IT-BPM sets higher goals in new roadmap

THE PHILIPPINE information technology and business process management industry (ITBPM) is hoping to outpace its current growth rates of about 15 to 18 percent, but a new roadmap will be crucial to achieving this goal over the next six years.

The new roadmap, which would cover the 2017 to 2022 period, was expected to outline strategies and the next wave of challenges that local players would have to face, said Jose Mari Mercado, president and chief executive of the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP).

“The opportunity is there [for us to hit higher growth rates beyond 2016]. It is up to us now to make sure we have the right talent, the in- frastructure and the support structures in place to take advantage of that opportunity,” he said.

“If we are able to fix those, hitting a 15 to 18 percent growth is easy and we can easily go beyond it. And that’s why we want to do the roadmap,” Mercado said in a briefing yesterday.

Mercado said the IT-BPM industry is well poised to meet the targets it has laid down in its current roadmap, which set growth targets up to 2016. The industry is expected to end next year with 1.3 million employees and $25 billion contribution to the local economy.

“The industry continues to be strong and vibrant. The IT-BPM sector is now the biggest taker of commercial spaces and the prospect continues to be so… We’re on a crossroads right now as to where the industry is going. We need to find out what is the new direction, and we need to set programs with the government and the academe to capture opportunities,” IBPAP chairman Danilo Sebastian L. Reyes said.

Mercado said the newroadmap will also recognize the specific requirements of each segment.

He said the plan was to have roadmaps for six specific segments under the IT-BPM industry, namely healthcare, IT, animation, game development, contact center, and finance and accounting.

“We are recognizing the fact that [each segment] has very specific needs and requirements, and so the new roadmap will not be just one overarching roadmap. We will try to cover as many sectors, primarily the six segments,” Mercado said.