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Welcome to Inside Outsourcing: The Outsourcing Week in Review
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
After six months of strict quarantine measures, the country is finally now seeing a ”flattening of the curve”. According to University of the Philippines (UP) OCTA Research’s Dr. Guido David, the country is now averaging 3,000 cases per day, down from more than 4,000 cases in late August. However, Dr. Davis advised the public not to be “overly excited” about the development, as there’s still a long way to go before containment.
Outsource Accelerator has just announced the North American Edition of the Outsourcing Summit 2020 (OS2020) will be broadcast on 8th October. It promises to be a ‘unique immersive virtual event’ which will be attended by over 2,000 North American businesses and offers BPO walk-through tours, expert interviews and unparalleled insight into the Philippines outsourcing industry. The Summit will showcase leading Philippine professional talent and offshore solutions to the North American market. Notably, the OS2020 pledges to generate 100 new full-time roles from North American businesses in just 8 hours.
The Philippines has climbed the Global Innovation Index (GII) from 54th place last year to 50th position this year, outperforming 81 other countries. Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato de la Peña called it the “best rank ever”, especially considering that “just six years ago, the country still ranked 100th.” However, debt-watcher Moody’s Investors Service was less enthusiastic about the economy as it lowered its economic forecast for the Philippines’ full-year real GDP growth forecast to a contraction of seven percent. This is deeper than its earlier projection of a 4.5 percent contraction. Moody’s cited unfavorable trends in the country, saying that its economic recovery in the second half – “while still intact, will be less robust than previously assumed.”
Despite the pandemic and ongoing quarantine restrictions, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the country’s unemployment rate has impressively dropped from its peak of 17.7 percent in April to just 10 percent in July. The peak unemployment was equivalent to 7.3m jobless individuals which has now dropped to a reported 4.6m individuals. In line with this, recruitment portal Jobstreet reported that Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms, alongside the government, were the top-equal two sectors doing the most recruitment over the last six months. Online platform LinkedIn also revealed that remote job postings in the country has grown 2.09 times “out of all job applications” from March to May, the period when most of the country was under the strictest quarantine classification. LinkedIn’s data shows that “the Philippines is one of the leading regions for growth in remote job postings”, adding that the top remote jobs in the country are “freelance writer, data encoder, accountants, data entry clerk, and technical support engineer.”
Post-pandemic investors will hopefully be lured by the new economic zone in Bulacan, as a House of Representatives panel approved the bill creating the Bulacan Ecozone around San Miguel Corporation’s (SMC) soon-to-rise New Manila International Airport (NMIA). The Bulacan Ecozone will aim to serve as a new investment hub for foreign business owners, complementing the expected surge in number of passengers once the airport operates. The approved bill also offers tax breaks and fiscal incentives to foreign firms that will do business and set up factories in the said ecozone. For now, at least 18 Filipino firms in the Information Technology (IT) and creative fields made their pitches to foreign investors in the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) 2020. Senen M. Perlada, director at the DTI’s Export Marketing Bureau, said the Philippines is taking part in the CIFTIS to sell its IT services to Chinese investors, explaining that the virtual trade expo may help the country position itself as an outsourcing destination.
Last week, Inside Outsourcing reported that Davao City fell out of this year’s list of top 100 “super cities” by global strategic firm Tholons, Inc. after holding the 95th place last year. Atty. Samuel Matunog, president of ICT Davao, Inc. responded to the de-ranking with an especially magnanimous rebuttal, stating that they expect the city to bounce back and emerge stronger in future citing “its pending solid infrastructure projects and firm support for innovation and digital transformation”. Matunog also noted that the Philippines is positively embarking on a reform agenda that will directly benefit and transform cities like Davao City.
In a busy week for Infosys, the IT giant announced its plans to hire 12,000 American workers within the next two years, bringing its hiring commitment in the country to 25,000 over five years. The firm also announced its definitive agreement to acquire Kaleidoscope Innovation, a full-spectrum product design, development and insights firm innovating across medical, consumer and industrial markets, bolstering capabilities in the design of smart products.
