JULY—SEPTEMBER 2011 • Vol. 5, No. 3 • 22 pages • free

3rd International Outsourcing Summit to Focus on Non-voice, Complex IT-BPO Services

Industry Panel in IOS 2010: The Role of ICT in the BPO Sector. From l-r: Faisal Khan, VP & Site Leader, GE Money Services Philippines, Inc. (GEMSPI); Don Felbaum, Co-Chairman, ICT Committee, American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (Moderator); Ernesto Alberto, Senior Vice President, Head - Customer Sales and Marketing Group, PLDT; Malur Narayan, Vice-President – Global Business Development, Tata Consultancy Services; and Ernest Cu, President & Chief Executive Officer, Globe Telecom, Inc.

Information Support—Source of Information for Balance of Payments Projections (Private Sector) for 2011, the third year in a row that the association has received the same recognition.

The Bangko Sentral celebrated its 18th anniversary in July 2011 and

it is a GlobalOne sponsored gateway for active members who seek to participate in BPAP’s mission of catapulting the Philippines to being the global leader for voice and non-voice services.

Using the cloud-technology expertise of GlobalOne Solutions, Inc., a multinational IT consulting firm focused

BPAP-TESDA Partnership for Trainer and Talent

DevelopmentThe Business Processing

Association of the Philippines (BPAP) recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to assist the agency in developing industry standards and trainer development, as well as assessment and career guidance for members of the industry workforce, among others. This is to enable IT-BPO companies to have a pool of qualified and job-ready workforce to choose from.

The MOA, signed by BPAP Chair Fred Ayala and TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva last August 19 at the TESDA office, is designed to aid

BSP Awards BPAP: Outstanding Information Support, Source of Information for Balance of Payments Projections (Private Sector)

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eXeCUTIVe profIle: p. 9Maulik ParekhPresidentSPi Global, Inc.HIgHlIgHTs:The making of the largest Filipino-owned BPO company$200 million in revenue and future plans for IPO

3rd International Outsourcing Summit to Focus on Non-voice, Complex IT-BPO Services pp. 2—4

Led by over 70 expert speakers and panelists • speaking to over 300 international delegatesPresident Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino • III to deliver the keynote closing plenary address on the second day of the event

BSP Awards BPAP: Outstanding Information Support, Source of Information for Balance of Payments Projections (Private Sector) pp. 2—4

Awards based on the following criteria: track • record of cooperation (20%), relevance of data (20%), completeness of data (20%), timeliness (20%), and attendance (20%).BPAP has been an active partner to the BSP as a • contributor of information relevant to its Balance of Payments (BoP) Projections.

BPAP Members’ Portal Encourages Online Networking and Company Promotion pp. 2—4

The platform that encourages exchange of • information and marketing activitiesThe different committees that BPAP members • can join

BPAP-TESDA Partnership for Trainer and Talent Development pp. 2—4

Designed to develop industry standards and • trainer development, as well as assessment and career guidance for members of the industry workforce.Close collaboration between the government • agency and BPAP through regular exchange of information on the sector’s direction and

BPAP Updates from the Executive Directors pp 5—7The creation and launch of Philippine IT-BPO • Road Map 2016, involving consulting executives of over 200 companies and government agencies Children’s Hour Employee Donation Campaign • has far generated a total of P310,000 worth of donationsThe Global Competitiveness Assessment Tool • (GCAT) has tested 15,000 graduating studentsIndustry branding: the next level for IT-BPO • promotionBPAP website attracted visitors from 71 countries•

Why Call Centers Yield More Profits than Filipino At-Home Agents pp. 10—11

Areas of comparison include infrastructure, • constant power flow, updated technology, strong management oversight, employee commitment, and professional environment

Opportunities Abound in the Philippine Office Market pp. 10—11

The stock of office space in the Philippines has • grown by more than 2 million square meters in the last ten yearsApproximately 40% of the existing Grade ‘A’ • office space in Metro Manila is being occupied by IT-BPOs

The Australian Outsourcing Journey pp. 10—11:The Philippines has about 17,000 seats valued at • $400 million serving the Australian market.Australian BPO industry employs over a quarter • of a million people

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By Karen azuPardOTeamasia ediTorial direcTor

Other challenges to be discussed include the impact of social networking sites and the urgent need to develop a robust talent pool

The Philippines is hosting the Third Annual International Outsourcing Summit (IOS), a landmark event for the IT-BPO industry, with sessions led by over 70 expert speakers and panelists speaking to over 300 international delegates. The summit will take place October 11 and 12, 2011, at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Manila.

President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” C. Aquino III will deliver the keynote closing

By anTOneTTe COnSuelOBPaP research consulTanT

The Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) has again been awarded by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for Outstanding

In support of its mission of promoting competitive advantage and the growth potential of the Philippines in the areas of outsourcing in diverse industries, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), in partnership with GlobalOne, has crafted a unique and exclusive web portal for its members.

Called the “BPAP Members Portal,”

plenary address on the second day of the event.

Country IT-BPO associations from the Czech Republic, Colombia, and Jordan have already expressed interest in taking part in the summit, and delegations from The Netherlands and the United States have confirmed their attendance.

The summit is expected to provide a platform to assess progress toward

BPAP Members’ Portal Encourages Online Networking and Company Promotion

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 20112 BreakthroughsBPA/P Stories

Continuation from page 13rd International Outsourcing Summit ...

IOS 2010 Presentation for Business Development. From l-r: Monette Hamlin, Founder and President, TeamAsia (Moderator); Mary Beth Loesch, SVP Corporate Development and Marketing, StarTek, Inc.; Gerry Clark, Partner, TPI South East Asia; and Ralph Schonenbach, Chief Executive Officer, Trestle Group.

and CEO of Alligator Planet, will join these top executives in the IOS Presidents Panel I on business innovation. Guggenheim was vice president of feature animation at Pixar, where he managed the growth and development of the company’s studio. He expanded the studio from seven people in 1986 to more than 350 in 1997. He later produced Pixar’s Oscar-winning short film, “Tin Toy” as well as numerous animated commercials. From 1991 to 1995, he produced the “Toy Story” film series for Pixar and Disney, which grossed over US$350 million worldwide.

Rethinking talent A strategic HR panel entitled “Rethinking

Talent: The Role of Educational Infrastructure and IT BPO Industry Brand Reputation in Ensuring Talent Supply” meanwhile will tackle issues linked to ensuring the supply of knowledge workers for the IT-BPO industry.

Insiders themselves have noted that the industry needs to do a better job of reaching out and communicating its value proposition to young professionals and students, and influencers such as parents and teachers. Educational reform, quality infrastructure, and the availability of short-term skills training are equally important in developing and sustaining a robust talent pool.

Ana Maria Bongato, BPAP executive director for talent development, will serve as moderator in the panel composed of top executives from MediCall Philippines, Inc., SPi Global, Aegis Limited, HKUST Business School, Genpact Limited, HP Philippines Corporation, and HSBC.

People are anticipating hearing the views of the likes of Jeff Williams, president and co-founder of MediCall Philippines, who has institutionalized clinically focused healthcare services, providing employment to Filipino

development goals listed in the IT-BPO Road Map 2011–2016, which projects potential annual growth of up to 20% over the next five years, generating 1.3 million direct jobs, 3.2 million indirect jobs, and US$25 billion in revenues. The event is organized by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

While traditional voice-based BPO will contribute substantially to that growth, non-voice, complex services are expected to be the principal engine of growth for the industry, according to Raymond Lacdao, industry affairs executive director of BPAP.

“We anticipate growth in non-voice, complex IT-BPO services of 20% to 25% over the next five years,” Lacdao said. “Voice-based services will grow at a rate of 15% to 20%. IOS 2011 was designed to focus attention of the industry on the potential of non-voice, complex IT-BPO services, and to increase the global visibility of the Philippines’ capability for delivering these services.”

In 2010, the IT-BPO industry employed 525,000 Filipinos and generated US$9 billion in revenues. Trade secretary Gregory Domingo has said that sustained rapid development of the industry is one of the top five priorities of the Philippine government.

This year’s summit also includes a session on how the industry can extend its leadership in the industry through innovating new services, among them those in research and development. Noted Lacdao: “Last year, we became the global leader in voice BPO. But we are rapidly transitioning to non-voice, complex services delivery. We want to demonstrate that the Philippines has a very high capability in this area, including emerging complex services.”

Attracting investmentIn addition, a panel entitled “Emerging

Markets: What’s in Store for these IT-BPO Centers?” will be moderated by Alfredo Ayala, chairman and acting CEO of BPAP and president and CEO of LiveIt Investments.

Competition among countries offering attractive incentives for IT-BPO investors is on the rise as emerging economies in Africa, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe seek to leverage the outsourcing boom to bootstrap economic development and job creation.

Expected to enhance the discussion on this is the presence of influential industry executives representing other country industry associations who will pitch their own capabilities. They include Martin Noel Conboy, president of the Australian BPO Association; Sergio Pessoa, director of marketing and international markets of the Brazil Association of Software and Services; Valentin Makarov, president of the RUSSOFT Association; and Asheesh Mehra, head of BPO of APAC Japan and Middle East, Infosys.

Business innovationIn the meantime, a panel representing a

variety of industry stakeholders will examine the issue of “what customers really want.” Research shows that aside from cost savings, customers increasingly expect enhanced productivity levels and greater value for money from service providers.

Among the panelists for this session are Paul Robinson (Royal Dutch Shell), Sujit Unni (Travelex Group), Jackie O’leary (Orange and T-Mobile), Lynn De La Rea-Dominado (Philippine Airlines), John Wheeler (SPi Global), Kush Kamra (MetLife), Partha Mishra (UnitedHealth Group Information Services), Jim Cross (Aetna), and Precy Goldstein (UBS).

Ralph Guggenheim, founding member of pioneering computer animation studio Pixar

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 2011 3Breakthroughs BPA/P Stories

IOS 2010 Analyst Panel on New Technology. From l-r: Karnik Minassian, Vice President, Headstrong; Lope Doromal, Client Technologist, IBM Philippines; Andrew Duck, Executive Director, Quiqcorp Limited; Raghav Sahgal, President, NICE APAC; Howard Kiewem Senior Research Analyst, Info Tech Research Group; and Michael Alan Hamlin, Managing Director, TeamAsia; Author, High Visibility (Moderator).

nurses. His firm has received two international quality accreditations and is undergoing review for a third. In less than a decade, MediCall has grown from three healthcare professionals to close to a thousand serving some of the most recognized brands in the healthcare industry.

