Bacolod among world’s top outsourcing cities
According to investment advisory firm Tholons, Bacolod City remains one of the world’s top outsourcing destinations. In Tholons’ 2018 Services Globalization Index Bacolod climbed to 89th this year, up from 97th in 2017. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) executive director, said the ranking is a huge accomplishment for a mid-size city like Bacolod. She attributed Bacolod’s improvement to the strong collaboration between the government, academe and industry. She added that Bacolod’s rank this year was fueled by digital innovation. The top 100 outsourcing cities were ranked based on innovation, startup ecosystem, digital transformation, cyber security, digital skills, scale and global competitiveness. Last year, Bacolod had fallen to 97th from 85th place in 2016. In 2015, Bacolod was ranked 86th, seven places higher than its 2014 ranking of 93rd. Bacolod first made the rankings in 2010 at 100th spot and leaped to 94th in 2013.