The business process outsourcing sector (BPO) expects sales to grow by a quarter to $9 billion this year as the industry rides the wave of a general economic recovery. The industry’s revenues of $7.2 billion last year — a 19-percent increase — came in at the lower end of its target of $7.2-$7.4 billion due to the caution that prevailed among businesses in the first half, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) said on Monday. In 2008, sales went up by 24 percent.

Meanwhile, the head of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), said the industry should prepare for an expected pickup in business this year. “What we need to do is to maintain our supply of talent and focus on infrastructure. We expect the BPO industry to grow more as our markets emerge from the recession,” CICT chief Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference. “We also expect voice[-based] outsourcing to continue to grow, but also see faster growth in nonvoice outsourcing, which is gaining ground,” he added, citing the need to build competitiveness as more countries enter the global outsourcing market. The Philippines is estimated to have a 15 percent market share, according to Everest Research Institute. (more…)