PH’s IT-BPM is well-prepared to adopt process automation
The Philippines’ expertise in the ITbusiness process management (IT-BPM) is its best preparation to adopt the digital process technology and create new jobs as the current repetitive jobs mostly being undertaken by the industry are going to be lost to automation, robotics and artificial intelligence.
“Honestly, the BPO if they do not change, they will otherwise lose their jobs,” said Depender Kumar, partner of DigiTech, during an interview with reporters at the 8th P&A Grant Thornton Business Forum on AI’s impact on business, which was attended by more than 200 senior executives from across industries.
The World Economic Forum said that 52 percent of jobs will be undertaken by robots by 2025.
Most of the works being done in the BPO space are repetitive, rules-based like entry code and that is main reason they were outsourced earlier.
“That is the biggest killer of BPO jobs, but if you to survive in the Philippines, you need to adopt technology to fix that,” he said.
But Kumar said that the Philippines’ expertise in the back office process is an advantage that it can use to transform and adopt the digital technology.
“Since you understand this sector very well and know how to run back offices, taking that to the next step will be is very easy because you have been a process expert,” he said.
“From being a back office kind of company you can use that to provide insights to customers, if just flip it and use it to use to your advantage and become a process that is he next level to providing more value and insights to customers.”
He cited India’s BPO companies for being heavy in their digital transformation strategy.
Overall, however, he said, it is still on the plus side in the IT-BPM industry in terms of jobs but the jobs available are no longer the jobs that are currently available.
“If there are 100 jobs today, there will 120 available jobs tomorrow but those are not the same jobs available now,” he said noting that the largest emerging jobs at present is process automation to provide data analytics.
However, there have been lots of resistance to digital technology especially the family-owned businesses which have been used to doing the traditional processes for the past 30 to 40 years.
So, he said, the most important of all is awareness of technology on how to make use of robotics plus AI to undertake process automation to add more value to customers.
For all other industries, he said, change management is a huge thing because it is not easy for people to change.
“Family-owned business they are struggling to change and for any technology adoption change management is more important,” he said. In addition, he urged for the introduction of more young blood because they understand technology and they have different expectation.