MANILA, Philippines -- As competition heats up in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, the country needs to focus on its strengths to stay afloat.

The Philippines has evidently emerged as a destination for BPO firms. Inevitably, however, other parts of the world like Latin America, China, Malaysia and even Vietnam are looking to follow the footsteps of outsourcing pioneer India.

Asked about competition during Thursday?s e-Services briefing, industry executives see the need to take action in order for the Philippines to stay competitive.

?Like it or not, it has become a global industry,? said Oscar Sanez, head of the Business Process Association of the Philippines, referring to BPO.

Voice-based (or call center) services have primarily driven BPO growth due to the country?s advantages in English fluency. BPAP, however, is touting strengths in other areas like finance and accounting, engineering design and IT services. These strengths, BPAP is hoping, would help propel outsourcing into a $13-billion industry by 2010.

?Unless you know where you?re strong at, you don?t have a play in this industry,? Sanez stressed.

Also, he said it pays to know the strengths of other countries in order to cope and find ways to differentiate the Philippines from other markets.

Many industry analysts have expressed confidence that BPO has a lot more room for growth simply because clients are realizing that more processes can be outsourced. Therefore, the local industry also needs to keep abreast of these developments in order to address these requirements.

?The challenge is how get there faster than the other guys,? said James Dantow, general manager for Netsuite Philippines, which provides financial services.

Asked which areas the industry needs to improve upon, he cited project management and resource management. By resource management, he was referring to combining skilled human resource with technology.

Dantow said: ?If you?re a player and you don?t have these things on your plate, you will be left behind.?