Getting Ready for E-Services Philippines 2008

I've been fortunate enough to take part during the early days of E-Services Philippines. It is amazing to see how this event has evolved and one of the most look forward to every year.

The 8th e-Services Philippines: Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition is the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) annual international exhibit and conference for the ICT industry. This will be held on February 11-12, 2008 at the SMX Convention Center, Roxas Boulevard Manila. Since its inception E-Services Philippines (ESP) attracted over 160 exhibitors and 2,000 conference attendees annually.

This year’s e-Services is a cooperation between DTI’s Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, THOLONS, and Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP). With the theme, "Outsourcing Centers of Excellence," ESP will feature outsourcing centers of excellence and emerging players and locations in the outsourcing industry.

Another highlight of the event is the E-Services Awards 2008. In a bid to inspire ICT creativity and innovation, create benchmarking opportunities for Philippine firms, and establish a marketing platform for ICT innovators and entrepreneurs, the DTI through its trade promotion arm, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) will hold its annual e-Services Awards on February this year.

Since its inception in 2001, the winners of the Awards have earned international recognition and paved the way for companies to get into new markets. The project involves web-based systems using open-source technologies and the automation of their manual processes and incorporated into the system.

This year, the e-Services Awards 2008 boasts of new categories for 2008 include: Outstanding Client Application of the Year, Outstanding Consumer Application of the Year, Groundbreaking Technology of the Year, and Most Progressive Homegrown Company of the Year. The Awards are open for Philippine-based IT companies that have successfully marketed their products and services in the Philippines and other foreign countries and those who have established essential competencies and achievements in the field of IT-enabled services.

The awards will likewise recognize personalities whose ideas, talent, and commitment have contributed significantly to Philippine ICT development and/or whose passion have helped raise the bar of Philippine excellence in e-Services. Past recipients of this special citation were Senators Mar Roxas and Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Mosaic Communications President William Torres, and former Business Processing Association chair Bong Borja.

For information on the e-Services Awards 2008, contact e-Services Philippines Secretariat at 833-1277 or 831-2201 loc 254/255 or email itservices@citem.com.ph.

Software Requirements Management and Project Planning Workshop

All DigitalFilipino.com PH-SPIN members are invited to attend the forthcoming Software Requirements Management and Project Planning Workshop this January 23, 24, and 25, 2008 at the CEO Suite, 37th Flr. LKG Tower 6801 Ayala Ave. 1226 Makati City.

DigitalFilipino.com PH-SPIN members can send one representative to this training. Please confirm for food count purposes.

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a DigitalFilipino.com PH-SPIN member prior to January 23 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

The training program shall be as follows:

January 23

9:00 to 12:00

• Introduction to Software Process Improvement
• Introduction to Requirements Management
• Requirements Gathering Interviewing Techniques
• Requirements Questionnaire Development
  

1:00 to 5:00

• Exercise: Requirements Interview
• Software Requirements Degree of Difficulty
• Requirements Prioritization
• Vision and Scope Writing
• Software Project Risk Analysis
  

January 24

9:00 to 12:00

• Software Project Team Structure
• Requirements Traceability
• Requirements Change Control Procedure
• Exercise: Vision and Scope Presentation
  

1:00 to 5:00

• Introduction to Software Project Planning
• Work Breakdown Structure Development
• Work Schedule Development
  

January 25

9:00 to 12:00

• Stakeholder Skills Management and Commitment
• Software Project Artifacts Management
• Software Project Plan Development
  

1:00 to 5:00

• Software Project Plan Presentation
  

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a DigitalFilipino.com PH-SPIN member prior to January 23 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

Philippines bags NOA award for offshoring destination of the year

The results of the 4th annual National Outsourcing Association (NOA) awards were announced last October 18 in London. Over the last four years, the “NOAAs” have become a landmark in the acceptance of outsourcing as a legitimate business practice and recognise the efforts of companies or people who have shown excellence in the field of outsourcing.

The NOA is the UK’s only outsourcing trade association. Advocating best practice, the NOA represents outsourcing end users, vendors and other companies which support outsourcing, such as legal firms, consultancies and HR. The NOA is involved in research, events, education and public affairs. The vast quantity information that the NOA has collected is referred to as BOOK (the Body Of Outsourcing Knowledge).

