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Australian Outsourcing

By beau On August 26, 2008 No Comments

One of the countries that has really nor hit the Philippines yet big time is Australia, with the cost to employ some one in Australia compared to the US is a big difference.

If you are going to hire some one in the States it’s going to cost you around 8 dollars a hour but if you are in Australia its going to cost you around 18 to 25 dollars a hour for some one that could be a back parker or even some one that you can count on.

If you are from Australia and you are looking to lower your cost and tax look at outsourcing it to the Philippines and save 50% on your cost at least and with the ability to hire and fire the way that you would not be able to in Australia. Finding staff in Australia is one of the biggest problem that there is and then you have to pay them 18 dollars a hour, some one that is not going to be long term.

Most of the agents or employees in the Philippines look at the job as a career not a job.

Every time you hire some one in Australia a kitten dies!

Call Center Lifestyle in the Philippines

By admin On February 14, 2008 2 Comments

By Roberto L. Bacasong

Yuppie Filipinos get the chance to be employed easily once they obtained their bachelor or diploma degrees because of the emergence of contact centers everywhere in the Philippines. These workers started to fill the 24-hour skyscrapers that gives a colorful background to metro Manila’s financial districts at nighttime.

This only shows that people employed in this job for a couple of years were used to on their ticking biological sleeping habit. They slept all day long just to regain their strength and wake up again at the wee hours to prepare themselves for a nightlong work. Clad in casual attire with matching fashionable coats are the most common props if you are a customer service representative. During break time some even used to occupy the al fresco various dining areas in Manila. In Ortigas for instance, call center agents enjoy their 30-minute to 1 hour break at McDonald’s, Starbucks, among others. For those who have extra pennies, they enjoy the hot aroma of Brazilian coffee in various blend. Others may sit on the corner and lit up their cigarette in a way of releasing their stress from work. It is enjoying isn’t it?

At 8 pm. about 100 people, most 25 younger, sit in a room of enclosed cubicles outfitted with phones and computers. They’ll be working until 4 am. or depends on the schedule of their shifts. As their shifts starts, it is usually morning in the US. These contact centers are following US standard zones such as Pacific, Eastern, Mountain and Central.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Luisa Geneta disclosed that call center is her first job when she finished her bachelor’s degree on May 4, 2007. At 12 am., Geneta left her house in Tondo, a suburb village in Manila, as her shift starts at 2 am. This Banking and Finance graduate from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) is one of the top caliber representatives for Unique Interaction, an American call center based in Ortigas.

“Working in a call center in the Philippines is really a big challenge for me especially that I’m new to this business. I spent most of my time and energy on this job,” she said, who handles an inbound account.

It is a very risky to leave my house at midnight for a young lady like me. However, I consider that this is the most rewarding career that we have nowadays and this will be a big help in creating another means of livelihood for us Filipinos especially for fresh graduates like me, she claimed.

On the other hand, Margaret Estanislao, 19, a team leader of the same company, disclosed that placing the agents into action challenge her in keeping her job.

Estanislao, who started as an agent added that they tried everything in sorting out the problem of the customers. “We need to maintain our empathy if the customer is upset. They are pissed and upset not because of the representatives but to the products itself”.

Both Geneta and Estanislao agreed that this job has given them the opportunity to enhance their skills and boost their confidence when it comes of interaction with their clients in a phone-to-phone conversation.

“Not to mention the financial aid that it gives to me and my family. I think this industry will continue to prosper in the succeeding years and it will continue to be one of the leading providers of career opportunities for Filipinos,” Geneta further said.

It cannot be denied that outsourcing business is one of the most flavored industries in the Philippines and other Asian countries. It appears that contact center executives preferred this country because of the number of students produced every year, which can speak English in American way. As the third largest English-speaking country in Asia no doubt that business process outsourcing is in demand today.

BPO companies provides a state-of-the-art equipment in outsourcing their business in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. These companies trained their employees to speak like American way. In Unique Interaction, they provide fundamental call center training before the call center trainees will be allowed to take calls. The trainees has to learn account information first. Once they know the account then they are deployed ready on the floor and receive as many calls as they want. The company also teach their employees on how to handle their customers well. It is so hard to lose a customer, we know that they are considered as the lifeblood that gives full stream of support to make the company up and running and stay on the business for long.

