#contactcenterworld, @TeledevPH

Roland Cerera, Digital Marketing Content Manager for TeleDevelopment in the Philippines says "As the IT-BPM flourish, every other industry is positively affected by its exponential growth. The need for office space is inevitable on top of this list." Cerera examines this topic further in the following article.


The country’s top GDP contributor this year is faced with yet another dilemma. First, the challenge of finding the right talent has catapulted recruitment efforts to its maximum strength. Now, the IT-BPM players are struggling to look for the best suitable location for their business. Metro Manila’s 237 square miles is deemed to be insufficient as more global corporations prefer to conduct their offshore operations in the country.

With 12.9 million inhabitants according to the latest Census, residential and office spaces are looking to venture to stretch out to the nearby provinces. As of the first quarter of 2016, only 3% of office units in Makati and 2.7% of units in BGC are vacant.

With more properties being developed in the next wave cities, discovering, assessing, and selecting a suitable site for business operations should still remain easy. So far, the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) have been identifying suitable BPO locations called "next wave cities", to retain outsourcing interest amongst the top global players. These next wave cities are proving to be a very attractive alternative to Manila and Cebu since these lesser known cities offer comparatively less expensive talent pool and much lower lease rates.

Driven by efforts to promote other cities, real estate developers are actively building new infrastructure that can meet the BPO industry’s demands. In an unprecedented turn of events, the industry is shaping the real estate business. The rise of IT-BPM offices also calls for other industries to follow like retail and commercial properties.

After introducing successful mixed-use townships in Quezon City, Pasay, and Taguig, a top real estate developer in Manila plans to invest a P35 billion in developing its 72-hectare Iloilo Business Park township in the next ten years. A major township development in Mactan, Cebu, is set to have around five to ten more office towers by 2021, as well, which is planned to offer 150,000 square meters of leasable space, accommodating approximately 45,000 workers from the Philippines’ IT-BPM sector.

It is, therefore, feasible that the IT-BPM sector that is expected to become a $48-billion industry by 2020 will continuously thrive with sufficient supply of infrastructure.

Setting up shop in the Philippines can be a challenge if one is not familiar with the landscape and demographics. You can focus more on the other vital gears of your operation and have your offshore planning handled by prominent names in start-up consulting.

#contactcenterworld, @TeledevPH