According to analyst firm, Ovum, there will be an increased uptake of IT services in the Philippines, despite the economic downturn, due to various initiatives taken by the Philippines government. The Ovum report titled ‘IT services market in the Philippines: a fledgling ready to take flight’ outlines that the government initiatives to establish a central credit worthiness system, and its investments in the education sector will increase the IT services demand in the country.

Deepika Chaubey, managing analyst at Ovum and author of this research, commented, “While currently Philippines is a small IT services market in revenue terms, less attractive than other South East Asian countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, or Malaysia, it offers good opportunities for vendors focused on the public sector.”

The Philippines government plans to invest in various initiatives involving technology adoption. It is focusing on the development of a central credit worthiness database which includes establishing a central authority for compiling data from financial institutions.

The government is also investing in the education sector and has initiated many technology-based programmes such as the computerisation of all public schools and the adoption of e-learning in the urban areas. Once all the public schools are computerised, the demand for web-based learning platforms, education management systems, assessment and data services, and networking services should increase.

“The various initiatives by the government will provide significant opportunities to IT services vendors in the region, and services such as implementation, integration and security will witnessed increased demand”, added Chaubey.