TechLahore

Here’s a happy ending to what started off as a rather strained relationship; between Gartner’s Frances Karamouzis and the Pakistan tech industry. To make a long story short, back in 2001 Frances wasn’t, shall we say, too positive on Pakistan’s prospects as an IT outsourcing location. The tech industry in Pakistan disagreed vehemently, and we gave voice to those sentiments with a blog post. Now, things have come full circle and Gartner has recently published a fine report on Pakistan as one of the world’s top 30 technology outsourcing destinations. We wholeheartedly agree with their assessment and appreciate the balanced reappraisal.

In the spirit of rapprochement, the (somewhat emotional) things we said earlier stand nixed:

They say time is the great healer. But time is also many other things; it is also the great exposer. And Gartner’s Karamouzis is on the receiving end this time. Back in 2001, Karamouzis, who gets paid to be right about trends peered into her crystal ball and proclaimed, “countries once thought to be safe to do business in have taken a hit. Pakistan is no longer on the list for offshore outsourcing”. It was only later we found out that the crystal ball was a cheap knockoff acquired from Wal-mart and her prediction was complete crap. In the last 6 years, outsourcing to Pakistan has boomed! The PSEB estimates the IT industry at about $2BN and growing fast. The last two years, in particular, have seen Pakistani companies win awards such as the VMWORLD Gold for 2007, get shortlisted on TechCrunch‘s 40 hottest companies, experience skyrocketting stock and get funded by US VCs. So, Ms. Karamouzis, you got it WRONG! Master Yoda says, “Bet against our tech industry, don’t. Everytime lose, you will!” Some more quotes after the fold and a link to the article…

Some of Karamouzis’ other mindless banter in a more recent article:

the appeal of Pakistan’s IT workforce of 90,000 people has been overshadowed by post-September 11 security concerns. “It’s fallen off the radar screen of U.S. buyers,” says Frances Karamouzis

A.T. Kearney & Co. whack her on the wrist and are quoted in the same article:

“Vietnam and Pakistan, for instance, are even more financially attractive than India, according to A.T. Kearney”

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