Monthly Archives: December 2010

CICT SUPPORTS PHILIPPINE PAVILION IN 2010 SODEC

Ten companies of the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), with support from the Commission on Information and Communication Technology, put up a joint Philippine pavilion in this year’s Software Development Expo (SODEC) from May 12 to 14 at the TokyoInternational Convention Center in Tokyo, Japan.

SODEC 2010

The SODEC is Japan’s largest trade show and exhibition featuring a variety of products for development, operation and maintenance of software More than 1,400 companies from all over the world participated in 2009 staging of the business event. Businessmen, executives and decision-makers numbering over 100,000 visited SODEC to view the various exhibits from companies, particularly offering offshore services. 

The 10 companies raising the flag and mounting a unified Philippine pavilion at SODEC are Advanced World Systems, Alliance Software, Astra (Philippines), Ayala Systems Technologies, Inc., Imperium Technologies, iWave, Inc., J-Sys Philippines, Pointwest Technologies, Tsukiden Software Philippines and Ubiquitous Technologies—all members of the PSIA.

The CICT allocated Php 1 Million as it did last year for this year’s continued SODEC participation. Commissioner for CyberServices Monchito Ibrahim, who joined the Philippine delegation shares that “Japanese investors are quite keen in knowing more about the Philippine cyber-corridor and [the] next wave cities and the competitive advantage they offer to the software development sphere.”

Participation to this annual event aims to spread awareness about the Filipino talent and expertise in software development and expand the software industry by continuing to partner with Japanese clientele.

“PSIA, through the sponsorship and support of government, private sector, and other non-government organizations, champions SODEC participation since Japanese software & IT services capture the biggest slice of the pie of the entire Japanese IT market,” explains PSIA President Ma. Cristina Coronel. The entire Japanese IT market, which includes hardware, software and IT services, is expected to reach US$145.96 billion by 2012.

“This annual event showcases why the Philippines is considered the global link to the huge Japanese IT and Outsourcing value chain,” Coronel added.

With its unique composition of several hundred small-to-medium sized companies, the Philippine software industry boasts of highly-skilled and English-proficient workforce with strong affinity to Western culture. This advantage makes the PSIA the best global resource to any client.

The 10 companies raising the flag and mounting the unified pavilion at SODEC are Advanced World Systems, Alliance Software, Astra (Philippines), Ayala Systems Technologies, Inc., Imperium Technologies, iWave, Inc., J-Sys Philippines, Pointwest Technologies, Tsukiden Software Philippines and Ubiquitous Technologies—all members of the PSIA.

Industry partners such as the ASEAN Japan Centre, the Philippine Trade and Investment Center – Tokyo, the Center of the International Cooperation for Computerization, the Board of Investments and the Center for International Expositions and Missions have put in financial and logistical support for the Philippine delegation. 

Other PSIA member companies like Headstrong Philippines, G2iX, SQL*Wizard, and RCG IT have also supported the event as fellow members of the PSIA Japan Market Group.

 

Source:http://www.cict.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=223&Itemid=1

 

Philippines is New World BPO Leader Over India, Says IBM

December 4th, 2010

Source: Inquirer

The Philippines is now the world’s leader in business support functions such as shares services and business process outsourcing after effectively overtaking India in these categories last year, according to IBM’s Latest Global Locations Trend Annual Report released recently in New York.

The 20-page report, launched in October but was only made available online last month, said it was the first time that India was not in the leading position for these activities. India now ranks No. 2.

“The Philippines has taken over the lead in the global ranking from India, after having challenged the top position for several years,” the report said.

It said the Philippines offered a similarly attractive business environment for international businesssupport functions as India, but has not had the same labor cost increases as have occurred in various Indian “hot spots” in recent years.

The International Labor Organization, in its report titled “Offshoring and Working Conditions in Remote Work” released in Geneva in July this year, said the BPO industry may be broadly divided into “voice” services such as call/contact centers, and “back office” services, like finance and accounting, data processing and management, and human resource development. Call centers make up 70 percent of the BPO industry in the Philippines.

