IBPAP trims revenue, jobs targets until 2022

MANILA, Philippines — The Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) has trimmed its revenue and headcount projections until 2022 due to the pandemic.

In an online  press briefing, IBPAP president and chief executive officer Rey Untal said the group now sees the revenue of the country’s information technology - business process management (IT-BPM) sector growing at a compound annual rate of 3.2 percent to 5.5 percent to reach $28 billion to $29 billion by 2022 from the expected $26 billion this year.

In terms of headcount, he said the industry is projected to increase by  2.7 to five percent to reach 1.37 to 1.43 million by 2022 from the 1.3 million forecast for this year.

Last year, the industry’s total full-time employment reached 1.3 million, up 5.8 percent from 2018.  Revenues rose 7.1 percent to $26.3 billion.

The industry’s revenues are projected to rise by 3.5 percent to 7.5 percent beginning this year to reach $29 billion up to $32 billion by 2022.

Under the industry roadmap released in 2016, the IT-BPM sector was aiming to grow revenues by nine percent annually, and to increase headcount by eight percent per year to generate $38.9 billion worth of revenues and have 1.8 million direct employees by 2022.

IBPAP revisited and revised the targets with global research and consulting firm Everest Group taking into account the impact of the pandemic on the industry.

Among the challenges being faced by the industry worldwide are pressure on cost structures, geopolitical changes, increased focus on business continuity plans, as well as the urgency to automate and implement digital transformation.

“While these new figures stand as the Philippine IT-BPM industry’s goal for 2022, it is equally important to know how we will be achieving them. The recalibration study also provided us with imperatives we and our stakeholders must undertake, not only to fulfill these targets, but to strengthen our sector locally and globally,” Untal said.

Everest Group partner H. Karthik said the Philippine IT-BPM industry’s  growth would depend on various factors including global macroeconomic developments, rollout of the coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine, and ability of the country to provide reliable and affordable broadband connectivity.

In addition, the country’s ability to increase its share of new digital work through appropriate market positioning and talent development initiatives, as well as the impact of the proposed rationalization of incentives under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) bill would also affect the growth of the industry.

Under the CREATE bill, firms registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority which include IT-BPM firms availing of the five percent tax on gross income earned incentive would be given a transition period of up to nine years.