ღ۞.Altius, Citius, Fortius.ღ۞

On the assumption that you heard/read the SONA of the President last month, (July 2000), identify at least 3 areas related to ICT

State of the Nation of the President Arroyo was informed people about the projects done of the president. She kept on saying that all nations fell the recession that some what unstoppable event of today but we have nothing to worry about cause we can still live by working hand on hand. For me, i cant fell nor see it that we are improving and moving forward. Problems live by decade is still unsolved like graft and corruption and poverty. She gave remarkable words against her critic that challenge them. Who should be challenged she or her critic? I challenge the administration to do something and solve the economic crisis that the country is facing today. I hope that all their promise will not be gone by a wind.

In regards to the Assignment about ICT and identify how these areas can improve our quality of life, the following are my answers:

1.BPO (Business process outsourcing) with this more Filipinos have the opportunity to have a good job and and increasing our competitiveness and productivity. Offshoring Market Experiencing Rapid Growth in the Philippines. Outsourcing contact center work to offshore destinations is experiencing a rapid growth phase with key delivery centers in India, Philippines and central and Eastern Europe experiencing annual growth in excess of 30%. Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is looking for a 40% growth in the country’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry for 2008.

Speaking at the e-Services Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition, Arroyo said while the Philippines currently employ 300,000 people in the BPO and contact center industry, she wants these increased by at least 40% to meet the growing demand worldwide. She said the Philippines at present is only second to India in terms of supplying the workforce in the BPO industry, but it has already been recognized as the “premiere global destination for these types of IT enabled services”. “We are proud of what we had achieved but we are anxious to solidify our gains. We’re anxious not to be complacent in the face of rapid change,” Arroyo said. “For 2008, we have targeted to grow our O & O (offshore and outsourcing) workforce by 40% in order to cope with the industry demands and also to achieve a 40% growth rate in the O & O sector.”

Philippines named 2nd top BPO destination in Asia-Pacific
February 13th, 2008

The City of Manila has been named the second top Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) destination in the Asia-Pacific region by the International Data Corporation (IDC), just three months after the Philippines was named as the ‘Offshoring Destination of the Year‘ by the United Kingdom’s National Outsourcing Association last October. Three other Philippine cities have been included by the London Financial Times in the survey of ‘Top Ten Asian Cities of the Future‘, thus validating the country’s position as a major player in the global offshoring and outsourcing (O&O) market. Quezon City ranked 7th, Cebu 8th and Davao 10th in the survey commissioned by the London Times, comparable with cities like Hongkong, Singapore and Taipei which were the top three.

President Gloria-Macapagal-Arroyo announced that her administration has targeted a 40% growth rate in the country’s O&O sector for this year and 40% growth target in the workforce “in order to cope with the industry demands”“These distinctions from the O&O sector and global ICT firms provide our investor friends, who have come to E-services Philippines, with objective third party assessments of our O&O capabilities,” the President stressed. According to the President, the runaway growth of the O&O industry has echoed throughout the entire system, spawning impressive growth on other sectors like real estate, telecommunications, food and retail among others.

Posted in BPO Philippines In the News, Outsourcing, Why Outsource to the Philippines? | No Comments »
Outsourced Blogging
June 11th, 2007

The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) indusrty is booming in the Philippines. The most common BPO services here in the country are call centers, software development, transcription, encoding, animation, human resources, accounting and payroll outsourcing. BPO is implemented as a cost-saving measure for tasks that a company requires but does not depend upon to maintain its position in the marketplace.

There are also a lot of new BPO opportunities, aside from the most common BPO services mentioned above, that we, as Filipinos, can embark on. Outsourced writing is one. For a long time now, writing and editing works have been subcontracted to smaller institutions and writers which became known as Ghostwriting. Ghostwriting was revolutionized with the advent of the internet. New company websites, portals, forums and blogs are created every second. With that comes along the increased demand for content. You have to remember that Content is King.