Trailing India were the United States, Poland, China, United Kingdom, Colombia, Costa Rica, Fiji, Ireland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Hungary, Australia, Egypt, Chile, France, Canada, France, Singapore and Netherlands.

The report noted China’s continuing ascent as a services destination, and confirmed it should not be considered anymore “merely” the world’s factory.

Sri Lanka is another Asian country that has succeeded in positioning itself as an alternative to India, the report also said, while South Africa and Egypt confirmed their increased attractiveness for services investment. Also, various other countries have emerged as new preferred destinations, notably in Latin America whereCosta Rica and Colombia are now both among the world’s Top 10 recipient countries.

Finally, Fiji is remarkably highly ranked due to one single large services center.

Each October, IBM Global Business Services presents an annual report analyzing the latest global trends in location selection. The report is prepared by PLI-Global Location Strategies, a division of IBM Global BusinessServices that advises clients where to establish and operate their business functions around the world, and also helps economic development organizations with their strategies to attract and retain businesses and improve their business environment.

This year’s Global Location Trends report outlined the economic changes and their implications for the global economic landscape and the investment attraction and retention efforts of cities, regions, and countries.

These changes in corporate location strategies manifested themselves in more nuanced ways for different types of business functions, the report said.

Hence, investment in services activities (regional headquarters, shared services centers, business support functions) recovered in 2009, with more than 115,000 jobs created globally in these functions compared with just over 100,000 in 2008.

Accordingly, a central feature of the corporate restructuring currently taking place is the move toward greater use of the “Shared Services Center model” (where a particular function is concentrated in one place for use throughout the organization) for a wider range of activities, including higher value-added activities such as Human Resources and decision support functions.

Source:http://www.nearshoreamericas.com/philippines-world-bpo-leader-india-ibm/6717/

 

2010 is a year of recovery and transformation for Philippine ICT

By EDU H. LOPEZ
February 11, 2010, 5:04pm

2010 would be a year of recovery and transformation for the information and communications technology (ICT) market in the Philippines, according to IDC.

Total IT market spending would increase by 7.6 percent to reach US$3.14 billion by the end of 2010, and would succeed in regaining a 9.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) by 2013.

On the telecommunications front, spending is expected to record 7.7% growth in 2010, following the decline of 2.9% in year-end 2009. Telecommunications spending will increase and reach US$3.81 billion.

IDC expects the Philippine 2010 ICT market to post modest growth across various segments, driven by the transformation in business objectives, both from the vendor and service provider (SP) community and the end-user segments, corporate or small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and consumer.

Older and more established strategies such as verticalization, will be given a new twist, together with revolutionized business models, regionalization, and convergence of services, all in the aim of capturing the ever-changing requirements from the end users.

"Overall, the ICT landscape in the Philippines will be driven by recovery of the ICT spending psyche and activities and transformation of key business objectives of the enterprise sector, as well as the consumers’ ICT focus. Furthermore, the ever-evolving end user needs and objectives will impel vendors and SPs to re-examine key transformational strategies on marketing, consultative selling, and regionalization, as well as expansion and product and solution portfolio," says Jubert Daniel Alberto, Manager for IT Spending research at IDC Philippines.

The following are the Top 10 predictions that IDC believes will shape the ICT industry in the Philippines in 2010:

1. Philippine ICT spending will see modest growth

IDC expects that while full recovery will only happen in 2011, 2010 will provide the impetus for the ICT market to jumpstart the local ICT environment. Investment motives are anticipated to shift from initial cost savings to long-term savings and efficiency. Organizations are seen to prioritize investments that would minimize the total cost of ownership (TCO) and look beyond the initial cost outlay.

Driving the growth in IT spending for 2010 is the hardware sector, comprising an estimated 72.2% of the total market, is projected to increase by 7% year-on-year (YoY), on the back of 6% recovery in total PC systems spending.

