Ayala group confident in BPO market

CEBU CITY-Despite President Barrack Obama’s campaign to stop the outflow of jobs from the United States, the Ayala group remains confident in the growth of the market for office spaces for business process outsourcing companies.

Earlier this month, Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) and its subsidiary, Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp. (CPVDC), broke ground for the eBloc Tower 3, a 12-story building intended for BPOs, at the Cebu IT Park in Lahug, Cebu City.

The eBloc Towers are projects of the Asian i-Office Properties Inc. (AiO), a partnership between ALI and CPVDC. These buildings are envisioned as the premier locations for companies engaged in BPO, information technology and information technology-enabled services.

Francis Monera, president of CPVDC and AiO, said the eBloc 3 project showed that the company remained optimistic over BPO prospects.

He said the company would invest P1 billion in the eBloc 3, which will have a leasable area of 15,764 square meters.

“This is a demonstration of our confidence. As a matter of fact, we’re also planning another BPO building in the Cebu Business Park,” Monera said.

He said the eight floors of the 14-level eBloc 2, also located at the Cebu IT Park, have been leased out to three companies for expansion of existing BPO operations.

Monera noted that there was spill-over interest from the eBloc 2, an indicator that these companies were not affected by the anti-outsourcing move in the US.

“Outsourcing is essentially a business strategy where the none-core competencies you outsource, something even practiced by local companies, to save on costs,” he pointed out.

Monera also said the US companies might even try to lobby against the anti-outsourcing measures.

“This is about operating in the global arena where competitiveness is key. Part of the competitiveness is your cost. Outsourcing reduces a lot of your costs,” he added.

Monera noted that ALI even projected a 20-percent increase in the workforce in the BPO firms in Cebu Park District (composed of Cebu IT Park and Cebu Business Park), currently estimated at around 50,000.

Antonio T. Aquino, president of ALI, also maintained that the anti-outsourcing move in the US would not have much impact on the BPO sector here.

“There will probably be some (impact). (But) if you look at it in terms of competitive advantage offered by the BPOs, I feel that it (outsourcing) will be the continued strategy,” said Aquino.

Aquino explained that most of the outsourcing companies are multinationals that do business with US companies as well as those from other countries.

But if there will be a negative impact, he said he was confident that Cebu would be able to offset it because Metro Cebu has the talent pool needed by these companies.