BPO industry considers fraud, cybercrime as threats to growth

THE IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) said it considers fraud and cybercrime are threats to its growth because such practices create doubt about the safety of data handled by outsourcing firms.

It said the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) industry must jointly come up with solutions to cybercrime.

“It is to the country’s advantage that we, as an industry with the different subsectors, different BPO (business process outsourcing) players, and individually, contribute to the resolution of this problem affecting the growth of the industry,” according to Celeste Ilagan, chief policy officer of IBPAP.

“If we do not address this problem, our target of creating 1.1 million jobs by 2028 and contributing $59 billion in export revenue will not happen,” she added.

Last year, the group raised concerns about the cyberattacks and hacking of government data and IT systems.

IBPAP said that the need to tighten cybersecurity and address fraud was raised in a discussion with the Department of Justice (DoJ), the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and other members of the IT-BPM industry last month.

The DoJ and DICT called for a collaborative approach to cyber resilience, the efficient investigation of cybercrimes, and the establishment of a broadly accepted legal framework.

“The government’s support for the sector is solid and consistent. There is a clear need for laws and regulations to adapt to the current cyber developments — to enable innovation,” DoJ Undersecretary Geronimo L. Sy said.

“We need to help improve our existing policies to address and respond to changing times,” DICT Undersecretary Jocelle Batapa-Sigue said.

Ms. Batapa-Sigue said data protection officers should be designated within BPO entities as prescribed by law and that training and equipment on cybercrime should be made available even at the regional level.

Earlier this year, IBPAP said that it is targeting staffing levels of over 2 million by 2025 after ending 2023 with 1.7 million.

For this year, the group said that it is aiming for 7-8% growth to $39 billion in revenue, as well as a similar growth level in staffing. — Justine Irish D. Tabile