INDUSTRY players in business process outsourcing (BPO)in Davao Region have expressed confidence to meet the $25 Billion total revenue target by the end of 2016.
Samuel Matunog, president of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Davao, Inc. and vice-president of the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines, told Sun.Star Davao on Tuesday's interview that the target is reasonable enough.
"In Davao City alone, our industry partners reported that in 2015 our full-time equivalent (FTEs) number is over 33,000 both from the formal and informal sector, a strong indicator that demand in BPO is growing every year. We have 20,000 graduating students in Davao every year, and 55,000 in our catchment areas covering Davao Region, Soccsksargen, and parts of Northern Mindanao, Caraga and Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao," Matunog said.
FTE is the hours worked by one employee on a full-time basis. In 2014, the BPO sector registered $18.9 billion in total revenue and is forecasted to grow between 30 to 32 percent this year.
With this projection, Pinnacle Real Estate Consulting Services Inc., a real estate market consultancy firm, said in an article that the BPO industry "may soon overtake dollar remittances from overseas Filipinos in terms of revenues given the continued strong demand for office space."
At present, the Philippines with the educated talent pool, excellent infrastructure, cost competitiveness, and adequate government support for the industry remains the top destination for IT-BPO firms. Davao City including the cities of Baguio, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Lipa, Metro Bulacan (Baliuag, Calumpit, Malolos City, Marilao and Meycauayan City), Metro Cavite (Bacoor City, Dasmariñas City and Imus City), Metro Laguna (Calamba City, Los Baños and Sta. Rosa City), Metro Naga (Naga City and Pili), and Metro Rizal (Antipolo City, Cainta and Taytay) are the other cities outside Manila and Cebu with strong BPO activities.
“We have enough ready and trainable pool of talent which is more than enough to address the bullish demand of BPO locators and double the number of Davao's technical FTEs within the next 2 years,” Matunog said. “As you can see, both local and national, the demand for BPO talent remains strong,” he added. Meanwhile, BPO sector generated some 34,000 jobs for Davao city by the end of 2015.
“With multimillion investments being poured by the BPO industry to the city through the construction and expansion of more BPO spaces open the creation of more jobs in the service sector,” Davao City Investment Promotions Center (DCIPC) officer-in-charge Ivan C. Cortez earlier said.
The BPO sector, it was noted, that it started the year 2015 with 20,000 jobs and ended the year with some 70 percent growth to 34,000 jobs. Cortez said that big part of the generated job is contributed by the voice call centers.
Source: Sunstar | January 19, 2016
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/business/2016/01/19/bpo-players-confident-meet-25b-target-452639
