IT-BPM firms urged to strengthen academe-industry ties

IT-BPM firms are encouraged to strengthen their ties with the academe. | CDN file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPOs) players here in Cebu were encouraged to reinforce their ties with the academe.

Former Cebu IT-BPM Organization managing director and now consultant Wilfredo ‘Jun’ Sa-a Jr. made this statement after Cebu City’s rankings in Tholons’ Super Cities slid to the 15th spot for 2020.

READ MORE: Cebu City falls 3 notches in Tholons’ super cities list

Sa-a, in a message sent to CDN Digital, said that the city remained lucky to be included in the coveted list of cities around the world ideal and prime for outsourcing.

“It speaks of our efforts to prepare our talents’ competitiveness like the coding and programming skills even for our senior high public school students. Plus the close collaboration between our BPOs and the public senior high schools,” Sa-a said.

But Sa-a said at this point, players in the IT-BPM industry should strengthen their links with the academe industry.

“We can never discount the impact of real collaboration between academe and industry to have a steady supply of qualified talents,” he said.

According to Sa-a, companies should continue to be more open in accepting senior high school interns.

“The industry can provide the life skills to our senior high school students who will be graduating at the age of 18,” explained Sa-a.

“These companies can even provide very decent allowances to qualified senior high students which ranged from P12,000 to P16,000  per month during the internship,” he added.

On the other hand, Sa-a also advised parents to encourage their children to learn more about technology.

He said that high-paying jobs in the future would likely need talents with technology skills.

“In the age of information, data are the new oil and are available with the click of our hands as long as there is connectivity,” he said.

“They should support their children to start developing their tech talents not only from school but also by self-study online. There are so many free materials available online and technology is changing every day.  So it is must be a constant learning/unlearning and learning process,” added Sa-a.

The IT-BPM industry is one of the major economic drivers in Cebu City, the hub for economic and commercial activities in the southern part of the Philippines. /dbs