P@SHA Social Innovation Fund: Take Two

P@SHA
P@SHA Tech Talk
Pakistan Software Houses Association
for IT & ITES
http://www.pasha.org.pk
@PASHAORG
facebook.com/pakict
I S S U E 1
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Message from 2
the Chairman
Message from 2
the President
P@SHA Career 3
Expo 2012
P@SHA
4
Launches
Women in IT
Research
Success Stories 5
P@SHA IT
8
Salary Survey
P@SHA
Activity Log
MoITT holds National ICT Policy Roundtable
On July 4, 2012 the Ministry of IT & Telecom,
Pakistan Software Export Board & P@SHA
jointly held a roundtable discourse in
Islamabad on the
draft National ICT
Policy document.
The Roundtable
was chaired by
Mr. Farooq
Ahmed Awan,
Federal Secretary
IT & Telecom and
was attended by
ministry officials
and stakeholders
from PSEB, FIA,
National ICT R&D
Fund, USF,
P@SHA, civil
society, media,
academia and representatives from the local
and international technology companies.
A National ICT policy has to be national in its
focus and emphasis. While software exports
have grown at an impressive rate over the
last decade the
domestic
technology
consumption
figure is now just
as significant.
More importantly
both contribution
figures (exports,
domestic
consumption)
have so far
ignored the
enabling impact
of technology on
other related
sectors such as
banking, insurance, government,
manufacturing, media, education, defense
and agriculture. But beyond (contd on pg 9)
P@SHA Social Innovation Fund: Take Two
Services
P@SHA
2 0 1 2
FEATURE STORY
10
Member
A U G U S T
11
After a brilliant first
round, the P@SHA
Fund for Social
Innovation is back!
This year, P@SHA Fund
saw the P@SHA Career
Expo 2012 as a befitting
platform for starting off
the next round. The
Career Expo was organized in Karachi at the
Marriott Hotel on June 2, 2012, specifically
for the ICT industry of Pakistan.
P@SHA Fund held an
Idea-storming session at
the event, for the
entrepreneurial value it
offered people in terms
of career development.
The session was
preceded by the panel
discussion “From Idea
to Start-up”, which covered the basics of
entrepreneurship. (Contd on Pg 9)
Message from the Chairman
2
P@SHA Central
Executive Committee
(CEC)
Chairman
Nadeem Elahi
Country Manager, TRG
Vice Chairman
Abbas Khan
Director, Abacus Consulting
Treasurer
Hasan A. Rizvi
CEO, Fiver Rivers
Technologies (Pvt.) Ltd.
Secretary General
Amin Ansari
COO, CTO 24/7 Pvt Ltd
CEC Members
Afaque Ahmed
Director, Cloud BPO (Pvt.)
Ltd.
Ashraf Kapadia
Managing Director, Systems
Ltd
Naseer Akhtar
CEO, InfoTech (Pvt.) Ltd.
Syed Ahmad
CEO, DPL (Pvt.) Ltd.
Talhah Munir Khan
CTO. Knowledge Platform
Pvt Ltd
Zafar Khan
CEO, Sofizar (Pvt.) Ltd.
Its certainly been a very busy and eventful year
so far at P@SHA. The primary highlight of the
year in my view has been the launch of our
enhanced ‘Member Services’ offerings that are
now solely focused on providing our members
with a variety of support services that range
from technical information on relevant
corporate and local regulations to access to
new business and learning opportunities.
P@SHA has also bolstered its research
capabilities at the secretariat to provide our
members with important data on industry
statistics as well as to highlight information on
key social and business issues pertinent to our
members. P@SHA has so far produced two
excellent research studies: the first being a
detailed report on salaries across a variety of
professional industry functions and the second
is a report on Women working in the ICT
industry. Both reports have received great
reviews from members and non-members.
