THE Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedf-IT) has rebranded to Cebu IT-BPM.Organization (CIB.O), a transformation from a mere human resource development organization for 16 years into a full-time industry association.
Officials said the decision to rebrand was brought by the exponential growth of the information technology/business process management (IT-BPM) industry, which they hope to sustain for the longer term.
Cedf-IT unveiled its new name yesterday at the opening of the 2017 Transformation Summit at the Marco Polo Plaza Cebu.
“It is about time we became a full-time IT-BPM organization with expanded coverage,” said CIB.O’s chairman Francis Monera in a press conference yesterday.
CIB.O’s vision is to make Cebu the preferred IT/BPM location for higher value IT and IT-enabled services. It aims to develop and promote the strengths of Cebu and sustain the growth of the IT-BPM industry driven by collaboration, innovation and excellence.
Monera said that as Cebu’s IT-BPM services keep on expanding, CIB.O will complement them by providing not only human resource development but also marketing and infrastructure to further promote Cebu as the preferred destination for higher value services.
“We have seen the growth of Cebu’s IT-BPM industry. From five IT companies in the early 2000’s, Cebu now has over 300 IT companies, from 1,200 employees to 140,000 who generate an annual income of over P27 billion,” said the CIB.O chairman.
The industry is also supported by 420,00 indirect employees who contribute P43.7 billion a year.
Moreover, Monera said that Cebu’s IT-BPM industry has grown from voice operations into higher value services such as information technology sourcing, health information management, shared services, engineering services, banking and financial services, software development, research and development, among others.
CIB.O managing director Jun Saa said the organization is currently mapping out programs that would significantly help transform the industry.
He said their first advocacy is on the issue of data security.
Saa also said that while they will cover other important aspects of the industry, they will still continue to become the linkage between the academe and the industry as far as talent development is concerned. The organization will likewise continue to reach out to the different ICT (information and communications technology) Councils in the country to develop their own IT-BPM industries.
CIB.O is a consortium of IT-BPM companies, academe, support groups, government agencies, and civil organizations. It currently has 128 members.