High Energy Cost Affecting Country’s Information Technology – Business Process Management Competitiveness

Angeles City (PNA) — The Philippines is losing to India in some areas in information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) because of the high cost of power and other factors, an industry leader said Tuesday.

However, despite these issues, the country still has an edge over other competitors, executive director for external affairs and membership of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), GennyInocencio-Marcial, said.

Inocencio-Marcial was one of the resource speakers during the First Public-Private Dialogue on Services held here as part of the First Senior Officials’ Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) being hosted by the Philippines.

Clients prefer the Philippines to other countries due to its huge pool of educated workers, she said, noting that the country produces half a million college graduates each year.

The Philippines has a total population of 100 million, with more than 39 million within the working age.

Of the total number of graduates, more than 3,000 are certified public accountants who create a huge value for accounting work being done in the Philippines.

In terms of cost competition, the labor cost for English-speaking professionals in the Philippines is still among the lowest in the world, Inocencio-Marcial explained.

The country also has a predictable and manageable inflation and very good IT infrastructure, she said, adding that the Philippines has good round-the-clock transportation and a lot of IT economic zones.

According to Inocencio-Marcial, the IBPAP is aggressively partnering with the government, and government investment promotions agencies, such as the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)and the Board of Investments (BOI), are very supportive.

She further noted that the industry enjoysnumerous incentives from the government, such as tax exemptions, and that there are ongoing talks in both houses of Congress on bills seeking to rationalize fiscal incentives for the sector.

The Philippines, she said, has a proven track record in voice services, basically in customer care, technical support, financial services, and sales and collections.

The industry recorded a year-on-year compounded annual growth rate of 25 percent in 2013 and closed the year with revenues amounting to USD16.1 billion.

Employees of the IT-BPM industry increased from 917,000 in 2013 to more than one million in the last quarter of 2014, Inocencio-Marcial said.

In an IT-BPM event in Pasay City last week, President Benigno S. Aquino III pledged additional support to make the sector more competitive.

This year, the government is set to expand its support for the sector by allotting Php443.6 million to education and training, a significant increase from its Php304.5-million budget in 2014, the President said.

This initiative is being done through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. (PNA) FPV/PND/SSC