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Cognizant announces expansion of operations in the Philippines

Roy — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:18:43 +0000

Cognizant, another world-leading company engaged in the technology, consulting and business process outsourcing (BPO) services is expanding its operations in the Philippines. From its present manpower of approximately 200 employees, the company said its planned expansion will accommodate as much as 600 more personnel.

R Chandrasekaran, president and managing director of Global Delivery, Cognizant said, “Within months of opening our Manila center in October 2009, we have steadily grown our presence and investment in the Philippine capital, and have moved into a larger facility.”

He also said that their Manila center will continue to strengthen their integrated global delivery capabilities. “We are committed to working closely with the academic community in the Philippines to develop talent across our full range of services,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), represented by its president and chief executive officer Oscar Sañez welcomed Cognizant’s expansion in the Philippines.

“We are pleased to see Cognizant expand its operations in the Philippines. As one of the world’s fastest growing consulting technology, and BPO/KPO companies, Cognizant’s deep insight into global best practices earned through its exposure to Global 2000 companies and footprint spanning five continents will help the IT and BPO/KPO industry in the Philippines increase its competitiveness and define newer benchmarks,” Sañez said.

He added, “We thank Cognizant for investing in the Philippines and providing an opportunity for experienced professionals as well as fresh graduates in the country to serve global customers.”

The Cognizant’s Manila office provides high-end operations and contact center business process services to its clients’ worldwide. It also runs on Cognizant 2.0, a Web 2.0-based platform that allows the company associates worldwide to collaborate and deliver important time-to-market, cost and transformational value to its clients.

Meanwhile, President Benigno Aquino III also commended the company for providing employment opportunities for Filipino professional. He said Cognizant’s expansion affirms the growing demand for global BPO services currently dominating the business arena.

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O2P will be acquired by TeamAsia

Roy — Sun, 02 May 2010 03:26:11 +0000

Outsource2Philippines (O2P), a firm that provides advisory services to the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry was reported to be acquired by TeamAsia, an award-winning strategic marketing communications firm which is based in the Philippines.

TeamAsia managing director Michael Alan Hamlin said on their acquisition, “We’ve identified a number of exciting opportunities for O2P that we will describe more fully in the coming months.” And he continued, “The outsourcing industry is evolving rapidly, and as it does the kinds of support services it requires are likewise changing. The industry is learning to outsource business processes that are not within its core process expertise. That’s where we see tremendous opportunity for O2P.”

Frank Holz, a veteran in the outsourcing industry with his many years as a partner of Andersen Consulting (now known as Accenture), founded Outsource2Philippines in 2004. With the acquisition of TeamAsia, he will remain with O2_ as a consultant. With expertise and experience, he will be assisting BPO companies as they deal with issues associated with rapid growth.

O2P collaborated with the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) to conduct quarterly surveys of the BPO industry which resulted in highly-reputed periodic CEO briefings. Hamlin said that they will continue working with BPA/P to assess industry sentiments and provide a forum for regularly discussing industry developments. “Feedback from the industry as well as high level of participation in these activities indicates that industry executives appreciate the insights the CEO briefings provide,” he said.

The company also worked with the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSA) to develop an industry roadmap (“Fly High 2010”).

Meanwhile, BPA/P Executive Director for Research Gillian Joyce G. Virata commented, “We value the relationship with O2P and look forward to continuing our collaboration. Of course, we also work closely with TeamAsia on a number of key initiatives – such as the International Outsourcing Summit – and they have also sponsored and produced our quarterly briefings. We anticipate a seamless transition.”

The acquisition is expected to be complete in 30 to 60 days, said Hamlin of TeamAsia.

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Ayala Land to develop a 2-hectare BPO hub in Iloilo

Roy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:13:47 +0000

The property development of the Ayala group will be building a new call center area in the south. The Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is planning to transform a 2-hectare property in Iloilo City into a business process outsourcing (BPO) hub. The project would consist of 3 BPO facilities with a total of 19,000 square meters of gross leasable area.

