Transcom Philippines gives BPO industry stable outlook for 2013

Business process outsourcing will generate up to $16 billion and provide 720,000 jobs this year, according to BPO company Transcom Philippines. “Our outlook is similar to that of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP),” Siva Subramaniam, Transcom Philippines country manager, told reporters in a briefing Tuesday. “We expect to increase our employees by 35 percent by year-end 2013,” the BPO executive said. The need for support services follows economic growth, and “the  industry is well prepared to address this.”  "The country’s economy is growing and so is the need for support services. The BPO industry is well prepared to address this," Subramaniam added. The Philippine information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) and global in-house center (GIC) will generate $16 billion in revenues this year from $13.5 billion in 2012, according to IBPAP. "Transcom is bullish of the growth of the IT-BPM and GIC industry in the Philippines and we see more international clients as well as local customers," Subramaniam  said. IT-BPM and GIC as a whole is expected to grow in the next three years with revenues reaching $25 billion in 2016 and providing jobs to 1.3 million Filipinos while supporting 3.2 million indirect jobs, according to BPAP data. BPO revenues steadily rose since 2009, overshooting last year's target of $13 billion by about $500 million. — VS, GMA News