Best Philippine Call Centers

Posts Tagged ‘BPO’

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.

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.

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.

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry continues to grow as companies strive to become more efficient, productive, flexible, and profitable. It has achieved significant development in many fields including finance, accounting, human resources, employee training, manufacturing, property management, IT, and customer support; as well as call center functions like telemarketing, customer service, and market research. Only recently, with the global financial slowdown, an increasing number of firms have turned to the industry to weather the crisis. With cost cutting at the top of their priority lists, many companies are now considering outsourcing.

Outsourcing is a subcontracting process that involves the transfer of the administration and management of a business function (whether a process such as recruitment or infrastructure such as IT) to a third-party service provider. It is a viable option that enables companies to maximize revenue while minimizing expenses.

Outsourcing offers a number of long-term benefits for businesses:

Cost savings. The biggest benefit that firms can get while outsourcing is to be able to invest resources in cost-effective services that can offer high quality at a lower cost. Outsourcing lowers the cost of doing business since firms can save on time, manpower, infrastructure and capital expenditure. It enables the company to spend on revenue-producing activities rather than on expensive software and technologies.

Focus on core business. As resources such as investment, manpower and infrastructure are limited, outsourcing makes it possible for firms to shift their focus from secondary and non-core activities to the development of the core business. It also helps in increasing companies’ efficiency since business functions such as business development, marketing, and distribution can be delegated to an external firm.

Quality improvement. Outsourcing can give companies the benefit of getting services from people with solid experience and expertise on a given business process, e.g., engineering and customer service. Companies can opt to outsource a business function that is not their core competency, enabling them to cross-leverage on the skills and expertise that can be provided by BPO companies.

Risk management. Risks are part of every business, and one way to control them is through outsourcing. Firms have high chances of avoiding risks, such as those involve in market competition and financial status, by partnering with a BPO company that can provide the best mitigation that is in line with their areas of expertise.

Faster delivery. Through outsourcing, business development is accelerated since BPO companies have the capability to provide faster services and deliverables, thus saving companies significant amount of time. Outsourcing can help companies make deliveries to customers on time.

Customer satisfaction. Companies can build customer loyalty through outsourcing. Having a track record of providing high-quality services on time, companies can achieve higher customer satisfaction that leads to customer loyalty.

Competitive edge. Outsourcing can help companies compete with their peers in the market. It gives them access to economies of scale, expertise and efficiency that are at par with their competitors. By outsourcing, companies can provide top-of-the-line services that can help them gain a cutting-edge in the market.