The Philippines as a Voice-based BPO Provider

The Philippines is ranked only second to India in terms of outsourcing and offshoring. However, the former has long been established as a location of choice by companies which outsource business processes to save on operational and labor costs and concentrate on their core competencies.

The call center sector gets the lion's share of the BPO industry in the Philippines. With the positive and significant growth that was witnessed in a relatively short period of time, it is considered as the fastest growing industry in the country.

There are two general types of voice-based services in call centers: inbound and outbound. The former refers to the process of receiving calls from customers overseas. Inbound service involves customer and/or technical support, sales, taking orders, as well as managing inquiries and complaints. On the other hand, outbound call center service means agents are the ones who are making telephone calls to customers overseas. This involves telemarketing, credit collection, market surveys and research, as well as customer satisfaction surveys.

Aside from managing inbound and/or outbound calls, the call center sector also includes another aspect called call center management. This plays an important part in the entire call center industry since it is all about finding potential call center agents, as well as agent training and coaching. It also involves monitoring and evaluation of performance of the agents.

In a research done by Frost & Sullivan, forecasts show that the contact center sector will continue to grow in the coming years and dominate the market. The number of contact centers in the country is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.9% until 2011. By that time, the Philippines is expected to have more than 450 contact centers and will need around 300,000 agents.

Aside from the increase in the number of contact centers, existing BPO players such as ACS, Sitel, Convergys, and NCO are also expanding their operations outside Metro Manila. This ongoing trend helps in increasing awareness about the country as an ideal BPO location.

With the success of voice-based BPO work, the Philippines has secured its place in the world of outsourcing. As the country strives to be more competent and is constantly looking for ways to attract clients around the world, there is no doubt that the voice of the call center industry will remain loud and clear for many years to come.

The Philippines has long been recognized as an excellent BPO destination for voice-based services. If you need help in setting up your business operations in this outsourcing hub, please feel free to Contact O&OC. We are a group of independent specialists with only one mission - to support buyers and vendors in making outsourcing a success.