Impact of social media But a buzz is bound to build up for the

breakout session “Grappling with the Social Marketing Explosion,” which will be moderated by Michael Alan Hamlin, managing director of strategic marketing communications firm TeamAsia. After all, IT-BPO companies have come to depend on social media for brand visibility, recruitment, and creating new business opportunities and sources of revenue. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have become must-have communication channels for business professionals and consumers alike.

The session’s panel, composed of social media and marketing experts, includes Jeff Russakow, Yahoo! Inc. EVP for customer advocacy. Russakow handles the company’s customer support functions including consumer care, small business, advertiser operations, and search network quality. He also drives the company’s initiatives to continually enhance the Yahoo! consumer, advertiser, and publisher experience. Joining Russakow are Charie Villa (ABS-CBN), Jack Madrid (Multiply), and Anil Modi (Aegis Limited).

Emerging technologies There will also be a session on emerging

technologies that will have a panel moderated by Mike Henderson, senior vice president, regional operations, APAC, Sykes Asia Inc.

The industry is known to be heavily reliant on technology to ensure business continuity and service delivery. These days, aside from redundant telecommunications infrastructure, firms are leveraging enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to manage finances, inventory, customers, and sales, among others. More recently, cloud computing has raised the bar on innovating customer service and improving internal business processes.

Sharing insights on these emerging technologies are John Bessey (Microsoft Philippines); Prabhakar Bisen (Cognizant Technology Solutions); James Dantow (Netsuite); Kristina Beckendorf (Maersk Global Service Centres Ltd.); and John Orrock, (GlobalOne Solutions Inc.).

Bessey, managing director of Microsoft Philippines, leads a vibrant business focused from consumer to the enterprise. The firm’s largest R&D budget in ICT is focused on leveraging cloud computing to deliver significant business outcomes. Bessey will focus on these latest services and devices and their impact on IT-BPO and other industries.

Beckendorf, managing director of Maersk’s Shared Service Centre in Manila, for her part has held various roles in the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group, covering supply chain management, company acquisition and integration, process excellence, as well as process offshoring activities.

Visit www.internationaloutsourcingsummit.com for more information about the event. For inquiries, contact the IOS Conference Secretariat at +632 757 3500 ext. 311 or send an email to ios2011@teamasia.com. .

TESDA Director General Joel Villanueva (second from left) and PSIA president Nora Terrado (second from right) sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the Training for Work Scholarships for IT. DG Villanueva signed similar MOAs with ACPI, HIMOAP, and CCAP, as well as a MOA for greater collaboration with BPAP. Also in the photo are TESDA Dir. Marissa Legaspi of the Office of the Director General and Joie Villanueva, executive director of PSIA.

BPAP-TESDA Partnership...Continuation from page 1

the IT-BPO sector in its expected growth and expansion in the next few years. Close collaboration between the government agency and BPAP through regular exchange of information on the sector’s direction and needs will keep both private sector and government on the same page on talent development.

A crucial element in the global competitiveness of the country in the BPO space, talent development has been one of the challenges faced by the industry. This MOA will also ensure collaborative efforts

in activities on disseminating information on career opportunities in the industry.

The signing of the MOA coincided with the signing of separate agreements between TESDA and the Animation Council of the Philippines Inc., Contact Center Association of the Philippines, Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines, and the Philippine Software Industry Association for the distribution of P20 million worth of training vouchers among IT-BPO sectors represented by these organizations. .

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 20114 BreakthroughsBPA/P Stories

one of the highlights of the celebration was the Annual Awards Ceremony for BSP Stakeholders. The awards are in recognition of the bank’s institutional partners all over the country who provide exemplary support to its various statistical initiatives, information requirements and advocacy programs. The nominees and awardees are selected from the country’s top corporations, as well as government and private institutions.

BPAP and awardees and nominees were feted during the 2011 Awards Ceremony and Appreciation Lunch last July 6, 2011, at the BSP Assembly Hall in Manila. The event was led by BSP Governor and Chairman of the Monetary Board, Amando M. Tetangco Jr., together with the members of the Monetary Board and other key officials of the BSP.

In recent years, BPAP has been an active partner to the BSP as a contributor of information relevant to its Balance of Payments (BoP) Projections. BPAP has topped the honors in this category in the years 2009 and 2010. Other categories include: Business Expectations Survey, Cross Border Transactions Survey, Monetary Policy, Overseas Filipino Remittances, and other initiatives of the BSP.

Nominees are judged based on the following criteria: track record of cooperation (20%), relevance of data (20%), completeness of data (20%), timeliness (20%), and attendance (20%).

In addition to the BoP Survey, BPAP in the last four years has been collaborating with the BSP in various initiatives to better align IT-BPO related statistics that both institutions maintain.

On a national level, BPAP, together with other government agencies, is also a member of the BSP’s Technical Working Group on Trade in Services (TWG-TiS). The group is primarily tasked to address the growing demand for ICT-related statistics that are currently not adequately monitored and disseminated. Specifically, the TWG-TiS is mandated to draft an institutionalization plan that will identify and generate relevant and timely data and indicators to the ICT sector. Other members of the TWG-TiS are representatives from the BSP, Department of Trade, Board of Investments, National Economic and Development Authority, National Statistics Office, and Philippine Economic Zone Authority. .

BSP Awards BPAP: Outstanding Information Support ...Continuation from page 1

edItOrIAlAdvISOry BOArd

rayMOnd laCdaOGIGI vIraTa

BuSIneSSInfO Inc.

arMIe duarTePresident

heInz BulOSEditor in Chief

dOnna laraGaexecutive assistant

Karen azuPardOMarTIn COnBOy

ClarO dG. COrderO Jr.ruTh ManIMTIM-FlOreSCa

Marla GOnzalezGenny InOCenCIO-MarCIal

Contributing Writers

AdvertISIng cOntActS

neTTe rOSelOadministrator

BuSIneSS PrOCeSSInGaSSOCIaTIOn OF The PhIlIPIneS9th Flr. The Palisades Condominium

107 Perea St., Legaspi Vill., Makati CityTel: 817-BPAP (2727) Fax: 817-8141

E-mail: netteroselo@bpap.org

PeaChIe G. COrTezoperations Director

BuSIneSSInFO InC.17th Flr. Unit O Burgundy Corporate Tower

252 Sen Gil Puyat, Makati CityTel: 856-0559 Fax: 886-4407

E-mail: peachie@businessinfoinc.com

BOArd Of truSteeS

erIC alBerTOFred ayalaBOnG BOrJa

GraCe dIMarananMIGuel GarCIa

JOMarI MerCadOdan reyeS

Myla rOSe reyeSBOBOy rOMerO

lITO TayaGnOra TerradO

OffIcerS

Fred ayalaChairman

dan reyeSVice Chairman

BOnG BOrJaTreasurer

MIGuel GarCIaassistant Treasurer

BOB GuInTOCorporate secretary

lIndy andre’ aBlañaasst. Corporate secretary

GIGI vIraTasenior executive Director

Penny BOnGaTOexecutive Director for Talent Development

MarTIn CrISOSTOMOexecutive Director for external relations

rayMOnd laCdaOexecutive Director for Industry affairs

on Cloud Computing Technology, emerging Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Applications, Client Management Solutions (CRM), and Social Business Solutions, the portal exudes a web environment fit for the basic information needs of its users. Simple to navigate, it consists of four pages:

Events – updates members of all current and upcoming BPAP events.

Member Profile – allows members to navigate and edit their company’s business information.

Members Map – a Google-powered map that allows members to search the office/branch location of other BPAP members together with the company’s basic business information.

Committees – lists all five BPAP

BPAP Members’ Portal Encourages Online Networking...Continuation from page 1

The log-in page

committees where members can join. These are:

Government and Legal Matters Power Team – in charge of all legal concerns and matters of the association and its members;

Human Resources and Training Power Team – bridges the gap between the industry requirements and the academe’s curriculum;

Information and Research Power Team – in charge of the maintenance and updating of the comprehensive Philippine IT-BPO database;

Marketing and Communications Power Team – in charge of events and media related activities; and

Membership Power Team – in charge of promoting the association to attract more members.

GlobalOne enables enterprises to realize the potential of cloud computing. The company delivers exceptional client service with its blended shore delivery model and enterprise experience.

GlobalOne has vertical and functional expertise in financial services, high tech, media and services. The company is headquartered in New York and has offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Sydney, Australia, and Manila, Philippines. .

BPAP Research Consultant , Tonette Consuelo (middle) receiving BPAP’s award for outstanding Information Source BoP Projections (Private Sector) from BSP Governor and Chairman of the Monetary Board Amando Tetangco, Jr. (right) and Monetary Board member Peter Favila (left) during the 2011 BSP Awards Ceremony and Appreciation Lunch for Stakeholders last July 6, 2011 at the BSP Assembly Hall in Manila.

BPAP and DTI, private and public sector awardees for Outstanding Information Source-BoP Projections. Photo shows (from left to right) DTI-BETP Director Senen Perlada, DTI Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya, BSP Monetary Board Member Peter Favila, BSP Governor and Monetary Board Chairman Amando Tetangco, and BPAP Research Consultant Tonette Consuelo.

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 2011 5Breakthroughs BPA/P Updatesfrom CHED’s Licuanan: “[Given this proposal from the private sector]…it would be treason [for government] not to respond!” She also commented at the meeting with Sec. Abad: “You’re finally talking to the right person!”

Inspired by the Abad headline, I spent a good part of National Heroes Day and other office “nonworking” days and hours creating new slides based on discussions with the team, looking up refreshed information, and contacting other stakeholders for data and updates. I also reflected on the effort, thought, and collaboration it took us to get to this point.

