The computerisation of banking systems technically termed as e-banking, on one hand has brought drastic changes in banking industry and consumers' lives, it has on the other hand, opened new doors of opportunities for IT industry in Pakistan. Dawn talked to a few experts to have their comments on scope for information technology sector in the field of electronic banking.



Kabir Farooqui, Regional Manager (Karachi), Pakistan Software Export Board

"The field of e-banking is rapidly growing and there's no doubt that the automation of banking processes has opened new doors of opportunities for IT sector in Pakistan. But the problem is that the expertise needed by the banks is of the international standard.

The applications that most of the banks prefer are developed by the foreign software houses. The international software houses do have an advantage of experience that Pakistan's IT sector lacks. The research and development (R&D) of other countries in IT sector is very strong, besides their software applications were already in the market and tried and tested many times.

Pakistan is relatively new in the field of e-banking and requires about five to seven years to let the end-users get used to its applications.

We don't lack talent, what we lack is experience. But I am sure that after few years, not only our R&D will become strong, our software applications will also be able to compete with that of international ones and our banks will definitely prefer local-made software."

Mohammad Kamran Khan, Assistant Professor, FAST-NU

"The revolution of e-banking has enhanced job scope for IT professionals and nowadays, there are many job opportunities available for information technology graduates in banking sector. But the biggest issue of e-banking is 'security'. When it comes to electronic transaction of money, there are far greater risks as compared to manual dealings.

Therefore, one has to be fully skilled in dealing with security problems related to banking software. Unfortunately our IT graduates, when enter the practical field, find it difficult to solve these problems because at the academic level they are taught just general courses related to 'e-banking security'.

The severe and more complicated issues that are normally faced by the end-users are beyond their reach. To resolve this issue, universities should introduce special 'security' courses so that when the students enter the working environment, they can easily handle such matters.

Besides, university curriculum should be designed in such a way that students don't have to join other institutes for different courses. They must be given full-fledged theoretical as well as practical knowledge so that they can have a grip on practical problems."

Naureen Anwer, Development Manager, Systems Ltd.

"The automation of banking processes has definitely brought a positive change for IT sector in Pakistan. We have been developing core banking applications and of course, more projects means, more workers hence more job opportunities. One thing that needs to be tackled intelligently is the mindset of business entrepreneurs who consider foreign-made applications more efficient.

Pakistan doesn't lack talent and we have been working hard to prove this. We have been organising various seminars to highlight the local IT talent so that business persons can get to know about our skills. It will take time to change the usual outlook of people who prefer international talent and underestimate local one.

However, one very important issue is 'e-banking security' that our IT graduates are most of the times not able to handle when they enter the work field and we have to train them. If the universities take this issue seriously and redesign their syllabus to include more practical courses on 'security', we can further improve our scope in e-banking."

Kabir Farooqui, Regional Manager (Karachi), Pakistan Software Export Board

"The field of e-banking is rapidly growing and there's no doubt that the automation of banking processes has opened new doors of opportunities for IT sector in Pakistan. But the problem is that the expertise needed by the banks is of the international standard.

The applications that most of the banks prefer are developed by the foreign software houses. The international software houses do have an advantage of experience that Pakistan's IT sector lacks. The research and development (R&D) of other countries in IT sector is very strong, besides their software applications were already in the market and tried and tested many times.

Pakistan is relatively new in the field of e-banking and requires about five to seven years to let the end-users get used to its applications.

We don't lack talent, what we lack is experience. But I am sure that after few years, not only our R&D will become strong, our software applications will also be able to compete with that of international ones and our banks will definitely prefer local-made software."

Mohammad Kamran Khan, Assistant Professor, FAST-NU

"The revolution of e-banking has enhanced job scope for IT professionals and nowadays, there are many job opportunities available for information technology graduates in banking sector. But the biggest issue of e-banking is 'security'. When it comes to electronic transaction of money, there are far greater risks as compared to manual dealings.

Therefore, one has to be fully skilled in dealing with security problems related to banking software. Unfortunately our IT graduates, when enter the practical field, find it difficult to solve these problems because at the academic level they are taught just general courses related to 'e-banking security'.

The severe and more complicated issues that are normally faced by the end-users are beyond their reach. To resolve this issue, universities should introduce special 'security' courses so that when the students enter the working environment, they can easily handle such matters.

Besides, university curriculum should be designed in such a way that students don't have to join other institutes for different courses. They must be given full-fledged theoretical as well as practical knowledge so that they can have a grip on practical problems."

Naureen Anwer, Development Manager, Systems Ltd.

"The automation of banking processes has definitely brought a positive change for IT sector in Pakistan. We have been developing core banking applications and of course, more projects means, more workers hence more job opportunities. One thing that needs to be tackled intelligently is the mindset of business entrepreneurs who consider foreign-made applications more efficient.

Pakistan doesn't lack talent and we have been working hard to prove this. We have been organising various seminars to highlight the local IT talent so that business persons can get to know about our skills. It will take time to change the usual outlook of people who prefer international talent and underestimate local one.

However, one very important issue is 'e-banking security' that our IT graduates are most of the times not able to handle when they enter the work field and we have to train them. If the universities take this issue seriously and redesign their syllabus to include more practical courses on 'security', we can further improve our scope in e-banking."