Technology company IBM hopes to help the IT-BPM workforce upskill and thrive in the new business landscape. The advent of hybrid work after the pandemic will require new skills for employees to easily adapt and adjust to different roles.
Recognizing that the Philippines is a global leader in the IT-BPM sector and remains at the forefront of voice and non-voice BPM as well as IT services, IBM started offering free online courses through its SkillsBuild program.
Quoting the Philippine IT-BPM Sector Roadmap 2022, IBM said that in the past 10 years, the sector has achieved significant growth in global market share, with projected overall market growth at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.2% from 2016 to 2022 reaching $ 38.9 billion by 2022.
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With the impact of technology developments in transforming industries and businesses, the same report says that the convergence of four major digital trends, big data and analytics (BDA), internet of things (IoT), automation and artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, will significantly impact the IT-BPM sector. 

As new technology enables the sector to move up the value chain, the shift to higher-level skills will continue. By 2022, as reported by Frost & Sullivan, 73% of jobs in the IT-BPM industry will require mid- to high-level skills.
Free core technology skills courses
IBM SkillsBuild program has more than 1,800 free online, self-paced courses in technology and professional skills, as well as project-based learning, credentials, and coaching.
Here are a few online courses from IBM SkillsBuild that will help ready Filipino talents with core technology and workplace skills:
- Emerging tech is a primer on new technologies that are changing job roles
- AI Foundations is a basic introduction to principles of artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Data analysis teaches how to interpret and apply raw information
- Data science discusses how can companies make use of data to grow their business
- Cloud & quantum computing will be about how data science is evolving to solve bigger problems in faster, safer, and more efficient ways
- Cybersecurity fundamentals touches on the principles in outsmarting hackers to keep organizational data safe
- Professional workplace skills will be about the basics of human-oriented proficiencies such as collaboration
- Explorations into mindfulness will help employees understand why frame of mind is critical to excelling in the workplace
- Preparing for your first job will enable fresh graduates to get a peek at what organizational oriented skills, such as time management, are needed in the workplace