Road to the road mapOur first presentations to the new

government began in November 2010, when we launched Road Map 2016. Present at those first meetings were Sec. Cesar Purisima of the Department of Finance, Sec. Gregory Domingo of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Sec. Luistro, Atty. Carmelita Yadao-Sison of CHED, and Ex. Dir. for Planning Ma. Susan dela Rama of TESDA. They were receptive and then, as now, asked for details on project implementation. We have since had ongoing talks with TESDA, CHED, DepEd, and DOLE on training, English proficiency, teacher development, curriculum policy, course content, assessment and testing, labor legislation, and industry’s role in developing and implementing labor policy on employee welfare. We’ve also met with and presented the road map and industry programs to partner association boards and members, ICT Councils, the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines, local government officials, senators, congressmen, ambassadors, international

organizations, national organizations, chambers of commerce here and abroad, researchers, investors…

But working backwards, presenting the road map and our programs was not where it all began. With Everest Global and Outsource2Philippines, BPAP and the Commission on ICT (now the ICT Office under Department of Science and Technology) worked intensely for two months (September-October 2010) on the production of the road map itself. This involved consulting executives of over 200 companies, these same government agencies (above) plus DTI’s Board of Investments and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, and weeks of executive time to hammer out priorities, assess data and trends, set reasonable targets, ensure inclusiveness, and plan for the way forward.

And even before we started working on the road map, it took many months to first understand and then grapple with the process of bidding out the road map study under government guidelines. If you haven’t yet read them, you should take a peek at the government guidelines for procurement of consulting services and imagine trying to apply rules meant for construction projects to an IT-BPO industry road map. I’ll stop here, though I could go on and on backwards, at least as far back as August 2009 when I may have first asked Oca Sañez (then still BPAP CEO) if I could allocate funds for a new “preliminary” road map, to recall the effort it has taken to get to the headline of August 23, 2011.

But the real story is of course the one that looks forward. The months and years to come look extremely busy for all of us in the industry where most of the work happens between the headlines..

By GIGI vIraTa BPaP senior execuTive direcTor

Reading Between the (Head)lines

Uligan, Penny Bongato, and myself) have been working feverishly to prepare for the meeting.

Developing a strong public-private partnership

Also at that meeting were the familiar and friendly faces of Chair Patricia Licuanan of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Sec. Rosalinda Baldoz of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Dir. Gen. Joel Villanueva of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and Department of Education (DepEd) officials representing Sec. Armin Luistro. The same BPAP-CCAP team—sometimes buttressed with the support of Lito Tayag of Accenture, Beth Lui of ePLDT, Bud Melchor of IBM, Bing del Rosario former Accenture CEO, Bong Borja of Aegis PeopleSupport, and directors or managers of these member companies—had previously met with these cabinet secretaries to present to them the Philippine IT-BPO Road Map 2016.

For each agency, we presented detailed programs that we proposed to develop further and implement through a strong public-private partnership. At each meeting, we received positive feedback from these agency heads. My favorite response was

On August 23, I woke up to the headline “Government to fund training of

BPO workers.” The reporter went on to say that Secretary Butch Abad of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) would “provide funding for human capital enhancement programs, which would need a combined Php500 million a year” and that “government would work with BPAP to support our target of creating 3.15 million jobs and $6 billion (P255 billion) in tax revenue by 2016.” I do sometimes dream about work but this time I could actually feel the newspaper in my hand. I was wide awake before even taking my first sip of coffee.

I was not taken totally unaware. But I distinctly remembered that at our meeting with Sec. Abad just four days earlier—where we presented our proposed projects and their estimated costs—all we had agreed on was to meet again to discuss details. We had come away from that meeting with optimism and hope but, such an immediate and public reaction, announcing the P500-million fund for worker and teacher training was more than we had allowed ourselves to believe could be possible.

As I write this column, 10 days have passed since that headline and the dust has settled somewhat. The official press release more accurately reported what Sec. Abad actually said: “the national government and BPAP will soon forge a partnership for the development of human resources to support the outsourcing industry’s target…” and that they saw the training fund “as a reasonable investment that the government should consider.” He then confirmed that the next step was another meeting on the details of the proposed partnership. The team (Fred Ayala, Benedict Hernandez, Jojo

President Aquino met with representatives of the Export Development Council and FhilExport, including BPAP senior executive director Gillian Virata, on July 11 in Malacanang. He announced that he had allocated P100 million for the promotion of exports in line with the approved Philippine Export Development Plan 2011-2013.

Industry PerspectivesBy rayMOnd laCdaO

BPaP execuTive direcTor For indusTry aFFairs

Sowing Seeds for the future generationThe future of a nation is dependent on

its youth. In an increasingly borderless world, the world is their oyster. Ironically, youth unemployment is a major concern for nations, the Philippines included.

Our country has a young population. With an estimated population of 90 million, about 60 million are aged 30 and below. Of the 60 million, 27 million are of working age (15–30), 19.9% of whom are underemployed, and 5% face unemployment (2006). This is according to a 2009 report by the International Labor Organization (ILO).1

As a major contributor to generating job opportunities for youth, the IT-BPO industry is at a comfortable position to provide a solution to this employment gap involving our youth. This is especially true for the marginalized youths who are unable to secure stable employment due to

lack of qualifications – a gap that can be attributed to high costs of education forcing children out of the classroom and into the streets, thus decreasing opportunities for future employment. These young people just can’t afford to fill their heads when their stomachs are empty.

When driving down the congested highways, it is not uncommon to spot street children peddling cigarettes and candies to commuters in order to earn. In public transports, kids employ various techniques and strategies to make some money: some shine your shoes despite lack of consent, while others hand out notes asking for donations.

It is in this context that the BPAP put up the BPAP program or “Batang Pilipino ang Pag-asa” as part of our CSR initiatives. Launched first quarter of this year, BPAP seeks to develop street children into

globally competitive and self-sufficient individuals who can take advantage of the employment opportunities that the IT-BPO industry has to offer.

One hour for a brighter futureThrough the Children’s Hour Donation

Campaign, employees are encouraged to donate an hour’s worth of their salary to the program. Proceeds of the campaign will serve as the seed funding for BPAP program to benefit street children. The program, developed by Street Kids International and implemented by Virlanie Foundation, covers job matching, screening, and recruitment, as well as training, employment, and mentoring. Beneficiaries are encouraged to pay it forward by becoming graduates who are financially stable and are therefore able to give back to the communities from whence they came.

The Children’s Hour Employee Donation Campaign has been well-received by the industry. To date companies that have pledged support for the program, with their own initiatives laid out, include: LiveIt (Integreon, Affinity Express, Stream, HRMall), Teleperformance, Sutherland Global, IBM, Intelenet, Teledevelopment, SPi-Global, Results Manila, NCO, DTSI, AEGIS PeopleSupport, 24/7, and the Ayala Group of Companies.

BPAP Chair Fred Ayala has already called for the support of industry leaders and members to beef up their CSR efforts and push this project forward. Ayala himself runs the Children’s Hour Campaign across all companies under Livelt.

Notable for their commitment to the program are Aegis Peoplesupport, DTSI, and PLDT, all of which have undertaken an immediate implementation of the Children’s Hour campaign in their respective organizations. Their commendable efforts have thus far generated a total of P310,000 worth of donations (or P250,000, P27,000, and P33,000 respectively).

Sixty minutes—how hard can it be? It’s one hour of your life. That’s equal to one episode of a TV series, less than the length of a movie, or the time it takes to get to work. Every hour counts, so make each one golden by donating to BPAP and giving marginalized children hope for a better future.

In continuing the efforts for beefing up the BPAP program, The Human Resource Contact Center (HRCC) has organized Contact Center Icons 2011 slated for October 23. This talent showcase among BPO professionals aims to unite the industry and create camaraderie for a good cause. For more information contact PeopleSparx, Inc. through fax at +632 893-0893 or email hrccicons@peoplesparxph.com. .

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 20116 BreakthroughsBPA/P Updates

By Penny BOnGaTOBPaP execuTive direcTor For TalenT develoPmenT

Talent Development Initiatives for Globally

Competitive Professionals

It takes 24 hours for applicants to apply for a position in the IT-BPO industry and, out of

hundreds of applicants daily, only 5% to 8% eventually get hired. While it is reasonable to assume that graduates have been sufficiently trained for employment in the real world, status quo reflects otherwise. As a result, industry demand has outweighed supply. BPAP seeks to address this gap in employment through its talent development initiatives.

In particular, the association created the Global Competitiveness Assessment Tool (GCAT), formerly the BPAP National Competency Test (BNCT), to test the basic and behavioral capabilities of probable BPO professionals from all over the country and create a career portal (www.bpapcareers.com) to aid companies in cutting their recruitment process in half.

The GCAT has so far tested some 15,000 graduating students (SY 2010–2011) late last year up to June 2011. The GCAT scores for the different competencies can help the companies profile the applicants and place them in programs that match their competencies.

To evaluate the 45 schools that have thus far participated in GCAT testing, the BPAP last August 23 organized a forum at the Grand Auditorium of the University of Makati. During the forum, the results of participating schools were compared with each other, as well as with those of current IT-BPO professionals who have less than three years of experience. The latter’s results were taken as the benchmark for aspiring applicants. A summary and evaluation were then conducted to discuss the schools’ current standing and subsequently pinpoint areas for improvement in their respective curricula to prepare their students for IT-BPO careers.

During the forum, successful professionals in specialized BPO fields also shared industry insights with the participants. Liza Mapagu, Managing Director of Assessment Analytics, talked about career opportunities in the IT-BPO Industry and the various areas of specialization they can pursue—from accounting and animation to tourism and Web development.

What BPAP wants to emphasize here is that the IT-BPO industry is not limited to voice services. While voice BPO remains the largest part of the industry, the fastest-growing sector, as seen during the past

couple of years, has been the emerging knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and other professional services. As a matter of fact, almost all areas listed in the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED’s) fields of specialization are covered in IT-BPO. Indeed, there is a definite career path for individuals who decide to work in the IT-BPO industry.

Proposed curricula for cultivating future IT-BPO professionals

While GCAT is a broad-spectrum test that can be applied in other industries, BPAP has produced industry-specific talent-related programs as part of BPAP’s human resource initiatives. These programs were set up to ensure that the Filipinos’ pool of talent stay globally competitive. One such program is the Advanced English Proficiency Training (AdEPT), an English proficiency program for graduating college students created in partnership with the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA), which posted a 75% passing rate at Train-the-Trainers (T3) last October 2010 and a 100% passing rate on Level 1 certification.

