BY 2022; IT-BPM TO ADD 1M JOBS

Up to a million additional jobs are expected to be created within the next six years or until 2022 in the information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) industry, mostly for mid- to high-skills.

This is less than half the time the country took to reach its first million in jobs which it did in 2015, or 15 years since the industry started in 2000.

Preliminary results of a new roadmap of the industry being crafted by Frost & Sullivan show a reduction in the number of workers in low-skilled tasks – such as simple entry level, process-driven tasks that require little abstract thinking or autonomy – from the current 473,000 to about 445,000 at the end of 2022 as the industry gives way to automation.

But Benedict Hernandez, chairman of the executive committee of the Information Technology Business Processing Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), is unfazed saying this is an opportunity for the Philippines to “spin in a new orbit for high value and high complex” work in the IT-BPM space.

Bitin Bhat, partner and head of consulting of Frost & Sullivan, said mid-level skills would almost double to 838,00 from 468,000. These are in complicated tasks that require experience, abstract thinking and situational response.

Bhat said in high skilled work –complicated tasks that require specialized expertise, abstract thinking and autonomy – workers could hit half a million at the end of 2022, exponentially higher than the current 160,000.

“It would be net of anywhere between 720,000 and a million jobs. Growth is there and we can maximize that growth. The robotics and artificial intelligence is viewed with an atmosphere of concern on what is going to happen with the jobs, what will these do for the industry. I have a different take,”Hernandez said in an interview on the sidelines of the IBPAP HR Summit at the Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria.

“I would embrace (automation) with no apprehension. But we need to invest in learning, in training and retraining human resources. We have to be agile,” added Hernandez.

Bhat, for his part, said this is a great potential for the Philippines to move up the value chain, recruit more people outside the sector and make the IT-BPM still the industry of choice.

“Technology would have some impact but in a positive way. Though this means some reduction in low-skill work, thePhilippines needs to upskill them and cater to mid- to high-skills by training our own workforce,” Bhat said.

Hernandez noted growth in low skills may be stagnant but the industry would strive to increase the level of efficiency. Recruits would be trained for higher skill levels, while existing workers would be retained.

In the end, revenues would be boosted as the industry focuses on mid- to high-skill tasks, but Frost & Sullivan has yet to wrap up the roadmap.

Hernandez said IBPAP is also yet to validate the level of automation of players, which would gauge how many jobs have been actually displaced.

Source: http://goo.gl/SRAfFx