IT-BPM sector urged to upgrade workforce

By Richmond Mercurio (The Philippine Star), Dec. 18, 2016

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) urged the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) industry to “upskill” its talent pool to fully take advantage of the growth opportunities in the next six years.

PSIA president Jonathan de Luzuriaga highlighted the importance of upgrading the skills of manpower employed by the industry given that the real opportunity for growth is in mid-skilled and high-skilled tasks.

“We need people who have strong analytical skills, strong grasp of logical reasoning. Low-skilled employees have to be upgraded to mid-skilled workers, mid-skilled workers have to be upgraded to high-skilled workers,” he said.

Under the Philippine IT-BPM industry’s new roadmap, the sector is expected to grow its revenues to $38.9 billion and its share globally to 15.5 percent by 2022. In 2016, revenues reached $22.9 billion while global share was at 12.7 percent.

“There is a lot of opportunity for growth, but the high numbers projected by the roadmap will not happen without focused intervention specially in developing talent,” De Luzuriaga said.

The PSIA president also dispelled the notion that the industry will be adversely affected by recent developments in global politics by outlining the fundamental drivers of future growth in the Philippine IT-BPM industry.

He said the drivers of growth in the country are its cost competitiveness, service-oriented culture, and the growing market demand in the Asia Pacific region.

Also by the end of 2022, the IT-BPM industry is seen producing 1.8 million jobs, of which more than 500,000 will come from outside the National Capital Region and 73 percent are mid to high value.

The IBPAP is also looking to hire more post-graduates which will account to 16 percent of the total jobs generated by 2022, as compared to only seven percent of the total employment produced this year.