In addition, BPAP has presented two course offerings to CHED, which, when approved, will become a minor course offered at college and graduate levels to equip interested candidates for positions in the IT-BPO Industry.

The proposed Service Management (SM) course, which will be offered at college level, covers five subjects, among them Business Communications, Service Culture, Systems Thinking, Fundamental Business Processes of Outsourcing, and a proposed six-month internship. Meanwhile, the Services Technology Management (STM) course is meant for MA students and professionals seeking supervisory and managerial positions in the IT-BPO industry. STM focuses on the application of science, management, and engineering disciplines.

Human resource provides the foundation of any organization. Thus, it is in the interest of the industry to develop qualified individuals for productive and long-term careers. With the continuing GCAT testing program and the subsequent talent development initiatives mentioned, BPAP heeds this call for human resource development, pushing our existing pool of talents into the global platform. .

IT-BPO Means Bringing Purpose

to OutsourcingBy MarTIn anTOnIO S. CrISOSTOMO

BPaP execuTive direcTor For exTernal aFFairs

Ever since I got out of my job in media and left public office, I have to admit that

there is a part of me that I left behind with those two jobs. Indeed, I had been missing something since I joined the industry almost three years ago—I just didn’t know what it is. (I am pretty sure that many of you can relate to this.)

I thought that it might be the numerous police chases, raids, crime stories, military operations, and political issues that I used to cover when I was a journalist. Or maybe it was meeting in person the ousted Libyan leader Muamar Kaddafi, seeing Bill Gates in Davos, or seeing almost all the world leaders every September at the United Nations General Assembly when I was in public office.

But I know for a fact that was not it and I understood that as I went through the stages in my career, I was only traveling on borrowed time and opportunity. Like all things borrowed, they are only yours for a certain period of time—and these include power, popularity, and even money. The great thing was I knew that I had to return it and I knew when to return it. In my experience, too, when you learn to return or detach from something, more is given back to you.

Before I get too philosophical or melancholic here, I just want to state that all the unique experiences that I enumerated above were NOT really the things that gave me fulfillment or the “kick” I got that inspired me to take all the risks and hazards of my previous careers.

My realization of what I was missing began when the industry road map 2016 was crafted. As the road map projected a best-case scenario of a $25 billion revenue opportunity for the industry and predicting jobs reaching 1.3 million in number in a mere five years, it also prescribed that the major key of achieving the goals is beefing up talent supply or intensive RECRUITMENT. (You have probably heard this numerous times during the many BPAP presentations you have attended.)

The task is to market the IT-BPO or call center job as a worthwhile and long-term career in order to attract more qualified applicants. But from what I have learned from listening to experts, branding is quite different from marketing and advertising. Branding is built on core values and self or internal perception while marketing and advertising is delivering the right message to right audience in for a certain period of time.

Start with the brandingIn this light, I want to take on my tasks

by starting with branding. This has led me to a deep-dive in IT-BPO operations, as well as employee-success stories. It would be great if we can tell the world of the single-mom Filipina who used to be a domestic helper in the Middle East and whose call center job now gives her the same pay while allowing her to be with her two kids. It would be really great if media also began talking about another Filipina who was also a domestic helper in the United States but who is now CEO of her own IT outsourcing company in Davao—with one of its clients being no less than U.S. President Barrack Obama.

Or what about the story on how a Filipina nurse, on getting her visa and complete papers for working in the States, just turned her back and decided to stay home in exchange for a great opportunity in healthcare information management outsourcing?

Without the proper branding, I feel that these stories would just go to waste and would not be appreciated as much. If we want to make a brand for our industry, we must start from within, our employees, from janitors and security guards to Team Leaders, to HRs, CEOs, and industry associations, including their board members.

Our best practices and belief in what we are doing and our vision will set the direction in our image as an industry. We cannot deny that our industry has been subjected to criticisms such as being highly stressful and having workers with bad social behavior. What we need to do now is not as simple as sending out a good message. But it all starts from convincing the employees that they entered a noble profession.

And that is my purpose in writing this article, as we are about to start a large-scale recruitment campaign in the coming months. In fact, we have already launched our recruitment TV show, “Career Jam: Served with Bread and Butter,” which is shown every Saturday at 9 a.m. on Studio 23.

Soon we will be knocking on your doors not only for marketing our campaign but also for industry branding—for us to not only attract more workers, but also have them work in the industry with the proper motivation.

Working on this has given my career in this industry the branding. I hope you can help me and BPAP send out the message to our future employees. Most importantly, I hope you can share the branding to your existing employees. And like what it did to me, I hope it will give purpose to what you do. .

ePLDT’s Beth Lui giving the closing remarks during the Academe-Industry Collaboration through Global Competitiveness Assessment Tool (GCAT) forum.

BPAP Executive Director for Talent Development Penny Bongato discussing the IT-BPO industry and the Global Competitiveness Assessment Tool or GCAT.

DSM trainer and AdEPT Master Trainer Jaime Andrada introducing the Advanced English Proficiency Training (AdEPT) program.

Representatives from Pointwest Technologies, Infosys and Medicall share their stories on how they got into the industry during the panel discussion.

Take-off to inspect the Bataan Ecozone: Board member Mike Ballesteros; BPAP Senior Executive Director Gigi Virata, BPAP Executive Director for External Affairs Martin Crisostomo; and Cong. Albert Garcia.

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 2011 7Breakthroughs BPA/P Updates

From l-r: Gigi Virata, Sr. Exec. Dir., BPAP; Isabel Dimayuga, President, 5by5 Inc.; Gennie Ferma, Nihongo Center Foundation (NCF), administrator and teacher; Tess Dona, teacher; Nihongo Kyoiku Japanese Language Tutorial Center; Ayako Osakake, Director of Business Development, HDI-Japan; Cora Shobiri, teacher, Tsukiden Software Philippines; Tatsumi Yamashita, Founder & CEO, HDI-Japan; Hiroshi Okamoto, freelance interpreter, Nihongo Center Foundation; Satoko Toyoshima, Group Leader, HOWCOM Co. Ltd.; Sachio Enomoto, Sales Promotion Specialist, ITFOR Inc.; and Hiroshi Okamoto, freelance interpreter, NCF.

The process of getting certifications from the PQA was one of the  issues discussed in the Open Forum.

xxxxx

As part of its strategy to create more awareness and promote the

Philippine IT-BPO industry, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) engaged strategic marketing communications firm TeamAsia to develop and implement a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to increase traffic to its website, www.bpap.org. The strategy is also intended to increase impressions and clickthroughs from ads placed on the website.

SEO is a technique to improve the visibility of a website through organic or unpaid search results. The process involves optimizing the website content and HTML code as well as promoting the website to increase backlinks to facilitate better visibility in search engines. Increasing backlinks or inbound links is primarily accomplished by generating posts in social networking sites, press releases, and third-party blogs, websites, and media.

From mid-July to mid-September, 4,046

visitors or 58.75% of the total website visits came from search engines, a result of the SEO initiative. The visitors came from 71 countries across all continents. Ad impressions or the number of times ads are seen by visitors was 94,365.

“By leveraging SEO for our website, not only will we increase global visibility on the Philippine IT-BPO industry but we also create better visibility for our partners who advertise on our website,” says Raymond Lacdao, BPAP executive director for industry affairs.

The number of visitors for the website has been increasing about 10% each month from July. The figure for visitors from search engines is steadily increasing as well. “We will continue to provide our SEO services to BPAP.org as we move forward. Monthly, we evaluate the performance of our SEO strategy for BPAP and tweak it maximize visibility in popular search engines,” says Michael Alan Hamlin, managing director of TeamAsia. .

BPAP Leverages SEO to Generate More Traffic to its Website

By Genny InOCenCIO-MarCIalsenior manager For exTernal aFFairs

suTherland gloBal services

In June, the much-awaited and long-overdue collaboration of the Department of Trade

and Industry’s Philippine Quality Award (DTI-PQA) and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) took

place when the two organizations held the “Orientation on Philippine Quality Award Program and Sharing of Best Practices for the BPO Industry” in Ballroom A of the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City.

Aside from DTI-PQA and BPAP representatives, who were very visible during the event, in attendance were former PQA awardees and representatives of some of the country’s leading IT-BPO companies

HDI-Japan Study Tour Exchanges Information with BPAPSince the earthquake, tsunami, and

nuclear accident in east Japan in March this year, the Japanese economy has declined. As part of the recovery process from the disaster, many Japanese companies are seeking secure, cost effective, and high-quality support service.

With the help of BPAP, HDI-Japan (www.HDI-Japan.com), a leading support-industry organization, this September put together a study tour for Japanese support professionals. Explained delegation leader and HDI-Japan founder and CEO Tatsumi Yamashita: “The purpose of this study tour is to examine, study, and exchange information on support- and service-related subjects between excellent Asian support centers and the HDI delegation from Japan and their partner in the Philippines.”

The participants of this study tour provide not only internal technical support but also external customer support and service in Japan. They hoped to observe best practices of service support centers and possibly build

strategic business partnerships with some advanced call-center and support-center companies in Asia in the future.

The tour was led by two HDI executives who introduced Japanese HDI members to the current industry situation in Philippines.

“We have several hundred members in Japan and they sometimes ask us to introduce them to business counterparts to enhance their business,” said Yamashita.

The delegation visited the BPAP office on September 7, where they were given an industry overview by BPAP Senior Executive Director Gigi Virata. BPAP Industry Affairs Executive Director Raymond Lacdao and Industry Affairs Associate Zyra Rayos del Sol also arranged visits to Sales Rain (hosted by CEO Rajeev Agarwal), Global Strategic Business Process Solutions (hosted by President Mark Matsuyama), and IGT-Interglobe Technologies Philippines Inc. (hosted by Site Director Proteek Ahuja). .

DTI-PQA and BPAP Hold Successful Roadshow

that wanted to improve their overall organizational effectiveness and capabilities by making performance excellence part of their corporate culture.

Welcome remarks were given by BPAP OIC and Senior Executive Director Gigi Virata, who stressed the urgent need for IT-BPO companies to get certified. Virgilio “Boy” Fulgencio, executive director of the DTI-Center for Industrial Competitiveness, then gave a comprehensive presentation on the Philippine Quality Award program, the many benefits that companies stand to gain should they decide to join the PQA, and the various steps that companies need to take in order to attain the PQA, the coveted Philippine version of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige quality award in the United States.

