The Department of Trade and Industry through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) is preparing for the 10th e-Services Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition as part of its trade promotion program for the ICT/BPO sector in a bid to further strengthen the country’s foothold as outsourcing destination of choice in the Asia Pacific.

Local and international campaign for the event follows the recent win of the Philippines as the “Best Offshoring Destination of the Year” in the recently concluded 6th annual National Outsourcing Association (NOA) Awards in the United Kingdom, edging out shortlisted contenders Egypt, Russia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka in the event held at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in Central
London. It first received the same distinction in 2007.

Held annually, the e-Services Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition is a 2-day international trade show and conference acting as platform for IT and ITES (IT-enabled services) providers from around the globe to network under one venue. For 2010, the show targets over 200 exhibitors and more than 2,000 trade buyers.

In the past, e-Services became the meeting point for experts and C-level executives from global brands (Accenture, Wipro, Google, among others) who are looking to expand in the Philippines.

David Barrett, Chief Executive of Procuritas Limited, an advisory company engaged in engineering sourcing transactions with BPO suppliers and customers, notes the recent e-Services as “a strong endorsement of the partnership between the Philippine government and its BPO industry.”

A testament to the country’s resilience in the face of recession, the Philippine ICT/BPO industry, powered by staunch government support, has continued to grow via the introduction of new services offered to the global market. Traditionally the foremost offshore destination for voice-based services, the sector has expanded to include higher value services such as finance, accounting, architectural and engineering services, software development, animation, game development, and medical and legal
transcription, among others.

According to a research done by government-run UK Trade & Investment, the Philippines has jumped 14 spots to land at the 9th spot among key emerging markets for global investors in 2009.

Set on 8-9 February 2010 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, Philippines, e-Services 2010 is geared towards carving a bigger niche for the country in the global offshoring business given the unique possibilities presented by the recession and by such milestones as the NOA award.

Partner associations include the Board of Investments (BOI), the Foreign Trade Service Corps (FTSC), the Bureau of Export Trade Promotions (BETP), the Regional Operations and Development Group, and the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT). e-Services is also supported by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), Animation Council of the Philippines, Contact Center Association of the Philippines, Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines, and Games Development Association of the Philippines.

For more information on e-Services 2010, log on to www.e-servicesphils.com or contact the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) e-Services Project Management Team at tel. nos. (632) 832-5044 / 831-2201 locals 212/251/278/301, or e-mail itservices@citem.com.ph.

Personally, I am looking forward to this event as Blog4Reviews will be taking an active participation for this trade show. Watch out for more announcements.

I dropped by the E-Services Philippines event last Monday to check out the exhibits happening. A few members of the DigitalFilipino Club were there busy promoting a variety of services with payment gateway, software development, blog marketing & search engine optimization, training – to name a few.

SEMCON Bicol & IT head of Aquinas University, Alvin Perez, also attended as the club representative during the conference. Our conflicting schedule prevented us from catching up then.

There were around 140 exhibitors. As expected, visitors were not that many since this type of event attracts a specific audience niche. However, I find it interesting the level of interest for some of the services offered such as in the area of search engine optimization.

Perhaps as the local SEO community get organized, it can really establish itself with SEO/SEM as an important outsourcing service offering that local & international entities should take seriously – use it to position effectively in this time of crisis.

Whenever search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) gets talked about, different entities and individuals have their interpretation on its scope. For this Busby SEO Test participant who also renders consulting services, it can cover the following:

1. Content development

Creation of content based on popular keyword searches by target users.

2. Website fixing

If there is an existing website, this includes improving the code, url, meta-tags, text, navigation, sitemap and analytics installation, and others with the intent of making sure that search engines pick up the valuable information that is being disseminated by the site.

3. Website performance & maintenance

Analyze monitoring reports and update website based on findings. Common tasks are reduction of bouncing pages, improve page size, develop new content or navigation path to ensure visitors will find what they need from the site.

4. Directory submissions

Paid, free, reciprocal, deep link directories tapped though it is dependent on client’s budget.

5. Search engine submission

Paid and free search engines to ensure that the client’s site can be found.

6. Article writing and submission

Writing a high-quality article that gets disseminated to popular article directories for re-publishing. This in turn results to traffic generation and search engine visibility.

7. Online press releases

If the site has a major announcement, an online press release is also suitable as this gets picked up by major publications, e-zines, and blogs.

8. Link build-up

This is trading links with other websites that have similar niche.

9. Paid advertising

This can come in the form of online ads. It allows the client also to discover and validate keywords that were chosen for effectiveness.

10. Local sites and maps

Registering at country level directories and search engines. In addition, making the entity visible in various map sites.

11. Blog marketing

This can include creation of blogs and linking campaign from various blogs.

12. Social Bookmarks

Get your site, blog, video, or photo submitted to various social media and bookmarking sites.

13. Wiki

Get your entity mentioned in various wiki sites accurately.

14. Social networking

This may include creation of brand profile, product page, and invite users to become followers.

There is a lot more that can be mentioned but I hope the above 14 will give you an idea already on the range of services that SEO and SEM can cover.

Do you lack experts and time in your company to get the job done? If you do, then you need to outsource human resource tasks to an outside company. This means that you need to hire a company to do some of the job your company has to do in order for profit to grow.

It is a fact that some of the jobs that you need to do require professionals. However, if you hire a professional in your company, it will usually be too expensive and will take a lot of time. If you outsource it to outsourcing companies and freelancers, you will be saving a lot of money in terms of salaries.

Human resource tasks, such as payrolls, benefits administration, business processes and employee management are now outsourced to other companies, usually offshore, in order to save on business expenses. Human resource outsourcing is now becoming a booming business in other countries, such as China, Philippines, India and other developing countries. They offer cheap and quality services for companies who are outsourcing human resources.

Since outsourcing saves a lot of money, your company will be able to cut costs in human resource jobs. Also, there are a lot of professionals in these developing countries that are competent and are qualified to do your human resources jobs. They will be able to provide you with quality services at a very competitive price.

Another great thing about outsourcing your human resources jobs is that it will allow your company to focus on more important factors than human resources. It will effectively let you manage your company’s priorities more efficiently.

Your company will also be able to save a lot of money on building your own in-house human resource department. This is because the outsourcing companies already have the technology and you don’t have to invest a lot of money by developing your own in-house human resources department. The outsourcing company will be the one to provide the technology for you. They will only charge you with the services they do.

However, with all the advantages that human resource outsourcing can provide you, there will always be some disadvantages.

Since you will be letting other companies handle your human resources jobs, you will be providing sensitive information to them. Make sure that the outsourcing services you hire has a strong organization that will be able to keep your company’s information, whatever it is, confidential.

Another disadvantage is that when you outsource your human resource department, you will be directing your clients to the outsourcing company. This means that you will be losing direct communication with your clients and it might weaken your relationship with your clients and potential clients. Because of this, you have to make sure that the quality of the outsourcing company’s services remains at par with your standards.

These are the things you should remember when you are considering to outsource your human resources department. Keeping all of these in mind will ensure quality in the services of the outsourcing company.

So, if you need outsourcing as a growth engine or a way to access human resource technology without spending a lot of money on technology or reduce administrative overheads in order for your company to focus on more important issues, you should consider outsourcing as a great tool for your company. Always remember that strategic roles of your company should always be kept in-house.