IT-BPO Road Map : Driving to Global Leadership

Transcription

1 OCTOBER 2010 JANUARY 2011 Vol. 4 - No pages free IT-BPO Road Map : Driving to Global Leadership EXECUTIVE PROFILE Nora Terrado, Headstrong Phils, Inc. p.12 Interview highlights: WHEN FINANCE MERGES WITH IT <IT BPO Road Map, : Driving to Global Leadership. pp.1,2. Projected growth of global IT-BPO industry: US$270 billion in five years Philippine IT-BPO industry to double by 10% with estimated US$25 billion in revenues Value propositions: educational reforms, country branding, increasing stakeholder appreciation for the industry Urgent challenges that need to be addressed: increasing competition, talent development <Philippines Wins UK Outsourcing Award for the Third Time p1-2. The National Outsourcing Award represents outsourcing end-users, vendors, and other companies that support the industry, such as legal firms, consultancies, and HR in the United Kingdom <BPAP CEO Wins Lifetime Contributor Award p.6. Awards were given to the most accomplished leadership teams and individuals currently operating in Philippines and Asia BPAP s Oscar Sañez was recognized for his contribution to the BPO industry: creating jobs and promoting investments, transforming the Philippine landscape, and building new economic centers that are centered on BPO <CICT Launches Philippine Digital Strategy p various programs, which are anchored on four strategic thrusts: One, to promote transparency in government services; second, to enhance ICT literacy across all levels of society; third, to ICTenable economic development in the regions; and four, to institute ICT-enabled policy and regulatory reforms. Prioritized strategy: government implementation on health, education, poverty alleviation, and environment. The CEO Panel during the International Outsourcing Summit. Oscar R. Sañez, BPAP President and CEO, moderates. Speakers are (from l-r) are Mohit Thukral, Senior Vice President & Business Leader, Genpact; Swaminathan Dandapani, CEO & Managing Director, Infosys BPO Limited; Karen Batungbacal De Venecia, Senior Country Operations Officer, JP Morgan Chase & Co.; and Anurag Kulshrestha, Managing Principal and CEO, McTranz Global. Aggressive marketing, increased Public-Private partnership, and educational reforms can bring about US$25 billion in annual revenues BY Michael Alan Hamlin IOS: IT-BPO Undergoing a Paradigm Shift BPO s are expected to enhance clients operations and point out opportunities to help improve profitability The Philippines Wins the UK Outsourcing Award for the Third Time by Martin Crisostomo BPAP Executive Director for External Affairs It is a triumph that would hopefully give the IT-BPO industry its long overdue recognition as well By Marie Roca The global IT-BPO market is poised to expand to as much as US$270 billion by 2016 by some estimates. And the Philippines share of that market could under the right conditions more than double to 10%, generating some US$25 billion in annual revenues. This is according to findings reported in an industry road After a decade of fast growth, the IT- BPO industry is undergoing a paradigm shift that is redefining the business model for many of the industry s leading services providers. Although IT-BPO is expected to Turn to page 4 For the BPO industry, lightning has struck not only twice, but thrice, with the Philippines once more winning the most prestigious recognition Turn to page 2 BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez Given Lifetime Contributor Awards by the Asia CEO Awards In November 2010, Business Processing Association Philippines (BPAP) CEO Oscar Sañez won the Lifetime Contributor Award at the first Asia CEO Awards held at the Dusit Thani Hotel. The Asia CEO Awards was put together to promote the Philippines as a key player in the global platform. As an Turn to page 6 map released last October at the second annual International Outsourcing Summit (IOS) and in a follow-up executive briefing the following month. The road map s authors cautioned, though, that the industry must maintain its competitiveness and leverage government support to meet that goal. If Turn to page 2 CICT Launches the Philippine Digital Strategy Government transparency, ICT literacy, regional economic development, and policy reform are the key objectives that will make the country a leader in the global information economy by Jv Ramos With 2010 marking the end of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology s (CICT) National ICT Strategic Roadmap, the successor roadmap called the Philippine Digital Strategy (PDS) has quickly come to fore. The difference between the Philippine Digital Strategy and its forerunner is its emphasis on the involvement of stakeholders. We said to ourselves from the very start that we are actually going to involve the stakeholders, says CICT s Commissioner Turn to page 4

2 2 BOARD OF TRUSTEES ERIC ALBERTO FRED AYALA KAREN BATUNGBACAL beng coronel grace dimaranan miguel garcia GIL GENIO benedict hernandez BETH LUI BARRY MARSHALL DAN REYES myla rose reyes OFFICERS Fred Ayala Chairman Dan Reyes Vice Chairman Oscar Sañez President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Guinto Corporate Secretary Karen Batungbacal Treasurer Barry Marshall Assistant Treasurer Martin Crisostomo External Relations Director raymond lacdao Membership and Industry Affairs Director Jamea Garcia Talent Development Director Gigi Virata Information and Research Director editorial advisory board Oscar Sañez gigi virata BPA/P Stories IT-BPO Road Map it is able to do this, the IT-BPO industry could employ up to 1.3 million jobs and generate 12.5% of GDP. The IT-BPO Roadmap : Driving to Global Leadership was developed jointly by Everest Group and Outsource2Philippines (O2P) for the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and its partner associations. The Commission on Information & Communications Technology (CICT) funded the venture. Work on the road map began in August 2010 and was supported by primary and secondary research, an industry survey, and extensive interviews. BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez noted that the industry presently benefits from strong demand, a benevolent government, and strong language skills in a cost-competitive environment. He added, We found that the industry can grow to US$20 billion in annual revenues by 2016 if current conditions are sustained. But if these positive conditions are sustained and government provides new support for the industry in the form of Private- Public Partnerships, we can grow to US$25 billion and more than double employment in the industry. Promoting job opportunities During an IOS presentation, he also said that the industry and government can dramatically enhance the Philippines value proposition by working together in key areas. This includes initiatives in the area of educational reform, enhanced visibility of the Philippine country brand internationally, and better appreciation among Filipinos of the opportunities available in the IT-BPO industry and the kinds of jobs that are being created, Sañez said. According to Everest Group Managing Partner Gaurav Gupta, educational reforms include increased openness to revising curricula and removing barriers to investment in education, particularly for local and international training schools. Increased visibility internationally meanwhile is necessary to enhance awareness of the range of non-voice, complex services delivered from the Philippines and drive investment. Because the range of jobs being created by the industry is broad and includes complex legal, financial, analytical, and other high-level work more Filipinos will consider career opportunities in the industry, Gupta believes. While traditional voice services will continue to grow, he said, if the Philippine IT- BPO sectors expand and develop the way we believe they can, we will see strong growth in non-voice services delivery and an increase in IT services demand. The Philippines is the number one BPO voice services provider in the world, said Gupta. But while voice will continue to be an important service component in the industry, the Everest consultant suggested the fastest growth will be in non-voice sectors. He also said that while the Philippines is a mature IT-BPO destination, it remains highly cost-efficient despite high power costs and a strengthening local currency. The biggest threat to the industry, said Gupta, is its capacity to generate the human resources it will require. Raising standards To support expansion and development of the industry, the road map identified five priority activities for BPAP. Gillian Joyce G. Virata, BPAP s executive director for information and research who oversaw the project listed these as including driving standards and accreditation to facilitate recruitment; internal marketing of the industry in the Philippines; aggressively promoting the Philippine value proposition in non-voice services in existing and new markets; advocating public-private partnerships such as study-to-work initiatives to enable rapid growth and development; and creating and pursuing an aggressive fund-raising plan with government support. BPAP chairman Alfredo I. Ayala said that although the prospects for the industry are encouraging, they don t guarantee continued growth and expansion. If we don t see the unity and cooperation within the industry that we require, real government support for our initiatives, and the industry s determined, hard work, we won t meet those goals, and we won t create the jobs we are capable of creating, he said. We must work together and effectively. The road map was developed in Continuation from page 1 Breakthroughs consultation with BPAP partner associations, including the Animation Council of the Philippines, the Game Developers Association of the Philippines, the Philippine Software Industry Association, and the Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines. Executives representing enabling sectors such as telecom, training and recruitment, and real estate management, as well as key government officials participated in its development. Recurring themes that surfaced during the interviews according to Gupta were: 1) a clear sense of enthusiasm for the industry and the Philippines as the global leader in offshore voice services, and number two in non-voice services; 2) concern with talent supply, which must be addressed to meet the potential identified in the road map; and 3) a strong sense that the Philippines must work diligently to sustain its competitive position. Since the Roadmap 2016 launch, BPAP has conducted a series of meetings with key stakeholders in the industry, government, and allied sectors. Department of Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo, Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro, Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz, and CICT Chairman Secretary Ivan Uy participated in briefings and discussed ways their departments can contribute to achieving the Road Map 2016 goals. Other government agencies represented in the briefings included the Philippine Export Processing Zone Authority, the Board of Investments, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. We were encouraged by the support the public sector can and is willing to provide us, Sañez said. The briefings were extremely productive and we are prepared to move forward in implementing Public-Private Partnership initiatives necessary to sustain growth and development of the industry. (Michael Alan Hamlin is TeamAsia s managing director. mahamlin@ teamasia.com; follow him on asianpundit; Facebook, LinkedIn.. businessinfo inc. ARMIE DUARTE President heinz bulos Editor in Chief william dizon Art Director DONNA LARAGA Executive Assistant DAHL BENNETT michael alan hamlin BEA LIM JV RAMOS MARIE ROCA Contributing Writers advertising contacts nette roselo Administrator business processing association of the philippines 9th Flr. The Palisades Condominium 107 perea St., Legaspi Vill., Makati City Tel: 817-BPAP (2727) Fax: [email protected] PEACHIE G. CORTEZ Operations Director businessinfo Inc. 16th Flr. IJ3 Burgundy Corporate Tower 252 Sen Gil Puyat, Makati City Tel: Fax: [email protected] The Philippines Wins the UK Outsourcing Award... Continuation from page 1 from the outsourcing community of the United Kingdom (U.K). Last October 21, the Philippines received the 2010 Offshoring Destination of the Year Award from National Outsourcing Association (NOA) at the Riverbank Park Plaza in London. The award makes the Philippines a back-to-back winner in light of its winning the same award in But it is actually the third time the country has won it, having received the same honor in The NOA is the United Kingdom s one and only outsourcing trade association. While advocating best practices in outsourcing, the NOA represents outsourcing endusers, vendors, and other companies that support the industry, such as legal firms, consultancies, and HR in the U.K. It is also involved in research, events, education and public affairs. In the past years, the NOA has been trying to set high standards in global outsourcing through the recognition of the best outsourcing practices worldwide. The NOA awards also give recognition to companies or people worldwide who exhibit excellence in the field. After congratulating BPAP CEO Oscar Sanez and this writer, NOA chairman Martyn Hart told them to keep the NOA trophy safe as it is a very important one. Though majority or 80% of BPO clients in the Philippines are based in the United States, 10% are from the United Kingdom while the rest are from Australia and other countries. After its third significant win, BPAP has firmed up its plans to strengthen its marketing efforts in the U.K. through trade missions and advertising, promoting the Philippines to the rest of the European market.. Phil Trade Office Marketing Officer Vic Casim and Trade Representative Mike Ignacio receive the NOA 2010 Trophy in behalf of the Philippine IT-BPO industry. The Philippines third win in the National Outsourcing Award