In addition, P@SHA has taken a highly
pro-active stance on several key matters with
regards to the government and the regulatory
framework. P@SHA played a pivotal role in the
discussion on a National ICT Policy framework
and has worked intensively with the Ministry
of IT and other stakeholders to the extent that
P@SHA
TECH
P@SHA has also been proactive in engaging
with members of the press and media on
important industry issues. We have so far held
two ‘Meet the Press’ sessions to highlight
findings of our industry research and also on
matters related to the PECO law. In both
instances P@SHA’s view was prominently
highlighted in both electronic and print media
Finally, I do want to commend the P@SHA team
in all of their efforts so far and wish them the
very best for the rest of the year! I would
request all of our members to regularly engage
with the secretariat and give their feedback so
we can further improve services in the future.
Message from the President
The Pakistan IT & ITES sector is an amazing business sector to be in. There is never a dull moment. So much
innovation, so much activity, immense energy …
and, as always, P@SHA has been at the center of
it all.
Policy & Research have been top of the agenda
this year. Cooperation with the Ministry of IT and
other stakeholders on the development of the
National ICT Policy was the key area of focus resulting in a draft that there was consensus on.
Caption
the original Policy draft
formulated by our team has
been incorporated into the
overall Policy endorsed by
the IT Ministry. Further,
P@SHA on its own accord has
re-drafted the Pakistan Electronic Crimes
Ordinance (PECO) to protect the interests of the
IT Industry and to ensure a fair due-process to
IT companies impacted by the law. We will now
be advocating this draft with the relevant
legislative body to ensure its inclusion in the
new law.
I understand that members of the new P@SHA
team have been in touch with you to try and understand your needs and enhance the level of
services being offered. If you haven’t met or spoken with Nabeel, Nausheen, Mustafa and Sadaf,
do engage with them.
The P@SHA Career Expo made a strong return to
Karachi this year with hundreds of jobs posted,
interactive workshops, brainstorming sessions and on-site
interviews. Next stop: Lahore.
I am happy to report that the
five grantees of the P@SHA
Social Innovation Fund have taken their ideas to a
beta stage and are progressing well thanks to the
hard work of the grantees and their mentors.
More ideas are being sought and we hope to fund
at least another 5 after Eid.
This week we are launching the Call for
submission to the P@SHA ICT Awards 2012.
Watch the website and our Facebook page for
updates. The P@SHA ICT Awards now in their 9th
year will be held in Lahore on October 10, 2012.
Hope to see you there. This year the
winners will be going to APICTA in Brunei in the
first week of December to compete at a
regional level.
ISSUE1
3
First in the Series: P@SHA Career Expo 2012
Our most inexhaustible and useful
resource is human capital. Optimal
utilization of this resource holds the ability
to turn any industry into an example of
accelerated growth.
With an aim to plug in the industry to the
best in human resource, the Pakistan
Software Houses Association for IT and
ITES (P@SHA) brought back this year one
of its flagship events, the P@SHA Career
Expo.
The Expo covered more dimensions of
career building than most such events, as
it included entrepreneurship under its
scope to serve its objective of facilitating
the overall growth of the IT sector.
Companies had outdone themselves to
attract prospective employees to their
stalls. While TRG offered prizes to the
candidates who could solve their ‘mind
games’ and puzzles, Access Group held a
lucky draw for the candidates whereby
one lucky person walked off with a brand
new cell phone.
Amongst the companies present were
Systems Ltd, Workforce Software,
ArpaTech , Etlize Pakistan, Ten Pearls
International, Game View Pakistan (Pvt.)
Ltd., TPS, TRG Tech, Primatics Financial,
Goodcore Software, AutoSoft Dynamics,
Mazars Consulting and Avanza Solutions.
While most participating companies had
sent in their senior people to provide
counseling and guidance to young
professionals and students at the
company booth, some had gone a step
further than that.
Meanwhile, workshops were held on
“Resume Writing & Interview
Techniques” and “Careers in ICT”. The
first workshop (Resume Writing &
Interview Techniques) was conducted
by Nausheen Ishtiaq. The hour-long
workshop began at 11:30 am and was
highly interactive. Nausheen herself has
had the experience of recruiting
employees which made her a credible
and relevant source of guidance.
Following this, the workshop on
“Careers in ICT” was conducted by Ansar
Muhammad. The workshop enlightened
participants about the various options
(and their nuances) available to them
within the field of IT as they embark on
building their careers.
