IT-BPO (information technology-business process outsourcing) in the Philippines will start to recruit workers for higher-value positions for this year. Hiring of qualified individuals is the most important concern as the industry aims higher value services. According to Lauro Vives, founding president and chief analyst of XMG Global, the local BPO industry’s expected growth will be flat between 19 percent and 21 percent for 2012.

He explained that BPO companies will look for qualified personnel even in other countries just to fill in higher positions that will manage more complex job. The migration of locally skilled IT workers to other Asean countries, particularly Malaysia, will decrease the supply of talents in the country. BPO companies will expect the increase of cost of labor in the country due to insufficient number of knowledgeable workers.

Vives further clarified that the labor costs continue to grow between 5 and 12 percent yearly. Their statistics showed that from 2010 to 2012, the cost of labor in the Philippines continues to remain viable in offshoring country. Based from XMG’s forecast, by 2015, the number of college-eligible high school graduates would turn down by 1 percent over five years because of high attrition rate among students in the primary and secondary levels. Also, the debt crisis in Europe affects the call center industry in the Philippines. The impact of Europe’s revenue contribution in the Phils.’ revenue is nominal. Presently, most of BPO industry clients are in the United States, about 70 percent. In a study, in every 100 applicants, only 5 to 6 are competent to handle difficult BPO jobs.

With these problems, BPAP had signed a five-year partnership memorandum of cooperation with the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd). Their goal is to revise college curricula, provide training programs for teachers, and evaluate student graduates’ skills. A proposal is included in the memorandum which also aims to include "BPO 101" in the core curriculum. BPAP also partners with TESDA, wherein English teachers will be trained to develop their competencies. Also, a standard examination will be provided to college graduates who want to enter the call center industry through a global competitive test or GCAT. The project, IT-BPO Road Map 2011-2016, expects a joint venture between Everest Group and Outsource2Philippine together with BPAP. They projected revenue of $20 billion or 900,000 jobs by 2016, from the present $9 billion or 500,000 jobs. [via malaya.com.ph]