Scholarships for BPO skills of OFW Dependents Brings Hope for Displaced Workers

In a recent visit by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to Davao City last February 19, 2009, Davaoenos welcomed the good news that the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has continued to offer scholarships for skills training for OFW’s dependents. The scholarship called, “Skills-for-Employment Scholarship Program (SESP)” enables a qualified applicant to avail of either a one-year or a six-month technical vocational course with financial assistance of P14,500.00 paid directly to the training provider. OWWA beneficiaries, to include the spouse of a married OFW, children not older than 21 years old, or a sibling not older than 21 years of a single OFW, may now qualify for application to the SESP.

While the OWWA scholarship may be used for any technical training program, the ICT & IT-BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry of Davao City through TADI (Transcription Alliance of Davao, Inc.) has emphasized the need for qualified transcription manpower as the demand for trained transcribers continues to rise. The 2008 projection for number of transcription jobs is seen to grow by at least 35% over previous year.

Since 2007, MTC Academy, a transcription training service provider, has trained and graduated 8 number of OWWA scholars. Many of these scholars have been extended job placement assistance and have been deployed in various transcription service companies operating of Davao City. Some OWWA scholar/graduates have also successfully transitioned to become home-based transcription service providers. MTC Academy will continue to accept OWWA-SESP scholars for training in business, legal or medical transcriptions.

Now, more than ever, there is a pressing need for the workforce to build BPO-related skills to cope with the projected robust growth of the non-voice sector (transcriptions, data entry, web & graphics development and animation). With the increasing number of displaced OFW workers, the IT-BPO industry is seen as a bright spot that can cushion the impact of the global crisis to the Philippine economy.

Visually Impaired Finds Hope in Outsourcing Career

Losing one’s sight causes people to despair and lose hope for a bright future. When it happens slowly as in the case of those afflicted with a genetic eye disorder called Retinitis Pigmentosa, the situations becomes terrible as most people fear the loss of independence that results from losing one’s vision.

Such is the case of Ramon (name withheld for privacy) who had been suffering progressively from a condition called tunnel vision. While others go completely blind, in some cases as early as childhood, for others, the eventual loss of sight happens much later.Ramon was diagnosed with this eye disorder while attending his 4^th year of college education in a local university. Fresh out of college and determined to arm himself with a skill that will enable him to be a productive individual despite his impairment, Ramon decided to enter a medical transcription program upon the recommendation of the Resources for the Blind Inc. (RBI). RBI in cooperation with MTC Academy has a special program that teaches the visually impaired to acquire the competencies of medical or business transcription through a technology called JAWS (Job Access with Speech).

Never wavering in his belief that he can be somebody, Ramon persevered in his transcription education and finally graduated last September 2008.Barely 3 weeks from graduation, he landed a job with a Davao-based transcription company. Ramon at 23 years old is a shining example of how to win despite the odds.

With the ever increasing demand for outsourcing services such as transcription, hope springs for the visually impaired. Davao’s ICT champions continue to advocate training for business process outsourcing skills and equal employment opportunities for the disabled.

Davao: The "Next Big One"

This is the best news so far. And to quote, "Outside of Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, Davao will become "the biggest location for BPOs," says David Leechiu.

Click here for David Leechiu profile.

Click here for the whole BPAP Breakthrough Newsletter.

BPO industry needs more ICT graduates

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - With the Philippine Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry growing by 30 to 35 percent annually and a projection of 1 million jobs generated by 2010, key players in the Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) industry and academe are pushing for a comprehensive and sustainable training program that will develop Mindanao's human resources on information, communication technology (ICT.

"We need to let the public know the positive economic impact the BPO sector has already gained, and the untapped opportunities that the ICT industry has to offer particularly in creating more jobs and ICT-related businesses," said Wit Holganza, president of the ICT Davao, Inc. during the first ever BPO Human Resource and Recruitment Forum held last September 29.

She said the forum, which gathered BPO experts and HR practitioners from local schools and training institutions, is a good start to prepare the human resource pool to acquire skills that will serve the requirements of the BPO industry players.

The supply of qualified ICT-skilled workers is an increasing concern, as the industry needs more ICT graduates with the ICT industry poised for upbeat growth in the next years.

Ditas Formoso, head of the Technical Committee on Government Academe Industry Linkage (TC-Gail) said that the talent pool is growing at a rate of only 10 percent while the industry grows 30-35 percent annually.

In her presentation, she explained that faculty development, industry immersion for students, appropriate school infrastructure and industry-based curricula are factors that make up a talent pool required by the industry.

