IT-BPM sector yields $15.5B in revenues

Revenues of the Philippines’ Information Technology and Business Process Management sector (IT-BPM) grew by 17 percent in 2013 to $15.5 billion, on the back of growing demand from the global offshoring industry.

In an interview with reporters Friday, Jose Mari Mercado, president and CEO of the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), said the industry also generated some 900,000 jobs as of end-December last year.

According to Mercado, the growth in revenues and number of jobs generated can be primarily attributed to the Filipino talent and the increasing number of multinational companies that are putting up global inhouse centers in the country that cater to voice, front office and back office operations.

This year, the local IT-BPM sector is seen to post a 17-percent increase in revenues to $18.135 billion and reach the 1-million mark in terms of number of jobs generated.

Mercado said the biggest growth this year would likely come from back office operations, while the healthcare and engineering sectors were seen growing “very fast.”

He also said that foreign companies were continuing to locate in the country, with two firms from the United States and Japan reportedly “95-percent” sure to set up shop in the Philippines.

The US firm is involved in finance and accounting, while the Japanese company is in the healthcare sector. Both companies are expected to generate 300 new jobs in Metro Manila.

An Australian firm, which already employs some 1,000 personnel in its center in Manila, is further expanding operations through a second office in Cebu, where it plans to hire 600 more employees, Mercado added.

Meanwhile, the IBPAP is set to conduct a roadshow in as many as 10 provinces, which can be prospective sites for IT-BPM facilities. The group has been targeting further growth in the provinces to bring jobs closer to the countryside.

The local sector, Mercado said, is also on track to meeting its target revenue and employment of $25 billion and 1.3 million, respectively, by 2016. At this size, the sector is expected to account for about 8 percent of the Philippine gross domestic product. Globally, demand for offshoring services is seen to reach $200 billion.

The Philippines is deemed to be well-positioned among global IT-BPM services providers in four key human resource indicators namely scalability, experienced talent pool, quality of English accent and cultural affinity with the US, and size of graduate pool.