Spending on packaged software is predicted to contribute 7.5%, while services spending will account for 20.3%, as enterprises seek more ONGlonger-term ICT initiatives.

Key to the telecommunications growth is the continued high demand on and pervasiveness of mobile phone usage and mobile devices, as well as the accelerated adoption of mobile data and market competition through competitive pricing.

2. 2010 will be the highest growth Year for Wireless Broadband

In 2010, the Philippine market will see the highest growth for wireless broadband, particularly universal serial bus (USB) dongle-based portable broadband operating on 3G/High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology, and will pose serious competition to fixed broadband, especially xDSL.

IDC believes that the key elements for a surge in growth are in place. These include the price of devices, including USB dongles, laptops, and mini-notebooks, having reached acceptable levels for mass adoption.

3. "Dongled" portable devices will up the mobility ante

IDC expects the presence of laptops and mini-notebooks to boost the adoption of portable broadband subscribers in the Philippines.

The availability and affordability of such devices is expected to pave the way for the mass adoption of portable broadband in the country. The continued proliferation of laptops and mini-notebooks in the market will set the landscape for such technologies adoption.

4. Smartphones will scale new heights

For 2010, IDC expects that demand for smartphones to reach new heights, as shipments are foreseen to reach 1.36 million units, a 17% growth from 2009.

Features such as Internet access capability, email access, and availability of downloadable applications would be the primary features that end users would be looking for. IDC expects that with the rise of smartphones, handset models that will be introduced in the near term will be equipped with more sophisticated applications through highly evolved operating systems (OSs).

5. Data services will revolutionize telecoms’ pricing strategies

IDC anticipates a transformation in telecoms’ pricing strategies in the Philippines from per kilobyte to time-based pricing to address the increasing demands for data services in the country.

The market for data services will be characterized by high competition, with telecom players coming up with more products and services for data usage, transforming data services into a market that offers wider range of charging options. This transformation will hasten the usage and practices of users, with mobile data services becoming more appealing and affordable to broader user base.

6. Economic recovery will drive a shift from the Capex to the Opex model

Given the impact of the recent global economic downturn on spending sentiments of enterprises, coupled with the need to maintain a high level of competitiveness and meet revenue targets with minimum expenditures, IDC predicts that many enterprises in the Philippines will shift to an Opex-based model and cut on Capex.

7. Use of social media technologies for marketing will intensify

In 2010, IDC expects a more enterprises and SMEs to adopt Internet social media as the new avenue for marketing due to its cost effectiveness. These companies will use the Internet more often as the venue to interact with current and potential customers. Solutions like signing up for a social community sites up to building and maintaining their own Web sites will be the tool that both enterprises and SMEs will ation strategies will revamp vendor focus ICT spending in the country will greatly be pushed by the anticipated robust expansion of ICT buying outside Metro Manila, especially as vendors and SPs are aggressively and constantly pouring in initiatives toward decentralization of ICT focus. In the time of overall recovery, penetrating the largely untapped provincial market will be the centerpiece of most vendors and SPs’ 2010 strategies.

9. Vertical consultative selling will transform vendor initiatives

While this strategy has been played out in the past several years, 2010 will see new and intensified verticalization strategies in the Philippines in the form of consultative selling. Though the traditional market approach is still effective, the level of competition has evolved over time. Each industry has a different set of needs and priorities in terms of IT spending. Therefore, vendors must be able to leverage products and services to meet the requirements of each industry.

10. End users will proactively seek "Bang-For-the-Buck" alternatives

In 2010, end users will be actively looking for products with the expected functionalities and specifications but at relatively cheaper prices. In line with the main aim of reducing total IT cost in the long term. The recovery theme that will hover in 2010 will drive end users to actively seek out products and solutions that would provide "bang-for-the-buck" benefits.

Source:http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/242979/2010-a-year-recovery-and-transformation-philippine-ict