Tholons Ranking: Lack of info may have caused Cebu’s plunge

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu’s drop in the Tholons ranking may be due to lack of information about Cebu’s real score in its digital journey, industry executives said.

A former Tholons executive, and now the president of National ICT Council of the Philippines (NICP) Jonathan de Luzuriaga said that if the researchers were able to gather real statistics and actual feel of Cebu, it would have been helpful to sustain or even improve its ranking.

Cebu is placed in the 12th spot in the Super Cities ranking of Tholons for 2019, from 11th place in 2018.

“Sometimes this report is [largely] reliant on information being fed to them,” said Luzuriaga yesterday during the 2019 Transformation Summit held at the Summit Galleria Hotel in Cebu.

According to Luzuriaga, Cebu’s drop, from hitting number 8 in 2016 down to 12th place in 2019, is clearly due to lack of information.

Monchito Ibrahim executive adviser to the secretary of Department of ICT agreed with Luzuriaga’s assessment saying “we are now beginning to question Tholons data gathering.”

Because of this concern, Ibrahim said the DICT is now working with ICT Councils around the country, local government units, and other agencies to create the DigitalCitiesPh portal.

This platform will provide data gatherers, researchers, advisory and consultancy institutions like Tholons, McKinsey, among others the right and sufficient information about the actual situation particularly in the digital development.

Both Luzuriaga and Ibrahim believe that Cebu continues to attract high value investments in IT/BPM despite the fall.

“Cebu despite drop of ranking is doing very well. Being in the top 15 in the whole is still quite something,” added Ibrahim.

Luzuriaga said Cebu has built its credibility to international investors over the years, and just a notch lower of its ranking cannot discount the city’s excellent good track record.

Luzuriaga, who is also the former president of Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) added Cebu has been delivering consistently and continues to impress the multinational companies.

Cebu City this year is in close rivalry with Kraków City in Germany (11th), Buenos Aires, Argentina (10th) and Singapore at its 9th place.

Tholons Services Globalization Index 2019TM" (TSGI), its flagship research report and ranking of the Top 50 "Digital Nations" and Top 100 "Super Cities." (FREEMAN)