The event, which took place on Saturday,
June 2, 2012 at the Marriott Hotel in
Karachi, was open to all and lasted from
10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
The Crystal ballroom was reserved for the
company booths for the occasion and was
abuzz with activity throughout the day.
Shoaib Zaidi, Shahjahan Chaudhary and
Imtiaz N. Muhammad.
Companies like Workforce Software, who
were also the Gold Sponsor for the event,
sent in professionals who volunteered
their time entirely for counseling in the
hall adjacent to the main area. They also
interviewed some of the candidates on
the spot to shortlist potential talent to
hire right away. Among the counselors
were Farzal Dojki, Ansar Muhammad,
Afaque Ahmed, Ahmed Ayub, Naveed
Qazi, Naureen Anwar, Khurram Majeed,
Afaq Ali, Meesam Raza, Syed Salman
Ahmed, Saqib Mansoor, Hasan Rizvi,
Undoubtedly though, the panel
discussion (“From Idea to Start up”) and
idea-storming session (held in
conjunction with P@SHA Fund for Social
Innovation) were what really made the
Career Expo stand apart and rise above
all similar events.
P@SHA plans to hold the same event in
Lahore this September.
P@SHA launches Women in IT Research
4
(L-R) Nausheen Ishtiaq,
Nadeem Elahi and Jehan
Ara
The Pakistan Software Houses Association
(P@SHA) held a press conference in Karachi
on May 14, 2012, to launch “Women in IT” –
an exclusive research report published by
P@SHA on working women in the Pakistan IT
industry.
work environment. While paid maternity
leave, flexible hours and emergency leave
were the most commonly offered benefits –
there were still some companies who failed
to incorporate paid maternity leave (a basic
HR benefit worldwide) in their package.
Present at the event, representing P@SHA,
were Nadeem Elahi (Chairman) Jehan Ara
(President) and Nausheen Ishtiaq (Research
Associate).
The participants complained about long
hours and recommended flexible and shorter
work timings, transportation and day care
facilities.
Jehan Ara encapsulated the motivation
behind the initiative saying, “The
participation of women in the workforce has
been shown to have positive effects on a
nation’s economy. P@SHA, as the IT industry
representative organization in Pakistan,
undertook this research to understand the
real on-ground realities of women working
in technology here.”
One gap identified was the lack of training
and mentoring programs. Most of the polled
companies did not extend such opportunities
to female employees, despite their proven
effectiveness in enhancing the abilities of
employees.
The research is based on responses from 50
companies and 125 individuals – it targeted
IT companies as well as large IT departments
within non-IT companies.
Visit our website
pasha.org.pk for a
copy of the research.
It was found that women account for 14% of
the IT workforce, of which 37% are at the
mid-career level while 13% are in Senior
Management positions.
For more details,
please contact:
Nausheen Ishtiaq,
Research Associate,
Pakistan Software
Houses Association for
IT & ITES (P@SHA)
Email:
[email protected].
pk
Phone:
+92-21-3541-8121
The data also pointed towards the presence
of the infamous glass ceiling. Despite years
of experience a large proportion of the
women has been unable to move beyond
mid-level positions.
Another observation was the significantly
low number of women who hold more than
seven years of work experience under their
belt. This stunted retention can be
attributed to the ‘leaky pipeline effect’,
whereby life events force women’s careers
to often take a back seat.
In the context of HR policies and practices, a
majority of women were satisfied with their
P@SHA
TECH
TALK
Women reported that they did not feel
undervalued in comparison to male
counterparts but wished to see a reduction in
gender stereotyping of IT roles.
Nadeem Elahi talked about the growth of the
Pakistan IT industry in the face of domestic
and international challenges.
The country’s IT industry is generating an
estimated $2.8 billion in revenue (excluding
the retail segment), making up 1.6% of the
GDP. He said that buoyed by improved
policies and support, this figure could easily
be pushed to $10 billion mark.
P@SHA is the sole trade body representing
Pakistan’s IT industry today with over 400
member companies. The members
themselves govern the body through an
elected body known as the Central Executive
Committee (CEC).
The event was covered by Daily Times,
Business Recorder, Express Tribune, News
Tribe, Pro Pakistani and GEO News.
