PLDT Enterprise, Cloudstaff cement decade-long partnership with expanded productivity services

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

PLDT Enterprise—the B2B arm of the largest integrated telecommunications company in the Philippines PLDT—and Cloudstaff Modern Workforce—one of the Philippine’s leading business outsourcing providers—continue to strengthen their ongoing partnership with the signing of a new three year service extension agreement to further drive innovation and enhance business productivity.

 

The latest deal fortifies the longstanding partnership between Cloudstaff and PLDT Enterprise as the outsourcing leader extended its decade long association with Google Workspace, renewing licenses for its 3000+ staff spread across the Philippines.

 

“We would like to express our utmost gratitude to Cloudstaff Modern Workforce for their continued trust in us after all these years. Likewise, we at PLDT Enterprise convey our unbreakable commitment in helping their business grow and become even more successful with our end-to-end digital services,” said Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups.

Cloudstaff’s long association with the PLDT Group has organically evolved throughout the partnership, originally starting as a telecom provider, before transforming into a fully-fledged solutions partner.

PLDT has previously provided Cloudstaff internet connectivity through PLDT ClarkTel and wireless mobile plans via its wireless arm Smart Communications. Today, PLDT Enterprise, now supplies Cloudstaff with a series of world class digital solutions including Smart Bizload and Messaging Suite, Google Workspace, and Smart 5G Rocket WiFi through its ICT arm ePLDT to further boost Cloudstaff’s operations and productivity.

Cloudstaff CEO, Lloyd Ernst, says the secret to the partnership's ongoing success and longevity stems from the agile and adaptable way in which both organizations approach their operations.

“The Cloudstaff - PLDT relationship is a powerful combination,” Ernst said. “For us to succeed in a competitive and ever changing global market, we need a partner that is both reliable and adaptable, and never have we seen these qualities shine through more than in the way PLDT has provided a way forward throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic.”

“For over ten years now, Cloudstaff has been striving to change the way the world approaches outsourcing through the use of technology driven solutions and Google and PLDT have been there with us every step of the way,” Ernst added.

Likewise, Chito Franco, PLDT ClarkTel President, also expressed the PLDT Group’s enthusiasm for providing Cloudstaff with the leading digital solutions needed for conducting business on the global stage.

"For the last ten years, we at the PLDT Group have continuously strived to understand the growing requirements of Cloudstaff for us to provide the most suitable services that will help them reach more customers with their next-generation outsourcing platform. And today, we fortify that commitment especially as we help digitally transform its business," said Franco.

For Cloudstaff’s Head Network and Security engineer, Arvin Cubacub, the extension of the partnership means accelerating Cloudstaff’s rapid growth. “Continuing to have PLDT onboard providing our Google Workspace requirements over the course of the next three years is a key milestone for us. It gives us the confidence we need to grow and expand our services into new global markets, and provides our customers with one of the world’s most versatile and secure platforms, fully backed by PLDT’s unwavering support," he concluded.

For more information, please visit pldtenterprise.com or cloudstaff.com.

 

About PLDT Enterprise

PLDT Enterprise is the preferred digital services partner of the B2B market. As the corporate business unit of the PLDT Group, its vision is to make a positive impact on every single business by simplifying the complex for various industries. With its wide range of fixed line, wireless, and ICT services—which run on the Philippines’ most extensive fiber optic backbone, cellular network, and data center footprint—it continues to deliver solutions that create real value for every customer.

About Cloudstaff

Cloudstaff is a premium outsourcing provider that helps businesses to grow and achieve greater sustainability by providing high quality staff, world class facilities, and removing the burdens of recruitment, HR, and payroll.

With over ten years of operation, Cloudstaff employs over 3000 staff across eight premium office locations in the Philippines, and boasts a 98.1% staff retention rate. Investing heavily in technology and innovation, Cloudstaff is a market leader, providing next generation outsourcing solutions to a global client base.

 

PLDT Enterprise supports Project Balik Buhay for vaccine rollout in Visayas

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

PLDT Enterprise, the B2B arm of the largest integrated telecommunications company in the Philippines PLDT, has teamed up with Project Balik Buhay (PBB) of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) to help fast-track the rollout of COVID vaccination programs in the Visayas, particularly in Cebu.



