Visayas BPOs lock down at height of 'Yolanda' wrath

MANILA - A number of business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in the Visayas temporarily stopped operations amid the onslaught of Typhoon ‘Yolanda’.

Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) president Jose Mari P. Mercado told InterAksyon.com that firms had to prioritize the safety of employees, who would have difficulty going to work amid the harsh weather.

"Some [companies] shut down, some went on lean operations. Our priority stays--safety and security of employees," Mercado said.

Some of the BPO industry's hubs in the Visayas such as Cebu and Iloilo were along the path of Yolanda--said to be the world's strongest typhoon this year.

Mercado said IBPAP has yet to assess the impact of Yolanda, but the sector was "definitely affected" by the typhoon.

Tampa, Florida-based Sykes Enterprises Inc said in a statement that the impact of Yolanda on its Philippine operations “has been immaterial, given the company’s disaster recovery planning and built-in redundant support infrastructure.”

“The company has been operating in the Philippines since 1997, and the number of typhoons and storms the archipelago experiences on average is roughly 20 on an annual basis,” Sykes noted.

Sykes has facilities in Metro Manila and Cebu.

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