Gov’t ‘not fast enough’ to help IT-BPM industry
In his opinion piece published on BusinessWorld, economist Andrew Masigan noted that the Philippine Information Technology-Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry is facing serious threats, and the Duterte administration “has not acted fast enough” to help the industry.
What started as a destination for voice-based services evolved into more sophisticated IT-BPM processes. However, Masigan stated that “the road ahead does not look promising,” due to the rise of chatbots and artificial intelligence.
Further, the economist added that the Duterte government did not make any commitment and meaningful investment in upskilling the country’s workforce. Masigan also spoke to Outsource Accelerator CEO Derek Gallimore, who said that while “the voice-based segment of the industry is fading,” there is still a large market among small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
Gallimore noted that the bigger opportunity for the Philippine IT-BPO sector is “servicing the SMBs of the world” – a profound opportunity that can possibly generate 60 million jobs for Filipinos over the next two decades.
