A GLOBAL management consulting and technology service outsourcing company has joined other international firms that are taking advantage of Cebu’s fast growing business process outsourcing industry.
Accenture inaugurated its office in Cebu yesterday with President Arroyo as guest. The firm occupies six floors of the recently completed Pioneer House at the Cebu Business Park.
Beth Lui, Accenture Delivery Center-Manila, Philippines country managing director, said the company plans to open 500 seats for software developers and programmers before the end of the year.
She said, though, that she is hoping that the company will be able to employ more than 1,000 individuals before the end of the year, especially since an outlet in Cebu is a magnet for applicants from Visayas and Mindanao.
The company plans to hire fresh graduates and working professionals for its Cebu operations.
Talent hub
During its soft opening last month, Accenture hired 150, 40 of which were fresh graduates while the rest were information technology (IT) professionals.
“Cebu alone is a small province. We will have to draw from the neighboring provinces as well. There is a need to create a hub of talent,” Lui told a press briefing yesterday shortly before the inauguration.
Lui described Cebu and the Visayas as having a “business friendly environment” with “skilled workforce.”
The Cebu facility is part of Accenture’s Global Delivery Network that will initially provide application management, systems development and other services to clients on an outsourced basis.
Keith Haviland, chief of Accenture’s delivery center network for technology, said there is a “misconception” that the company is a call center facility.
“We are not a call center company,” he said.
The Cebu operations will primarily focus on IT outsourcing and Cebu’s IT professionals might be able to offer unique services to Accenture clients, Lui said.
Academe
To ensure a steady pool of high skilled IT workers, Accenture will tap the academe and private institutions for fresh talents.
The company has gained the support of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the local government, Lui said.
Haviland said Accenture’s expansion is the company’s commitment to the Philippine government’s thrust of creating “high valued interest” jobs in the country.
Arroyo, in her State of the Nation Address (Sona) last week, highlighted the need for the country’s IT industry, and the service sector in general, to capitalize on high-value services and generate more employment.
Accenture in Manila, which opened 20 years ago, employs 14,000 IT professionals. The company has operations in 49 countries and employs a total of 158,000 individuals. (MMM)
