‘GenAI a double-edged sword for IT-BPM sector’

MANILA, Philippines — The information technology- business process management (IT-BPM) sector sees the rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as both a challenge and an opportunity for the country.

Jack Madrid, president and CEO of the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) said the organization and its stakeholders recognized early on that GenAI would inevitably change the way business services are performed and delivered, bringing a significant shift in the dynamics among jobs, skills and talent.

“We have since considered this both a daunting challenge and an exciting opportunity to dramatically strengthen the efficiency of global services delivery to customers by our current and future workforce,” Madrid said in a statement.

According to IBPAP, the industry sees the rise of GenAI as an opportunity to strengthen the efficiency of global services delivery to its customers.

“We have been working with both the public and private sectors for several years now on comprehensive talent programs and career roadmaps with skill rating systems, given the urgent need to continuously upskill existing talent and university students, and instill in them the importance of lifelong learning,” Madrid said.

IBPAP recently established an AI Council to partner and collaborate with learning academies and organizations like the Analytics Association of the Philippines (AAP).

Madrid pointed out that specific areas of focus for the initiative will include programming, data science and data analytics, including data and AI ethics.

“Through partnerships like these, IBPAP intends to enable the industry and workforce to move up the value chain. We want our skilled talent to perform higher-value work rather than mundane and repetitive tasks, so they continue to be competitive and in-demand,” Madrid said.

Madrid issued the statement amid the ongoing discussions on the impact of GenAI among industry, government and academic leaders.

“Companies have long been doing proof-of-concept experiments to determine how they can leverage it in their business operations to improve employee productivity, enhance customer experience, reduce costs and increase top-line growth. A good example is the use of chatbots to handle simple customer inquiries,” Madrid said.

While it’s clear that the potential benefits of GenAI are immense, Madrid stressed that at this phase of its evolution, there are still some limitations associated with its use.

These include the lack of context-specific data, tendency for bias and other ethical concerns, shortage of AI-versed talent, and risk to data privacy and security.

The IBPAP official stressed that IT-BPM companies that are proactive in developing and revising talent strategies will be better positioned to flourish in an AI-driven economy.

“Our success in this endeavor will be critical in generating 1.1 million new jobs for Filipinos – a goal that we had set for the Philippine IT-BPM industry when we launched Roadmap 2028 last year,” he added.

Last year, the country’s IT-BPM industry registered an 8.4 percent increase in full-time employees to 121,000, bringing the industry’s total headcount to 1.57 million.

The sector also recorded a 10.3-percent rise in revenues to $32.5 billion in 2022.

IBPAP noted that the boost in headcount and revenue may be attributed to growth in Banking, Financial Services & Insurance as well as Healthcare, Retail, Technology and Telecommunications.

Based on Roadmap 2028, the Philippine IT-BPM industry can reach 1.7 million employees and $35.9 billion in revenue this year.