The level of competitiveness of the Filipino information-technology (IT) talent in the billion-dollar global outsourcing market, the industry response to challenges like the entry of AI (artificial intelligence) into the world of business and the impact of constantly evolving technology on employment and the economy—these vital issues will take center stage in the upcoming Fifth SOFTCON.ph (The Philippine Software Industry Conference). More than 600 industry leaders and practitioners are expected to attend the whole-day event, which will be packed with keynote speeches, breakout sessions and various exhibitions showcasing the industry’s leading players’ latest technological trends and innovations.
The Fifth SOFTCON.ph will be held on October 24 at the SMX Convention Center Aura, third and fourth Levels, SM Aura Premier, 26th Street McKinley Parkway, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. It is organized by the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), the premier nonstock, nonprofit organization of around 160 software and IT service companies in the Philippines.
“The Philippines has already established its mark in the call-center and business-process outsourcing sectors—the time has come for us to do the same as far as IT services are concerned,” PSIA President Jonathan de Luzuriaga says. “Software and IT services alone brought in $2.9 billion to the Philippine economy in 2016. That revenue constitutes 13 percent of the entire Philippine IT-business process management sector, and it will still grow because of the huge market potential. Global demand for IT-outsourcing services is expected to bring in about $147 billion by 2022.”
“Our international partners and clients from the US, Europe and Australia do business with Philippine software producers because they recognize what our Filipino talent can bring to the table,” de Luzuriaga continued. “Our English fluency, our capability to adapt to market needs and our agility to cope with and master the non-stop changes in technology are catching global attention. Another is our demographics: 70,000 IT graduates enter our labor force every year; 50 percent of our population is made up of millennials. As a result, we do have the manpower that can support long-term business sustainability.
“Add to that is the well-known Filipino resilience and adaptability, and we are confident that we can provide the services our clients need and grow with them as they, too, adapt to what is now being called the digital economy.”
Some of the issues that the conference will cover include the following: “How AWS Helps with Deep Learning” (Steve Shirkey, Asean Solutions architect , Amazon Web Services); “Threats & Opportunities of A.I.” (George Yang, founder and CEO, AI-Pros); “AI and Big Data in the Age of the Customer” (Rhex Ryan Santos, head of Process Governance, Globe Telecom); “Google Cloud Machine Learning Insights” (Franco Liu Eisma, Google Cloud Crusader for South East Asia); “Application Digital Differentiation through Bluemix APIs” (Aris Coronel, Technical Sales, IBM Philippines); and “The Enterprise DevOps Journey” (Archie Roboostoff, director, Software & Test Portfolio, Micro Focus).
“Technology, scalability, and agility are the factors that decide which nation will lead in today’s global economy,” de Luzuriaga said. “The Philippine software and IT industries are ramping up in these areas to enhance our competitiveness and secure our leadership, the way we did for the IT and BPO processes the past decade.”
For more information on the Fifth SOFTCON.ph, refer to the following: www.softcon.ph, softcon@psia.org.ph .