Elevating the standardsThere was also a Sharing of Best Practices

segment that featured past PQA awardees. Teofilo “Jong” Jimenez Jr., director for Quality Assurance and Customer Satisfaction for Sunpower Philippines Manufacturing Ltd., proudly presented his company’s best practices as well as its journey toward getting the 2010 PQA Recognition for Proficiency in Quality Management. As it turned out, more than winning the renowned Philippine Quality Award, Sunpower’s goal was to benchmark its best practices against those of well-established and leading companies, and to gain nuggets of wisdom that would enable it to become a better and stronger organization,

capable of winning more customers while remaining globally competitive.

Upendra Singh, senior vice president and global head for Service Excellence of Sutherland Global Services, was the next presenter. Expounding on “Driving Long-Term Engagement through a High-Performance Culture,” the charming representative of the recipient of the 2008 PQA Recognition for Commitment to Quality Management showed the audience how Sutherland continues to walk-the-talk when it comes to business excellence through quality management. Stressing the importance of a High-Performance Workplace Culture, Singh discussed the three components that shape an organization’s culture: a clear, compelling corporate mission; shared organizational values; and shared accountability—the same factors that enabled Sutherland to hurdle the challenges and clinch the celebrated PQA citation in 2008.

The Open Forum, which was last on the program, was a dynamic exchange of ideas wherein most of the questions dwelt on the specifics of getting certified by the PQA, the challenges that IT-BPO companies can encounter during the process, and how the previous awardees were able to overcome these challenges and achieve their goals of being accredited. Judging by the inquisitive and detailed questions posed by the audience, it is clear that the BPO industry is eager and more than ready to embark on this new and exciting journey toward world-class quality. .

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 20118 BreakthroughsPeople Events Places

gMAM July

GMAM September

BPAP recognized the contribution of Sec. Ivan Uy (center), chair of the former Commission on Information and Communications Technology, to the development of the Philippine IT-BPO industry. In the photo are (left to right): BPAP ED for External Affairs Martin Crisostomo Lacdao; BPAP Trustee Lito Tayag (Accenture country managing director); Virata; Uy; BPAP Trustee Dan Reyes (Genpact country manager); BPAP Trustee Boboy Romero (Globe Business head); DOST Usec. Mon Ibrahim; and DOST Dir. Trish Abejo.

Companies inducted during the BPAP July GMAM were CCK City Network, Inc., E*Trade Information Services, Inc.; Ergo Contract Phils. Inc.; Information Capital Technology Ventures Inc.; Manabat Delgado Amper & Co.; Outsourced Telleserve Corporation; Sysgen Outsource Inc. and Vestas Services Philippines Inc.

Attendance at BPAP general membership meetings regularly reaches 200 persons or more.BPAP Executive Director for Industry Affairs Raymond Lacdao takes charge of all BPAP general membership meetings and events.

Providing strong support to the BPAP general membership meeting are (left to right): Rona Castillo, TeamAsia senior program manager; Tonette Consuelo, BPAP research consultant; Nette Roselo, BPAP administrative officer; and Gigi Virata, BPAP senior executive director.

From l-r:  Lawie Valles, Integra BPS; Carlo Dionisio, Infinit-O; Mitch Locsin, PLDT; Raymond Ang, Edulynx,; and Ia del Rosario, Straightarrow Corp.

The Bahia at the InterContinental Manila is packed during the BPAP general membership meeting.BPAP Executive Director for External Affairs Martin Crisostomo updates members on developments on the legislative and marketing fronts.

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 2011 9Breakthroughs Executive Profile

Leadership with a HeartMaulik Parekh brings SPi Global Holdings Inc. to greater heights

Maulik Parekh, president and CEO of SPi Global embraces the Filipino value of malasakit as the core of his company.

Parekh arrived in the country just as the BPO industry was booming and he was witness to the growth of the industry and its young managers. “The most exciting part,”he says, “was seeing young talent joining this industry, embracing new challenges, wanting to learn new skills and along the way going up the corporate ladder and benefitting from it.”

“The young are very impressionable,” he says of the industry’s young managers. “They have no baggage when it comes to managing people. They come with a clean slate. Although even the ones who have past experiences learn very quickly that this is a fast-paced industry. They are willing to embrace new ways of doing things. To help them develop both their technical and people skills, we provide a lot of training—technical training, as well as soft skills they will need to get along and manage people.”

He believes that to grow and thrive in the BPO industry, a company must be people-centric. It must invest in its people and create an environment for them to grow into their own selves while being inspired to give their best to the company they work for.

But a successful BPO must also be solution-centric. Says Parekh:“At SPi, we look for ways to create values for our clients. We do not just wait for the client to ask for something. We go above and beyond what is needed.We try to be a step ahead of them by putting ourselves in their shoes and thinking, ‘what keeps you up at night and how do we ensure that you sleep well at night.’

Another ingredient of a successful company is being innovation-centric—being several steps ahead in terms of solutions and capabilities is a must in this rapidly changing world. “SPi has an innovation lab composed of people from strategy, marketing, operations whose function is to look ahead two to three years forward to discover what people will need to enable us to offer these services down the road,” Parekh says. “It is important to invest in people, solutions, and infrastructure, but it is driven by innovation. Define the summit you want to climb and work toward it.”

Moving ahead SPi Global Holdings Inc. has certainly defined

its summit. Backed by its mother company, PLDT, which was awarded the best-managed company for 2011, the biggest Philippine-based BPO company worldwide has set its sights on an IPO offering a few years down the road.

“We have US$200 million in revenue today,” says Parekh. “We are the largest Filipino-owned BPO. One day we want to be best in class. We have to get in the range of $500-billion [companies] to achieve this. Our investors are happy with what we are doing. Our employees are happy with what we are doing for them. Our other stakeholder is our clients. They should be more than happy but willing to talk to their friends and recommend us. How quickly we get to IPO point will depend on the speed of our growth. Our aspiration is to have all the conditions met for a potential IPO in the next two to three years. Our goal is to have our ducks all in a row so that the day we go IPO our share prices will jump.”

On being awarded the BPO Company of the Year for 2011 by the International ICT Awards, Parekh says, “It is like winning the Best Picture in the Academy. Independent judges felt that SPi Global has exhibited ingredients for a winning company. It is just the beginning. What it tells us is that we have a shot at becoming one of the big players in the world. It was just an affirmation that we all knew. It is a reflection of the hard work, pride, and dedication of our employees in their day-to-day job. It is a beginning because we won this award in the Philippines but we have to take our story around the world. We want to be recognized not just by our neighbors but one day by associations like ICT committees in the U.S., Europe, Australia which would also recognize us for who we are and for what we do for the clients around the world.”

Parekh’s plans and programs may seem ambitious, but for a leader who uses both head and heart for the benefit of his people, his clients, and his investors, these would be within his reach. .

By Marla S. GOnzalez

“Motivate people through your head but inspire people through your heart,” says Maulik Parekh. As president and CEO of SPi Global Inc., Maulik leads a workforce of 15,000

people globally and uses this philosophy to steer the company forward and upward.

SPi Global began in 1980 as SPi Technologies offering content outsourcing services to Fortune 500 companies. Today SPi Global has evolved into a formidable player in the outsourcing industry with a workforce of over 15,000 people spread across 24 locations in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. Its presence in the knowledge-process outsourcing and customer relations-management services entails a leadership that brings together a diversified group of people with different talents, capabilities, and personalities.

Leading SPi Global Parekh’s belief in the Filipino people

comes across as he uses a local value as one of SPi own: malasakit. Loosely translated as compassion and care for others, malasakit has become an SPi core value that is behind the company’s every move and action. Malasakit together with the values of meritocracy and being apolitical are the core values at work in all SPi locations across the globe.

In an international organization with people of different beliefs and culture, enforcement of corporate values needs to be flexible. Parekh explains: “There are two layers of culture building. The core company culture allows local culture to have some say in it. We have a few corporate values which I believe can transcend international boundaries. This creates a work environment that is inspiring and allows people to look at what they can do in their lives—creating a platform where they can create their dreams.”

Compassion and care for his stakeholders is the driving force behind his actions. “My key goals,” he says, “[are] to create a state-of-the-art, Filipino-based organization in the BPO industry that serves the needs of the three key stakeholders—employees, investors, clients; create an environment and culture that keeps everybody happy; [and] create a best-in-class organization that is agile, moves quickly, and is growing and keeps employees happy by giving [them] space for growth, giving clients the updated services they need, and investors the return on investments they are looking for.”

He says communicating his actions to his stakeholders is the most effective way of aligning his organization to his vision. “Communication solves most of the problems,” says Parekh.

“Communication is key. We believe that having regular strategy meetings is another way to bridge the gaps.Visibility is also done through newsletters, townhall meetings by video, a corporate intranet sight where we have messages from myself and other key leaders. You have to constantly think about how you are sending your message across.”

Sometimes, though, it just seems to be in his nature to be a good communicator. After this interview, Parekh takes a few minutes to interact with some of his people—trading jokes and sharing light moments together. Celeste Ilagan, vice president of corporate ommunications, adds: “Employees capture your essence in your daily communication with them—how you deal with them in every day life. It’s a combination of living your dreams and values and not just communicating it. Maulik is a people person. When he walks on the floor, he is able to call them by name. He has surrounded himself with people whose values are compatible with his own. It is important for employees to see that so they know it is not just talk.”

Early yearsPrior to his position as president and CEO

of SPi Global, Parekh was executive vice president of Asia Operations for TeleTech Holdings, where he grew the company’s Asian presence from 6,000 employees to over 22,000 employees across 14 sites.

His previous experiences working for other companies paved the way for his successful career and leadership in the BPO industry. His work, for five years in a global non-profit organization helping youths stage musical performances, do community service, and stay with host families, opened his eyes to the possibilities and excitement of building a global career.

“Once you have a taste of traveling and interacting with other cultures, it becomes a part of you,” says Parekh. “You can never go back to a job that is very local. BPO is clearly a global industry. We have 25 locations throughout the world.”

Dish Network, a U.S.-based satellite TV company, was instrumental in bringing him to the Philippines when it assigned him to search for locations for an international expansion. He recalls being in touch with the company’s owners and investors at the time, an experience that has since served him well as it familiarized him with the concerns of investors and top leaders.

