BSA global study finds 57% of computer users admit using pirated software

Fifty seven percent of computer users globally admit they have acquired pirated software, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) reported today in the 2011 BSA Global Software Piracy Study. Some users say they pirate all or most of the time. Others say they do it occasionally or rarely. The net effect was to fuel a software piracy rate of 70 percent last year in the Philippines, up from 69% in 2010, which means 7 out of 10 programs that users installed were unlicensed. The commercial value of this piracy was US$338 million (approximately PHP14.6 billion).

“If 57 percent of consumers admitted they shoplift — even rarely —authorities would react by increasing police patrols and penalties. Software piracy demands a similar response: concerted public education and vigorous law enforcement,” said Roland Chan, BSA Senior Director for Marketing in Asia Pacific.

 

Philippines: 2012 World’s Best Country in Business English

GlobalEnglish Corporation, the leading provider of cloud-based, on-demand software to advance Enterprise Fluency™ for global organizations, announced the results of its annual Business English Index (BEI), the only index that measures Business English proficiency in the workplace. The 2012 BEI shows that a lack of Business English proficiency is threatening the productivity of companies, industries and country-specific economies this year.

With a growing number of companies operating across ten, 15 or even more than 20 countries with different native tongues, the majority of the world’s business conversations now take place between non-native English speakers in English. The current shortage of talent with the aptitude to speak, present, write, sell and service customers in English has become a high-performance challenge for leaders of multinational companies at a time when more international business growth has been fueled through expansions in emerging markets.

 

PBSP supports Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Philippines 2012

(L-R): Co-presenters of the Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 sign a memorandum of agreement to support Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines 2012 - Development Bank of the Philippines Development Banking Sector Head, Benedicto Bitonio Jr., ; Philippine Business for Social Progress Chief Executive Advisor, Klaas F. Oreel; Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines Program Director, Atty. Antonette Tionko; Philippine Stock Exchange, Office of the General Counsel OIC, Atty. Buenaventura Sanguyo, Jr.

Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) signed a memorandum of agreement last 28 February 2012 to support Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines 2012.

The Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 is managed by the SGV Foundation, Inc. with this year’s theme, Passion.

The search is open for all Filipino Entrepreneurs who may join the following award categories: Master Entrepreneur, Small Business Entrepreneur, Industry-Specific Entrepreneur, Woman Entrepreneur, and Social Entrepreneur. The Entrepreneur of the Year will be chosen from the award categories winners, and will be representing the country in the World Entrepreneur of the Year in Monte Carlo, Monaco in June 2013.

For nominations, you may contact Entrepreneur of the Year Program Manager, Maria Balmaceda at 891-0307 local 7766/7799 or email eoy.info@ph.ey.com or you may visit www.eoyphils.com for more information.

INFOCHAT Website: PBSP supports Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Philippines 2012

 

Accenture, PBSP, conduct trainings for SMEs

Knowing the importance of skills mastery for budding businessmen, the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) in partnership with Accenture, Inc., and ABS-CBN Bayan Academy created two-day training for BiD entrepreneurs.

Sixteen Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) owners took part in the said training held last November 28-29, 2011 in Manila to hone their abilities in Self Mastery and Critical Thinking. They also went through series of lectures and workshops on Market, Operations, People, and Financial Assessment, and Investing.

 

After dominating call centers, Philippine IT-BPO seeks world leadership in four more fast growing services

The Philippine Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) Industry is aiming to become one of the world leaders in four more fast growing offshoring and outsourcing services, namely: Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing, Finance and Accounting Outsourcing, HR Outsourcing and Creative Process Outsourcing, as well as solidifying its lead in call centers in the coming years. This was revealed in a joint press conference held by the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) on ICTO and BPAP’s new programs targeted to develop several key BPO market segments.

The Philippines recently overtook India as the call center capital of the world, and in 2011 the IT-BPO industry contributed approximately $11B in export revenues, about 640,000 direct jobs and approximately 1.5 million indirect jobs (e.g. construction and service jobs generated to serve the sector’s growth) to the Philippine Economy.

 

Fujitsu Enterprise Solutions provides SAP assessment services to Maynilad

Fujitsu Enterprise Solutions has been engaged by water and wastewater services provider Maynilad Water Services, Inc. (Maynilad) to conduct a detailed assessment of the water company’s current SAP business processes.

The SAP Business Study Assessment will evaluate Maynilad’s existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to allow the company to optimize its existing processes.

 

Hosted technology to accelerate IT-BPO innovation, competitiveness

As the IT-BPO (information technology and business process outsourcing) and global in-house center industry matures and becomes increasingly complex, growing profit margins will require shifting technology perspectives from increasing and ensuring quality and productivity to enhancing value, said Miguel Garcia, president and chief executive officer of the DTSI Group.

Garcia said IT-BPO and global in-house centers have started moving away from their traditional reliance on premise-based solutions to hosted solutions as a strategy for managing setup and operational costs. That shift is being accelerated by recent momentum in the adoption of cloud technology, which not only reduces costs while ensuring quality and productivity, but provides value by fostering collaboration and innovation, the IT-BPO industry pioneer explained.

 

TESDA and BPAP Announce Pesos 500 Million Expansion of Near Hire Training Program for 65,000 Workers for IT-BPO Industry

Tens of thousands of Filipino “Near Hire” job seekers will now have the opportunity to work in the country’s booming IT-BPO (Information Technology – Business Process Outsourcing) industry as a result of a major expansion of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)‘s training program for the sector.

TESDA and the IT-BPO industry’s umbrella association, Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), today signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to kick off the P500 million expansion of the IT-BPO Industry-Based Training for Work Scholarship Program (I-TWSP), which has already proven to be successful in helping industry applicants to quickly learn the skills needed to qualify for a job in the industry, and is targeted to train 65,000 Near Hires. BPAP and its partner associations have committed an employment rate of at least 70 percent of the total graduates within six months after they finish the course.

 

SM’s West Avenue Theatre Corporation hosts Mall of Asia Arena Trade Launch

The Mall of Asia Arena Team: Ms. Cristina Tolentino for Brand Alliance and Sponsorship; Mr. Henry Lapis – Business Unit Head; Mr. Edgar Tejerero – Senior Vice President – West Avenue Theatres Corporation; Mr. Hans T. Sy, President, SM Prime Holdings, Inc.; Mr. Erl Orenza for Events; Ms. Ailene Llado for Food Service, Ms. Nicole Deato for Business Development, Brand Alliance and Sponsorship; Mr. Jacob Macapagal for Operations and Mr. Conrad Castañeda – Technical Consultant.

The citizens of high society and top players of the corporate world have made their way to the Mall of Asia Arena Trade Launch at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex at 8pm last October 11, 2011.

The guests were welcomed by Mr. Hans T. Sy, President of Prime Holdings, Incorporated. “The Mall of Asia Arena symbolizes our belief in world class Filipino Talent for both entertainment and sports;” said Mr. Hans T. Sy. He also thanked the promoters and the brand and media partners who attended the event who graced the event and invited them to experience the Mall of Asia Arena when it opens.

 

SAP HANA revolutionizes the business landscape

Organizations of any size and in any industry today face the daunting challenge of managing and storing a rising quantity of data, and harnessing all that information to improve the business. In particular, high costs associated with the purchase and maintenance of hardware needed to accommodate large data volumes pose formidable hurdles to information technology (IT), even as business users need quick access to information and analytics so as to react to changing market conditions.

SAP has always understood this challenge and has responded by developing in-memory solutions that specifically address the need to analyze large data volumes while reducing IT costs.