The company said in its disclosure report to the Philippine Stock Exchange that it signed a 35-year lease agreement with Teodoro B. Pison, Josefina B. Pison-Ortiz, and Riverside Boardwalk Properties Inc. for the development of the 2-hectare property which is located at Riverside Boardwalk, Barangay San Rafael Madurriao in Iloilo City.

Initially, the project would involve the construction of the first building with approximately 9,500 square meters of GLA and an estimated project cost of P305 million. The construction will start on the second quarter of 2010 and it is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2011.

Iloilo City was included in the list of cities identified as “next wave cities” by the Business Process Association of the Philippines because it has an attractive power, telecommunications, commercial sea and airport infrastructure. The city also offers one of the lowest rental, power and average base pay rates in the Philippines.

Ayala officials said, “Ayala Land’s project will be the biggest BPO development in Iloilo to date and is consistent with the company’s goal of expanding into, developing and redeveloping strategic areas with attractive growth centers across the country in order to deliver on the expectations of its customers and shareholders.”

For 2010, the property giant has earmarked P27.2 billion for its capital expenditures. At present, it has lined up 32 projects which include shopping malls, residential condominiums, hotels and office buildings.

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Infosys BPO company plans opening more sites in the Philippines

Roy — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 03:00:40 +0000

Infosys BPO Ltd. is planning to put up 3 more call center facilities, expanding its presence in the country. The business process outsourcing firm chief operating officer Ritesh Idnani said, “We are very bullish about the Philippines and we will continue to invest in the next few years.”

Idnani said that while their Philippines operations only account for just five to six percent of the company’s entire revenue, they expect it increase to eight to 10 percent in the next 18 to 24 months. The company is also optimistic that it expects its revenues to grow by 100 percent by the end of its fiscal year ending March 2010.

Idnani noted that because of the availability of quality workforce and service areas in the country, the Philippines would remain to be an attractive BPO destination. He added that aside from the area of customer service, but the country is also emerging as a knowledge process outsourcing and legal process outsourcing services.

He is also quick to point out attrition in the country as one of the major challenges of BPO firms. He recommends that BPO agents be registered to monitor proper exits from previous employers. “The top 15 BPO firms must tie up to address attrition,” Idnani said.

Because of its planned expansion, Infosys delivery center head for the Philippines Madhusudan Menon said they would be creating an additional 2,000 jobs this as it eyes new site by the second half of 2010. Areas being considered for their next Philippine site are Quezon City and Clark, Pampanga

The company presently has a 1,100-seat call center facility at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig where it has 650 employees. This would be expanded to include 3,000 seats by next month.

Infosys is a BPO subsidiary of Infosys Technologies.

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Another BPO firm gears up for expansion

Roy — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:54:34 +0000

Another opportunity rises for job seekers as another business process outsourcing firm (BPO) gears up for expansion. The Stream Global Services Inc., a BPO company which is partly owned by the Ayala group is looking to fill up 1,500 seats in the 60 days and open one or two more new sites during the first half of the year.

Scott Murray, chairman and chief executive officer of Stream Global Services, said in a briefing last week that the company actually is seeking to reach as many as 50,000 employees here in the country. They have, at present, an employee base of around 11,000.

He said, “In the next 60 days, we will hire 1,500 new employees. We’ve never seen such significant demand for the Philippines as in the 45 days. We’ve had a lot of client visits. We want to grow to 50,000 within three to five years, and be the second biggest employer here, next to the Philippine government.”

The company’s operation in the Philippine soil, according to Murray, contributes to about 20 percent in their global revenues at present. He added that, depending the how much more new business the country would be able to generate for the company, how well its employees perform and how supportive the government would be in the coming months, the Philippines’ revenue contribution to the company could reach 30-4 percent.

Right now, Stream Global is doing site evaluations, as it prepares for its programmed expansion for the year. It wants to determine which areas would be the best locations for the company’s new facilities, Murray noted.

He said, “Our next site could be in central Manila or Cavite, or we can still expand in the buildings where we are already in. We really need to expand soon because we’re almost at full capacity now.”