The TC-Gail will embark on advocacy and awareness programs to gain industry, academe and local
government support for the faculty immersion programs they will be pilot testing.

She also encouraged academic institutions to participate, as this will benefit both graduates and faculty.

Jamea Garcia, Talent Development Director of the Business Processing Association of the
Philippines (BPAP) said in her presentation that the supply of talent would determine the level of growth the industry will experience.

She said that a comprehensive assessment and training program must be developed to help improve suitability of talent for the industry.

In a recent article, she said investing in training of human resources is a challenge for stakeholders "in order to supply the quality of talent which will also propel improvements in the industry."

She said aside from generating 1 million jobs by 2010, it is also projected to generate 1.2 to 1.3 million indirect jobs.

The forum was organized by the ICT Davao, an umbrella organization of different ICT industry associations. The group is planning to develop a databank, which will determine Davao's human resources pool and its capacity to respond to the needs of prospective locators.

The three-day forum also matched teachers and guidance counselors of schools with HR and recruitment staff of BPO companies on a two-day job fair to allow schools firsthand experience in human resource and recruitment processes which can become a benchmark for schools in improving their curriculum particularly in English proficiency and other ICT-related skills.

A career employment track was organized to focus on career opportunities in the different BPO fields, which include the contact center, medical transcription, and graphics and animation.

On the other hand, the technopreneurship track oriented the participants of opportunities in engaging in ICT start-up businesses.

The Davao Business Plan Competition was also launched during the forum to encourage young ICT entrepreneurs to submit business start-up proposals. - Sun Star

Cross the River and Learn How to Swim

As the famous song from the known band AMERICA says "Don't cross the river if you can't swim the tide". I am to believe that this notion is always the best thing to do in every situation where you are stuck to the point of having hesitations in doing something because you don't know how to get around it.

When I started working in MTC Academy Davao, I had this feeling of anxiety since I know I will be asked to do things which I was not exposed to in the past. Considering that my experiences in the past are mostly in the hardware implementations and setups, still I pursued and faced it. I only had little idea on how to setup a medical transcription training center, most especially a medical transcription production facility.

When I did the network hardware setup of the school, I did not have that much difficulty in doing it since most of the implementations on the hardware area I am quite familiar and also I was provided with training from the central office. The only thing that is challenging is the implementation of the student's learning systems which require tremendous configurations. It took me more than a month to familiarize myself to that system and make it run stable. I just kept on experimenting, testing, researching and asking other IT people from other branches. Unlike in the setup of the production facility which is more challenging to do and must be in compliance to a law, had completely I am way far from the beginning of it. The most gruesome thing is I had to do it alone.

The setup of the production facility took me sometime to finish and make it running since it's a very complicated thing to setup for me because I did not have prior idea on how to do it. One important thing that drives me in order to successfully complete the setup of the facility is my instinct. What I did was I just kept on reading related articles, researching on the internet, ITs asking other IT experts opinions, and kept on testing by trial and error. Finally I was able to make it run in a standardized way that is compliant to the binding law. The internet is a vast collection of knowledge where you can gain ideas in making things done. One important thing that drives me in order to successfully complete the setup of the facility is my instinct.

Jonathan O. Lobo

IT Assistant

Davao City seen as emerging ICT hub amid unrests

A recently concluded XMG Global Offshoring Leadership Study revealed that Davao City in the Mindanao Region of the Philippines will be a viable alternative site 3 years from now. This result is part of an ongoing study conducted between January to March 2008, which focuses on forecasting the global demand for offshoring and outsourcing services and the site optimization of emerging cities.

Despite periods of turmoil in the Mindanao Region, outsourcing vendors and captives who participated in the study are very bullish about Davao City primarily due to the area’s larger population of untapped qualified resources compared to Cebu City in the Visayas Region north of Mindanao. The study highlighted that competition in Cebu City is nearing saturation as the talent ramp-up continues.

Among others, the study highlighted the population of Davao City as considerably higher than other Tier-2 offshoring cities globally. In the Philippine context, Davao City’s population is 71% higher than Cebu City, 499% larger than Olongapo-Subic City 333% higher than Angeles-Clark City and 340% larger than Baguio City. The city’s estimated workforce is twice of Cebu, 9 times of Subic and 7 times of Clark and 6 times of Baguio. This has not even taken to account the manpower pool at the nearby cities and provinces of Davao City.

