DTI-EMB leads PHL delegation to Sodec 2016
BusinessMirror
May 31, 2016
In Photo: The Philippines’s public-private partners in the Outbound Business Matching Mission for information technology business-process management companies participate in the recently concluded Software and Apps Development Expo (Sodec) 2016 in Tokyo, Japan. Philippine delegates include (from left) Ma. Teresa Loring, officer in charge (OIC) of Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) Services Division; Senen M. Perlada, DTI-EMB director; Emmy Lou Delfin of the Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technology Office (DOST-ICTO); Jonathan de Luzuriaga, Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) president; Commissioner Monchito B. Ibrahim of DOST-ICTO; Tae Abion of PSIA; Nathalie Hunter, PSIA executive director; and Ruel Abion of Spiceworx.
THE Department of Trade and Industry-Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) recently led the Philippine delegation to the Outbound Business Matching Mission (OBMM) for information technology business-process management (IT-BPM) companies and the Philippines’s participation to the Software and Apps Development Expo (Sodec) 2016 held on May 11 to 13 in Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan.
Eight Philippine companies attended the Sodec Expo 2016 under one Philippine Pavilion. Sodec Expo is held every year and participated in by over 2,000 exhibitors and about 85,000 visitors from 145 countries around the world.
This year’s Philippine booth offered business-matching areas for the eight exhibiting companies to showcase specific services to walk-in or targeted clients during the expo. The Philippines’s participation to the expo aimed to further benefit these local companies through exposure to innovations and firsthand information on buyers’ specific preferences that will help them grow their business and diversify their valued services to the Japanese market.
The OBMM was in cooperation with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center Tokyo, headed by Commercial Counselor Ma. Bernardita A. Mathay, and in partnership with the Philippine Software Industry Association and the Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technology Office. Also during the visit, a total of 16 Philippine IT-BPM companies participated in prearranged business-matching sessions on May 10. The activities that day included an IT seminar and networking sessions with Japanese counterparts held at the Bright Core Hall in Osaki, Tokyo, Japan. A total of 177 Japanese companies, CEOs, representatives, and officers engaged in the IT-BPM industry were in attendance.
The Philippine delegation, composed of 16 local companies, included Adarna Digital, Alliance Software Inc., Advanced World Systems Inc., Compos Mentis Inc., Cybertech Corp. Ltd., Green Advance Tech Solution Corp., Ideayatech Inc., Klab Cyscorpions Inc., Magpie.Im Inc., Pointwest Technologies Corp., Spiceworx Consultancy Inc., Toon City (Morph Animation) Inc. Top Connection Asia Inc., Tsukiden Global Solutions Inc. Ubiquitous Technologies Philippines Inc., and Valtes Advanced Technologies Inc.
At present, the IT-BPM industry in the Philippines employs over 1.3 million Filipinos and is expected to meet the target of generating $25-billion revenue this year. The Philippines is now highly ranked among top outsourcing destinations in the world.
On the recent global ranking for the IT-BPM destinations, nine Philippine cities made it to the top 100, including Metro Manila and Metro Cebu, which ranked second and seventh, respectively. The seven other cities are Davao (66); Santa Rosa, Laguna (81); Bacolod (85); Iloilo (90); Dumaguete (93); Baguio (94); and Metro Clark (97).
As the third-largest IT market in the world, Japan is considered one of the Philippines’s major markets for outsourced services, specifically in software and business-process outsourcing industries. Sodec 2016 also marks the country’s 14th straight year of participation, through assistance from both public and private sectors. □
Maria Teresa S. Loring is the Chief/Officer-in-Charge of Services Division, Export Marketing Bureau, Department of Trade and Industry.