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New Australian call center in the Philippines

Roy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:22:41 +0000

Salmat, an Australia-based business process outsourcing firm has been in the country since 1996, but company general manager of strategy Philip Hadcroft said they were doing mostly transactional services that served on the Philippine market.

Now, the Salmat has decided to put up an 800-seat facility at McKinley Hill in Taguig City, their first major investment outside its home country. This, according to Hadcroft, marked Salmat’s expansion into higher-value services. “We have moved from transactional services to true IT-driven services, which are also higher value,” he said.

Their new facility in McKinley Hill has been operating with 100 employees. Hadcroft said they plan to grow to it to more than 800 in the next three years.

Salmat country manager Meg Ramoso added that their new facility would be serving mainly their accounts from Australia and New Zealand over the next three years. They will be providing both voice and non-voice services. They will also be extending existing statement processing services to call center, computer programming, Web content management, data entry and a range of IT-enabled services.

Hadcroft said, “The new facility represents a strong commitment by Salmat to the BPO industry, and to the Philippines in particular as a central hub for the BPO operations in the Asia-Pacific region.”

The company, which is listed in the Australian Stock Exchange, presently has over 7,000 employees in its roster across Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

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US BPO firm opens office in the Philippines

Roy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:54:31 +0000

A new business process outsourcing (BPO) firm has chosen the Philippines as the location of its latest service center. US-based Cybernet-Slash Support (CSS) recently opened its 1,000-seat facility in Taguig, its first Philippine site and currently has 400 employees. CSS said the new facility will be used for the company’s outbound sales, technology and other integrated BPO services for clients in North America. It plans to increase the number of employees in Philippines to around 2,000 people by the end of 2010. The company said it is in line with the company’s aspiration to emerge as a strong player in the country’s BPO space.

CSS’s chief executive Nick Sharma said they choose the Philippines as the site of its newest facility because of the “highly conducive” business atmosphere and talent pool of experienced BPO professionals. “The Philippines has emerged as one of the key global hubs for the BPO industry,” Sharma said. And thus, they felt that now is the most opportune time to expand their capabilities in the Philippines and extend their “portfolio of superior, effective support services to customers.”

Sharma said that CSS have committed $15 million in its budget to develop their business in the Philippines, and see it as their biggest facility in three to four years time.

They would be planning to hire mostly computer-related or engineering graduates who will be expected to provide their clients with both technical and customer support. Most of their clients are in the information technology, retail and healthcare sectors.

With its based located in San Jose, California, the company employs around 4,000 people working out of its global operations centers in India, the US, Poland and now, the Philippines. American telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent and tech firm Sun Microsystems & Blackboard Inc. are just two of the big-ticket clients of CSS.

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More jobs from UST Global

Roy — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:43:24 +0000

UST Global inaugurated recently its new offshore development center in McKinley Hills, Taguig City. The new center is part of the company’s aggressive expansion plans in Asia, and is targeting to haul in $32 million revenues in its first year and catering to 2,000 clients in North America and Europe.

California-based UST Global is one of the world leader in information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO). Recognizing that the Philippines is an emerging destination for IT outsourcing, the company is hiring around 1,000 IT Filipino professionals at their new office in the next 12 months. That is just the first part of their expansion. The company plans to increase its local workforce to more than 5,000 IT professional in the next few years.

President Arroyo, who was there to grace the inauguration said in her speech, “We believe that we need to focus on three areas to develop IT in Philippines; connectivity infrastructure, policies and good business environment, and human resource development. We have half a million jobs created in the BPO space and it our time to move to the next level of value-added services, that’s IT. We thank UST Global for investing in the Philippines and providing opportunities for Filipino nationals both experiences as well as fresh graduates thereby increasing our competitiveness.”

UST Global president Joe Nalkara said, “We zeroed in on the Philippines because of the highly skilled and refined work culture we’ve observed here. This is a perfect match with the style of functioning we follow elsewhere in our centers.” Nalkara predicts that the Philippines center will be a strategically significant geographical and business locations for the growing Asian presence of UST Global.

