Paranoia and the BPO industry

Local government units (LGUs) all over the Philippines have formed or have started forming information and communications technology (ICT) councils in order to unite LGUs, and other sectors of society such as the business sector and the academe with the aim of developing regional locations conducive for the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, an already booming industry in the country.

This is a very laudable initiative by the LGUs which will lead to the further development of IT infrastructure in the country. But this initiative may have some potential long-term adverse consequences.

Let me posit one to tickle the imagination.

We are already suffering from a dearth of teachers, doctors, nurses, other health care professionals, etc due to the migration of such professionals to other countries providing better financial opportunities. But this situation could worsen by the overemphasis or "overfocus" of our LGUs to the development of the BPO industry within their respective localities to the detriment of other industries and other aspects of society.

Consider this: Filipino college students no longer pursuing careers in medicine, due to the long, arduous and quite expensive journey it will take to finish medical school or going into teaching, due to the fact that it is usually financially unrewarding. Instead, these students could just opt to become call center agents or medical transcriptionists in order to obtain relatively immediate financial gratification. I have nothing against entering such fields, but if such vocations were overly emphasized or pushed for by the regional LGUs it would be a very tempting proposition that may be too hard to resist for most of the youth of such localities thereby depriving other professions of new blood.

This further depletion of the nation’s stockpile of teachers and health care professionals may not be felt immediately, but it is a potential long-term consequence of an overzealous effort to promote the BPO industry.

SOURCE: http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=110698