Call center industry in the Philippines

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Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, center, is escorted by Michael Dell, left, Chairman and Founder of Dell Inc, and Michael Garrison, right, Dell Philippines Country Manager, as she tours the facilities of its outsourcing branch during its opening at the Mall of Asia.

The call center industry is an emerging industry in the Philippines. Business process outsourcing is regarded as one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Business process outsourcing in the Philippines became the latest trend in the services sector in the 2000s and is led by demand for offshore call centers. It is estimated that 112,000 people were working in call centers in the Philippines in 2005, bringing in revenues of US$1.12 billion for the year. This is a sharp increase from 2000 when call centers employed 2400 people and earned US$24 million.

The growth of call centers continue to be rapid, up from 72 registered in late 2003 when the Asian Call Center Review reported the Philippines as the first rank in the offshore call center industry for the Asian region, surpassing India at the second spot. From being an almost unexplored BPO territory in 2000, the call center industry has grown leaps and bounds. The Philippines Board of Investments (BOI) estimates growth rate of this industry since 2001 to 100 percent annually with less than 1000 seats in 2000 to more than 69,000 at the end of 2004.

In 2004, the Philippines already captured 20 percent of the total world market share in contact center services. The Philippine government estimates the Philippines could capture 50 percent of the total world English-speaking market in 2008. This industry, aside from contributing 12 percent in to the Philippines gross national product, is also the fastest growing provider for Filipino college graduates. The Information and Communications Technology division of the BOI reported that the call center industry experienced a growth rate of 70 percent in 2005 making it the most dynamic of all sectors in the Philippine information technology industry. It has been estimated that as many as 130,000 could be working in all call centers in the Philippines by February 2006. According to industry forecasts, more than a million Filipinos would be employed in the call center industry, with more than US$12 billion in revenues in the year 2010.

The Philippines is also considered as location of choice due to its less expensive labor costs and its steady supply of computer, electronics and internet savvy college graduates who view call center work as a career rather than a temporary job.

The country offers 24/7 multilingual and multimedia supported premium services for marketing, sales, customer care, crisis management, investor relations and other key business applications. The reasons cited for the bullish outlook towards the Philippines have been, among others, due to lower operating costs, English language proficiency and high ICT skills yet low-cost workforce.

The Philippines is considered a major player in the global BPO market. This is because as a former American colony, the country's education system is patterned after the American education system and this includes American-style diction and pronunciation of the English language. This gives Filipino-English a neutral or an almost American accent, an advantage in dealing with the mostly American clientele. By contrast, while an emerging IT powerhouse, India's call center industry is criticized for having a language barrier due to the fact that Indians (as a former British colony) are educated in British-style English which is compounded by the heavy Indian accent. In 2005, the country ranked 3rd in the world for top BPO destinations, according to neoIT's 2005 Mapping Offshore Markets Update. among the country's competitive edges were the accounting system that were modeled after the general accounting procedures in the United States, and local information and communications service providers that can integrate offshore back-office-processing systems with US-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. Investors are given substantial incentives when locating operation in the Philippines information technology-based zones.

A study by the Swiss International Institute for Management Development in 2004 found that among Asian countries, the Philippines was the number one in the availability of skilled labor. Moreover, the ease in training Filipinos to take over jobs requiring greater competencies and responsibilities was cited as another reason.

Most investors love the Filipino work ethic, personality and hospitality. As a person, Filipinos take time to understand others beyond race or culture and after that, go on to empathize with them especially during times of great need. Superior customer service is one of the characteristics Filipinos are known for.

1 Profile
- 1.1 Call center duties and responsibilities
- 1.2 Common call center recruitment and training process
2 Locations
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Profile

[edit] Call center duties and responsibilities

While call centers actually began in the Philippines as simple providers of e-mail response and handling services, these have developed capabilities for almost all types of customer interactions, ranging from travel services, financial services, technical support, education, customer care, online business to customer support, online business to business support.

Among the calls handled by various Philippine call centers could be classified into inbound and outbound calls. For outbound calls, the services cover telemarketing, advisories, sales verification. credit and collection, reactivation/reinstatement of accounts, loyalty program benefits, customer services and order entry. Inbound calls cover a broad range of services, from all types of inquiries, technical help, transcription, complaints, customer service, support, sales, marketing, and billing.

Call center agents are typically assigned in graveyard shifts, interacting with customers from all over the world, mostly from the United States and must adhere to strict performance metrics.

[edit] Common call center recruitment and training process

Each call center agent undergoes a rigorous and exhausting recruitment process and enriching training program to ensure that only the most dedicated, energetic and skilled individuals get to fill the available seats. The recruitment process for new call center agents may include (but not limited to) the following:

Phone screening - this stage determines the voice quality over the phone and how the applicant responds to the call;
Initial Interview - conducted by the company human resource department or another outsource staffing firm to test the speaking skills, attitude and how confident the applicant responds to questions;
Examination - this includes aptitude tests, computer-based call simulations and emotional quality (EQ)/ attitude tests; and
Final Interview - to assess customer service, technical, or sales skills.

[edit] Locations

According to 2005 industry estimates, there are over a hundred call centers in the Philippines, the bulk being in Metro Manila mainly in the business districts of Ortigas Center in Pasig City, the Makati Business District, Eastwood City Cyberpark in Quezon City, and Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City. However, both local and foreign-owned call centers have ventured to regions outside Metro Manila, setting up offices primarily in Metro Cebu and other key cities such as Baguio City, Bacolod City , Davao City, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga City, Angeles City, Dumaguete, Lipa City, Cainta in Rizal and Santa Rosa, in Laguna.