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e-Services
Philippines
By Michael Alan Hamlin
December 3, 2002
e-Services Philippines is an annual
showcase exhibition conceived with the purpose of promoting the
IT and IT-enabled sectors. It's organized by the Center for International
Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), a government promotions
agency under the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI). CITEM
was originally set up to promote the Philippines' traditional export
products, things like furniture, garments, and handicrafts.
As the world has changed, so too,
has CITEM. It appointed a veteran organizer, Josie Briones Gonzalez,
to head up a new division for IT services and electronics, and a
little over a year and a half ago organized the first e-Services
exhibition. It went well, and a second was organized the following
February so that it would be one of the first such exhibitions in
the world every year. This year's exhibition, the third, will take
place February 13-15 at the World Trade Center.
Ms. Gonzalez and I are co-conveners
of the communications subcommittee of the business development committee
of the IT and e-Commerce Council (ITECC), a public-private-sector
body set up to guide and help implement the Philippines' IT-related
public policy. As a result of this work, I've learned a great deal
about Ms. Gonzalez's work over the last year or so that I have been
involved in ITECC. She's got a fascinating job. But it's also one
that is critical to the Philippines' success as an IT and IT-enabled
services hub.
That's because e-Services Philippines
is the country's most visible, and effective, effort at promoting
these sectors. The IT and IT-enabled sectors play an extremely important
role in economic growth, job, and opportunity generation for the
Philippines. Gartner Research reported recently that these sectors
export around $1 billion a year in products and services, and generate
around 300,000 direct jobs. Indirect employment is, of course, much
higher. Growth of individual sectors varies - such as software development,
contact center services, and medical transcription - from 25 to
130 percent annually according to DTI.
So promoting these sectors is series
business. Not just because of the revenues and jobs they generate,
but because they won't reach their potential if they aren't promoted
effectively. And promoting the Philippines effectively is a huge
challenge what with corruption scandals, the Abu Sayyaf, and privatization
failures that compete for headlines. Every week that competition
for attention grows ever more intense.
At the same time, there's lots of
competition for the work going to the Philippines' IT sectors. For
example, China produces 200,000 electrical engineers every year.
It's opening 35 special software universities this year according
to one report, and millions of students and adults alike are rushing
to develop their English-language skills. The effect is that China
is looking better and better as an alternative for IT and IT-enabled
services outsourcing compared to the Philippines and India.
As a result of all the attention
that is focused on China and India - they are so big and the potential
so great they dwarf their competitors - the Philippines must struggle
mightily for its share. And that's where Ms. Gonzalez comes in.
So far, the results she has generated have been impressive. For
example, last year's exhibition resulted in negotiations for contact
center services of approximately $15 million dollars for exhibitors,
and the sector has grown dramatically this year in terms of seats
and new market entrants. There are around 30 companies operating
in the Philippines at present.
Many of them, as well as medical
transcription service providers, animation studios, data and business
process outsourcing centers, software developers, wireless developers,
engineering services providers and others will be present at the
e-Services exhibition. They will come from all over the country,
including Cebu which is already an important IT hub, and Davao,
which is demonstrating some eye-opening growth. One Davao company
that is exhibiting is Lane Systems, which develops B2C, B2B, and
Internet business systems to mostly U.S. companies, and has been
doing so since 1995.
Fruit exporter Dole spun off its
IT department which now goes under the name CIT and Communications.
The company builds and supports business critical applications,
provides data center services, and help desk support. Software Development
and Research Corporation provides smart card applications, again
principally for foreign clients. e-Services provides the opportunity
for potential outsourcers and clients to meet these Davao-based
companies and their Cebu and Manila counterparts in one convenient
location, saving time, money, and energy.
The exhibition is also an opportunity
for those looking for investment opportunities to meet a wide range
of the Philippines' most promising technopreneurs, find out where
they are headed, and the kind of investors they're looking for to
help get them there. Finally, e-Services Philippines offers the
opportunity to learn about the IT and IT-enabled sectors that are
powering the economy forwarded despite the myriad problems the country
is struggling with.
So if you've got a trip planned to
the Philippines early next year, are interested in the IT and IT-enabled
sectors, or have outsourcing requirements you think can be met here,
it would be a good idea to be in town February 13-15. If you'd like
more information on the exhibition, contact Ms. Gonzalez at itservices@citem.com.ph.
And I, of course, look forward to seeing you there.
(Michael Alan Hamlin is the managing
director of consultancy TeamAsia and the author of three books on
Asian economies and companies. His latest book is Marketing Asian
Places, of which he is a co-author (Wiley, 2001). Write him at mahamlin@teamasia.com.).
Copyright © 2002 Michael Alan
Hamlin. All Rights Reserved.
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