[b]Blogging is now commonly being outsourced[/b]. A lot of Filipino bloggers are now considered as probloggers as they have taken jobs in blogging in behalf of the companies/persons that hired them for their blogging service. Bloggerwave gives another option for bloggers. Bloggerwave will ask you for your valuable feedback to advertisers with respect to their web sites, products, services, and companies. The best part of this is that bloggers get paid! ;-)


Outsourcing Revives Philippine Real Estate
June 9th, 2007

Business Process Outsourcing, BPO involves the contracting of a task to a third-party provider. Services include call centers, financial management, software writing, medical and legal transcription of files and even animation. Philippine’s Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri says the Philippines expects such BPO functions to bring in $3 billion in revenues this year, with annual revenues of $10 billion in five years. Industry leaders have placed the Philippines just behind India as the ideal place for BPO investment, thanks to the country’s highly educated, western-oriented, English-speaking population. The government’s Board of Investments expects there will be more than 920,000 Filipinos working in BPO centers by 2010 as businesses expand and new investors come in.

Source: Manila Standard Today

Medical and Legal Transcription Fastest-Growing Philippine BPO Sector
June 8th, 2007

Medical and legal transcription posted the highest growth in revenue among all the sub-sectors in the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry at 97% in 2005. This was shown in the 2005 baseline study of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) on the economic contribution of information technology (IT)-enabled services in the country. BPO industry comprises contact or call centres, medical and legal transcription, animation, software and other BPOs that include management consultancy, hardware consultancy, data processing, financial and accounting services and engineering services.

The industry’s revenue in 2005 totaled to about P109.9 billion (US$2.4 billion), which is higher than year-ago’s P74.2 billion, the survey said. Among the sub-sectors, contact centers had the highest revenue share at 49.4 % or P54.3 billion followed by other BPOs, 29.3%, P32.2 billion; software development, 20%, P21.9 billion; animation, .9%, P939.1 million; and medical and legal transcription, .4%, P466.2 million. Medical transcription registered the highest annual growth at 97% followed by contact centers, 65%; software development, 40.8%; animation, 35.3%; and other BPOs, 30.5%. Read the rest of this entry »

Central Visayas economy upbeat in 1st quarter
June 7th, 2007

The central Visayas economy performed better for the first quarter this year compared to the same period in 2006 with the agriculture sector, shipping industry, tourism and ICT-related industries leading the growth.

According to the National Economic Development Authority in the region (NEDA-7), the economy of the region was buoyed by the high performance of the agriculture sector that posted a double-digit increase in production; the rosier performance of the shipping and air transportation sector couple with the continuing upward trend of the construction, tourism and IT-enabled industries in the Central Visayas area. Investments in the business process outsourcing (BPO) and call centers particularly in Cebu remained high in Q1 of 2007. A number of existing BPO companies expanded operations in the region in the first quarter among them Sykes-Cebu and Exist Global. With the very good economic performance of the region, inflation rate eased further to 2.5% in the first quarter from 4.2% in Q4 of 2006 and 7.0% in the first quarter of last year. NEDA-7 report said, this is the lowest recorded average year-on-year inflation rate for a quarter since base year for the consumer price index (CPI) was moved from 1994-2000.

Source: Philippine Information Agency

Philippines is Top Choice Among US Companies for Finance and BPO services
June 5th, 2007

Consul General Cecilia Rebong of the Philippine Consulate General in New York, USA reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that a capital markets analyst has said that the Philippines is the top choice among a growing number of major U.S. companies for finance, technology, telecommunications and consumer products, and accounting business process outsourcing (BPO) services.

Consul General Rebong said this was essentially the message of Ms. Cynthia Houlton, Senior Analyst of RBC Capital Markets, in speaking on “Global Sourcing and Finance and Accounting Business Process Outsourcing Services” during a well-attended business networking reception organized by the Business Process Outsourcing Council, the Philippine Consulate General, and the Philippine Trade Office in New York on 23 May 2007.Welcoming the guests who were mostly CEOs, presidents, and managers of major American financial, banking, and investment companies based in New York, Consul General Rebong said, “The reception is only our second offering since the creation of the Business Process Outsourcing Council one month ago, and the goal remains to be to facilitate dialogue, information, and greater understanding of the Philippines Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector among potential global partners.”

The Philippines was selected because of the country’s advantages over alternative Asian sites: Labor costs equivalent to China; lower and more stable than India; prevalence of spoken American English; cultural and social affinity with the US; modern and stable infrastructure such as water, power, roads, telecommunications; large pool of qualified college graduates seeking white-collar employment; access to specialized skills aligned with US professional standards; government support and tax breaks for the industry; and more familiar environment for expatriate trainers and managers than other Asian alternatives.