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4 4 continue to demonstrate robust expansion, executives are finding that their clients view optimization of business processes a requisite to engagement, and the capacity to contribute to transformation of their businesses the most compelling advantage for outsourcing business processes. This was the observation of Infosys BPO CEO and managing director Swaminathan Dandapani at the international Outsourcing Summit (IOS) held last October 16 and 17. These days, he said, clients expect the companies to which they outsource business processes to take responsibility for enhancing processes, identifying new opportunities as they do so, and capitalizing on them to improve revenues and profitability. But for the companies to do that, Dandapani said, would require an intimate knowledge of clients businesses. And so rather than merely being a large BPO services provider, he said, I feel like I m running 92 different businesses. The executive thus advised the summit delegates to continually ask themselves if what they are doing is increasing their clients profits as well as revenues, providing a hint of the complexity of the services IT-BPO firms are expected to deliver. Accountability, in Dandapani s view, extends to the bottom line. The call to complexity The Philippines appears well positioned to leverage the opportunity the paradigm shift is creating. Doing business in the Philippines has been a wonderful experience for us, said Aegis Limited managing director and CEO Aparup Sengupta. The business-friendly regulatory environment, excellent infrastructure, and large talent pool are major positives and our clients have also endorsed our faith (in the Philippines). But if the Philippines is to achieve its potential as an IT-BPO hub in the next five years, it must increase awareness of its capacity to deliver increasingly complex services that can transform the way businesses operate. Everest Group managing partner (India) Gaurav Gupta said that extensive interviews and research into the Philippines IT-BPO industry revealed a surprising level of complex service work being undertaken here in a broad spectrum of industries. The problem is that awareness of the Philippines capacity to deliver these services is low, he said. Companies view the Philippines as the world leader in voice BPO. What they don t realize is that it is also a significant provider of non-voice, complex services. BPA/P Stories IOS: IT-BPO Undergoing a Paradigm... Gupta believes that the industry through the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and government should work together to market the Philippines as a center for transformative business processes. Everest Group and Outsource2Philippines (O2P) were engaged in 2010 by BPAP with the support of the Commission on Information & Communications Technology to develop a road map for the industry over the next five years. Entitled, IT-BPO Road Map : Driving to Global Leadership, the study suggests that the Philippines can generate up to US$25 billion in revenues annually and provide 1.3 million jobs by 2016 under the right circumstances. (See accompanying article - Ed.) According to BPAP chairman Alfredo I. Ayala, the industry s history in the Philippines and internationally suggest it can achieve those goals. In a decade, our industry created 500,000 direct jobs, he told the IOS delegates. In 2010 IT-BPO will generate about US$9 billion in revenues in the Philippines. Last year despite the effects of a global financial meltdown we also grew revenues, by almost 20 % to US$7.2 billion. Globally, the industry likewise expanded under challenging conditions, generating more than US$110 billion in revenue in 2009 and employed close to four million professionals. Ayala, who is also president of LiveIT, predicted, There is more to come, as we saw in the presentations and discussions during the International Outsourcing Summit, and in a preliminary look at the BPAP Road Map Gupta also said that worldwide revenue just short of US$300 billion is an increasingly realistic forecast, with almost eight million employed. In the Philippines, he said, the BPAP board, other stakeholders, and Everest-O2P agreed on an aggressive goal of US$25 billion in annual revenue by 2016, and growing the direct workforce to 1.3 million. Protectionism and perception But there are challenges, Ayala cautioned. Those challenges range from politically inspired protectionism in key markets to the prospect of demand outstripping labor supply in outsourcing centers. There is an urgent need to develop supervisors and middle managers, and to respond to increasing market demand for an array of knowledge-based, complex services. Other issues include: perception of the industry among prospective employees, influencers, and present and potential employees; external perception of global outsourcing centers, and their capabilities; regulatory environments; increasing costs of doing business; and, increasing competition. As the industry has demonstrated over the last decade, we can effectively address these challenges and capitalize on the opportunities so long as we don t take the outcome for granted. We must be consistently professional and ethical in our approach to business, Ayala Continuation from page 1 Breakthroughs The Chairman s Panel during the International Outsourcing Summit. The Moderator is Alfredo Ayala, Chairman, BPAP. Panelists are Aparup Sengupta, Managing Director and Global CEO, Aegis Limited; Paul Kukubo, Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board; Raju Bhatnagar, Vice President for Government Relations and BPO, NASSCOM; Ma. Cristina Coronel, President, Philippine Software Industry Association; and Maulik Parekh, President and CEO, SPi Global. said. Our world is increasingly interconnected and interdependent. We perform tasks that are intrinsically at the core of the organizations we serve, and the value propositions we support. We serve the world, he pointed out. And the world is better off for it. The International Outsourcing Summit is an important contribution to ensuring that continues to be the case as we work to achieve our new goal of US$25 billion in revenues in Approximately 300 IT-BPO senior executives from 21 countries attended the IOS. Serving as speakers and panelists were more than 60 top executives, government officials, and analysts. It consisted of two days of conference plenary and breakout sessions, and two gala evenings courtesy of co-presenters Globe Business and PLDT Business Solutions. Cognizant and NICE supported IOS as partners while Ascenda and LiveIt/AyalaLand served as lunch sponsors. The American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, the Animation Council of the Philippines, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, EOA France, the Game Developers Association of the Philippines, the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, the Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines, the Philippine Software Industry Association, and the Philippine Franchise Association participated in and supported the Summit. By Michael Alan Hamlin.. CICT Unveils Philippine Digital... Monchito Ibrahim. So right now, we re at the stage where we are actually trying to consolidate the inputs of the different stakeholder working groups. We should be able to come up with our first draft probably in the middle of next month. And then, we are going to actually bring it out again to actually get our regional stakeholders to take note of it and for them to actually put additional input. Commissioner Ibrahim says that they came up with Philippine Digital Strategy as the road map s name to make it more aligned to their vision of making the Philippines take a leadership position in the global information economy. He points out, ICT is actually being used today as a very important enabler for national development. PDS and national development Currently, says Ibrahim, the Philippine Digital Strategy has 27 various programs, which are anchored on four strategic thrusts: One, to promote transparency in government services; second, to enhance ICT literacy across all levels of society; third, to ICT-enable economic development in the regions; and four, to institute ICT-enabled policy and regulatory reforms. Under each of the four strategic thrusts are several strategies; and under Continuation from page 1 CICT Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim the strategies are different programs; and under the programs are specific projects. Ibrahim explains with an example: The stakeholders are saying that we should prioritize one of the strategies under providing transparency in government services. One of the strategies they came up with is to prioritize the government implementation on health, education, poverty alleviation, and environment. They have a specific program on the development of integrated information systems for agriculture, environment, and agrarian sectors. This program covers a project, which is the mapping exercise or GIS system. All these strategies, programs, and projects would lead to what the CITC hopes to achieve: the Philippines becoming a leader in the global information economy. If that happens, says Ibrahim, then we actually would be able to hopefully directly impact the different forces of society through poverty alleviation, regional development, more transparency in government services, and more access to government services. PDS is for all The stakeholders are basically the people who would be most impacted, he says. We have one stakeholders group that is focused on the industry the ICT industry; there is one that is taking care of human capital development; there is the Telco industry So practically everyone is involved here, including our friends from media. Many would also benefit from this new strategic guide, says Ibrahim. In fact, he stresses, Everyone. Everyone will benefit from this. The target public is everyone. We all know that everyone uses technology today so practically everyone will benefit. The PDS also benefits the Philippines as a marketing tool. To help us bring more businesses and more investments to the Philippines, says Ibrahim. The role of the BPO industry He says there is no doubt that the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry or what most people refer to as the sunrise industry will be greatly affected by the Philippine Digital Strategy. Asserts Ibrahim: For one, the industry itself is very much engaged in the development of this strategy. They are, in fact, taking the lead. We are just coordinating everyone. Some of the programs under the national strategic guide respond to the problems of the BPO industry, such as talent development. The PDS has specific projects that would develop more people for the BPO industry. Even for those programs that are not directly related to the BPO industry like human capital development, we are coming up with initiatives and interventions for kids or students, Ibrahim says. And for the Telco side, the PDS will be able to provide a decent broadband to all points the country. The broadband should help us develop more ICT entrepreneurs in all parts of the country. But he does point out one main concern when asked about the barriers the CICT s Philippine Digital Strategy may encounter: Although we re involving as many sectors in our society in the development of the PDS, at the end of the day we need to actually sell and get the buy-in of everyone for the strategy. The PDS is not just for the CICT, notes Ibrahim. It is actually for everyone for the industry, for the academe, for the telco companies, for the government to actually use as a guide. We need to get on board our government leaders, the people who would be implementing the strategies and programs and projects, and those who will actually be benefited by the policies of the strategy..

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6 6 BPA/P Stories BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez Given Lifetime Contributor Awards... Continuation from page 1 Breakthroughs alliance of local and international business people, it is one of the largest events of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region and is slated to become a grand highlight for business leaders active in Southeast Asia. Awards were given to the most accomplished leadership teams and individuals currently operating in Philippines and the region, recognizing extraordinary leaders who have demonstrated outstanding achievement for their organizations and contributions to others. Two Lifetime Contributor Awards were given: to Sañez and Robert Sears, the executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce. Sañez was recognized for his contribution to the BPO industry: creating jobs and promoting investments, transforming the Philippine landscape, and building new economic centers that are centered on BPO. Sañez explained his role in the industry: I m a catalyst. I help put things together. I help connect people. I talk to the investors and I help connect them to the right resources here, whether they re potential partners to be service providers, potential supporters for expansion of their facilities or government contacts to help facilitate their entry. The outcome of all that is higher investments, more jobs for the Filipinos and new economic wealth and new livelihoods. Carrying on The BPAP is not merely building a business but rather a whole new industry that requires a whole lot more effort and a lot more leadership and organization, Sañez stressed. He also explained that it is essential to be able to work with different groups from different backgrounds asuch as the academe, government agencies, vendors, members, and the people who are not even within the BPO industry. The failure to establish mutually beneficial relationships among these parties, he said, could send the wrong impression to potential investors that the industry is not organized. Sañez added that the recognition of the relatively new BPO industry in fueling the country s growth is overdue. He enumerated its impact on other sectors: We need to attract more students to the opportunities of the industry and build careers. We need to tell the academic institutions that the requirements of the industry are tougher when it comes to English language, IT technology, software, and critical thinking skills. We would like to work with the government to pass legislation and business policies that are important for us like the data privacy and cybercrime bills. We need to get government support in funding a lot of our activities, he also noted. Without the Public-Private partnership we will not be able to do these things alone. We need to build the right ecosystem to support the investment environment. The Asia CEO Awards board of judges included Dr. Bernie Villegas, economist and professor of the University of Asia and the Pacific; Don Felbaum, founder and chairman of the ICT Committee; Edward Chang, president of the Korean Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines; Francis Estrada, chairman of the board of trustees at De La Salle University and former president; Henry Schumacher, founder and executive director of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Nobuo Fujii, vice president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines; and Richard Mills, former president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and a current Board of Governors member.. L-R: Martin Crisostomo, BPAP Exec. Dir. for External Affairs; Oscar R. Sañez, BPAP President and CEO; Gigi Virata, BPAP Exec. Dir. for Research and Information; Jamea Garcia, formerly Exec. Dir. for Talent Development. L-R: ; Oscar R. Sañez, BPAP President and VACANT

