BPOs safe from Duterte’s US remarks
THE country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry and the office property market will cushion President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-US rhetoric, said an international property and research firm.
In its top 10 2017 predictions report, Colliers International Philippines maintained that BPOs will continue to drive the office market, and that Cebu, together with Bacolod, Iloilo, Pampanga, and Davao, will be the most viable alternative locations for BPO growth given its talent pool, business competitiveness, as well as LGU and ICT council support.
The property firm also found comfort in Duterte’s advice to BPO stakeholders in a forum in December 2016, quoting the President as saying “forget your fears” when asked whether there is a reason to be wary of the government’s investment policies.
Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedfit) managing director Wilfredo Sa-a Jr. previously discussed US President-elect Donald Trump’s anti-outsourcing campaign pronouncements as having no effect to the local ICT BPM scene in 2016.
Instead, he saw growth as BPO companies in Cebu have been expanding in Cebu and in key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao.
This year, Sa-a spoke of growth, which may not be as high as in the recent years, but assured that the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) space will play in positive territory.
“At the end of the day, it is still a business decision based on cost and quality of service which the Filipinos/ Cebuanos have proven that we have both competitive advantage,” he said.
Likewise, the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) is also optimistic of continued growth, projecting $38.9 billion in revenues by 2022.
In its 2022 road map, IBPAP said that the IT-BPM industry growth will be slower versus the last six years, with the local compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) seen at 9.2 percent from 17 percent, in light of “a larger base and a backdrop of slower global growth in the sector.”
Colliers, quoting IBPAP, also sees a shift to higher value services.
“Major players that defined the market in 2016 include Google, Towers Watson, Wells Fargo, Pharmaceutical Product Development, among others. Colliers does not see this trend among KPOs slowing down,” the 2017 prediction report reads.
Meanwhile, the prop- erty and research firm also sees the young and dynamic workforce of the coutry to drive flexible office spaces. Profile of tenants vary from startups, to law firms, Fortune 500 companies and freelancers.
“As mobility, connectivity and flexibility become the norm in working in the 21st century, occupier demands will also change dramatically, requiring more flexible office spaces,” it said.
For instance, Colliers said international player Regus is looking to launch Spaces, its coworking alternative, to compete in the growing sub- segment. Regus is also considering setting up flexible workspaces in local airports that would complement the government’s plan to modernize the Ninoy Aquino International Airport ( NAIA) and other regional airports.