ICTV starts foray into BPO market with NowPlanet.TV

MANILA, Philippines - A booming mobile Internet market and explosive growth in social media usage worldwide have prompted the Philippine Stock Exchange-listed Information Capital Technology Ventures Inc. (ICTV) to start its foray into the lucrative, multibillion-dollar business process outsourcing (BPO) market as part of the launch of its digital media platform, NowPlanet.TV.

ICTV is set to leverage on a $373-billion global market, based on figures from The Gartner Group and a $11-billion Philippines market, according to estimates from the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, for BPOs to offer its innovative mobile Web, digital media and business productivity solutions.

The ICT conglomerate will soon commence round-the-clock operations for its new digital media brand, providing outsourced services in the areas of device-independent Web publishing, digital media, and site management for enterprises, apart from allied business productivity solutions, such as electronic data management, credit and collection, and IT resource management.

NowPlanet.TV offers Responsive Web Design-based site development, creative multimedia authoring, video broadcast and uplink facilities, and editorial and content services for enterprise customers seeking to outsource their marketing or public affairs processes.

“This is the best time for ICTV to enter the lucrative BPO market because we see NowPlanet as an exceptional solution in making enterprises social and mobile, and should soon gain ground in the local and global markets,” said ICTV chairman Dr. Thomas Aquino. “Our innovation speaks for itself and we expect the world to take notice.”

Responsive Web Design

NowPlanet.TV builds websites through a technique called Responsive Web Design (RWD), which adjusts automatically to provide optimal viewing experience on any computing device, be it a desktop PC or mobile phone, tablet or notebook PC. Using just one design, the responsive website can be optimally viewed on any device.

ICTV’s move is largely due to foreseen exponential demand for mobile websites, as Internet usage on mobile phones has staggeringly grown in recent years. 

The Gartner Group forecasts that mobile Internet usage numbers will overtake those on the desktop PC system next year.

Forrester Research, on the other hand, reports in its World Mobile Adoption Forecast that global penetration for mobile Internet users will surpass PC Internet users by 2016.

With declining mobile data rates, consumers who have not been able to surf the Internet through traditional means will now be able to go online — via the mobile Web, according to Forrester.

Forrester’s Susan Huynh, who authored the report, said in her blog, “Not surprisingly, we believe that emerging markets will drive the adoption levels of not only mobile telephony but also Internet access through these mobile devices.”

Seamless experience

As such, to succeed in the burgeoning mobile Web, providing a seamless experience across multiple devices is crucial.

“It’s a paradigm shift. Gone are the days when we test the functionality and appearance of websites on mere desktop PC browsers,” said ICTV president for collaborative services Angelo Timoteo Diaz de Rivera.

“Today, it is imperative that usability testing is done using mobile devices or else you lose a huge chunk of your Web audience,” he added.

Testing the “responsiveness” of your website is essential in its design, hence assuring optimization for all types of devices and software platforms such as iOS, Android, and Windows.

With the proliferation of low-cost smartphones and tablets, the demand for responsive websites has never been higher.

This is where RWD comes to play. Customers can tap NowPlanet.TV to create RWD-based sites or convert their existing sites to RWD, allowing users to access them via iPhones, iPads, Android or Windows smartphones or tablets.

In addition, customers can outsource site development, content management, live video broadcasting, mobile application development, and multimedia creative services, such as motion graphics and 2D and 3D animation.

Social media features

In addition, the integration of social media tools is vital to any website, which can tap a massive market of 1.5-billion social network users worldwide, according to eMarketer figures.

Using the NowPlanet.TV Social Canvass, a set of pluggable social media features can be integrated into the RWD site. This includes tools to collect user comments, share and e-mail content, view related articles and multimedia content from the Web, and even rate the RWD site.

For enterprises, not-for-profit institutions, and SMEs looking at further expanding or engaging their Web audience for their brand, products, or services, NowPlanet.TV has initiated a free online service at www.nowplanet.tv to test websites for mobile responsiveness. 

For more information, contact the NowPlanet.TV hotline at (+63 2) 799-7700, text NAME(SPACE)CITY/TOWN to (+63 929) 332-6575 or e-mail at [email protected].