THE IT-Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry is expected to sustain its growth momentum throughout 2024 on the back of a “seemingly unlimited demand” from clients despite a “severe” shortage in talent supply.
In a roundtable discussion on Wednesday, IT-BPM Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) President Jack Madrid told reporters that the group expects the industry to grow at a similar pace in 2023.
He explained that the year 2023 concluded on a high note for the IT-BPM sector, surpassing its targets with 1.7 million jobs and exceeding $35 billion in revenues.
This performance, he said, reflects an 8-percent growth in both employment and revenue figures.
The strong momentum is set to continue into 2024, with the industry aiming to hit 1.8 million jobs and garner $39 billion in revenues.
“[The year] 2024 is off to a promising start on the back of a very strong momentum,” he said.
According to Madrid, the most anticipated milestone for the industry is the crossing of the 2-million job mark by 2025.
This goal is significant, he explained, considering that it took over a decade to reach the first million jobs, and the industry is now set to double that figure in nearly half the time.
“The industry is alive and kicking, and I am happy to say and I am confident in saying that we are an indispensable pillar of the economy,” he said.
By 2028, Madrid said, the industry should have generated 2.5 million jobs in the Philippines.
The industry has been recognized as a key contributor to job generation, revenue, and foreign exchange by the administration of President Marcos Jr.
Relative to the economy, the industry, according to Madrid, has the “highest” contribution to the gross national product
“And that only highlights how major an economic pillar we are. If we achieved all our goals, we will increase our present 8-percent contribution to 9 percent—by far the highest contrition to GNP to our country,” Madrid said.
He noted that the industry has now embraced the new future of work—hybrid set ups—and is now gearing up to leverage new technologies such as generative AI to beef up the workforce.
The industry is also focused on sustaining its growth prioritizing talent development, including upskilling the existing workforce and aligning educational curricula with the evolving job market.
This is also related to the number one challenge that the industry faces today: Talent acquisition.
“I view it as an opportunity cost of maximizing our marketshare. When we speak to members, the most common challenge that they describe is being able to hire the talent that they need. So talent supply is really a severe issue. But the effect, it’s hard to quantify the opportunity cost and certainly not a loss of revenue—the opportunity cost of not being able to maximize the number of jobs and revenue,” Madrid explained.
This, he noted, was the same challenge that the industry faced in 2023.
“We grew 8 percent last year. Maybe we could have grown more than that if we had the talent,” he lamented.
Image credits: PITON-Global