Best Philippine Call Centers

Archive for February, 2011

In light of global economic downturn, Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) reported that the trends in business outsourcing reflected a movement up the value curve towards knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) wherein it involves more complex business functions.

Other than the sought-after voice-based jobs for BPO industries, KPO jobs are becoming more and more popular. Majority of the KPO industry firms in the Philippines have increased their employment quota from eleven (11) percent to two hundred (200) percent from 2009 to follow the robust growth of BPO industries.

According to a survey conducted by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and Outsource2Philippines (O2P), various KPO services are offered by different BPO firms as well. Most industries are offering different KPO services from small to large enterprises and deliver a broad range of complex work. Tight market of qualified workers, inability of some workers to retain complicated knowledge, complex training requirements, inadequate educational infrastructure, and high wages are the factors that threaten the future growth of the industry.

Despite these threats, KPO services which focus on market research are catching up in the local BPO industry. Future prospects of the KPO industry will still depend on the work quality of currently employed “knowledge workers”. These workers are currently delivering outstanding services wherein they get their clients to trust them in making important decisions for their behalf. The type of KPO services being offered in the country varies widely from advertising to web services up to financial and legal KPO.

Business analysts are optimistic about the growth of the knowledge outsourcing industry. North America, with 59% market for KPO services is currently the largest provider for the industry followed by Asia with 46%. With the Philippines being successful in BPO business, there is no doubt that it can conquer the KPO industry in the future.

The Philippines overtaking India in the BPO industry race has been a legendary milestone for the country. Outsourcing business has been a beneficial solution for both participating countries during the global recession. Despite the economic meltdown, the Philippines was able to maintain its competitiveness against other countries which is evidence that it will maintain its resilience amidst the upcoming economic crisis.

The Philippines’ BPO industry has been growing at approximately 45% a year. With the emergence of different outsourcing companies in the country, the revenue growth for call centers alone is expected to boom up to a minimum of 50% annually, according to PHILEXPORT trustee for the Information Technology industry.

The Association of Call Center Agents of the Philippines (ACCAP) has been formed to address issues regarding call center companies and help maintain the quality of work while doing efficient changes in the nature of BPO.

Robust 20-30 percent growth for non-voice sector is also expected while the contact center sector continues to contribute in the overall growth of the BPO industry. The country’s competitiveness will remain stable and will improve with the right aggressive training and recruitment of development programs.

Today, many voice and non-voice sectors in the Philippines offer extensive training to successful applicants while maintaining a work efficient environment. In the future, the Philippines can expect to move forward into leading both voice and non-voice sector of the BPO industry.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm Accenture is set to generate another 5,000 Jobs in the Philippines this year as the company adds more clients from various parts of the world to its impressive roster.

According to the BPO giant, their expansion reflects the country’s outsourcing industry outlook for the year and its goal of a 2-digit growth.

“Right now, we have more than 20,000 employees in the Philippines. Last year was a very good year for us,” Accenture Philippines BPO operations head Benedict Hernandez said in an interview.

“We should be up to 25,000 before the end of the year,” he said. Last year alone, he said the company was able to bring about 4,000 new jobs, making it one of the country’s biggest BPO firms.

An estimated 50 percent of the company’s employees in the Philippines does technology consulting, while the other 50 percent is engaged in sub-contracted services which include call-center work, accounting, healthcare and finance.

According to Hernandez, compared to other big BPO companies in the Philippines, the lion’s share of Accenture’s workforce is not made up of call center agents.

“What’s good about us is 90 percent of our BPO portfolio is in higher-value, non-voice BPO operations,” he said.

At present, the number of the company’s call center agents total to only about 1,000.

“If you look at other significant players in the Philippines, they do mostly call-center work. Our advantage is that we have the capability to grow in other professions,” he said.

Hernandez said that this model could be “what a BPO company can become.”

Branching out from simple “voice” processes to higher-value work or Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) is, after all, the next step in BPO.

And this is exactly the direction stakeholders want the industry to take, a move up the value chain by bringing more focus to other services like animation, publishing and legal services.

The country’s BPO sector currently employs 600,000 people. By 2015, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines sees this number increase to about 1.3 million.