CEBU CITY — IBM is seeking to expand its services to the Visayas and Mindanao with the opening of a global delivery center in Cebu, its second in the Philippines.
"Cebu is a gateway to the Visayas and Mindanao. The opening of a global delivery center here opens more opportunities for us and makes sure that we are able to deliver application services to our clients in the Visayas and Mindanao," said IBM Philippines country manager James Velasquez. IBM currently has 20 business partners in the Visayas and Mindanao.
The Cebu facility will offer the "full spectrum of application services," added Lula Mohanty, director for the global delivery center in the Philippines. Among the services that Cebu will provide involve Java and Web technologies, Lotus Notes, testing and software maintenance.
"We’re looking to build up testing excellence in Cebu as well as product development," Ms. Mohanty said.
The Cebu facility is IBM’s second global delivery center in the Philippines. The first, which opened in 2003, is located in Metro Manila. Both are part of a network of delivery centers located in seven other countries.
Ms. Mohanty said IBM’s operations in its Manila global delivery center has been successful and was "a big revelation in the global market on what the Philippines can do."
Aside from serving new clients from the Visayas and Mindanao, the Cebu facility will also serve existing clients of the Manila global delivery center that can be served from Cebu.
Richard Patterson, vice-president for Global Delivery of IBM’s Global Business Services, said the firm chose to open a second delivery center in Cebu because of the strong local government support and the educational system especially in information technology.
Other factors that IBM looks for in a global delivery center site are stable environment from the political and currency standpoint as well as the presence of broadband and other infrastructure support.
Recruitment is still going on for the Cebu global delivery center. Ms. Mohanty said they were focused on finding skills in Java, Web and Lotus Notes.
Comments
There are currently no comments. Please login to comment.