BY BEN ARNOLD O DE VERA Reporter

Global information technology (IT) services provider UST Global said it will expand its Philippine operations, following today’s launch of its second facility in the country.

Sajan Pillai, UST Global chief executive officer (CEO), told The Manila Times that the company wants to hire between 3,000 and 5,000 people in the next three years in line with a plan to jack up its global workforce three times more in the next three years.

At present, UST Global employs about 200 people in its Makati site, which was opened in 2007.

Pillai said the company would hire another 500 people for its new facility in Taguig City.

He said UST Global would ramp up employment at the $16-million Taguig site up to 1,000 people in the next 12 months.

Employees in these two Philippine centers would develop and maintain software, and provide infrastructure support to six retail giants in the US and Europe, the executive said.

According to its website, the Aliso Viejo, California-headquartered company is a leading provider of end-to-end IT services and solutions for Global 1000 companies. It employs a about 6,500 people in their sites in the Philippines, India, South America, the United Kingdom and the US.

Pillai said the Philippines is teeming with untapped talent in the IT and engineering sectors.

“We have done a lot of market studies, and we found that about 350,000 Filipinos graduate [from college] every year. Many of them are extremely talented. We have to give them higher value jobs, such as IT and engineering jobs,” the executive said.

While the Philippines lacks middle management candidates, Pillai said that this gap can be addressed through in-house training.

He said the cost of doing business here and of Filipino labor is at par with India.

Stephanie Moore, UST Global chief marketing officer, said the compatibility of American and Filipino cultures gives an advantage, as workers here could attend to their US-based clients better.

Pillai said they expect tremendous growth from the global IT sector.

Amid a global recession last year, UST Global managed to grow 23 percent, he said, adding that the company aims growth of up to 40 percent this year.

“The demand for technology jobs is increasing,” he said.

Moore said the US has an insufficient IT talent pool, hence the need to source skilled workers from locations with a lot of IT professionals, such as the Philippines and India.

Pillai said Filipino IT, engineering and business graduates now need not look for employment abroad, as the company would offer high compensation to qualified workers.

The Philippines needs to market itself more aggressively as a country rich in IT talent, he said. “There has to be more awareness. The Philippines is more known to be a BPO [business process outsourcing] destination, but not an IT hub.”

Computer skills of graduates also need to be improved, he added.