FOR the country to sustain the growth of its information communications technology (ICT) sector, research think tank International Data Corp (IDC) Philippines issued several recommendations for the next administration.
IDC Philippines Country Head Jubert Alberto said their proposed plan of action they see could help the Philippine ICT sector continue on its upward trajectory.
Alberto said the incoming administration must prioritize the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
“This move is crucial if the government wants to ensure that the ICT sector, which is among the most profitable divisions of the Philippine economy (projected to contribute US$50 billion in revenue in 2016) and the top drivers of employment growth, will be secure in the coming years,” Sean Paul Agapito, IDC Philippines associate market analyst, said in a policy paper. “If created, the DICT will be the primary government entity to plan, promote, and help develop the country’s ICT sector and address issues concerning Internet connectivity, communications services, data privacy, cybersecurity and cybercrime—functions that are currently divided among several disparate agencies.”
Alon Anthony Rejano, IDC Philippines associate market analyst, added the new tenant in the Presidential Palace must initiate the development of large-scale ICT initiatives. Compared with other member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation, Rejano said the country has no large-scale initiatives that could greatly impact the ICT market.
However, iGovPhil and the Medium-term Information & Communications Technology Harmonization Initiative (Mithi) are good ways to start, according to Rejano.
“What these can do is help local ICT vendors to gain a strong foothold in the local, regional, and global scenes so their top-notch IT skills can be recognized,” he said. “The government should also support ICT adoption in non-IT industries such as resources and agriculture.”
The incoming administration, Rejano added, “should have a vision of digital agriculture in the long term, wherein farmers can sit at their homes waiting for a message on their smartphones saying their crops can now be harvested.”
“However, this should be done gradually,” he said. “What’s important is that there is a collaboration between the public sector and service providers,” he said.
Rejano said it is also high time for the Philippines to address the country’s connectivity problem “on a major scale.”
He added the government must install regulations that can hasten the Internet connection in the country. Rejano urged the government to “exercise its authority to penalize telcos [telecommunication companies] that do not provide the Internet speeds they have promised.”
“In addition, support for the entry of any global telco in the Philippine market is also needed to spur competition,” he said. “This will ultimately give consumers better services at lower cost.”
According to Rejano, the government should endeavor to shorten the process of starting a business in the country and cut red tape surrounding the establishment of telco infrastructures such as cell sites and fiber builds.
Agapito said the government must also be serious in beefing up the country’s cybersecurity.
He pointed out the latest hacking incident involving the Commission on Elections, which saw sensitive information of millions of Filipino voters leaked online. The hacking demonstrated the vulnerability of the country’s cybersecurity infrastructure, Agapito said.
“The looming threat of cyberattacks could potentially jeopardize the Philippine’s egovernment initiatives, such as iGovPhil and Mithi, especially those that involve the use or submission of personal/sensitive data,” added Agapito. “Moreover, these cyberattacks have negative implications on the suitability of the country as an ICT hub, especially after the latest string of cyberattacks on the government.”
IDC is also urging the new administration to give a closer focus on the business process management (BPM) industry in the country as it is is expected to surpass gross domestic product (GDP) contribution of remittances from overseas Filipino workers.
Furthermore, IDC said government must tackle the dearth of skilled labor and professionalize the industry. In terms of partnership, IDC urged education agencies such as the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to help schools align the curriculum with the demands and requirements of the IT sector. Furthermore, the expansion of BPOs in the country greatly helps in the “expansion of ICT wealth” through the rise of next-wave cities.
IDC Philippines market analyst Jerome Dominguez said government must also provide greater support to Smart City initiatives.
Although there are initiatives in developing the Smart City program such as Cauayan City’s electronic government application system (eGAPS), Dominguez said a lot of the projects in other areas are still stuck at the pilot-testing stages.
“A key roadblock to implementation is budget constraint on the part of the local government,” he said. “Greater budget should be allocated by the national government in funding Smart City initiatives to help these projects come to fruition.”
Dominguez explained it is through Smart Cities where the improvement of quality of life and better delivery of government services will be achieved.
“Healthy collaboration among the local government, solution providers, and other government agencies is also key in driving these projects forward.”
IDC said the new administration must channel growth toward the small medium enterprise (SME) sector. The IDC pointed out there are no government initiatives that aim to grow SMEs in the ICT market unlike in developed countries such as Singapore wherein start-ups and microenterprises are strong because the government supports their actions.
“There should be effective government funding and assistance schemes to contribute to the success of our own start-ups, with the new administration crafting a pro-business and start-up-friendly nation,” Alberto said. “The government should help them by providing a strong legal environment, low-tax system, and a readily available workforce.”
IDC said the incoming administration must also address the peace and order situation in the country especially in Mindanao. It added foreign investors are already expressing interest in Mindanao as the next area on which to focus their instruments.
Last but not the least, IDC stressed the next tenant in Malacañang must place ICT at the forefront of the development and governance agenda.
It urged government to optimize system performance and digitizef records in the education sector as well as eHealth innovations in the Philippines bolster ICT usage, as local hospitals continue to adopt electronic medical record/electronic health record (EMR/EHR) and mobile health applications. Deep-dive adoption of cloud-based services for various government transactions is essential, according to IDC.
“Digital transformation (DX) in the Philippine government does not only improve the delivery of government services but also democratizes the public’s access to national affairs. Greater ICT adoption by the next administration will help the country keep its growth momentum moving forward,” Alberto said.