Acquire BPO aims to expand to 10,000 employees in the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Australian business process outsourcing company Acquire aims to add three thousand employees to its current operation in the Philippines in the near term.

Acquire Chief Executive Scott Stavretis said in an interview that from a present 7,000 workforce, he is aiming to expand to 10,000. Stavretis said such expansion may entail adding 3 more sites to their current nine in the Philippines.

“We have new locations that we are currently scouting. Last November, I was looking at different locations both here in Metro Manila as well as in other locations like Cebu,” Stavretis said.

Stavretis said that for the local BPO industry to grow, he is hoping to see more workers with language premiums such as in Spanish and European languages.

“The biggest challenge that we face is other languages, more so than different skills sets. English has always been the ideal solution, but in the European and Spanish market, that’s where the Philippines is going to have the most challenge rather than in new skill sets,” Stavretis said. “It’s a barrier. If the Philippines really wants to be the headquarters for ASEAN integration and to be the number one destination, and move the BPO into a single presence, then language is certainly going to be an issue

Stavretis said he is trying to lobby the Commission on Higher Education to have added language courses in different schools.

Acquire gobbled up Philippine BPO company Shore Solutions in November, 2014, adding 2,500 employees to its operations. Stavretis said they successfully integrated Shore to their operations during the first half of 2015. Most of the company’s clients are currently in telco, consumer retail, and finance.

source: interaksyon.com

Aspect launches new software solution for BPOs

MANILA, Philippines — US-based company Aspect Software, Inc. has launched a new product that reportedly provides an end-to-end operational management system for business process outsourcing companies.

According to the company, the Workforce Optimization 8.0 software includes workforce management, quality management, and performance management capabilities.

“Aspect’s technology solutions are designed to work on an intuitive level providing companies the flexibility of operations and integrated customer service operations,” Jim Freeze, Aspect senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said. “Our products provide solutions that coordinate workforce processes while seamlessly elevating the level of service that is delivered… while developing a tighter integration between the front and the back office,”

Aspect said that they have also revamped the user interface of the new product to make it simpler and easier to navigate.

“Overall, the user friendly interface will lead to a broader use of the system with agents not shying away from using the more powerful but erstwhile complex work for optimization features,” Edwin Ong, Aspect director of marketing and channels, said.

Company officials said that they are hoping to tap the still huge growth potential of the BPO market in the Philippines.

source: interaksyon.com

Foreign demand for non-voice BPO service to increase, BSP says

MANILA - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) expects continued demand for information technology and business process outsourcing (BPO) services from foreign companies, with the gradual shift to non-voice segments seen to increase revenues.

BSP director Rosabel Guerrero said BPO revenues are expected to have increased by 15 percent to $13.34 billion in 2013 from $11.6 billion the previous year.

“We see continued demand for BPO, computer, information and other business services,” Guerrero said.

For this year, the BSP sees BPO revenues growing by 15 percent to $15.3 billion.

“We have been seeing the gradual shift to other segments of the BPO industry, including transcription, animation, back office transactions of financial and non-financial industry,” Zeno Abenejo, BSP Department of Economic Research director said.

Tourism receipts, meanwhile, are expected to have grown by 20 percent to $4.8 billion last year from $4 billion in 2012.

“We see more demand from foreign companies to reduce operational cost. There’s an increasing market share of IT BPO segments such as the non-voice segments,” Abenejo said.

“Basically, there’s a view that the economy will show more strength. As we have seen, data releases from major economies, there are issues of more recovery,” he said.

The BPO sector is expected to generate around 124,000 jobs a year from 2014 to 2016, Pasig Representative Roman Romulo said.

Romulo, who is chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, said this would help address the problem of unemployment, especially among college graduates. He said the government was counting on BPO players to continue generating employment to help shore up the economy.

source: interaksyon.com

US to levy $35 million fine on Infosys for 'fraudulently' seeking visas for workers

WASHINGTON--The US government plans to punish Indian outsourcing giant Infosys with the largest immigration fine ever for seeking visas fraudulently for workers at big clients in America, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Infosys is accused of putting workers on visitor visas, which are much easier and cheaper to obtain than the correct work visas. The fine is expected to be about $35 million, the paper said, quoting people close to the matter.

