‘Cebu to have a full IBM branch by 2013’

SEEING the promise of growth in Cebu’s information technology sector, a global technological and consulting company plans to upgrade its Cebu satellite office by 2013 to a full branch office.
Joyce Bellosillo, IBM head for Geo Cities expansions, said a satellite office could only sell IBM products while a full branch would have a marketing team and in some aspects would be independent of its main office in Manila.
Bellosillo said Cebu has always been recognized as among the priority areas of IBM investments and is the pilot area for their ICTY mobile solutions kiosk which they hope to duplicate in many other Geo Cities in the country as well as other areas in the region.
“We have identified 140 growth markets in the world and we chose the top 20 where we will be bullish with our growths. Among the 20 priorities is the Philippines where we will continue to put in our investments,” she said.
Last week, the firm launched its multicity “IBM Comes To You” (ICTY) mobile solutions kiosk in Cebu as part of the firm’s commitments to encourage growth among the small and medium enterprises in the country.

“Under our Geo Expansions, we are targeting to expand our office here from what we call a Light Branch to a Full Branch by 2013. We also have presence in other areas like Calamba and in Davao but it’s only here in Cebu where we have a satellite office,” she said.

Bellosillo said they had identified the manufacturing, retail and wholesale, CTG or consumer package goods, utilities and the local government units as their priority markets for growth in Cebu.

According to Bellosillo, they have identified the manufacturing, retail and wholesale, CTG or
“We have launched ICTY here because we want our solutions to get closer to our identified major cities like Cebu and also so that we can show to our target markets how we can help them through our different technology solutions,” she said.

Bellosillo added that they have specifically targeted the identified markets in Cebu because they have projected these markets to continue to grow within the next few years and they want to be there and assist each of the market segments for their growth as well. Reporter Aileen Garcia-Yap