IT training centre director says Cambodia needs to start realising its potential
A student takes a computer class at CIST in Phnom Penh. Vincent Drouillard, the director of the centre, says that Cambodia should focus on developing its IT sector as an integral part of the economy.A LACK of computer use in Cambodian businesses, in part due to high costs of Internet access, is creating a job shortage for the country’s information and communications technology graduates and preventing the development of a potentially lucrative ICT industry, a local educator says.
Vincent Drouillard, director at the Centre for Information Systems Training (CIST), says greater and more sophisticated computer use among businesses is essential for the development of a so-called business process outsourcing (BPO) industry to create jobs, drive economic growth and potentially earn valuable export revenues.
“A strong internal market with high competency levels is a strong point when it comes to selling services outside of the country,” he said. “Outsourcing services is definitely an opportunity for Cambodia.”
However, research presented by CIST last month shows the country is starting from a low base. A CIST survey of ICT usage in private companies estimated that there were just 45,700 computers in use in Cambodian businesses with more than 10 employees, 38,800 of them in Phnom Penh.
Usage was growing around 20 percent a year, but most systems and network jobs were handled in-house, according to CIST Company Department Coordinator Sahak Nimol.
Just 15 percent of the companies surveyed completely outsourced these jobs, with 84 percent using internal staff, indicating huge room for development of an industry to manage firms’ IT needs.
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