Three Philippine outsourcing destinations moved up Tholons’ Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations 2015 as Manila retains spot as the no. 2 outsourcing location in the world. Established in 2006, the annual list promoted outsourcing locations in the Philippines such as Baguio City, Bacolod, and Iloilo City four, seven, and four spots up the list, respectively. Baguio City rose to the 95th spot from last year’s 99th, while Iloilo moved up to the 91th spot from 95 last year, beating Novosibirsk in Russia, which fell to 92. From 2014’s 93rd ranking, Bacolod also rose to the 86th spot this year. 

Tholons managing director Ankita Vashistha said the top 10 ranking was marked with “significant movements” in 2015. Bangalore, India remained the world’s top outsourcing location, followed by Manila, Philippines. Other outsourcing locations in the Philippines such as Cebu City, Davao City, and Santa Rosa in Laguna also retained the no. 8, no. 69, and no. 82 spots, respectively, bringing the overall total of Philippine cities in the list to eight.

Meanwhile, some cities dropped out from the top 10. Dublin City in Ireland fell two spots to number 12, with the 10th and 11th spot filled by Shanghai, China and San José, Costa Rica. Vashistha said the continued growth of the Chinese and Latin American markets have the potential to push these two cities further into the top 10, despite “systemic problems” in each region.

“The rise of Shanghai to the 10th rank and San Jose on its heels at 11th will be an interesting play in the following years, as both Latin American and China markets grow abound simultaneously,” Vashistha further said of the Top 100 outsourcing destinations 2015 list.

In addition to Latin America, the Asia Pacific market is showing “very positive” regional development with an upward trend in the rankings, particularly for Tier 2 locations, said Vashistha. However, she added that sociopolitical issues in Europe, Africa and the Middle East continue to prevent further IT-BPM growth in those regions.