As emerged outsourcing hub BPO stakeholders eye top 5 ranking

CEBU, Philippines - Stakeholder of Cebu’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector are bent on working together to push Cebu to hit the top five ranking as emerged outsourcing destination in the world.

This is one of the important topics discussed during the two-day ICT/BPO Conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu, as part of the Cebu Business Month (CBM 2012) flagship events this month.

Although the lack of manpower is a universal problem among outsourcing destinations, even India, Cebu Educational Development for Information Technology (Cedfit) president Gregg Gabison said Cebu will make a difference in intensifying its strength in the development of human resource for outsourcing.

This time, Gabison urged the existing outsourcing stakeholders to forge much closer relationship with the academe sector, dictating them what curriculum should be implemented in order to provide quality and ready-for-employment people.

Likewise, Gabison who is also the dean of College of Information, Computer and Communication Technology (CICCT) at the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) urged the academe sector to trail blaze with the fast growing requirement in the technology skills.

Thus, there should be constant collaboration, and much active partnership with the academe and the outsourcing stakeholders to minimize the problem of manpower scarcity, Gabison said.

Unlike before that requirements for outsourcing or IT companies are only basic knowledge on software or hardware skills, today on the other hand, companies are needing specialized skills on different program languages, and other dimensions being newly introduced in the technology world.

Cebu, which is moving up to accommodate the high-value services in outsourcing, the Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) should lead in this effort of strong collaboration between the employers and the manpower suppliers or the universities and colleges.

“There is so much dynamism in the industry today, like the introduction of cloud computing and other developments technology. The academe should catch up and be more alert in catching up,” Gabison said.

One way of doing this, is again he said there should be a platform that would encourage effective transfer of technology between the academe and the industry players.

Gabison mentioned that two decades ago, any basic knowledge in programming or computer related course can easily be accepted by industry players. Today, he said specialization, and material degrees are needed.

While Cebu is also trying to fix other concerns and issues in moving up as an emerged outsourcing destination, the most immediate and serious problem on human resource is considered as highest priority.

On the other hand, Gabison also urged the Philippine government to review on the policies related to the development of outsourcing sector in the country.

The national and the local government units (LGUs) should be more supportive for the sector, making sure that the huge gap or mismatch between the industry and the academe can be minimized.

Although Cebu has 40 colleges and universities and produce thousands of graduates a year, the number and qualified graduates are not enough to fill in the required number of existing industry players, as well as the new investors.

Cebu Investment and Promotions Center (CIPC) estimated if Cebu will be able to produce about 100 thousand more qualified manpower pool in the next two years, the problem on human resource scarcity will be solved.

At present, the outsourcing industry in the Cebu is employing over 70 thousand people. A requirement of 100 thousand more is expected in the next two years.