THE IT Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) yesterday expressed concern over the negative impact of possible protectionist policies of the Trump administration, considering that 70 percent of the industry’s clients originate from the United States.
The group in a statement said the possibility of renewed protectionist policies under the Trump administration poses both challenges and opportunities to the Philippine information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) industry.
Historically, offshoring slowed under Trump’s first term, IBPAP said, adding that in 2017 and 2018, industry growth slowed to 2.5 percent and 3.9 percent respectively, compared with 12.3 percent in 2016.
“A push for reshoring and nearshoring could impact the Philippines, making it imperative for IBPAP to double down repositioning the country as a global leader in high-value services such as banking, financial services, healthcare, and digital transformation,” Jack Madrid, IBPAP president and chief executive officer, said.
Madrid added: “As IBPAP charts its course forward, it must also navigate shifting global policies that may impact the industry.”
Dominic Ligot, IBPAP research head, said on Tuesday that as 70 percent of the industry’s clients are from North America, anything that the US does can have an impact on them.
“On the other hand, we don’t necessarily expect these jobs to disappear since there isn’t a labor pool in the (United) States that can absorb them,” Ligot said.
Risk to outsourced jobs
Ligot explained, however, with Trump’s closeness “to Silicon Valley now like Elon Musk, “ the Philippines might expect investments in artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate under the Trump administration, thereby posing future risk to outsourcing more jobs to both India and the Philippines.
This comes at the same time that IT-BPM companies have actually been investing in AI to improve efficiency so they can take more work, Ligot added.
Some major American IBPAP members are Accenture, JP Morgan Chase, Capital One, IBM, Concentrix, TTEC and Alorica.
In 2024, IBPAP recorded $38 billion in revenues, up 7 percent from $35.5 billion in 2023. The industry generated an additional 120,000 jobs in 2024, ending the year with 1.82 million full-time employees from 1.7 million in 2023.