A probe by the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department concluded that Infosys used easy-to-get B1 visas, which are meant for short business visits, to bring an unknown number of its workers to the United States for long-term stays, the sources were quoted as saying.

The fine will be announced Wednesday, the Journal said.

Infosys would not confirm details of the fine to AFP, but said in a statement earlier this month that it had reserved $35 million, including legal costs, based on talks with the US government over the probe, which was announced in 2011.

An Infosys spokeswoman said on Tuesday that they were "in the process of completing a civil resolution with the (US) government regarding its investigation of visa issues and I-9 documentation errors". She said the resolution had not been finalised.

With the alleged practice, Infosys could undercut competitors in bids for programming, accounting and other work performed for clients, the Journal said.

Infosys is known as an outsourcing company that does India-based computing and other technology services for Western clients, who have included Goldman Sachs Group, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc.

But it also features thousands of US-based employees who develop and install software for accounting, logistics and supply-chain management in the retailing, finance and manufacturing sectors, the Journal said.

source: interaksyon.com

Healthcare BPOs pushing through with US roadshow despite shutdown

MANILA - The organization of Philippine call centers today said it will push through with a roadshow in the US despite its government's shutdown.

In a statement, the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) said the roadshow in four major cities in the US will be held  from October 20 to November 5, and is aimed at selling the Philippines as an outsource location for healthcare IT.

“Healthcare IT and information management are areas where Filipinos can excel because of our wealth of professional doctors, nurses and clinicians and our proven expertise in voice services,” said CCAP president Benedict Hernandez, who will join the roadshow of the Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Council of the Philippines (HIMOAP).

The US market for healthcare information is seen to grow to $54 billion by 2015.

Josefina Lauchangco, HIMOAP president, called on contact centers to gear up for their entry to the highly lucrative US healthcare IT outsourcing market, which comprises 60 percent of the global market for healthcare IT.

She said Philippine healthcare business process outsourcing firms (BPOs) have already quadrupled since 2009 and will further grow to a $1-billion industry by 2016.

Driving this market’s growth is the US Healthcare Reform Bill, more popularly known as “Obamacare” after President Barack Obama.

Under the measure, more than 40 million Americans would become eligible for healthcare coverage. For a citizen to avail of healthcare benefits, they have to go through a tedious process of verification for eligibility, a service that can be outsourced to a company based offshore, such as the Philippines.

The US government spent $3 trillion for healthcare in 2012, representing 17.3 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

“In the next three years, four million new enrollees are expected to join the American healthcare system. This will further grow to 35 to 40 million by 2016," said Lauchangco.

Offshore outsourcing is the most efficient way to manage the growing requirements of healthcare IT, Hernandez said.

According to Lauchangco, five factors drive outsourcing: the urgent need to cut healthcare cost, an aging US population, the rise in the incidence of diseases, the demand for trustworthy and error-free healthcare delivery, and growing requirements for an integrated healthcare system.

As more Americans apply for Obamacare, Lauchangco said the demand for hundreds of helpdesks manned by healthcare professionals 24/7 will rise and provide outsourcing opportunities for Filipinos.

“We have an opportunity to build the Philippines as a differentiated brand of knowledge workers. This is an area that can withstand price wars and shield the country from economic downturns," Hernandez said.

CCAP has nearly 100 member-companies that account for 70 percent of contact center revenues in the country.

source: interaksyon.com

BPO industry hikes revenue, jobs targets

MANILA - The country's business process outsourcing (BPO) industry increased its revenue target for this year, citing greater interest in the Philippines as an outsourcing destination.

On the sidelines of the International Outsourcing Summit, Jose Mari P. Mercado, who is president of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), told reporters that the group hiked its 2013 revenue goal to $16 billion from the earlier forecast of $15.7 billion. The revised target is 21 percent higher than the $13.2 billion earned last year.



Mercado said employment will hit 960,000, higher than the earlier forecast of 925,000. The new jobs target is 23 percent more than last year's 777,000.

He cited strong partnerships among the private sector, the government and academe as among the drivers of industry growth.

