Revenues of IT-BPM sector seen hitting $48B

The Philippine Information Technology and Business Process Management sector (IT-BPM) should grow by about 18 percent yearly starting 2016 to reach a forecasted export revenue of $48 billion by 2020, Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said Tuesday night.

According to the trade chief, this forecast announced by global consultancy firm Tholons, while “achievable”, was already a “stretch target” for the local IT-BPM industry, which has grown 12-fold since 2004.

Export revenues to be generated by the industry are expected to reach $18 billion this year and $25 billion by 2016.

“The problem is, as the base grows, the tendency is for the growth to slow down a little bit,” Domingo explained.
To help achieve these targets, the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) has sought anew for more support from the government to address a number of issues affecting the sector such as infrastructure, power supply, traffic, safety and security, climate change and education.

IBPAP chair Danilo Sebastian L. Reyes cited during the recent International IT-BPM Summit the need to develop the talent pool in the country to address the skills-job mismatch and the growing requirements of the global outsourcing market.

Funding for more scholarships, Reyes said, was necessary to prepare more graduates for their eventual entry to the industry.

The industry, meanwhile, is looking to start revising the current roadmap to outline the targets and strategies up to 2020.

IBPAP president Jose Mari Mercado earlier said he welcomed Tholons’ projection, as this meant that the opportunity for the Philippines is there along with the capabilities necessary to reach the goals.

“That is why we want to start working now on our revised roadmap. Our current roadmap is only up to 2016. What we want to do is update that roadmap into a roadmap up to 2020. And then we will now project what will happen in 2020,” Mercado earlier said.