Remote work technology provider sees growth in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Remote work technology provider GoTo is eyeing to grow in the Philippines and hire more locally, citing available opportunities.

Lindsay Brown, vice president and general manager for GoTo Asia Pacific said in a virtual briefing yesterday, the company is looking to grow in the Philippines given the opportunities seen in the country where there are many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that it can support in terms of flexible work and information technology (IT) needs.

“As the economy begins to recover, we think flexible arrangements are becoming the norm…This is why we want to position ourselves against that opportunity,” he said.

He said 58 percent of employees in the Philippines have shown strong preference for full time remote working, and 35 percent are satisfied with technology for this work arrangement.

Citing a recent study by global professional services organization EY, he said only 15 percent of the Southeast Asian workforce including those from the  Philippines have indicated that they prefer to work from the office full time.

Meanwhile, 32 percent would prefer to work anywhere, 29 percent want to work remotely full time, and 23 percent would like a hybrid work arrangement.

“At GoTo, we understand the unique challenges faced by SMEs and are dedicated to focusing our resources to address these pain points,” Brown said.

GoTo’s flexible work software offerings include GoTo Resolve which brings together all the tools small and mid-size businesses need to manage and support employees in a flexible, secure, and conversational way.

GoTo has tapped local information communications technology distributor VST ECS Phils. Inc. as its partner in the Philippines.

VST ECS president and chief executive officer Jimmy Go said the country has a big market for GoTo’s offerings.

“We look into being able to tap almost all of the industry because during this pandemic, everybody is going into a virtual meeting and everybody has proven it is a more efficient thing. So, we cannot disclose the exact numbers, but definitely we look at big growth,” he said.

GoTo also intends to make additional hires locally to support its Southeast Asian expansion plan this year.

Apart from the Philippines, GoTo is also expanding with a channel-first approach in Singapore and Malaysia, following its rebranding from LogMeIn in February.

Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts in the US, GoTo has presence in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia, and has over 3,000 global employees.