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8 8 BPA/P Updates Breakthroughs T he Philippines new IT-BPO road map (Road Map 2016) began as a question from government to BPAP in 2009: How can we help you? It then took shape when a member of the Export Development Council suggested we ask for more. These enlightened officials recognized the great returns on investment that the IT-BPO industry could generate in terms of new jobs and export revenues. A budget of PhP 12 million was eventually carved out for Road Map 2016 from savings and the realignment of funds originally allocated to priority initiatives in talent development and marketing and branding. Following the voluminous government procurement guidelines, BPAP and the Commission on Information Communications Technology (CICT) accredited five consulting firms that were interested in bidding for the project. Three companies were then shortlisted. Among the qualifications that differentiated the top companies were the extent to which they could tap first-hand Road Map 2016: The Backstory By Gigi Virata BPAP Executive Director for Information and Research information in major target markets and their experience in assessing competing destinations. We also looked for providers that had sufficient resources in terms of data, networks, experts, and skilled support to produce a report in 10 weeks time. (Road Map 2010 had previously taken several months to put together, but that work had been done literally from scratch.) The joint venture of Everest Global and Outsource2Philippines (O2P) was awarded the project in a close rating process on the strength of Everest s experience in developing road maps for NASSCOM in India and, more recently, for industry associations in Egypt and South Africa, as well as O2P s experience in marketing, branding, exposure to the local IT- BPO industry, and strong research partnership with BPAP. BPAP formed a steering committee from among its board members, including heads of partner associations, and executive directors to direct the study. From the onset, the steering committee stressed the need for the study to be inclusive and participative. A list of 20 individuals and organizations were initially identified as stakeholders that had to be interviewed. The list grew longer almost daily; by the third week of November, even as Road Map 2016 was being rolled out to various groups, the list had grown to include 60 stakeholders. As of this writing, the list continues to grow and the road map continues to be renewed, making it a challenge to meet the strong demand for final copies of the study. Nationwide impact The response to the initial presentations to the international stakeholder community, government groups, and ICT councils has been largely, though not entirely, positive. Road Map 2016, though, has undoubtedly achieved the goal of directing once again the country s attention to the large potential of this industry to contribute to economic growth. This contribution will take the form of new jobs, greater revenues, and a stimulating multiplier effect in support industries thus improving the lives, directly and indirectly, of over a million (or millions of) Filipinos in the next five years at the very least. What we need to draw more attention to is the main message of Road Map 2016: the more we work together, the more we can achieve. And, conversely: failing to see the larger picture and indulging our habit of pulling others down will severely limit the benefits that can be reaped. Finally, Road Map 2016 has already proven throughout its short creation cycle and at its many debuts that it can ably fill the roles of conversation starter for and invitation to stakeholders to come together to continue the dialogue on what needs to be done and what can be done for growth. The document sparked interest in international investors and industry catalysts when its preview version was presented at the 2nd International Outsourcing Summit. The study also helped industry define its requests from the government while allowing government officials to express the shape of commitments they can make to industry at this point, highlighting some limits to the government s initial response. Indeed, the study is being used as an input to CICT s own road map, the Philippine Digital Strategy (See related front page story Ed.), and is thus being exposed to a wider range of stakeholders in other segments of the ICT industry (such as hardware providers, other technologyoriented associations, and other technologybased industries). At the 3rd National ICT Summit, Road Map 2016 provoked a response from ICT councils across the country as they identified a role for themselves in developing a national brand for the industry. Even as we all continue to do our work in pushing talent development initiatives skyward, enhancing the business and regulatory environment for our industry, ensuring that more of the world knows of us, and making it possible for all who want to help to come forward and contribute constructively, we can use this tool Road Map 2016 to make sure we are pulling together, forward and upward.. It s Time for the Heroes to Come Home By Martin Antonio S. Crisostomo BPAP Executive Director for External Affairs L-R: ; Oscar R. Sañez, BPAP President and home and getting a job that can offer them something close to what they are getting abroad financially yet allows them to stay together with their families and loved ones. Honestly, I did not expect to have any response even though I believed that the host assumed that there were OFWs listening in real time. Yet on checking the [email protected] inbox that same night, the fist resume that I received was from a Filipina human resources officer in one of the prime hotels in Qatar; she was inquiring how to land an HR job in the IT-BPO industry in the Philippines. It was not only heartwarming but also an eye-opener for me. It made me think that marketing for talent supply should not only be local but international as well. In fact, I have already personally encountered an OFW turned IT-BPO employee. Last Christmas, we visited one of the top ten largest call centers in the Philippines in one of their locations in Pasig City. Our group met a single mom, who used to work as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia, and who us why she decided to come home. The biggest reason for her repatriation are her two kids whom she had missed very badly. What enabled her to sustain them at home was her call center job, which gave her the salary and benefits that were close to what she was getting in Saudi Arabia. As a domestic helper for years, English was the only way she could communicate with her Arabian employer and this honed her speaking skills, which probably helped her qualify in our industry. An alternative of hope Admittedly, the rule of thumb is that we should start marketing job opportunities inside the country first before going outside. With the advent of online media and social networking, this can now be done simultaneously with the same amount of effort. Based on 2010 figures, OFW remittances amounted to US$17 billion while the IT-BPO industry s revenue registered at US$ 9 billion. Our industry is bringing into the economy more than half of what our Modern Day Heroes are contributing. If the rosy picture portrayed in the 2016 road map materializes (a revenue of US$25 billion with 1.3 million workers), the IT- BPO industry export revenues could overtake the amount of OFW remittances. This implies that breadwinners will no longer be forced to go abroad anymore to earn a living for their families as the better-paying jobs would already available locally. There are about eight million OFWs all around the world. If we can only tap a million of them, that will bring us more than what is needed to realize our ambitions in the 2016 Road Map. It is very inspiring to think that we are all working in an industry that is key to improving lives of Filipinos For me, this is what marketing the IT-BPO industry all is about.. T o triple the current size our industry, we must now focus more on marketing it locally. So says the new BPAP Road Map2016. And with good reason: it has now become more important for us to increase not only the awareness but also the appreciation and likeability of our industry to our graduates and general public so that we can attract more skilled employees. The Road Map 2016, which was developed by Everest Research and Outsource2Philippines with BPAP and CICT, says that we have to increase our efforts and programs for hiring in order to answer the demand, which is now way higher than the available talent. The best way to promote careers in the IT-BPO industry is through mass media. Since it has been my privilege to have been in media practice for some 15 years, I am quite excited over how this can be done. Thus, even before the road map was published and circulated in October last year, I started mentioning in all the media interviews and statements the great career opportunities the industry can offer, not only to new graduates but also to people from other industries who might want to consider transferring to IT-BPO and take advantage of the premium benefits and packages. On the first Saturday night after Christmas, I was interviewed live on the radio program Happy hosted by radio anchor Raffy Chico over DZXL (558 on the AM band). I was asked for the latest projections on the industry coupled with an update on job openings and opportunities as well. Like any media interview opportunity, I delivered all my key messages on the industry projections as I had the chance to address the public and invite the hundreds or thousands or millions of listeners to take a look at the possible job opportunities in our industry. But before I ended my broadcast address, I was told by the host to talk to our overseas Filipino workers who were listening through Internet streaming. So I reached out to our OFWs, asking them to consider coming For your comments, [email protected] L-R: ; Oscar R. Sañez, BPAP President and

9 Breakthroughs BPA/P Updates 9 BPAP IT-BPO University Project By Maricar L. Testa Project Eden Adviser T he Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) has initiated the IT-BPO University Project to as then BPAP Talent Development Director Jamea Garcia put it help ensure the availability of skilled outsourcing professionals who are not only ready to be hired but ready to hit the ground running. Dubbed Project Eden to signify its taking a fresh perspective, the IT-BPO University consists of a strategic process with the goal to maximize, restructure, and systematize BPAP s training and development efforts by closely linking these efforts to its members business goals and strategies. Currently, the project does not involve BPAP s establishing a brick-and-mortar university or a virtual university. Instead, BPAP s approach involves the search for better models for public-private partnering that can effectively and efficiently address talent development across the industry. BPAP s approach involves advocating and sponsoring the design, development, and implementation of specific training programs that can benefit the BPAP member companies. One such program is the Advanced English Preemployment Training (AdEPT) program, which was developed to improve English-proficiency skills among BPO applicants, as well as the students facility with the English language before they graduate from college. BPAP hired a team of experts in e-learning, training, and development, and ITO- and BPOrelated research to design and implement the project s first phase. Joana Sales, a management and e-learning consultant, was project designer and manager and this writer, another management consultant, served as project adviser. Myrel De Castro, a marketing and sales consultant, did the external analysis study on e-learning. Cesar Tolentino led the training needs assessment effort with the help of BPAP s talent development and research teams. Jose Rizal University president Vincent Fabella, PhD, was also consulted on the project. Phase 1 of the project. The first step involved the running of an IT-BPO industry skills requirements and skills gap survey and assessment. Completed in the first week of November 2010, the survey aimed to get a representative sample of all IT-BPO segments. Forty BPAP member companies participated in the survey. The breakdown of participants by segment is as follows: 11 contact centers; 9 non-voice or Industry Perspectives By Raymond Lacdao BPA/P EXECutive DIRECTOR FOR INDUSTRY AFFAIRS With the Future in Mind back-office BPOs; 7 IT outsourcing companies; 1 medical transcription company; 7 animation studios; and 5 game development studios. There were no participants from engineering and design services outsourcing companies. The project approach to gather and validate data included the use of survey questionnaires and focus group discussions. The skills covered in the survey included: Technical skills. These include occupationalrelated skills, e.g., specific programminglanguage skills, system design, organization design, etc. Soft skills. These include communication skills, group-work skills, and skills for managing and leading people. Creative skills. These include skills in organizing data, information, and ideas; solving problems; and presenting findings, conclusions, recommendations in a new or unique way. Project management skills. These include skills in planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. The survey results showed the following trends: The technical Skills requirements of IT- BPO companies tend to be industry-specific or firm-specific. There were a low number of companies reporting the need for each technical skill surveyed relative to the total number of survey respondents. The soft-skill requirements across IT-BPO segments and companies are similar. The soft skills that were similar across IT-BPO companies included English speaking, writing, listening skills, and comprehension; interpersonal skills and teamwork; supervisory and leadership skills; strategic thinking, time management, and crisis management; and emotional intelligence. The staff of many animation companies share the same set of creative skills. The shared skills are artistic skills, spatial visualization, creative problem solving, synthesis skills, and lateral thinking skills. There is a need for project management skills in the workforce. The project management skills needed are fundamental project management skills in initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and controlling. Results also indicated the need for specific skills in managing project scope, time, cost, quality, managing human and other project resources, managing project communications, managing project risks, and managing the procurement of resources needed by the project. There is still a substantial training requirement for IT-BPO staff who are already employed. The IT BPO companies invest in training to improve the skills of their staff to meet client requirements and as a means of acquiring competitive advantage in the market. The next steps of the IT-BPO University project will be discussed and determined by the incoming BPAP board of directors, as initiatives to strengthen public-private partnerships will need to be defined. This is part of the talent development strategy and execution planning exercise to determine how BPAP plans to continue to create value for its members and industry in general through learning and development, in what form initiatives should take, and how plans will be implemented, concluded Sales.. For queries contact [email protected] or [email protected] T he support of our BPAP members was the formula for the success of last year s programs. We hope that continuing support will sustain more accomplishments this year. Carrying on from 2010 s three main programs, I intend to focus on investor relations and finding ways to add more members. I also plan to run the International Outsourcing Summit and to run the CSR program. There will be more emphasis on promotions this year as well. To outline investor relations, we get investors who are interested to set up shop here in the country. The members themselves have participated in the program. I send them to different areas to talk about their experience in setting up here in the Philippines. Second is the International Outsourcing Summit where we invite significant people from all around the world to discuss issues related to the industry. We plan to run the summit which is on its third year in 2011 in different cities to help promote it and the host communities as well. Ideally, there will be one in Cebu, one in Davao, and one in Ilocos. For this year, we re not going to concentrate on Metro Manila anymore but will focus on different areas in the country where we can accommodate the IT-BPO industry. We will also be doing some campaigns on employer relations in the centers themselves not in the companies but with the employees. We plan to engage the employees through organizing sports fests or staging concerts that will also translate to more rest and relaxation for the employees. When their well-being improves, a boost or improvement in the quality of their output ought to follow. We aim to attract more talent through these promotional activities, too. We want to market the industry as a career. We want our promotions clear: to market the country as a destination that has an industry people can build careers on. Giving back We also plan to plan to hold monthly CSR programs that will support the Virlanie Foundation. Right now, we re putting together the program goals. They will teach out-of-school youths and prepare them for BPO industry. All the programs that Virlanie will put together will include the requirements necessary for the IT- BPO industry. Once they hire somebody who has graduated from that program, part of their salary will go to the Virlanie Foundation. For every Php 500 that gets into the industry, then around PhP 50 or PhP100 will go to the foundation, which will fund the next batch. Last year, we partnered with industry sponsors and volunteers to give 200 shoeboxes filled with school supplies to street children under the care of Dynamic Teen Company led by CNN Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida. This year, the effort yielded 3,000 shoeboxes. A grateful Peñaflorida could only distribute a limited number of boxes, to the dismay of many. We gave the excess to other foundations that would also benefit from the supplies. The programs in store for this year will promote the industry and attract new talent. They help to attain our objectives for the road map in the next three years. Again, I encourage all the members to support these endeavors for the betterment of our industry..

