Business process outsourcing (BPO) industry players will implement various initiatives, including the aggressive marketing of the outsourcing services to more customers in key markets, to achieve a revenue growth of 20 percent this year.

"That should translate to about 110,000 jobs," said Oscar Sañez, chief executive officer of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) in a PhilExport report.

Sañez said they intend to improve the recruitment quality through scholarship programs for the near-hires and the implementation of the K+12 program, which adds two years to basic education in the country.

"We want education reforms to be implemented because the quality of our education is declining every year. And it shows why the recruiting rate is very low. Out of 100, less than 10 get hired," he explained.

He also underscored the need to pass important legislations for the BPO sector, including the proposed law related to data privacy, the upgrade of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) to a department level, the cybercrime bill and a few amendments to the Labor Code.

Sañez said they will continue promoting the BPO sector in the markets where more investments are expected to come from like the United States, Europe and Australia. "To do that, we need to partner with government. So hopefully, we get some financial support from the government for promoting the industry."

"If the government doesn't help us with our promotion or with our scholarships or with our legislation agenda or if they remove some of the incentives that we are enjoying right now under PEZA (Philippine Economic Zone Authority) or BOI (Board of Investments), those are some of the risks (to the achievement) of our goal. Because if government doesn't come and support us, then we will not be able to get the new investments that we need," Sañez, also the Philippine Export trustee for the information technology (IT) services sector, was quoted as saying.

He said volatile electricity prices and the peso-dollar exchange rate could also affect the sector's growth target. The BPO sector contributes almost 60 percent to the country's total service exports.

Source:sunstar