Ayala group confident despite US anti-outsourcing drive

Amid US President Barrack Obama’s campaign against business process outsourcing, the Ayala group remains confident about the market for office spaces for BPO companies.

On Wednesday, the Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) and its subsidiary, Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp. (CPVDC), held the groundbreaking ceremony for the eBloc Tower 3, a 12-story building for BPOs, at the Asiatown IT Park in Lahug, Cebu City.

The eBloc Towers are projects of the Asian i-Office Properties Inc. (AiO), a partnership between ALI and CPVDC. These buildings are envisioned as the premier locations for companies engaged in BPO, information technology and information technology-enabled services.

Francis Monera, president of CPVDC and AiO, said the eBloc 3 project showed the company’s optimism over the BPO prospects. Monera said the company would be investing P1 billion for eBloc 3, which would have 12 levels and a leasable area of 15,764 square meters.

“This is a demonstration of our confidence. As a matter of fact, we’re also planning another BPO building in the Cebu Business Park,” Monera said.

He said the eight floors of the 14-level eBloc 2, also located at the Asiatown IT Park, have been leased out to three companies for expansion of existing BPO operations.

Monera cited a spill-over interest from the eBloc 2, an indicator that these companies have not been affected by the anti-outsourcing move in the US.

“Outsourcing is essentially a business strategy where the none-core competencies are outsourced, something even practiced by local companies, to save on costs,” he pointed out.

Monera also said US companies may even lobby against the anti-outsourcing measures.

“This is about operating in the global arena where competitiveness is key. Part of the competitiveness is your cost. Outsourcing reduces a lot of your costs,” he added.

Monera said they even projected a 20 percent increase in the workforce in the BPO firms in Cebu Park District (composed of Asiatown IT Park and Cebu Business Park) presently estimated at around 50,000.

Antonio T. Aquino, president of ALI, maintained that the anti-outsourcing move in the US would not have much impact on the BPO sector here.

“There will probably be some. (But) if you look at it in terms of competitive advantage offered by the BPOs, I feel that that it (outsourcing) will be the continued strategy,” said Aquino.

Aquino explained that most of the outsourcing companies are multinationals that have been doing business with US companies as well as those from other countries.

If there is any negative impact, he said he was confident that Cebu would be able to offset it with the talent pool needed by these companies.

This includes call center agents and those who can be tapped for back office operations and higher-value knowledge process outsourcing such as animation and software development.

Aquino said the Ayala group would be investing P3 billion each year in Cebu over the next three to five years for residential and office condominium projects.

He said some of the projects of the Ayala group in Cebu were being sold out in various stages, such as the Avida Tower 1 and Avida Tower 2 in Cebu IT Park and the Solinea, a multi-tower development of Alveo Land, and 1016 Residences of Ayala Land Premier at the Cebu Business Park./INQUIRER with aileen garcia yap