The country’s Business Process Outsourcing sector will be back to its “correct growth rate of 25 to 30 percent” this year after posting a “lower than average growth” of 20 percent in 2009, predicted Commission on Information Communications Technology (CICT) Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III.

“We did experience a slowdown but not as bad as the other industries,” he added.

“It’s up to us to be more aggressive so that we are in the position for recovery.”

The commission wants to see more cities transforming to ICT service hubs outside Metro Manila and Cebu, according to CICT Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim.

“We are currently working on 35 cities, of which 10 to 15 are globally competitive.”

For two consecutive years now, from 2008 to 2009, Cebu was ranked Number 1 Emerging Outsourcing City. The National Capital Region (NCR) of Manila ranked number 4 among global outsourcing cities after Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. So far, one of the commission’s most ambitious project was Convergence 2009 which promoted the Next Wave Cities of which 10 were identified last year: Iloilo, Metro Laguna, Metro Cavite, Davao, Bacolod, Pampanga Central, Bulacan Central, Cagayan de Oro, Bulacan South and Lipa.

It was an example of very good partnership between government and the private sector, the Commissioner pointed out. On top of developing the next wave cities, CICT Secretary Roxas-Chua maintains that the Philippines should likewise develop its workforce via up-to-date computer education.

“We have to push Personal Computer (PC) literacy so that more of our workforce will become computer-literate,” he stressed.

“The challenge is still in talent development. The BPO industry is demand-driven and supply-constraint,” Commissioner Ibrahim concurred. Once the sector solves the talent supply issue, the industry will have no problem achieving faster growth.