Best Philippine Call Centers

Archive for the ‘Philippine Call Center Outsourcing’ Category

Markets have been plummeting, banks have been declaring bankruptcy, and millions of people have been losing their jobs due to the global financial crisis. Here in the Philippines however, the economy has not taken as much damage as its neighbors because of its strong Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. Companies big and small have come to consider the Philippines as a prime spot for offshore operations in the past few years due mainly to the fact that English is taught in many schools as a second language and that the cost of operations are smaller compared to those in other developed, English-speaking countries.

Thus it is no huge surprise when a recent survey of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has announced that 23 BPO companies are still hiring new employees as call center agents and information-technology and administrative support personnel. According to the TUCP secretary-general, Ernesto Herrera, “A number of BPO providers are drafting additional staff on account of expansion, while others are requiring fill-in personnel due to attrition, or the loss of employees.”

Some contact centers that are looking for new personnel are:
LWS Media, Aegis PeopleSupport Inc. Affiliated Computer Services Inc. APAC Customer Services Inc. Convergys Philippines Services Corp. Dell International Services Philippines Inc. Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd. eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. Hinduja TMT Ltd. HSBC Electronic Data Processing Philippines Inc. ICT Marketing Services Inc. JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. Philippine Customer Care Center NCO Group Inc. NuComm International Inc. PeopleTalk Contact Solutions Inc. Stellar Global Solutions Inc. Synnex-Concentrix Corp. Telephilippines Inc. TeleTech Holdings Inc. TELUS International Philippines Inc. VXI Global Solutions Inc. West Contact Services Inc. WinSource Solutions Inc.

For example, APAC is currently looking for 1,000 call center agents and support staff for their Manila offices as well as their new call center located in Tacloban City. Deutsche Knowledge Services on the other hand has been has been on the look-out for 900 people experienced in finance, business, and accounting to offer back office support to its global enterprises. ICT Marketing Services is now recruiting 400 agents for call centers in Manila and their newly-opened one in Cabanatuan City.

LWS Media, a local BPO company based in Ortigas with a satellite office in Hong Kong, is also currently looking for several new recruits. They need customer service representatives (for inbound and outbound accounts) and tech support representatives.
Many of these companies don’t require a full degree; anyone who has good English or foreign language skills is welcome to apply. It doesn’t matter if you’ve only had two (or even less) years in college, or even if you’re just a high school graduate. These companies are in dire need of new employees. They value skills and experience more than anything else.

According to the survey conducted by TUCP, call center companies place emphasis on those who has bilingual or multilingual skills. Major BPO companies such as PeopleSupport, Convergys, Synnex and Telephilippines are actively looking for full-time or part-time employees who can speak fluent French, Cantonese, Spanish, or Japanese.

The call center industry is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the Philippines nowadays. According to a recent study commissioned by the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), this growth is expected to go on until the end of the year. The result of the study reveals a robust industry that gives no signs of slowing down inn spite of the country’s existing economic strain and low operational costs from global markets.

The steady growth of the Philippine call center industry is largely due to North American multinational companies who look to outsourcing a part of their business process to lower overhead and expenses. The Philippines has always been among the top choices of countries for BPO destination due to several reasons.

First among these reasons is the lowered cost of labor. A typical salary for a Filipino call center agent starts at Php14, 999.00 per month. This rate is about a fifth of what an agent receives in the United States or in other richer countries. In spite of this, Filipino call center agents are content with what they receive as this amount is relatively higher than what they receive in other jobs.

Most call center agents in the Philippines also do not mind the huge discrepancy of the working hours between the Philippines and North America. A large pool of workers are prepared to work at nights in order to match the waking and business hours of these companies that are based on the other side of the world. The country’s heightened unemployment rate is seen as a contributing factor to Filipino agent’s willingness to work at nights, as well as the higher incentive they could receive for accepting the task.

Yet the Philippines’ high unemployment rate is not at all a dismal glimpse of the country’s workforce. The Philippines is one of the world’s best English speaking and well-educated work force. This excellent proficiency in English makes the Philippines an in-demand BPO destination. The Philippines is one of the best English speaking countries in Asia. Most people have grown up speaking the language as it is encouraged by the government, the country’s educational system, the media, and the business sector.

The Philippines has a large well-educated and skilled work force. Most call center providers in the Philippines require their agents to have at least two years of college education aside from excellent communication skills. In addition, agents often take on their posts while already possessing a reliable degree of computer and web browsing prowess.

Hence, by outsourcing a company’s non-core operations to a well-educated, skilled, and efficient work force, the company can then focus on their main functions and onto their customers’ needs. This process also affords greater efficiency and productivity.

Of course, call center outsourcing in the Philippines is not without drawbacks. Unlike its competitors like India and China, the Philippines
Has a less developed IT and networking infrastructure. There is also the question of political instability that seems to have plagued the local scene in recent years.

The current government recognizes the integral part the BPO and call center industries play in the economy. Recent economic reforms have been implemented in order to provide robust support for the business sector. In addition, the growing stability of the Philippine peso is an encouraging sign that the country is on its way to recovering from its past economic and political instability.

Though only time could determine if the Philippines could prove itself as a strong and stable emergent economy in Asia, the benefits of outsourcing in the Philippines at present seems to outweigh the disadvantages. As it is the ultimate objective of any business venture to get more than what it has invested, the Philippine call center industry certainly offers more than what any company’s money is worth.