UST Global is part of the $6-billion Comcraft group. The company, who’s now 10 years old, employs 7,000 employees in Asia, Europe and North America. It focuses on the Fortune 500/Global 1000 market, specifically catering to Healthcare, Retail and Consumer Goods, Utilities, Entertainment and Media, Manufacturing, Banking and Financial Services, and transportation and logistics.

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Convergys gears up for expansion this year

Roy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:55:25 +0000

Convergys Corp., one of the leading business process outsourcing (BPO) company in the Philippines is gearing up for expansion this year, one of the main reason is that more clients are requesting that their accounts be handled by Philippines sites.

The company is looking to hire about 6,000 more employees this year , nationwide, in order to serve the growing “relationship management” requirements of their clients who specifically ask for Philippine sites to handle their accounts, said Maribe B. Zamora, Convergys vice-president and country manager for the Philippines.

Convergys, which operates 12 sites in the country and employing some 20,000 call center workers, recently had their recruitment fair in Cebu. Convergys vice-president for operations Stephen Daoust said that there was a strong interest in Cebu sites, especially after storms devastated Metro Manila and disrupted operations there last year. “Some clients are looking to come into Cebu because it’s outside the typhoon belt,” he said.

For their Cebu operations, the company will be adding 377 more seats at the i3 building in Asiatown IT Park, this year. The i3 site, which is Convergys’ third in Cebu, opened early last year and it has over 600 workstation spread across three floor. This year, they will be occupying three more floors. The building also houses their recruitment center.

The other centers by Convergys in Cebu are the i2 building which started operations April 2007 and Banawa, which was their first in Cebu and opened on November 2004.

During their recent recruitment fair in Cebu, Convergys tied up with Bench. The event featured a fashion show and concert, to attract potential employees in the 21-26 age range. The company intended to fill around 640 new position that were made available as a result of additional workload going to Cebu.

“This is a new approach that allows us to stay one step ahead of the competition in terms of recruitment efforts. The good thing about Cebu is that it’s attracting employees from other parts of the Visayas and Mindanao as well,” Zamora said.

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BPO sector prepares for the challenge of the new decade

Roy — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:40:37 +0000

In the year 2010, the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, is seen to continue growing as it marks its 10th year in the Philippines. For this year, BPO is expected to earn at least $11 billion and continue employing over one million people in the country. But while the sector is optimistic, it also needs to keep itself updated to meet fresh challenges in the onset of a new decade.

Jon Kaplan, President of TeleDevelopment Services (TDS), acknowledges the challenge and said, “This is a big year for the BPO industry as it signifies the 10th year anniversary of call centers in the country.” He added, “As we approach this milestone, it is necessary to evaluate and carefully map our plans for our continued development. We need to resolve training challenges for a more specialized workforce to addressing the increasing demand for high-value and value-added services.”

In the past, voice services helped spurred the growth of the call center industry in the country, however in the years to come, complex services like the knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), are expected to be the sector’s next revenue earners. Kaplan said that all allied sectors of BPO should be prepared and develop the talent, technology, and the infrastructure to meet the new challenges.

Kaplan noted that the upcoming Annual Call Center and BPO Training Convention will be a good venue to discuss all these challenges and help all industry players to prepare for it. His company, TDS, will be organizing this year’s convention, in cooperation with marketing communication firm TeamAsia. The convention, which is now on its 4th year, will have “The Vision of the Next Decade: Conquering Uncharted Ground” for its theme. It will be held in March 11 to 12, at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

The convention will be attended by players from the BPO sectors as well as those from their allied sectors.

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Demand for bluetooth headsets growing

Roy — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:46:39 +0000

Because of the continuous growth of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines, so are the related businesses and products that go along with them. One of them is the headset, particularly the blue-tooth headset.

GN Netcom, Denmark-based and the world’s largest manufacturer of hearing aids and headsets, is very much aware of this and have in fact capitalized on the growing demands for their product. The company has already dominated the domestic market and is supplying 60% of the headsets used in the BPO sector.

