<p>The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and IBM forged Thursday a pact to configure some Philippine courses and develop Filipino college graduates who will form the world's first data analytics army.</p><p>CHED chairperson Dr. Patricia Licuanan and IBM Philippines president Mariels Almeda Winhoffer signed the agreement on developing an analytics education master plan.</p><p>Winhoffer said the Philippines is the first in the world to embark on such a program that taps into the country's strengths as the business processing capital of the world.</p><p>Licuanan said the analytics "can be the game changer" in the Philippines efforts to lay claim to the "emerging global market opportunity for analytics estimated to be about $160 billion by 2015."</p><p><a href="http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/285346/economy/business/ched-ibm-team-up-lay-phl-claim-to-data-analytics-frontier">Keep reading...</a></p>