ISSUE1
5
TenPearls Delivers Nexercise on Android
Nexercise delivers motivation to people who
want to lose weight or get in better shape
and is quickly emerging as a leader in mobile
health and fitness. TenPearls—a global
application development outsourcing
company focused on mobile, software and
game development— developed this
disruptive mobile app Nexercise for Android.
Nexercise is a free mobile app that gauges
physical activity and rewards users with
virtual medals, discounts on healthy
products, and free merchandise. Nexercise
rewards and influences behaviors, not
outcomes, by making exercise fun and social
while giving users opportunities to win big.
Nexercise has been featured on Mashable,
The Washington Post, Reuters, The
Huffington Post, Washingtonian, Fox5 TV,
The Business Insider, and others.
With Nexercise,
users discover a
new and exciting
way to get
motivated, lose
weight, and stay in
shape. Users can
play with friends,
earn rewards, defeat
challenges, and track their progress on the
largest fitness mobile interactive game of
its kind.
“We are thrilled to launch Nexercise on
Android and meet the public demand,” said
Ben Young, co-founder and CEO of
Nexercise. “TenPearls was a great partner
that showed flexibility and creativity to
ensure that the Nexercise experience on
Android is enjoyable for our users”.
“We are proud to have developed the
Android version of Nexercise,” said
Imran Aftab, President of TenPearls.
“Nexercise, an emerging leader in
mobile health and fitness, is a
wonderful mobile app that is helping
people stay healthy in a fun and social
way”.
With the launch of Nexercise on
Android, users may compete and
motivate with each other regardless of
whether they use an iPhone or
Android. The cross-platform
compatibility of Nexercise across iOS
and Android is expected to rapidly
accelerate the growth in Nexercise
users. Nexercise for the Android can
be downloaded from Google Play.
NetSol Technologies Signs $5 Million Contract With a Leading Global
Bank to Implement Complete NFS(TM) Solution
NetSol Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:NTWK), a
worldwide provider of global IT and enterprise
application solutions, has signed a contract
with a leading global bank valued at
approximately $5 million, whereby the
company will implement its entire NetSol
Financial Suite (NFS™) solution, including the
Wholesale and Retail platform. The new
project ranks as one of NetSol's largest NFS
implementations to date in terms of value, and
includes product licenses, business process
consultancy and on-site implementation
services. NetSol anticipates that the
implementation will be completed by the end
of calendar 2012.
for their efforts in securing this important new
business."
"New contract wins like this further support
our optimistic outlook for the current fiscal
year, and our increased enthusiasm for growth
in fiscal 2013," said Najeeb Ghauri, chairman
and CEO of NetSol. "I applaud the entire team
NetSol's NFS currently supports the asset
finance and leasing industry across Asia Pacific,
North and South America, and Europe, helping
to manage a combined client portfolio of more
than $100 billion in total value.
Naeem Ghauri, president of NetSol
Technologies Americas and Europe, added:
"Over the years we have developed the most
robust, feature rich, end-to-end asset finance
and leasing software solution in the industry,
and we thank the bank for their trust in
NetSol. With our industry expertise, track
record of on time implementations, and
dedicated team who deliver localized support,
we are in a good position to extend our
dominant position in the Asia Pacific region to
other regions throughout the globe."
Have
a
Story
that needs
telling?
Let us promote you through
our newsletters and digital
media. Send in your
company’s success story at
[email protected]
(For P@SHA members only)
6
C Square Consulting signs with Orascom Group in Lebanon
One of Pakistan’s leading IT Solution Provider signs
“C Square Consulting is our extended arm and 60% of
Contact Center Project with ORASCOM Group in
our implementation is being done by them. We trust the
Lebanon.
team and their technical abilities for the successful
delivery of any project.” Says Muhammad Afifi, Director
C Square Consulting Private Limited with its partner
Middle East, Genesys Telecommunication.
Computer Information System (CIS) s.a.l has signed a
deal for the upgrade of their existing call center
CIS is one of the leading HP and Genesys partner in
based on Genesys Software Solutions.
Middle East Africa having C Square Consulting as their
solution delivery partner for contact centers. With head
Alfa Mobile – A company managed by ORASCOM
office in Lebanon and presence in 12 African Countries
Group in Lebanon has awarded a call center upgrade
CIS is now increasing its reach to Afghanistan and Iraq.
project to C Square Consulting. This includes Genesys
Contact Center software upgrade to latest version.