The fact is call centers are part of the Philippine economic activity. Almost half of the 86.2 million people in the Philippines are younger than 20 years old. So don’t be surprised if you will be able to meet supervisors, team leaders, managers below 25. This is because that call center has the fastest way of promoting a career development. If the agent is performing better and receiving good CSAT ratings then no doubt that within six months or less than, this certain employee is entitled to move to another level in his or her career path. The Philippines is also one of the potential factors for outsourcing. It has been also forecast by the XMG Inc., Manila-based research and advisory firm that the nation will surpass India by 2008 as home to the world’s largest call center companies.

The Philippines offers attractive environment for the BPO companies, which is one of the key requirements by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) in applying for this business. Even now big contact center firms also expanded their centers not only in Manila but targeting the provincial levels. So it means, the revenues will not only take place within the National Capital Region (NCR) but it will also circulate to the provincial areas after passing the standard set by the Peza. Largest call centers are also found operating in Pampanga, Laguna and Baguio in Luzon; Bacolod, Cebu, Dumaguete and Iloilo in the Visayas; and Cagayan de Oro and Davao in Mindanao.

The Philippine Government is very supportive to this. Under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, she said that BPO companies will generate billions of pesos in the country with target by 2010. When it starts to operate in 2000, now off-shore call center industry estimates to employs 60,000 people.*

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Poor English: A Threat to the Philippine Call Centers?

By admin On February 14, 2008 No Comments

By Roberto L. Bacasong

DESPITE the Philippines is considered as one of the third largest English speaking countries in Asia yet the report released by the US State Department, in its “2007 Investment Climate Statement” this month cited that the “English language proficiency, while still better than in other Southeast Asian nations, is declining in the Philippines.”

This report is a ticking bomb that caused alarm to the Philippine Government, the business sectors and especially the business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, which serves as a foundation of call centers in the Philippines.

“High levels of corruption, ongoing efforts to reform the judicial system, weak but improving protection of intellectual property rights, the slow pace of energy sector reform and privatization, the need for further fiscal reforms to boost depressed spending levels for infrastructure and social services, and political uncertainties combined to dampen investor interest,” are the major considerations highlighted by the US Government on basing their statement.

I learned that various sectors put the pressure to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on how she will address the report. She kept on saying that English should use as primary medium of instruction in all schools nationwide. In fact, Mrs. Arroyo highlighted stressed that “knowledge is the greatest creator of wealth”. With this development, the President allocated PhP150 billion, which is PhP29 billion increased last year in education budget. She stressed that that almost young Filipino professionals are employed in a call center in the Philippines and received enjoyable salary package from the different contact centers they are working for. She also reported that most schools in the country have accessed to the Internet because of the program designed by the Department of Education (DepEd).

The report alarmed the business councils both foreign and domestic because it might cause panic to our call center industry, which one of the vibrant industries in the country today. The business council noted that the Philippines is the home of the world largest call center companies aside from India, China, Singapore and among others.

The US State Department noted that “the comparative advantages the Philippines once enjoyed vis-à -vis its neighbors in attracting foreign investment need to be restored in order to attract more investment and support higher growth.”

Meanwhile, Beau Rudd, chief executive officer of Unique Interaction encourage his call center agents to always use English as the first language. Mr. Rudd said that there are so many big call centers in the Philippines and they have a strict policy about English only when you come into the office.

“I have been trying to figure it out for a long time and the only reason I thought it was for is because the customer might hear Tagalog in the background. The reason these company have put this in place is because of this, when you are always taking in English you will always think in English,” he stressed.

It sounds funny but all Filipinos may speak good English but they are converting it in the mind from Tagalog and the problem with them is Tagalog is all backwards, he added.

In a call center in the Philippines, it employed about 200,000 call center representatives working in different companies. This is according to one of the executives in a call center in the Philippines reported during the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) roadmap conference held last July 11 and 12 this year. Call center managers relayed that this business remained to be a sunshine industry and continue to grow faster. The CCAP further revealed that the industry needs at least 500,000 contact center agent professionals by 2010, a target the organization has come up with after extrapolating its current demand but considering the 19-percent yearly attrition. CCAP is now composed of 34 contact center companies based in the Philippines.

