THERE is no doubt that the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry opened various job opportunities and became one of the top revenue earners for the country’s economy.
In Iloilo City alone, the number of BPO companies under the Iloilo Federation of IT grew to 69 in 2019 with 26,820 employees. The industry was greatly affected during the pandemic; thus, we should move forward to prevent economic breakdown.
As the pandemic continues to take its toll across the world, the industry was forced to address the safety and health of various categories of their workforce while keeping the lights on. Most of them abruptly adapted and shifted to a work-from-home arrangement to continue their commitment.
While this implementation somehow sustained its growth trajectory, the industry faces several challenges, including slow internet connectivity, reduced productivity, and the tracking of employee’s state of health.
Recently, the Department of Science and Technology Region VI (DOST-6), DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technologies Research and Development (PCIEERD), and the Spring Valley Tech Corporation collaborated for the development and deployment of a web-based application called Citizen’s Logistics & Early Assessment Reporting Tool or CLEAR that serves as a health management IT system to companies, especially in the BPO industry.
Formerly based in Roxas City, Capiz, the Spring Valley Tech Corporation is a private IT solutions company. It relocated to Bago City, Negros Occidental.
Considered to be a workplace safety solution, the online system allows employees – both working remotely and in the office – to provide their health data and track their state of health daily through https://covidclear.info/.
Moreover, it has a Management or HR Dashboard that allows employers to monitor their workforce’s state of health easily. As an office health management IT system, CLEAR complements S-PaSS Travel Management System and StaySafe Contact Tracing application.
Today, already six IT-BPM companies in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao adopted the system namely, IXL Solutions Philippines Incorporated, Syntactics Incorporated, Springboarders Incorporated, Compos Mentis Incorporated, IloBiz Solutions Incorporated, and Holysoft Studios Incorporated, where 600 users from these companies were trained to use the system.
“CLEAR helps us monitor the movement of our people from the main studio to the playroom. This will help us identify and help the government in contract tracing in the event of the virus entering any of the two facilities,” testified Jinky Besa, chief operating officer of Holfysoft Studios.
In addition, CLEAR comes with a Near Field Communication card scanner that can be installed on the doors of the company’s building. This feature allows the company to identify which departments or units should be locked down if there is a coronavirus disease 2019 infection.
The project is a six-month collaboration with private and public institutions funded by the DOST-PCIEERD.(DOST-6)