10 10 A Tribute to the Outgoing Talent Development Director By GILLIAN VIRATA BPAP Executive Director for Research and Information BPA/P Updates Breakthroughs Laying the groundwork in 2010 with her colleagues in BPAP Atty. Jamea Garcia, a member of the original BPAP Team 2010, took on the position of HR head for the NCO Group in November Jamea was BPAP s pioneering executive director for talent development and did the ground work for industry-wide initiatives including, notably, the Advanced English Pre-employment Training (AdEPT) and the BPAP National Competency Test (BNCT). She also represented industry in interactions with government education and training agencies such as CHED and TESDA. She set up and supervised the implementation of the Training-for-Work Scholarship Program The former talent development director in action for the industry which included, among many other tasks, the signing of about 70,000 training vouchers (a task she shared with BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez) in 2008 and In addition to Jamea s innumerable tasks to address the great demand for talent in the IT-BPO industry, she was also called on to use her expertise as a board-placing labor lawyer to advise stakeholders on strategies through the often murky waters of labor laws and regulations. She could also be counted on to call for assistance from her wide network of well-placed classmates and friends when most needed. Jamea s lasting legacy as BPAP TD director can also be portrayed in hard numbers, from zero (when she started working with BPAP in 2007) to: 334 AdEPT partner schools, 22 AdEPT BPO industry partners, 500 AdEPT graduates; 121 managers from 38 companies graduated from the Harvard Business Publishing (HBP) first-level leadership program and 68 managers from 20 companies graduated from the middle-manager HBP program; 2,413 students tested under the BNCT program; about 70,000 TESDA training vouchers distributed, over 60,000 scholars graduated, and over 40,000 training graduates hired all this and more accomplished by the time Jamea left BPAP in November And, though she can t take all the credit for it, under Jamea s watch employment in the Philippine IT BPO industry grew from under 300,000 in 2007 to over 500,000 in 2010 not bad in a period marked by the global financial crisis. Fred Ayala, Stream Global Industries I have worked closely with Jamea on several of our key talent initiatives, particularly AdEPT, and she has always been such a positive upbeat force in our meetings and discussions. We will miss her a lot, but wish her all the best in her next chapter, and look forward to working closely with her. Jon Kaplan, TeleDevelopment Jamea, you have always given unselfishly of your time and energy to support the growth of the industry. Your passion for the industry and stewardship will surely be missed. Thanks for the last three years, we appreciate all that you have done. Judy Bay Whisenhunt, TeleDevelopment Jamea s skills and talents have been proven through her past work experiences, but what makes her stand out is her driving passion for the work that she does for the industry s growth through BPAP. It has been a pleasure having worked with someone of her calibre.. Meet BPAP s New Executive Director for Talent Development Being BPAP Executive Director for Talent Development is no easy task. It means managing all talent-related initiatives for the industry including strategic implementation of competency development for academe and industry, as well as partnering with the government and industry stakeholders for the growth and enhancement of the talent pool nationwide. It also means managing specific programs related to talent development. But the post s new occupant, Penny Bongato, is coming in fit and ready for all of these. After all, she has more than 25 years of work experience, 15 years of which have been focused on human resource management. Prior to joining BPAP, Bongato was the Director of Human Resources of Logica, a UK-based IT software development and back office processing provider. She has also had extensive human capital experience in the BPO industry, having worked in executive human capital roles in three large BPO companies: Convergys, Dell, and TeleTech. She was also vice president for human resources of the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company, as well as the regional HR director for Asia Pacific of Headstrong, an IT software development company. Bongato has two engineering degrees B.S. chemical engineering and B.S. industrial management engineering both of which she earned at De La Salle University. She even placed 11th in the chemical engineering board exam. She is completing her masters degree in business administration at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business even as she is also a part-time faculty at De La Salle College of St. Benilde under the human resource management program. The very busy Bongato is a board director of the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP), a Fellow in Personnel Management, and director in charge of the Academe-Industry Collaboration Committee as well. In a short interview with Breakthroughs, she spoke of how she sees her role in BPAP and what she hopes to accomplish in the future: After working for years in the IT- BPO industry, accepting the post of BPAP s executive director for talent development was a logical step. I ve seen how the industry has grown over the years and I would like to contribute to its growth as the director of talent development and through my own personal contributions. I want to make a difference in this industry which I love, as well as in our country. This is one way to make a difference in the lives of my children and create opportunities for the millions of other Filipino children and young adults who want a better life. She added, My plans are simple but effective to create that impact that we all long for: to be able to address the initiatives of Road Map 2016; to prepare the talent to scale up the industry; and to work and collaborate with the IT-BPO industry, the academe, and the government to enhance and improve the quality of our talent. Our talent is exceptional. But we do need to take it to a higher level.. BPAP, Children s Hour, and Virlanie Foundation Raise Funds to Raise Hope Hope doesn t come from calculating whether the good news is winning out over the bad. It s simply a choice to take action. Anne Lappe T he Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) is collaborating with Children s Hour Philippines and the Virlanie Foundation. in an inspiring and worthwhile project that will help transform the lives of Filipino street youth: the Batang Pilipino Ang Pag-asa (BPAP) project. This project aims to provide a holistic training program that will help equip deserving young people with skills needed to be employed in the BPO industry. Open your treasures. The BPAP project will be a sustainable undertaking that will benefit hundreds of street youth. With a target seed fund of PhP 2.5 million, BPAP is rallying its member companies to selflessly lend their support to Children s Hour s unique and novel way of raising funds. By asking employees to donate the minimum one-hour equivalent of their salaries and earnings, raising the seed fund will be an easy feat. Companies are encouraged to run the Children s Hour Employee Donation Campaign and mobilize employees to share their one-hour wage and spread hope. Aside from the Employee Donation Campaign, Children s Hour has created different channels through which BPAP member companies can participate. Throughout the year, BPAP and Children s Hour have planned a roster of different activities such as fun runs and benefit concerts to raise funds. Open your doors. BPAP is also collaborating with the Virlanie Foundation to help street children become contributing members of society. The foundation will be responsible for the skills training and values formation of selected street youth. The ultimate end goal is to give street youth who were trained under BPAP project opportunities for employment, as well as inspire them to be productive citizens of the country. BPAP is likewise encouraging member companies to open their doors for the beneficiaries after their training and formation programs. The Batang Pilipino Ang Pag-asa project is another vehicle of BPAP s commitment to nation-building. CSR programs like Batang Pilipino Ang Pag-asa will ensure that our marginalized youth will have a fighting chance to have a better future and a better life. Take action. Be a change agent. Share your one-hour wage and give street youth the best gift of all: hope. For more info please contact or visit

11 Breakthroughs BPA/P Updates 11 T he From the CEO Desk By OSCAR SAñez Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) Mr. P-Noy, here s how you create 500 jobs a day IT-BPO Road Map 2016 study jointly developed by Everest,O2P, and BPAP, supported by its partner associations, and funded by the Commission on Information Communications Technology (CICT) points to driving the IT-BPO industry to a high of US$25 billion in revenues in 2016 or a downside estimate of $15 billion or somewhere in between. The variable factor here is the degree of government support and commitment to the proposed public- and private-sector partnerships (PPPs) behind the IT-BPO projects. The stretch target of US$25 billion in revenues assumes an annual growth rate of 20%, slightly ahead of global market growth rate but one that leads us to around 1.3 million workers by the end of The number of net new jobs that would be created under this scenario would come to about 133,000 jobs a year and 500 jobs each working day from the first day of 2011 to the last day of Considering we created 335 jobs per day in 2010, one can look at it as something challenging but achievable. Understandably, the 100,000 + jobs we create annually are still inadequate considering the close to half a million college graduates flowing into the job market yearly and the over 2 million unemployed in our workforce. Yet even so, the IT-BPO industry is already the largest job creator in the private sector and the one that s creating a new middle class in light of its wage bracket vis-á-vis the rest of the national work force. It s also one that indirectly creates three more jobs for every one that it creates directly through the support sectors that thrive on the IT-BPO industry s strength: transportation, retail, food, housing, telecom, etc. Without doubt, the government has no reason to ignore this industry. Neither can the government assume that the industry will not need any help in order to sustain its growth. As discussed in Road Map 2016, the straight-line 20% annual growth assumes the industry will be able to launch initiatives that are mostly requiring government partnership or funding. The range of PPP projects identified in Road Map 2016 that will help get us to the 1.3 million workers cover three major themes: marketing, ecosystem, and talent development. Getting to the US$25-billion goal depends greatly on how successful these PPP initiatives are. Any misstep or underperformance on any of these projects could bring down results to as low as US$15 billion or workforce size of 680,000, or an annual growth of just about 9%, way behind the market pace. Marketing There s still much to be desired in terms of the country s image in the developed markets, let alone the level of awareness for our capabilities in voice and non-voice BPO work processes in many verticals legal, media, health care, publishing, engineering design, utilities, infrastructure management which are just in the early stage of adoption in the Philippines by niched service providers. The opportunity to tap these growth segments is huge. Through joint government and industry joint efforts in attending trade conferences, organizing international business forums, organizing investor meetings with target companies and development of white papers, country reviews, and published articles, as well as marketing collaterals, we will be able to raise our awareness levels and hopefully make the Philippines the top-of-mind choice by CEOs when decision time comes. For the most part, the business environment is driven largely by government policy, governance practice, and infrastructure. In the case of our IT-BPO industry, which has been strongly and consistently supported by private-sector partners in telco and property infrastructure, the element of consistent government policy and support for key investment factors like tax incentives, legislation, business permits, compliance, security, and protection are even more critical in helping ensure constant investment flows in this industry in the years to come. This is where government engagement and commitment behind the Road Map 2016 proposed initiatives in ecosystem really matters. The road map points to issues around ensuring a consistent tax-incentives regime, passage of priority legislation in data privacy, cybercrime, and ICT-department formation, evolving labor policies supportive of global HR practices, and ensuring local government units act in accordance with the directions of national government rules like PEZA and BOI. All of these are ingredients to a successful Philippine model for IT-BPO. Removing any item or disengaging from any of these ecosystem elements can jeopardize our road map goals. Talent development The biggest and most significant intervention with the strongest impact on the industry, short- and long- term, is in the talent development and education system. With the recruiting demand I discussed in my opening paragraph, it is critical to sustain the talent management partnerships we have already started and deployed with the industry, government, and academe. More specifically, it is critical to get continuing government support behind education interventions that have already a strong pedigree of success, such as the TESDA-BPAP Trainingfor-Work-Scholarship Program (TWSP), which has delivered short-term conversion of thousands of near- hires to full- hires in the past three years. The industry will need about Php350 million annually to train about 58,000 near-hires yearly that can help contribute 30% 40% to our talent pool. We need CHED to support the Road Map proposals to develop tertiary courses in the form of 2-year and 4-year diploma and bachelor degrees in service management and to give schools the flexibility to work with the industry on curriculum changes that more appropriately meet industry requirements, which themselves change frequently, if not constantly. Finally, we need to move quickly to K-12 basic education system. The industry has submitted curriculum proposals for the two incremental years of basic education to help ensure that high school graduates (of the K-12 system) are employable or having the necessary and relevant skills required by industries (not just IT-BPO). Building a machinery that creates 500 jobs a day may be a simplistic description of how the industry puts forward our model. But ours is a knowledge industry that banks on talent to deliver our business model. IT and BPO back offices are built every day in key metro areas in the Philippines in order to tap our talent base. If we re able to deliver US$25 billion in revenues and contribute 10% to GDP and build a strong global industry for the Philippines that employs over a million talented Filipinos, I say, why not? I ll take this option any day..

12 12 BPA/P Updates From 200 to 3,000 Dreams Come True The BPAP and TeamAsia Christmas Campaign Breakthroughs BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez turns over P400,000 cash donation for the construction of DTC s Kalingain Batang Mahirap Learning Center. A Merry Christmas Treat: Volunteers from BPAP, Aegis PeopleSupport and Maersk hand out shoeboxes to excited kids. The Dynamic Teen Company awards certificates of appreciation to both BPAP and TeamAsia for another successful run of the My Dream in a Shoebox Christmas Outreach. Santa Claus (TeamAsia s managing director Michael Hamlin) giving out goodies before the end of the program. BPAP s Martin Crisostomo, Oscar Sañez and Gigi Virata were volunteer elves from the North Pole. Beaming proudly are the winners of the Newspaper Dance game. BPAP Exec. Dir. For External Affairs Martin Crisostomo cheers them on. Kids intently listening to Mrs. Santa s story of Ang Baligtad na Tsinelas. By Bea Lim Marketing Manager, TeamAsia L ast year, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and TeamAsia partnered with industry sponsors and volunteers to give 200 shoeboxes filled with school supplies to street children under the care of the Dynamic Teen Company (DTC), led by 2009 CNN Hero of the Year Efren Kuya Ef Peñaflorida. The My Dream in a Shoebox 2009 campaign ran for a total of three weeks. Friends from the industry donated school supplies, toys, transportation, and food for the cause. A special gift-giving day was organized for an official turnover of the shoeboxes, cash donations, and toys for more than 200 street kids. Volunteers from BPAP, TeamAsia, and the industry helped in giving out these gifts. This year, BPAP and TeamAsia decided to launch a second run of the My Dream in a Shoebox Christmas Campaign; only bigger and better with the target increased from 200 to 1,000 shoeboxes and more time to collect. Also, the partners decided to raise funds to help in the construction of DTC s Kalingain Batang Mahirap Learning Center, which will serve as a halfway house for street children. Another gift-giving day was also in the works complete with games, merry-making and a simple salo-salo together with volunteers. Why is education the main thrust of this special CSR activity? At BPAP, explained Raymond Lacdao, BPAP Executive Director for Industry Affairs, we look at education as the building blocks of a child s attainment of their full potential. This outreach makes us realize how easy it is to help someone s schooling with just a simple shoebox filled with school necessities. The campaign was launched right after the International Outsourcing Summit in October. This gave the organizers two months to solicit sponsorships, shoeboxes, and donations. The response was overwhelming! Not only did member companies start giving sponsorships and donations, but employees and individual donors also started filling both BPAP and TeamAsia offices with shoeboxes. Small gifts, big difference True enough, the target of 1,000 shoeboxes was met, but the response was so overwhelming more shoeboxes poured into both offices. The last count of shoeboxes before outreach was at 2,500 and there were many more pledges on the way. Said TeamAsia President Monette Iturralde- Hamlin: Our industry friends have generously donated cash, shoeboxes, as well as their time to make this year s outreach a success. These small shoeboxes filled with school necessities will make a big difference to the lives of street children in Cavite. In fact, this year the campaign grew from 200 to close to 3,000 shoeboxes. Because of everyone s generous support, BPAP and TeamAsia were able to distribute shoeboxes to other foundations and organizations that are also in need of support for their educational causes. On December 20, exactly 103 volunteers from BPAP, TeamAsia, and friends from the industry traveled to Ladislao Diwa Elementary School in Cavite City for the gift-giving day. Along with the volunteers came 1,000 shoeboxes to be distributed later that day. Transporting these many goods was made possible by transportation sponsors Avis and Ford Libis. Two hundred children obediently lined up in front of the school s multi-purpose hall, excited to get in to experience Christmas with the generous people at DTC who have helped them with their education over the past year. These children represented over 900 kids being supported by DTC from six different sites all over Cavite City. That day was extra special for the kids. Fun games filled the room with laughter and excitement as kids were paired with their respective ates and kuyas from the industry for the day. A special storytelling session with Mrs. Santa (Monette Hamlin) took place, as she told them the story of Ang Baligtad na Tsinelas, which was an instant favorite! Finally, the alltime favorite Christmas event took place giftgiving with Santa Claus. The moment when Santa Claus (TeamAsia Managing Director Michael Hamlin) arrived, all the children s faces lit up! Excited, but also trying so very hard to be nice kids to get presents, the children behaved. Their faces and reactions were priceless! Volunteers from different companies such as Exist Global, Maersk, Aegis PeopleSupport, UST Global, and IBM, among others, helped in distributing the gifts. BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez turned over the industry s contribution to the construction of DTC s learning center as a surprise gift to Kuya Ef and his volunteers. This campaign was able to raise PhP 400,000 in cash. After the event, the kids were treated to a simple salo-salo by Binalot. A photo booth was also sponsored by Fotographics Manila so that the children and the volunteers could document this wonderful experience. Before leaving the school, the children decorated a message board with their handprints as their pasasalamat to all sponsors, donors, and volunteers who had made their Christmas a truly meaningful one. My Dream in a Shoebox 2010 campaign gave these children a chance to continue their education fully equipped for TeamAsia and BPAP worked with the Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc., Game Developers Association of the Philippines, HIMOAP, and the Philippine Software Industry Association. Other supporters included Globe Business, Jones Lang LaSalle Leechiu, Fil- Estate Ecocentrum Corporation, Deutsche Bank, PLDT, GlobalOne, Teleperformance, DTSI, Sutherland Global Services, Stream Global Services, and Chevron. I m overwhelmed with the outpouring of support we received from members and partners in the industry, said BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez. We can even make this bigger next year with the enrolment of more volunteers and more beneficiary charity organizations. It is without a doubt that this campaign was a success because of industry friends that have shared their resources, time, and effort to this CSR activity, he added. My Dream in a Shoebox will only soar higher in 2011, because, together, we believe in paying it forward a thousand fold.. List of Sponsors: Brought to you by: Business Processing Association of the Philippines & TeamAsia In cooperation with: Animation Council of the Philippines Game Developers Association of the Philippines Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines Philippine Software Industry Association Platinum Sponsors: Deutsche Knowledge Services Fil-Estate Ecocentrum Corporation Globe Business Jones Lang Lasalle Leechiu PLDT Business Solutions GlobalOne Gold Sponsor: Teleperformance Silver Sponsors: DTSI Sutherland Global Services Stream Global Services Chevron Minor Sponsors: E. Punongbayan Global Outsourcing iwave, Inc. Jebsen and Jessen LinkStar Meralco Netsuite Philips PricewaterhouseCoopers Teledata San Miguel Fresh Remix Media Partner Business Mirror