The first phase consists of the upgrade for Inbound,
Outbound and Voice Self Service whereas the second
phase will consist of Workforce Management and
Proactive Notification deployment. With this
successful implementation, C Square Consulting will
become the first company in Pakistan to implement
maximum number of Genesys based contact centers
“We were recommended to outsource the
implementation to C3, initially we were worried, but the
way they have done the implementation is outstanding.
The attitude, in-depth knowledge and experience they
have is exceptional. We are planning to award two more
projects to Contact Center Consulting and continue to
leverage this partnership in future. They are creative,
cost-effective, flexible and
capable of doing the right
things in the right way. ”
with latest releases.
CureMD ranked
as the number
1 EMR vendor
in the US
In the much anticipated survey released in May 2012, physicians ranked CureMD as the Number
1 EMR vendor in the U.S. healthcare industry when compared to other leading vendors. The
survey received aggressive industry coverage as it highlighted key customer focus areas that
differentiated leading vendors from each other;




Response time
Support
Quality
Money’s worth
CureMD received positive reviews from its clientele for its ease of use, passionate support
culture and overall product quality. This accolade comes after CureMD experienced yet another
record year in sales – a twofold increase in new customers.
Similarly, this is not the first occasion that CureMD has been honored for customer satisfaction.
The company ranked as a top EMR vendor by brown Wilson group (Black book rankings), back in
2011.
P@SHA
TECH
TALK
ISSUE1
Maison Consulting & Solutions wins Country Partner of the Year
7
Maison Consulting & Solutions is one of Pakistan’s successful IT companies
specializing in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) and Security.
The company has shown consistent improvement in performance and has
secured the Microsoft Country Partner of the Year Award 2011-12 (Gold
Enterprise Resource Planning, Gold Customer Relationship Management,
Silver Midmarket Solution Provider) for the second year in running.
Previously, Maison Consulting had attained the same award in Enterprise
Resource Planning (Gold), Customer Relationship Management (Silver) and
Midmarket Solution Provider (Silver).
Elixir Announces SBC Solutions for Healthcare
Elixir Technologies Corporation recently
announced the launch of its Summary of
Benefits and Coverage (SBC) application
to help health plan providers meet the
September 2012 mandate for creation of
a uniform summary of benefits and
coverage. This application is one of
several solutions offered in the Tango
Communication Management System for
Healthcare.
Elixir is providing the Tango based
turnkey application to assist health plans
in their ability to meet the September
23rd deadline. The SBC application is
delivered as a SaaS or on-premise
solution. Tango’s flexible data and logic
tools provide the ability for any health
plan to map their benefit data without
alteration to the pre-defined SBC
templates. Elixir also provides services to
assist plans with the integration/
migration. Tango provides an automated
model for SBC generation to keep health
plans compliant and reduce reliance on IT
and administrative systems.
Elixir is a recognized provider for
solutions to the healthcare industry. In
independent research firm Forrester
Research Inc.’s September 2011 report:
“The Forrester Wave™: Document Output
For Customer Communications
Management, Q3 2011”, Elixir’s Tango
solution achieves Strong Performer status
and is top ranked in the SaaS category.
The report goes on to say that Elixir’s
focus is 100% on SaaS-based interactive
applications like correspondence
management and in particular, outside the
firewall mobile applications such as
management of membership cards for
health insurance. Tango supports batch
and on-demand production of SBCs and
can provide delivery via print and
electronic including email, and web
presentment.
“Many health plans looking for a solution
to support the SBC requirement already
have other Elixir software in place in
various departments” says Feroz Zaidi,
President. “Elixir has been a leading
software developer since 1985 and a
large number of health plan providers
already use other Elixir products to
support document composition for
high-volume print production. Our
expansion to support line-of-business
correspondence such as the SBC has
been welcome news to our existing
customers and also proves Elixir as a
seasoned and reliable long-term provider
for highly regulated industries.
Tango provides an automated model for
SBC generation to keep health plans
compliant and reduce reliance on IT and
administrative systems.
