Dumaguete now in top 10 BPO Next Wave Cities

Baguio and Dumaguete are the new entrants to the top 10 best outsourcing locations which are projected to generate $ 1.2 billion in revenues for business process outsourcing (BPO), bringing the industry’s total earnings to $ 9 billion in 2010 from $ 7.2 billion last year.

Davao City topped the list as it scored 99 percent in the availability of graduates and workers out of the more than 30 locations assessed, results of Next Wave Cities scorecard revealed.

The talent criterion carries the largest weight of 40 percent in the overall ranking which makes the city the best outsourcing destination in the country so far.

Sta. Rosa, Bacolod, Iloilo, Metro Cavite, Lipa, Cagayan de Oro and Malolos also topped the scorecard ranking of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

In addition to talent, the other factors affecting city ranking are infrastructure, cost and business environment.

In particular, cities are scored for the quality of their roads, access to international and domestic flights, presence of providers of fiber optic networks, reliability of power supply, availability of property sites, cost of labor and office space, vulnerability to natural disturbances, peace and order situation, among others.

BPAP chief executive officer Oscar Sañez said that in 2010, Metro Clark advanced from Next Wave City status to an established information technology (IT)-BPO hub, joining the ranks of Metro Manila and Metro Cebu.

Sañez attributed this to Metro Clark’s excellent infrastructure with 100-percent rating, proven ability to market itself globally and its ability to provide investor assistance.
Bulacan East and Bulacan West this year were also consolidated into Malolos area.
The two slots earlier occupied by Metro Clark and Bulacan thus were filled up by new entrants Baguio and Dumaguete.

Apart from the top 10 best outsourcing locations, Sañez identified other aspirants as Dagupan, Legazpi, Metro Subic, Metro Naga and General Santos.

Gigi Virata, BPAP’s information and research director, said sites included in the list of Next Wave Cities are the focus of their promotion efforts.

Virata said these cities would have some advantages when they also market themselves to the media and the investors.

For his part, Sañez said the Next Wave Cities program provides a great avenue for local empowerment.

He said these cities will increase talent pool and stem salary and rental inflation in “first-wave” locations.

“Having 10 Next Wave Cities and more will ease the pressures to raise salaries and rental rates in these major hubs, and spread the benefits of employment, higher incomes and increased business activity across the country,” he noted.

As of end-2009, there were about 442,000 employees in the Philippine IT-BPO sector.
Virata estimated that the identified top locations for outsourcing could generate an additional 265,200 employment in the next two years.

Commission on Information Communications Technology (CICT) Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III said the Commission is fully committed to the Next Wave Cities initiative of championing regional growth through ICT.

“These Next Wave Cities will continue to be our rallying points where, given the impetus and the correct resources, will spur economic growth the way this government has envisioned to be. We see prosperous cities in regions across the nation as a result of their maturity and readiness to compete in the IT-BPO arena,” he said. (PNA)

 

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