Recent years have seen the Philippines grow into a sought-after voice-based destination owing primarily to its abundant English-literate and low-cost workforce. But in light of the global economic downturn, emerging trends reflect a movement up the value curve towards what is called knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) with functions involving greater business complexity, reported the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry. KPO includes equity and financial research and analytics; business and marketing research and analytics; engineering and design services; and pharmaceutical and research outsourcing.

“High value and knowledge-based BPO providers will rise and will be more sought after since companies around the world will lack the talent, domain expertise and scale to operate their support functions,” said Charles Villaseñor, CEO of Transprocure, a wholly-Filipino owned company engaged in global BPO procurement solutions and recipient of the e-Services Awards 2009 for Business Development in BPO.

“The Philippines will be on the forefront [of these trends] since it has the various necessary attributes not easily duplicated by other emerging BPO locations,” Villaseñor shared, noting that it is also vital to find the right market niche that will prove compelling to organizations. The Filipino workforce, he added, is “world class and has the right approach and attitude”, and is thus ready for the challenges inherent in the ever-evolving outsourcing industry.

Online services by demand

Another trend to watch out for is cloud computing, which allows on-demand utilization of a shared, infinite amount of computing resources such as software, storage, and product development tools, via the Internet. Without the need for physical infrastructure to deliver these hosted services, cloud computing cuts back on capital expenses at the same time serving as a tool towards providing emerging economies with affordable access to top-quality ICT infrastructure.

“[Cloud computing] significantly reduces time, costs, [and] headaches, [as well as] delivers innovations within organizations, [particularly the telecommunications sector],” said Winston Damarillo, CEO for Global Gateway Innovation Exchange (G2iX), which pioneered SaaS and Open Source technologies in the country. Damarillo is also a recipient of the e-Services Awards 2009 for Business Development in Software Development. According to industry tracker Gartner, revenues from Internet-based cloud computing will top 14 billion dollars annually by the end of 2013.

Knowledge process outsourcing and cloud computing are just some of the key trends expected to be unveiled at the 10th e-Services Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition, a government-led ICT/BPO event in Southeast Asia. Scheduled on 8-9 February 2010 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, Philippines, e-Services is an annual trade show and conference that gathers together the best and the brightest industry movers and though-leaders under one high-class venue.

Partner agencies include the Board of Investments (BOI), the Foreign Trade Service Corps (FTSC), the Regional Operations and Development Group (RODG), and the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT). e-Services is also supported by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), the Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. (ACPI), the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP), the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines, Inc. (MTIAPI), the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) and the Procurement and Sourcing Institute of Asia (PASIA).

For more information on e-Services 2010, log on to www.e-servicesphils.com or contact the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) e-Services Project Management Team at tel. nos. (632) 832-5044 / 831-2201 locals 212/251/278/301, or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .