THE IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) said it has organized an artificial intelligence (AI) to help the industry harness generative AI (GenAI), which it said has the potential to sharply raise the industry’s productivity.
IBPAP President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Madrid said in a statement that leveraging GenAI will “revolutionize customer experience and usher in a new era of productivity and efficiency” for the industry, which is also known as the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
Citing a report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, Mr. Madrid said that the full-scale implementation of GenAI stands to boost customer service productivity by up to 50%.
“The Philippine IT-BPM (information technology and business process management) industry acknowledges the challenge and opportunity presented by GenAI,” he said.
“A study by MIT Sloan attests to the transformative potential of GenAI, revealing a 14% boost in productivity for contact center agents using conversational AI assistants, with a significant impact on newer or less-skilled workers,” he added.
“IBPAP aims to maintain the competitiveness of the Philippines in the BPO industry and that of its labor force amidst the challenges and opportunities presented by an AI-driven world,” he said.
He said the council is intended to address the significant disruption that GenAI may bring.
“As such, the sector is actively addressing the challenges and opportunities posed by GenAI through the establishment of an AI Council,” he said.
He said that the council intends to collaborate with academic institutions and industry associations such as the Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Association of the Philippines.
“Together, they aim to enhance the workforce’s skills in programming, data science, data analytics, and AI ethics, with the overarching goal to empower professionals with advanced capabilities, enabling them to take on higher-value tasks,” Mr. Madrid added.
He said GenAI will help the industry achieve sustainable growth and retain or expand its global position.
“By synergizing human potential with AI advances, the Philippine IT-BPM industry is not merely adapting to change but leading it,” he said.
“The industry envisions a landscape where GenAI propels the Philippines further to unprecedented heights of excellence, reinforcing our position as a global leader in the IT-BPM sector,” he added. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
