Metro Manila has a population of more than 10 million people spread across 17 cities and municipalities, excellent power and telecommunications infrastructure, and abundance of colleges and universities have made Metro Manila the largest business process outsourcing city in the world.
Metro Cebu, on the other hand, is now touted as the world’s largest emerging BPO city, ahead of the likes of Shanghai and Beijing in China, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Krakow in Poland and Kolkata in India, according to research firm Tholons.
But the country’s BPO universe stretches beyond these two urban centers.
Ten “cities” have actually proven themselves worthy of being placed on the list of areas most suitable for BPO operations in the country.
According to the Next Wave Cities 2009 report of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, Commission on Information and Communications Technology and the Department of Trade and Industry, the Top 10 includes Metro Laguna, Metro Cavite, Iloilo City, Davao City, Bacolod City, Metro Pampanga, Bulacan East and West, Cagayan de Oro City and Lipa City.
These 10 “cities” have a combined absorptive capacity of 888,000. Current employment, however, is placed at a mere 35,000.
This means that these 10 areas, all already ripe to host BPO locators, can still absorb a workforce of more than 850,000.
Best three
The report shows that for 2008-2009, Metro Laguna is the best place for information technology and BPO operations outside of Metro Manila and Metro Cebu. Ready access to potential BPO workers is the primary reason for this.
The Metro Laguna area—composed of the cities and municipalities of Santa Rosa, Calamba, Los Baños, Cabuyao and San Pablo—has more than 7,000 graduates each year.
It can also attract graduates and workers from Metro Manila, as well as from nearby Southern Luzon provinces.
This area has an absorptive capacity of 206,000, but currently employs only 6,000 BPO workers.
Apart from its huge base of potential employees, other plus factors for Metro Laguna are its excellent power and telecommunications infrastructure, low vulnerability to natural disasters and the presence of several Philippine Economic Zone Authority zones.
Compared with others in the Top 10 Next Wave Cities list, however, it is relatively more expensive to operate in Metro Laguna.
BPO locators can also try setting up shop at No. 2 destination Metro Cavite, another Metro Manila neighbor that plays host to more than 5,000 graduates each year and is the country’s most populous province.
Its absorptive capacity is even bigger than that of Metro Laguna at 212,000, yet its current employment is pegged at only around 2,000.
Apart from having relatively good roads, power and telecommunications infrastructure, Metro Cavite is also close to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, a big consideration for BPO locators.
It has limited IT-BPO-specific infrastructure, however, and has no multistakeholder point of contact for investors.
But compared with Metro Laguna, rental rates in Metro Cavite are lower.
Rounding up the Top 3 Next Wave Cities is Iloilo.
Touted as the most cost-efficient city in the list, Iloilo offers potential BPO investors the lowest average wage, rental and power rates among the Top 10.
BPO locators can tap the city’s more than 17,000 graduates a year, although they may have difficulty sourcing additional talent, as the talent pool in the city’s immediate vicinity is quite small.
The city’s current BPO workforce of just 4,000 is way below its estimated absorptive capacity of 22,000.
But investors will have to take into consideration the absence of international flights in the city’s airport, power supply problems and slow construction of IT-BPO infrastructure.
The next frontier
While it has the distinction of being the only city outside of Metro Manila with more than a million people, Davao City is one of the most underutilized potential BPO sites in the country, due mainly to blanket travel advisories that are usually issued against Mindanao as a whole.
The city produces more than 11,000 graduates a year, and also offers potential locators reasonably priced IT-BPO facilities and competitively priced labor and power.
It has both an international airport with international flights and good hotels.
Its growth, however, is hampered by the negative perception of Mindanao in general. Contrary to this bad image, Davao City has one of the most effective police forces in the country, and the peace and order situation in the area is stable.
Bacolod City is another choice BPO spot, having been recognized as the city with the best business environment.
The local government unit helps facilitate the Peza accreditation process and also helps prepare its graduates for work in the BPO sector.
It also provides ready assistance to BPO firms that may encounter any problems during the course of their operation.
But as with most areas in the Visayas and Mindanao, power supply is a problem.
Infrastructure haven
In terms of infrastructure, sixth placer Metro Pampanga offers the best. Centered on the Clark Freeport Zone and including Angeles City and Mabalacat, the area provides BPO locators with an international airport and an efficient road network, as well as reliable and redundant power and telecom infrastructure.
Metro Pampanga also offers access to more than 30,000 graduates a year, institutionalized investor services, an active ICT council and BPO-ready sites that are also Peza-accredited.
But these perks come with a price, as Metro Pampanga has the highest rental and wage rates outside Metro Manila. Low power rates help offset these high costs.
Two other generally untapped potential BPO sites are located in Bulacan—the Baliuag-Marilao-Meycauayan areas in the east and the Malolos-Calumpit areas in the west.
Located relatively close to both Metro Manila and Metro Pampanga, these two key areas in Bulacan occupy the seventh and eighth spots in the Next Wave Cities Top 10 for 2008-2009.
Being near two other Next Wave areas gives Bulacan East and West access to thousands of graduates and workers, in addition to its own 5,000 graduates a year.
While having an absorptive capacity of as much as 300,000, the biggest among the Top 10, there are no BPO firms operating in the two areas.
Its rise to the seventh and eighth spots on the Top 10, however, has prompted the creation of an ICT Council, which will have to quickly address the lack of BPO-ready office space in the province.
Growth potential
Another Mindanao city on the list, Cagayan de Oro City, gives BPO firms another option if they want to escape the already-saturated Metro Manila area. Offering among the lowest rental and wage rates among the Top 10 locations, Cagayan de Oro is considered the most cost-competitive.
Despite having no tertiary schools within its immediate periphery, the city produces more than 6,000 graduates a year and also has access to another 6,000 within commuting distance.
If it plans to take advantage of the BPO boom, the city government should address the relatively high crime rate in the area, as well as prepare additional power capacity to prevent a shortage in the future.
Rounding up the Top 10 is Lipa City in Batangas, which has already proven its position as a BPO host with a huge potential for growth.
Lipa currently plays host to TeleTech and Advanced Contact Solutions, which have a combined employee count of around 1,500. Another 800 people work for smaller IT-BPO players in the area.
The city, however, has yet to put up an ICT Council that will make it easier for IT-BPO companies to set up shop in the area.
New list
By November, CICT chair Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III said a new Top 10 list of Next Wave Cities would be released.
“Although we’ve already assessed around 40 areas, we want to focus on promoting just 10 at a time. We want to get into that mode where potential investors already have mindshare on our BPO cities. We hope this will serve as an incentive for cities to further develop, to enable them to get into the Top 10,” he said.
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