AFTER successfully bucking recession in 2009, leaders and aligned sectors in the business process outsourcing (BPO) will map out the future of the country’s biggest sunshine industry.
Organized by Teledevelopment Services, in coordination with strategic marketing communication firm TeamAsia, the 4th Annual Call Center and BPO Training Convention is set on March 11-12, 2010 at the Quezon Ballroom of Makati Shangri-la Hotel in Makati City.
Expected to attend are 250 delegates from major industry service providers and their clients and carries the theme, “The Vision of the Next Decade: Conquering Uncharted Grounds.”
Speakers from industry leaders, the academe, and aligned sectors were set to discuss the new frontiers and challenges for the BPO companies this year and beyond.
Invited speakers include Celeste Ilagan, former Board of Investments Executive Director and now Assistant Vice-President for Marketing and External Affairs of Sutherland Global Services representing the industry; Vincent Fabella, president of Jose Rizal University and Philippine Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, representing the academe; and Mr. John Philip Orbeta, Vice-President for Human Resources of Ayala Corporation, representing talent and leadership management.
Supported by major players Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), the convention also marks the first Annual BPO Training Excellence Awards, organized in cooperation with the Philippine Society for Training and Development. It aims to recognize organizations and individuals that have exemplified distinction in the field of BPO training.
The BPO sector has already grown leaps and bounds since it entered Philippine soil in 2000.
Government data said from an initial 2,000 workers and US$24 million in revenues in 2000, the BPO activity in the country surged to almost half a million workforce last year.
Gross revenues totaled US$7.3 billion and is expected to breach the US$9 billion-mark this year composed of 600,000-strong workers.
Steady expansions from European, American and even Indian companies are also underway, with no less than outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo saying that the Philippine BPO industry will stand a chance in beating record figures, whether in terms of workers, infrastructure, and revenues.
Arroyo said in speaking engagement a month ago that for the sector to reach its maximum potential, the next government should “guide” the ICT sector with “minimal government interference and more of government encouragement.”
The President is referring to an incentive program wherein the government is ought to develop ICT parks for the investors to use.
Under her watch, she launched the Cyber Corridor backbone composed of the country’s so called 10 “next wave cities” being endorsed as the next ICT destinations, namely: Metro Laguna; Metro Cavite; Metro Pampanga; Iloilo; Davao; Bacolod; Metro Bulacan; Central Bulacan; Cagayan de Oro; and Lipa.
The country was named United Kingdom’s National Outsourcing Association as the Best Offshoring Destination of the Year twice, in 2007 and 2009. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)