13 Breakthroughs Industry Report 13 Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing: Creating a New Wave of Career Opportunities for Filipino Health Care Professionals by Myla Rose Mundo-Reyes President, HIMOAP T he changing landscape of the health care industry across the globe has driven the adoption of a new charter by the (former) Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines (MTIAPI) and the evolution of MTIAPI into the Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (HIMOAP). Increasing health care spending is driving countries to adopt health reforms that will not only ensure additional coverage for constituents but will also introduce technology solutions through electronic health records to promote the meaningful use of electronic health data. These trends are now offering a wide range of opportunities and challenges for outsourcing businesses. Trillions of dollars are being shared by medical providers, third-party payers, pharmaceutical companies, equipment and device suppliers, health care system application providers, health care IT-service providers, and an endless list of health care supplies and services companies. The Philippines is now seen as the most fertile destination for health care information outsourcing, its best edge being the abundant supply of highly trainable talent in the healthcare profession. There s so much more that our hundreds of thousands of nurses and medical graduates and professionals can do. Our country offers a rich talent pool that supports other administrative and IT functions in the U.S. health-care space. With these opportunities, it is only relevant that the industry evolves with the times. Challenges in Talent Mobilization and Development Health care reforms based on electronic health-data management will continue to affect the market in the health care outsourcing space, opening up diverse business opportunities for investments and job generation for the Philippines. The country boasts of abundant pool of graduates and professionals in the field of nursing, medicine, information technology, and engineering that are needed to support the back-office activities associated with electronic health-record implementation. Increasing public awareness While great opportunities exist for new careers other than the traditional bedside and clinical- setting work, the need for increasing public awareness is very important. Medicalrecords management requires the same critical-thinking skills used for bedside care. Accuracy of medical information is tantamount to delivering the right medication and dosage or assigning the right codes for diseases and procedures that will be used for billing purposes. It also requires precise understanding of health-care regulations to correctly process insurance claims. Reflecting accurate medical data will be used in research for purposes of determining effectiveness of clinical management, drugs, medical equipment, and eventually strengthens evidence-based medicine. List of Job Opportunities in Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing: Coder (medical, certified, inpatient, outpatient) Coder (manager, supervisor, specialist, consultant) Medical records specialist or manager Health information management (HIM) manager, privacy officer Clinical data associate Data quality coordinator Transcriptionist Editor Speech recognition editor Abstract specialist Coding compliance manager or consultant Auditor Diagnosis-related group specialist, reviewer, or coordinator Data analyst Claims appeal specialist cacwsas Pharmacist for benefits management, research, or patient education As a country and an industry, there is a great need to consolidate efforts toward developing the right ecosystem for this sector through private and public partnerships. The market demands a highly qualified workforce and a critical pool of supply can only be achieved when produced on a massive scale. This requires that the relevant agencies in the government and private sector work together and take advantage of this huge opportunity.. 1/2 AD HORIZONTAL?

14 14 Industry Report Breakthroughs PSIA Wraps Up Successful Project Management Series T he Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) focused its signature Enablement program on Project Management (PM) in 2010 by setting up a series of five sessions that discussed its key aspects one by one: practical project management, managing people, the agile method, risk management, and project scoping. The first seminar that launched the series in March 2010 was entitled Practical Project Management and sponsored by FranklinCovey Philippines. It had a miniworkshop facilitated by Tessa Balili-Mendoza of FranklinCovey Philippines-Center for Leadership and Change, Inc., which gave the participants the opportunity to become more intimately familiar with PM s general concepts. The panel was composed of IBM s Johnny Guevara, Safeway Philtech s Eric Redona, and Headstrong Philippines and PSIA vice president Noya Terrado. In the second seminar, which focused on Agile Project Management, Agile advocates Arup Maity of BlastAsia and Calen Legaspi of Orange and Bronze Software Labs engaged the participants with a series of games and exercises to illustrate the execution of the Agile methodology. Agile transfers the responsibility from the project manager to the members of a software development team in order to enable sprints, which are shorter life-cycles for development. This session had a special Cebu edition in line with the June 2010 ICT month. The third seminar tackled one of PM s most critical aspects: managing the people who make the project run. Entitled Managing Human Energy in a Project Environment, it featured Elmer Velasquez of New York-based social enterprise Global Acumen and advisory firm Heidrick & Struggles. Velasquez shared practical concepts on managing and leading people in a project setting and drew insights from the experiences of software giants like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and IBM. He also highlighted the experience of the developers of the game Sim City and how they attracted and harnessed the best quality people managers. This session was facilitated by Tarcs Taruc of Gurango Software, with a panel composed of Chona Ahorro of Pointwest Technologies and Peter Paul Cauton of STORM Consulting. The fourth seminar took up Risk Management, March 2010 with FranklinCovey Philippines, panelists IBM, Headstrong, Safeway Philtech an aspect that is often misunderstood and, as a result, not given the attention it deserves during planning and execution stages. Main speaker and legal IT expert JJ Disini discussed common but critical issues in IT projects. He focused mainly on project risk and the legal mechanisms that are available to help mitigate many of the risks commonly faced in IT projects, such as technology transfer issues, IP rights and infringement, trademarks, termed copyright, and patents. He also shed light on the concept of open source software, the use of optical media and piracy, and some labor code provisions that are likely to have implications in recruitment, bodyshopping, and contracting of resources. This session, moderated by John Gain of Towers Watson, also featured a discussion by AIM adjunct professor and PSIA Board director Arup Maity on the common risks in IT projects and how to manage them. This was followed by an open forum where two more experts in risk management joined the discussion, namely Boni Belen, immediate past president of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (CEDF-IT), and Karthik Subburaman, Country Manager of ECC International. Belen shared insights on dealing with government projects and his experiences from the standpoint of a former consultant for Smartmatic TIM Corporation, the Venezuelan-Filipino company that spearheaded the implementation of the Philippines first automated national and local elections in May The fifth and last seminar for 2010 was Scope IT Out! Scope Project Management in November where John Limcangco, PMP from Accenture, tackled the management of project scope. This was complemented with a culture and service-oriented approach to scope management by a lighter talk by Ito Gruet of Computer Professionals Inc. Next was a moderated discussion led by Tarcs Taruc, with experts from CAI-STA and Logica Philippines, namely Lea Ruiz and Dolor Cortez respectively. This last seminar also included an awarding of certificates to the loyal attendees of the seminar series for having completed all five Project Management sessions. The PSIA Enablement Seminar program is a project of its Capability Development committee, which aims to enable its members through valuable trainings and learning sessions. The new series of seminars lined up for 2011 will be announced soon.. September-July 2010, a NY-based HR Professional, drew over 100 attendees Health Services: The Next Big Thing in Outsourcing by Gillian Virata First there was IT. Then came voice BPO, and now non-voice BPO and KPO in banking and finance (BFSI). The next big thing for the Philippines, all data suggest, will be in health-services outsourcing. This may be why the house was full for the health services breakout session at BPAP s International Outsourcing Summit 2010 last October. The audience was treated to a high-profile speaker panel that included Sugha Kanago of Cognizant, HIMOAP president Myla Rose Reyes, Medicall president Jeff Williams, and SPi Healthcare CEO Mike Meninato. IT consultant veteran Frank Holz was moderator. Messages from the speakers confirmed the immensity of the looming opportunity. Consider these facts: Health services is the largest industry in the world. The U.S. health care market alone is valued at US$2.5 trillion. The pharmaceutical industry is worth US$1 trillion and is growing at 3% to 4% a year. Pharmaceutical companies are outsourcing clinical trials. The clinical research industry is about $64 billion. The market includes medical equipment and pharmaceuticals. Patents for many drugs are expiring between 2011 and 2013; a whole new market emerges from generics as the patents expire. The industry is extremely cost-sensitive. There are more than 500,000 nursing graduates in the Philippines (almost 200,000 are unemployed); the pool is growing at 15% a year. 44% of nursing graduates pass the board. There are over 67,000 licensed nurses in the Philippines. The average age of the 2.6 million nurses in the U.S. is 47; 6% (or 48% of nurses in the U.S. from abroad) are graduates of Philippine nursing colleges. A common theme from the speakers was that the opportunity in health care is huge and recent health care reforms plus wider industry adoption of technology in the United States will drive much work offshore. There was consensus that the large pool of Filipino nurses and other medical professionals is well suited for the services that will be required to provide high-quality care to the world s aging populations, especially in developed countries. Reyes, however, stressed that for the Philippines to realize its full potential and capture its rightful share of the market, it must be prepared and start to provide its medical professionals with the specific skills required for the coming health services boom. Reyes and Williams discuss these themes in greater detail in separate articles in this issue..

