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CEBU CITY, Philippines - Information and Communications Technology (ICT) firms have chosen Cebu as their disaster recovery area or a fallback area in case things go wrong in their head offices in Manila.
This development ensures the continued growth of the ICT industry in Cebu because more ICT firms are expected to invest in Cebu.
According to the 2007 regional economic situationer of the National Economic Development Authority Central Visayas (Neda-7), a disaster recovery area is a site where IT firms “transfer or replicate their operations in case there are disruptions in the operations of the main centers located in Manila.”
Bonifacio Belen, executive director of Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedf-it), said this is an expected outcome as Cebu is the next tier city to Manila with the right infrastructure and rich talent pool.
Belen said business process outsourcing (BPO) providers normally have a risk management set-up where the recovery area is positioned in the next best destination.
“In this case, it's Cebu. When there is a power outage in Manila, the company can easily continue operations by switching to the next facility,” he said.
Belen said at first, Cebu was unconsciously chosen as a disaster recovery area by ICT firms.
Later, firms started pointing to Cebu as the established area where “operations can continue in cases of disruptions.”
“We are able to make this possible because we are ahead than any other cities in the country (aside from Manila) in terms of infrastructure and manpower,” he told Cebu Daily News.
Belen said in a global set-up, BPO data providers of accounting and human resource services, assure clients that the “delivery of operations and control of processes remains” despite power outages brought about by bad weather among others.
With this reputation, he noted that Cebu should continue moving to higher level of IT such as software development.
“Even call centers are already servicing technical support, which have more complex requirements,” Belen said.
The increase in the number of locators at the Asiatown IT Park (AITP) is one indication that Cebu continues to attract investments, Neda said.
Neda noted that AITP locators increased to 30 by the end of 2007, a 50 percent increase from 20 locators at the start of the year.
“Employment in the IT park also rose to 11,000 in December 2007 from only 7,000 in 2006 as a result of the opening of new facilities and expansion of existing ones,” Neda said.
Other cities in the country such as Davao, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Baguio and Iloilo will soon follow Cebu, said Belen.
“That is why it is a good initiative of CICT (Commission on ICT) to strengthen the Cyberservices Corridor program of the government and link the different cities,” he said.
“A natural growth will start flowing. If we have a critical mass of employees, then infrastructure development, the second requirement for ICT industry, will follow,” he said.
