anyone knows wots EA's bpo here?

I couldnt agree more. @ Manila To give you a preview, we are way ahead our counterparts in the US. What do I handle, bank accounts not just retail bank accounts but almost like private banking. =) Big companies prefer to outsource, bigger income for them.

the real part is, the americans are also benefitting from cheap labor, because their pensions plans like 401k are invested on companies. The lower their expense, the faster these companies grow, and the higher they pay dividends.

if they try to remove outsourcing, those companies will have to shut down and pull down their pensions. A much bigger problem for them later on.

Tholons to study Cebu's niche in the BPO sector
By Ehda M. Dagooc (The Freeman) Updated June 24, 2010 12:00 AM

CEBU, Philippines - Global outsourcing and investments advisory firm Tholons has started conducting a thorough study on Cebu’s potential to capture a significant market share of the $50 billion Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market in the world.

In an interview yesterday with Tholons managing director for South East Asia Jonathan Defensor De Luzuriaga, he said that there is a need for Cebu to find out its real niche in the BPO industry, thus a scientific study must be done, in cooperation with local stakeholders, private and government sectors.

“Cebu needs direction in hitting the growing BPO market. I am surprised of the jobs done here in BPO sector, not only in voice, but in more complex jobs like animation, graphic design, hardware and software development,” Luzuriaga said.

Tholons and the Cebu Investments and Promotions Center (CIPC) recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to conduct the study which started this month, and is expected to produce results by September.

CIPC managing director Joel Mari S. Yu said that the study which will be used as the blueprint of Cebu’s BPO roadmap will be a collaborative effort among industry players that are set to benefit from the robust growth of the BPO sector.

Yu said they will be getting support from the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), Cebu Educational Development for IT (Cedfit), the Cebu City government, telecommunication players, and real estate sector, among others. The study is expected to incur an expense of between P2 million to P3 million.

Providing Cebu with the BPO Roadmap will help the province graduate from its position as number one emerging BPO destination in the world, to number one emerged BPO location.

According to Luzuriaga, Cebu’s potential should be complemented with scientific and study-based results on Cebu’s capability to attract BPO investors.

“The study will act as a funnel to provide real information on the industry’s potential,” Luzuriaga said.

“We need to have tangible numbers behind us. We have to see where Cebu is going. There are mixed of data available, but most are speculations. Cebu has the entire requisite [to be an emerged BPO destination]. The question is how?” he said.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I hope Cebu will successfully graduate from being an emerging destination. I hope...I hope... :)

cebu's dominance in the bpo market is largely attributed to its academic institutions composed of 10 large universities with student population ranging from 15,000 to 30,000 students per school plus the many colleges within the metropolitan area and province. it is sad to note that cebu schools are really attracting the children of well to do families and the best students in other provinces.

please expand the list:

Tech and Financial Firms

IBM Corp.
Hewlett-Packard Co.
JP Morgan Chase & Co.
American Express Co.,
Citigroup Inc.,
General Electric Co.,
Dell Inc.,
Lexmark International Inc.
Affiliated Computer Services Inc.



Independent BPO contractors

Convergys Corp
TeleTech Holdings Inc.
Sykes Enterprises Inc.
Sutherland Global Services Inc.
Synnex Corp.
StarTek Inc.
Apac Customer Services Inc.
Sitel Corp.
West Corp.
KGB USA Inc.
NCO Group Inc.
VXI Global Solutions Inc.
One World Connections

Software
Lawson Software


Regional Operating Headquarters/Shared Services
Emerson Electric


Other
Procter & Gamble







.

^^ Accenture

From Yahoo News.
You might think if this is an advantage or disadvantage to you.


Senator wants disclosure on outsourced calls
Sun May 30, 1:17 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – In a bid to reduce outsourcing of U.S. jobs, a Democratic senator said on Sunday he will push legislation to make companies inform customers when their calls were being transferred outside the United States and charge companies for those transferred calls.

"This bill will not only serve to maintain call center jobs currently in the United States, but also provide a reason for companies that have already outsourced jobs to bring them back," Senator Charles Schumer said in statement.

Customers calling 800 numbers are often transferred overseas, and in such cases the bill would mandate that callers be told where their calls were rerouted.

Companies would also be required to certify to the Federal Trade Commission annually that they were complying with the requirement, and face penalties if they did not certify.

Schumer's bill would also impose a $0.25 excise tax on any customer service call placed inside the United States which is transferred to an agent in a foreign location. The fee would be assessed on the company that transferred the call.

Customer service call centers have become increasingly popular with businesses in recent years to deal with questions ranging from billing to technical support.

