The southern province of Cebu, located in Manila in the Philippines, is emerging as a strong tier-two center for information and communications technology (ICT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. According to senior trade officials these areas are experiencing "tremendous growth momentum."
Back office services include claims processing, HR management and accounting functions. Cebu is also provides value-added services as market research and analysis, legal research and related services and equities brokering.
"We're developing an inventory of skills in various locations nationwide which will enable us to confidently point investors to places that can deliver," Jeanette Carillo, Department of Trade and Industry brand manager for IT services, said.
The DTI attributes the industry's high growth to the continuous expansion of early locators, the entry of new global players and their immediate ramp up, as well as greater interest in investing in the Philippines in general.
It has identified seven priority ICT and BPO target sectors: contact center, back office business process outsourcing, health information management, animation, software development, engineering design and more recently, game development.
With an overall industry growth rate of 35%, the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry is benchmarking global process standards and skills mapping to further enhance the Philippines' targeted marketing and promotional efforts in the U.S., EU, and Asia.
The Cebu ICT 2007 Conference and Exhibition (http://www.cebuict2007.com) takes place June 26-27.
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