IBPAP’s Celeste Ilagan: Is the Philippine BPO industry dying?
- Celeste Ilagan is the first woman to lead IBPAP, the Philippine IT-BPM industry association.
- Ilagan says AI is automating entry-level, transactional and repetitive roles.
- She calls bigger players’ acquisitions of smaller BPO firms a positive sign.
- IBPAP targets up to $50.5 billion in revenue and 2.14 million jobs by 2028.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippine IT and business process management (IT-BPM) industry is still growing, even as its growth slows. That is the case Celeste Ilagan, the first woman to lead the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), made less than three weeks into the job.
Slower, but still growing
Ilagan, IBPAP’s president and CEO, spoke on ANC’s The Boardroom, posted on YouTube on Nov. 4. Host Salve Ibanez cited revenue growth of around 5%, headcount growth of around 3% and talk of small voice-only players selling out.
“Even if the growth is slowing, there is still growth. It is just the rate of growth that has slowed down,” Ilagan said. She expects headcount and revenue to keep growing, along with the higher revenue per employee the industry is aiming for.
AI changes the work, not the destination
Ilagan called AI the industry’s biggest change, with transactional, routine and repetitive entry-level roles increasingly automated and hiring qualifications rising. The same tools make agents faster, shortening calls and improving first call resolution.
She acknowledged that firms may let people go in the first phase of adjustment. But beyond that first layer of productivity, she said, members report that AI users draw intelligence from their data and redesign processes, opening new revenue. “There is new work that is created,” she said.
Consolidation as a vote of confidence
Some small and medium-sized firms may not be ready, Ilagan said, because AI investment is not cheap and clients may not be willing to fund it. Some have cut staff and some have probably closed. But she sees bigger players buying them as “a positive sign” of confidence in their work and people.
Talent remains the pitch
Ilagan’s three priorities are talent qualified for emerging jobs, more complex, higher-value work and the country’s competitiveness as a location. “Our investors come here always saying that the reason why they chose the Philippines is its people,” she said.
IBPAP works with education agencies and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) on an industry-designed training pipeline. Asked about failing to retrain some 2 million workers, she said: “We cannot let that happen.”
The association’s roadmap targets up to $50.5 billion in revenue and 2.14 million jobs by 2028, as we reported in September. Ilagan said the CREATE MORE law’s permitting provisions have not yet been fully realized locally, and that if local governments implement them from January, it would significantly improve the ease of doing business.
What it means for buyers
For buyers, Ilagan’s message is that the Philippines is moving up the value chain, aiming for higher revenue per employee alongside continued headcount growth, with more AI-assisted delivery and more skilled roles.
Companies weighing business process outsourcing (BPO) or artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled support can compare providers on OA’s list of the top 40 BPO companies in the Philippines.
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Disclosure: Outsource Accelerator uses AI tools in the backend of its editorial workflow. Every article is reviewed and verified by a human editor before publication.
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