Together with the Department of Health – Region 7 (DOH7), Regional Development Council – Region 7 (RDC7), Cebu local government units, and other private institutions, PBB is a public-private partnership aimed at saving lives and the livelihood of Cebuanos amid the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic.



PLDT Enterprise will provide strong internet connectivity in over 20 vaccination centers in the region to support the program’s data management systems.



DOH-7 Regional Director Dr. Jaime Bernadas expressed his gratitude to all the institutions that have contributed to assist the successful implementation of vaccination programs in the region. “We shall all campaign to have our people get vaccinated so that we can achieve the very critical target of at least 70 percent, if not 100 percent of the population. It is a very difficult task and the health sector itself cannot do this alone,” Bernadas added.



Meanwhile, ePLDT President and CEO and SVP and Head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups Jovy Hernandez said that this collaboration is part of PLDT Enterprise’s efforts to help the country rise against this pandemic. “PLDT Enterprise will continue to stand together with other institutions and extend as much assistance as we can to help overcome this crisis through technology,” Hernandez said.



Likewise, PLDT Enterprise AVP and Head of Corporate Relationship Management for Visayas Jimmy Chua added that this PBB partnership is their way of instilling hope to businesses affected in Cebu. “Through supporting the vaccination programs with connectivity, we hope that this would give a boost to industries as we are slowly working our way to recovery,” said Chua.



Since last year, the PLDT Group, through its various business units, has been enabling government initiatives and the private sector in providing relief to Filipinos in the form of affordable and free connectivity, empowerment of communities, and donation drives.



For more information, please visit pldtenterprise.com



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pH loses P 260B to Smoking Annually

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

‘Tobacco CSRs are a distraction to the real cost of smoking’ - law group

Every year, the country loses at least 260 billion pesos due to tobacco-related healthcare cost and productivity losses, according to law group ImagineLaw, citing data from the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).

“The tobacco industry is an economic liability,” said Atty. Anna Bueno, ImagineLaw policy associate. “Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and donations from tobacco companies are insignificant compared to the real costs of smoking,” she added.

Aside from killing 117,000 Filipinos every year due to cigarettes and second-hand smoke, tobacco-related healthcare costs took away 65.80 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2012, according to the law group, citing the same report.

While the country loses at least 260 billion pesos yearly due to tobacco-related healthcare costs, taxes collected from cigarettes amounted to P148.45 billion in 2020, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Despite these alarming numbers, the tobacco industry continues to sell and market a product that kills half of its users, according to the law group. “In the time of a pandemic where it has been shown that smokers are at a greater risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes, tobacco companies’ CSR activities are nothing but distractions and a way to relax tobacco control policies,” Atty. Bueno also said.

Tobacco-related illnesses translate to financial losses in the workforce, according to the law group. “These illnesses force an individual to temporarily or permanently stop going to work, contributing to major losses in human productivity,” the lawyer said.

“The Philippines is losing so much to the tobacco industry. We are not only talking about billions of pesos, we are also losing dreams and aspirations. Imagine a father, who has just entered the productive years of his life, falling victim to a lung disease caused by smoking,” she said. “You mourn the life of the father, but the burden of his death also affects a whole family in ways we cannot even begin to imagine.”

”No act of public relations or PR can mask the reality that tobacco is dangerous and deadly,” ImagineLaw emphasized. “The tobacco industry’s donations are nothing compared to the amount of resources it depletes and the number of lives it claims.”

“Instead of falling into the PR trap of cigarette companies, the government should boost its anti-smoking campaigns and strengthen smoking cessation programs,” urged Atty. Bueno. “The government should also continue to reject any move by the tobacco companies and their fronts to relax tobacco control policies,” she added.

The law group declared that tobacco companies should be held liable by the government for making smokers and secondhand smokers more susceptible to severe COVID-19 symptoms. “Tobacco companies put public health at risk, there’s no denying that,” added Atty. Bueno.

“Now, more than ever, the government needs to remain steadfast against moves by the tobacco industry to interfere with our public health policies. These policies should be upheld and their implementation strengthened. What we urgently need is a stronger public health system, not tactical donations that are only meant to take away our resources and lives,” she concluded.