ICT brings ‘Make IT Davao’

The Information, Communication, Technology (ICT) sector supports the latest campaign of the tourism sector by launching its “Make IT Davao ” slogan based on a similar slogan crafted by the local private tourism sector.
The tourism sector recently launched “Make it Davao Now!” as its battlecry in promoting the city and eyeing to be the next host of a big tourism event.
Realizing the need to partner with the tourism sector, ICT Davao pledged support by way of synergizing efforts with the latter. They adapted the tourism slogan, but incorporating their I.T. industry twist.
ICT Davao president Lisabel Holganza bared in Wednesday’s Club 888 forum at The Marco Polo Davao the partnership of the ICT industry with the tourism sector in promoting the city for increasing the volume of foreign and domestic travel.
“We hope to synergize our efforts with the tourism sector and offer Davao as an attractive location for the leisure of ICT executives.” Holganza said.
She explained that if the city could bring in more business processing outsourcing companies to Davao, an increase in foreign and local travelers is most likely to follow.
One of the ICT movers in the city is ICT Davao, an umbrella organization assisted by the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the ICT Council of Davao.
It adopted its new name ICT Davao in 2006 and has revitalized its membership which now includes the ICT educational and technical training institutions, the sub-sector association of various IT-enabled and BPO services such as contact centers, transcription providers, FOSS users, IT software and hardware vendors, i-Café operators and inventors.
Holganza said that ICT in Davao has all the components in place to claim as Mindanao ’s cyber hub. In terms of business climate, Davao is named by the Asian Institute of Management as the 2007 Most Competitive City and Fourth in RP’s IT-BPO Next Wave Cities.
The city has the major telecommunication capacity, redundancy and resiliency in place. Other factors needed for a cyber hub like next generation capability for IT-BPO spaces, and air and sea linkages, are all in Davao City.  [PIA 11]