CLARK FREEPORT – Experts expressed here yesterday confidence that the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry will grow at 20 percent yearly.
This, as the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), local investors and BPO experts bared yesterday this freeport will host the 4th International Outsourcing Summit from Oct. 7 to 9.
“It will be a three-day activity to be attended by at least 100 industry executives, significant analysts and top government officials,” the CDC said.
“This is the right time to declare Clark as the country’s top IT and BPO destination,” said Cybercity Teleservices president George Sorio during a meeting here of top executives of foreign and Filipino corporations based in this freeport.
Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) executive director for industry affairs Raymond Lacdao, in his briefing during the meeting, quoted studies by IBM and Everest Group, citing the Philippines as currently the number one provider of voice services in the world.
Lacdao, however, noted that the country’s non-voice services sector is also growing rapidly, and is now number two worldwide.
Lacdao said the country’s BPO industry, despite economic woes in Europe, is expected to grow by up to 20 percent over the next five years.
“It is forecasted to produce 1.3 million direct jobs, 3.2 million indirect jobs and US$25 billion dollars in revenue,” he added.
“Developments in technology, expanding demand for services, and shifts in public policy in countries that provide IT-BPO services as well as those that contract these services are creating major challenges and opportunities for the global IT-BPO industry. How is, and will, the industry respond,” he said.
Lacdao said the summit “ will also help determine the country’s standing on the BPO Industry as new competitions arise.”
He said this year’s Conex summit will focus on “amplifying the understanding of the new oars of growth as well as the challenges that comes along with it. They will identify the impact it has towards the industry and the country, and how the industry will adapt to the business models and strategies.”
The CDC said the summit will feature keynote presentations by industry and domain experts; panel discussions with top industry executives from around the region and other respected and influential resource personas; gala dinners; business matching sessions; exclusive briefings; conferencing sessions; and, a supplier exhibit.
Last year’s summit focused on providing a platform to assess progress towards development goals in the IT-BPO Road Map 2011-2016.
Meanwhile, Metro Angeles Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (MACCII) President Dr. Frankie Villanueva, concurrent president of the Metro Clark ICT Council (MCICTC), said the event is one of the council’s flagship projects geared to make the Clark Freeport as the country’s foremost IT-BPO destination.
Villanueva said the convention and expo also aims to encourage IT/BPO firms to locate in the provinces to decongest Metro Manila.
“It is being held to ensure that the activities to be held during the event will cater to the various needs of the stakeholders from the industry,” he noted.
Villanueva said some 4,000 jobs in the Clark Freeport’s Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector are open for employment.
Over 50 percent of Clark’s workforce comes from a mix of industries from the IT, BPO, and semiconductor sectors, he added.
Villanueva also said “the event will highlight Metro Clark’s global tourist appeal because of its convenient business-meets-leisure environment, its rich culture, wide array of entertainment and recreational getaways, and world-famous Filipino hospitality.”