Belief in the Filipino people“The decision to come to the Philippines was

approved on the board level,” he says. Yet while it was his work at Dish Network that brought him here, his admiration and belief in the Filipino people and their talent has led him to stay and base himself here for now.

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 201110 BreakthroughsInsights

Why Call Centers Yield More Profits than Filipino At-Home Agents

By Ben davIdOwITzceo oPen access markeTing llc

The ‘traditional’ companies provide more reliable infrastructure, quality control, and management oversight

The emergence of call center agents who work at home, either as a direct hire by

companies that outsource or as among a pool of subcontractors allowed a more flexible work arrangement, has made these freelancers appear as a less expensive alternative to BPO clients. A closer look at this subsector, however, shows that in the long run, the ‘traditional’ call centers that employ agents who work in their premises yield more profits than Filipino at-home agents.

These are the reasons: 1. Power failure leads to down time and opportunity loss

Manila has been known for random brownouts during the hot summer months. The major energy provider, Meralco, schedules these brownouts notifying the public in advance; sometimes, this is not the case. A brownout can last for two to three hours, primarily because Meralco simply cannot supply enough power. If you tried to scale any team of agents, part or all the team would be affected. Their systems become inoperable due to no power access during a brownout. High- quality boutique firms and major centers typically have back-up generators that kick in

within minutes of a power interruption; the disturbance to business is thus minimal.2. The absence of control means the less ability to effect change

When you control the environment, you can bring about favorable change. The rollout of a new script, policy, or procedural change is much more effective when you can sit down in a quiet environment and personally deliver the message. You can answer any question and see facial expressions and body language that enable you to identify individuals who may not completely understand what you are saying. With today’s technology you can use skype and other online tools but nothing beats human contact. When you have large amounts of money invested I am always in the court of putting your best foot forward. 3. No management oversight equals more play time and more no shows

The controlled environment is very important, especially when you are working in a Third World country. The peripheral distractions and natural gap brought about by no hands-on coaching, continuous training, and simple positive reinforcement is a recipe for disaster. One of my mentors would say the only thing worse than making a lot of phone calls is making those calls alone. The importance of a team environment and a team leader is to build morale, motivate, and manage successful teams. Our company builds highly functional and flexible teams. Focus requires management oversight. Agents will not be signing in on time and will go to the bathroom without signing out.4. No bandwidth and redundancy lead to poor call quality and instability

Internet lines that are connected to homes and condos are compromised due to the residential connection and no SLA (Service Level Agreement). In the Philippines bandwidth is always moved around based on where it is needed most. Further, in regards to ramping

up agents it can sometimes take up to two months to get an IPLC (Internet Private Leased Circuit) line activated. And in some cases your application for such may even be denied.5. No private health benefits means no commitment

Many at-home model companies do not offer great private health insurance. Private health insurance by far is the biggest benefit a company can provide to their employees in the Philippines. Health insurance is just as important to a Filipino as an American. Being exposed to health care in the Philippines made me appreciate the great doctors and medications available in the United States. One would experience long lines and inadequate care using the public health option. Not providing private health care is perceived as cutting corners or the financial instability of a company. When I worked for AOL, the company took the stance that since it was asking you to take care of its clients, then it was its social responsibility to take care of you. For example, our company offers Maxicare, which is considered the best private health insurance you can provide for your employees, within the first two weeks of employment. 6. Employees living with families develop unfavorable perceptions

It is a fact that many call-center agents in the Philippines live with their families. This is in some ways similar to when immigrants migrated to the United States and sometimes three or more families would live together. The Philippines is a religious country and family is very important. It is common that a call-center agent will work, support the family, and also be the one to send a sibling to college.

Some homes have 10 people living in them, with children. Even with the best noise-

canceling headsets, you will hear background noise including children, roosters, and arguments among family members. You will certainly hear people speaking Tagalog in the background, contrary to an English-only policy.

Summary: It is time to ask: What are you really saving? In every instance when a client has left my center to try the at-home model, they have experienced more problems. The complaints are usually about poor quality, service, and the inability to achieve continuity between their respective teams.

From a cost perspective, after you add up everything you may even be experiencing a loss. After thoroughly reviewing the dynamics of the at-home model, it is obvious that a modern call center provides better-quality service. It has been said that the end justifies the means.

But in this case, success is measured in profits. To increase your bottom line, you need effective, efficient, highly functional, and flexible teams that can deliver with dependable service. All these are consistently provided in a supervised call center. .

The news about the historic downgrade of the U.S. credit rating drew speculation

about its possible knock-on effect in the Philippine commercial office sector. The most active demand for commercial office space in the Philippines comes from the IT-BPO sector, a great number of which have their headquarters in the United States.

The IT-BPO industry in the Philippines has exhibited consistently high growth during the last decade. From a US$300-million industry in early 2000, the industry is estimated to have grown to US$9 billion by end-2010.

The stock of office space in the Philippines has grown by more than 2 million square meters in the last ten years, on the back of a strong demand coming from the IT-BPO sector. At present, approximately 40% of the existing Grade ‘A’ office space in Metro Manila is being occupied by firms in this industry.

Unfortunately, the outstanding growth of the IT-BPO industry in the Philippines did not prevent the correction, which happened in the fourth quarter of 2008 and persisted for the next five quarters. We saw average rental rates decline by as much as 15 percent, while capital values declined by as much as 12 percent during this period. Both the average rental rates and capital values have since recovered, though, and have already reached their previous peak levels.

The 2008 global economic downturn demonstrated that the Philippine office market is highly susceptible to movements in the global economy, particularly in the U.S., due mostly to its dependence on business generated by the IT-BPO industry. As a result, there are several trends emerging, which may affect the future direction of the office market. The continued depreciation of the U.S. dollar, for one, is likely to further add

to the growing burden to IT-BPO companies to keep costs at manageable levels.

AdvantagesVolatile conditions in the established

global economies have increased the desire of companies there to locate to offshore markets like the Philippines. The increasing level of market and operational risks in the established economies and the need to ensure operational continuity means the market remains bullish about the growth of the IT-BPO industry in the Philippines.

Rising market-risk levels also favor a flight of capital to emerging markets, such as those in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines. The increased levels of risk due to volatility in established economies, has provided investors with the desire to shift, albeit temporarily, toward highly dynamic returns in the emerging markets.

This shift is likely to favor the Philippine commercial office market in particular, as the relatively stable yield levels in the market may become an attractive proposition for investors, which in turn is likely to yield more transactions.

Local property developers have learned to become more prudent when building speculative developments, building relatively small developments, as well as awaiting safe pre-commitment levels as a measure prior to their decision to build.

To capture the real gains from the increased attention the market is seeing, local players and stakeholders in the property market need to re-examine the quality of their products and pricing positions. This, coupled with the governments support toward a more transparent, level playing field, means we can expect a higher level of property transactions to further propel the potential of the Philippine property market. .

Opportunities Abound in the Philippine Office MarketBy ClarO dG. COrderO, Jr.

head For research, consulTing, and valuaTion aT Jones lang lasalle leechiu

The recent economic developments in the U.S. can lead to more investments for emerging countries like ours

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 2011 11Breakthroughs Insights

By MarTIn COnBOy

The lessons learned by one country’s IT-BPO industry may point the way to the future

Outsourcing has evolved and seen a number of major changes over the last 15 years.

For a long time, the industry in Australia was battling negative perceptions because of a disproportionate level of scrutiny driven by accent-neutralization challenges with outbound telemarketing call centers in South Asia, and the challenge was making the Australian public understand that outsourcing is so much bigger than annoying calls at dinnertime.

As I am fond of saying, outsourcing is a very broad church and people might be surprised to learn that the industry employs over a quarter of a million people in Australia.

Front-office outsourcing—which is often referred to as call-center work—is a small, albeit very important, part of the outsourcing value chain. It is used by businesses for both inbound customer service work and outbound telemarketing work. Call centers and how they work and their functions are reasonably well understood, and over the years there have been countless research projects investigating them with over 80% of all customer interactions now going via call centers.

Many of them have been centralized and they are now being outsourced to specialized outsourcing companies for various reasons around efficiency gains, expense reduction, and enterprise reengineering. Having said that, the broad church of outsourcing is also about back-office processes such as data entry, accounting, debt collection,

database management, claims processing, and HR administration and recruitment, all the way through to shared services and IT data centers.

It’s time to move the debate along from the very narrow perspective of call centers to the larger arena of all of the business process that can be outsourced.

With the benefit of hindsight we can now see that the first wave of outsourcing has just about passed. To put things in perspective and to give context to our understanding of the outsourcing journey that all major companies are going through, we now refer to three stages of outsourcing as BPO 1.O, BPO 2.O, and BPO 3.O.

Much could be said about each stage of market development, but at its plainest:

BPO 1.OBPO 1.O or the first wave of outsourcing was

all about basic “lift-and-shift” or labor arbitrage. That wave has landed and washed back. On the back of this around 1999 we saw the rise and rise of outsourcing destinations like India and the Philippines.

These countries were able to bring to the table their highly educated, highly motivated and— relative to countries like the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia—inexpensive pools of labor. The economic change in these countries because of BPO has been nothing short of amazing; in fact, according to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), the Philippines has about 17,000 seats valued at $400 million serving the Australian market. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that BPO is floating a lot of boats around the region and it is brilliant to see.

BPO 2.0Although Australia has a risk-adverse

business culture, businesses are being driven by an appetite for change and a gradual acceptance of outsourcing as a legitimate and mainstream business strategy. Moreover Australian businesses are really starting to focus upon what their core business is. This new focus is steering them to restructure and re-engineer their businesses. Process re-engineering delivers better efficiencies and many people are now familiar with concepts like Six Sigma and expense-reduction analysis.

At this stage of outsourcing market development we see the introduction of tactical quick-fix technology point solutions that solve one particular problem without regard to related issues or higher lever strategies. Having said that, technology point solutions along with BPO enable better straight-through performance and higher effectiveness. In my view the leading Australian companies have just broken through the BPO 2.0 barrier.