15 Breakthroughs U.S. Health Care reform and the Philippine Nurse Workforce by Jeff Williams, Medicall R ecent health care reform bills in the United States are requiring the health care insurance industry to revisit and retool many of its existing practices in an effort to improve overall patient care quality. Under the Affordable Care Act (a comprehensive health care reform law enacted in the United States in March 2010), the U.S. National Association of Insurance Commissioners has defined allowable medical loss ratios (MLRs) according to plan size. These regulations require health insurers to spend 80% to 85% of consumers premiums on direct care for patients and efforts to improve care quality. Currently, many insurance companies spend a substantial portion of consumers premium dollars on administrative costs and profits, including executive salaries, overhead, and marketing. The U.S. National Association of Insurance Commissioners has defined approved quality-improvement expenses (those that fall within the 80% 85%) as expenses that: Improve health outcomes, including increasing the likelihood of desired outcomes compared with a baseline and reducing health disparities among specified populations; Prevent hospital readmissions; Improve patient safety and reduce medical errors, lower infection and mortality rates; Increase wellness and promote health activities; and Enhance the use of health care data to improve quality, transparency, and outcomes. Improving quality may include: Making/Verifying appointments; Obtaining feedback from the insured to effectively monitor compliance to treatment; Educating and participating in self- management programs; Determining drug interaction; Assessing wellness; Providing lifestyle coaching; Personalizing post-discharge counseling; Implementing medication and carecompliance initiatives; and Arranging and managing transitions from one setting to another (i.e., hospital to rehab). Some of these approved expenses are currently being done in the United States, but some are not. In an effort to keep costs down, they are often performed by a parttime, work-from-home medically certified workforce (such as U.S. registered nurses or licensed vocational nurses), or they use a non-medically certified but programspecific medically trained workforce. Response to the reduced demand It is well known that the Philippines is a major supplier of medical professionals, primarily nurses, to the health care industry throughout the world, with the United States being the largest market for Filipino medical professionals. Over 48% of all non U.S. educated nurses emigrate from the Philippines, totaling almost 6% of the U.S. registered nurse workforce.* Recent economic challenges have temporarily slowed the demand for nursing positions in the United States, leaving the Philippines with a short-term oversupply of medically educated, career focused, caring individuals in need of gainful employment. The current retrogression of nurse placement will eventually lift as the aging populations in major world economies again increase the demand for health care professionals throughout the world. The Philippines has a highly skilled, ready workforce and extensive knowledge of the BPO and KPO industry. This combination will allow the country to capitalize on the opportunities in health care services that have recently presented themselves. With the myriad of opportunities that are already being realized in this country due to the ongoing electronic health record mobilization (coding, transcription, data analysis, etc), the Philippines is in a unique position to claim the title of unrivaled health care outsourcing destination as no other nation currently possesses the combination of talent and outsourcing industry expertise on the same scale.. * U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2008 National Sample Survey Industry Report Outgong president Beng Coronel 15 Incoming president Nora Terrado PSIA Announces 2011 Board of Directors T he Philippine Software Industry Association is happy to announce its newly-elected Board of Directors for 2011: Officers President: Noya Terrado (Headstrong Philippines) Vice President: Noel Mendoza (HP) Corporate Secretary: Calen Legaspi (Orange & Bronze Software Labs) Treasurer: Dod Peralta (IBM Solutions Delivery) Chairpersons Capability Development Committee: Beng Coronel (Pointwest Technologies) Marketing: Jerry Rapes (Exist Software Labs) Information and Research: Arup Maity (Blastasia) Government Relations: Bettina Quimson (Navigator Systems) Membership and Ethics: Ray Maranon (Accenture) Japan Market Group: Tae Abe-Abion (Spiceworx Consultancy) Technology Council: Calen Legaspi (Orange & Bronze Software Labs) The first PSIA Board planning session for 2011 held o n January 14 at the Old Swiss Inn Restaurant in Somerset Makati, with all new Board Directors present. PSIA president-elect Noya Terrado was preceded by Beng Coronel whose leadership spanned three consecutive years. During Coronel s presidency, PSIA has dramatically made an imprint in the local and international space through its numerous projects focused on the twin-goals of Marketing and Capability Development. Coronel actively rallied for the cooperation between government, academe, and industry in developing the software industry, with the ultimate goal to put the Philippines in the global map as a top destination for IT outsourcing. Among the organization s major achievements between 2007 and 2010 The new Board conducts a meeting. include: annual PSIA-led Philippine delegations to SODEC-Tokyo, CEBIT-Australia, Java One-USA, ITU Telecom-Geneva, Microsoft WPC, and other trade missions and industry-sell events increased membership from more than 100 in 2007 to nearly 150 membercompanies in 2010 nearly 1,500 new hires and employees trained under the TESDA scholarship program Industry-Academe linkage programs including 4 Java bootcamps for teachers and IT evangelisms in high schools and colleges at l east 10 Enablement Seminars on Project Management, Technopreneurship, Human Resources, and various hot IT issues launch of DevCon (Developers Connect) which provides a unique venue for IT students and professionals alike to meetup and brainstorm on various IT trends and topics launch of the PSIA Visayas Chapter PSIA online presence through various social media, overhauled websites in English and Japanese specifically to cater to the Japanese clientele, and bi-monthly issues of The SOFT News newsletter industry representation in government initiatives in the discussion of the DICT or Department of ICT, Data Privacy Law, COMSTE membership (Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering), among others research study on the Predictors of Success of IT professionals done with Assessment Analytics, Inc. and an on-going Skills Inventory & Database Study with Tholons. PSIA promotes the growth and global competitiveness of the Philippine software industry. For 23 years, it has positioned itself as an important contributor to the country s growth as a player in the global economy..

16 16 Next Wave Cities Breakthroughs IT-BPO Expansion Fever Grips the Nation at 3rd National ICT Summit By Gigi Virata BPAP Executive Director for Information and Research A mission to bridge the different parts of the archipelago to fulfill its potential as a global BPO leader BPAP had a strong presence at the 3rd National ICT Summit held in Bacolod City last November 25, with no less than BPAP president and CEO Oscar Sañez presenting the IT-BPO Road Map 2016: Driving to Global Leadership in the plenary session, while BPAP executive directors Penny Bongato and Gigi Virata took care of more focused presentations of the road map on talent development and implications for Next Wave Cities at breakout sessions. Industry affairs director Raymond Lacdao also attended the sessions and met with stakeholders to discuss ongoing and planned activities with ICT councils, such as workshops for local businessmen in Cebu on how to enter or invest in the IT-BPO industry organized by the Cebu Education Development Foundation for IT (CEDFIT). BPAP partner associations and members were also active participants in the summit. The Philippine Software and Industry Association s (PSIA) Bettina Quimson presented Key Trends and Partnerships in Software Development; IBM s Lope Doromal was a plenary speaker and discussed Making Our Planet Smarter: One City at a Time; the Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) officers presented plaques of appreciation to Eloise Tinio and Titus Manuel, resource speakers from the Philippine Computer Society, and Philippe Bathelemy, owner of Shorecould Corporation, one of the sponsors during the 3rd National ICT Summit held last year in Bacolod City. (HIMOAP)) president Myla Rose Reyes discussed the effort required in creating new career opportunities for Filipinos in health care outsourcing; Cesar Tolentino, representing the Games Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP), talked about SME Opportunities in a Game Development Business; and Boni Belen of Teledevelopment and CEDFIT spoke on the essentials of outsourcing. Annual ICT summits are organized by the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP), the organization of ICT councils across the country. This year s summit was chaired by one of the nine NICP incorporators, Atty. Jocelle Batapa- Sigue of the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for ICT (BNEFIT). BNEFIT led and supported many of the initiatives that turned Bacolod City into the IT-BPO hub of Western Visayas. With a population of about 500,000, Bacolod City has a total of over 10,000 residents working in IT- BPO companies, including BPAP members Convergys, Teleperformance, TeleTech, and Transcom. The NICP was established in 2008 at the first ICT summit in Iligan City, with the Taguig representative Freddie Tinga, chairman of the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology, received a standing ovation for a very thorough and competent presentation on the ICT industry s role in poverty alleviation, job generation, and as catalyst for change during the 3rd National ICT Summit in Bacolod last week. Shown in photo with National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) chair Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, Wit Holganza of Davao ICT, Dodie Elvina and George Sorio of Metro Clark ICT Council, Boni Belen of Cebu Educational Development for IT (CEDF-IT), Dan De Leon of ICT@Bicol, Rosemarie Rey of Legazpi City ICT Council, Dalia Tirol Magno of Bohol ICT Council and Jessraf Palmares of Iloilo Federation for IT (IFIT). National ICT Confederation of the Philippines 2011 Officers were inducted by Representative Freddie Tinga of Taguig City, Chair of House Committee on Information and Communications Technology last Nov. 26, during the 3rd National ICT Summit in Bacolod City. The officers were President: Atty. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for ICT (BNEFIT), Vice President: Lizabel Holganza (Davao ICT, Inc), Secretary: Dr. Emmanuel Lagare (Iligan City ICT Council), Treasurer: George Sorio (Metro Clark ICT Council), and Auditor: Boni Belen, Cebu Educational Foundation for IT (CEDF-IT). CICT playing a major role in its formation and support. Commission Monchito Ibrahim, who has led initiatives to set up most of the ICT councils and the NICP, delivered the 3rd summit s keynote address on behalf of Secretary Ivan John Uy. Supporting the Commissioner at the summit were CICT director Patricia Abejo and Emmy Delfin of CICT s Cyberservices group. Fostering unity The summit, like the ICT councils, was the result of a public-private partnership. Senator Edgardo Angara, an industry champion in the Senate, provided tangible support. Negros Occidental governor Alredo Marañon Jr. and PLDT hosted the Governor s Night to cap the summit s first day. The city government meantime was represented by Vice Mayor (WILL CHECK), who acknowledged the key role that BNEFIT played in Bacolod s rapid development in recent years. IBM was a major sponsor and fielded subject-matter experts for several of the sessions. PLDT and Globe were also sponsors as were BPAP, PSIA, HIMOAP, GDAP, and Hinduja Global Services. The buzz created by the presentations of opportunity that pervaded the 3rd National ICT Summit, with the theme of Connecting the Islands to the World, was palpable. Audiences of ICT council members, industry players and stakeholders, sector leaders and experts, and large groups of college students were attentive responding to speakers comments as a body and asking questions that spoke of a keen desire to find out how they could all participate in the exciting opportunities and vision of the near future presented by the speakers. On the way from the venue to the new Bacolod-Silay Airport, Atty. Batapa-Sigue briefed BPAP executives that the NICP was already in discussions with CICT consultants on how ICT councils can participate in developing the branding for the industry that was presented in Road Map This is a good sign that the ICT councils, the Next Wave Cities, and many stakeholders in the regions are ready to lead growth in the IT-BPO industry. This leadership and participation is essential in reaching the goal of exponentially expanding the talent pool for the industry and helping the country attain its full potential in the global IT-BPO market..

