BPAP bullish on non-voice IT-BPO business

MANILA, Philippines – The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) is bullish about the prospects of the country’s non-voice information technology-business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) segment as revenues surged 26 percent last year.

While the IT-BPO industry grew at an impressive rate of 24 percent last year, industry figures showed that the non-voice sector expanded by an estimated 30 percent.

BPAP senior executive director Gillian Virata said in a statement that the increase was a result of strengthening service delivery in the financial services, insurance, human resources, logistics, engineering, software, media, health care, IT and legal industries.

“The demand for new outsourced services is increasing and the potential for non-voice and other emerging services is enormous. IT-BPO has now evolved into an industry of industries with a broad range of new sectors seeking to leverage opportunities in the delivery of non-voice services,” Virata said.

Research and consultancy firm Everest Group recently forecast the global market for outsourced services to reach $220 billion to $280 billion this year with 90 percent coming from non-voice work.

While the Philippines is set on maintaining its global leadership in voice BPO or contact centers, Virata explained that the Philippines is rapidly expanding its share of the global non-voice IT-BPO services market.

Last year, 33 percent of $11 billion in Philippine IT-BPO revenues was generated by non-voice sectors including medical transcription that now covers health care information management as well as animation services now grouped with other creative services such as game development and graphic design.

Other business services for industries such as banking, transportation, manufacturing, retail, and pharmaceutical, among others, are also gaining traction.

The Philippine IT-BPO industry accounted for about five percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year one-third of the output consisted of non-voice work delivered by approximately 220,000 employees.

Raymond Lacdao, executive director for industry affairs of BPAP, said the growth is being felt across several non-voice sectors in the Philippines which are restructuring to meet demand for more non-voice, complex services.

“This is an exciting time for IT-BPO industry players. As a result of the industry’s rapid growth, the Philippines has become an important venue for global IT-BPO stakeholders to discuss industry developments and forecasts,” Lacdao said. –Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star)