But the practice brings frequent complaints from customers who say their issues are not resolved or that representatives are merely providing scripted responses.

Schumer said the most popular countries for outsourcing of U.S. call centers included India, Indonesia, Ireland, the Philippines and South Africa, places where workers generally receive lower wages and work longer hours than their U.S. counterparts.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud, editing by Vicki Allen)

Telling US companies to bring back the call center job to the US soils is like telling Boeing to bring back its plane parts manufacturing facility from China back to the US. Point is, there are more jobs out there that are being outsourced than we can imagine.

Companies who decided to outsource their jobs did because they wanted to survive the competition. It's the business model of the future. This bill will hurt more the ailing US economy more than otherwise. Closing down a business will be a better option than operating at negative profit.

please expand the list:

Tech and Financial Firms

IBM Corp.
Hewlett-Packard Co.
JP Morgan Chase & Co.
American Express Co.,
Citigroup Inc.,
General Electric Co.,
Dell Inc.,
Lexmark International Inc.
Affiliated Computer Services Inc.



Independent BPO contractors

Convergys Corp
TeleTech Holdings Inc.
Sykes Enterprises Inc.
Sutherland Global Services Inc.
Synnex Corp.
StarTek Inc.
Apac Customer Services Inc.
Sitel Corp.
West Corp.
KGB USA Inc.
NCO Group Inc.
VXI Global Solutions Inc.
One World Connections
Qualfon

Software
Lawson Software


Regional Operating Headquarters/Shared Services
Emerson Electric

Publishing
SPi Global Solution


Other
Procter & Gamble







.
:cheers:

Any BPO employees here that i may interview for thesis?
Especially those working during the graveyard shift.

Hope you guys could help me, thanks!

please expand the list:

Tech and Financial Firms

IBM Corp.
Hewlett-Packard Co.
JP Morgan Chase & Co.
American Express Co.,
Citigroup Inc.,
General Electric Co.,
Dell Inc.,
Lexmark International Inc.
Affiliated Computer Services Inc.



Independent BPO contractors

Convergys Corp
TeleTech Holdings Inc.
Sykes Enterprises Inc.
Sutherland Global Services Inc.
Synnex Corp.
StarTek Inc.
Apac Customer Services Inc.
Sitel Corp.
West Corp.
KGB USA Inc.
NCO Group Inc.
VXI Global Solutions Inc.
One World Connections

Software
Lawson Software


Regional Operating Headquarters/Shared Services
Emerson Electric


Other
Procter & Gamble







.

HSBC Electronic Data Processing Philippines

anyone knows wots EA's bpo here?

TELUS

From Philippine Daily Inquirer
B4, THURSDAY July 01,2010

PEOPLE, EVENTS & PRODUCTS



2nd INTERNATIONAL OUTSOURCING SUMMIT

INDUSTRY EXPERTS WILL CONVERGE IN MANILA ONCE AGAIN FOR the 2nd International Outsourcing Summit organized by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines. The conference willbe held Oct. 26-27 at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza. More than 10 countries from five continents are now represented among confirmed attendees, and at least 300 delegates are expected to join discussions with world-renowned industry leaders and experts. Topics range from the next decade of outsourcing, emerging outsourcing locations, business development, talent management, telecommunications, and new technology.

Sun, Jul 4, 2010 8:17 EDT
Insourcing Vs. Outsourcing: Determining The Road To Success

Posted by: jakewriter in News
Topic: Enterprise Management

In the aftermath of the recession, it appears inshoring or brining back IT work back home to U.S. soil is in style. Is it at the expense of outsourcing? Hardly. The outsourcing market is nearing saturation with mature markets like India and Philippines reaching near full capacity.

Apart from that, there have been a host of other countries tapping into outsourcing with concepts like nearshoring, where companies can keep a tab on the work done by outsourcing to Mexico and Latin America.

However, insourcing needs a lot of thought before it is exercised since it may not be right for every firm. Bringing work that was previously outsourced back home may not translate to cost savings. There may be additional costs involved like rehiring and training of personnel. There are also fees for breaking outsourcing contracts within a certain period. Besides, insourcing results in full ownership of operations by company managers. And they may or may not be trained to handle such tasks.

Some of the evidence presented in the case for insourcing include Delta AirLines, Barclays, Chrysler and AT&T. Principal consultant, Compass Management Consulting, Bob Mathers says that these companies have shown that the trend to insource is in.

Mathers said in a news report, “We expect more organizations to seriously consider repatriation."

