Promoting the Philippine software sector

Here's an article that I've re-written to adjust its applicability today. Despite the Philippine software industry's growth, effort must be continuously undertaken to ensure that the country becomes CMMI self-sufficient to meet its 2010 vision.

ICT GROUP Reports 2006 First Quarter Revenue of $113.1 Million

John J. Brennan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ICT GROUP reported the 1st quarter 2006 performance of the company with 40% increase in services revenue. The company has 1910 workstation seats in the Philippines and shall add 500 more this year to meet increased client demand. (source: BusinessWire)

Philippines' fall in global IT not a setback

The Philippines' fall from a latest worldwide IT survey is not really a concern and Filipinos should even be inspired about it, according to a high-ranking BPO (business process outsourcing) trainer. (Source: Webwereld)

ClientLogic Continues to Earn Worldwide Accolades for Customer Care Services

ClientLogic, an international business process outsourcing provider, announced that the Company has been recognized by nine global organizations and publications for excellence in customer care, outsourcing services and agent development. The Company also received four awards in the Philippines, according to CRM Today.

Philscan optimistic about Philippines as expanding outsourcing partner

(This is an update of the article we wrote a few years back - "Danish-Filipino IT company continues to expand in spite of dull market")

Danish/Filipino company Philippine and Scandinavian IT Services has been one of the steady web-development company for the past 6 years.

Its unique combination of Scandinavian design and quality coupled with Philippine IT expertise at local price levels, continues to be the backbone of it's production. The production is primarily for Denmark and other European countries, but also companies and organisations in the Philippines are increasingly appreciating the value of the design and quality offered by the company.

Philscan.com's web production is a mix of custom-made dynamic CMS solutions, CMS templates and modules, static html and flash sites, hosting and service agreements. It has also involved itself in web-based software development on project basis as well as IT-development and services based on hourly payment. Among the projects recently completed are an online telemarketing system for a Danish customer, and a genealocigal software for a Norwegian company.

President and CEO of Philscan.com, Per Stangegaard (Danish) believes that there continues to be big opportunities for Philippine produced services overseas, provided the Philippine companies partner up with foreign know-how in the individual markets, and he invites other Philippine companies to offer their services through philscan.com, especially for the Scandinavian markets.

“We welcome partners, and prefer to keep our own organization to a core of a few very experienced staff, and project coordinators. There is a natural skepticism in Europe against outsourcing to unknown companies in foreign countries, and the piles of offers received from overseas, are normally being totally ignored, unless they are presented “live” by nationals of the targeted countries and by suppliers with their own presence and control in the country of production. Philscan therefore increasingly see a role as a link/facilitator between the best Philippine suppliers/producers, and it's Scandinavian customers"

Per Stangegaard adds "In the Philippines we have teamed up with i.a. http://www.worldpartner.com whose services we thus also promote to our markets, and we welcome such partnerships with local providers of top quality products and services."

He continues: "It is not only from the Philippines that we welcome partners. There is an increasing interest among our customers to set up joint-ventures in the Philippines. We have in 2005 set up one such seperate joint-venture company, Langhoff Promotions (Phils.) Inc. which, apart from offering that company's corporate profiling products and gifts/give-aways in the Philippines, is now producing all the IT and graphic/creative design needs af Langhoff Promotion in Europe.

"I think that such partnerships will increase in the future, and I could well see Philscan.com enter into more joint-ventures with European and American companies who want the security of having ownership in their own service organization abroad. We welcome this development, and one of the main problems to solve may be the limit of 200.000 USD needed for foreign investors to own more than 40% of such joint-ventures. This holds back many small and medium sized foreign companies from investing in the Philippines."

Per Stangegaard (47) first lived in the Philippines from 1983 to 1991, and returned in 2000 to permanently set up base in this country. "Having lived in, and visited a great number of countries, I found that the Philippines for me, has the right combination of people qualities, competitiveness, and quality of life that I wanted to combine with my native Denmark's many qualities, but cold weather. It creates a good balance in my life, so that is why I have made it my purpose to introduce and build on Denmark's and the Philippines' strong points to each other," he ends.

Philscan.com is a fully owned subsidiary of Philippine and Scandinavian design, FILTRA Inc.

Call Center Outsourcing Gets Easier

James Stinson’s company Global Sky, operates a call center operations facility in Manila, which is fully setup for inbound and outbound calling to places like the US, Canada, Australia, UK, and many other countries worldwide. Stinson is an American businessman with years of offshore contracting experience, says that it takes extra care and contracting skill to outsource properly and acquire the assurances and control to ensure your project functions effectively and remains in safe hands. (PR Web)

Interview with Lance Rosenzweig, PeopleSupport

SocalTech interviewed Lance Rosenzweig of PeopleSupport as to how PeopleSupport evolved. According to Rosenzweig, its migration of operations to the Philippines is one of the three important decisions they have made, that contributed to their survival and success in business.

Ingram Micro May Offer Outsourced Backroom Ops for VARs

Following its own success in outsourcing telephone contact with VARs to the Philippines and other location, Ingram Micro is working on a program to allow VARs to outsource some of their backroom operations, according to The Channel Insider.

Lawson shifts Philippines operations into high gear

According to Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal, Lawson Software Inc. is currently ramping up its staff, targeting a total of 200 employees, to do software development, customer support, and administrative tasks. Lawson CEO Harry Debes believes that the Philippines facility will efficiently extend the company's global reach.

Cigna healthcare to send work to Philippines

Cost saving is usually the reason why companies bring work to countries like the Philippines, according to this SearchCIO article interviewing a Gartner executive.

John Harris on Philippines advantage

John Harris, CEO of eTelecare, talked about deciding factors that made the company built most of its infrastructure in the Philippines and be able to offer high-quality outsourced customer care, in this TMCnet interview.

DSO signs up with AMA University

According to MENAFN, the Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO) signed up with AMA University of the Philippines to groom technical graduates. The DSO is a facility developed by the Dubai Government to transform the emirate into a knowledge economy.

Philippines a silent outsourcing star

Interesting story from The Mercury News on the predicament of Filipino workers and immigrants overseas. I can relate to it. Despite that, Michael Backman still sees the Philippines as a silent outsourcing star.