BPO industry hits historical growth performance in 2010

CEBU, Philippines - As Cebu’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry gained international attention for the past few years, the year 2010 is deemed a historical year for the BPO sector in Cebu as it gears up to reach its maximum potential.

Following the Tholon’s announcement proclaiming Cebu as the 8th emerged BPO destination in the world, besting other cities in Singapore, India, and others, Cebu was able to prove itself as legitimate host for giant and multinational BPO industries.

Amid the lingering effects of the global recession, the BPO sector propelled Cebu’s economy in 2010, providing thousands of employment opportunities to Cebuanos, and other job seekers from neighboring provinces.

Cebu Investments and Promotions Center (CIPC) managing director Joel Mari S. Yu said aside from new BPO facilities that opened this year in Cebu, such as the second facility of Accenture, existing BPO firms have also expanded, thus the demand for more workers, and office spaces have surged during the year.

The dynamic growth of BPO in Cebu, has also paved the way for more investments in real estate, wherein capitalists poured in money to build medium to high rise buildings to accommodate the growing demand for BPO office space.

In the middle of this year, Norkis Group of Companies announced the conversion of its three-hectare property in Mandaue City into an Information Technology (IT) Park.

Norkis Group chairman Dr. Norberto B. Quisumbing told The Freeman in an interview that BPO is now the new “revenue generator” for the Cebu economy, and that the company is going to take advantage of the opportunity.

According to Quisumbing BPO is a good employment generator for the country in this generation.

“The reality is—BPO is here to stay,” Quisumbing said.

Likewise, the Cebu Property Ventures Development Corporation (CPVDC), the developer of the 25-hectare Cebu Asiatown IT Park in Lahug, declared its plan to build another mid-rise BPO building by next year, to accommodate the growing demand from potential BPO investors.

CPVDC president Francis O. Monera announced that the recent development of Cebu being declared as an “emerged” destination for IT and BPO will bring more interested investors here.

“We are planning to build another BPO tower,” Monera said adding that with the success of the eBloc2 Tower, which is occupied only by two BPO giants, the JP Morgan, and NCR.

CPVDC in partnership with Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) projects to complete the P1.4 billion eBloc2 project by the end of 2011.

Even before the eBloc2 is completed, Monera said plans of putting up the third eBloc facility at the park is already in the drawing board.

Part of the initial plan is to build a BPO enclave facility within the five-hectare remaining property. However, no exact timetable was given for the development.

Meanwhile, Aboitiz Land Inc. is going to develop its 15-hectare property at the Mandaue North Reclamation Area, to establish new integrated development in area that will include construction of BPO buildings, hotels, and residential facilities.

AboitizLand Inc. vice president for marketing and sales Manuel U. Arbues II announced that this project, which will start next year, is another commercial development to be introduced by the company, after the Mactan Export Zone II.

Although, the masterplan of the project is already completed, it is still subject to the company’s board approval.

This project is one of the two to three projects that will be introduced by the company in 2011, excluding the expansion ventures on its existing residential developments.

According to Arbues that company has to take advantage of the booming commercial real estate industry in the Cebu, specifically in providing more BPO-ready buildings.

Total seats established by the BPO firms in Cebu now count to almost 40 thousand. These can be utilized in a three-shift 24-hour cycle operation, which roughly provides employment generation of close to 100 thousand as of this year.

Yu said the economic recession in the United States and Europe have not at all affected the BPO sector in the Philippines, specifically Cebu, in fact, the crisis was a “blessing in disguise” for the BPO industry, as more US and European firms are now considering to outsourcing to save cost.

The Tholons announcement that put Cebu in the spotlight as an “emerged” destination for BPO investments, implicates the province’s double of triple growth of BPO sector in the next few years.

And as infrastructure and business environment have been proven to be world-class and already at par with global standard, Yu said human resource is no longer a problem, as both private sector and the government are working so hard to provide intensive and effective program of human resource development for BPO and high-value IT skills.

Although Cebu is still working hard to improve the quality of human resource supply to complement the growing interest of world’s BPO investors to Cebu, Yu said the BPO industry players, including survey firm Tholons, has seen Cebu’s capability to host the biggest names in the world’s BPO sector.

According to Yu, Cebu is anticipating a stronger interest from BPO investors around the world and that industry players with the help of theCebu City government will intensify its program to further develop the human resource pool. (FREEMAN)