Quezon City, Philippines, October 27, 2016: IBM recently deployed a team of global experts from IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) to collaborate with key agencies from the Philippine government to enable the country’s growth agenda.

Twelve global IBMers from Australia, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States worked pro-bono as consultants for the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Science and Technology- Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI), and Philippine Statistics Office, over the course of one month. The work aimed to solve specific challenges as defined by the organizations, and to help advance their mandates through the employment of global best practices in business and technology.

DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (DILG)

One CSC sub-team worked with DILG on a Disaster Recovery and Risk Management system. Having studied the current framework, and assessing the needs of the local government units that the department supports, the team proposed an architecture that would enable DILG to provide guidance, air cover, and facilitate support, for a coordinated and cohesive disaster recovery plan. 

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY- ASTI

A CSC sub-team worked with DOST-ASTI to focus on the agency’s IT service Management (ITSM), under the flagship initiative, CoARE (Computing and Archiving Research Environment) project. The team reviewed, consulted with leaders, and came up with a set of strategic recommendations to enhance the agency’s Guidance and Framework for providing IT Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement. They likewise conducted capacity building workshops to ensure sustainability of ITSM practices in ASTI.

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS OFFICE (PSA)

Two CSC sub-teams worked with PSA to advance its vision of becoming a solid, responsive, world-class authority on quality statistics and civil registration, through improvements in 1) Business Operations framework; and 2) leveraging data to create statistical insights.

The first PSA team looked at the current business operations model of the agency. After consulting with the leadership to define their desired end-state using Design Thinking methodology, they provided guidance on an Enterprise Architecture Blueprint that would significantly improve business operations efficiency.

The second PSA team focused on enabling the agency to optimize the opportunities in the era of Big Data to draw statistical insights on social and economic activities and challenges; for example, the comparative cost of commodities in different regions, and other indicators of living standards, needs and challenges that could aid decision makers in managing the country’s resources. 

“As IBM approaches its 80th anniversary milestone in the Philippines, we remain committed in supporting the communities we serve through capacity building and innovation,” said Luis Pineda, President and Country General Manager, IBM Philippines. “The Corporate Service Corps program or CSC is our way of bringing this commitment to life. Through an immersive, collaborative work between IBM’s top global talent and the government, we aim to help the Philippines realize its potential to grow and prosper as a formidable player in the global marketplace.”

IBM’s Corporate Service Corps program, the company’s version of the Peace Corps, sends top performing IBMers to emerging countries to help solve socio-economic challenges through business and technology expertise. The program aims to uplift the community, develop leaders in IBM, and help the company better understand the markets where it operates.

In the last 8 years, 17 Teams have been to the Philippines to work with government and NGOs in projects that resulted to some game-changing innovations such as the Intelligent Operations Center for Public Safety in Davao, or the now-launched and widely adopted Smarter Analytics Education curriculum which also started as CSC engagement with the Commission on Higher Education. Filipino IBMers have likewise traveled to Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and South America as CSC volunteers.