American IT firm Mphasis Corporation has expressed keen interest to establish its first high value business process outsourcing (BPO) operation in the Philippines, Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez announced.
Lopez met with Mphasis Corporations’ CEO Nitin Rakesh and Industry Solutions Group SVP & Global Head Indranil Roy late April while in the US to discuss the company’s plans to have its first BPO presence in the Philippines.
The US information technology (IT) company expressed interest in the Philippines as a major investment location for their high-value services with an initial headcount of 1,500 – 2,000 IT-Call Center Jobs.
Roy also disclosed that a number of their clients, which are major American banks and insurance companies, have advised them to look into the Philippines for their BPM operations highlighting their preference for the Filipino brand of service and skill sets.
As Mphasis prides itself as being known in the industry as a client-centric organization, they are bent to accommodate clients’ wishes such as setting-up operations in the Philippines. The company provides IT services to banking and finance, healthcare, telecommunication, logistics and other high-tech industries. They employ around 40,000 employees across the globe such as IT-BPO facilities in India, Mexico, Taiwan, Costa Rica, Germany, and UK. Mphasis is a subsidiary of the New York -based financial giant Blackstone Group.
Joining in the discussion was Board of Investments (BOI) Managing Head and DTI Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo, who mentioned that BOI has an MOU with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and can also link Mphasis with various education institutions for curriculum customization and talent development.
Rodolfo added that another resource that they can tap into is the returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have an advantage in terms of experience with their new knowledge and skills acquired from their respective countries. Las. Rodolfo also expounded on the advantages of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.
“Our country is increasing its capacity to become a global player in IT-enabled services through the provision of analytical and AI skills development, competitive enabling environment, and cost efficiencies. This, thereby, ensures that investors can profitably serve international and fast-growing regional markets,” Lopez said
Despite the challenges, Lopez said the Philippines’ IT-Business Process Management (BPM) sector did not lay off workers during the pandemic. He mentioned how resources would not be a problem as the country has a workforce of 49 million, generates 800,000 graduates annually, with 30% coming from the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field.
The Philippine Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry has contributed a total of $26.7 billion and $23.8 billion in service exports in 2020. The Philippines gained 13 percent of the global market share and is serving North America, APAC, and EU Markets.
The industry has contributed 1.3 million direct jobs and 4.5 million jobs with more than 700 BPO companies in the country. The startup ecosystem in the country also has a strong potential to flourish with around 500 start-ups businesses.
“Our continued efforts to upskill our workforce and liberalize our industries through major economic reforms under President Duterte’s guidance and leadership, partnered with our strong economic fundamentals, have proven our capability to position the Philippines as an ideal investment hub in Southeast Asia. We look forward to how the next generation of leaders can further build on these successes,” Lopez said.