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THE
shortfall in the supply of information-technology (IT)
professionals will be one of the greatest obstacles to
the Philippine information and communications technology
(ICT) industry’s growth in the coming years.
“BPOs
[business-process outsourcing companies] have been
setting up shop in the Philippines and this has been
putting pressure on the availability of qualified IT
personnel,” said Rodell Garcia, CIO of Globe
Telecommunications. He was speaking Friday at the ICT
and Sustainable Development Conference sponsored by De
La Salle University.
A 2008
study by XMG, a global ICT research firm, revealed that
the IT labor pool in the Philippines grew 10 percent in
the past five years and that growth is expected to
shrink to only 3 percent in the next two to three
years—not enough to supply the ICT industry’s growth,
which has been estimated to grow by 30 percent to 35
percent until 2010.
Garcia
said one other problem of the industry is the high
attrition rate. “Currently, our attrition rate stands at
about 17 percent to 20 percent. Of this figure, a
significant portion—about 50 percent—leaves for other
countries.” Given these factors, Garcia said there
remains the main problem, which is the mismatch between
supply and demand. This has forced companies to become
more proactive in their approach. “To achieve the
required skill level, companies are beginning to
collaborate closely with the members of academe so that
the students, upon graduation, will be more prepared.”
A
surprising trend given the relatively higher pay of IT
professionals is revealed by Prof. Sherwin Ona of the De
La Salle University’s College of Computer Science: the
lack of qualified IT professionals also stems from the
large decrease in the number of students enrolling in
ITC-related courses.
“Enrollment in ITC-related courses has dropped
significantly since the late ’90s, mostly because
students turn to nursing, tourism and education-related
courses,” said Ona, adding that these are seen as the
surest ways to get a job abroad.
The
ITC-related courses are still relatively new when
compared with something as traditional as health or
education; thus, people, particularly the students’
parents, veer away from these ITC courses and stick with
what’s familiar.
In light
of this, Ona said it was “very important to attract more
students” to ease the industry’s lack of IT
professionals.
Ona said
universities must also be more proactive by reaching out
to companies. “We have taken several steps such as
offering new ICT courses and requiring students to take
on-the-job-training programs in companies to better
prepare them for work.”
He added
this was why De La Salle sponsors events such as the ICT
and Sustainable Development Conference in order to
develop working relationships with companies seeking IT
professionals. “The ITC industry can only truly move
forward as long as there is a synergy or fusion between
the industry, government and academe.”
In the
same conference, Herminio Pugeda, executive vice
president of Union Bank of the Philippines, outlined the
growing importance of ICT in today’s business, where ICT
should be aligned with the needs of management to
maximize ICT’s utility.
“There
is a need for management to get involved in discussions
regarding ICT,” he said, adding that in the same way,
chief information officers must also “transform their
thinking and try to view problems and solutions as a
chief executive officers.”
He said
in today’s business that this is a rarity that must be
addressed by management because it is critical to
aligning ICT goals with business goals. “Collaboration
between management and IT is critical and can no longer
be ignored as IT is a major partner in the modern
business environment.” |
