MANILA - Major stakeholders in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector recently forged an agreement to address the acute labour shortage plaguing the services sector.
Representatives of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P), Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) and IBM Philippines signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to help develop a relevant curriculum to ensure that the products of the country's colleges and universities can be absorbed by the outsourcing industry.
The BPA/P, which is an umbrella organization of the BPO players in the country, was represented by chief executive officer Oscar Sañez, while the CICT was represented by its chairman, Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua. IBM was represented by president and general manager James Velasquez.
Under the MOU, the BPA/P has committed to bring industry advice in developing the curriculum.
Sañez said the Philippines has the potential to participate in the trillion-dollar global services sector if only the skills preparation in the schools can be addressed now.
The local BPO industry has been suffering from a shortage of qualified human resources desperately needed to compete globally where bigger players such as the United States, India and China are considered as the competitors.
For instance, among the skills sets seriously needed by the call center industry, which comprises bulk of the BPO business in the country, is English proficiency. The industry has somewhat addressed this by developing a bridging program where so-called "near hires" are trained further in training institutions.
But the BPO industry is also moving to higher value-added services such as back office automation, accounting and financial analysis, and software development, to name a few. In moving up the services value chain, the industry has noted the need for further skills development in the colleges and universities.
"The kind of skills required now by industry requires a lot more technical as well as management skills, particularly this service science management," said Sañez.
Service science management and engineering (SSME) is a new multidisciplinary discipline aimed at updating the current skills sets of the products of today's educational institutions. It involves the fields of computer science, operations research, industrial engineering, business strategy, management sciences, and social and legal sciences.
It was a concept formulated by IBM Corp. as early as three years ago. Through its Philippine office, it is advocating that such approach be adapted by the Philippine educational institutions.
Velasquez said updating the current curriculum to follow the SSME approach will produce "T-shaped" professionals among the products of the Philippine educational system. A "T-shaped" professional has an expertise in a particular discipline, such as engineering, but also has knowledge of related disciplines, such as management, to help the professional work in industry.
Velasquez said advocating for SSME and its participation in the MOU is an offshoot of the National Innovation Summit last year where the government and industry from various sectors have agreed to promote a culture of national innovation in the country.
On the part of the government, Roxas-Chua said the CICT will co-ordinate with the Commission on Higher Education, and colleges and universities to learn how to incorporate SSME in their curricula.
In forging a partnership with BPA/P and IBM Philippines, Roxas-Chua said "the government recognizes the importance of the offshoring and outsourcing industry in terms of job creation and its contribution to the economy."
"The government is focused on riding the industry forward," he said. "The key is to develop the talent [needed by industry]." Last August, IBM helped organize a four-day SSME conference participated by stakeholders, including those in the academe.