25 November 2015 – In a bid to promote the Philippines as an IT-BPM destination, Philippine Ambassador to France Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro hosted an intimate dinner last November 23 at the official residence for a dozen top honchos of French companies.

Present during the dinner were Mr. Bruno du Pradel, Vice President for International and Public Affairs of Airbus; Mr. Jean-Baptiste Pons, Head of Corporate Finance of Airbus Group; Mr. Jean-Marc De Royère, Senior Vice President for International and Sustainable Development of Air Liquide; Mr. Laurent Barbet, Senior Vice President and Head of Managed Services Global Delivery of Atos; Ms. Véronique Weill, Chief Operating Officer of Axa; Ms. Birgitt Greif, Senior Director for Shared Services for EMEA of Dassault Systèmes; Mr. Michel Le Boedec, Director for the Shared Services Division of Engie (formerly GDF Suez); Ms. Bi Yong Chungunco, Area Manager for Southeast Asia (West) of LafargeHolcim; Mr. Olivier Lafont, Senior Director for Finance Operational Excellence of Sanofi; Mr. Emmanuel Babeau, Chief Financial Officer of Schneider Electric; Mr. Olivier Rigaudy, Chief Financial Officer of Teleperformance; and Mr. Christian Labeyrie, Chief Financial Officer of Vinci.

The companies present came from the CAC 40 and SBF 120 or the largest, publicly traded companies on the Euronext Paris and represented various industry sectors from aeronautics to construction. All the companies are already present or do business in the Philippines and represent some of the biggest French employers in the country.

For instance, Teleperformance already has over 30,000 employees in the Philippines and is well on its way to reaching its target of 40,000. Its Philippine operations represent its largest operations in the world today.

DFA Undersecretary for International Economic Relations and APEC SOM Chair, Ms. Laura Q. Del Rosario, graced the affair to provide updates on the country’s economic developments, particularly the ITBPM industry.

During the dinner, the guests shared their experiences in the Philippines and in Shared Services in particular. Ms. Bi Yong Chungunco, Area Manager for Southeast Asia of LafargeHolcim, shared great news. Following the merger of cement giants Lafarge and Holcim earlier this year, the LafargeHolcim Board made a decision to establish regional Shared Service operations in the Philippines.

Mr. Emmanuel Babeau, CFO of Schneider Electric, said that they were likewise very happy with their operations in the Philippines. Not only do they have four important manufacturing sites in Cavite employing 2,500 persons, they also have Finance Shared Services in the Philippines.

Mr. Laurent Barbet, Head of Corporate Finance of Atos, shared their equally positive experience in the Philippines. After starting operations in 2005, Atos already has almost 2,500 employees in the country, mostly doing service desk IT operations. Atos, being a leader in Big Data and High-Performance Computing, is considering reinforcing the capacity of its employees in the Philippines in these higher value-added activities.

The dinner conversation did not only focus on business. With Asia representing a bigger portion of their operations, all the guests were keen to hear about the political developments in the region. Coming off from a successful Philippine hosting of APEC 2015, Undersecretary Del Rosario was able to provide updates on the outcomes of APEC, particularly the APEC Services Cooperation Framework, which has an impact on the ITBPM industry.

After dinner, all the guests were invited to be part of a French delegation to the Philippines in 2016 to visit the Shared Service centers of French companies and to learn more about the country’s regulatory framework and investment incentives. END