Cebu moves up to join top ten international list of emerged destinations for BPO

Cebu City has moved up in the ranking of global sites for business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology.

”From its 2009 status as the no. 1 “emerging BPO destination” in the world, Cebu City is now in the next category of “emerged” destinations in 2010, grabbing the ninth spot in the list of top 10 Emerged Destinations for BPO.”

The upgrade in category, which reflects a maturing industry that employs about 50,000 workers in Cebu, was announced yesterday by Joel Mari Yu, managing director of the Cebu Investments and Promotions Center (CIPC).

The ranking was made by Tholons, an international outsourcing and investment advisory firm, and will be reflected in its 2010 annual survey.

Tholons’ assessment will spur more growth for the industry in 2011, said Yu.

“When a BPO company looks for a place to expand, it always refers to the ‘emerged’ list where Cebu is now included. We can only expect more growth from this industry as early as today even and more next year,” Yu said.

Jonathan Defensor de Luzuriaga, Tholons managing director for Southeast Asia, confirmed the upgrade.

He said Cebu is in the ninth spot in the list of top 10 Emerged Destinations for BPO.

“In the list, only two entries are new, which includes Cebu and Shanghai for ninth and tenth places, respectively,” De Luzuriaga said.

“Manila” or the National Captial Region is already in the list and ranks fourth place. The top spots are taken by cities in India.

He said the results of the 2010 survey were presented by Tholons officers in their meeting in their Manila office about 2 a.m. yesterday. He couldn’t say when the full results would be posted but the next survey would be released in 2011.

For a city to be declared an “emerged” destination for BPO and IT, it has to pass six assessment criteria, which included talent, business environment, cost, infrastructure quality and risks.

If the city fails to meet any of the criteria, it may land in the list of “emerging destinations,” said De Luzuriaga.

In 2009, the top global outsourcing sites according to Tholons were Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai (all in India) followed by Manila or NCR.

Yu explained that to be in the “emerged” list, the city should have a good supply of quality talents as well as the quality and quantity of facilities. Another criteria is presence of infrastructure support such as broadband network services, as well as government incentives.

“Cebu has been the top emerging city for BPO and IT for the last couple of years. We have been working to be in the “emerged” list. Now that we have it, I could only say that we have a bright future ahead of us for this industry,” Yu said.

Cebu ranked first in the list of 50 emerging global outsourcing cities by Tholons in the 2008 and 2009.

Even before yesterday’s announcement was made, at least three major BPO players had plans to expand in Cebu, said Yu.

“J.P. Morgan Chase is already with us and they have already said that they will be expanding and adding more people. IBM is already here and Accenture will be adding another delivery center in Cebu. These are only three of the biggest names. We are expecting more big names to come here,” he said.

The growth in demand will come from both voice and non-voice services in Cebu because of the availability of a very wide pool of talents in various disciplines and education backgrounds, said Yu.

“Now we have more non-voice companies. There are 40 companies with non-voice services while there are only 29 voice or call center companies here now,” he added.

According to Yu, Cebu has a big potential for non-voice services such as medical transcripition, banking, accounting, legal services, and higher end programming services.

Yu said Cebu City is the only city in the country that is taking steps to ensure a steady supply of talents for BPO and IT by putting up training programs tied with BPO companies like Aegis People Support and IBM.

Most BPOs are located in the Asiatown IT Park in Lahug.

The support of the Cebu city government for BPO growth includes plans for a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) program geared for BPO and IT workers.

Last year, Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City south district, who was then Cebu City mayor, announced a “green field” project for an MBA campus at the South Road Properties.

Cebu City donated five hectares of land to the University of the Philippines for it to set up a campus offering MBA programs that would enable BPO and IT employees to pursue degrees while they’re working and earn more credits for future career advancement.

Yu said this kind of initiative from the local government in partnership with the private sector will help bring in more growth for the BPO industry as well as Cebu’s economy.

About 40,000 to 50,000 people are employed in BPOs in Cebu based on figures of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedfit). (CDN)



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