New services to complement IT-BPO

INFORMATION Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) leaders seek to further develop four more offshoring and outsourcing services to complement the ‘sunshine industry’.

These include the healthcare information management outsourcing; finance and accounting outsourcing; human resource outsourcing; and animation and game development.

“With our new development programs for the IT-BPO industry, we also intend to position the Philippines as a world leader in healthcare information management outsourcing, finance and accounting outsourcing, HR outsourcing, and animation and game development,” explained Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) deputy executive director Alejandro Melchor.

ICTO executive director Louis Casambre added: “We are expecting BPO not only to contribute significantly to the GDP in the next five years but that its most significant impact would be on employment.”

ICTO intends to provide strong support to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) with regard initiatives such as the global competitiveness assessment tool, recruitment marketing, workforce core skills development and road-mapping.

“Our programs are not limited to that of the industry but also to improve the quality of our graduates and better their chances of landing jobs not only in the BPO sector but in other industries as well,” he added.

BPAP chairman Alfredo Ayala said DOST-ICTO has been "very supportive of our industry and we are confident that these new initiatives will help us achieve our objectives.”

“We believe that we can generate $25 billion in export revenue, 1.3 million in direct jobs and over 3 million indirect jobs by 2016 but only if the industry can further step up its partnership with the government,” he added in yesterday’s statement. “The initiatives announced by DOST-ICTO are a major step in that direction.”

The Department of Science and Technology, meanwhile, is supportive of the new programs targeted to develop several key BPO market segments. “We believe in the talent and resilience of the Filipinos. They have proven themselves time and time again, weathering the Asian economic crisis and recent global economic downturn. They didn’t just survive; they thrived, as can be proven in the consistent growth of the industry.”

Last year, the IT-BPO industry contributed approximately $11-billion in export revenues with about 640,000 direct jobs and approximately 1.5 million indirect jobs like construction and service jobs generated to serve the sector’s growth. (CGC)