MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Jack Madrid, the president of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), said that the country’s IT-BPM sector’s “sustained growth will hinge on addressing long-standing domestic constraints”—namely:
- Ease of doing business
- Availability of technical talent
Resolving these ensures they can hit $42 billion in revenue and 1.97 million headcount in 2026, and $59 billion in revenue and 2.5 million headcount in 2028, as projected in the IBPAP’s 2028 industry roadmap.
Why These Particular Constraints
Ease of Doing Business
Madrid stresses that we should be “concerned about the ease of doing business.”
Foreign firms establish businesses in the Philippines for its stable business environment. Any issues that hinder their smooth operations—from increased utility costs to inconsistent policies—will make them hesitant to continue doing business in the country.
If left alone, it will “weaken the country’s competitiveness” in the global outsourcing market.
Availability of Technical Talent
Both Madrid and Jamil Paolo Francisco, an economist at the Asian Institute of Management, agree that human capital is the biggest challenge for the PH IT-BPM.
Right now, due to AI tools “neutralizing accents and improving speech clarity,” it eroded the Philippines’ advantage as an English-speaking country. More countries in Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe now compete for voice-based and customer-facing services.
In Southeast Asia, Vietnam is emerging as a serious competitor with clients attracted to its “strong education system and technical talent base.” For those near the U.S., Colombia and Costa Rica are gaining popularity due to language and time zone alignment.
So, efforts are underway to improve education to ensure Filipino talent has the technical know-how and is AI-workforce ready. Francisco emphasized that “this is really the only way we can ensure that our IT-BPO sector will be competitive in the future, and also how we can achieve prosperity.”
