• By quade
• 5 September 2024

BPO Worker Shortage Affects Philippines AI Adoption

Many information and business process management (IT-BPM) companies have cited an acute BPO worker shortage in the Philippines for experienced AI workers. This is despite the market having an impressive AI adoption rate of 60%.

While many IT-BPM companies have cited uses for AI, they are struggling to fully adopt it due to concerns about security and talent shortages. They believe this might slow AI adoption for years to come if not addressed.

Concerns of AI and the BPO Worker Shortage

According to Dominic Vincent Ligot, the founder of Cirrolytix Research Services, several issues prevent the Philippines from finding and recruiting new AI-trained employees.

“There are lingering concerns about data privacy, security, and integration with legacy systems. The biggest hurdle we need to address is the lack of AI-equipped talent in the market.”

-Dominic Vincent Ligot, founder of Cirrolytix Research Services.

The biggest issue is that there is no one to train potential experts in AI as there are few teachers and managers with sufficient AI experience. This prevents people from creating home-grown AI experts and plays a big part in the BPO worker shortage.

The other big problem is that those with AI experience do not easily fit the requirements expected for the AI industry that can be applied in BPOs. This means even if someone has experience in AI tools, they will not be able to take advantage of it. 

Addressing the BPO Worker Shortage

Another expert, Frederick Go, a special assistant to the president in economics and investment said that there is still potential for the Philippines despite these shortages. The big place where they can expand is niche marketing in cybersecurity while continuing to improve the country’s AI capabilities. This is because of how competitive the IT-BPM sector is. 

However, he explains that the Philippines must first address the labor issues. 

“The graduates we are producing are not cookie-cut to the requirements of the industry, even in business process outsourcing (BPO). Additional retraining and upskilling are needed to make them job-ready, and this is an additional cost friction that BPOs have to hurdle.”

Frederick Go, Special Assistant to the President

Things will not be so simple either as due to AI development being on the rise, the Philippines will have to compete with other emerging countries if they want to maintain their position in the outsourcing economy.

This can be achieved by upskilling and providing additional training in the necessary areas of the economy. By doing that, they can cover the most vital areas of the outsourcing sector and reduce the severity of the BPO worker shortage. 

“There are other emerging countries that may adopt AI faster, making them serious contenders cost- and skills-wise for outsourcing work. We also note that the government and industry have launched a Philippine Skills Framework, and this is important for aligning the outputs of academia to the inputs of the private sector in terms of labor.”

– Frederick Go, Special Assistant to the President

How Can the Industry Learn From This BPO Worker Shortage?

Many agree that AI has the potential to be incredibly transformative due to its automation capabilities, including in BPO work. 

“The IT-BPM industry is navigating a complex landscape marked by rapid advancements in technology, shifting global dynamics and evolving workforce needs,” 

-Jack Madrid, IBPAP President and CEO.

This can create a risk and reverse the current BPO worker shortage, instead of putting countless employees out of work. To avoid the serious economic disruption that these changes might bring. To avoid that, IBPAP agrees that there should be efforts to provide AI education not just to train employees, but also to show the ethical requirements.

They also suggested upskilling as a way to deal with BPO worker shortages. By giving them more training in AI literacy and knowledge of new developments, they can mitigate the risks of them being replaced. 

“A culture of accountability is essential to uphold ethical AI implementation, ensuring that AI innovation benefits all members of society and aligns with ethical principles.”

-Jack Madrid, IBPAP President and CEO.

This starts by making work in  Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses attractive as that will be where most of the AI training can take place. 

“It is very important to have more people take STEM courses for them to have core IT skills, which will make them nimble to adapt to AI and other technological advances and innovation.”

-Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.

Some ideas have been adopted by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This is to provide more job opportunities for STEM-trained students to address the BPO worker shortage. They should focus on aligning with the needs of the industry to better address the issues. This includes creating more data analysts which are in hot demand.

“Even if there is AI, there is still a need for someone to check the data and analyze it, and that is where you will need higher-level skills. Even some existing companies do not have data analysts, so I think that should be the first step. The next is for us to learn how to program the machine.”

-Alberto P. Fenix, Jr., president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Human Resource