BPO 3.0As organizations move along the outsourcing

journey, we will see organizations move beyond outsourcing transactional processes to

outsourcing complex, high-end processes that have a higher impact and thus have a positive effect on the bottom line and create shareholder value faster. We will see terms like Knowledge Workers—who may not necessarily be based in centralized locations—become commonplace and companies will see the opportunity to link BPO solutions and move to transaction-based and outcome-based de-risked pricing models.

At this stage of the BPO journey, organizations will start to use SaaS, BPaaS, cloud computing, and social media-driven business platforms to allow them to convert from capital-expense business models to switch-on/off-operating-variable-expense business models. We are already starting to hear about innovative services that will address these opportunities. Our own company (FooBoo) has developed such a service called RVSA (Recruitment Virtual Support Agents) for the recruitment industry.

What’s hotThe areas we are seeing a lot of interest in

are RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) and HRO (Human Resource Outsourcing), which includes payroll outsourcing, with global organizations working on multi-country payroll outsourcing deals. Sizzling!!!

Other hot areas include financial and accounting outsourcing—not only transactional processes such as accounts payable and receivable, but also higher-end processes such as general ledger and tax.

About the author: Martin Conboy is the president of the Australian Business Process Outsourcing Association (ABPOA), set up to provide a unified and cohesive front for organizations and individuals who participate in the outsourcing sector. This article was previously posted in the online version of Outsource Magazine (UK edition). .

The Increasing Need for Space and Other Requirements of the BPO Industry

The Australian Outsourcing Journey

By ruTh ManIMTIM-FlOreSCa

Demand for office space is expected to increase in the next four to five years

For the past several years, the Philippine IT-BPO industry has been, and continues to be,

identified as a driver of growth in the business sector. It has also brought in more opportunities for the real estate sector as more facilities become needed by both new and old players.

According to a recent BPAP report, IT-BPOs have the potential to bring in $20 to $25 billion in revenues by 2016. By then, industry experts forecast more income and job generation such that the sector would already be employing 1.3 million people—a staggering increase from today’s total IT-BPO workforce of 530,000.

As of this writing, the Philippines has already overtaken India in the contact-center business, with revenues hitting over $6 billion in 2010, higher than India’s estimated $5.5 billion.

“These very rosy prospects have obviously fueled property developers in the country to meet the anticipated demand for office spaces for IT-BPOs in the next four to five years,” observes Dave Rafael, Senior VP of SM Land’s Commercial Properties Group. He acknowledges that developers have to answer IT-BPOs’ need for office space both in the immediate term and in the long run.

“We at SM Land have especially recognized the need of IT-BPOs for expansion capabilities [so] we are gearing our immediate future plans to enhance our ability to service the scalability requirements of IT-BPO companies,” he explains. Rafael cites SM Land’s flagship E-com business hub in the Mall of Asia Complex (MOAC) in Pasay City as the best example of this.

Identifying IT-BPO requirementsIT-BPOs primarily have need of large,

flexible, and adaptable floor plates with open floor plans. “This is obviously to accommodate their workspace permutations which constantly aim to be efficient [by] maximizing the office area while, at the same time, still providing a workplace that is comfortable and highly conducive to their employees’ productivity,” rationalizes Rafael.

He adds that SM Land has also noticed the trend of IT-BPO companies establishing separate receiving offices for their recruitment activities. These receiving offices are usually located at the ground floor of the buildings they operate in.

Rafael points out, “This is to create more efficiency in receiving the applicants and, at the same time, to isolate the main contact center floor [to maintain] security and [keep] operations undisturbed.”

Implementing innovationsAccording to Rafael, the innovations in SM

Land’s office buildings are designed to meet the demands especially of BPO companies. “For instance,” he says, “our latest office building, TwoE-comCenter, features redundant telco cabling system. Each of its two towers has its own rider and main distribution frame, plus four independent telco rooms for each of the service providers [namely] PLDT, Globe, Philcom, and Bayantel. All are interconnected through the building’s structured cabling system, and the telco services themselves are sourced from two different main underground lines.” This, he assures, provides SM Land tenants with a virtually fail-safe telecommunication infrastructure in any scenario.

TwoE-Com has been deliberately designed to offer sensible and environmentally-sound features to provide tenants with savings and benefits. The building is equipped with energy-saving insulated glass units and air conditioning systems; uses

recycled water from sewage treatment plants; and utilizes intelligent lighting systems with energy-efficient LED lights and CFL bulbs, which are motion-triggered to provide illumination as needed. Aside from these, TwoE-Com offers BPOs large floor plates as well as 24/7 security and reliable property management.

Positioning strategic locationsLocation is key in making certain of IT-BPO

employees’ convenience and productivity. These days, however, it is no longer easy to find premium office spaces in the traditional business districts of Makati and Ortigas.

Joselito B. Cruz, SM Land Marketing Manager, points as an alternative MOAC’s prime location, which is easily accessible via established public transportation routes. It also provides IT-BPOs with a rich talent pool due to its proximity to the Manila area of universities and colleges.

With projects such as the TwoE-ComCenter, Rafael believes SM Land is helping propel the

industry toward professionalism. “[We are also] helping IT-BPOs establish a more permanent and enduring presence in the Philippine economy through office buildings that are no different from the homes of multinational companies in the traditional districts of Makati, Ortigas, and even Bonifacio Global City at costs that are not associated with these prime real estate areas,” he says. For example, he says, E-Com’s published rate at the moment is pegged at P525 a sq m while Makati offices charge at approximately P800 a sq m in rental fees.

“Prime location is one of the strongest propositions of SM Land’s commercial properties as in the E-comCenters, which are integrated into the MOAC master plan,” says Rafael. “With the SM Mall of Asia as the centerpiece of the complex and with other entertainment, business and residential components conveniently nearby, these provide a very attractive proposition to the employees and recruits of IT-BPO companies. We essentially help businesses grow their business.” .

Two E-Com Center

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 201112 BreakthroughsNext Wave Cities

By PrOF. anTOnIO M. del CarMen and danIlO C. PaBlO

The public and private sectors and the academe are pitching in

The City of Santa Rosa, Laguna, has always been at the forefront of the country’s

economic development. It has been dubbed the Detroit of the Philippines, with four out of the five major automotive manufacturers—namely Toyota, Honda, Ford, and Isuzu—have located in the area and its immediate vicinity. The city is also known as the Silicon Valley of the Philippines as major semiconductor manufacturers have set up production facilities in the city’s industrial parks.

In the IT-BPO industry, the City of Santa Rosa has consistently fared well in Next Wave Cities™ scorecard maintained by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and the

ICT Office (ICTO) of the Department of Science and Technology (formerly the Commission on Information and Communications Technology). The city ranked 1st and 2nd among the top-ten Next Wave Cities™ in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Santa Rosa is currently host to three contact center companies: Convergys, TeleTech, and KGB. And last year, IBM sent an international delegation to assess the possibility of setting up office in the city. Linkage with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is also being maintained through manpower training with PHILNITS and the ICT industry workshop together with the Department of Trade and Industry.

Councils and partnershipsNext year, Santa Rosa will host the 2012

National ICT Conference. The event is slated for November 2012 and already preparations have begun. A delegation of city government officials led by Mayor Arlene B. Arcillas went to the Singapore CommunicAsia 2011 to invite international

participants and benchmark the hosting of the 2012 ICT Conference. During the International Contact Center Conference and EXPO 2011 held on August 2—3, 2011, at the SMX Convention Center at SM Mall of Asia, Santa Rosa also sent a delegation and maintained a booth in the Next Wave Cities™ section.

Currently, the City Government of Santa Rosa is in the process of establishing its own ICT council under the leadership of Mayor Arcillas and in collaboration with the Laguna Industry Network for Knowledge, Innovation, and Technology Foundation (LINK-IT). A meeting was held on July 20, 2011, to plan the organization of the council, as well as the city’s hosting of the 2012 National ICT Conference. Present were officials and representatives of the City Government, particularly Dan C. Pablo of the Planning Office and Councilor Pole Camaclang of the Sangguniang Panlunsod, Prof. Antonio del Carmen of LINK-IT, Regional Director Ver Santos of the National Economic

and Development Authority (NEDA) IV-A, Mario Mamon of the Laguna Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Cezar Gerpacio of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Provincial, Teresita Gonzaga of DTI Region IV-A, Emmy Lou Delfin of DOST-CICT, Tonette Consuelo of BPAP, and Jomari Mercado of Convergys Philippines. As envisioned, the 2012 Conference will be a venue for domestic and international ICT collaborations and will showcase the best that the City of Santa Rosa has to offer. Details of the preparations will be finalized in the next council meeting.

At this point, what is evident is the heightened optimism that with the bustling academic sector of the province, a robust real estate development, and a strong public-private partnership, the City of Santa Rosa is on its way to being transformed into a global ICT hub.

Prof. Antonio M. del Carmen is the president of LINK-IT and Danilo C. Pablo works in the Santa Rosa City Planning Office. .

Transforming Sta. Rosa into a Global Hub

Philippine delegation in the CommunicAsia Singapore 2011 It was a time of networking and sharing information. Delegation members CICT Comm. Monchito Ibrahim, Mayor Arlene B. Arcillas and LINK IT President Antonio del Carmen in the CommunicAsia-Singapore 2011

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 2011 13Breakthroughs Company NewsCompany News

ePLDT President and CEO Beth G. Lui and CTO Sonny T. Valdez (4th and 5th from right, respectively) with the event speakers (from left): Steve Cutler, CEO of OGC Corp.; William Lee, Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives and Asia Pacific Lead for Cloud 

Computing of Oracle Corp.; Lauro Vives, Founding President and Chief Analyst of XMG Global, Inc.; Martin Backstrom, Chief Technology Adviser of PLDT and Smart Communications; and Greg Martin, president of The Rosetta Group.

Globe Telecom, one of the leading telecommunications providers in the

Philippines, recently introduced its latest suite of cloud computing services for enterprise customers. Offered through its Globe Business unit, the company said that as cloud services are the next phase in communications, Globe is now providing Cloud Solutions to business customers whose telecommunications needs continue to evolve.

Globe Business has been offering a comprehensive range of ICT solutions relevant to the needs of various small, medium, and large enterprises in the Philippines. This suite of solutions comprises fixed, data, and mobile services, including managed services. In June 2011, Globe announced its venture into a series of cloud offers by introducing Globe Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

SPi Global, the largest Filipino-owned BPO company, has ranked among the

top-100 outsourcing service providers in the world, according to two of the most reputable international outsourcing industry organizations.

