Philippine Call Centers Safe from US Financial Crisis
The Philippines’ business process outsourcing industry remains safe from the effects of the recent financial debacle in the United States, according to executives from private and government agencies.
The Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) said the industry will only suffer a “cooling down” effect as some US companies cancel their outsourcing contracts.
However, this will be offset by an influx of new contracts.
BPAP Chief Executive Officer Oscar Sañez told INQUIRER.net that the slowdown will vary in effect among companies in the Philippines, especially those who have US clients.
He said that the BPO business in the country is in better shape against other industries because of new clients coming in. Some of the industries, particularly the banking and financial sectors, would undergo changes that can affect BPO providers’ clientele.
Sañez added that there is no indication as to when the US financial crisis will abate.
Nevertheless, there are investors also from the US, Europe, India, Singapore and Australia exploring possible investments in the Philippines. Some of these are companies that have not done offshore outsourcing projects.
“The Philippines should continue to benefit from what’s happening around us given our industry’s stronger popularity and proven pedigree of success. This explains why we are continuously strengthening our marketing programs to make the country ‘top-of-mind’ choice for outsourcing,” Sañez said.
In a separate interview, Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim said the Philippines will have an “unfair” share of the global BPO business during this time as global firms move towards outsourcing their operations to the Philippines, instead of other countries.
“It is all the more imperative [for global firms] to streamline their operations. Outsourcing is the right thing to do and the Philippines is in the forefront,” Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim said that if there is one thing that the BPO industry should worry about in the Philippines is getting more manpower to fill in jobs.
BPAP projects that the industry would need about 1 million employees for the industry by 2010.
Ibrahim said the government is encouraging industries to move their operators beyond the cities and to other provinces in the country where there are skilled workers who could fill in their human resource requirements.
Ibrahim said provincial areas are starting to be developed to create good environments for BPO investments.
source: www.inquirer.net, photo from filipinaatheist.wordpress.com
