BPO industry expected to grow 7% in 2024

A YN INDUSTRY group expects the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry to post a 7-percent growth in terms of revenues to $37.87 billion in 2024 from the projected $35.4 billion in 2023.

Information tion Technology-Business Process Management Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) president Jack Madrid said the sector’s growth would have a massive contribution to job generation.

“I’ll be happy with 7 percent [growth]. We continue to add jobs, and that’s what matters,” Madrid said.

Madrid said the healthcare segment of the IT-BPM industry would continue its sterling performance through 2024.

Employment in the sector is seen reaching 1.7 million full-time employees by end-2013, representing an addition of 130,00 workers from a year ago.

The industry group was expecting an addition of 1.1 million employees between 2022 and 2028.

“November and December are high growth months. Because of the Christmas season, people hire more. We already hit 300,000 of our 1.1 million target, so it’ll be 800,000 [employees] more,” Madrid said.

The group said among the factors propelling the growth of the Philippine IT-BPM industry in 2023 are the United

States’ preference for the Philippines as hub for high-quality IT-BPM services and preferred source of talent by North American companies.

Foreign companies also find it attractive that the Philippine government plays a crucial role in the industry’s growth by instituting supportive remote and hybrid work policies, Madrid said.

IBPAP said these policies did not only help companies adapt to the changing work landscape but also attracted foreign investments.

Madrid said contact centers continued to dominate the industry at 60-percent share, but demand for more hires is a challenge that the group was trying to address.

He said the industry is committed to sustaining the trajectory following the unveiling of the Philippine IT-BPM Roadmap 2028 with the goal of achieving 2.5 million jobs and $59 billion revenue by 2028.

Countryside growth continues to draw the interest of IT-BPM players in locations outside Metro Manila such as Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Clark and Cagayan de Oro, Madrid said.