A survey carried out by the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines showed 83 percent of IT-BPM companies expect to post growth in 2023 despite a potential global recession, while 17 percent remained neutral with their forecasts.
According to the study, the organization said, investments are projected to come from the following sectors: Animation & Game Development, Contact Center, Cybersecurity, Financial Technology (FinTech), Healthcare, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), IT Solutions, and Shared Services.
For the countryside, Cebu and Davao will continue to be popular IT-BPM hubs, while Iloilo, Clark,Pampanga, and Sta. Rosa, Laguna, will be added to the mix, IBPAP said.
However, IBPAP unveiled the five top key business challenges that companies cited were talent and skills gap; cost pressures; more work going to competing locations such as India, Poland and South America; and adapting to evolving customer needs and business models like hybrid and remote work, and inadequate supply of enabling infrastructure, particularly in the countryside.
With these challenges hounding the industry which has shown resilience even amid the pandemic, IBPAP said as a flagship organization of the IT-BPM industry, it must remain “grounded,” along with its stakeholders in the industry, government, and academe on its four “Acceleration Levers,” such as Policy and Regulatory Support, Talent Development, Infrastructure Expansion, and Marketing and Branding Repositioning.
For his part, Jack Madrid, IBPAP President and CEO, expressed optimism, saying “this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
“We have more partnerships, projects, and programs in the pipeline for Talent Development and the other Acceleration Levers and we don’t plan on letting up or slowing down because we realize that a lot is at stake here that’s beyond revenues, margins, or profits,” Madrid stressed.
Moving forward, the IBPAP said based on Roadmap 2028, the Philippine IT-BPM industry can reach 1.7 million full-time employees (FTEs) and US$35.9 billion in revenue in 2023.
Meanwhile,as it capped off 2022, the flagship organization of the Philippine IT-BPM industry announced that the sector “outperformed” the aggressive targets that Roadmap 2028 set for headcount and revenue growth.
According to IBPAP, the number of FTEs increased by 121,000 employees in 2022, bringing the sector’s total headcount to 1.57 million and recording a growth of 8.4 percent.
IBPAP also highlighted that the sector recorded a growth of 10.3 percent in revenues to reach US$32.5 billion in 2022.
Last November 2022, Madrid revealed that the IT-BPM industry would end the year on a high note. The IBPAP’s initial target was set at $32billion worth of revenue while the industry then expected to end the year employing 1.56 million Filipinos.
Image credits: PITON-Global