Getting ready for next wave cities

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Science and Technology (DOST)’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Office will push forward its Next Wave Cities (NWC) program which seeks to help urban centers outside Metro Manila become attractive sites for business process outsourcing companies as a strategy to help decongest the metropolis’ worsening daily traffic gridlocks. 

Monchito Ibrahim, deputy executive director of DOST’s ICT Office, who attributed the daily traffic in Metro Manila to the many companies that still choose to operate in Eastwood, Makati, EDSA,  and other major commercial destinations, said that the importance of the NWC program was made more evident.

“This is why many Filipinos in the rural areas still opt to migrate to Metro Manila to take advantage of these job opportunities,” said Ibrahim. “This leads to a scenario where office workers go to the same commercial districts, use the same mode of transportation at the same period of time, thus causing heavy traffic during rush hours.

“Through the Next Wave Cities Program, the DOST-ICT Office managed to introduce and recommend places in the regions that are ideal for IT-BPM (business process management) operations,” Ibrahim explained. 

The DOST-ICT Office provides industry investors with extensive reports on the competency of these next wave cities, such as number of quality educational institutions, infrastructure, and crime rate, according to Ibrahim. 

The positive business environment offered by the identified next wave cities encouraged the establishment of IT-BPM hubs in the provinces instead of Metro Manila. 

Talent and office locations are already available, Ibrahim said, such that investors who decide to have IT-BPM operations in the provinces get less competition and avoid the so-called pirating of talent.

“We want local residents in the countryside to have decent employment opportunities, wherein they can earn salaries that are enough to support their needs without leaving their families,” he said.

Ibrahim revealed that the number of full-time IT-BPM employees in the provinces has increased from more than 63,000 in 2010 to more than 300,000 as of August 2014.  

ICT Office also conducts Stepping-Up the Value Chain, an awareness program that aims to promote other IT-BPM career opportunities aside from call centers or voice services to the provinces. These include game and software development, animation, healthcare information, accounting and finance, and engineering outsourcing services.