Despite the upward adjustment in its 2013 revenue and employment projections, IBPAP is keeping its 2016 targets of $25 billion in revenues and 1.3 million jobs.

IBPAP chairman Danilo Sebastian Reyes told a press conference that the Philippines continues to attract BPO investments because the country can serve a wide range of requirements of different companies across different geographies, ranging from voice, call center services to non-voice, back office operations.

Citing a recent trip to the US, Reyes said, "There are pinpointed requests for the Philippines not only for contact centers but also high-value back office services."

"We've been quite successful at making the Philippines not only a call center but also a full-service IT-BPM provider," Reyes said.

"A lot of companies are now saying 'I want to outsource' and particularly 'I want to outsource in the Philippines,'" said Asheesh Mehra, head for Asia Pacific, Japan and the Middle East of Infosys.

Citing the efficiency of outsourcing work here, Mehra said the company has increased to 97 percent the share of locals in its Philippine workforce from 70 percent previously.

Mercado said new markets such as Japan are looking at Filipino animators and software developers.

A delegation of Philippine software developers that visited Tokyo last April was welcomed by a record 150 Japanese firms that showed interest in outsourcing work.

"One of the challenges for Japan is it's running out of people. We in the Philippines have these [human] resources," Mercado said.

source: interaksyon.com

BPOs brace for lower revenues, as US shutdown coincides with peak season

MANILA - The Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) industry expects revenues to dip in the fourth quarter, as American consumer demand could weaken as a result of the US government shutdown that began yesterday.

"In terms of volumes of calls, affected American consumers may be not buying, not transacting. These are the calls going to the Philippines," Jose Mari P. Mercado, president of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), told reporters today.



US laws forbid the outsourcing of federal work, but American legislators' failure to pass a new budget sent 800,000 government employees on unpaid leave starting yesterday.

Philippine call center volumes from the US usually climb by a quarter during the "ber" months on increased business transactions accompanying holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, Mercado said.

While it is "too early to tell" how much the impact would be, reduced call volumes may eventually temper BPO firms' revenues, he said.

US clients account for two-thirds of BPO work done in the Philippines. The country's sunrise BPO industry is one of the key sources of foreign exchange earnings, which along with remittances have insulated the Philippines from the recent volatility in foreign investment flows.

Mercado said the BPO industry however is "not scared" of the shutdown, which he expects the US government to resolve soon.

"It will be fixed in a week's time. They cannot afford to remain shut down for a long time," he said.

Paul Townsend, general manager of the Philippine BPO operations of US-based Capital One Financial Corporation, said, "We do not see the shutdown impacting on our business in the Philippines.

Capital One only recently opened its BPO operations in Manila.

source: interaksyon.com

IT-BPO industry drawing more 'balikbayans' to work in PH

MANILA - As the Philippine economy expands, more Filipinos are returning to the country and finding employment in the growing information technology and business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry, executives of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) said.

With a relatively higher pay, IT-BPO jobs have become appealing not only to Filipinos who do not want to leave the country but also those who have returned amid rosier opportunities here, Joey Gurango, president of IBPAP member-organization Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), told reporters last week.

Gurango’s software firm, for instance, now employs four Filipinos who had previously worked in Australia and Singapore. Gurango left the country in the 1970s to work in the US and landed jobs in top IT companies such as Apple and Microsoft, but returned to the Philippines to help jumpstart local software startups.

“All we have to do is educate Filipinos in developing countries what is there for them to come back,” Gurango said, noting a wide array of opportunities being offered by the fast-rising IT-BPO sector.

IBPAP president Jose Mari P. Mercado said every IT-BPO firm in the country has at least one employee who previously worked abroad but has come back and gained employment in the industry, which has been growing leaps and bounds.

IBPAP senior executive director Gillian Joyce G. Virata said the Philippines is next only to India in providing IT-BPO services, with about a tenth of the global pie being supported here.

As for voice services, which comprises two-thirds of the domestic industry, the Philippines is number one, with a 38-percent share of the global market, Virata said, citing the latest global market size report of research firm Everest Group. She said the country could easily account for two-fifths of the voice sector by 2016.