According to the study, Davao City has various educational institutions annually yielding a higher number of IT and BPO qualified graduates than Subic, Clark and Baguio by 689%, 278% and 40% respectively.

Citing previous years 2007 XMG Offshoring Risk and Infrastructure Index Reports, Davao City has been upgraded to a level C2 rating from its previous level D standing as the city emerges as a viable site for captive and outsourcing services. “Compared to other cities in the south, Davao City is very promising and it is seen to be the next generation city that would benefit large captives provided that risk issues are addressed properly”, concludes XMG Researcher Camille Lumbang.

About XMG

Headquartered in Victoria, Canada XMG provides unbiased and highly actionable ICT research, advisory and research-based consulting services to help companies become agile, adaptive and efficient in the use or marketing of information technology and information technology services. XMG’s extensive research and insights help end-users, service providers and captives develop the appropriate strategic response, market penetration strategies and the development of operations excellence.

Completely vendor independent and not aligned with any hardware, software or consulting vendors, XMG ensures an objective fulfillment to solely operate in the best interests of our Customers. Whether Customers are end-user clients, vendors or service providers, the ultimate goal of XMG is to become our Customers long-term trusted ICT Advisor.

Medical Transcriptionist

I bet working at the comforts of your home is one thing you've been dreaming of. Many years back, this wasn’t possible, right? But nowadays, it is doable to have a flourishing career and at the same time enjoy lots of time for family life.

Rewarding careers is just a click away. With a few encoding capabilities and some writing prowess, you’re on your way to making a huge bucks while improving relationships with your loved ones.

I'm sure you've heard of Medical Transcription. The magical tasks of documenting enormous amount of medical records has come to the Philippine shores. Just like the contact call center, MT is considered a sunshine industry sector of the larger business process outsourcing.

There is a huge demand for MTs. The jobs created by this industry can contribute to poverty alleviation by providing employment to a large number of the workforce. Thanks to outsourcing, now everyone has a chance to achieve their dream without leaving the country.

The Medical Transcription business never forsakes quality for quantity. The Filipino MT is starting to get recognition for their commitment to accuracy. We have the determination and perseverance to become world-class professionals. Many of us have invested in getting ourselves quality MT training and familiarizing ourselves with the technology associated with our line of work. We scrutinize the curriculum of MT training schools to see to it that we get well-rounded and comprehensive medical transcription training which instill the value of quality customer support and commitment to turnaround time.

Several options are open for those interested. There are business/trade school classes, distance learning classes (home study courses), training in house with MT service companies, and possibly, learning it on your own. But learning it with the industry's best will surely do the trick. It's about time to make that crucial decision. Let's be READY for the next biggest thing to happen in this country. Start building your career …..Be a Medical Transcriptionist!

6th MICT Congress

6th MICT Congress

What would you want to do or suggest to improve our very own ICT? Or should I say, what do we need to do so that Davao will be known and that "Silicon Gulf" phrase would be used?

Post your Answers or Suggestions.

Want to know more of the 6th MICT? Click here.

Davao strengthens push into IT with new transcription alliance group.

The formation of the Transcription Alliance of Davao, Inc. or TADI is seen as Davao's commitment to the growth of the information and communications (ICT) industry. TADI was established to spur the growth of ICT especially the operation of transcription services. Lizabel "Wit" Holganza, school administrator of the MTC Academy - Davao, largest TESDA-accredited medical transcription school in the Philippines, is TADI's first president while Fred Nadela comes in as vice-president.

ICT in Davao had an investment of 198 million pesos on 2005 and is targeted to grow to up to 1 billion pesos by 2010.

Read more in Sunstar Davao.

President Arroyo approves Damosa's IT Park Status

Sunstar Davao reports on April 5 that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has declared that a portion of Davao Motor Sales or Damosa land to ba an IT Park. This declaration is covered in Presidential Proclamation No. 1231 which partially states:

"creating and designating certain parcel of land located at J. P. Laurel Avenue corner Angliongto Street, Lanang, Davao City, as an IT park pursuant to Republic Act No. 7916 as amended by Republic Act 8748."

The IT Park at Damosa is seen as a boost to Davao's efforts in becoming a major player in the IT industry particularly in business process outsourcing.

The blog Davao Technopreneurship also mentions that Davao City Councilor Peter Laviña, chair of the committee on trade, commerce, and industry, believes that the IT park will boost the chances of this city's college graduates job opportunities.

Damosa's senior vice-president Ricardo Floirendo mentioned that they will initially invest 20,000,000 pesos on the first phase of the IT building.