Information-technology and business-process management (IT-BPM) firms are now employing a total of 1.3 million of the country’s labor force, as its headcount jumped by nearly 6 percent last year on strong hiring in areas outside of Metro Manila.
According to the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap), the number of full- time workers in the IT-BPM industry rose by some 71,000 last year to now reach 1.3 million. The growth was attributed by the group to existing firms that expanded their operations both in Metro Manila and in the regions as well.
At least 51,000 of the new workers hired by the industry are based in the countryside, including Bacolod, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Laguna and Pampanga, Ibpap reported.
Likewise, industry revenue last year grew over 7 percent to $26.3 billion, from $24.5 billion in 2018, bucking challenges brought about by protectionist sentiments abroad and uncertainties in fiscal policy here. With growths recorded in both employment and revenue, Ibpap President Rey E. Untal said the industry’s medium-term goals are well within reach.
“These numbers show that industry growth is closer to the high range of recalibrated figures of Roadmap 2022,” Untal said in a news statement.
He added it has also proved how resilient and tenacious the IT-BPM industry is in overcoming the challenges posed by domestic and global disruptions. Aside from protectionist sentiments and fiscal policy uncertainties, firms last year had to deal with the transition to the new technologies of digitization like artificial intelligence and automation.
Untal also disclosed that there is a significant number of new investors that have put up operations in the Philippines, and half of them are global in house centers offering services in health care, finance and accounting, human resources, IT and software and content moderation.
On the side of innovation and training, many of IT-BPM firms are now engaged in the delivery of non-voice services after optimizing their digital strategies to keep up with industry changes. Workers, for their part, are being equipped with high-value skills to be able to render complex and varied services for international and local clients.
For Untal, the industry’s growth last year only fortified the proposition that the Philippines is a premier investment destination for IT-BPM operations from around the world.
However, the Ibpap chief admitted that the industry is vulnerable to the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. As early as now, firms are bracing for the impact of the health crisis on their employment and revenue projections, as well to their work and service models.
Deemed a provider of essential services, the IT-BPM industry was allowed by the government to operate under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
According to Ibpap, its members’ ability to adopt to the service models most compatible with the ECQ paved the way for 58 percent of employees to work from home and 15 percent to be part of skeletal staff. At the outset of the ECQ, these figures were reportedly just at 40 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
As people are ordered to stay healthy and stay at home, the industry saw an uptick in demand for health care, telecommunications, financial services and e-commerce, while it observed, on the other hand, a decline in transactions related to travel and tourism.
Last year the IT-BPM industry reduced its growth forecast by close to $7 billion in revenue and roughly 230,000 workers in employment on uncertainties brought about by policies here and abroad. As such, the industry is now just projected to generate revenue of $32 billion by 2022, nearly 18 percent lower from the original forecast of $38.9 billion.
Moreover, it is now just expected to employ some 1.57 million workers by 2022, or more than 13 percent below the previous anticipation of 1.8 million workers.
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