The past two decades have witnessed rapid growth in the IT/BPO sector resulting improvements in lives of millions of people worldwide and being a source of livelihood for many. Seizing the opportunities presented by the digital revolution and the rapid growth of the technology services industry is, therefore, one of the most pressing issues facing countries today. Building capacity to harness the benefits from the IT/BPO sector is an essential prerequisite to transform the society and economy of a country. In a broad sense, capacity building in the IT/BPO sector encompasses the development of a country’s human, scientific, technological, organisational, institutional and resource capital in order to meet the requirements and skill sets to compete effectively in a modern global economy. India, for example, was able to build huge capacity in the IT/BPO space from the mid-1990s through policy reforms, thereby enabling investment by both public and private sector players. The Philippines through government support in the form of developing and marketing the cybercity corridor and creating policy directives helped inflow of investments to build the foundation of the BPO sector. As in the case of India, the Philippines’ experience underscores that the common underlying components for growth include investments […]
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