DESPITE a potential global recession, 83 percent of information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) companies are expecting to post growth in 2023 while 17 percent remain neutral with their forecasts.
This is according to the survey carried out by IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).
Results also showed that organizations will continue to outsource and use global business services this year as a lever to drive some of their cost optimization initiatives.
Investments, according to the study, are projected to come from the following sectors: animation and game development, contact center, cybersecurity, financial technology, healthcare, internet service providers, IT solutions and shared services.
For the countryside, Cebu and Davao will continue to be popular IT-BPM hubs, while Iloilo, Clark (Pampanga), and Sta. Rosa in Laguna will be added to the mix.
The survey also cited key business challenges this year. The top five—talent and skills gap; cost pressures; more work going to competing locations such as India, Poland and South America; adapting to evolving customer needs and business models like hybrid and remote work; and inadequate supply of enabling infrastructure, particularly in the countryside.
Based on Roadmap 2028, the Philippine IT-BPM industry can reach 1.7 million full-time employees (FTEs) and US$35.9 billion in revenue in 2023.
2022 performance
The sector ended 2022 on a strong note with FTEs growing 8.4 percent or by 121,000, bringing the industry’s total headcount to 1.57 million.
The sector also recorded a growth of 10.3 percent in revenues to reach $32.5 billion in 2022.
“We’re working on Roadmap 2028 with purpose and momentum. That’s the only way that we can hope to achieve our goal of building the industry to a 2.5 million-strong workforce and generating $59 billion in revenues for the country,” said Jack Madrid, IBPAP president and chief executive officer in a statement.
“We still have a long way to go, but Philippine IT-BPM’s stellar performance in 2022 brings us closer to generating 1.1 million new jobs for Filipinos. It’s also a testament to the collective efforts that the private sector, government and academe have exerted to retain the industry as an indispensable pillar of the economy.”
IBPAP noted that the boost in headcount and revenue may be attributed to growth in banking, financial services and insurance, healthcare, retail, technology and telecommunications.
Aside from contributing new jobs and export gains, the sector was once again credited as the main driving force for movements in the office market.
Based on the latest data from Leechiu Property Consultants, IT-BPM accounted for 466,000 square meters of office real estate take-up, which is 48 percent of the total demand for office space nationwide.
This represents an 81 percent growth from the 257,000 square meters that the IT-BPM industry took up in 2021.
There were also significant expansions in the countryside, particularly in Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, Pampanga and Laguna.
In fact, over 70,000 new jobs were created in locations outside Metro Manila—a 17 percent increase from the previous year.
By the end of 2022, 31 percent of the sector’s total headcount or 486,000 FTEs were in the countryside.