The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the Ayala Group, are just some of the GN clients. Woldtext Systems Inc., GN’s local distributors said, “we want every executive and every middle manager to use Jabra headsets.”

GN Netcom Regional Managing Director for South Asia Ralph Ede explained, “Jabra’s high quality wireless headsets are targeted towards executives and personnel who need to answer landline calls away from their desks toggle calls from mobile phones and softphones using only a single handset.”

Jabra now has 30% market share worldwide on contact center and office headsets, and 20% of the market in headsets for the mobile market. Per GN’s forecast, the global market of headsets in 2009 is to be worth around $2.5 billion. It further followed that this is growing rapidly at 17% every year.

This is attributed mainly for the continuous demand for Bluetooth-enabled and wireless products, particularly in the office markets. Because 95% of office workers spend part of their time on the go, and majority miss important calls because there are away from their desk.

GN also noted that 86% of enterprises have personnel who spend over one day per week out of the office. These would all benefit from headsets that could increase their mobility and merge multiple devices for easier communication management.

The company is optimistic that the demand for Bluetooth headset will continue to grow because of increased mobility, as well as the adoption of unified communication solutions and increase in home office workers.

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JP Morgan to open call center in Cebu

Roy — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:18:12 +0000

JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPMC), an America-based outsourcing firm will opening a call center facility in Asiatown IT Park in Cebu. The company will be putting up a 420-seat center which was said to provide employment to at least 2,520 people in a two-shift cycle.

A five-year lease contract has been recently signed by the JPMC to occupy four and a half floors or a total of 12,404 square meters of office space at the newly completed eBlog Tower, for the company’s Philippine Customer Care Center facililty.

One of the largest banks in the United States and one of the oldest financial firms in the world, JPMC offers a well-balanced mix of mergers and acquisition advice, financial advisory and capital raising solutions. In its more than 40 years of existence, the company has built a strong presence in Asia and has a large network of offices in South Asia including Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

The company’s JP Morgan Securities Philippines Inc. conduct equities business. Its services include sales, research and trading. While the JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. – Philippine Customer Care currently handles inbound and outbound call for the firm’s US based retail businesses – retail loans and card services.

According to Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corporation (CPVDC), the developer of AsiaTown IT Park, JP Morgan will start operations of its call center in March of next year.

Because of the positive turn-out of investors’ interest to locate at the eBloc Tower, CPVDC president Francis O. Monera said that they are already planning to build the second eBloc Tower in the next few months.

Joel Mari S. Yu, Cebu Investments and Promotions Center (CIPC) managing director, acknowledges that the existence of big names in the BPO sector in Cebu further strengthen the province’s name as the preferred BPO destination in the world.

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New BPO center tower opens up in Bonifacio Global City

Roy — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:20:45 +0000

Asia’s leading developer and manager of business space, Ascendas Pte Ltd. (Ascendas), recently opened the ACCRALAW Tower located within the E-square in Bonifacio Global City. Present as guest of honor in its opening ceremony was Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo.

The new business process outsourcing (BPO) tower signals the diversification of Ascenda’s portfolio to offer premium office space in the country central business district in addition to its industrial park properties.

The 26-storey tower offers a total floor area of 18,400 square meters. It boasts of an environmentally-friendly building which offers features that are specifically designed to meet the needs of PEZA-registered companies who in the BPO, IT, IT-enabled services, software development, call centers and telecommunication industries.

It has flexible floor plans and generous floor loading that enable customizing of work spaces, as well as an integrated business lifestyle with amenities conveniently accessible within the proximity.

A building management solution will be provided by Ascendas to support every tenant’s business operations, including 100% power backup for companies with 24/7 operations and telecommunication facilities.

Other features of the center include a water-cooled air-conditioning system which consumes up to 35% less energy, naturally ventilated elevated car park and energy saving lighting, which could bring in savings to tenants of the building.

The office building is strategically located within the Bonifacio Global City, and takes its name after major tenant, Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices (ACCRALAW), which is one of the country’s top law firms. ACCRALAW occupies five floors of business space in the building.

