By Bjorn Biel M. Beltran, Special Features Writer
THE PHILIPPINES’ Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) sector has come a long way since the country overtook India as the global leader for voice-based services in 2010. As the country’s best-performing sector for the past four years, as well as the biggest employment generator according to government records, the IT-BPM industry has seen much talk trying to envision where it is headed next.
What else can the country offer the world?
In unveiling its newly renovated headquarters in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) is trying its hand at answering just that. The office — often the site of meetings between the industry’s representatives and its stakeholders in the private and public sector, as well as with potential investors and locators — aims to feature the best of Filipino culture and highlight the creativity of its people.
“It’s a snapshot of the Philippine IT-BPM industry in one office,” IBPAP President and CEO, Rey E. Untal said of IBPAP’s newly redesigned workplace.
Mr. Untal noted that the office, which was finished late last year, seeks to capture the essence of the image that the country is trying to project to the global market.
“Now more than ever, you will find key figures from the different subsectors of the industry coming together and collaborating under one roof. When we host visitors, as well as locators, this will be their window to the Philippines. This is the first impression that they will get.”
Different areas of the office highlight a certain design feature and Filipino motifs. Traditional hand-woven mats called banig and indigenous fabrics t’nalak and hablon, and even coconut husk fabric are used as accents and wall decorations.
“As the organization that represents the entire IT-BPM industry, we wanted the new office to give visitors a glimpse of what Philippines is all about — the home of human and tech. The use of indigenous materials and local patterns were incorporated against the sleek, modern design of the office to reflect this synergy,” Mr. Untal added.
For the office renovation, IBPAP partnered with business consulting company, DTSI Group. The vision was to make IBPAP’s headquarters not only showcase local culture but be the office of the future — offering an efficient, non-typical working environment with open and shared workspaces.
“We are currently seeing massive technology developments affecting the industry. The Office of the Future features strategically located and well-designed workspaces that improve productivity, foster creativity, and promote a healthy organizational culture,” Mr. Untal said. “Our staff are free to sit anywhere they want — from desks to benches to high bar tables. We want them to be able to openly interact with every member of the team which is why we made an entire space that encourages interaction, collaboration and productivity.”
The move is in line with IBPAP’s Philippine IT-BPM Roadmap 2022, which seeks to accelerate growth of the country’s IT-BPM industry by strengthening domain expertise and capabilities in the emerging sectors, leveraging advancements in technology and ensuring the Filipino talent is future ready with high value skills.
Among the goals of the road map is to create 1.8 million direct jobs, in addition to the 7.6 million Filipinos employed either directly or indirectly by the IT-BPM industry, and bring in an estimated $40 billion in revenue by 2022.

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