Mindanao Daily NEWS LIFESTYLE . PEOPLE . PLACES . EVENTS Bringing Good News of Mindanao
Volume III, No. 164
MONDAY
Parasat Cable TV MAIN OFFICE (088) 857-2662 (08822) 72-6112 Cruz Taal St., Divisoria (088) 857-3837 (08822) 72-1655
12 DECEMBR 15, 2014 See story on PageB1
CDO-ICT Business Council honors public, private agencies, ICT groups
By IRENE JOY DAYO, Staffmember and MARK FRANCISCO, Assistant Editor
I
n the aim to recognize public and private agencies, groups and individuals who serve as role players to the promotion, improvement and development of information and communication technology (ICT) in Cagayan de Oro, the Cagayan de Oro City ICT Business Council held an awarding event last December 12 at Centrio Mall. In partnership with Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) – Misamis Oriental and Mindanao Cluster 2 Field Operations Office under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) – ICTO, the event targeted to acknowledge prime movers in the ICT Industry and those who promote Cagayan de Oro as an ICT hub. The given major awards include Top CDO Blogs for exceptional blogs created and maintained and are appealing, engaging and dedicated to promoting and showcasing Cagayan de Oro; Top CDO Business Websites for outstanding sites dedicated to its products and services that provides users with features and functionality necessary to accomplish the tasks whilst maintaining a design quality that affords stature and professionalism to the enterprise; and the Top Schools as IT-BPO Resource for schools that produced skilled and effective talents, fueling the city’s ICT community and helping the CDO-ICT Business Council achieve its vision and mission of nurturing a thriving ICT community and transforming the city into a competitive provider for global services. Moreover, there are Movers and Shakers awards given for ICT organizations who contributed to the success of
CDO-ICT events. Categories include BPO voice segments, non-voice segments, suppliers, infrastructures, academes, organizations, locations or media supports and start-ups. Further, certificates are also given to event speakers, government partners, sponsors, emcee and people who helped in the event. CDO-ICT Business Council as well awarded ICT Champion Award of the Year to individuals who shared significant measure of leadership, influence, innovation, resources and support in ICT towards improving the business environment of CDO. This part came as a surprise and nominees were not informed about this. Prior to the awarding, an expo also came as a highlight. It is participated by CDO-ICT community that comprise of BPO stakeholders, academe, locators, and computer hardware vendors. CDO-ICT [resident Stephanie Caragos said that the event further showcased neophyte entrepreneurs in the ICT business community for their organization also thrusts to guide young ICT businesses and develop budding entrepreneurs having great ideas, for these businesses are great help in order to build meaningful foundation which the entire ICT industry could benefit from. Further, these ICT companies could assist Cagayan de Oro by means of providing employment and livelihood to its people. For his part, Arriba Telecontact, Inc. proprietor Alexander Paras revealed on Saturdaythat at least five huge call centers from Metro Manila are interested to invest in Cagayan de Oro.
In an interview at the sidelights of the ICT Awards 2014, Paras said that he and his colleagues at the privately-initiated Cagayan de Oro ICT Business Council has recently spoken with counterparts from the Call Center Association of the Philippines. The council is composed of at least a dozen firms in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in the city. Paras said more than 50 percent of their personnel are engaged in outbound support. He sees the entry of the five firms in the city not as competitors but as partners in the development of Cagayan de Oro. “The more BPOs we have here, the less unemployment that we have. We don’t have the same clients so we’re not competitors at all,” he said. Engineer Ramil Cabaces of Concentrix CDO keynoted the awarding program. He reintroduced and conducted short discussion on business process outsourcing (BPO). In his speech, Cabaces said that Philippines is the world’s number 1 comes to voice calls segment over the years and it is determined to maintain that status. Moreover, he is confident that Philippines could pursue this target because one reason of achieving such status is Filipinos are friendly and hospitable and these are already in the system and character of each one. He also presented the challenges that BPO in the Philippines are facing, especially in CDO. These include sustaining low cost structure, creating perception to CDO in terms of safety and security, putting focus on information and knowledge process outsourcing and the need of project managers among call centers. ICT | Page B2
Editorial: e-mail: mindanaodailynews@gmail.com • Advertising: e-mail: mindanaodaily.ads@gmail.com Contact: 0917-7121424, 0947-8935776