Buoyed by the booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, President Macapagal-Arroyo’s economic managers are posing this challenge to her successor: beat India.
The next leader should explore the industry’s potential to grow to $100 billion in 2010 with a view of dislodging India from its top perch, the National Economic Development Authority said yesterday.
“If there’s something that the next administration should stress, I’d say it’s the wave of the present. We’re now No. 2 globally. So let’s aim for No. 1,” said Dennis Arroyo, Neda director for national planning and policy.
In her tour of the country’s “cyber corridor” this week, Ms Arroyo said the country’s BPO industry has become a “powerhouse,” challenging India for supremacy in the global BPO industry.
Its revenues skyrocketed from $0.02 billion in 2000 to $7.3 billion in 2009, behind India’s $9 billion for call centers. It now employs 446,000 people, up from 2,400 in 2000, she said.
To propel the local industry to No. 1, Arroyo advised the next administration to expand the “next wave cities” program by investing in digital infrastructure and human development.
“So far, we have BPO and ICT (information and communication technology) all centered mostly in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao cities. We should expand the progress to other cities in the Calabarzon area, Bulacan area, the Visayas, and Dumaguete, and other cities in Mindnao,” he said.
By next-wave cities, he is referring to the 10 urban centers from Central Luzon to Mindanao that now host 750 BPO and IT companies.
For starters, the next administration should continue wiring public schools to the Internet, and promote the use of WiMAX, which functions like a wi-fi but covers a larger area, Arroyo said.
“There are now more than 5,000 high schools with computer laboratories, while almost 4,000 are connected to the Net. That should continue,” he said.
Arroyo said legislation creating a Department of Information and Communication Technology to oversee the country’s ICT development should be prioritized by the next administration.
“Any President can just dissolve the commission,” he said, referring to the Commission on Information and Communication Technology. “We should have a permanent DICT.”
Arroyo said there’s a huge potential in the BPO industry that could be explored by the next administration.
He pointed to the “huge gap” between the manpower needed and the number of jobs filled. He said for instance that only 220,000 were filled out of the 350,000 jobs available in call centers; 21,000 out of 75,000 in software; 10,000 out of 32,000 in transcription, and 10,000 out of 25,000 in animation.
“There’s still much room for growth,” Arroyo said when asked if the BPO industry has peaked. “By 2011, we’re looking at $13 billion in revenues, and by 2020, $100 billion in a global industry of $500 billion. That’s one-fifth of the market share.
Source:http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20100206-251571/RP-eyes-top-BPO-ranking