IBPAP’s roadmap projects industry revenues to hit $25 billion and employment to reach 1.3 million by 2016.

To attain the roadmap’s targets, making IT-BPO services available throughout the country is a key strategy, Mercado said.

At present, 72 percent of IT-BPO operations in the country are based in Metro Manila, but the industry is working to expand the share of provinces to 40 percent by 2016, in line with the commitment made by the Department of Science and Technology’s Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO) to President Benigno Aquino III.

“Our value proposition is ‘you need not go out of the country to get a job,’ and will extend it to ‘you need not go out of your own city or province,” Mercado said.

Virata noted that three-fifths of college graduates come from outside Metro Manila, and many of them can be trained to work in the IT-BPO sector.

Mercado said the right matching of skills coupled with local government units’ (LGU) commitment to put in place IT infrastructure would result in increased competitiveness and attractiveness of sites outside Metro Manila for investors.

In line with the public-private “Next Wave Cities” initiative, IBPAP is embarking on a 10-city road show that will cover the cities of Antipolo, Baguio, Butuan. Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Laoag, Naga, Puerto Princesa, Tacloban and Tarlac, in a bid to promote ICT in these localities.

Fast-growing IT-BPO hubs such as Bacolod, Cebu and Davao show that more employment can be generated and firms can flourish even outside Metro Manila, Mercado said.

To showcase what the Philippine IT-BPO industry can offer, IBPAP is hosting the 5th International Outsourcing Summit (IOS) with the theme “Unlocking Possibilities, Creating New Vistas” on October 6-8 at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

source: interaksyon.com

Convergys opens new recruitment center in Cebu

MANILA – Convergys has opened a new recruitment center in Cebu, as the country’s largest private employer is set to hire at least 1,000 employees for operations in that city this year.

In a statement, Convergys said its new recruitment center is located at the ground floor of The Link building, which is at the entrance of the Cebu IT Park on the corner of Salinas Drive and Jose Maria del Mar Drive.

The Link is also home to the company’s fifth operating site in Cebu and Convergys’ 21st in the country.

Early this month, Convergys launched operations in its 22nd site in Davao, marking the call center company’s first venture into Mindanao.

Transferred from another site, the new Convergys Cebu Recruitment Center features more space, a new look and an enhanced overall experience for job applicants.

“What sets Convergys apart from all the other companies I worked for is the speed of change. You need to be agile, quick to learn while keeping steady with the right processes. A person with a high learning ability who is process-oriented, has a high EQ and can inspire others to achieve more is likely to grow in the company,” said Cebu-based Butch Sison, Convergys vice president for operations.

On its 10th year of operations in the Philippines, Convergys has been named twice as the country’s ICT-BPO company of the year and thrice as the employer of the year.

The company’s clients are in the financial services, technology, cable, telecommunications, satellite, automotive, retail, and healthcare industries.

source: interaksyon.com

BPO firm in the market for experienced HR personnel, opens biggest Asia-Pacific facility in QC

MANILA - A business process outsourcing (BPO) company focused on human resources (HR) inaugurated today in Quezon City its biggest facility to serve the Asia-Pacific market.

The 500 seats of the 3,000-square meter state-of-the-art shared service center at the 7th floor of the Techno Plaza 2 building in Eastwood is expected to be filled up with experienced HR personnel by next year, said Mary Sue Rogers, Talent2 global managing director for HR managed services.



The Philippines was chosen as the site of Talent2's largest facility because of the availability of quality HR talents here, Rogers said.

"Philippine HR workers are good in accuracy, dealing with HR issues, dealing with employees with personal problems... The cultural fit and quality of work here is better than in India," she said.

"The Philippines will continue to be a destination where [BPO] clients will want to go," she added.

Talent2 is the only multinational HR service provider based in Asia-Pacific, a region that presents huge opportunities for HR outsourcing, said the company's chief executive John Rawlinson.

"Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing economic region in the world, where talent flourishes. If you don't have an Asian strategy, you don't have a strategy," Rawlinson said.

"China is a huge market, and there are emerging markets like Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. There's big growth here in terms of demand," Rogers said.

