IT manpower shortage worsens

Despite the fact that Cebu is now getting all the attention from Business Process Outsourcing companies, the province is on the verge of losing its popularity due to the draining manpower supply.

“Our only problem is on the people. We don’t have problems with infrastructure. The demand is wide open. Cebu needs help,” said Cebu Investment and Promotions Center (CIPC) managing director Joel Mari S. Yu.

Yu said if Cebu can provide at least 25,000 qualified personnel to the growing demand of the existing and upcoming BPO investors, then sustaining the demand won’t be a problem.

But the obvious lack of qualified manpower supply is one of the greatest problems of Cebu right now in attracting more BPO companies.

Yu said he usually tells interested investors to scour for people from the entire Visayas and Mindanao regions if they want to put up a facility in Cebu because the province alone is incapable of providing their manpower needs.

Although the manpower shortage had been there ever since, when we have only heard of call centers coming in, but this time it’s a different story when what Cebu needs are high-skilled IT manpower to match the total solutions outsourcing services now operating in Cebu.

Although, the non-government organizations (NGOs) like the Cebu Educational Foundation for Information Technology (Cedfit) had been helping the improvement of the quality of Cebu’s IT-related graduates, Cedfit can not do it alone.

Yu said, Cedfit is on the right track, but it is too small to address this huge problem, besides, it is also underfunded.

CIPC and other private sector-led organizations, like the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) had been very active in working closely with the academe to bridge the huge gap of industry and academe connection.

However, the demand is growing too fast and program linkages between the academe and the industry are being outpaced by the developments and demands of the sector.He added that one of the key solutions to the problem is to urge the academe to put a benchmark in the passing standard for students taking up ICT related courses.