Ferrer: I'd like to say it depends on how the purpose outsourcing. For the standardized functions like e-mail and helpdesk, you should be able to outsource it to save cost, because it's a given anywhere. The problem that we've seen, so far,in terms of e-mail outsourcing, is that providers can't handle a big volume of users. What outsourcing companies suggest is that they would buy a server exclusive for us, which would make it really expensive. But the concept of outsourcing, basically, is that you have a big server where you pool all the users. For ROI in outsourcing, basically you get intangible values for that. You get fast turnaround, or high level of service quality. It's been a good experience for us so far. Having the outsourcing companies there mean support can easily be requested. If we are to do those things ourselves, they are never going to happen.

Sangalang: Outsourcing can get very expensive. An ERP implementation will cost you around 4 to 7 million pesos in six months, but if you will build a team from the ground up, it will take you six months doing that alone. The time is wasted. Given the right cost-benefit analysis, we can say that outsourcing is

very expensive but sometimes we really have to get the services of a provider.

Trinidad: Outsourcing is beneficial if you are under limited manpower and limited time to implement, especially if your team doesn't have the skills to do the project. When I joined the company, our main system was an old one, but the new CEO sent a directive to implement a regional application system for

the region, and it took us only half the time to implement it. If we were to do it ourselves, we have to gather the different IT teams from different areas and countries, but what happened was it was done by one team, an outsourced partner. We saved on time and resources because of that.