Experts see promise in Asean outsource market

OUTSOURCING is one of the economic opportunities that the country can tap when the Asean Economic Integration is implemented next year.

Since the Philippines is a leading global destination for business process outsourcing, Asean countries may  want to outsource their processes to us, said Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (CEDF-IT) managing director Wilfredo Saa during last Tuesday’s workshop.

“The problem, however is that we have not established complete network coverage in all parts of the country. Our bandwidth  is also more expensive than Japan’s. Something must be done if  we want to compete,” said Frederick Amores, Visayas head of the National Computer Center.

Full network coverage, more local investors, a standard education system and understanding market requirements were topics discussed in the Asean Economic Integration Workshop for the Information Communication Technology and Business Process Outsource held in Talamban, Cebu City.

“Integration has already started in 2010 with tariff of some products  reduced. This integration allows for free movement of goods and services as well as capital and with it is some 600 million captive market for our products. However, we should know how we can tap that huge market and compete,” Saa said.

Amores also said that most of investments in the ICT/BPO sector is also coming from foreign investors and not so much from the local investors.

Saa said that Cebu already saw this need and is actively doing events that will encourage more local investments.

“One example is the startup weekend whichh CEDF-IT is also a partner. We are planning another one in June with a boot camp to set the level higher,” said Saa.

There is also a need to make sure that our educators’ way of teaching ICT/BPO related courses which conforms with international standards.

“There’s an opportunity in this part because if we will be known for quality education on these courses, we can start getting students from other Asean countries to come and enroll here,” said Amores.

Saa agreed with Amores and said that they currently have a program educating the teachers of major universities in Cebu on how they can effectively teach technical topics to theor students.

“We will be doing more training in othet areas soon as a spinoff from the success here. In May we’ll be in Sta. Rosa, Laguna and in Bacolod after for more round of trainings.”

And lastly, understanding the need of the market is important so that local ICT stakeholders can cater better to their needs and compete.

Saa said workshop results will be used to create a road map for the ICT/BPO industry. A  bigger market with more competitors, labor cost and availability of talent are other challenges that  will be needed to address soon in time for the integration.