By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for ICT (BNEFIT) executive director, Atty. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, recently expressed her belief that Bacolod City should follow in the footsteps of Cebu City and focus on “knowledge process outsourcing,” which refers to “higher value outsourcing services.”
She said Bacolod City is capable of “handling high-value outsourced services involving knowledge and information, especially in the fields of healthcare information management (HIM) and software development.”
Batapa-Sigue said marketing is key, particularly with many investors solely focusing on Manila.
“We need a carefully-planned marketing program, especially in the international market,” she said.
“We also have to break the traditional barriers that impede our education system,” the BNEFIT executive director added. “Today, a mere diploma is not enough.”
She believed the industry and BNEFIT must collaborate with K-to-12 educators in order to develop creative and critical thinking skills in students.
“The city and province must scale up its e-Readiness, or its ability to deliver services efficiently,” said Batapa-Sigue.
Aside from Cebu, several other cities are also capable of shifting to knowledge process outsourcing, including Clark, Davao, Iloilo, and Sta. Rosa (Laguna), according to Joey Bondoc, research manager for Colliers International.
“Bacolod is a key hub for health information management, while Iloilo is being groomed as prime location of game development services,” he added./WDJ