BPOs bullish amid Trump’s threat

by Othel V. Campos, Manila Standard, Jan. 30, 2017

Business process outsourcing companies in the Philippines remain bullish and expect growth despite President Donald Trump’s plan to bring jobs back to the United States.

“We are confident that, if we can collaboratively harness our respective strengths to maximize the potential of the industry and protect what we have already achieved, we can continue our progress in terms of economic development and job generation,” said IT-Business Process Association of the Philippines president and chief executive Ike Amigo.

Amigo made the statement after the Philippine Economic Zone Authority warned that the expansion programs of the BPO sector might be put on hold until the US issued a clearer policy on offshore services such as business process outsourcing.

The group said its optimism stemmed from the interest of many countries in investing in the Philippine IT-BPM services such as the United States, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and India.

IBPAP recently conducted a quick poll among members to gauge the interest of global investors and found that they were continuing their expansion plans in the Philippines.

The group said projections under the Accelerate PH Roadmap 2022 were on track and the industry was prepared face challenges that, once overcome, would increase global interest in local IT-BPM services and add revenue for the country.

“The objective of all these is to improve our capacity to move up the value chain to better wages, benefit the industry and inevitably contribute a greater percentage to the country’s GDP,” Amigo said.

The Philippine IT-BPM industry generated $22.9 billion in revenues last year and provided direct employment to 1.15 million Filipinos with an additional 3.68 million ijobs outside the industry, both indirect and induced employment.

IBPAP’s Accelerate PH Roadmap 2022 envisions that the Philippines would remain a preferred investment destination given its deep pool of high-quality Filipino professionals, a positive business environment that supports 7 by 24 operations and the partnership and support of the government.

The group, however, was also concerned over the future development of trade policies between the Philippines and the United States.

The BPO industry became an essential component of the Philippine economy over the past decade, especially in terms of providing high-paying, sustainable and inclusive jobs for the Filipino people.

The industry will continue to work with the national and local governments, industry regulators, legislators, the financial sector, and all other stakeholders to mitigate the possible shift in trade relations, and protect the Philippines’ leadership in the global outsourcing industry, IBPAP said.