This year FINEX through its National Affairs Committee will again hold an annual outsourcing forum. The venue this time will be in Meralco (Pasig Room) and the theme will be ‘‘WHY OUTSOURCE?”

Last year’s theme is whether to outsource or not to outsource. But most companies now realized that outsourcing is no longer an option but a business reality.

The roster of speakers for this year is an interesting mix. For the first time we will have somebody from the client side to speak on her company’s experience on outsourcing and her topic will be “PROS AND CONS OF OUTSOURCING”. She is the HR Manager of a subsidiary company of a New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listed company. They are outsourcing certain functions to third party providers in almost all areas of their company’s operations and she is Ms. Gemma Rozul.

To update us on the state of the outsourcing industry in the Philippines and its future under the new government administration we have invited no less than the one in the helm of the leadership of the business processing industry organization which is the BUSINESS PROCESSING ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES (BPAP) none other than Mr. Oscar Sanez.

Only few companies are into knowledge outsourcing since this requires special expertise and experience. But there have been a big demand for this kind of service nowadays even locally so we invited someone whose company’s expertise is into risk management/assessment, internal audit (which may include IT audit), application system provisioning, etc. He is none other than the Chairman of KPS Outsourcing, Inc. Mr. Freddie Non.

We are also inviting somebody to speak on the topic “Finance and Accounting Outsourcing” but as of to-date we are still awaiting his reply, we cannot mention his name yet. This topic is very relevant especially because most of those who will be attending would probably be financial executives or those with finance and accounting background.

The importance of this forum cannot be overemphasized especially since a big portion of our dollar inflows is derived from outsourcing. Unemployment has dramatically dropped too, because of the mushrooming of call centers and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies which gave jobs to thousands of personnel who otherwise would belong to a significant number of jobless Filipinos.

Outsourcing is no longer an option but a business reality. It has become a survival strategy not just a business strategy. Globally the number of companies which are into outsourcing are increasing in leaps and bounds and some big companies put up their own shared service centers to cater to their offices located in different parts of the world. This also constitutes outsourcing but catering to internal customers since this is company-focus rather than to outside clients.

The increase in number of companies globally which are into outsourcing just goes to prove that outsourcing is here to stay. It also proves that many companies are benefited by outsourcing not only in terms of cost arbitrage or economic reasons but also strategic and technical reasons. Strategic in terms of sharing risks, gaining access to new resources, etc and technical referring to access to new technology and special expertise, coping with the speed of technology obsolescence and several other technical considerations.

The forum which will bring together providers and clients will help clarify certain issues on outsourcing and help companies decide whether their companies are ready to go into outsourcing or if already into outsourcing how to use and maximize it for business growth. This could also be a chance to discuss on how the government can best support the industry and how both the providers and the clients can work together harmoniously for an effective & harmonious outsourcing relationship.

(Wilma Miranda is the Chairperson of the Publications Committee of FINEX. For comments, please email her at Wilma_517@yahoo.com)