The City of Dumaguete is gearing up for more Business Process Outsourcing opportunities this year with its inclusion in the Top 100 BPO destinations in the world.
Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce & Industry President Edward Du said the ranking of Dumaguete as a top worldwide BPO destination is definitely a big boost to Dumaguete’s efforts to invite and convince some of the big BPO players to expand in Dumaguete.
“Dumaguete has locally available high quality human resource talent and reliable power and IT infrastructure, which is currently enjoyed by all BPOs in the city”, Du said in a press statement.
The NOCCI President’s statement was based on the recent announcement of Tholons, an international strategic advisory firm, that Dumaguete City inched up to 93rd spot in the company’s 2016 list of top 100 business process outsourcing destinations in the world.
Prior to this, Dumaguete was also ranked as the number one tourist destination by travelers in Asia by Agoda.com.
According to Du, “After five years of continuous non-stop collaboration between the local government of Dumaguete and various national government agencies, business, academe and the ICT sector, it has finally made it to the Top 100 outsourcing destinations in the world, beating much bigger cities like Metro Clark, Baguio, and even Dubai”.
“The steady rise of the local Business Processing Outsourcing industry in Dumaguete began in 2005 with the passage of the country’s most innovative BPO City Ordinance, the “First Mover Ordinance” authored and conceptualized by then NOCCI president Manuel Sagarbarria, who later served three terms as City Councilor and is now on his second term as City Mayor.
The BPO industry has grown from only 150 call center agents in 2005 to currently over 9,000 call center agents employed by the Top 4 local BPOs, namely, Teletec, SPi Global, Student Universe and Qualfon, the NOCCI President noted.
Three more BPOs are registered with Philippine Economic Zone Authority, he added.
Du disclosed that BPO buildings are scheduled to start construction this year to accommodate more BPO locators.
The chamber president also pointed out that Negros Island Region (Region 18) “is probably the only region in the country today with two capital cities (Bacolod ranked 85th and Dumaguete ranked 93rd) in the Top 100 BPO list according to Tholons International’.
The NOCCI has expressed optimism that with more BPO locators expanding in Dumaguete, the city will remain the Top 100 list of BPO global destinations for a “long, long time”.
NOCCI is now preparing a very ambitious BPO roadmap for Dumaguete City in anticipation of the passage of the DICT Law after the national elections, Du said.
NOCCI is also lobbying for the passage of the law creating the Department of Information & Communications Technology to entice the big BPO locators to expand/relocate in the countryside like Dumaguete and Bacolod given the worsening traffic congestion in Manila, Cebu and Iloilo.
Hopefully, both Dumaguete and Bacolod will move up within the Top 5 outsourcing destinations in the Philippines as traffic worsens in the bigger cities, the NOCCI executive said. (PNA)
