CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, June 20 (PIA) - "Not one industry is not affected by COVID-19."
This was the categorical answer from the Cagayan de Oro Information Communications Technology (CDO-ICT) business council, a group of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and web developers companies in the city, when asked during the recently held Talakayan sa PIA media forum about the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the industry.
Stephanie Caragos, chairperson of the CDO-ICT Business Council said some of the private ICT companies here have downsized their manpower because of losing some major clients from the tourism and hotel industry.
She, however, said the impact is not so grave because the moment bsuinesses were asked to stay at home during General Community Quarantine (GCQ), they also sent people back to their homes with their equipment so they can work from home.
"It pushed us to actually go further in terms of our work from home setup, for our organization. We are still able to continue to deliver services to our clients. So there is a good thing and a bad thing that has happened in this one. A lot of realizations for the industry on how we can be more flexible but at the same time there still those that are affected," she said.
She confirmed that online businesses and services will surely become long term in the city.
"The way I see it, it would become bigger because people are actually seeing the convenience of actually buying online and being able to get the services online. We see businesses that are actually doing the purchasing for their customers and clientele and businesses doing disinfecting solutions to organizations and places," she explained.
Filipino businessmen are really resilient. She pointed out that the businessmen when faced with problems will find ways to go around it with new concepts and ideas.
Looking at long term, Caragos said, the council can help the government recover its job generation activities.
"If we have the opportunity to train more online, we could help the unemployment statistics," she said adding, "we can help by providing more jobs, train on new skills. It is going to be a massive retooling and rescaling for a lot of people but if we all work together, we can overcome this."
The Cagayan de Oro ICT Business Council is a recognized official ICT organization in Cagayan de Oro, duly accredited as a social organization by the Cagayan de Oro City Government.
The organization is a private organization with a membership comprised of BPO Stakeholders, Academe, Locators, Computer Hardware Vendors. Its partners include the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Government Agencies who support the goals and objectives of the organization which are to advocate the use of ICT as a tool for business and education, and promote Cagayan de Oro City as an ICT destination for business to add more jobs for Kagay-anons and generate employment opportunities. (JMORucat/PIA10)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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