Manpower woes threaten Cebu BPO industry's rank

CEBU, Philippines - While it seems unlikely for Cebu’s rank to go down, as “Emerged BPO Destination” in the world, Tholons consultant Jonathan De Luzuriaga is encouraging players to implement a strong “management expectation” program and sustain collaborative efforts.

Now, that Cebu’s position as one of the top 10 “Emerged BPO Destination” is threatened by the obvious lack of quality manpower needed by industry players, De Luzuriaga said the local government unit and the stakeholders, including the support sectors such as the academe, should strongly join hands together to pull up Cebu’s position into higher ranking in a couple of years.

While there is a growing number of outsourcing firms around world looking at Cebu as expansion site, the manpower problem needs to be addressed immediately considering that even existing BPO companies have been expressing manpower woes that could possibly discourage potential investors.

He added that industry players should “lay their cards on the table” and formulate a sound “management of expectation”, while the world is now looking at Cebu.

Cebu should move up in terms of ranking, and this is only a normal expectation from spectators, which are also closely watching Cebu’s movement in terms of further development in the BPO sector.

On the other hand, De Luzuriaga expressed his optimism on Cebu’s capacity to move up its rank, considering the openness and close collaboration across sectors. He specifically mentioned that supportive stance of the Local Government Units (LGUs) here to further boost the BPO industry in Cebu.

For his part, Cebu Investments and Promotions Center (CIPC) managing director Joel Mari S. Yu said that, Cebu is geared towards addressing the cost of doing business, along with providing solutions on the manpower issue to sustain its attractiveness to BPO investors.

According to Yu, in order for Cebu to step up its position as the world’s top 10 emerged BPO destination, it has to seriously leverage on the cost side. This means that rental rates and employees’ pay should remain much competitive.

In this cost management concept, Yu said CIPC along with other BPO stakeholders should involve the building developers closely so that rates of building and office space rental remain attractive.  (FREEMAN)