17 Breakthroughs Executive Profile 17 Getting into the Heart of IT Headstrong Phils., Inc. country manager Nora Terrado marries her acute business sense with the development of technology By Dahl Bennett Like its name, IT solutions company Headstrong Philippines Inc. (formerly james martin + co) considers only the strong-willed to steer its strategic operations in the right direction. It struck gold when it promoted its finance director Nora Noya Terrado to president in Terrado, who has been with Headstrong since 1996, has an impressive resume, but it has been her combined strength in the fields of finance and IT that makes her perfect for the job. An accomplished business executive and industry leader in the Offshoring and Outsourcing (O&O) sector in the Philippines, Terrado, who is a CPA, actually started her career in external audit at SGV&Co. She took on the reins as the Head of the Manila Global Delivery Center of Headstrong in 2003 and spearheaded its transformation from a Cost Center to a Value-Creating Center with a proven track record of having achieved the highest offshore revenue, EBITDA and headcount in all its history. In 2009, Headstrong was recognized as the Best Mid-sized BPO company in the International ICT Awards organized by the BPAP and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Prior to Headstrong, she held various senior financial leadership positions for the Southeast Asian operations of a publicly held US company engaged in third party logistics services for large global companies and concurrently managed the IT function in Manila which supported the Southeast Asia operations on a shared service model. She earned her degree in Bachelor of Science in Commerce and Associate in Liberal Arts at the University of St La Salle and studied at the University of Asia and the Pacific for the post-graduate Strategic Business Economics Program. No wonder then that Terrado was easily Headstrong s choice as its Financial Director for Asia Pacific. There, she was at the forefront of key initiatives involving business start-ups, integration of acquired businesses, large project financing and facilities construction. Since becoming president, Terrado s focus has inevitably become broader. Beyond taking care of over all financial performance and keeping its core competency as a leader of the Global Delivery Center (GDC), she now oversees the entire Philippine operations of Headstrong in the Philippines and manages the company s 600-strong human resource. Rigor in execution Headstrong has proven itself in the Philippines for 25 years now as a solutions company focused in offshore and outsourcing IT services mainly for clients in the financial services and healthcare markets. Its solution offerings help its clients reduce their infrastructure overhead, improve cross-sell effectiveness and enhance overall client retention. It supplies customized solutions for some of the world s biggest and best-known companies in complex production environments: Credit Derivatives, Fixed Income, Marketplaces, Mortgages, Securities Financing, and Wealth Management. Terrado looks back to 2008 where the Headstrong Philippines had ended the year with the highest revenue, profit, headcount and customer satisfaction in its history And though in 2009, there was a slowdown in business due to the global crisis, the good news is that Headstrong Philippines expects another good year in 2010 which could beat the 2008 benchmark. The efficiency measures and service innovations that we introduced in 2009 during the economic downturn have helped us improve our operational effectiveness, she says with optimism. To keep the company s impeccable reputation, it needs impeccable leadership. Terrado s management style and focus help ensure that the company is steered where it wants to be. She says, I am very focused to deliver the business results. I am passionate about value creation for our clients, our shareholders and our people. I am inspired when I am trusted and I take this seriously like a loyal steward. Trust is a force that draws from me a strong sense of responsibility and purpose. I believe that I have a moral obligation to run a profitable operation. I am passionate about making people (specially my direct reports) successful so I set clear and measurable goals and put the right amount of rigor in execution. The success of any BPO company, she stresses, boils down to delivering the value promised to the client and other stakeholders. Developing people Terrado points out the importance of people development in IT services companies. Often, the subject is associated with training, but that is only a small component of it because people must be equipped with sufficient and suitable skills that will meet the clients and the company s goals. People make the difference. I put my investment in people development, she emphasizes. She believes in an individual s talent and honing it, focusing on an area where he can excel. When you attract a person into an organization, you also encourage him to build his career with you. This means spending more time with the individual in nurturing his talents and coaching him/her. For example at Headstrong, the Headstart Program for fresh graduates starts with the recruits undergoing real bootcamp that would last up to six months. We make an assessment of the freshers industry readiness by mapping out the gaps and addressing these in training, coaching, hands-on exercises, and soft skills development. Those who pass the Headstart Program will be proud of their having gone through the revalida of their training. A revalida is like a master s thesis in programming. The requirements for passing are not just about building clean and functioning codes, but also being able to demonstrate that the programs address the value proposition they offer the customer. During revalida, we already teach these freshers some industry domains or the business angle about the programs they use, e.g. portfolio accounting for investors. Terrado believes that this kind of rigid approach to people development will enhance the capabilities of our software professionals in the Philippines She cited that PSIA, in partnership with Assessment Analystics conducted a benchmarking study identifying the competency profiles of high and marginal performing software developers. The result of the study suggests that the high performers rated high in programming and analyst aptitude, reading comprehension, problem solving, idea generation, comprehensive thinking, quality orientation and corporate citizenship. IT outsourcing is high value work. The Philippines has already a long list of success stories of projects delivered by the members of the Philippine Software Industry Association. With these kinds of skills, the employees of PSIA members deliver high value work for our industry, she says. IT outsourcing is now considered global sourcing. In Headstrong, we have engagements where we work in tandem with our India Delivery Centers and we organize our workload in collaboration with them, The quality of software services produced by Headstrong in the Philippines must be world class across the Centers. Asked about the future plans for Headstrong, Terrado spoke about the plan to grow to 1,000 strong professionals. For the software industry in the Philippines, a 1,000-strong employee workforce could translate to at least $25m to $30m annualized export business. Agent of change Terrado is keen about the future. Despite her many accomplishments and contributions to Headstrong and the Industry, she continues to dream of building compelling and unique differentiators in outsourced IT services for Headstrong and the industry as a whole. The Philippines has found its niche in voice BPO. Offshore software services have long been done in the Philippines even before call center work came. We have built a lot of success stories in ITO, she says. Terrado believes that we should focus on building a few but compelling software services portfolios. She hopes to inspire to take a career in IT. She enjoys working at the PSIA and describes its members as having a common aspiration to bring the software industry to the next level of growth and maturation. Beyond work, Terrado is also passionate about the homefront and admits that her life revolves around the three men in her life and her 83-year old mom. She is happily married to a CPA-businessman, a guy who I met at SGV, at the start of her career as CPA. She has two sons who are sports writers. One of them recently passed the CPA board so we now have 3 CPAs in the family, she says. When her schedule permits, she enjoys musicals, concerts and concertos. She also occasionally writes and reads the Bible but warns, I don t engage in Bible debates. But perhaps, she will allow occasional debates when the subject matter is the dynamic and evolving BPO industry if only to convince and inspire people that beyond profits there is a nobler goal to the business. What I like most about the IT business is that it s a business of change and enablement. You always think of improvement, and that change should provide you benefits. The nice thing about where I work is when my clients become successful in their business because we delivered to them change and improvement that they need.. Headstrong Philippines President Nora Terrado

18 18 Company News Breakthroughs AVANTI Shapes the Future of the Global Workforce B egun some 16 years ago as a specialist in cross-cultural recruitment of senior executives in the Asian region, AVANTI People Partnership International, Inc. is now focused on search and recruitment consultancy for the BPO industry. Its mission is to find the most qualified professionals for the client and ultimately progress for the Philippines, the country we serve. In the beginning, AVANTI had formed part of the ASIA Partnership Group based in Sydney, Australia. In 2000, it pioneered recruitment and training for the BPO industry. AVANTI is actually a member-owner of the National Personnel Association, a 50-year-old organization with headquarters in the United States. NPA is a worldwide recruitment network of member-owned recruitment firms covering Since its establishment in 2000, epldt has been leading the way in bringing the latest IT solutions to the country. A major proponent of IT outsourcing in the Philippines, epldt boasts a continuously evolving service catalogue that not only boosts operational efficiency and overall business growth, but also meets the changing needs and demanding requirements of the local and global markets. These solutions include outsourced data center services offered through epldt s VITRO Data Center, the first purposely built Class A Internet Data Center in the country. Sitting atop a robust carrier-neutral telecommunication infrastructure that provides redundant and high-capacity connectivity around the world, VITRO is designed to be a highly secure and scalable facility supported by a fault-tolerant environment and skilled workforce. VITRO s advanced telecommunications infrastructure offers multiple options for organizations bandwidth requirements, while its carrier neutrality makes it possible to reach diverse audiences with services delivered in the best way possible. VITRO provides industry leading Service Level Agreements (SLA) that cover both co-location and connectivity. It also consistently complies with global operation standards and specifications, having received certifications for the ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System and ISO 27001:2005 Information Security Management System standards. VITRO is accredited by the Philippine Export Zone Authority. Through VITRO, epldt is able to provide organizations with IT infrastructure services. These include Co-location, Server & Storage Hosting, Managed Data Security Solutions, Business Continuity Services, Managed Network Services, Web and Hosting, Facilities Management, and IPbased Contact Center Solutions. epldt has also been able to expand its IT reach thanks to the various subsidiaries it has built or acquired throughout the years. The synergy of epldt and its subsidiaries product and five continents: Asia, North America (specifically the United States), Australia, Europe, and Africa. These multiple firms work together to provide global reach, speed and specialty focus, differentiating AVANTI from local recruitment firms. The NPA network provides the tools to work on recruitment anytime, anywhere -- with emphasis on the most advanced recruitment database technology and best practices shared by its global members. A strict code of professional ethics governs the conduct of its business. AVANTI founder and president Nerissa Reyes is currently NPA ASIA Director. Throughout her career, she has lived in and worked between Indonesia/ Australia/Philippines/USA. She is a living testimony that technology has enabled working across borders. Reyes is also very active in promoting the Philippine BPO industry to attract foreign investments.. epldt marks 10 successful years in IT industry service lines allows the epldt group to deliver on its promise to provide true end-to-end IT solutions. In the past decade, epldt has evolved not only to become an IT industry powerhouse, but one that is recognized locally and globally. In recent years, it has received several acknowledgments from prestigious international organizations. The company s many accolades include the International Star for Leadership in Quality in the Gold category, a prestigious honor bestowed to companies that demonstrated excellence in leadership in their respective industries as seen in increased market share and sustainability. This award was given by Business Initiative Directions, the leading private organization focused on promoting quality in leading companies around the world. epldt was also the recipient of the 2009 Philippines Frost & Sullivan Market Leadership Award in the Data Center Services Market. This recognition was given based on research conducted by globally renowned growth partnership company Frost & Sullivan. With innovative and customized solutions, delivered by a team of competent professionals through robust, state-of-the-art technologies and enabling infrastructure, as well as subsidiaries that offer complementing, top-quality IT products and services, epldt is able to provide the best for its clientele, whose continued support has certainly helped make the company the country s leading ICT firm. Our clients and partners have also been instrumental to our success, as they continue to trust in our ability to deliver products and services of the highest standards, said Beth G. Lui, President and Chief Executive Officer of epldt. After ten successful years in the industry, the company is now more bullish than ever about the future. After a decade, we are still here and still growing, said Lui. And you can definitely count on epldt to continue strengthening the businesses of our clients here in the Philippines and in other parts of the world for the years to come.. President Beningo S. Aquino III officially unveiling the PINOY-IBMer DNA inaugural marker. From left to right: Bruno Di Leo, General Manager for Growth Market Units, James Velasquez, Country General Manager, IBM Philippines, Cordelia Chung, General Mananger for ASEAN, President Benigno S. Aquino III, Gregory Domingo, DTI Secretary, Peter Lynt, General Manager, Global Process Services, Ivan Uy, CICT Secretary. IBM Opens Three New Service Delivery Facilities in the Philippines Quezon City, December 1, IBM [NYSE: IBM] has announced the opening of three new service delivery facilities in the Philippines, all located in the UP Ayala Techno Hub, Quezon City. This expansion further strengthens IBM s existing service delivery capability in the Philippines that serve over a million client employees across 84 countries. The new centers will deliver outsourced process services, including human resources, finance and administration, customer relationship management, application management services and shared services (IBM internal) to existing and future clients of IBM s business process outsourcing (BPO) unit. They will also facilitate the delivery of a mix of BPO services will Jabra introduces GN1900 Duo with RJ9 Direct Connect to boost productivity and cost savings for contact centers across Asia Pacific Philippines, 9 November 2010 Jabra, the world leader in innovative audio solutions for contact centers and Unified Communications (UC), has launched the Jabra GN1900 Duo with RJ9 Direct Connect targeted at contact centres. With its exceptional value and superior quality, Jabra GN1900 Duo enables increased staff productivity and performance. Its noise-cancelling microphone eliminates background noise to deliver uncompromised sound quality, allowing smooth communication between agents and customers. The headset comes complete with RJ9 Direct Connect that eliminates the need for an adapter cord, additional amplifier, or USB plug, hence making this a cost effective solution for contact centers. The Jabra GN1900 Series is available in duo and multiple adjustment points that make it customizable in accordance to individual preferences. Its headband combined with a lightweight design also ensures all-day comfort even in an environment where there is heavy-use of telecommunications via desk phones. Contact centers in Asia have been constantly reviewing strategies toward achieving marked improvements to overall call experiences for customers and business competitiveness, said Ralph Ede, Jabra regional managing director for be delivered to global companies from sectors such as healthcare/ pharmaceutical, consumer goods, technology, entertainment, telecommunication and distribution. This expansion demonstrates our continued commitment to the country, said IBM Philippines Country General Manager James Velasquez. The Philippines is one of the strategic locations in IBM s Global Delivery network that integrates capabilities, assets and skills without borders, he noted. With abundant resources and globally benchmarked processes and methodologies, IBM will provide solutions to global and domestic clients to help them reach higher operational efficiency in a cost-effective way.. South Asia. With its superior comfort, sound quality and ease-of-use, Jabra GN1900 is an excellent choice for contact centers to meet these objectives. The new Jabra GN1900 features lightweight, ultra-soft leatherette ear cushions for all-day calling comfort, plus improved acoustic coupling so customers are clearly heard the very first time. Jabra patented PeakStop technology provides acoustical shock protection against sudden, loud noises on the telephone network. The Boom arm with 270 rotation meanwhile provides flexibility to ensure that optimal microphone positioning and movement in both directions supports left and right wearing styles. Jabra GN1900 is available through leading resellers at USD1440 (minimum order multipack of 24 pieces at USD60/ piece). Through its Jabra brand, GN Netcom is a world leader in innovative headset solutions. With around 900 employees and sales offices around the world, GN Netcom develops, manufactures, and markets a broad range of wireless headsets and speakerphones for mobile users and both wireless and corded headsets for contact center and office-based users. A subsidiary of GN Store Nord A/S,GN Netcom s business activities also include its original equipment manufacturing (OEM) business..

