DICT initiatives for the IT-BPM industry contributed to sector’s growth

Secretary Ivan John Enrile Uy of the Department of Information and Communications Technology

MANILA, Philippines — The IT and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) sector saw an increase of 8.4% or 121,000 full-time employees (FTEs) in the Philippines in 2022, with 1.57 million in total headcount. The industry also saw a growth of 10.3% in revenues to reach a total of $32.5 billion in 2022, surpassing the 2021 earnings of 29.5 billion.

This was reported by the Information Technology and Business Processing Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) during their Annual Membership Meeting and 2023 Board Elections on February 27, 2023.

ICT Secretary Ivan John Uy joined with the organization in commemorating these achievements and laid out his plans to sustain the growth in the IT-BPM sector.

The ICT chief highlighted DICT’s training and professional development initiatives for the workforce, the local government units, and the countryside, such as the digitaljobsPH Program which aims to provide basic digital literacy and intermediate ICT skills training in the Philippine countryside, and the IT-BPM Scaled Upskilling program which conducts advanced training in priority areas identified by the IT-BPM subsectors.

“We also have the Philippine Skills Framework, where we will design courses and training programs aligned to the skills and competencies identified by the IT-BPM industries. Through this project, we aim to help our local talents improve their qualifications and increase their employability,” Secretary Uy added.

Secretary Uy also expressed his intention to further strengthen the Philippines’ stance as the top investment destination for global services in the world through the “Leveraging the IT-BPM Industry and Fostering Local Talents” or LIFT program that aims to promote careers in the industry and showcase Filipino talent with the same objective of creating jobs and sustaining the country’s position as the leading provider of global outsourced services.

“To strengthen the Philippines’ stance as the top investment destination for global services in the world, we need to continue building the ICT landscape in the countryside,” the ICT chief added.

The DICT is also working with the IBPAP and the Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC) through the  Digital Cities 2025 Program which aims to expand the IT-BPM Industry and ensure decent work and economic growth, especially in the countryside.

Through initiatives geared towards institutional development, marketing, talent development, research, and policy development, the ICT chief is confident that IT-BPM locators can be successfully established in the Digital Cities and create more jobs for local talents.

Meanwhile, IBPAP president and CEO Jack Madrid shared that the sector is targeting to generate around 1.1 million additional jobs and double the country’s IT-BPM sector annual revenues by 2028 through a roadmap that the sector is currently working on.

“That’s the only way that we can hope to achieve our goal of building the industry to a 2.5 million-strong workforce and generating $59 billion in revenues for the country,” Madrid added.

For 2023, the IBPAP forecasts that the IT-BPM industry can generate 1.7 million FTEs and $35.9 billion in revenues.

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