More Revenues In Software Development For Cebu

Cebu is expected to generate $255 million or 20 percent of the $1.275 billion revenue in software development by 2010 as it continues to be a premier outsourcing destination in the country.

Executive director of Cebu Educational Development Foundation Bonifacio said these figures are based on the studies conducted by the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT) and Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

Cebu earned $60 million and employed 3,500 software developers in 2006, Belen added.

In his presentation during the launching of Cebu Business Month (CBM) 2008, Belen said this target puts forward the “enormous growth opportunity” for Cebu. “The challenge for Cebu is to serve substantial share or 20 percent of the national target (of $1.2 billion in 2010),” he said.

Belen said CBM 2008 features the First Cebu Open Source Summit which is one way of addressing challenges faced by the ICT sector.

“For the very first time, the major stakeholders of Open Source Technology across the world will converge in Cebu to discuss how the Open Source movement is changing the rules of the game for ICT,” he said.

The summit will have speakers from Cebu and other countries, who will discuss issues such as open source applications, infrastructure and technical success factor, challenges and risks of open source, and best practices for open source governance.

Filipino entrepreneur Winston Damarillo, who is chairman and co-founder of BPO company, Exist Global and software company, Morph Labs will be one of the speakers.

Belen said the summit will help Cebu reach its revenue target in the BPO and ITES sectors in 2010.