The idea to insource also stems from the fact that it may be cheaper to outsource to firms in rural villages in places like Idaho or Ohio, where the cost of living is significantly cheaper than New York or California.

Moreover, suppliers and customers are more sophisticated now in picking the services that are most appropriate for outsourcing. For most companies, IT is something that can be outsourced because it is not their major area of concentration. Hence, it may not make much sense to spend more money for facility building when it comes to inhousing IT, when outsourcing to India can be cheaper.

It could be true that insourcing is a sign of companies looking to innovate and redefine strategies. Since, companies are expecting a recovery to take place following the economic downturn, they are looking for new strategies to survive in a market with stiff competition.

Adam Strichman, Independent outsourcing consultant told Businessweek, “A lot of companies are looking at their options.” He added, "Executives move on and new management must find creative ways to try to save money. If it is in, they look at pushing it out. If it is out, maybe they look at bringing it back in.”

One problem with inhousing is that transitioning from the outsourcing phase to the insourcing phase will need to be outsourced. There also has to be clarity on the efficacy of insourcing because it is not guaranteed to produce ideal results as expected. Often, inshoring can cost more than outsourcing because it involves additional costs such as shared assets, application migration, etc. So, it is still a matter of preference, if a company decides to inhouse or outsource. It all decides on the goals of the company, particularly in the future.

Mathers was quoted as saying, "You've got to understand the gap between your current capabilities and what you'll need to do it right and understand whether you've got the wherewithal to close that gap in a reasonable period of time," reports businessweek.com.

http://advice.cio.com/jakewriter/10935/insourcing_vs_outsourcing_determining_the_road_to_success?source=rss_Blogs_and_Discussion_All

StarTek wins Best Outsourced Provide

MANILA, July 3 (PNA) -- High-value business process outsourcing services provider StarTek was awarded the Best Outsourced Provider for 2010 at the Call Center Excellence Awards at the 11th annual International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC) Call Center Week Conference in Las Vegas, StarTek officials said Friday.

A team of call center experts and leaders chosen by the IQPC evaluated the candidates on their ability to provide excellent customer service.

“This was a great win for us,” said Mary Beth Loesch, StarTek senior vice president of business.

“Our competition for the award was some of the top outsources in the world so a first place finish is even more of an accomplishment,” Loesch said.

IQPC established the 2010 Call Center Excellence Awards program as a tribute to the most innovative call center solutions and individuals over the past year.

The Call Center Excellence Awards is divided into eight categories and is dedicated to acknowledge advanced thinking, creativity, and execution across the continuum of call center functions. (PNA)
LOR/JCA

source: http://positivenewsmedia.com

MicroSourcing Opens New Office in Quezon City, Philippines

MicroSourcing, a Philippines-based business process outsourcing (BPO) and offshoring solutions provider, recently opened a new and bigger office at Eastwood City Cyberpark in Quezon City, Philippines.

(I-Newswire) July 8, 2010 - The new office at the 6th floor of the 1880 Avenue building is 2700 sqm in size. It is about 600sqm or 30% bigger than the current floor in eCommerce Plaza building. As the offshoring and outsourcing company further expands, it can easily take up the remaining 900sqm that is still available on the work floor. The office will have about 500 project workstations and about 50 management seats.

According to MicroSourcing CEO Philip Kooijman, there are a number of issues with the eCommerce office that were addressed in the new office to further improve its services and meet the needs of its offshoring and outsourcing partners. “The first major change is that the work floor is now divided into project spaces of varying sizes. In this way, we can avoid the massive work floor look and feel and provide more privacy to our project teams. The way we placed the partition walls furthermore enables us to flexibly create closed office spaces, enabling projects to grow without us needing to tear down walls or do other structural changes. Another thing we addressed is the shortage of training and meeting rooms and the new office will have a total of 5 conference rooms and an 18-seater training room. We also expanded the recreation spaces and the new office will have a very nice living room with TV and video games and the new MS Cafe will be a 100-seater restaurant. MS Cafe will furthermore be big enough to be used for meetings and social events.”

Other features of the new office are a recruitment hub with its own entrance separated from the main office, locker rooms, a clinic, and archive and storage rooms. “Design-wise, we kept the look and feel of our current office but there will definitely be some nice surprises for those who will come to work for the first time in 1880!”

Mr. Kooijman is confident that MicroSourcing will continue to grow and those seats will be filled within a few months, adding the remaining 900sqm by the end of the year. "If we do that, we will have occupied the entire 6th floor with a massive 3600 sqm office. That will definitely be enough to serve as our offshoring and outsourcing headquarters in Quezon City. From there on out, we may be looking at an office servicing the south of Metro Manila. All in all, this new office is definitely another great milestone in MicroSourcing history."

