Philippines
Since the introduction of
Internet in the Philippines in the 90's, the IT industry
in the country has been on a roll. Often viewed by experts
as the susnshine industry, the success of the dot-com
business can be mainly attributed to the merging of
information technology and communication, which is now
tagged as the Information and COmmunication Technology
(ICT) sector.
Reports indicated that in 2004,
there was an influx of foreign investments in ICT in
the Philippines mainly due to the country's advantage
in terms of proficiency in the English language, cheap
labor, human resource skills, and the presence of ICT
infrastrauctures.
With Internet access - alongside
high PC use - being made available even in the remotest
parts of the archipelago, experts believe that there
will be a substantial growth and development of IT-enabled
services in the next few years.
OUTSOURCING; RP'S STRONGEST
LINK
The outsourcing industry, which is the process of hiring
outside professionals to perform specific function inside
a company, remaains to the ict industry's strongest
link. But just as the global demand for outsourcing
services continues to rise - it is projected to reach
US$180 billion by the tear 2010 - a number of outsourcing
services, other than call centers, are laready thriving
in the country.
First on the list is the digital
animation production, which includes pre- and post-
production services for cartoons and animated films.
According to a BusinessWorld report, the Philippines,
through apool of first-rate local animators, has been
providing services such as layouting, in-betweening,
cleanup digital background production through scanning,
colr styling, special effects creation, digital ink
and paint applications, web design, graphic and art
design, as well as mobile applications and art and animation
training for more than two decades.
The report also said that revenues
form providing these kinds of services in the international
market is seen growing by 20 - 30 % annually, from the
US$50 million that the industry earned in 2003, Filipino
animation houses, about 20 companies to date, are xpected
to grow in the coming years as the world animation market
is seen to exceed it is approximately US$60 billion
worth of revenues in 2005.
Medical transcription, the process
of encoding into electronical format the oral dictation
of physicians and other healthcare professionals, also
presents a bright prospect as far aas outsourcing is
concerned, thanks to a US law, which requires all medical
records to be computerized. Reports said that the US
is outsourcing 42% of its medical transcription requirement
abroad, and aabout 6,700 hospitals have yet to convert
their medical records into electronic format. the same
report showed that the US is short of 80,000 medical
transcriptionists to meet 230,000-requirement. the number
of US professionals are dropping annually due to the
rising cost of medical-related education and an ageing
population. The decline led to outsourcing of transcriptions,
making companies offering medical transcription in the
Philippines grow from nine companies in 2001 to 40 last
year.
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India
No other industry has been as strongly
identified with the success of India as information
technology (IT) and IT enabled services (ITES).
India's Department of Information
Technology reports that the Indian software and services
export is estimated at Rs 78,230 crore (US$17.2 billion)
in 2004-0, as compared to Rs 8,240 crore (US$12.8 billion)
in 2003-04, reflecting an increase of 34 per cent both
in rupee terms and dollar terms.
SUCCESS FACTORS
Among the factors that have been credited for its success
in such a short time are its sensitivity and reponsiveness
to the global IT market, its vasyt pool of highly qualified
manpower, a conducive policy framework from a supportive
government, and the emergence of Indian players who
continue to promote India as IT and ITES powerhouse.
The Indian IT software and remote
services industry is possibly one of the most proactive
sectors within the country's economy. It has managed
to keep up with the demands of customers worldwide and
even anticipated emerging opportunities and growth areas.
As a result, Indian IT players have moved up the ITES
value chain to provide services such as software integration,
web services, aand IT consulting. As early as 2002,
for example, players anticipated the boom in the business
process outsourcing (BPO) component of ITES, and started
to build IT enabled services that can provide BPO capability.
In addition, the skills set of the
country's manpower to meet the demand. In 1986, there
were around 6,800 knowledge workers in the IT industry;
the number jumped to 650,000 in 2003. Today, even at
over one million professionals in the industry, demand
still far outstrips supply.
Its quick response time aanticipated
the downturn in the U.S. economy - its largest market
accounting for over 70% of its export revenue in the
industry - allowing players to seek the potential of
other markets such as those in Europe, ustralia, Japan,
and CHina.
India's export-oriented software
industry grew at an impressive rate over the past 10
years. Export revenues from ITES grew from US$2.5 billion
in 2002-22003 to US$3.6 billion in 2003-2004, reflecting
a 44% growth year-on-year. In 2003-2004, ITES exports
accounted for over 27% of the total export revenues
of India's IT and ITES industry. |