The awards ceremony, which took place at The Brewery, in the City of London, was attended by almost 500 of the most influential people in the outsourcing world. The awards, which were hosted by stand up comedian, Fred MacAuley comprised an evening of dinner and entertainment.

The 16 categories, which encompass every area of outsourcing, attracted hundreds of applications and were judged by a panel of outsourcing experts. The winners of this year’s NOAAs are as follows:

· Offshoring Destination of the Year sponsored by Wipro

WINNER: The Philippines

· BPO Project of the Year sponsored by Xansa

WINNER: Intelenet Global Services

· IT Outsourcing Project of the Year sponsored by iHotdesk Group

WINNER: Sapphire Group and Betbrokers

· Financial Services Outsourcing Project of the Year Sponsored by Lovells

WINNER: IBM and Bradford and Bingley Group

· Public Sector Outsourcing Project of the Year sponsored by Infosys

WINNER: Response and the US Embassy

· Telecommunications Outsourcing Project of the Year, sponsored by Hudson and Yorke

WINNER: Firstsource and Vodafone Customer Services Belfast

· Utilities and High Tech Outsourcing Project of the Year, sponsored by Atos Origin

WINNER: Sitel and Sony PlayStation 3

· Offshoring Operation of the Year sponsored by Outsource Magazine

WINNER: ihotdesk

· Outsourcing Professional of the Year sponsored by Telecom Service Centre

WINNER: Tim Palmer, MD, Equa Terra

· Outsourcing Service Provider of the Year sponsored by Invest Northern Ireland

WINNER: NHS Shared Business Services

· Outsourcing Contact Centre of the Year, sponsored by Fujitsu

WINNER: Garlands Call Centres

· Outsourcing Adviser of the Year sponsored by IBM

WINNER: Slaughter and May

· Outsourcing End User of the Year, sponsored by NelsonHall

WINNER: Mapeley

· Award for Innovation in Outsourcing sponsored by Intelenet Global Services

WINNER: Infosys and BT

· Lifetime Achievement Award, an NOA award

WINNER: Bob Aylott of Orbys Consulting

· Special award for consistent excellence for outsourcing practice across all disciplines, an NOA award

WINNER: HCL

Martyn Hart, chairman of the NOA commented: “As outsourcing matures best practice becomes critically important and this is what our awards are all about. They are going from strength to strength and have become the bedrock of the outsourcing profession. This year’s event proved to be an exciting evening celebrating excellence in outsourcing and graced by the most prominent outsourcing professionals in the industry. With outsourcing being such a fundamental part of the business landscape we feel it’s critical to raise awareness of how important best practice in all aspects of outsourcing is and these awards have become an essential part of that.”

Software Coding and Test Management Workshop

All DigitalFilipino.com PH-SPIN members are invited to attend the forthcoming Software Coding and Test Management Workshop this November 14, 15, and 16 at Laboratory 1, National Computer Center / Commission on Information and Communications Technology, C.P. Garcia Avenue, U.P. Diliman Quezon City (beside PhilVocs).

DigitalFilipino.com PH-SPIN members can send one representative to this training. Please confirm for food count purposes.

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a DigitalFilipino.com PH-SPIN member prior to November 14 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.

The training program shall be as follows:

November 14: Source Code Development and Maintenance

• 9:00 - 12:00 Source code development
• Developing source code
• format
• layout
• naming
  
• documentation
• comment writing
• error handling
• Tools
• Code design, growth, and decay
• Hands-on exercises
• 1:00 - 5:00 Managing application development process
• Writing specifications
• Code review
• Time estimation
• Programming disciplines
• Hands-on exercises
  

November 15: Software / Application Testing Introduction

• 9:00 - 12:00
• Introduction to Software Testing
• Tools
• Test policy
• Test plan development
• 1:00 - 5:00
• Test team structure
  
• Test plan workshop
• Test plan presentation
  

November 16: Software / Application Testing Management

• 9:00 - 12:00
• Test plan presentation
• 1:00 - 5:00
• Managing test results and deviations
• Improving test process
• Test Metrics
• Test Standards

Interested non-members are requested to sign up as a DigitalFilipino.com PH-SPIN member prior to November 14 and confirm attendance for food count purposes.