innovation and its capability and harness its ability to enrich our lives rather than push back on it because it’s a tide that can’t be stopped. The pace of change is rapidly accelerating, but humans are incredibly adaptable. People change; they adapt and move forward for the better.
With predictions of an impending global recession, how does IFS aim to grow and expand its local and worldwide presence?
Rather than focusing internally at IFS, our focus is on our customers, what they want and where they are headed. We want to ensure we are creating value for them and doing what they need us to do.
When times are tough, every industry and every customer wants to find ways to improve things, which is what our applications are built for. We are the best-positioned vendor to provide solutions to elevate efficiency and productivity in various industries, from telco to utilities, oil and gas, or manufacturing.
The current macroeconomic turmoil is an opportunity to accelerate our market share gain and truly embed ourselves as the dominant leader in our space.
What are the biggest roadblocks for Sri Lanka in becoming a destination for technology and a digitalized nation?
Transitioning from the old to the new will be the biggest challenge, and the country needs to digitalize. There’s a lot of scope for that, but it’s always a challenging process, and what you’ve experienced in the past few years certainly makes it worse.
You will have to shift your economy from what it was before — garments and natural resources – to a more digital one which is fundamentally a challenging hurdle when you don’t have the scale that India has. You’re not necessarily going to get the exact size of companies coming here because if they need 20,000 developers, finding them here will be a struggle, especially if it becomes competitive.
The challenge for Sri Lanka is to differentiate itself from other locations. You’re not competing with India. You have a different value proposition; a higher level of skill and capability. The talent and resilience of Sri Lankans is a unique selling proposition, a quality that you need to exploit.