BPO industry: Losing our competitive edge

Cebu was already inside the Top 10 in the Global World of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) when last Thursday we got the news that Cebu had slipped from the Top 10 Global Destination for BPO, the Tholons Survey revealed that we have slipped from the no. 8 rank three years ago to no. 12 spot in the Tholons Services Globalization Index for 2017.

Meanwhile Manila remains in the Top 10 list, however it also slid down from no. 2 down to no. 4 spot. I’m one of the few journalists to have talked with Avinash Tholons when he was in Cebu four years ago when he revealed to me that Cebu City was no. 8 in the world in this Global survey. The top three are Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi. Manila as we said is in the 4th place. Newcomers like Sao Paolo bagged the 6th place, Dublin, Ireland bagged 7th place, Krakow number 8th and Buenos Aires, Argentina bagged 10th place.

That report elicited an editorial in The Freeman last Sunday entitled,  “Why Cebu is no longer a favorite BPO destination. Let me reprint excerpts of that editorial. “Cebu has become one of the hottest destinations ever since it opened its doors to the BPO industry. It has been an attractive alternative to Metro Manila where congestion and high labor cost prompted many companies to venture into the countryside.

For the past several years, Cebu has been basking in the glory of being the preferred choice of many BPO companies seeking opportunities outside Metro Manila. Thanks largely to its huge pool of young talents in information and communication technology. However, the lack of modern infrastructure only makes it difficult for BPO locators to speedily establish businesses here.

For one, the worsening traffic problem has become the number one source of complaints from investors that many of them have now started transferring to nearby areas. The country's internet connectivity, which is among  the slowest in the world, is another problem that has been giving businesses a headache. In an era when transactions are done through the click of a mouse, it’s unfortunate that the country is still groping for form in the online world.”

Two major issues affect the BPO industry… not just in Metro Cebu, but in Metro Manila as well and we need to fix these problems pronto! For the BPO industry, Internet connectivity is a huge issue and we are in the center of the Digital Age where Internet speeds by our ASEAN neighbors have blindly fast Internet speeds and the Philippines remains to slowest in ASEAN. This is why exactly a week ago, we praised Globe Telecom for filing that civil suit against a certain Ms. Betty Aw before the Regional Trial Court of Makati Branch 59 last June 13, 2017 for preventing them to construct a cell site in the exclusive subdivision of Dasmarinas Village. 

Worse, this Dasmarinas resident, she used as her lame excuse that cellsite causes cancer. Even before the advent of cellular telephones, cancer has become a major medical problem in this country. However she just can’t prove that those cellsite causes cancer. But for sure, rich subdivision owners are depriving all cellular users their basic right to free speech via a cellular telephone. So this is a very interesting test case for all telecoms providers.

Again for the sake of sounding redundant, the key to a fast mobile service, including high speed Internet connection is for our telecoms to build more cellsites… something that private subdivisions refused to allow. Hence we strongly support the legal efforts taken by Globe Telecom in order for them to pursue their goal of achieving faster Internet speeds. Call it the rich vs. the poor cellular users who suffer slow Internet speeds!

The other reason why Cebu and Manila has slipped in its Tholons Survey ranking is due to heavy traffic in Metro Cebu and in Metro Manila. Indeed, I would like to believe that a lot of workers in the BPO industry using small motorcycles to from their homes to their place of work. But the rest of these workers who do not ride mopeds have to take public transportation and heavy traffic means tardiness for these workers.

As I have pointed out many times in the last six years, Metro Cebu suffered from infrastructure starvation during the six-year term of Pres. Aquino. But under the Duterte administration, Cebu City is reviving its Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which PNoy shelved in the Year 2012, and Metro Cebu will soon have its first Light Rail Transit (LRT). But the problem is… which is a better mass transit for Cebu City?

Mind you, BRT is only for Cebu City although they want to study the second phase to include Metro Cebu, while the LRT is Metro Cebu from its concept. But politics seem to be getting in the way when Presidential Assistant Michael Dino wanted to cancel the BRT in lieu of the LRT. For sure we just can’t afford two mass transit systems. So what will it be? BRT or LRT?

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