P@SHA IT Salary Survey
8
For P@SHA members,
the cost of purchasing
this report is PKR 5,000.
For non members, the
cost of the report is
PKR 15,000.
To purchase this report
please contact
P@SHA at
[email protected]
The Survey is being
made available free of
cost to all participating
companies.
The IT Industry in Pakistan has
had a very fast paced period of
growth for the last few years. Ten
IT companies made the list of
Harvard’s 25 fastest growing
companies in Pakistan. Pakistani
IT companies have won both
national and international
recognition and acclaim.
The driving force behind the IT
industry, like any other industry,
is talent working in the sector.
Companies desire the best talent,
both to hire and to retain. Fair
compensation and benefits rank
very highly for any employee who
wishes to work for, and continue
to grow, in any company. Further,
the rate of compensation,
promotions and job requirements
change very rapidly in the IT
Industry, making a regular IT
Salary Survey a significant
tool for companies wishing to
hire and retain the best
talent in the industry
This P@SHA IT Salary Survey
is the second survey
conducted by P@SHA for the
IT Industry, following the
earlier survey conducted in
2008. This survey aims to
benchmark salaries, benefits
and promotion and
increment timelines for
employees working in the IT
Industry in Pakistan.
conducted to date in this field.
This report includes two types
of employee roles: core-IT roles
such as Programmers, QA
Managers, Team Leads etc., as
well as non-IT roles for
employees in IT companies such
as Finance Managers, HR
Managers as well as senior IT
Management. We hope that
this comprehensive approach
will enable companies to
benchmark the salaries and
growth timelines for a majority
of their employee roles
effectively.
The 2012 edition of the
P@SHA Salary Survey is the
most comprehensive
research that P@SHA has
As of this year, P@SHA will be
publishing an Annual Salary
Survey.
Bsolutions conducts research on
Facebook users in Pakistan
Facebook is one of the most visited websites in Pakistan
and currently has over 6.5 million registered users in the
country. The network is continuing to grow at a
phenomenal rate.
Bsolutions recently conducted a research on the Pakistani
Facebook population. The research predicts more than 10
million Facebook users in Pakistan by 2013!
You can access the infographic at http://tinyurl.com/
clygrpo
P@SHA
TECH
TALK
ISSUE1
9
MoITT holds National ICT Policy Roundtable (contd)
(contd from pg 1) technology, ICT
play a significant role in national
development and GDP growth.
Hence the need to create a national
orientation within the ICT Policy
making process. The objective is to
not drive the process by a sense of
patriotism or philanthropy but
recognition of the economic
opportunity unsolved problems
represent in the domestic market in
addition to producing products and
services for the international market.
The interactive discussion and
exchange of ideas was very useful. The
Ministry of IT took note of some of the
additions that were suggested so that
they could be added to the Policy
document. In addition the document was
posted the next day on the Ministry of IT
website, on the PSEB website and the
P@SHA website for further feedback until
July 20.
The success of this public-private
partnership proves how effectively the
private sector and civil society can
engage with government to enable policy
that is in the best interest of all
stakeholders.
P@SHA Social Innovation Fund: Take Two (contd)
(Contd from Pg 1) The Panel consisted of notables from the
industry, Shahjahan Chaudhary – CEO, Teamants, Zaid
Inam , Afaque Ahmed – Founding Owner, Could BPO and
Farzal Dojki – CEO, Next Generation Innovations. The
discussion started at 2:00 pm and was moderated by
P@SHA President, Jehan Ara.
The panelists also served as the jury for the Idea-storming
session.
The session took off with rapid round of 60-second
elevator pitches. The shortlisted participants were assigned
mentors on the spot and broke for a 15 minute mentoring
session to prepare their idea for a 3-minute pitch.
The session was only a preliminary exercise and only one of a
series of such; there is still a long road of constant fine-tuning
and hard work for those shortlisted, and the competition will
only get thicker and more exciting as more entries come in.
We thank Google for their dedicated support to the initiative;
it surely would not have been possible without them.
