Wednesday, June 27, 2007 Asean ICT hub viable By Malou M. Mozo Sun.Star Staff Reporter
PROMOTING the Asean as a unified information and communication technology (ICT) hub is a viable marketing tactic to lure big names in the international business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, ICT industry leaders said yesterday.
“It is good to look at it as a whole network of service offerings. The Philippines is too small to be taken as a single country but it should be a part of a global delivery network,” said Manolito Tayag, senior executive of Accenture Inc.
During the opening day of the Cebu ICT Congress yesterday, Tayag cited Accenture’s decision to group its Philippine back-end office operations with other sites even though it is the largest offshore arm of the company.
Tayag said Asia will be the future destination of IT-enabled services (Ites) like software, contact center, BPO, medical and legal transcription, design and engineering, animation and creative.
Asian countries can rake in huge revenues from the Ites sector.
Revenues generated by Ites sector in India, for instance, has contributed $18 million to the Indian economy, Tayag said. Infrastructure investment
In his presentation at the ICT Congress, Innove Communications chief executive officer Gil Genio said Asia can expand its market share in the global Ites industry by focusing on infrastructure investments (real estate and telecommunications, among others), addressing resource challenges (partnerships with sources of talents, education and diverse operations), and leveraging government policies (through incentive schemes and foreign ownership of Philippine based companies, among others).
Shekhar Bhusannavar, chief marketing officer of Silkroad Ltd., said that while he too favors promoting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) ICT as one, differentiation among member-countries must still play an important role.
“You have to define your market,” added Gerry Clark, TPI regional head for Southeast Asia.
Genio said the Philippines’ edge will always be its English-speaking workforce and, most importantly, the Filipinos’ “innate sense of empathy.”
Advantage
“Traditionally, the Philippines has a ready-sense advantage for both voice and non-voice services. By far, we are the country of choice,” said Genio.
However, Bong Borja, People Support president, said that while the Philippines continues to be the next melting pot for back-end operations, it should not remain “too complacent.”
“Let us not rest on our laurels. While the country is moving fast, let us not forget that we are not the only player,” he said.
Genio said the country may lose to Vietnam as the next huge competitor due to the latter’s low productivity cost.
“Some companies like BPOs and semiconductors are hedging operations in Vietnam to see developments there,” he said.
Stakeholders once again raised issues concerning the Philippines’ aim to sustain the industry’s growth through collective efforts from both the private and public sectors in infrastructure development, particularly in telecommunications, in establishing incentives for investors and in improving the quality of education.
Genio said telecommunications will play a significant role in making the country more attractive and competitive in the global Ites industry.
Labor supply
He said that at present, the Philippines lags behind India but has an edge over other countries in terms of broadband penetration and usage.
Meanwhile, McKinsey and Company-Philippines president Christopher Beshouri said that since Ites is human resource-driven, there should be steady supply of suitable talent by establishing partnerships with academe.
“This has happened to India and is similarly emerging in Cebu, Bacolod and Dumaguete,” he said in a panel discussion during the ICT Congress.
He also advised industry leaders to form professional organizations that are able to influence the National Government’s policies, which is similar to India’s NASSCOMM.
President Arroyo, in her speech read by Presidential Management Staff director general Cerge Remonde, said that by the time her term expires in 2010, the Philippine ICT industry is expected to generate one million jobs and $12 billion in revenues.
In line with this, the National Government has drawn the Cyber Corridor masterplan across all super regions from Baguio, Cebu and Davao.
The cyber corridor will boost telecommunications, technology, education and competitiveness, said Arroyo.
Ites leaders converged yesterday for the Cebu ICT 2007 International Conference and Exhibition held at the Shangri-la’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa.
The conference, which is part of the Cebu Business Month celebration of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, drew more than 300 foreign and local participants.