“The ‘advantages’ clearly show that the Philippines’ attractiveness as a BPO destination is no longer limited to cost-reduction but also to being able to provide global partners with a human resource possessing the right skill sets and competencies supported by a sophisticated telecommunications infrastructure,” Consul General Rebong observed.

Source: DavaoToday

Posted in BPO Philippines In the News, Why Outsource to the Philippines? | 1 Comment »
Asia-Pacific Business Process Outsourcing Market to Expand 16%
June 4th, 2007

The Asia-Pacific’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market is expected to be worth 8.3 billion US dollars by the end of this year compared to 7 billion a year earlier, research agency IDC said on Monday. The market is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 16% until 2011 to reach 14.8 billion US dollars, IDC added.

“We can essentially view the BPO market in the region as eithermatured or developing, and within that, English-speaking or non English speaking, each with its unique needs and characteristics,” The Business Times quoted Conrad Chang, IDC Asia-Pacific research manager as saying. BPO end-users are demanding solutions that address their particular needs, Chang said. “Cookie-cutter approaches will not work in addressing region-specific issues.”

The research agency defines BPO as distinct from normal processing services. Outsourcing services such as checks, credit cards and bill processing are not considered to be BPO activities. IDC regards BPO as more strategic in nature and involving transformational activities that align a company’s outsourcing engagements to corporate objectives.

REFERENCE: http://bpo.box.com.ph/

2. The Telecommunications Sector

“Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications Commission na kumilos na tungkol sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga nawawalang load sa cellphone. We need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law. And we need to do it now.”

About Cellular Companies in the Philippines. There are six cellular mobile telephone operators in the Philippines. These include Digitel, Extelcom, Globe, Islacom, Piltel and Smart.

As of year 2004, there are already 32,935,875 cellular phone subscribers in the Philippines. SMART, the mobile communication company of PLDT, has the most number of subscribers of 14,595,782, followed by Globe Telecoms, 12,513,973. Sun Cellular which is operated by DIGITEL and started in mobile communication services in 2003, has a total subscribers of 1,200,000.


Based on the daily living of Filipino cellular phones is very important to everyone of us. As we wake up were looking first the messages sent by use the answered calls. It is undeniable that even young ages are very fun that lead to addiction the used of cellular phones. Having an amendment about the losing of loads because of the advertisement that sent on the users and dropped calls. It is favorable to the cellphone users it will be imposed and very helpful to all.

References:
www.ntc.gov.ph

3. Automated Election

The 2010 Automated Election

“As the seeds of fundamental political reform are planted, let us address the highest exercise of democracy, voting! In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress.”

It’s full speed ahead for the computerized general elections on May 10, 2010, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Jose Melo said. nstead of writing on ballots, voters will shade the spaces allotted for the names of candidates. The ballots will then be inserted into the optical machine readers to be placed in clustered precincts all over the country. Melo said the Comelec would pursue the nationwide automation of elections, despite opposition and skepticism from certain lawmakers and information technology professionals.

Afraid of cheating? Cheating every election is never been new to us, but still no change been done. Using this Automated Machine I'm looking forward that it will lessen the cheating this time. Who knows it is what we all been looking for. Take a chance for a change but if still cheating be more in seen this time, that only proves that Filipino were really good cheater it matters not it is done technically or manually.

September 28, 2009

It was our third visit for further clarification and asked some information necessary for the proposal we planned to make.

