The information technology-business process management sector revised downward its 2022 revenue target to as low as $29 billion from an earlier goal of $38.9 billion.
IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines president and chief executive Rey Untal said the industry recalibrated its revenue forecasts to a range of $29 billion to $32 billion by 2022 under the revised IT-BPM roadmap.
Under the old roadmap, the IT-BPM sector was expected to generate $38.9 billion worth of revenues and 1.8 million direct employees by 2022.
“Factors that contributed to this include geo-political developments and uncertainties brought about by policy changes and disruption in technologies. Amidst this downturn, the IT-BPM sector faces the challenges together and took the necessary steps to keep the Philippines competitive and relevant,” Untal said during the opening of the International Innovation Summit 2019.
Employment is expected to reach only 1.42 million to 1.57 million by 2022, lower than the earlier estimate of 1.8 million.
The group said that globally, the IT-BPM industry was experiencing subdued growth which became more pronounced for contact centers, business processing and IT services compared to healthcare, animation and game development.
Leading offshore/nearshore locations, including India, are also witnessing near-decade low growth.
The growth of digital services will render revenue growth higher than employment as new trend in automation will squeeze tight expected growth from the headcount perspective.
The group estimated that industry revenues grew 5 percent to about $25 billion in 2018, slightly faster than the 2.1 percent increase in 2017 to $23.4 billion.
Employment also increased by 5.1 percent to 1.23 million in 2018 from 1.17 million in 2017.
The Everest Group estimated a 5.2-percent growth to $26-billion revenues in 2019 and 4.7-percent increase in employment to 1.28 million.
The IT-BPM industry could post an annual revenue growth of 7.5 percent to $29 billion and headcount growth of 7 percent to 1.57 million, according to the Everest study.
The 11th IIS held at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay City discussed how the industry could continue to move forward and strengthen the Philippines’ position as one of the top investment destinations in the world for IT-BPM services.
