ENTREPRENEURSHIP in information technology (IT) may help make up for a slowdown in the IT-BPM sector, an industry highly dependent on foreign accounts where at least 100,000 Cebuanos are at risk of losing their jobs should the disruption continue.
Gregg Victor Gabison, president of the Cebu IT BPM Organization (CIB.O), believes technology startups can create a window of opportunity that local graduates and outsourcing employees can explore.
“Startups are gaining ground. More incubation centers will be built, and that’s one area (that they can venture in.) The entrepreneurial game is gaining ground,” he told SunStar Cebu at the sidelines of CIB.O’s Transformation Celebration in Mandaue City last Friday.
In recent years, the Cebu IT BPM has seen signs of resiliency amid a slowdown, said Gabison, who added that while some companies have halted operations here, there are new ones coming in. He declined to identify these companies.
“Cebu is a bit solid already. We had companies moving in and moving out, and as a result, this has kept Cebu afloat for so many years,” the official said.
News reports identifying the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as source said that new investment pledges registered for the IT-BPM industry fell by 34 percent year on year in the second quarter to P4.9 billion.
Likewise, the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) also dropped its double-digit growth projections for the IT-BPM industry to nine percent until 2022. This is below the annual compounded growth rate of 17 percent experienced in the past six years.
Within CIB.O, formerly the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology, there’s a shift from focusing solely on talent acquisition to investment promotions, in an effort to attract more IT-BPM investments to Cebu.
Gabison said CIB.O has also received support from the Cebu City Government in terms of subsidies for some of its programs, including Phil IT GCE, a certification exam for IT graduates, as well as planning for a one-stop shop where BPO jobseekers and employees in Cebu could avail themselves of government services.
As a representative of the academe—he is dean of the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJR) College of Information, Computer, and Communications Technology—Gabison said that local graduates are now more exposed to research and development, instead of the usual technology support jobs. This, he noted, makes them more employable locally and overseas, and equips them to start their own companies.
“In terms of tech support, we might have declined, but for production of innovative IT ideas, or IT creation, we have actually skilled up,” he noted.
Uncertainties in the sector started off with US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric against US companies outsourcing jobs in developing economies, and urging them to bring jobs back to America. Another challenge that confronted the outsourcing industry early this year was the proposed removal of the zero-VAT status of BPO companies, but that has been addressed since then.