Having an Information Technology or Information System in an organization provide the purpose of being useful in terms of improving and developing the performance of the organization, but thinking and presuming only the greatest influence it offers in your organization is just a mere overstated. In every step we make it means moving forward but walking towards the set goals doesn't mean a piece of cake, everything cost a lot—life change equivalent fees. In every single thing you have, there is always an affiliate price towards it.
Apparently, choosing much functional and newly discovered Information Technology and Information System insinuates cost, maintenance and skills. Being on the top of your reigning empire entails a larger and a greater an immediate need of having the best Information Technology and Information System to sustain you’re growing realm. On the other hand, even the small enterprise needs also an Information System to provide a systematic and authenticated outcome for financial and budgeting purposes.
On the other hand, the technology is use for barely in making a wise and proper decision for the organization or company. It deliberately upbringing its essential benefits for the company and people involves within the circle. Its contiguous growing is concretely proving that it is totally a factor of company’s success. In today’s organizations are lively operating computers that dealing up the things of the company efficiently and primly. It made the business sector active and be part of the circle of the corporate world. The substantial effect is inseparable for business by businessman or company owners. Investing vast amount of the equipments showing that they give to support for the big benefits it returns to the company. All organization are fun of discovering what Information Technologies and Systems available in the market that best suited on the company need and useful to the organization.
Meanwhile, it sometimes becomes obvious that some other may disregards that resort for existing of new problem. Driving into the best result for the company’s progress and profit leads to more complicated situation. The situation is like finding ways to survive in the sinking boat; you have to unload the boat by throwing the heavy cargos or bravely jump the boat to make you survive. In business sector, you have to sacrifice something for company’s progress. The Information system is selected based on the company penury. I present some of the Challenges and barriers of the technology available in the market and some situation that how important and significant Information Technology and Information System in the organization and in society.
In many areas of organization the information is very crucial so it needs a proper handle and security. Organizations finds it way of making the information be shared and processed in the clearest way and depart on the intended recipient without any disturbance while in process.
In the field of medicine-Automated EMR and CPOE. In this situational case it elaborates how the process of implementing the new technologies that tackle information being formalized. Implementing is critically process and takes a long discussion before do action proper to address the necessity. I will present a processed that done by the doctors of Indianapolis how the meeting and implementation is addressed. They all consider the possibilities that may cause if it will implement and how it affects if still old method is used in processing the information.
Dr. Ned Lamkin, president of the Indiana Employers Quality Health Alliance, is a board member of the Indiana Health Information Exchange, and is one of many doctors in Indianapolis who believes information technology can help improve patient care.

Technologies:

EMR-An electronic medical record (EMR) is usually a computerized legal medical record created in an organization that delivers care, such as a hospital and doctor's surgery. Electronic medical records tend to be a part of a local stand-alone health information system that allows storage, retrieval and manipulation of records.

CPOE-Computerized physician order entry (CPOE), is a process of electronic entry of medical practitioner instructions for the treatment of patients (particularly hospitalized patients) under his or her care. These orders are communicated over a computer network to the medical staff or to the departments (pharmacy, laboratory or radiology) responsible for fulfilling the order. CPOE decreases delay in order completion, reduces errors related to handwriting or transcription, allows order entry at point-of-care or off-site, provides error-checking for duplicate or incorrect doses or tests, and simplifies inventory and posting of charges. Although manufacturers use the term Computerized Physician Order Entry, a more accurate term would be Computerized Prescriber Order Entry.

Barriers:

Conversation:

One of the common barriers to adoption of technology is the expense, said Marc E. Duerden, MD, president of the Indianapolis Medical Society. "The problem as a physician is it costs a lot of money,".
Bernard J. Emkes, MD, a family practice physician in Indianapolis, agreed. "Automated EMRs with reminders and evidence based algorithms would help address many of these issues, but the cost of implementing that infrastructure cannot be borne up front by physicians, as they struggle with rising malpractice costs, declining reimbursements, increased pressures to see more patients, and a federal government that continues to try to balance healthcare costs on physicians backs through a flawed sustainable growth rate formula."
Dr. Clement J. McDonald, director of the Regenstrief Institute at Indiana University School of Medicine, said "CPOE systems generally cause physicians to lose efficiency. It takes physicians longer to enter orders into computers than to write them on paper, and this can mean 30 or more extra minutes out of a physician's day – time that cannot be used caring for patients
Duerden said, is that some of the technology is laborious.
Indianapolis docs weigh barriers to IT implementation
June 21, 2004 | Bernie Monegain
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/indianapolis-docs-weigh-barriers-it-implementation

=========================================================================

Based on our adopted organization, the MIS Manager addressed it factorial form. He identified that there are many identified barriers in the Information System or Information Technology implementation in an organization. For what I have read in some articles over the internet, I will categorized in into five (5) divisions in which I think the most important factors, these are the (1) Financial Problems, (2) Physical Problems, (3) Technical Problems, (4) Organizational Problems and (5) Social Problems.

