Philippines Moves Up in Cloud Readiness Ranking

The Philippines moves 4 notches up in the 2014 Cloud Readiness Index, landing on the 10th spot.

Cloud – whether public, private, or hybrid – involves deploying groups of remote servers and software networks to allow centralized data storage and online access to computer services or resources.

The country’s ranking in cloud readiness improved from 14th in the 2011 release of the report, thanks to the continuously booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, one of the cloud-friendly industries.

"BPOs played a big part in this improvement, as cloud use is essential to accelerate the industry and give it an even higher competitive edge", said Bernie Trudel, chairman of the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA).

The Philippines also ranked ahead of most Asian countries in terms of freedom of information, one of the parameters that make up the cloud index, Trudel, also the Cisco Asia Pacific chief technology officer, pointed out.

The country has improved with every subsequent release of the index, Trudel added.

The Philippines is now the middle band, what the ACCA calls “dedicated improvers,” alongside Taiwan, Malaysia, and Thailand.

This improvement has come despite the Philippines consistently scoring low on government regulations and telecommunication infrastructure parameters of the index.

Japan maintained its lead at the top of the index for the 3rd year, while New Zealand, Australia, and Thailand all moved up 4 places.

Now on its 3rd installment, the index assesses 14 countries against 10 indicators that their infrastructure and regulatory systems are prepared for cloud computing adoption in the region.

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Australian Businesses to Increase Investment in the Philippines

Australia is banking on their business and trade growth prospects in the country, firms from Down Under said.

Anthony Weymouth, Australian senior trade commissioner to the country, said that it is time for Australia to increase its trade presence in the Philippines.

Two-way trade between the two countries is at AU$3 billion ($2.40 billion) and an estimated 200 Australian companies now have a significant presence in the Philippines, employing 15,000 to 18,000 Filipinos, Weymouth said.

These include ANZ Bank and Macquarie, two of the major Australian locators in the country.

The landmark ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZ) also now allows for 95% of Australian products to enter the Philippines duty free while 97% of Philippine-made products can enter Australia with the same benefit.

An increased popularity of Australian products is also seen due to the recent fall of the Aussie dollar.

“It’s basically a 20% price reduction in 3 months,” Weymouth said.

About 15,000 Australians currently reside in the Philippines while about 250,000 Filipinos now call Australia home, Weymouth shared.

Increased investment

Other Australian firms, meanwhile, praised the government efforts to improve the overall environment in doing business in the country.

“We see a country that is really getting its act together,” James Young, country director for Cardno, said. Cardno, a professional infrastructure and environmental services company is involved in some of the important public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects planned for the next few years.

Michael Banak, director of Crone Partners, an architectural firm, confirmed that it is looking for a partner to set up a permanent base in the country.

The firm has been in the Philippines since 2006 and is notable for designing Arya Residences, the country’s first residential building receiving the “green” certifications of Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence (BERDE) and Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED). Crone Partners is also designing a 20 hectare master-planned project.

Meanwhile, Site Skills Training based in Clark, Pampanga, is providing training services for construction, gas, mining, and oil. The company is behind Asia’s only simulated underground mine and an offshore platform which it uses to train workers involved in the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project.

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Philippines No Longer 'Sick Man of Asia'

Philippines Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan says the country no longer deserves to be branded the "sick man of Asia" after its economy grew more than 6 percent for a third consecutive year.

Hindered by natural disasters, growth of the $300 billion economy slowed to 6.1 percent in 2014, but still outpaced most other countries in Asia, officials said Thursday.

The 2014 performance ranks the Philippines as the second fastest growing Asian country behind China, which posted 7.3 percent growth, and ahead of Vietnam's 6.0 percent growth, Balisacan said. The Philippine economy grew 7.2 percent in 2013.

"Our economic growth is becoming more competitive with our East and Southeast Asian neighbors," Balisacan said.

"The numbers tell us that we are moving in the right direction," Baliscan said. "Clearly the economic policies and strategies we are implementing to achieve sustained and inclusive growth are bearing fruit," he said.

National Statistician Lisa Bersales said the "robust performance" of industry, particularly manufacturing and construction, lifted growth in the fourth quarter to 6.9 percent from 6.3 percent a year earlier.

She said services contributed 3.4 percentage points, industry 2.5 percentage points and agriculture 0.2 percentage points to the 2014 GDP growth of 6.1 percent.

Business process outsourcing was one of the contributors to the expansion of services, according to Balisacan. Outsourcing currently employs 1.052 million Filipinos and the 

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