This is no joke. Losing employees for call centers will only reflect that we, Filipinos failed to implement the English program policy. Or shall I say, the government is incompetent enough to improve the country’s learning English skills. The good focal point, however, that we Filipinos are dedicated to learn this language in order for us to have edge especially when applying for jobs. Even call center companies expressed their statement that deterioration of English sounds “painful”. These call center leaders blamed the soap operas dubbed in Pilipino, and too much focusing on cell phone text messaging. The education sector blamed the influence of pop culture and the domestic media, where the dominant language is Taglish, a combination of Tagalog and English.

The US government further outlined that the country’s fiscal conditions, helped recently by new revenue legislation, seem nonetheless to be improving and the general economic outlook is cautiously optimistic for 2007. The figures indicates that the Philippines’ GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth accelerated from 5% in 2005 to 5.4 percent as of September 2006, spurred by a recovery in post-drought agricultural harvests, more robust export growth, the continued strength of remittances from Filipinos overseas, and a vibrant call center business.*

Unique Interaction Inc

Outsourcing the first choice for career shifters in the Philippines

By admin On February 14, 2008 No Comments

By Roberto L Bacasong

For Filipinos who wants to earn high paying job found their home in vibrant outsourcing industry. This is because any contact centers in the Philippines offers attractive package and benefits which awaken the interests of the Filipinos to be part in this booming sunshine industry.

Career shifters from different fields of professions enrolled themselves in the call center industry because of the higher chances to be promoted and most importantly the benefits they will receive, which is far different from their previous employers. There are so many reasons behind on the continuing increase of Filipino workers changing their jobs to the outsourcing business. Frustrations from their previous employers is one of the many reasons why there are so many career shifters in the Philippines. They found new home in the business process outsourcing (BPO) with variety of fields include call centers, medical transcription, animation, litigation support, back-office operation or shared services and software development. It appeared that cyberservices now employs 250,000 workers and generates millions of pesos to the revenue of the country.

If you are articulate in English even if you did not finish your college degree, call centers have opened doors for career shifters, as well as to some people who previously could not find jobs. The good thing in working in a call center is that it caters without age limit. Despite the high attrition rate in working in contact centers many in the call center executives believe that staffing is not the problem. Everyday almost an average of 100 applicants or more than this were applying in call center companies. The advantage of the industry is that the recruitment process takes only 24 hours and once the applicants passed, they will then proceed to the contract signing. After the contract signing they are scheduled for a month-long training before they will allowed to take calls.

The Philippine Government is expecting the total number of BPO workers to reach the target by 2010. In a research conducted by one of the national daily newspapers in the Philippines since June 2006, about 27 percent of the 199,000 job advertisements from June to December 2006 were for cyberservices. The survey was based on the job advertisement monitored to the three national daily newspapers and three jobs online companies. It appeared that in terms of ranking, cyberservices occupy the top spot, followed by construction and engineering; manufacturing; wholesale and retail; hotels, resorts and restaurants; media and entertainment; transportation, storage and communication; financial intermediation; health and social work; and advertising and promotions. Consistently, job ads from the cyberservices sector have been growing at double-digit rates from its base in June in the last five months, an indication of the growth in job creation in the sector.

The education sector in the Philippines produce about 400,000 graduates every year which is higher compared to the other Asian countries. For the industry to grow into a million workers by 2010, the industry needs to recruit an average of 200,000 additional workers each year, a figure some industry experts say is probably not achievable. Even if the industry achieves half that target, recruiting about 100,000 new workers each year for the industry would mean that a significant number will have to come from career shifters. To achieve this goal, many call center and BPO companies designed specific programs for their employees to stay on the business. These graduates produce every year can speak English and have fair level of competency to be employed easily in a call center in the Philippines.

For instance, Beau Rudd, chief executive officer of Unique Interaction, disclosed that most of his employees in the inbound and outbound call centers and live support chat are career shifters. Mr. Rudd said that they welcome the fresh graduates to apply for the position and applicants who have experience in the call centers are advantage.