A growing segment of the clientele are homegrown Asia-Pacific firms, while the rest are local or regional subsidiaries of multinational companies.

The new Talent2 facility will serve clients from Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

"The Philippines is seen not only as a big delivery center but also a big market," Rogers said, adding that the company is serving "several dozens" firms based in the Philippines.

Since the company serves clients within the Asia-Pacific region, working hours are during daytime. "We can attract experienced HR, payroll and finance professionals who are tired of working at night, talents who want work-life balance," Rogers said.

Almost all of the 45 employees at Talent2's former facility in Makati City have been transferred to the new Quezon City site, which now has 130 employees following aggressive hiring during the last three months.

Talent2 mostly hires HR professionals with about five years of experience. "By hiring experienced staff, we can hit the ground running," Rogers said.

The company also has a facility in Cebu, which has about 100 employees.

Talent2 has 38 offices in 31 countries, with a 1,900-strong workforce serving over 4,000 clients in HR advisory, learning, payroll and recruitment.

source: interaksyon.com

Safeway to expand BPO operations in Philippines

A leading US retailer is “keen on expanding” its business process outsourcing (BPO) operations in the Philippines, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the DTI said top executives of Safeway Inc arrived this month “to conduct due diligence relative to its plan of expanding its business operations in the country.”

"The team that came here was only from their BPO area," Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo said in text message when asked if Safeway has also expressed interest in retail operations here.

 Safeway is said to be the second-biggest supermarket chain in North America. The Pleasanton, California-based retailer has a Philippine affiliate, Safeway Philtech Inc, whose BPO operations have served over 1,700 stores and corporate offices in Canada and the US for a decade.

Safeway Philtech provides application development and enhancements, application support and maintenance, and technology and infrastructure support services.

“Top-ranked executives of Safeway were particularly upbeat on taking advantage of opportunities in the country’s BPO industry and looked at BPO activities that can add significant value to their global operations,” the DTI said.

“DTI-Foreign Trade Service Corps (FTSC) Assistant Secretary Josephine Romero personally met the [Safeway] team and urged them to expand their operations in the country and join the rosters of foreign companies that are reaping the benefits of a vibrant Philippine economy,” the DTI added.

source: interaksyon.com

Little First-Quarter Growth Seen for India Outsourcers, Recovery Hopes Fade

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Uncertainty about spending by U.S. and European clients in a weak global economy will likely weigh on the earnings of Indian outsourcers, dampening hopes that demand will pick up in the second half of the year.

India's $100 billion-a-year information technology and back-office outsourcing industry earns about three-quarters of its revenues from customers in the United States and Europe.

Analysts expect No.2 ranked Infosys Ltd., the only top-three vendor to provide a full-year forecast, to pare its revenue growth estimate for the current fiscal year to as low as 5 percent when it posts quarterly earnings on July 12.

The company in April had forecast 8-10 percent growth for the fiscal year ending March 2013, already disappointing investors enough to cut 13 percent of its market value on the day. It has gained about 2 percent since.

The National Association of Software and Service Companies, or NASSCOM, an industry lobby, expects the industry to grow exports by 11-14 percent in the current fiscal year that ends in March.

Customers continue to hold back discretionary spending due to the extended euro-zone crisis and the absence of unequivocal data that an economic recovery is under way in the United States, the Indian providers' biggest market.

"Hopes of a recovery in the second half are just that, hopes," said Apurva Shah, head of research at BNP Paribas Mutual Fund, which manages investments of about $750 million, including in the top Indian IT companies.

Due to the continued uncertainty in the demand environment and discretionary spending not coming through, the fund was "underweight" on the sector, Shah said.

FADING FAST

The sluggish global economy is prompting clients to demand more for every dollar spent. This adds to the pressure on billing rates on a commoditized set of services that Indian firms, competing with Accenture and IBM, rely on for the bulk of their revenues.

"The depressed situation in the west appears to continue to be of concern, but the hope is that they will recover slowly," Tata Consultancy Services Chairman Ratan Tata said at the company's annual shareholder meeting on June 29.