As an elaboration of the division of the obstacle identified in the implementation of Information System, the following are the lists of more specific problems in each category.

1. Financial Problems

Funds should be considered in implementing an Information System in an organization. For this determined the resources needed in the processes, development and maintenance of an efficient system. If we have limited resources we may encounter insufficiency of funds to put into action the desired solution. This includes hardware replacement, software updates and maintenance and as well as funds for the specialized skills training for the company’s staff. With this, we can also determine if we can maximize the usage of Information System within the organization according to the company’s need and its users. In the side of the investors, they may be hesitant to spend money for this project for will be very costly and requires ample time to complete the system yet the results or outcome is unsure. What I can say to the investors in this matter, if we want a changes or development we must take the risk, for business is a gamble, just makes sure that you have all the weapons not to lose in the game.

2. Physical Problems

When we are talking of the physical aspects of Information System we are pertaining to the hardware, software and network topology. Thus, this may involve redesigning the network, hardware replacement in order to have more improve speed and efficiency and as well as the determining the most appropriate software to used. It is the very important framework of any information organization. Effective Information access and use depends on communication facilities such as telephones, Internet, fax, computers, as well as an adequate supply of electricity. Computer literacy is almost non-existent in primary and secondary education. It is very much limited in colleges and universities due to shortage of skilled human resources and computing infrastructure. Using the best physical system must be based on the organization not because of what favorable in the market today. It must be studied thoroughly and technically presents the most credible proposal that address the need of the organization.

3. Technical Problems

IT Infrastructure- Lacking of a shared, reliable computing and network infrastructure to address the needed collaboration for the implementation. When an institution lacks an IT infrastructure there will be a difficulty in operating technology supported programs with consistency from one office to the other or building to building. It also slows and complicates communication among the organization or other institutions

Unrealistic time frames- Some information systems take considerably longer than originally planned. Time delays lead to serious difficulties in planning for and adjusting to changes in operations. Since they consume more time than they expected, the deadline will become a pressure.

Difficulty of data collection and management- Data collection is considered to be the most critical and difficult part of implementing an Information System for it is the foundation of the entire system process. Thus, this convey what the system is all about, its scope and limitations. Proper management of the said data is essential.

4. Organizational Problems- the organization heads set too ambitious goals that require a lot of resources that may not be able to achieve. I suggest that in making the goals of the company they should focus on what are the necessities or focus on the needs of the organization that it must meet the business requirements of the party and it should be brief and accurate.

Unskilled Staff
As mention above, system must be maintained and monitor from time to time and the people who will handle this transaction must be well trained and have an expertise on maintaining the system. Not having this kind of people inside the organization will add up to the barriers to the success of the system.

5. Social Problems- The resistance of the organization and its people to the technology is also a factor that I consider as one of the obstacle. Human resources as the participants to the implementation of Information System should be able to meet or abide the requirements or standards of the company’s specific IS. In planning as well as in the development of the said system, the human resources should participate hand in hand in the process. We can consider the human resources as one of the Information System barriers with regards to its implementation for they are the one who gives the specifications, requirements and standards that help to develop the functionalities of the company. These people are also the one who will utilize, manage and control to be able to acquire the benefits of technology.
Communication is another factor that adds up to the impediments of technology. As what I mentioned above, every participant in the implementation must work together to make sure the success of the desired output is not impossible to attain. Without this there is no guarantee that the system will be a help to the organization or maybe it will just be add to its liabilities. Instead of gaining from what they have invested, they are more likely to lose or worsen the company’s situation.


Last words:
In my opinion the implementation of the new Information technology or Information System is basically based on the company needs for the assessment that need a swift action to make the operation more effective and allow the organization to compete on the other existing companies or organizations. In contrast, the barriers exist because new system needs new manipulation which requires factors that makes the decision-making hard. The presented barriers are positively being overcome through the long run of implementation. It just sacrificing something now, but as the process run along the benefits would be slowly be visible and presto, it’s for company’s improvement.

Indeed:
"Information Technology can be very helpful, but it depends on what it is,” "It's wiggly."