HIMAP Roadshow 2016, HIMAP Delegation Meets with Consul General De Leon, Talks about Industry Trends and Developments
Mike Togle
March 1, 2016
Last 22 Feb. 2016, the Philippine Delegation to HIMSS 2016 began their roadshow by paying a courtesy call to Consul General Mario De Leon, Jr., at the Philippine Consulate in New York City. Heading the delegation was newly-elected HIMAP President and Pointwest Technologies Corporation head Ma. Cristina “Beng” Coronel.
The Consul General began by discussing current initiatives of the Consulate to promote the Philippine BPM industry in North America. He also gave a summary of past trade shows hosted or supported by the Consulate for the promotion of BPM in the Philippines.
“The Philippines, from the point of view of foreign investors, remains economically sound,” Consul General De Leon
He warned, though, that results of the coming May 2016 Presidential Elections could influence this impression.
Ms. Coronel then discussed the advantages of the Philippines, saying that it was distinct in being a “one-stop destination” for IT-BPM. “While other countries offer limited services, the Philippines offer the various services that a typical client requires,” Ms. Coronel said.
She added that, aside from IT, voice and other clinical services in healthcare, the Philippines offers other services like analytics, back office support and even creative services, like with the game development and animation services offered by local companies.
Those present then talked about the challenges and opportunities facing the healthcare industry, focusing on how the Affordable Healthcare Act of the United States (commonly known as Obamacare) gave Philippine companies lots of opportunities.
“We must identify the processes for the industry to dissect and see the whole segments and processes for outsourcing,” Myla Reyes, Former HIMAP President
She gave as examples nurses who do medical calls, IT companies providing integration and automation, and BPM companies doing process management.
Next up was a discussion on the potential of the ASEAN market. Many of those present expressed concern about how other ASEAN countries like Vietnam and even Myanmar were rapidly catching up with the Philippines in the global sourcing industry.
“Collaboration is the key,” that rather than compete with the other members of ASEAN, the Philippines could instead take a leadership in the region since it’s a pioneer of business process outsourcing. Beng Coronel, HIMAP President
“The global market is huge and the Philippines can take the lead in getting a bigger share (of it in ASEAN),” Ms. Coronel said. She added that other models can be looked at, like the one Pointwest uses for Pharmacy Benefits Management where it engages US-based clients but local specialists handle the services here.
The final discussion centered around the concept of messaging, on how best to present the Philippines global sourcing industry to potential clients. The Consul General recommended that a change in the concept of outsourced work must happen, where the idea to project is that outsourcing work to the Philippines allows American companies to focus on their core competencies.
Pointwest’s Healthcare Industry Leader Lucy Flores suggested that perhaps changing the term from outsourcing to “global sourcing,” would help in image-building. JP Inigo pointed out that American companies will pay attention when they see that “your role can somehow impact them; help them save money.” Judy Whisenhunt added that clients look at things beyond just saving money, and that the industry must focus on talent development.
“Proper messaging is important, but we must also build the capability as companies look at the human resources first.” Ms. Whisenhunt said.
Check out the story from Twitter as it unfolded:
