Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) has released a survey report titled “Effects of COVID19 Crisis on the IT / ITES Sector of Pakistan” on the 3rd of April, 2020. The report aims to analyze the impact of CoronaVirus Pandemic on the IT and ITeS companies of Pakistan. The survey for this report was conducted from March 25th to 28th and a total of 205 companies participated in the survey.

Regardless of their size, businesses have been affected severely by the COVID19 across the globe. This situation has severely affected employee retention as 68% of companies are uncertain about retaining their current employees for the next three months and this number may jump to 89% over the next six months. Moreover, delayed payments, halted projects and contract cancellations are some of the examples IT companies are facing due to this crisis across the world. Amidst the current situation, loss of talent and brain-drain are some major issues upon which the survival of the IT industry is highly dependent.

The report takes into account both product and service-based IT companies and along with their export & domestic revenues while studying the negative impact on them caused by COVID19 over the next three & six months. The study also informs that the Work From Home arrangement is working well for most IT companies. However, BPO and Call Center businesses are facing major challenges of connectivity and the Work-From-Home arrangement is not favorable for them. Low bandwidth and unstable internet connections are the major obstacles in their operations since they cannot afford any interruption in the voice calls. The use of VPN typically requires a stable 8-10 Mb connection which is not readily available to most of the employees at home.

The report further shares the strategies companies will be taking into consideration to address the financial crisis for the next three and six months. Companies are evaluating their options for survival by reducing office expenses by continuing work-from-home arrangement and cuts on bonuses, perks and other benefits etc. as few of the options. However, 2/3rd of the expense of a typical IT/ITES company is  payroll. Survival with the current number of employees or payroll may not be possible for them after a couple of months. Therefore, they will have to do payroll cuts or in the worst-case scenario, opt for layoffs.

To view the report in detail, please find the link below.

Report Link: COVID-19 Report