19 Breakthroughs Company News 19 KSearch Joins Horton International Group K Search Asia Consulting, Inc., one of the leading executive search firms in the country, is formalizing its Associate Partner status with the Horton International Group, a global executive search firm with partner companies in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific, in a contract signing to be executed on 9 December Signing for KSearch is its chairman and founder, Mario T. Mananghaya, formerly Chairman and Managing Partner of KPMG Laya Mananghaya & Co. Representing the Horton International is Dr. Robert Lo, the Group s Managing Partner and Regional Director for Asia Pacific. Horton International specializes in the recruitment of senior talent for the management, consulting, finance, human resources, information technology, sales, marketing, manufacturing and engineering disciplines. Through 33 offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, it helps organizations in a wide range of industries and geographies to recruit the people they need to succeed. Its global network is made up of independent, locally owned organizations in each country, usually operated by the people who founded and developed their own business before joining the Horton group. KSearch, for its part, significantly supports -- through its executive search and recruitment services -- the executive and managerial requirements of mostly multinational companies operating in the Philippines, including those in the business process outsourcing, banking and other financial institutions, information technology, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and fast-moving consumer goods industries, among others. KSearch s addition to Horton International s Asia Pacific presence will provide a strategic synergy, along with Horton s partner firms in Australia, China (Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong), India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.. Cebu city Mayor Hon. Mike Rama, and Former Secretary of Department of Education Mona Valisno cutting the ribbon and being watched by children from Pasil Elementary School Stream Global Services Wins the 2010 ICT Best Practices Awards from Asia s Top IT Industry Group MANILA, Philippines - December Stream Global Services, Inc. (NYSE AMEX:SGS), a leading business process outsource (BPO) service provider specializing in customer relationship management for Fortune 1000 companies, has received the 2010 Asian- Oceanian Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO) ICT Best Practices Award. The award ceremonies took place at the 2010 ASOCIO ICT Summit in Taipei last December 3. Established to promote and facilitate the growth of the ICT industry, the ICT Best Practices Awards honor ICT Best Practices providers or end users that have achieved extraordinary results from the innovative use of ICT among Asia Oceania region. Through the years, ICT industries across the Asia-Oceania region have grown notably both in scale and magnitude. Various topnotched products and best practices are developed within the ASOCIO member economies. Stream earned the award for its work with one of the largest global internet service providers (ISPs) in the world. As part of the client program, Stream played a vital role in the design, development, and implementation of the client s online content moderation and skills validation best practice. The program contributed to the overall safety and security of online community by helping identify and convict 15 online xasdawdaw predators over a period of three years. Moreover, it reliably surpassed client s quality and accuracy and service level KPIs while amplifying total transactions completed. We congratulate Stream Global Services for bringing this coveted award home to the Philippines, said Oscar Sanez, chief executive officer of Business Processing Association of the Philippines, the umbrella organization for the Philippines O&O industry. This recognition validates the hard work and direction the Philippine offshoring and outsourcing (O&O) industry has taken over the years. We re looking forward for Stream to continuing to provide excellent contributions to the development and application of ICT. We re very grateful to be awarded ASOCIO ICT Best Practice Award 2010, said Stream vice president and Philippines country manager Jared Morrison. It is certainly exciting to be recognized for the hard work and dedication we provide to our clients. By working with our clients to provide a safe and enjoyable online experience for their customers, we help increase their brand loyalty. When our clients businesses are successful so are we. We are thrilled to have these accomplishments recognized by such an esteemed group as the ASOCIO. Stream s established services centers in the Philippines guarantees the safety and security of the client s U.S and U.K online account users.. A child from Pasil Elementary School (adopted school under SupportSave Corporate Social Responsibility program) takes one of the first calls, as she s assisted by SupportSave President, Joseph Duryea. SupportSave Opens new BPO Center L ast December 10 had SupportSave conducting the grand opening of its new center in Cebu City, Philippines. The center will house SupportSave corporate offices, recruiting and training facilities, an advanced data center, health clinic, cafeteria, sleeping quarters, and several other facilities associated with a large BPO operation. These include first-class training facilities capable of training approximately 50 employees simultaneously, or 150 employees across shifts in a day. The center s inauguration, attended by several political and business dignitaries, began with a religious ceremony performed by a Roman Catholic priest, a Christian minister, and a Hindu pundit. This was followed by the formal ribbon-cutting performed by Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama. Assisting him were Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Lilia de Lima and former education department secretary Mona Valisno. Also in attendance were esteemed clients, city hall counselors; members of Business Process Association of Philippines, employees, and children from Pasil Elementary School, which SupportSave had adopted earlier this year as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. SupportSave President Joseph Duryea gave the opening remarks, which were followed by speeches from the guests of honor and respective management executives. Subsequently, a symbolic ceremony of taking some first calls was performed wherein the guests and SupportSave management team participated. This is not a social but a noble event as it s about prosperity of our people and job creation and I m totally honored to be here, said Mayor Rama during his speech. This is a festive month and this occasion has added to the Christmas joy, the timing couldn t have been better. I wish SupportSave the very best for future. This is a major milestone for us, SupporSave Vice President for Strategy & BD Prateek Hastir said. The new center will dramatically improve the working conditions for our employees, strengthen our physical and data security, improve our power systems, and provide us an excellent foundation upon which we can grow SupportSave. The new PEZA-approved facility is built to comply with highest physical, environmental, and safety standards. It has a state-of-the-art data center, fully automatic fire suppression system, and the latest infrastructure and equipment. The fit out was planned to keep the space environmentally friendly by maximizing natural light, using high-efficiency light fixtures, waterless urinals, and sensor faucets, and installing a tactically efficient power consumption mechanism. PEZA chief de Lima commented, SupportSave has come a long way from the time they started. I am pleased to see that they are compliant with all necessary industry standards that we continuously thrive to improve at PEZA. It is our endeavour to provide a business friendly climate for companies to grow, and extend highest working standards to its employees and clients. We are confident SupportSave clients will recognize the rigor and effort in staying PEZA compliant and encourage all outsourcing companies to fulfill social obligation towards the society, she also said. wish SupportSave the best and hope to see another center being inaugurated in

20 20 Company News Breakthroughs Sutherland Global Services Commits to Expand its Philippine Operations During NYC Meeting with President Aquino Sutherland Global Services Chairman and CEO Dilip Vellodi, along with its Global Head of Operations KS Kumar, recently met with President Benigno S. Aquino III and other key cabinet members in New York City and discussed Sutherland s ongoing expansion of its Philippine operations as well as the company s longterm investment plans in the country. The meeting proved to be a good venue for both the government and Sutherland Global Services to reaffirm their commitment to continue fostering economic cooperation and partnership in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector in a concerted effort to further improve the Philippine business environment and provide more employment opportunities for Filipinos. Vellodi signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Trade and Industry Secretary Greg Domingo committing to hire additional employees for Sutherland in an effort to help the government lessen unemployment and eradicate poverty. Five years ago, Sutherland selected the Philippines as the best location to serve as hub for the ASEAN markets for its intended expansion to more than 15,000 employees by The project, which is expected to materialize within the next two to three years, is a reflection of the company s continued confidence in the talent, creativity, and passion of the Filipino people. Aside from being a trailblazer in establishing sites in the Philippines Tier 2 locations such as Tarlac, Cam Sur, and Davao, the expansion project guarantees a more than 50-percent increase to Sutherland s already 10,000-strong workforce. Sutherland is a pioneer of Integrated BPO a seamless blending of Customer Life-cycle and Back-Office Management processes that maximize the client s business life-cycle value. In the hope that Sutherland will continue to leverage on the Filipino talent, the government has reassured the company of its strong commitment to accord the necessary support and assistance within the scope of the laws and rules and regulations of the Philippines. Sutherland Global Services was founded in 1986 as a global BPO and Technology- Enabled services company offering an integrated set of back-office and customer facing front-office services that support the entire customer lifecycle. It is one of the largest, independent global BPO companies. Headquartered in the United States, Sutherland employs over 29,000 professionals and has 32 global delivery Sykes One s Pyro-Music Love Festival Sykes Asia Celebrates One! For call center agents, work turns night into day but for employees of SYKES Asia, it was one night of spectacle and dazzle that literally lit up the sky. The event was SYKES ONE: The Pyro- Music Love Festival, which was actually the officially recognized Philippine call center industry pioneer s 2010 Year End Celebration. Held last December 11 at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds, the festival saw thousands of SYKES employees decked out in white and red, celebrating another year of success and growth. Agents came from each of the eight SYKES offices in Metro and Manila; with visiting employees from Cabanatuan and Cebu, it was one of the biggest events organized by SYKES and one of the most notable in the Philippine call center and BPO industry. Billy Crawford, Tuesday Vargas, and Bangs Garcia hosted the event. The night kicked off with acts by participating employees from the Musicians in SYKES Club and SYKES own dance crew, SYNERGY. SYKES Sr. Director for Operations Dean Van Ormer took the stage for a rocking version of his welcome remarks with Lakbay, an up-and-coming band of former SYKES agents. The celebration also featured guest band Itchyworms, and one of Manila s best club music DJs, DJ Badboy Jeff. The festival s highlight, though, was the SYKES Showstopper competition that had groups of talented agents from the company s different divisions performing Glee-inspired numbers to the delight and amazement of the crowd and guest celebrity judges, Joshua Zamora, JM Rodriguez, and Teacher Monet Silvestre from Pinoy Dream Academy. As large as the celebration was, the reason behind organizing the event remained simple: to show appreciation for SYKES employees contributions to a successful SYKES has long been known for its unique culture of support it shows its employees and the event was another way to show it. The SYKES Year End Celebration was capped off by the first pyro-theater to be held in the Philippines, courtesy of the makers of the World Pyro Olympics. Color and fire lit up the night sky as dancers, percussionists, fire dancers, and fire breathers performed onstage, leaving the crowd in awe and cheering for more. It was indeed a great finale to a whitehot event where all SYKES celebrated as one!. Present during the MOU signing in New York City were DTI Sec. Greg Domingo (seated, left) and Sutherland s Chairman & CEO Mr. Dilip Vellodi (seated, right); (standing from left to right) Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Pres. Aquino, Sutherland s Global Head of Operations Mr. KS Kumar, and Energy Secretary Rene Almendras. centers in the Philippines, Canada, Bulgaria, Egypt, India, Mexico, Colombia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In the Philippines, Sutherland set up its first facility in mid and has now expanded to six locations in the country, with over 10,000 employees providing integrated Accenture Opens New Cebu Facility A ccenture infrastructure and security services. (NYSE: ACN) formally opened its second facility in Cebu City and has expanded the range of information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) services it provides to clients from its delivery centers in the city. The company now counts more than 20,000 people in 13 sites in Metro Manila and Cebu. It expects its total headcount to reach approximately 25,000 by August 2011, with Cebu more than doubling its current employee size. Our facilities in Cebu are integral to our global delivery capabilities and the overall growth of Accenture Philippines, said George Son Keng Po, Accenture technology delivery lead for the Philippines. The addition of Robinson s Cybergate Cebu and expanded IT and BPO services delivered from our Cebu facilities strengthen our capability to address the demands of our clients around the world. Accenture s two locations in Cebu currently employ more than 500 people. The company opened the Pioneer House facility in 2007, with its professionals providing mainly systems integration and application outsourcing services to global clients. Accenture Cebu expanded in 2008 by offering voice BPO services. With the added facility, Accenture Cebu BPO services to the company s Fortune 1000 Global clients. Sutherland s expansion in the Philippines has been fuelled by continued growth in the company s existing outsourcing engagements, as well as the addition of new major clients. For more information, please visit now provides application development and management, including testing, plus In addition, non-voice services are being added to Cebu s roster of BPO offerings, such as finance and accounting BPO and custom BPO services designed to address the unique needs of client organizations. With the breadth of our IT and BPO services, our talented Cebuano workforce can look forward to varied career opportunities and a rewarding job experience with Accenture, said Benedict Hernandez, Accenture BPO delivery lead for the Philippines We are committed to making Accenture the best place to learn and grow by providing them various training and development opportunities for their professional development, as well as community and corporate citizenship activities for their personal development. This past November, Accenture Philippines culminated its 25th anniversary celebration with Vice President Jejomar C. Binay representing President Benigno C. Aquino III and Accenture Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William D. Green inaugurating its Mckinley Hill facility and symbolically inaugurating Robinson s Cybergate Cebu and the Eastwood site in Quezon City.. Leading the ribbon cutting ceremony of Accenture Philippines second facility located at Robinsons Cybergate in Cebu City are Benedict Hernandez, BPO service delivery operations lead of Accenture Philippines; Hon. Michael Rama, Mayor of Cebu City; and George Son Keng Po, delivery center network for technology lead, Accenture Philippines. Standing as witnesses are (from left to right) Jun Sa-a, executive director of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (CEDFIT); Samuel Chioson, President of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI); Manoj Biswas, country human resources lead of Accenture Philippines; and Joel Mari Yu, managing director of the Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC).

21 Breakthroughs People / Places / Events 21 Jeff Williams of MediCall Induction of New Members L to R: Penny Bongato, BPAP; Jaime, DSM Manila; Liza Mapagu, Assessment Analytics and Beth Lui, of PLDT L to R: Manny Guillermo, KSearch and Raymond Lacdao of BPAP L to R: Jonathan De Luzuriaga, Tholons; Eric Alberto, PLDT and Jojo Uligan of CCAP L to R: Tanya Espiritu, Jebsen & Jessen; Penny Bongato, BPAP; Tonette Consuelo, BPAP; Nette Roselo, BPAP; Ali Arboleda, BPAP; Martin Crisostomo, BPAP; Rome Guangco, PLDT; Bong Uichanco, Stream L to R: BPAP and Globe teams

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