BACOLOD CITY — From 97th place last year, Bacolod City leaped to 89th in the 2018 Tholons Services Globalization Index (TSGI) of the world’s top 100 cities for global outsourcing services.
Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, executive director of Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT), on Tuesday said it is a big feat for a mid-size city like Bacolod to be among the destinations included on the list of Top 100 Super Cities.
“This is a result of our strong government-academe and industry collaboration, constant engagement with schools and talent development stakeholders, and grit and determination to continuously challenge and redesign our own strategies to adapt to the requirements of global digital services,” she said.
Tholons International, the leader in global outsourcing locations rankings, released the research report and ranking of the Top 50 Digital Nations and Top 100 Super Cities for 2018 on Monday.
“This feat is also because of the support of the community and key public and private organizations and institutions especially our growing startup and digital workers community,” Batapa-Sigue added.
The Tholons report showed that Bacolod was among the six localities in the Philippines, which entered and inched up on the list of top 100 outsourcing destinations in the world.
In 2017, Bacolod dropped to 97th from 85th place in 2016. In 2015, Tholons ranked the city at number 86, seven notches higher than its 2014 ranking of 93rd, particularly for outsourcing and offshoring.
Bacolod first made the rankings in 2010 at 100th spot and jumped to number 94 in 2013.
Batapa-Sigue pointed out that last year, out of nine cities already on the list for 2016, Bacolod barely survived because of the new criteria such as digital and innovation.
In 2017, TSGI’s ranking was published with traditional factors such as talent, skill and quality, business catalyst, cost, infrastructure, and risk and quality of life at 80 percent weightage, with 20 percent weightage for digital transformation.
This year’s ranking puts traditional factors with 75 percent weightage and digital with 25 percent weightage.
Batapa-Sigue said Bacolod previously measured low for digital innovation, barely enough to be still in the Top 100 Super Cities.
However, this year, it measured more than double in this criteria, from a score of four to 8.5.
Bacolod’s rank this year was fueled by digital innovation, she added. (Erwin Nicavera/PNA)
