Best Philippine Call Centers

Posts Tagged ‘Business Process Outsourcing’

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.

Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP is a technology that makes it possible to make calls through Internet Protocol (IP) networks like the Internet or other computer networks. It goes by many names. IP telephony, Internet telephony, broadband telephony, broadband phone, voice over broadband (VoBB), digital phone service, cable phone service, and managed IP telephony are just some of them.

How VoIP works
VoIP allows communication services such as voice calls and/or messaging and facsimiles to be transmitted via the Internet instead of the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN). Basically, when you make a call, the analog signals created by your voice are converted to digital format then compressed and translated into IP packets and transported over the Internet. The whole process is then reversed upon reaching the receiving party as a voice call.

VoIP systems have built-in session control protocols to regulate the calls as well as audio codecs which convert voice to digital format for transportation over the Internet.

How to make VoIP calls
One can make VoIP calls using a land line, personal computer/ laptop, or cell phone as long as the equipment is connected to the Internet. There are applications that need to be installed in order to use VoIP such as Skype, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live, Google Talk, AOL Messenger, and iChat, to name a few. Usually, such apps can be downloaded free online. VoIP calls are usually free if the call is made from a computer to another computer, but there is a minimal charge (definitely cheaper than local or long-distance calls) when calling a phone or cell phone number.

The impact of VoIP on the call center industry
The advent of VoIP technology has been a boon to the call center industry. Higher broadband speeds and more advanced Internet Protocol (IP) networks distributed to more areas around the globe allowed VoIP to become a cheap and convenient way to make and receive calls. Realizing its potential to reach out to more clients at a fraction of the cost, call centers has since then incorporated VoIP into their daily operations.

VoIP technology encouraged companies to increasingly outsource their call center services to other countries like the Philippines in their quest to reduce cost and increase profits. For one thing, it’s cheap to set up the necessary equipment to make voice calls – just broadband, a desktop, and a telephone and you’re all set. The actual cost to make an international call is also decreased. For example, this means that agents at a call center like LWS Media can service more clients from more locations for longer talk times.

Indeed, using VoIP in outsourcing business processes can help companies improve their services, widen their client base, and cut costs. In the very competitive call center industry, every innovation counts.