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By Ben Arnold O. De Vera, Reporter
The Philippine off-shoring and outsourcing sector stands to
benefit from the US economic slump, as tough times push American
firms to look for ways to cut operating expenses, local executives
said Thursday.
In a forum conducted by the Business Processing
Association of the Philippines and Outsource2Philippines Inc., ICT
Group Asia-Pacific President Karen Batungbacal said the global
economic crisis itself is actually providing the local firms
offering off-shoring and outsourcing services opportunities for
further growth. She cited expectations that many firms in developed
countries would curb production and labor costs and would likely
turn to off-shoring and outsourcing.
Rainerio Borja, PeopleSupport Philippines
president, said the country is well-positioned to attract
investments in off-shoring and outsourcing.
He warned, though, that demand for those
services at this time could slow down initially, as prospective
investors first focus on “firefighting,” or dealing with their
business crises, before doing anything else.
“But many opportunities are still out
there,” Borja said, adding that, for instance, PeopleSupport would
be meeting with potential investors a few weeks from now.
According to the association’s chief executive
officer, Oscar Sañez, the US remains the local off-shoring and
outsourcing sector’s biggest market, despite the current financial
crisis on Wall Street.
Sañez noted that back-office services for
US-based companies posted tremendous growth, attracting the most
investments in the last six to nine months.
Many financial services, such as credit-card
processing and financial reporting, and human-resources and
engineering firms have been also been setting up offshore sites in
the country, he said.
Japan and Middle-Eastern countries are also
outsourcing animation work and game development, Sañez added.
Business process outsourcing still has the
largest piece of the off-shoring and outsourcing pie, as voice and
nonvoice services compose around 80 percent of the industry, he
said. Information technology outsourcing, Sañez added, is growing
with its 10-percent to 12-percent share of the sector.
He said he is confident that there would be no
slowing down in the off-shoring and outsourcing. The business
process outsourcing (BPO) sector, according to him, is likely to
hit its full-year projected revenue target of $6.8 billion.
The Business Processing Association of the
Philippines and government representatives are set to meet with
potential investors in the US, Europe and Australia in the last
remaining months of this year, Sañez said.
“The Philippines remains a very appealing BPO
location among emerging markets,” he said, citing such
companies’ cost-efficiency measures and the competitive Filipino
workforce among factors that draw in outsourcing investments to
the country.
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