Ascendas is well-established in the area of industrial space. It has pioneered the ready-built facility concept at the 145-hectare Carmelray Industrial Park II (CIP II) located in Calamba, Laguna. CIP II is the country’s top privately-owned special economic zone registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

President and chief executive officer of Ascendas Chong Siak Ching said the Philippines is one of Asia’s understated growth stories.

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British companies expressed interest to invest in RP

Roy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:21:34 +0000

Trade Secretary Peter Favila and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were in London recently to attend the Emerging Markets Summit, where he had a meeting with several British companies who have expressed interest to invest in the Philippines, either via fresh infusions or the expansion of their existing projects. Areas of interests include mining, energy and business process outsourcing (BPO) sectors.

The companies that expressed interest in the country included mining companies Rio Tinto and Metal Exploration Plc, energy firm Bronzeoak and telecommunications company T-Mobile.

A Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) official said, â€œRio Tinto expressed strong interest to come to the country and explore on opportunities especially in copper and nickel. Bronzeoak highlighted its future plans in the Philippines, on which Secretary Favila also spoke of talks with several local investors and banks who are interested to join the project.â€

It would be Rio Tintoâ€™s first business in the country should they decide to invest here. It has operations in parts of Australia, North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Southern Africa, where it produces copper, aluminum, diamonds, gold, iron, ore, energy products and industrial minerals like titanium dioxide, borates, salt and talc.

Metals Exploration, on the other hand, has already set its foot in the country via mining operations at the Runruno mines in Nueva Vizcaya. â€œThe ongoing development of the Runruno gold-molybdenum projects was discussed, as was the status of the companyâ€™s permit application,â€ said Metals Explorations during the meeting with Arroyo and Favila. They have been involved in the Runruno project since 2005.

Meanwhile, T-mobile, in their meeting with Arroyo said that â€œthe company is eyeing the Philippines to outsource not only its customer service operations, but also in exploring possibilities of outsourcing some its operations.â€

For Bronzeoak, it is already present in the country via the ethanol refiner San Carlos Bio-Energy Inc. where it has a significant stake. The San Carlos Bio-Energy has an integrated facility that has cane milling plant with throughput capacity of 1,500 metric tons of sugarcane daily, as well as a co-generation power plant that can produce around 8 megawatts of power. It also houses a distillery plant that can generate some 30 million liters of anhydrous ethanol a year.

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Adopt a school, earn tax credits, BPO urged

Roy — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:07:39 +0000

The business process outsourcing (BPO) service providers in the Philippines are urged by the chairman of the House committee on information communications technology to donate computers under the Adopt-a-School Program and avail themselves of gainful tax benefits in return.

This was revealed by Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, who said that under the Adopt-a-School program, BPO providers as well as other private firms that extend financial aid to â€œadoptedâ€ public schools are entitled to claim a taxable income deduction equal to 150 percent of their contribution.

Santiago even illustrated an example, when a private entity donated brand new computers worth P500,000, it may claim a P750,000-deduction from its taxable gross income.

The program was established through Republic Act 8525, in order to encourage private entities to help the government address the public school systemâ€™s severe resource shortages.

Aside from computers and other modern instructional technologies, Santiago said other qualified contributions may also be in the form of support for the development of the faculty, construction and upgrading of school facilities, and the provision of textbooks and other teaching materials.

In claiming for deductions, the contributions, aside from cash, would be valued based on the acquisition cost or purchase price of the property, equipment, materials, and services supplied. But for used properties such as donations of second-hand computers, their valuations would be subject to depreciation.

Santiago further added that members of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines and the Contact Center Association of the Philippines â€œshould contribute in big way to the advancement of computer literacy and school connectivity.â€ He also pointed out, â€œhighly computer-literate and Internet-savvy young people are needed to enable the future human resources required by BPO providers.â€

Meanwhile, a total of P1.1 billion has been allotted to provide Internet connectivity to 9,048 public elementary and high schools all over the country, according to Santiago.

