NASSCOM comes together with 12 global technology industry associations to celebrate success of the industry in addressing COVID-19

The twelve major independent regional organizations representing the Technology and Business Services Sector across the world have united to launch The Global Technology and Business Services Council. The council aims to demonstrate how the global tech industry dealt with the COVID crisis ensuring business continuity and employee safety, the overwhelming feedback it has received from clients across the world, the critical support it provides to various sectors, the absolutely critical role of highly skilled tech workers and the “essential services” they provide. Last but not the least, the innovation it drives and why it is critical to preserve the global, interconnected and collaborative nature of this industry.

GT&BSC, an alliance of twelve international associations representing the technology and business services sector across Bosnia,  Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Egypt, India, Latin America, Latvia, Malaysia, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, United States and Ukraine, collectively represent the interests of over 10,000 organisations, including multi-nationals, indigenous tech companies, SMEs, and start-ups.

Even before COVID struck, technology was already permeating itself into multiple layers of businesses. With the pandemic the speed and the depth of technology adoption is only going to accelerate. It has further brought to light the critical role of tech workers in supporting key IT infrastructure, managing data and global processes for critical sectors such as healthcare, government, banking, supply chains, telecom,  come up with innovative data driven analytics, products and solutions that help in better decision making. These are highly skilled technology workers and every nation needs access to them.

Shivendra Singh, Vice President, Global Trade Development, NASSCOM, says, “The one thing that is common in keeping multiple industries afloat during these trying times and enabling them to transform into digital businesses is “TECHNOLOGY”. Shared efforts by governments, international organisation and global businesses remind us of our connectivity and interdependency and why it is important to retain the global nature of the tech industry. This is a time for collaboration, harnessing investment and innovation from around the world to maximise the speed and depth of economic recovery in all countries.”

 

NASSCOM is also a signatory to the global business community call by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), US, to policymakers worldwide to adopt clear and consistent guidance on including technology workers as those providing essential services. This is also in alignment with recent guidance published by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) that designates key categories of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) workers as essential services.

 

The tech sector was central to the rapid deployment of work from home models not only in India but across the world, providing key support to governments and healthcare for strengthening the fight against COVID. Across countries, technology is helping track the outbreak, clean hospitals, deliver supplies and develop vaccines. This is all referenced in the report being published today entitled: “A unified global response for the technology and business services industry”.

The council from hereon will promote the industry globally, capture and share value creation, demonstrate the innovations it drives, provide a global network to share best practice, work collaboratively on global research programmes and thought leadership and represent the interests of the sector to multiple stakeholders.