“Our goal is to provide unique solutions to our business associates. We value our clients and providing proper training to the agents should be given top priority,” Mr. Rudd said. So far, there is no statistics on the number of career shifters in outsourcing. But it is no doubt that in the Philippine call center arena, it continue to grow.

Among of the basic reasons why career shifters continue to expand because the agents learned new things in American way and they were able to financially help their respective families. Some considered the environment as progressive and organizational structure is rather flat, which provides doors of opportunities. Moreover, an employee doesn’t need to wait for an official appointment to get promoted. He/she can apply for the post aspired for. Many of the managers are young, and have equally progressive management style. They encourage direct interactions with subordinates. The company’s work ethic for managers requires them to provide support to their subordinates. Also, the work environment is fun and informal, while remaining professional in terms of delivering results.

EFFECTS

The survey further revealed that its effect on other firms will probably have a limited effect. It noted that those who shift are those with technical skills for specialized accounts and are paid very well. In addition, the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) expects on achieving the country’s job targets in the cyberservices industry. CICT believes that more than 40,000 career shifters are going this industry from 2006 until 2010. CICT also expects career shifters to make up 30 percent of new employees in the medical transcription business from 2006 to 2010.*

Unique Interaction Inc.

Philippines Outsourcing gets nod from Int’l biz leaders

By admin On January 23, 2008 No Comments

By Roberto BacasongÂ

THE country’s BPO (business process outsourcing) and call center industry is getting positive response to the international business leaders, so said by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Mrs. Arroyo told the participants from different nations that she is seriously pushing for the country as the best investment destination in Asia. The President, in her statement, noted that she will seriously promote the BPO, especially contact centers as one of the premiere industries in the country.

The World Economic Forum is the first international activity attended by Mrs. Arroyo from the start of the year 2008. The three-day forum from January 25-28, aims to promote international business understanding and trade relations within its neighboring countries and partners.

She and the rest of the Philippine delegation, along with her husband lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo, and daughter Evangeline Lourdes “Luli” Arroyo, stressed that the Philippines is now becoming a global promoter of the outsourcing industry. In her statement published in the national dailies revealed that some largest contact centers enjoyed the atmosphere of making business in the country.

The international business forum is a great opportunity for the country to be acknowledged in terms of sustaining the growth of the outsourcing industry. The forum is the venue wherein the Philippine leaders may convince, or express their sentiments to the international investors to choose the country as next site for business relations.

The Filipino expertise in IT (information technology), contact center companies, among others are now the word of mouth in the forum when Mrs. Arroyo delivered her speech, news report said.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Arroyo recent statement in the joint National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-Cabinet cluster and the National Anti-Poverty Commission-Cabinet cluster meeting, said: “another central goal of our trip is to continue the relentless promotion of the Philippines as a great place to invest and do business.”

“For the first time in a generation, the Philippine economy is on a path to sustained economic growth, creating millions of new jobs and billions of new pesos in revenue to invest in our people and our infrastructure to build up our nation. Foreign investment is central to that progress,” the President said. The statement was posted under the Office of the Press Secretary website.

To prove this, the country’s gross domestic product grew up to 7.1 percent in the first nine months of 2007.

In addition, the President is also scheduled to fly to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday noon (early Saturday evening in Manila), which also seek more investments to the country. The more international relations will be a great boom in the Philippines because the country is gaining reputation in terms of the outsourcing and other possible trade.

To date, the country is considered as the leading supplier of call center agents among the international key players’ investors in the global outsourcing. Every year, the demand of the customer service is growing.

It is now the full responsibility of the Philippine Government to fuel the manpower services in filling in the vacant positions. It has been said that the country produces about 380,000 graduates every year. On the part of the Department of Education (DepEd), English is seriously pushed to be the medium of instruction in every classroom. The National Government allocated budget to DepEd in order to strengthen its campaign in producing competitive graduates.

In 2010, the National Government expects to achieve its goal to provide millions of jobs for every Filipino citizen. To date, ten of thousands Filipinos are presently employed in different call centers, and BPO companies operating in the country.

