Demand for IT solutions, services on the rise in Phl

CEBU, Philippines - Technology solutions company IBM posts increasing demand for solutions and services as businesses and government organizations in the Philippines turn to IT (Information Technology) to transform operations and increase global competitiveness.

“IBM’s success has been and will continue to be enabled by transformation through innovation. We will continue to make a positive impact by leveraging on smarter solutions to advance national priorities, collaborate globally to grow our business further and make IBM essential to our clients and stakeholders, here and the world over, 75 years forward. 75 years is not simply a milestone. Rather, it marks an opportunity to heighten IBM’s commitment to the country as the Philippines remain essential to IBM’s growth strategy,” said Mariels Almeda Winhoffer, President and Country General Manager, IBM Philippines.

More recently, IBM and the Davao City Government signed a first of its kind agreement to help the city scale-up its existing Public Safety and Security Command Center (PSSCC) to further enhance public safety operations in the city. The IBM Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) solutions will create a smart and safe city by applying advanced technologies to existing infrastructure to improve city management and efficiency.

At present, IBM is working with over 400 Business Partners nationwide to better serve clients across many of the local key growth sectors such as banking, telecommunications, and retail, among others.

In the past 75 years, IBM has also been contributing to nation-building through strategic support of government initiatives, a wide spectrum of corporate social responsibility programs and outreach to small and mid-size businesses.

Currently, IBM has two world class sales and distribution business offices that looks after the domestic markets and seven global delivery centers operating in Metro Manila and Cebu, that serves over one million client employees in 84 countries across the world, clearly demonstrating that the Philippines is regarded as a country with highly-skilled professionals who have the expertise to manage shared services.

The Philippines has been identified as one of IBM Corporation’s 20 focus countries in line with the company’s geographic expansion strategy through which it is building out its presence in the fastest growing markets in the world. IBM has also expanded its business and presence beyond Metro Manila in keeping with the country’s continued rapid economic transformation.

Meanwhile, according to Winhoffer, the company is heavily banking on the future of Cebu, the reason why it has inked several partnerships with the local government units (LGUs) here, both in introducing its smart city strategy, as well as development of human resource for information technology professionals.

She said Cebu is one of the 33 cities in Asia that IBM has been given focus into. An obvious evident is its establishment of its second Global Delivery Center (GDC) in 2010, which is now on its expansion mode.

“We’ve worked with the academe and the government here, to capture the promise of Cebu. We are going to capture and seize the value of talent in Cebu,” Winhoffer said reiterating her confidence that Cebu will play a vital role in the growth of IBM’s operation in the Philippines. —  (FREEMAN)