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Iloilo celebrates IT week

Roy — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:13:11 +0000

Members of the Iloilo Federation for Information Technology (IFIT) and the stakeholders of the information technology (IT) industry in the province gathered last Monday for the start of the annual IT week celebration. The celebration was spearheaded by IFIT , in cooperation with the provincial and city government of Iloilo.

The activity aims at highlighting the IT capability of Iloilo, especially with its very rich human resources, said IFIT chairman Jesraf Palmares. â€œWe grow on our strength which is our human resource. We want to uplift their capabilities to be able to support the needs of the industry,â€ Palmares aid.

The theme for this yearâ€™s celebration is â€œFacing Global Challenges Through ITâ€ and it kicked off with the opening of exhibits at the Robinsons Mall on Monday morning. Likewise, there are presentations on the IT manpower in Iloilo, the launching of the Philippine IT General Certification Exam and a Microsoft Free Software for students marked the first day of the celebration.

There are also forums as the organizers invited experts to talk on on-line business, blogging at home, alternative income opportunities in the internet, Green ICT for sustainable future, importance of English proficiency and making great first impressions.

Palmares posed a challenge to those who are engaged in the real estate in the province and asked them to be more proactive. He said there are many business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in Bacolod City because of the readily available facility, giving them more options. If such facilities were also available in Iloilo, they could also be benefitting from the continuing growth of the BPO industry.

Meanwhile, trade and industry director Wilhelm Malones expressed optimism that upon the completion of the coal-fired power plant being constructed by the Global Business Power Corporation (GBPC), will give a much needed boost to the standing of Iloilo as one of the emerging IT destinations in the country.

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Mall-based BPO facility in Robinsons Luisita

Roy — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:10:45 +0000

Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) believes that it is more cost efficient to set up a business process outsourcing (BPO) center in Tarlac compared to most Metro Manila locations due to lower overhead costs. And since Tarlac is continually growing, with infrastructure in and around the city continues to expand, makes it as among the most ideal investment sites in Central Luzon.

Thatâ€™s why RLC, as it continues to expand the geographical reach of its BPO segment in Central Luzon, is opening its mall-based spaces in Robinsons Luisita, Tarlac.

Now ready for leasing, the BPO space has a total area of 5,310 square meters and it is located in Levels 1 and 2 of Robinsons Luisita, along McArthur Highway, San Miguel, Tarlac. It is the only commercial center with BPO space in the city.

Robinsons Luisita is ideal for call center of BPO locator, whether it is in the voice or non-voice segment, because it is PEZA accredited and ready to support a facility operating 24/7. RLC Luisita can also provide 100 percent back-up power to ensure uninterrupted operations.

Another factor which makes it an ideal location is its accessibility, Robinsons Luisita, which located within a famous landmark in Tarlac City, can be reached from the South and North via the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) and the McArthur Highway. It is about two hours from Baguio in the north and 2.5 hours from Manila in the south.

Hacienda Luisita is also home to Luisita Industrial Park which hosts manufacturing plants of Universal Robina Corp., San Miguel Corp., Purefoods Feedmill Corp., International Wiring Systems, and Sanyo Semiconductor Mfg. Philippines.

The Aquino Museum, Central Park Hotel and the internationally known Luisita Golf & Country Club and high-end and low-cost housing are also located within the Hacienda.

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Iloilo will be host to a new BPO firm

Roy — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 16:55:31 +0000

Iloilo is all set to take its place among the top new wave of international business process outsourcing (BPO) sites as it prepares to be host to Europeâ€™s largest BPO firm â€“ Transcom.

Transcom, who has 75 sites in 29 countries worldwide, will open a call center in Iloilo this year and is looking to hire from 1,000 to 2,000 employees.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry TreÃ±as said the company is set to start the hiring of around 1,060 employees this October, and it plans to double its work force after it starts its operations. He added that Transcom investment will give a boost to the cityâ€™s employment problems as it offers opportunities for residents of Iloilo as well as the rest of Western Visayas.