The outsourcing industry is a blessing in lifting the lives of every Filipino against poverty and economic crisis.*
Â

Philippines Outsourcing forecast in 2008

By admin On January 16, 2008 No Comments

By Roberto L. Bacasong

A LOT happened in 2007, it is mixed with good and bad scenario. Investment continues to be a big wave in spite of the political bickering which cannot be set aside. Despite the odds in the Philippine business arena, the country continues to spread its wing and gain reputation from the potential foreign investors. The Philippine government hurdle the trials in surviving from the economic dilemma last year, but ready to face the New Year.

In line with this, one of the most talked about forecast in the Philippine economy is about outsourcing industry. The question is, if what would the forecast in this industry be in the current year and beyond. Contact centers contributed millions of pesos as per recorded by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and other concerned government agencies. Graduates easily landed on a job because of the opportunity it offers to the Filipino people. It is exceptional knowledge that English proficiency and outstanding customer service skills are among of the few reasons why Filipinos are known to this.

Based on the 10-point agenda highlighted by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and to quote: “The creation of six million jobs in six years via more opportunities given to entrepreneurs, tripling of the amount of loans for lending to small and medium enterprises and the development of one to two million hectares of land for agricultural business.”

It means to say that the Philippine Government wanted to fill-in jobless Filipinos because of the outsourcing jobs. A call center in the

Philippines is noted to be the answer in the crisis which is the major concerns of all government agencies from the local and the national scene. Mrs. Arroyo vowed to strengthen the operations of world class call center companies in the country.

However, if the government is serious about its plan then eliminating, or intensifying drive against graft and corruption should be done accordingly. If the country intensified its campaign against this war, it will ensure to protect the benefits of the booming economy because of the operations of largest call center companies in the country.

The Cabinet vowed today to wage an intensified campaign against graft and corruption to ensure that the benefits of the growing economy would trickle down to the people, especially the poor, unmarred by corrupt practices. To prove this campaign, the Cabinet members led by Her Excellency proposed the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) to crack down on grafters, including the issuance of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007.

The President signed RA 9485 last June 2. RA 9485 states that heads of government offices are accountable to the public in rendering fast, efficient, convenient and reliable services. It also requires agencies concerned to act on pending papers within five working days involving simple transactions, and a minimum of 10 days for complex cases.

Another notable action done by the government was the call for the immediate passage of the Right to Information Act, Whistleblowers Act and House Bill 3003. The HB 3003 seeks to compel the government to publish the income tax returns of all government officials, whether they are elected or appointed, in a move to lessen if not eradicate corruption.

This is a good development because it shows that the national government is concerned about the protection of the investor no matter what happened. If the country is an investor-friendly then giving the opportunity to bind the relationship in terms of customer service business will be a great one.

Meanwhile, it is attractive also to call center investors if there will be enough allocated budget in the year 2008. In addition, the President appealed to the Congress for the passage of proposed PhP1.227-trillion national budget for 2008 the soonest possible time.

The immediate passage will not hamper the delay in the implementation of the government’s priority projects and programs.

However, news reports revealed that the Congress did not approve the proposed PhP1.227-trillion 2008 budget before it went on its Christmas recess last December as the Senate questioned the amount of P13.5-billion supposedly inserted by the House of Representatives.

Breakdown of the proposed 2008 national allocation is P91 billion higher than the 2007 general appropriations of P1.126 trillion. Of the P1.227 trillion allocations, P11.5 billion will fund infrastructure projects mentioned by the President in her State-of-the-Nation Address.

It was tackled that the national budget will focus on priority sectors like infrastructure facilities, education, health, science and technology, including housing and salary adjustments for the state workers.

With the presentation tackled above, it only means that outsourcing industry will remain as one of the top revenue contributors in the country. If the national leaders will stick on their promises, no doubt that in the shortest time allotted, the country will gather the fruits of its labor. And also, the country will continue to boost its honor as one of the top leaders in the outsourcing business.*

Call Center companies start setting-up branches in provinces

By admin On November 7, 2007 1 Comment

By Bobbit Mariano

MULTINATIONAL call center companies which successfully able to put a strong foothold in doing a multi-million dollar business in Metro Manila are now setting up branches in the provinces, maintaining its smooth momentum in the business process outsourcing expansion.

