BPO sector updates roadmap to 2020

MANILA, Philippines - The Information Technology Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) is planning to update its road map to set targets until 2020 as it seeks to grow and make the country a preferred destination for both voice and non-voice services.

“We are in the process of getting funding to update our road map to have Vision 2020,” IBPAP president and chief executive officer Jose Mari Mercado said during the Asian Institute of Management’s Networking and Business Forum on trade and investment opportunities in the Philippines.

Under the IBPAP’s road map, the IT-business process management (BPM) industry is aiming to hit $25 billion worth of revenues and provide jobs to 4.5 million Filipinos, of which 1.3 million are direct employees and 3.2 million are indirectly employed by the sector, by 2016.

Revenues of the IT-BPM sector reached $15.5 billion last year, 17 percent higher than the $13.2 billion in 2012.

In terms of employment, the sector’s workforce count went up to 900,000 in 2013 compared to the 777,000 in the previous year.

For this year, the IBPAP is aiming for revenues to grow by 17 percent to reach $18.135 billion and for the workforce tally to increase to one million.

Mercado said the IBPAP intends to continue to grow with more work expected to be outsourced in the long-term.

The country is currently the top choice for voice services and the second most preferred location for non-voice services.

The IBPAP’s goal is for the Philippines to be the number one destination for voice and non-voice services worldwide.

“We want to be number one forever,” Mercado said.

To achieve growth, the IBPAP is working with government agencies and the academe to beef up local talent.

“We don’t have a product. Our greatest asset, our people, is also our greatest liability. They can speak the English language but once they speak Business English, they fall apart,” Mercado said.

He said the IBPAP has developed the Service Management Program (SMP), a 21-unit specialized course designed to provide students the skill sets needed to work in the IT-BPM industry.

The program is being rolled out in 17,000 universities across the country to ensure that the industry will have the talent needed to support its growth.

“By this time next year, we expect to have 20,000 students enrolled in the SMP to pipeline for 2016,” Mercado said.

The IBPAP groups 300 companies in the country and has the Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc., Contact Center Association of the Philippines, Game Developers Association of the Philippines, Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines, and the Philippine Software Industry Association as partner associations.