LYRIQ Insight · AI Operations
LYRIQ AI Joins IBPAP
LYRIQ AI has joined IBPAP as the Philippine IT-BPM industry pivots from headcount to value. With sector revenue near $40 billion and roadmap targets cut to $50.5 billion by 2028, LYRIQ argues governed AI must sit inside delivery rather than bolt on in pieces.
LYRIQ AI has joined IBPAP, the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines, as the country’s IT-BPM industry turns to AI-enabled growth. LyriqAi Pte. Ltd. is now an IBPAP Member of Good Standing for the membership year from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027.
The timing is deliberate. In July 2026, IBPAP revised its industry roadmap, lowering its 2028 revenue and headcount projections and pointing to AI adoption and global competition as the reasons. The next chapter of Philippine outsourcing will be measured less by how many people a provider employs and more by the value each team creates. That is the shift LYRIQ was built to help providers make.
- Philippine IT-BPM industry revenue in 2025 (IBPAP)
- $40 billion
- People employed in the Philippine IT-BPM industry (IBPAP)
- 1.9 million
- Best-case IT-BPM revenue projected for 2028 (revised roadmap)
- $50.5 billion
- Workers projected by 2028 in the best-case scenario
- 2.14 million
Figures from IBPAP and news reports (GMA News, Philstar) cited in the article; the 2028 numbers are IBPAP's July 2026 revised Roadmap 2028 best-case projections.
The argument
Our IBPAP membership
IBPAP issued LyriqAi Pte. Ltd. its Certificate of Membership on 14 September 2026 at BGC, Taguig City, signed by IBPAP president and CEO Jack Madrid. It recognises LYRIQ as a Member of Good Standing for the membership year 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027. You can view the full membership certificate.
The certificate also sets out what IBPAP asks of its members: to support the Philippines’ global leadership in the IT-BPM industry “through the highest professional and ethical standards in the conduct of their business.” That is a standard we are glad to be held to, especially in AI, where trust is earned one well-governed deployment at a time.
What is IBPAP?
IBPAP, the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines, is the industry association for the Philippine IT and business process management (IT-BPM) sector. Since 2004 it has led initiatives to grow the industry and to position the Philippines as a preferred destination for digitally enabled services, including advocacy on the laws and policies that shape the sector.
The industry it represents is large and still growing. According to IBPAP, the Philippine IT-BPM industry generated about $40 billion in revenue in 2025 and employs around 1.9 million people. Philstar reported that headcount rose from 1.82 million in 2024.
IBPAP membership gives companies access to industry research and data, workforce and skills development programmes, a network of peers inside and outside their own part of the sector, and a voice in the industry’s policy work.
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Why LYRIQ joined IBPAP now
In July 2026, IBPAP revised its IT-BPM Roadmap 2028. The best-case projection is now $50.5 billion in revenue and 2.14 million workers by 2028, down from the $59 billion and 2.5 million projected in 2022. A downside scenario puts 2028 at $43.3 billion and 1.85 million workers, GMA News reported.
IBPAP president and CEO Jack Madrid framed the reset plainly: “For years, our industry has measured success by how many people we could employ. The next chapter will increasingly be defined by the value every Digital Filipino Worker creates.” He added that success “will depend on how quickly we invest in talent, embrace AI responsibly, and deepen collaboration.”
We agree with every part of that. The real risk for providers is not AI itself. It is AI deployed in pieces: a chatbot here, a transcription tool there, none of it connected to the provider’s knowledge, rules or quality standards. Joining IBPAP puts us alongside the people working through that question on real operations floors.
What LYRIQ brings to Philippine BPOs
LYRIQ builds AgentConnect, a governed AI orchestration platform. It connects a company’s knowledge, AI agents, workflows, business systems and people into one governed operation, and it works with the systems a provider already runs rather than replacing them.
For a BPO, that means an intelligence layer inside delivery, not a replacement for it. AgentConnect runs within inbound, outbound and quality assurance programmes: it scores interactions, surfaces risk and automates templated work, while each client’s knowledge, rules and reporting stay separate. You can read more about AI for business process outsourcing and how call centre quality assurance software scores every interaction rather than a sample.
Governance is built in rather than bolted on. Consequential actions can be held for human sign-off, and every action an agent takes leaves a trace that can be inspected afterwards. That matters in an industry where client trust, data privacy and audit readiness decide renewals; our approach is set out on the trust and compliance page.
What we will do as an IBPAP member
Membership is a starting point, not a badge. Through IBPAP we want to:
- Learn from operators. Hear from member companies where AI is working on their floors, where it is not, and what their clients are asking for.
- Support AI-ready talent. Contribute to the industry’s workforce and skills work, so AI adds capability to Filipino teams rather than simply removing roles.
- Champion responsible AI. Share practical governance patterns, such as human approval gates, audit trails and client data separation, that let providers adopt AI without putting client trust at risk.
What the IT-BPM roadmap means for BPO leaders
If you run delivery at a Philippine BPO, the roadmap revision is a signal to act on now rather than in 2028. Four questions help separate useful AI from noise, whichever vendor you evaluate:
- Does it sit inside your delivery? Tools that work within your existing telephony, CRM and QA processes get adopted. Parallel systems get ignored.
- Can you see what it did? If an AI agent acts on a client account, you should be able to trace exactly what happened and why.
- Does it keep clients apart? Multi-client operations need each client’s knowledge, rules and reporting separated by design, not by policy.
- Does it make your people more valuable? The strongest business cases move agents towards higher-value work instead of only cutting seats.
Those are the questions we designed AgentConnect around, and the ones we expect to keep discussing with the IBPAP community.
Frequently asked questions
What does IBPAP stand for?
IBPAP stands for the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines. It is the industry association for the Philippine IT-BPM sector and has been active since 2004.
Is LYRIQ an IBPAP member?
Yes. LyriqAi Pte. Ltd. is an IBPAP Member of Good Standing for the membership year 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027.
When did LYRIQ join IBPAP?
IBPAP issued LYRIQ’s Certificate of Membership on 14 September 2026, for the membership year that began on 1 September 2026.
Does IBPAP membership change how LYRIQ works with clients?
No. Clients use AgentConnect in the same way. Membership connects us more closely with the Philippine IT-BPM community and with the industry’s work on talent and responsible AI.
If you are planning how AI fits into your delivery model, we would be glad to work through a real workflow with you: book a demo with LYRIQ.
What to do next
What to ask an AI vendor before you commit
If you lead delivery at a Philippine BPO, the questions below turn the roadmap reset into a practical checklist for any AI vendor you weigh up.
- Ask whether it runs inside your stack. Can the tool work within your existing telephony, CRM and QA, or does it ask your teams to run a parallel system they will quietly ignore?
- Ask to see the trace. When an agent acts on a client account, can you inspect exactly what it did and why, after the fact?
- Ask how clients stay apart. Is each client’s knowledge, rules and reporting separated by design, or held apart only by policy?
- Ask where human sign-off sits. Can consequential actions be held for a person to approve before they reach a client?
- Ask what it does for your people. Does the business case move agents towards higher-value work, or does it only cut seats?
These are the same questions we work through with operators, and you can read how we handle governance on our trust and compliance page. If you want to pressure-test them against a real workflow, book a demo with LYRIQ.
