JUNE 20, 2017 

THE Department of Trade and Industry’s Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB) and the Philippine Trade and Investment Centre (PTIC) Tokyo in partnership with the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), and the Department of Information Communication and Technology (DICT) held an Outbound Business Matching Mission (OBMM) for the information technology-business-process management (IT-BPM) sector and its participation to the Software Development Expo (Sodec) 2017 at the Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan, from May 9 to 12.

A major component of the Bureau’s OBMM is the conduct of the business-to-business (B2B) matching with Japanese counterparts.

The mission aims for market exposure to the annual software-development event in Japan’s largest software-trade show, held every May in Tokyo. Japan is the third-largest IT market in the world ($173 billion), after the US ($661 billion) and China ($179 billion).

For 2017 all segments of the Philippine IT-BPM industry were invited to join the business-matching mission in Tokyo. One of the major activities that ensured the success of the participation in this mission is the organization of prearranged one-on-one business matching meetings handled by the EMB in cooperation with the Philippine Trade and Investment Corp. in Tokyo headed by Commercial Counselor Ma. Bernadita A. Mathay. Last year’s mission with the new B2B strategy through a commissioned expert/consultant by EMB proved to be very effective, as it reached more focused institutional clients and decision makers; hence, the same template was maintained for this year.

The industry headed by the PSIA got a very encouraging response from companies whose number increased to 20 from last year’s 16 companies.

A great number of managers in information systems and software development visit Sodec every year to conduct business discussions face to face with exhibitors. This year’s IT week was participated in by 1,551 exhibitors from 122 countries and attended by 87,725 professional visitors and decision makers.

In Sodec 2017, the Philippine pavilion had the same size of 10.6×4.6 square meters as last year. The booth was jointly sponsored by the DICT and the PSIA.

“Go Global, Go Digital, Co- Create with the Philippines” was this year’s Philippine tagline at Sodec 2017.

The business matching led by EMB Director Senen M. Perlada was represented this year by the head of mission, Assistant Director Agnes Legaspi, and was successfully conducted between and among 20 Philippine companies and 22 Japanese counterparts. The B2B had substantial gains with the initial reported figure of $4.7 million from deals under negotiation.

The business-matching activity for the mission this year featured a more substantive, more focused template with expanded and diverse client profiles through the engagement of Resorz, a third-party advertising and events-management company in Japan. Prearranged B2B for the Philippine companies suitably matched serious potential clients/companies, resulting to the conclusion of business deals.

Participating Philippine companies were engaged in prearranged business meetings ranging from three to six counterpart companies each during the B2B sessions. Based on the evaluation of the participants, the overall conduct of the component activities of the OBMM was excellent.

The seminar and networking event participated in by 124 Japanese counterparts held in Bright Core Hall in Osaki, Tokyo, Japan, on May 9, was successful. The Philippine participants were able to connect with the attendees, of which 16 companies had separate follow-up business meetings after the event.  Trade visitors went to the Philippine booth at the Tokyo Big Sight where further business talks were conducted.

For this year the Philippine Pavilion had eight companies exhibiting from May 10 to 12, and situated in a very good location as last year and strategically positioned to capture  the traffic of visitors in all sides with its circular open design and colorful theme “More fun in the Philippines”. Improvement in this year’s layout was the installation of a large TV monitor showing the Philippine companies’ services. A wider space was given for the B2B meeting areas.

Due to the positive results of the OBMM to Japan for Sodec, the Philippine delegation already booked for the Philippine pavilion for Sodec 2018 in advance, with the PSIA president and the DICT representative signing the reservation contract. In addition, new company participants who have not yet participated in the exhibition and B2B manifested their possible participation next year.

During the mission period, official meetings concluded by EMB included meeting with the Ambassador, debriefing with the PSIA and the DICT and a dinner meeting with the PTIC Tokyo.

Participating in Sodec were Alliance Software Inc., Alorica, Asia Select Inc., Advanced World Systems Inc., Bizwind Philippines Inc., Blastasia Inc., Cybertech Corp. Ltd., DTSI Group, Exist Software Labs Inc., Green Advancedtech Solution Corp., Gulliver, I-Tech Global Business Solutions Inc., Magellan Solutions Outsourcing Inc., N-Pax Systems and Consulting Inc., Pointwest Technologies Corp.; Magellan Solutions Outsourcing Inc.; Personiv; Red Core Solutions; Stratpoint Technologies Inc.; Saiff Solutions Inc.; TMJP BPO Services ;Inc. and Tsukiden Global Solutions Inc.

Original publication: http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/dti-promotes-it-bpm-to-sodec-japan/