The company was included in the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals’ (IAOP) 2011 Global Outsourcing 100 list and the Global Services’ 2011 GS100 list.

IAOP is the global standard-setting organization and advocate for the outsourcing profession, while Global Services is a highly regarded online and digital publication dedicated to the outsourcing industry.

“This is the sixth consecutive year that SPi Global was included in the Global Outsourcing 100 list,” said SPi Global President and CEO Maulik Parekh. “We scored high marks in the areas of customer references, company recognition, management capabilities, and employee management. Those are critical credentials for a BPO provider and strongly show our commitment to excellence and value creation for two of our most important stakeholders—our clients and our employees.”

“Making it to the GS100 list is another source of pride and honor,” he added. “Our competitors are giants in the industry. With our hard work and dedication, we have proven

that we can be at par with them in terms of the services that we provide.”

The Global Outsourcing 100 and its sub-lists are essential references for companies seeking new and expanded relationships with the best companies in the industry.

SPi Global was cited due to its demonstrated capabilities in the areas of document management, customer relationship management, and transaction processing.

Aside from its ranking, SPi Global was listed prominently in the sub-list of honors including: Best 20 Leaders by Industry Focus—Entertainment and Media, Best 20 Leaders by Industry Focus—Financial Services (Insurance), Best 20 Leaders by

Industry Focus—Health Care, Best 10 Leaders by Service Provided—Document Management Services, Best 10 Companies by Service Provided—Document Management Services, Best 20 Leaders by Service Provided—Customer Relationship Management Services, Best 20 Leaders by Service Provided—Transaction Processing Services, Best 20 Leaders by Region Served—UK.

In the GS100 list, SPi Global was also included in two category lists: the top-15 companies in the category “Top Global Mid-Tier BPO Vendors” and top-9 firms in the category “Top Mid-Tier Industry-Specific BPO.” There were no exact rankings provided; the companies were listed alphabetically. .

SPi Global Stands Out Among Top-100 Outsourcing Companies

PH firm Delivers ‘Milestone’ Event Booking Site for AU Non-profits

Philippine IT solutions provider Pointwest Technologies Corp. delivered to

Australian start-up Bookwana Pty. Ltd. a ‘milestone’ online event booking system through TryBooking, which reaches out to the largely untapped market of small to mid-size organizations in Australia and gives them an easier and cheaper alternative.

Essentially similar to other hosted services, TryBooking targets non-profits such as schools and social institutions (that is, local Rotary clubs), where it is not cost-effective to use hosted software when posting one-off type or low-budget events.

The launch of TryBooking in July 2008 is considered by Grant Dunoon, CEO of Bookwana Pty. Ltd., as the “first milestone in our quest to offer something new that can deliver change in the marketplace and benefit the community and groups.”

As of July 2011, TryBooking had more than 2,500 clients actively using the system, a diverse community that includes schools across all levels, theaters, local councils, NGOs, and sports- events organizers.

One critical benchmark for the project’s success was allowing enough flexibility for future releases while complying with stringent e-commerce security standards, since ticket buyers paid for bookings online through credit cards.

Pointwest’s agility in responding to large transaction demands of the e-commerce project, backed by 24/7 up time and the whole-hearted support of management, is

reflective of the dynamism of Philippine IT outsourcing firms.

According to the Philippine Software Industry Association website, the Philippines boasts of a collaborative ecosystem of small to medium-sized software companies with solid track records of delivering high-value software services.

The client lauded the Philippine firm’s cost-effective approach while delivering quality software when developers and in-house specialists who oversaw design moved into the project on demand. Traditionally, only the largest-sized firms could insist on this.

The similarity in time zones between the Philippines and Australia is also considered a definite plus. As a result, Pointwest currently continues to provide maintenance and production services for TryBooking.

As with any development project, the team encountered challenges in time to market, but Practice Manager Rene Canlas shared that to deliver effectively, they combined company expertise in credit-card systems and a user-friendly interface with best practices in the software development industry.

As the largest wholly Filipino-owned global service company offering solutions in both offshore business processing and information technology sectors, Pointwest is among the recognized leaders in the Philippine IT-BPO landscape, whose stellar track record is a testament to its being recognized as a top services delivery partner by various global industry analysts such as Everest and Gartner. .

ePLDT Launches Cloud-computing Solution SideraePLDT, the country’s premier ICT company,

recently introduced another power brand with the launch of Sidera: a suite of ePLDT cloud-computing solutions. The event, presented in conjunction with PLDT Alpha Enterprise and PLDT SME Nation, was held at the New World Hotel and featured informative presentations from ePLDT’s technology partners, as well as industry experts who discussed the many business benefits of cloud computing.

Cloud computing enhances the basic features of the traditional hosting model for IT services and aims to provide a more cost-efficient computing option for today’s businesses.

Computing power and infrastructure are now offered as a service, to which companies can subscribe as needed. Through Sidera, ePLDT offers cloud-computing solutions that are truly scalable, affordable, and on-demand for both the enterprise and SME market.

“In Sidera, we clearly see a solution that will greatly benefit businesses,” remarked Sonny Valdez, ePLDT Chief Technology Officer. “Cloud computing will change the way businesses acquire, purchase, implement, and consume IT services. And it will enable our customers to focus more on their business, and less on managing IT.” .

Globe Delivers Another First with Infrastructure as a ServiceWith Globe IaaS, enterprises can have

access to the latest technologies without the high costs of purchasing and maintaining hardware. As equipment that support operations are outsourced to a virtual environment, customers can get network access and solutions on demand, and pay only for what they use. Whether it is storage, back up, hardware, servers, or network components, these resources can be provisioned fast, are highly scalable, and suited to the specific needs of businesses.

Globe Business’ suite of IaaS solutions includes Backup as a Service, Storage as a Service, and Compute as a Service. Globe’s first IaaS offering, Backup as a Service, was launched on June 16, 2011. The service allows users to backup and restore critical data to and from Globe’s highly secure data centers using the best backup and restoration software offered in the market today.

Similarly, Compute as a Service will allow enterprises to acquire processing power without the high cost of purchasing additional servers. Server “instances” or virtual machines are hosted in Globe’s ISO-certified data centers, which customers can load with their choice of operating systems and applications.

Storage as a Service, on the other hand, will enable customers to upload all their current

files and even years of archived documents to Globe’s storage facilities, which are guarded with the highest standards of security to give users peace of mind. Customers can browse and download data as they please, and are also given additional storage space on demand.

Globe IaaS can be used in various enterprise-grade applications and provides users with the convenience of having all the servers and devices maintained by certified engineers 24/7. Moreover, it provides a more cost-efficient alternative since customers only pay for the service they need, for the duration of time that they need it.

“Globe remains steadfast in its commitment to provide superior customer experience as the solutions enabler and preferred partner of the top corporations in the Philippines,” says Jesus C. Romero, head of Globe Business. “We bring in new services such as cloud computing to make sure that the enterprise market in the Philippines is kept abreast and has access to the most advanced, relevant ICT solutions available in the market today. With Cloud Solutions, our clients can reap all the benefits such as flexibility, security and cost-efficiency, and, more importantly, they can now focus more on making their businesses grow,” adds Romero. .

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

JULY—SEPTEMBER 201114 BreakthroughsIndustry Associations

PSIA member-company representatives participate in a focused group discussion for the crafting of the industry’s Capability Development Framework in partnership with ASSIST.

After visiting Busan in May 2011, the Animation Council of the Philippines’

(ACPI)’s destination for its following Korean trip was Seoul. In July, ACPI was at the pre-show of the very first Asia Animation Forum (AAF) held at Seoul’s Coex Convention and Exhibition Center.

ACPI is a non-profit organization recognized and supported by the government to promote Filipino animation talents worldwide. The AAF pre-show that took place in South Korea on July 1920, was organized by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KoCCA) to increase understanding and exchange information about the Asian animation industry before the official launch of AAF in 2012.

The forum explored excellent Asian animation projects through the pre-show project-pitching, enabling the participants to discover the possibilities for Asian animation and understand the necessity of the official launch next year. The pre-show also had workshops and networking activities, as well as a planning meeting that discussed the possibility of executing a written agreement among Korea’s Asian partners. Other country

delegations that were present in the forum included those from China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.

Right after the AAF event came the Seoul Character and Licensing Fair (SCLF), which was also organized by KoCCA and held at Coex from July 20 to 24. SCLF is one of Asia’s largest licensing exhibitions which provide information about trends and issues in the global animation industry. The annual exhibition deals with all kinds of items for licensing including characters, animations, comics, games, broadcasting, entertainment, fashion, publication, and other related fields. The scale of its contents and brands expands every year with participation of over 200,000 visitors and 200 companies from Korea and other countries.

The Philippine delegation was composed of ABS-CBN Animation Department, Camei Enterprise, De La Salle—College of St. Benilde Animation Department, Empire International Merchandising Corporation, Hero TV, Immersive Animation, Inc., Toei Animation Philippines, Inc., and Top Peg Animation and Creative Studio, Inc. ACPI Executive Director Michael Kho Lim led the delegation. .

“SoftWare Industry Excellence and Enhancement Program” is one of

the newest projects of the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) Capability Development Committee, in partnership with the Asia Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation, Inc. (ASSIST), an international NGO and capability-building organization based out of Manila.

The SWEEP program aims to improve the Philippine IT industry competitiveness by helping companies become more robust by adopting international standards, enhancing the IT professional’s competencies, and sharing of best practices among companies.

Set to run for one whole year, the program targets to produce at least 10 SMEs under the PSIA umbrella compliant to ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems, and achieve third-party certifications as well as up to 350 professionals qualified in various IT subject areas.

The program ultimately aims to help achieve the PSIA’s target of US$1.5 billion in revenues and 75,000 fulltime employees (FTE) within three years.

The partnership was sealed after a focused group discussion at Makati Shangri-La Hotel on July 19, participated in by some 20 member-companies of PSIA. .

PSIA, ASSIST Partner for SWEEP

ACPI Joins Asia Animation Forum and Seoul Character and Licensing Fair

ACPI delegates at the Asia Animation Forum and Seoul Character & Licensing Fair