Transcomâ€™s expertise is on various industries including telecommunications, the financial industry, travel and leisure, utilities and retail/consumer goods. It employs around 20,000 workers serving over 120 major clients in more than 30 languages.

Currently, Iloilo is already host to nine other BPOs with more than 4,000 workers. These are Eversun Software Philippines Corp., Savant Technologies, ePLDT Ventus, Teletech, Callbox Customer Contact Center, Global Mega Communications Inc., Techno Call Corp., Interactive Voice Call Center, and Medlink Trans Services.

Iloilo City was cited recently by the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) as the third in the top 10 â€œnext wave citiesâ€ for business process outsourcing and information technology because the city provides low cost of doing business and the availability of talents.

The BusinessWeek, on the other hand, tagged Iloilo along with Davao earlier this year, as among the 31 cities being eyed by BPO investors due to economic and political pressures to outsource work to lower-cost cities.

The magazine report was based on the study made by the KPMG, a global network of professional services firms.

Based on the KPMG report, the two Philippine cites were rapidly emerging to compete with traditional BPO destinations, such as Bangalore, Chennai and Shanghai. It also said that Iloilo had a large talent pool because of the number of education institution and strong English skills of the population.

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Australian outsourcing firm to set up BPO hub in RP

Roy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Call Design, an Australian-based outsourcing firm is looking to make the Philippines its central hub in delivering contact services to its clients all over the world. Specializing in contact center technologies, Call Design announced it entered into a deal with local outsourcing firm Transcom, which currently employs 4,000 workers in Manila and Bacolod.

Miles Stanton, managing director of Call Design, said the company is keen on making the country its central hub because of the positive growth in the local business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Stanton said â€œCompared to other Asian countries, the Philippines has the strongest teams in the business process outsourcing space. Teams that understand the marketplace and use technology to resolve issues.â€

The services of the company, according to Call Design, are focused on enhancing productivity of contact center agents. Stanton said, â€œIn the BPO space, call center agents determine the success of companies.â€

The Aussie firm currently serves clients in 25 countries. The companyâ€™s goal, according to Stanton, is to encourage more companies in Australia to outsource instead to the Philippines.

He also said that local contact centers should learn from India, where many Australian firms pulled out outsourcing ties due to â€œbad pressâ€ on the performance of call center agents.

Local country Jaime Sese said, Call Design also plans to invest people in training while expanding its operations in the country.

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Accenture conducts first CIO workshop in the Philippines

Roy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:38:46 +0000

Chief information officers (CIOs) are continuing to look for strategies, as the global crisis slowly unravels, to prepare them and ensure continuity of business for the eventual upturn. But it is easier said than done, as some CIOs still lack the maturity to implement strategies, because they are not yet familiar with effective industry practices, and that not all strategies could work.

Beth Lui, country managing director of Accenture Philippines believes â€œThe best way to learn new techniques is to bring them together and share experiences so CIOs know what works and how these can be implemented in their organizations.â€

Because of this, the Accenture conducted a CIO workshop where CIOs learn from each otherâ€™s experiences to enable their own companies to effectively maintain business continuity.

Lui said that in the workshop, CIOs are able exchange ideas and ask questions which are relevant pertaining to business operations, citing that as the economy turns, companies would want to deliver faster and better services without breaking up their budgets.

â€œThe general consensus is that companies have smaller budgets, especially for information technology but they still expect to deliver their services better. Theyâ€™ll learn if they find out how others did it,â€ Lui said.

The CIO workshops is actually being conducted by Accenture in other countries even before. They bring in together executives from different industries specifically to showcase key findings on how companies leverage in IT for specific business requirements.

It will be the first time that the CIO workshop will be conducted by Accenture here in the Philippines. They are expecting at least 40 participants in the said workshop.

Topics to be discussed during the workshop include data consolidation, return on IT investments, network security, strategic IT cost reduction, and even new technologies such as virtualization and â€œgreenâ€ technologies.

Accenture will be used as one of the models of a large company that successfully managed their IT needs while reducing costs. Kenneth Corless, Accenture CIO Organization Executive Director, said the event will highlight different usage models for new technologies.