Some BPO workers worried over Duterte's 'separation' comment

MANILA - Some business process outsourcing (BPO) employees are worried of losing their jobs following President Rodrigo Duterte's announcement of his "separation" from the United States.

"Medyo may pangamba na baka ma-apektuhan ang trabaho namin, kasi siyempre if in case mag-pull out ang mga call centers dito," said call center employee Rachelle Ann Fuentes.

("We're worried that our jobs may be affected in case call centers pull out from the Philippines.")

Around 80 to 85 percent of BPO firms in the Philippines are US-based companies.

Some foreign investors may already have doubts in investing in the Philippines, but this doesn't mean that the country's call center industry will crash, a financial analyst said.

"A lot of these call centers cater to the American market...For the meantime, I think we are probably going to see the BPO industry stay with us for some time," said Smith Chua, a chief investment officer and SVP at BPI.

The Philippines' BPO sector is a $25 billion a year industry with about 1.2 million workers.

Malacañang assured the industry that the President's "separation" statement does not mean severing ties with the US after the IT-BPO Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) "formally reached out to the Office of the President to secure an audience with him and directly discuss our industry’s asks from government."

The President's rhetoric has caused some "jitters" among the outsourcing industry's clients, IBPAP Executive Director Genny Inocencio-Marcial said earlier. -- Report from Jekki Pascual, ABS-CBN News

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Industry group pushes 1M new jobs in IT, BPO

MANILA - The country’s information technology and outsourcing sector is bullish on its target to generate one million jobs until the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term in 2022, an industry leader said Wednesday.

The new job openings will likely be in contact centers, software development, health care and analytics, IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines chairman Dan Reyes told ANC’s “Market Edge with Cathy Yang.”

Reyes said improving internet infrastructure in the countryside was important to meeting the job generation goal.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

BPO industry bullish on growth this year

MANILA, Philippines - The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry expects to continue its sustained growth this year, an official of outsourcing service provider Transcom Philippines said.

Siva Subramaniam, country manager and head of sales for Transcom Philippines and the Asia-Pacific, said BPO revenues reached $13.5 billion in 2012, citing data from the latest Business Process Association of the Philippines quarterly survey.

"We have seen the direction of BPO revenues to be going up since 2009. In 2012 alone, companies generated $13.5 billion in revenues, slightly higher than the $13 billion target and 22-percent more than the previous year’s $11 billion projection. We are, therefore, able to surmise that stability for BPO revenues are indeed consistently going higher with employment record of 720,000 entering 2013. This momentum is good for the country,” Subramaniam said in a statement.

The BPAP-O2P survey showed high optimism in the industry in the next 12 months, despite concern over availability of adequate and dependable workers. The survey was conducted among 179 executives in 20 IT-BPO and shared services companies.

Meanwhile, the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) expects the Philippine information technology and business process management and global in-house center to generate $16 billion in revenues by the end of 2013.

Revenues are expected to reach $25 billion by 2016. The industry is expected to provide 1.3 million direct jobs and 3.2 million indirect jobs.

"Yes, our outlook and forecast is similar to that forecast by IBPAP. We expect to grow 35% employees by end of this year. Perhaps our plans could be a bit aggressive but any growth we see from our current staffing levels would be seen as significant," Subramaniam said.

Subramaniam said Transcom's growth will be driven not just by the growth of its international clients but domestic or local customers as well.

"The Philippine economy is growing and so is the need for support services to achieve its economic gains. The BPO industry is well prepared to address the country's growth," he added.

Transcom acquired a Canadian-owned company, Nucomm International on 2007 and built its first Philippines showcase center in Frontera Verde, Pasig City.

source: abs-cbnnews.com