10
P This
A G year
E 1 Pakistan
0
Software Houses Association for IT & ITES has introduced a range of new services for its
member companies and improved some of the existing ones. These services can be broadly classified into seven
areas, the first five areas focus on the immediate benefits for P@SHA members while Policy Advocacy and
Capacity Building initiatives aim at long term benefits creating a sustainable IT & ITES Industry in Pakistan.
A
P@SH
er
Memb
ces
Servi
Market Access: At P@SHA we value the
Business Guidance: P@SHA provides Procedural
business growth of our members and
provide them market access through
facilitating their representation at various
National and International forums,
exhibitions and trade delegations. Donor
Agency Procurement Notices from around
the world are posted in a ‘members-only’
section of the website and business leads
generated through the website are sent to
member companies.
Guidance to companies who want to start new
businesses or keep abreast of changing laws &
regulation to run their existing businesses efficiently. A
comprehensive list of documents and relevant URLs
exist on our website for your facilitation. We maintain
contacts with supporting entities such as insurance
companies, audit, accounting & legal firms, travel
agents, embassies and consulates.
1 4
For related queries email at [email protected]
Visibility & Networking Opportunities: P@SHA realizes
the importance of visibility; hence, we offer you P@SHA’s
digital clout, a combination of our official Facebook page,
Twitter stream and website. Share your story with us so
that we can share it with the world.
All our members’ profiles are available in an Online
Directory on our website complete with location and
nature-of-business filters that can be accessed with ease.
Videos of CEOs & company brochures can also be uploaded
in this section.
The P@SHA Speaker Series provides you the opportunity to
discuss issues with key individuals from business,
government and academia.
Also, the P@SHA Newsletter which is circulated within and
outside the IT industry is a useful medium for you to relay
news of unique achievements, successful contract bids &
product launches to a much wider audience both locally
and internationally.
2
Market Information: P@SHA also facilitates its members
by providing them Market Information on the latest
industry developments. Our Event Calendar is a
comprehensive collection of all important industry events
happening within and outside Pakistan. All our members
have access to exclusive P@SHA publications and research
studies.
P@SHA portals provide a comprehensive knowledge-base
to tap into for the latest news (relevant SROs, incentives,
etc.), industry insights, national and international event
dates, market research and industry analyses.
3
P@SHA Knowledge Center: Truly by the members -
5
for the members, it is a key forum of all industry
discussions, experiences, best practices and tips
shared by the members to promote a culture of
progressive and mutual learning.
Some of the Other Benefits that you get from P@SHA
include special rates for various services; subsidized
costs at various P@SHA paid events & partner events
and a chance to be a part of our mailing list for regular
information updates.
Policy Advocacy: We aim to bridge the gap between
6
the legislative wing, society and the industry to foster
a sustainable and developing environment for IT
companies. We are the sole voice of the entire IT and
ITES Sector. Initiatives such as drafting the privatesector IT Policy recommendations, amendments to
existing laws (e.g. Copyrights ordinance, patent
legislation) & advocacy on promulgation of new laws
such as Data Protection, Confidentiality and Privacy
and Cyber Crime legislations, etc all fall under within
our advocacy agenda.
7
Capacity Building: We are actively inclined towards
Human Resource development and capacity building.
Workshops, seminars and training sessions are
regularly held under the aegis of P@SHA. We also
strive to connect you with the employable pool of
human resource through various forums and events
such as the P@SHA Career Expo, University Speaker
Series & other initiatives.
P@SHA website now has a secure Members’ Area where members can access the features mentioned above. All
active members have been provided with their unique login information to access this area. Members’ meet-ups
were conducted to introduce these services in Karachi on April 13th at P@SHA Secretariat; Lahore June 28th at
InfoTech Pvt. Ltd; Islamabad on July 12th at Knowledge Platform.
