Press Release
May 23, 2011

DATA PRIVACY KEY TO SUSTAINING BPO GROWTH - ANGARA

Senator Edgardo J. Angara said that the government needs to ensure data privacy and IP security in order to sustain the growth of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector of the country.

The Philippines is ranked 9th out of 50 countries in the 2011 A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index (GLSI). The GLSI ranks countries according to the attractiveness for offshore business, and the Philippines has been in the top ten since 2005. Angara noted that this year's ranking saw the Philippines drop two spots from last year's ranking of 7th.

The BPO sector is composed of over 600 companies, with nearly half a million strong labor force, and revenues upwards of $7 billion said Angara.

Angara noted that there are many issues concerning the BPO sector that need to be addressed in order for the sector to expand. He highlighted the importance of ensuring data privacy, especially with many financial details and other sensitive information coming in to local BPO companies.

Angara, Chair of Congressional Commission on Science Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), said that the commission is also an advocate of ensuring data privacy.

Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) President Oscar Sanez says that, "the industry can grow from $9 billion in annual revenues and approximately 500,000 direct employees today to $20 billion and 900,000 employees by 2016 if current conditions are sustained and with a lot of hard work."

Mr. Sanez, who is also a member of COMSTE, indicated that that the BPO sector is moving away from voice services into fields such as such as IT, medical, legal, which

Angara noted that creating productive Public Private Partnership (PPPs) would enable industry leaders to interact with academe, which in turn would develop better training and curriculum for students that can seamlessly enter the workforce.

The move from simply expanding voice services to providing more technical backroom services presents many opportunities to expand the workforce and provide highly capable, and technical employees that can compete on an international level.

Mr. Sanez also presented some of the other priority issues that the BPO sector wants addressed in order to maintain the rapid growth of the industry and remain a the Top Offshoring Destination of the Year, as awarded by the National Outsourcing Association of the U.K, namely the strengthening of data privacy laws, the creation of a Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), and the creation of a campaign to create global awareness of the Philippines as a center for BPO excellence.

Angara noted that the DICT would be an important agency that could promote the growth of the BPO sector.

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