Bacolod keeps standing as BPO hub

BACOLOD CITY – The city remains one of the key hubs for the Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry, with vacancies in the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) accredited locations here down from 14.7 percent to 6.9 in the second quarter of this year.

Colliers, the global research and real-estate firm, attributed the decline in vacancies to the opening up of space in the Negros First CyberCentre.

Bacolod Negros Occidental Federation of Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) Executive Director Jocelle Batapa-Sigue said Friday more BPO companies are locating in the city.

There are 19 PEZA-accredited locations in Bacolod and more space is needed by the IT-BPO industry, she said.

Colliers noted that aside from Healthcare Information Management (HIM) and customer care services, online English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction is thriving in Bacolod. It forecast that vacancies in the city will rise only slightly, about 8 percent, in the remaining months of the year, with more ESL and HIM firms planning to expand to Bacolod.

Batapa said more IT locations should be put up through the city government.

Colliers said the city is a key destination for outsourcing operations and slowly becoming an HIM hub outside Metro Manila, due to the significant number of nursing and allied medical graduates that the city produces annually.

Bacolod, however, is still struggling to retain its rank in the Tholons annual survey for the most competitive global outsourcing locations, Colliers added. It dropped from 85th last year to 97th this year in the global ranking of the Top 100 Super Cities for BPO industry.

“We recommend that they consider Bacolod City as their expansion or back-up site,” Dom Fredrick Andaya, Colliers International Philippines Director for Office Services said in the report, “given the city’s skilled labor pool, adequate infrastructure and streamlined business registration system.”

While Bacolod is a major destination for call center services and a thriving hub for online English tutorial, some firms are finding it hard to fill up positions for non-voice, higher value outsourcing jobs, Colliers said.

“The city’s academic institutions and IT council should forge a stronger partnership with outsourcing firms and training centers to equip college graduates with the skill set required by KPO firms that provide higher-value outsourcing services,” Andaya said.