Hundreds expected to attend Cebu ICT/BPO confab

HUNDREDS of stakeholders in the information communications technology (ICT) and business process industry (BPO) and representatives of local government units (LGUs) are expected to be in Cebu City on June 26 and June 27 for the Cebu ICT/BPO Conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel.

The two-day event, which is part of the Cebu Business Month 2012 activities, will highlight the launching of the e-Gov and ASEAN Awards.

“The e-Gov awards recognize the (local government unit) LGU’s use of ICT to improve the transparency, effectiveness and efficiency of their public service,” said Jun Sa-a, chairman of the Cebu ICT/BPO conference and Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedf-it) executive director, during a recent press conference.

The e-Gov Awards is a joint project of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP).

Interior Secretary Jessie M. Robredo is also expected to share updates and lessons learned from the government agencies during the first day of the forum.

Speakers from Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, United Kingdom, Singapore and Japan will discuss issues regarding the ICT/BPO industry in the second day of the forum.

These include Micheal Warren, director of Global Outsourcing Cluster of Multimedia Development Corp. in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, who will tackle the impact of the industry on the Malaysian Economy;  Frank Chen, PH.D., chief serviciologists of Bejing Association of Sourcing Services, will discuss China’s BPO story; and Martin Conboy, president, Australian BPO Association, will share his views about the Australian BPO market.

“The official launching of the ASEAN Awards will also take place on the second day. This is designed to recognize the technology-based innovations in the ASEAN Region.” Sa-a said.

The Cebu ICT/BPO members in Cebu include  Aegis People Support, Qualfon, and Streams Global.

Other highlights for the monthlong CBM 2012 include the Tourism Congress, Tourism Congress Night, 2012 CBM Expo, and Region 7 MSME Conference./Correspondent Careen L. Malahay