IT firm eyes Asian market, hires more workers

DESPITE the  anti-outsourcing bill pending in the US Congress, a Europe-based information technology firm is hiring more manpower for its Mactan office as part of the firm’s expansion plans.

According to Willem Geert Lagemaat, Lighthouse Software Cebu Inc. (LHSCI) IP Group chief executive officer, they intend to increase their manpower base in Cebu because they see Cebu as a strategic center for their regional operations.

“The Philippine office is a bridge for us in dealing with markets in Thailand and Vietnam,” said Lagemaat, who announced the firm’s plans to focus on the Asian markets especially with the developments in the US.

Lighthouse Software Cebu Inc. (LHSCI), a Europe-based global intellectual property expert and information service provider, recently announced their plans to further expand their operations in Cebu to meet growing needs for trademark database in the region.

Lighthouse Software Cebu Inc. started with only five employees in 2009 and now they have over 300 people working at their office in MEPZ 2.

Patrick Van Dun, managing director for Philippines, said they would hire at least 100 employees this month and end the year with 500 employees to beef up their operations in Cebu.

International trademark database is a major project in LHSCI, which is currently handling thousands of trademark data from 87 different countries in the world.

In the Philippines, their main operation is into processing patent, trademark and other IP- related content for global information providers.

The firm also offers translations and software and database solutions that will add more value to its international data projects.

The firm also offers translations and software and database solutions that will add more value to its international data projects.

“Sadly, in the Philippines, awareness about IP (intellectual property) is not that known yet among companies here and that is our challenge,” said Lagemaat.

He said that the firm was serving two foreign-owned companies here.

With the current challenges in the United States of America and Europe plus the pending Anti-Outsourcing Bill, Lagemaat said that the local markets would become more important for them in the coming years.

“In Cebu, we can serve any industry. Potential clients can be from the manufacturing and production industries,” said Lagemaat.

He said  in Asia, they were seeing many production jobs going towards Vietnam from China because of the latter’s increasing labor and high inflation rates.

They also expect more locators mostly from manufacturing and outsourcing industries coming to the Philippines, which they saw as a huge market potential for IP, said Lagemaat.

Van Dun, for his part, said they could easily expand up to 2,000 employees in their current office in Mactan should the need for more people would arise.

Aside from the Philippines, Lighthouse IP Group also has subsidiary offices in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Belarus and the United States and in the process of expanding in other countries like Egypt, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and South Korea, which are set to open within this year.