BPO, ICT manpower shortage looms anew

CEBU, Philippines - Despite the efforts to address fast attrition rate in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and the Information Technology and Communication ( ICT), these sectors are now facing another problem in getting qualified people.

Jerry Rapes, chairman for ICT committee of the Cebu Chamber if Commerce and Industry (CCCI), presented this challenge to the members of the Asian ICT Council, saying the emerging trend of outsourcing that has been attracting people to work from home, is getting the sector's chunk in terms of sustaining or expanding their manpower tool.

Rapes is also the president and chief executive officer ( CEO) of Exist, a software solutions provider with world class enterprise software, web and mobile applications.

According to Rapes the BPO and ICT churn rate or attrition rate is moving fast, aside from the traditonal problem of people transferring from one company to the other,  working from home now offered by web-based outsourcing portal has also become a threat to the BPO and ICT companies.

Thus, the cost of hiring and retention is growing up, although the Philippines continues to be the favorite site for outsourcing companies due to the highly skilled and English speaking manpower.

Rapes emphasized that the Philippines has high potential to grow in double digit in terms of software development, but also identified other challenges that may derail this probability, such as the skills gap of the academe and the industry players, foreign exchange volatility, infrastructure improvement, the lack of middle management people among others.

Since 2010, the software development industry in the Philippines grew in a  rate of 200 percent,  with total revenue of US$ 13 billion near to reach the US$ 15 billion in 2016.

Despite these challenges, Rapes said the industry is banking on its  value proposition as one of the top "english speaking " countries based on the recent Business English Index, of which the Philippines bested 76 countries. (FREEMAN)