Talent gap hinders IT-BPM sector

THE talent gap, or employees’ lack of skills and competencies to keep working amid the rising need for digitalization, is among the crucial challenges the country needs to address to boost its information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) industry.

This was discussed during the first Regional ICT Summit and Exhibitions (Rise) hosted by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) at the Vista Mar Beach Resort and Country Club in Lapu-Lapu City on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023.

Buddy Villasis, executive director of Cebu IT-BPM Organization, stressed the need to address the problem starting in schools, and as early as in senior high school.

Villasis suggested that the academe provide learning courses that would help students master their critical thinking and sharp decision-making skills, which he said would be an advantage once they graduate and look for jobs, even outside the IT industry.

Cambridge University defined critical thinking as thinking carefully about a subject or idea without allowing feelings or opinions to affect you, primarily focusing on analyzing and evaluating.

Mastering the skill would help an individual efficiently gather knowledge, quickly process information, and intelligently analyze data.

Villasis said that most students nowadays only finish school for “compliance” and are not that knowledgeable on the lessons and courses they studied.

He added the relevance of collaboration between the business industries, the government, and the academe to solve the problem.

“We produce a lot of graduates, but our problem is their employability. We interviewed them sometimes. Wow, a graduate, let’s say, of business. We ask them, so what can you say about the law of demand and supply? They don’t know about the code of demand and supply, yet they are business targets. They are BM (business management) graduates,” said Villasis.

Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, undersecretary of ICT Industry Development of DICT, said students must have sharp communication skills and digital competence, aside from critical skills.

Batapa-Sigue pointed out the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) as a possible threat to the human workforce if future workers do not upskill their capabilities.

“If you know critical, communication and digital, you will not be disrupted... especially in the age of AI today, AI can do the human job. So what is the contribution of humans? Humans will operate AI. Humans must be smarter than AI. Otherwise, can AI replace humans? No, it will look for a human who can operate him,” she added.

Angelo Cabije, presidential assistant for knowledge and technology transfer and manager at the University of San Carlos, showcased the university’s measures to address the talent gap, which involves updating curriculums to match industry requirements and partnering with providers for tools to assist in information and communication technologies (ICT).

Cabije also stressed the importance of adopting online learning platforms and creating smart classrooms.

Rise is among DICT’s initiatives to showcase the regional potential of Central Visayas in the ICT sector, supporting the IT-BPM Centers of Excellence, New Wave Cities, and Digital Cities, offering them a platform to showcase their locations and contribute to building a diverse and inclusive digital ecosystem nationwide.

At least 150 participants from ICT councils from the cities of Mandaue, Bogo, Danao and Lapu-Lapu; students from different universities in Cebu; and company representatives, specifically from business process outsourcing companies, attended the activity Tuesday.

The event is part of the agency’s target to generate 2.5 million IT-BPM direct jobs, 54 percent of which it aims to establish in the countryside areas.

With this figure, the DICT aims to generate around P59 billion in revenues for an 8.9 percent contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2028.

Batapa-Sigue said the Philippines has P1.7 million IT-BPM direct jobs generating P39 billion in revenues or about eight percent of GDP as of December 2023.

Rise centered discussions on talent development of the digital workforce, call to action on synergy for success, and strengthening the business environment.