Philippines Call Center Information

Call-center firms in the country are coming up with a three-year road map to help the industry achieve its target of having 500,000 agents by 2010 from the current 200,000 and about $8 billion in yearly revenues.

Benedict Hernandez, director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), said they will release the preliminary content of their comprehensive plan, “Philippine Call Center Road Map 2010: Full Speed Ahead,” next week during the Call Center Conference & Expo 2007 at the Crowne Plaza Galleria.

Leaders of the call-center association, the Business Process Association of the Philippines, and global consulting firm Baker & McKinsie are putting their heads together to complete the strategic business plan.

Raffy David, a CCAP director, said the road map, if successfully implemented, will give the industry and other stakeholders such as academe and the government one synchronized plan to achieve the target. “Without the road map, it would be a harder climb for us. With it, however, we will be inching toward the goal with greater ease.”

Hernandez said while the plan will include general variables such as government incentives, means to bring down cost of business, infrastructure and technology, its most important feature will be on how to have a steady source of qualified agents.

To be able to reach 500,000 agents by 2010, they will have to hire at least 10,000 new agents a month, he added.

Victor Endaya, another CCAP director, agreed, saying the industry does not see future problems when it comes to luring global companies to outsource here, since the Philippines is already the country of choice for contact-center sites. “The challenge is how we can meet the demand and beef up our manpower pool.”

Hernandez said the local industry is now growing faster than India even if the cost of the labor pool here has become higher. “There is no debate now that there are certain things that we just do better here.”

source: www.businessmirror.com.ph