US IT firms assure PEZA of continued investments

American firms have assured the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) of continued investments in the IT-BPM industry.

PEZA director-general Charito B. Plaza said this after a recent investment mission to Washington DC and Colorado where she held dialogues with government officials, Millennium Challenge Corp., World Bank, US-ASEAN Business Council, and the US Chamber of Halal Industries.

During the meetings, Plaza raised the fear that American firms no longer outsource to the Philippines because of President Trump’s “American first policy.”

“The Philippine BPO industry will not be affected because the US first policy is more geared against manufacturing not the services sector. Even the US embassy in DC affirmed that,” Plaza said.

The US though is seriously considering regulatory intervention for some countries where it suffered huge trade deficit such as Mexico and Panama. This regulatory intervention is being targeted for countries hosting huge American manufacturing operation. The Philippines was not among the countries listed.

At present, around 70 percent of outsourcing projects that go to the Philippines originate from the US and the rest from Australia-New Zealand, Asia and Europe.

Based on the IT-BPM Roadmap 2022, the industry is projecting total revenue to grow $38.9 billion by 2022 of which the contact center sector or the voice sector is expected to grow 8.2 percent to contribute $20.4 billion of total revenues.

In 2016, the contact sector employs 751,000 but is expected to grow its manpower to 1.2 million by 2022. Its revenue contribution is also expected to hit $20.4 billion in 2022 from $15 billion in 2016.

To sustain this growth, the group has been exerting efforts to diversify its markets.