BPO sector to hire 600,000 workers, post revenues of $9b this year

The Commission on Information and Communications Technology expects the business process outsourcing and information and communications technology sectors in the Philippines to post robust growths this year.

“We see a 26-percent growth this year. We project additional hiring of workers from 550,000 last year to 600,000 this year. Last year’s revenue hit $7.3 billion and we expect it to grow to $9 billion this year,” said Secretary and CICT chairman Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III Monday at the opening of a conference in Pasay City.

“The Philippines is now one of the top ICT destinations in the world and because of these achievements, we should not be complacent and be more competitive because more countries are poised to enter the BPO market,” he said.

The Philippines, according to a report of the Everest Research Institute in 2009, accounted for 15 percent of the offshore BPO market and had emerged as a key destination for English-based work, especially for North American companies.

The Philippines, whose offshore market has grown 46 percent annually since 2004, is poised to emerge as a leading destination for non-voice business process outsourcing work.

In October 2009, advisory firm Global Services/Tholons reported that the Philippines was now the second offshore nation in the world after India. It ranked Manila and the capital region as the no. 4 global outsourcing city after Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai and Makati City among top established global outsourcing cities for human resources. Cebu City, meanwhile, emerged as no. 1 emerging global outsourcing city and the top for contact centers in English, HR and legal services.

Chua said while the Philippines had not created yet a department for ICT, other top destinations in the world like India and Thailand had their own ministry.

“We have more work to do, more to achieve, and one of these is to bring the technology closer to the citizens,” Chua said. –Julito G. Rada, Manila Standard Today