Shares of Infosys, which has a market value of about $25 billion, are down about 11.5 percent this year, while those of top-ranked TCS are up about 8.7 percent. By comparison, the main 30-share Bombay index has gained about 13 percent.

A weaker first half may have been factored in by the street, but "hopes for recovery in 2HFY13 are fading fast," Bhavin Shah, chief executive of Equirus Securities, said in a July 2 report. He has an "underweight" rating on the IT sector.

For the June quarter, analysts expect little or no sequential dollar-term sales growth for Infosys. The company may say sales grew 0.5 percent, Deutsche Bank analyst Aniruddha Bhosale said in a note. Bhosale, who advises clients pick TCS, expects it to report sequential growth of 2.6 percent.

Infosys is seen posting a profit of 23 billion Indian rupees ($413.71 million), compared with 17.2 billion rupees a year ago, while TCS is seen coming in at 29.7 billion rupees, 23.3 percent more than the year-earlier period, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The companies are expected to benefit from an 8.5 percent fall in the rupee during the quarter. However, analysts see some negative cross-currency effect due to the move in the euro and British pound versus the U.S. dollar.

"The rupee depreciating is not a reason good enough to play these stocks, as the outlook in terms of overall demand remains weak," Apurva Shah said.

($1 = 55.5950 Indian rupees)

source: nytimes.com

BPO sector payroll to hit P247 billion this year

MANILA – The country’s business process outsourcing sector is expected to shell out a total of P247 billion in salaries to its workers this year, boosting consumption spending, a lawmaker said Thursday.

“No matter how we look at it, P247 billion represents a huge amount of money being coursed through the economy every year, and helping to drive consumption spending,” Pasig Representative Roman Romulo said.

The consumption spending will help create recurring demand for goods and services, thus perking up domestic industries, he said.

The P247 billion represents about 40 to 45 percent of the sector’s revenue, projected to hit up to $13 billion this year.

“To put the P247 billion into perspective, it is equal to around 14 percent of the national government’s P1.816-trillion spending program this year, and larger than the budgets of the top five departments,” Romulo said.

A previous survey by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed that BPO employees on average receive P383,863 in annual compensation.

Romulo said the P247 billion is also some 53 percent greater than the P161 billion in combined annual benefits paid by the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. to their respective members.

The SSS and GSIS paid P76 billion and P50 billion, respectively, in benefits to their members in 2011, while Philhealth paid P35 billion.

The BPO industry is projected to rake in up to $27 billion in annual revenues and directly engage some 1.3 million Filipino workers by 2016. It posted $11 billion in revenues on a labor force of 638,000 in 2011.

This year, the sector hopes to create 126,000 new jobs and generate $2 billion in extra earnings, according to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines.

The industry encompasses contact center services; medical, legal and other data transcription; animation; software development; engineering design; and digital content.

source: interaksyon.com

B.P.O. SECRETS

ALMOST as big a dollar earner as the blood, sweat and tears of our OFWs (who remit $1 billion every month) is the business process outsourcing industry, which made $11 billion last year and employed 650,000 workers (who didn’t have to sell their parents’ worldly goods in order to land a job in a strange country).

Of those BPO companies, 122 are located in Pasig – enough reason for Rep. Roman Romulo to shepherd a bill “protecting individual personal information in information and communications systems in the government and the private sector,” also known as the data privacy bill.

Bring up the word privacy in the same breath as communications and, as the congressman learned, you run into trouble with media. Which was what happened when he invited some of the most highly opinionated journalists to lunch to discuss the pros and cons of the bill. Which was anticlimactic, anyway, because the bill has been ratified in the House and the Senate.

The publishers and editors present howled in protest. After all, if many BPO clients are American and the US has no such law, why do we need one? Wouldn’t a water-tight contract be sufficient to guard a client’s database against leaks and other unauthorized disclosures (such as to a nosey reporter)? The congressman assured the journalists that “the bill does not penalize you,” only their BPO source, the law’s objective being to assure investors that the data they store in their computers are in safe hands (safe machines?).

Short of a presidential veto, I guess the best thing to hope for is that we will never have to invoke the law and its provisions against anyone.

source: mb.com.ph