P@SHA
TECH
TALK
P@SHA Activity Log
ISSUE1
KHI Feb 22 | P@SHA visits
NED University;
Jawwad Farid enlightens
students on National ICT
Policy and the art of
pitching
KHI, Apr 21 | P@SHA
Policy Discourse—National
ICT Policy
Apr 23 | P@SHA Partners
with wi-tribe Bazaar for
Pakistan Developers'
Challenge 2012
KHI, May 5 | P@SHA
Speaker Series with Shuja
Keen on Product
Development: 5 Hacks for
Success
2012
J
M
A
M
J
ISB, Jul 4 | P@SHA
participates in MoITT’s
National ICT Policy
Roundtable
ISB, Apr 2 | P@SHA
Speaker Series on National
ICT R&D Fund Initiatives
and the Opportunities for
the Pakistani Technology
Sector
KHI, Apr 13 | P@SHA
Launches New Member
Services
LHR, May 2 | P@SHA
Speaker Series with Shuja
Keen on Product
Development: 5 Hacks for
Success
KHI, Jun 2 | P@SHA
Career Expo 2012
J
A
S
KHI, Jul 16-17 | P@SHA
supports Nokia App
Summit 2012
O
LHR, Sep | P@SHA
Career Expo 2012
N
Nov | P@SHA Fund for
Social Innovation
D
Brunei, Dec 2 | Asia Pacific
ICT Awards (APICTA)
LHR, Feb 28 | P@SHA
Speaker Series with Adil
Najam
F
KHI, May 14 | P@SHA
Launches Women in IT
Survey
LHR, Jun 28 | P@SHA
Launches New Member
Services
11
LHR, Jul 5 | P@SHA
supports Marketing
Conference 2012: Inspire &
Ignite Marketing
Excellence
KHI, Jul 5 | P@SHA
Releases IT Salary Survey
2012
ISB, Jul 12 | P@SHA
Launches New Member
Services
LHR, Oct 10 | P@SHA ICT
Awards
12
P@SHA
Pakistan Software Houses Association
for IT & ITES
@PASHAORG
Room 310
3/F Business Center
Facebook.com/pakict
Block 6 PECHS
Shahrah-e-Faisal
www.pasha.org.pk
Karachi
Phone: 021 - 3541- 8121
E-mail: [email protected]
CubeXS Weatherly and Microsoft Pakistan Launch Enterprise Cloud Services
Cube XS Weatherly (Private) Limited, first
ever Tier-IV compliant Data Center in
Pakistan, has launched Enterprise Cloud
Services in collaboration with Microsoft
Pakistan at a ceremony held in Karachi on
28th June 2012.
Pay-As-You-Go model would deliver a
customized service with a flexible structure,
no startup cost and no minimum term of
commitment. This model would enable
corporate as well as individuals to access
state-of-the-art technology without upfront
investment in infrastructure, software and
technical support. Mr. Farooq Sikander,
COO CubeXS revealed that pricing is very
competitive even for the international
market and payment options include online
payment through Credit Card or cheque/
cash deposit at CubeXS office.
“CubeXS Cloud is the first self-service
Public Cloud in Pakistan, positioned as a
business-enabling platform that offers
comprehensive selection of IaaS
(Infrastructure-as-a-Service) and SaaS
(Software-as-a-Service) environments to
best fit the specific needs of business
applications, storage and growth. In-house
technical team and CubeXS data center
facility engineered 99.995% service
availability to support the CubeXS
Enterprise Cloud Services,” said Mr. Aly
G. Ramzan, CEO, CubeXS Weatherly.
CubeXS being the Microsoft SPLA
partner also announced the launch of its
MS Exchange 2010 Hosted Solution, the
latest version of its hosted email service
for Exchange customers. Hosted MS
Exchange service is backed by CubeXS
Online Technical Support to help ensure
a fast and seamless customer
experience. Another noteworthy
service is the CubeXS Cloud Storage,
which allows secure data storage on
Public Cloud and enables retrieval of
data from anywhere with Internet
connectivity. This also provides an ideal
environment of Disaster Recovery and
Data Replication.
Speaking at the event, Salman Siddiqui,
Channel Lead, Microsoft Pakistan said,
“Today, IT is experiencing a shift from
the traditional client/server to the cloud.
Going forward, businesses and other
organizations will look to consume and
deliver IT as a service. Cloud promises to
make IT not just cheaper, but also faster,
easier, more flexible, and more effective.”
Farooq H Sikander, COO CubeXS, said,
“CubeXS Cloud services would help
businesses nationwide to focus on core
business activities rather than spending
time to manage their IT infrastructure,
support issues and expansion plans. The
services would be available to both
national and international clients.”