Higher growth rates this year is anticipated by the local business process outsourcing (BPO) and software sectors seeing that U.S. companies deploy cost-cutting measures by outsourcing their IT requirements to countries such as the Philippines. Officials from the public and private sectors believed that the tough economic environment is a proof of blessing in disguise for local BPOs and software companies because the industry of Philippine electronics manufacturing is really prevailing from the global financial crisis. In an interview, the president of the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) Beng Coronel said that 2008 was a banner year for the sector, exceeding the group's growth objective of 30 percent. According to Coronel, the chief executive of software development house of PointWest Technologies, it's only the manufacturing firm that has been hit in the IT sector because their co-companies are not laying off people, in fact, they were even hiring. The market is still very dynamic, stated by Ms. Coronel. But she refuses to tell the development forecast for 2009. When the economic policies of newly elected U.S. President Barack Obama take effect, the industry is expected to alleviate in the second quarter. The BPO industry is optimistic on Obama's plan to spend billions of dollars to put up a fully integrated health IT system for hospitals in USA and doctors' offices. The newly-formed National ICT Conference of the Philippines (NICP) explained that call centers and non-voice BPO players have developed in various parts of the country. These became the regional hubs that are now organized so they can bid for U.S. outsourcing contracts. The contracts have increased over the last few months. According to George Sorio, the NICP chair and part of Cyber City Teleservices management team, while the worldwide call center industry has reduced because of the financial predicament, the share of Philippine market has grown bigger which allowed local players to open more spots and hire employees.

A secured funding worth 60 million pesos (US$1.3 million) will be poured into talent development to nurture the BPO industry and to struggle against the financial chaos, according to the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT). Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua II, the CICT Chair said that the agency is also directed in using the e-government fund worth 1 billion pesos (US$212 million). The amount was issued by President Gloria Arroyo under a directive to accelerate IT infrastructure spending this year. However, Roxas-Chua said that there were no big-ticket IT projects lined up in the current administration. Roxas-Chua and Coronel and Sorio became business partners when they signed the CICT and Microsoft contract for the latter's BizSpark program for local SMEs. The aim of the project was to encourage the local software economy by providing Microsoft development devices and production licenses to small entrepreneurs at a least cost. [via]