City notch higher in top BPO list

• Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/business/2016/01/31/city-notch-higher-top-bpo-list-454755
• Sunday, January 31, 2016

By Ace June Rell S. Perez

DAVAO City posted a notch higher this year than last year's spot in the Top 100 business process outsourcing (BPO) destinations in the world.

Tholons, a services globalization and investment advisory firm, recognized Davao City anew as one of the biggest movers in its 2016 annual survey of the top 100 outsourcing destinations in the world, ranking 66th worldwide, some three places higher than last year's 69th place.

“This is a new development that we should be celebrating for, this development proves that the BPO industry in Davao City continues to boom amid challenges. We now ranked 66th in the top 100 outsourcing destinations in the world, that is third in the Philippines after Manila and Cebu City and the only ranked city in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga),” said Samuel Matunog, president of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-Davao Inc.

Ranking in the 66th place, Davao City edged out Penang (Malaysia), San Antonio, Texas (USA), and Thiruvananthapuram (India).

Tholons published its 2016 survey last Friday January 29, 2016 in the morning. The firm regularly publishes a report of the top 100 business process and information technology (IT) outsourcing destinations in the world.

In the 2016 edition of the report, nine Philippine cities made it to the list. These are, Manila which landed in the same rank last year in the second spot, Cebu City (7th), Sta. Rosa (81), Bacolod (85), Iloilo (90), Dumaguete (93), Baguio (94), and Metro Clark (97).

“All the cities in our country showed a positive development, all the nine cities showed growth by all the higher ranks compared to its records last year,” Matunog said.

Cebu City is up 1 notch from 8th to 7th on the Top 10; Manila retains the 2nd spot, Davao City up by 3 notches from 69th to 66th; Sta. Rosa up by 1 notch from 82 to 81; Bacolod up by 1 notch from 86 to 85m; Iloilo up by 1 notch from 91 to 90; Dumaguete from above 100 to 93rd (one of the biggest leap in a global scale); Baguio up by 1 notch from 95 to 94; and Metro Clark up by 1 notch from 98 to 97th.

“After absorbing half of Philippine BPO demand in 2014 and the reported increase of (Full-Time Equivalents) FTEs of over 33,000, the latest rise in Tholons ranking indicates that the multi-stakeholder approach in addressing the demands of the city’s ICT industry continues to bear fruit,” he said.

“With K to 12 adding two years in basic education and the move towards outcomes-based education at the vocational/technical and tertiary levels, it is expected that an even better trained talent pool will continue to attract online jobs and BPO locators to the city,” Matunog added.