AFTER being displaced from Tholons’ top 10 sites for outsourcing this year, Cebu will be lobbying for a better ranking in 2018.
Cebu IT/BPM Organization (CIB.O) managing director Wilfredo “Jun” Sa-a Jr. said his office has been in talks with Tholons managing director Avinash Vashista to update the latter of Cebu’s current innovation and startup ecosystem.
“We are working closely with Tholons, and we try to work with them early so we will know more what these criteria are,” said Sa-a in an interview.
Tholons, a full-service strategic advisory firm for global outsourcing and investments, released on June 28 the 2017 Services Globalization Index Top 100 “super cities,” where Cebu landed on the 12th spot from being the eighth placer in 2016.
Cebu and the city of Pune in India were replaced in the Top 10 list by Sao Paulo, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina, which ranked sixth and tenth, respectively.
Manila, which ranked second in 2016 after Bangalore, India, also experienced a downgrade to the fourth spot. The top three “super cities” for outsourcing this year are Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi, all in India.
The new criteria, according to Sa-a, may have affected Cebu’s ranking this year.
For 2017, the global advisory firm introduced for the first time “innovation, startup ecosystem and digital transformation” as key components of the Tholons Services Globalization Index.
In its June 2017 report, it said it introduced digital innovation as its “prime gauge,” which looks into cities and nations for the number of startups, startup diversity, startup ecosystem and government incentives to promote entrepreneurship and digital transformation.
Sa-a hopes communicating directly with Tholons will improve Cebu’s position in the rankings.
“They deploy researches here, but sometimes, there are things that they cannot cover so it is also important that we bring these things to their attention. Hopefully, we have a better ranking next year,” Sa-a said.
Sa-a said Cebu has existing and active startup ecosystem participated in by public and private organizations like the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Cebu Innovation Council, TechTalks.ph, the existence of technology business incubators, and even the hosting of international startup activities like the annual Geeks on A Beach (GOAB).
A higher ranking in Tholons “super cities” is expected to bring in more IT/BPM investments to Cebu.