Post-pandemic investors will hopefully be lured by the new economic zone in Bulacan, as a House of Representatives panel approved the bill creating the Bulacan Ecozone around San Miguel Corporation’s (SMC) soon-to-rise New Manila International Airport (NMIA). The Bulacan Ecozone will aim to serve as a new investment hub for foreign business owners, complementing the expected surge in number of passengers once the airport operates. The approved bill also offers tax breaks and fiscal incentives to foreign firms that will do business and set up factories in the said ecozone. For now, at least 18 Filipino firms in the Information Technology (IT) and creative fields made their pitches to foreign investors in the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) 2020. Senen M. Perlada, director at the DTI’s Export Marketing Bureau, said the Philippines is taking part in the CIFTIS to sell its IT services to Chinese investors, explaining that the virtual trade expo may help the country position itself as an outsourcing destination.
Last week, Inside Outsourcing reported that Davao City fell out of this year’s list of top 100 “super cities” by global strategic firm Tholons, Inc. after holding the 95th place last year. Atty. Samuel Matunog, president of ICT Davao, Inc. responded to the de-ranking with an especially magnanimous rebuttal, stating that they expect the city to bounce back and emerge stronger in future citing “its pending solid infrastructure projects and firm support for innovation and digital transformation”. Matunog also noted that the Philippines is positively embarking on a reform agenda that will directly benefit and transform cities like Davao City.
In a busy week for Infosys, the IT giant announced its plans to hire 12,000 American workers within the next two years, bringing its hiring commitment in the country to 25,000 over five years. The firm also announced its definitive agreement to acquire Kaleidoscope Innovation, a full-spectrum product design, development and insights firm innovating across medical, consumer and industrial markets, bolstering capabilities in the design of smart products.
Overseas, the Karnataka State government in India announced a new Information Technology (IT) policy for 2020 – 2025, in which they plan to create a total of six million new jobs over the next five years. According to Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan, the new jobs will achieve the state government’s ambitious target of contributing around 30% towards India’s goal of becoming a $1 trillion digital economy. This is an ambitious target for the state as their total population is only 64m which is only 4.7% of India’s total population. Just think where the Philippines would sit if it emulated such ambitious growth!
In other news, the PR machine of Everise keeps rolling, as its founder and CEO Sudhir Agarwal was named as an Outstanding Leader in Asia by The Asia Corporate Excellence & Sustainability Awards (ACES), a prestigious accolade organized by MORS Group. The award recognizes inspiring leaders and sustainability advocates cross-industry and across Asia.
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
NEWS THIS WEEK
7 September 2020
- PH has slowed down coronavirus spread – UP expert – read article…
- Teleperformance collaborates with Avaya OneCloud to modernize communications infrastructure – read article…
- BSP policy stance ample support for recovery – Diokno – read article…
4 September 2020
- Capgemini revenue grows thanks to €5.4 bn acquisition of Altran – read article…
- Moody’s lowers economic forecast for PH – read article…
- Remote job applications in PH grew amid lockdowns — LinkedIn – read article…
- BoI investment pledges up 25% in 8 months – read article…
3 September 2020
- Surge in foreign investments in May cushion previous decline – read article…
- Davao City has solid prospects to recover ICT ranking – read article…
- BPOs tie with government as top recruiters amid pandemic – Jobstreet – read article…
- PH enjoys “best rank ever,” places 50th among 130 economies in 2020 GII ranking – read article…
2 September 2020
- Infosys aims to hire 12k American workers by 2022 – read article…
- ACES Awards names Everise CEO as an Outstanding Leader in Asia – read article…
- Creative firms to join virtual China expo to position PH as outsourcing destination – read article…
- Economic zone to be built around Bulacan airport – read article…
