Local IT firms urged to diversify services

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine information technology (IT) firms must diversify their services given opportunities available overseas, a global outsourcing expert said.

Australian Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Association president Martin Conboy said on the sidelines of the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) general membership meeting late last week that as the Philippine BPO sector is now number one in terms of providing voice services in the world, IT firms must consider offering other services which companies overseas may need.

“The Philippines has never been better positioned to take advantage of what is happening in global markets now,” he said.

IT firms, he said, can look into offering non-voice services such as data management, analytics and animation, which have high demand from companies in other countries.

He said companies in Australia, for instance, require such services and Philippine IT firms can take advantage of that need.

He said it is difficult for Australian companies to find personnel who can offer those required services at the moment given the declining number of IT graduates there.

While some IT firms in other countries may also offer the same services, he said Philippine firms are preferred by Australian companies given Filipinos’ skills and ability to speak English well.

He said Australia also sees the Philippines as its bridge to Asia.

Since Filipinos can speak the language of Australians, he said such will enable Australian firms to link with other markets in Asia.

For her part, PSIA president Nora Terrado said in the same event that given available opportunities overseas, IT firms are looking into other services they can provide.

“We are preparing for the different services... analytics will be important as well as changing data into knowledge,” she said.

“It is for Filipinos to aspire to get ahead,” she said further.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines said earlier that the country’s IT and BP industry’s revenues reached $11 billion last year, rising by 24 percent from 2010.

The industry employed 638,000 last year, which was also up by 22 percent compared to the number of its employees in 2010.