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The power shortage in Cebu has not yet affected the operations of local business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology president Bonifacio Belen said.
“This has not been discussed among the BPOs here yet,” he said.
However, Belen said he plans to gather all BPO companies here in Cebu by mid-November together with representatives from the power sector like Veco (Visayan Electric Co.) to discuss how to save energy in Cebu.
“I have talked with Jesus Alcordo of Cebu Energy Development Corporation regarding the power issue and he has suggested that I gather the people to sit down in a meeting. Hopefully, once I get back from travel I will start calling them for a meeting,” the executive said.
Belen said that BPO companies in Cebu have taken steps to incorporate a measure of redundancy in their operations not only in Cebu but also in other locations and provinces in the country.
“So that if one area gets affected by, say, a power outage problem, they can immediately pass on the deliverables to their other offices,” he said.
Aside from the redundancy scheme, all BPO companies are well equipped with their own generator sets, according to Martin Crisostomo, executive director for external affairs of the Business Process Outsourcing Association of the Philippines.
“It's an SOP [standard operating procedure] for all the companies because they operate 24 hours a day and they have always included a generator set as part of the most important equipment they have to have in their offices,” he said.
The BPO industry is also optimistic about the two power plants which will soon provide more energy for Cebu next year.
Belen said that he was informed that the CEDC power plant would be energized by February 2010 thus power will not be as much a problem by that time.
He also added that despite that they would still try to plan out and discuss measures they can adopt in their offices to still save energy.
“Hopefully this will solve the problem as there are more BPOs who will be setting up here like JP Morgan who will be requiring about 1,800 seats,” Belen said.
