Sometime towards end of July, Exist participated as representative of the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) at the annual World BPO ITO summit in New Jersey. I’d like to share some knowledge which I gathered from Magi Hernandez, who represented the two teams.

Magi shares that she had the chance to listen to O. Sanez of BPAP, who was part of this session:  Global Sourcing Trends for 2010 & Beyond:  New Business Models & Destinations. Yes, as the economy recovers, outsourcing is becoming one of the strategic ways for companies to capture growth opportunities while lowering costs. It helps companies become more nimble or what we at Exist often say: help businesses respond quickly to strategic business requirements, turn creative ideas into powerful applications, and take advantage of current and emerging technologies.

She tells me that Sanez talked about the Philippines — and its potential to deliver not just BPO, but ITO capabilities and services.

Magi also outlined a number of items which she mentions should be part of the selection process for companies who are planning to outsource application development:

1) Geographical Ability - I guess this involves the kind of environment and challenges businesses will face when dealing with companies outside of their region. One would say the Philippines is both a low-risk and strategic choice for BPO and ITO due to its vast population that speaks English with American accents due to the exposure to Western culture and global business.

2) Industry Experience - In terms of software technology skills, the Philippines has very compelling capabilities — noting $423 million worth of revenues generated from both outsourced and product software in 2007. While there is lack of seasoned talent, a great number of capability initiatives are already running and are still being planned to solve this problem. Just look at the software development companies under PSIA and you’ll know you won’t need to look farther.

3) Infrastructure - Software development infrastructure in the Philippines is at par with other competing ITO countries.

4) Timezone Proximity - South America is a contender. Businesses who value this as critical should opt for near-shoring or on-shore models, or maybe work out a flexible schedule with their business partner. In our case at Exist, we may work in some timezones to better serve our clients — in my opinion, as long a solid communication platform and process is in place between the customer and the software application developer, this won’t even be a concern.

5) Security - It’s hard to fathom that your IP will be kept protected when you eventually outsource. It’s not that hard to imagine otherwise. Just make sure you do your homework, do a background check. Take a look at the company’s affiliations, reputation.

6) Culture Compatibility - I don’t need to mention that Filipinos have almost the same Western mindset as the Americans, do I? It’s also helpful to find out what kind of development processes are in place, how teams collaborate on a project, how issues are resolved, etc. Find that partner who you’d be comfortable doing business with.

7) Skilled Labor - This may be related to #2.

India still ranks #1 in both non-voice and IT outsourcing, South America is a challenger because it’s nearer. What then should we do?

We know this for a fact: that the Philippines can create innovative technologies, but at times we just don’t know how to market and/or sell it.

Magi relates that it’s a tendency (and sometimes more beneficial) for US companies to go to niche vendors — and so she states that we should be able to DIFFERENTIATE ourselves, our capabilities — what is our innovative aspect and tell them this is what we can do for you.

It’s important to understand the business of the customers / audience. (Very interesting because I had this discussion with Willex, who is also part of our BizDev team, and we talked about how Exist always dealt with business “authorities” who answered for the business requirements for our customers. He mentioned something like a pyramid where: Exist is the technology implementing partner, and there’s a partner who has the business acumen, and then finally, there’s the customer. Although, half of the time, I think the business partner is a group within the customer side.)

Anyway, if in case any company is interested (to outsource software development in the Philippines), you can contact PSIA to help you with your sourcing requirements. PSIA serves as the gateway to several brilliant software companies. You wouldn’t have to spend time corresponding separately with many companies.

Exist, first software outfit in the Philippines to establish an enviable Open Source capability, has been a member of the PSIA since 2007 and truly, it has been an honor to represent the organization. We learned a lot from this event and hope the member companies find value in our sharing.

Posted on 08.10.10 to Uncategorized by Macelle. Tagged application development, psia, software outsourcing, world BPO ITO. Subscribe to follow comments on this post. One comment. Add your thoughts or trackback from your own site.

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