Advisory company tells Cebu to look into 6 factors to develop outsourcing industry

By Mia A. Aznar

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

AN INTERNATIONAL advisory firm believes Cebu can improve and develop further in the outsourcing industry by taking in six factors: workforce, infrastructure, cost, risk profile, business catalyst and the quality of life.

B. Paul Santos, Tholons president, said Cebu has done enough to make its mark in the outsourcing industry, after making it to the list of emerged cities from constantly topping the emerging list.

He said that of all the emerged cities in the list, Cebu has the smallest population, has continued government support, a sustained interest from locators and double digit growth rates for employment and revenues, which sets it apart from other cities.

In a discussion at the Cebu ICT and BPO conference, Santos admitted it was an uphill climb to get on the emerged list but said Cebu has to do more to get even better.

Workforce

Santos said Cebu has to continue strengthening its workforce by identifying its bright spots and multiplying them.

He explained that if schools will continue to improve the fundamental skillsets of theirgraduates, it will mean significantly increasing their employability.

He pointed out that not everyone can be a good programmer overnight and that universities could do their part by giving them “high quality raw materials” to make it easier for them to learn and grow in these companies.

He said equipping students with enough skills to qualify them to fill in mid-tier management levels can give Cebu a competitive advantage.

In assessing Cebu’s skills, Tholons did a study and found that Cebuano students and employees can compete with their Indian counterparts.

In the business process outsourcing category, they score well in verbal and analytical skills and attention to detail. But in the knowledge process outsourcing category, Cebuanos need to work on their quantitative abilities if they want to compete with India’s high, medium and low level workers.

Teamwork

In information technology outsourcing, Cebuanos also fall a bit short in analytical and quantitative abilities.

About 500 from the local BPO industry and the academe were chosen as respondents.

Still, Santos believes that with the same teamwork the different stakeholders have showed, Cebu’s position in outsourcing will stay.

“I sincerely feel that Cebu has a shot,” he said.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on July 21, 2011.