The Department of Science and Technology’s Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO), industry partners , and a number of local government offices are pushing for Information Technology – Business Process Outsourcing as a career option to people, especially the youth, living in the regions.

Spearheaded by ICTO and Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP), these IT-BPO awareness activities were designed to increase people’s understanding on the BPO industry.

Last year, ICTO held a series of ICT road shows in selected cities of various provinces to introduce the IT-BPO sector and some of its key players and to promote the career field. One of the aims of the roadshows too is to make people understand that it is not only call centers that compose the BPO industry but also other outsource sectors.

Cities that hosted the roadshows include Palayan City, Tagbilaran City, Legazpi City, Bacolod City, Zamboanga City, Bacolod City and Davao City. In said road shows, players, experts, and executives from the IT-BPO sector shared their success stories and industry benefits from industry to participants, mostly graduating high school students with their parents.

Jesse Rebustillos, who currently works at Philippine Daily Inquirer Classified Ads section, credited his employer for giving him a chance to attend several trainings and workshops in the past to improve his skills as IT practitioner.

He said that as he was exposed to various industry conferences and seminars provided by his employer in the past, he was able to meet the relevant people in his industry and enabled him to be updated in the emerging trends.

Now, he is an IT project manager and handling a team of web developers and SEO specialists. For him, it is a very challenging and gratifying task but that what makes his career much more colorful and enjoyable.

“Imagine being able to train young talents and being able to equip them with the knowledge, skills and attitude for them to be accepted in the global job market. For me that is career satisfaction at its best,” Rebustillos said.

Meanwhile, Rosalie Buenaagua, SEO Specialist and a resident of Legazpi City, expressed her gratitude on the significant contributions made by the series of ICT road shows held in their province that helped communities there to increase their awareness about different careers in ICT.

“Dito sa Albay before, very vague ang idea ng call center and I am very thankful to the prime movers of the BPO industry who are here like Ms. Rey. Dahil sa kanya nakilala ng paunti-unti ang industriya ng BPO at call center at nabigyan ng opportunities ang kabataan dito,” Buenaagua said.

(Here in Albay before, the idea of call center was very vague….Because of her, the industry is being recognized little by little and the youth are given opportunities.)

She also encouraged parents that aside from time, they should also invest on computer and internet for their children, which will eventually help young graduates in many ways.
IT-BPO also offers alternative career options for other graduates, especially for those courses that offer slim job opportunities.

During his interview in the radio program “Bago Yan, Ah!” last year, Alejandro P. Melchor III, Deputy Executive Director for ICT Industry Development of ICTO pointed out that in the IT-BPO field, four fast growing sectors are emerging, aside from the call center sector. These include the Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing, Finance and Accounting Outsourcing, Human Resources Outsourcing, and Animation and Game Development Outsourcing.

The Philippines could be a world leader in the said outsourcing sectors in the coming years, according to Melchor.

In the recent years, the country has produced sufficient number of students and graduates of Nursing, Information Technology (I.T) and other multi-media related courses to fill up the need of the IT-BPO Industry.

Healthcare IT-BPO careers have expanded into various disciplines that open windows of career opportunities for nursing graduates and allied medical professionals. Through the IT-BPO sector, these professionals can opt to take alternative careers such as medical transcriptionists, medical secretaries, medical coders and billers, medical assistants, medical representatives, medical butlers and clinical research associates.

There is a big job prospect in healthcare insurance, even in the United States alone, as President Barack Obama’s administration enacted a law that requires all American citizens to have healthcare insurance by 2014.

This is a big factor in providing opportunities for local residents, especially for those who belong to the 200,000 unemployed and under employed nursing graduates in the country.