BPO sector sees $7-B earnings this year

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is expected to earn $7 billion this year, up from the $5 billion it posted in 2007.

In an interview, Oscar Sanez, president of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), said they are very optimistic that the industry will grow this year.

In fact, he said all sectors of the BPO are seen to grow by 40 percent this year. BPO sectors include game development, voice and medical transcription.

For the Philippines, the biggest sector remains to be the voice which makes up 65 percent of the industry.

Sanez said that for this year, their strategy is to target the Western market namely the US, Europe and Australia.

“We have to make our presence felt because we have a very small presence in these markets,” Sanez explained. 

Meanwhile, Sanez said the BPO industry was badly hit by the sharp appreciation of the peso against the dollar.

“Last year the peso averaged at 44 to the dollar. Because it started at 46 that translated to a loss of $2,” he noted. 

However, he said this year the industry is more prepared. “The bigger firms are hedging.”

Sanez said they expect the peso to stabilize anywhere between 38 to 40 to a dollar. 

Last year, the government and the private sector have linked together to promote the information, communication technology (ICT) by developing hubs for the outsourcing and offshoring (O&O) industry.