Pinoy IT professionals can tap Japan’s growing market for outsourcing

There is a growing market for outsourcing in Japan which Filipino information technology professionals can fill, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said yesterday.

During the recently concluded Software Development Exposition and Conference (SODEC) in Japan, the DTI delegation headed by Trade Undersecretary Elmer Hernandez learned that Japan’s IT sector is posting a steady growth of 7.3 percent with IT services spending projected to hit $120 billion in 2008.

Such figures indicate that the next potential IT market which the Philippines can tap is Japan following the current IT market of North America and Western Europe.

According to Hernandez, "we should seize the opportunities that lie in outsourcing and transform it to our advantage."

The Philippines, Hernandez said, "can position itself as an external provider of IT services to Japan."

Based on a recent survey report by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry, 20.1 percent of firms in Japan outsource their job training; 19.7 percent outsource their information systems; 17.4 percent outsource their production processes; 14 percent outsource their accountancy and tax affairs and 13.7 percent of Japanese firms outsource their research and development.

Hernandez observed that there is a growing market for outsourcing in Japan and "sustained promotion and marketing there will certainly boost our country’s IT base in the region and usher in more IT-related investments in the country."