But the two main questions have risen regarding centers’ consideration of doing business elsewhere. One, does BPO companies are already experiencing labor shortages, and that they are now facing problems of finding highly qualified customer service representatives? Secondly, is it more cheaper to put up a call centers in other areas.

The answer to the first question might be true. Considering the regular participation of different call center firms in various job fair now a days, still few people are submitting their resume at the Human Resources personnel. It can be meant that the ‘cream of the crop’ or those who can communicate English language better have long been taken by BPOs.

Thus, new players who are aspiring to position themselves in having a slice of the BPO market share in the Philippines are allegedly resorting to poaching other employees, offering a much bigger offer, usually doubling the amount than others. In simple terms, newcomers are offering like PhP23,000 starting salary compared with only PhP12,000.

In birds eye view, BPOs are now at the middle of stiffer competition of looking for good talents. The recruiting process in Manila is so strict that some established call centers have resorted to transfer instead to the southern provinces such as Cebu and Cagayan de Oro. Other BPOs also found a golden workforce in Baguio, Pampanga and Subic in Olongapo. Companies may also find out that, in the end, it might be cheaper to do business in the provinces.

Alas, Manila is also becoming slow in supplying a growing labor market of call center agents due to many applicants ‘poor English’ and computer knowledge. The government, meanwhile, cannot be expected to improve the skills of the labor force.

On the other hand, as certain BPO, say, in Shaw Boulevard in Pasig is accepting and testing 40 applicants for every two hours or 320 people a day, only 5–10 percent of hopefuls are reaping the reward of employment. So, why not move to south and north of the Philippines in order to meet the labor demand?

In the end, happy days of BPOs are here to stay as well as the answers to the dilemma of unemployed people in provinces. This is because call centers were able to set-up branches like that in Baguio. Surely, BPO go to where the fish are and put their much-needed investment in some provinces, and some big fish needed in call centers have been caught up for use.*

Call Centers in Third World Countries Generate Growth

By admin On October 8, 2007 2 Comments

Fernan J. Angeles

The development of the call center trading systems has significantly made its presence felt in developing countries, especially those classified as “Third World”.

Published reports which appeared in international publications, say the development of the call center technology, has indeed helped developing countries, Third World at that, in coping up with the stiff global standards for them to be able to go back on track.

These call centers, reports said, has not only opened the door of a developing nation sell the best (product, skilled workers or even tourist destinations, at that) of what they have, but also helped in the generation of more jobs, which in effect reflects in the data that shows a hike of decline in the number of the unemployed people in a given State resulting a higher national growth.

The development of call center technology has created so much impact that aside from boosting local trading – as reflected in better exports and higher Gross Domestic Products (GDPs) and generating jobs (with decent, if not socially acceptable work rates), other business ventures evolving within the Call Center management technology system have been introduced, such as the establishment of schools offering call center management technology courses, training hubs for call center agents, software provisions, among others. The call center business, lucrative as it may seem, has also lured more foreign businessmen into infusing capital into what now appears to be a business that rakes in revenue like no other.

Likewise, these call centers have significantly helped efforts to promote the universal language, which in effect contributes to better linkages around the globe.

What do these call centers in one point of the globe offer? Trade-wise, these call centers offer local products, innovations, technologies, manpower, a place to go (for businessmen) or unwind (for tourists), among others. Name it, these Call Centers can always find means to be of help — because that’s exactly what they do, sell and help.

In the United States, where Call Centers do well, the act of linking one point to another, with each of the two ends finding satisfaction over the mediating effort of these call centers, truly fascinates the international trading community. Brokers, as they seem, these Call Center business has thrived and helped individuals in need of a middleman, who’ll find what he needs at the cost that he is only too willing to shell out.

On the part of the people from whom these “offers” actually emanate, these Call Centers make their selling a lot more easier as their “merchandise up for grabs” are exposed not just to the local market where there are limited prospects, but also around the globe.

Third World countries need to sell well to earn well enough to fill in their economic gaps. And these call centers are surely the modern day “hit” where they can sell more than any other means, the easiest at that, in fact.*