About MicroSourcing Philippines, Inc.:
Founded in 2004, MicroSourcing is a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Offshoring solutions provider based in Manila, the Philippines. We offer a full range of delivery models ranging from small project outsourcing to offshore staffing and larger scale virtual captives.

Company Contact Information
MicroSourcing Philippines, Inc.
6th Floor, 1880 Building, One Orchard Road
Eastwood City Cyberpark, Bagumbayan, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
1110

anyone knows wots EA's bpo here?

Telus (former Ambergris Solutions) has EA Sports Technical Support

Any BPO employees here that i may interview for thesis?
Especially those working during the graveyard shift.

Hope you guys could help me, thanks!

You can interview me because I have 3+ years international call center experience from at least 10 different call center companies... you can send me your questions via PM!

wow thx! now im gonna look where telus is located... yahoo!

Telus (former Ambergris Solutions) has EA Sports Technical Support



You can interview me because I have 3+ years international call center experience from at least 10 different call center companies... you can send me your questions via PM!

Thanks! Can i have your email? I'll have the questions sent by this week!

Thank you again, this would be a great help for my thesis project! :)

Thanks! Can i have your email? I'll have the questions sent by this week!

Thank you again, this would be a great help for my thesis project! :)

My email is gmaer@hotmail.com. Please put in the subject line the link and name of this thread so I will not mark it as spam or it will be easier to just send me a PM here coz I sometimes tend to forget my online forum transactions.

wow thx! now im gonna look where telus is located... yahoo!

Telus has 3 sites: Telus Cubao (Araneta Center near the Wet Market and SM Cubao), Telus Ortigas (where I used to work is near Podium), and Telus Market! Market! (Taguig). The EA Sports account is in Telus Ortigas but that was in 2008 therefore I am not sure if the EA Sports account was one of those transferred to Telus Cubao. Also if you are applying for a technical support agent position in Telus and the job description is about gaming... you might get confused because their main gaming account is Xbox technical support which is located in their Market! Market! site. Part of a call center's company policy is that they will not tell which U.S. brands/companies they represent until you become their employee.

^^ if im not mistaken, XBOX already closed their accounts in Telus and NCO. :)

Magellan Solutions eyes more growth in 2010
by John Borillo .
Tags: Call Center Industry, Contact Center Industry, Inbound call center, Outbound call center


Magellan Solutions Outsourcing Inc., a growing Philippines-based contact center, continues to expand its client base this year.

From its 200 workforce in 2009, the company grew steadily in a span of 6 months, now with a total of 375 employees in 2 different sites in San Juan where both centers are based. A new center is expected to be opened in Quezon City sometime this year.

According to Fred Chua, chief operating officer of Magellan Solutions Outsourcing Inc., the growth has been attributed to the company’s flexibility in providing the kind of service to clients, particularly the small and medium business across the globe. Starting its operations as purely inbound call center in 2005, Magellan Solutions today offers a wide range of contact center services such as order taking, customer support, telephone answering services, web chat, e-mail, lead generation, direct selling and voice transcription. The company is also capable of handling tech support.

Despite its size, Magellan Solutions has the industry expertise in providing the same level of service mostly offered by multinational call centers. The company has both the resource and the infrastructure to deliver the same range of services in inbound and outbound contact center services, and business process outsourcing. “Clients value closer collaboration with their provider particularly in the industry like ours,” Chua said. “It’s where our company’s strength lies, which makes it very attractive to them. We have always remained committed to giving what our customers want, ensuring high service delivery whether it is live order taking, voice transcription or telephone answering service.”

For more information about Magellan Solutions Outsourcing Inc. and the services it provides to small-to-medium businesses, please visit www.magellan-solutions.com.

Telus (former Ambergris Solutions) has EA Sports Technical Support



You can interview me because I have 3+ years international call center experience from at least 10 different call center companies... you can send me your questions via PM!

10 companies in 3 years. lol. every 4 months nag-a-apply ka? :lol:

^^ if im not mistaken, XBOX already closed their accounts in Telus and NCO. :)

Telus still has XBox! :ohno:

10 companies in 3 years. lol. every 4 months nag-a-apply ka? :lol:

Nope there were companies where I only finished training and did not continue to production.

so you only took the signing bonus? hehehe

so you only took the signing bonus? hehehe

I never had the chance to sign-up for a call center contract that included a signing bonus! I transferred based on the difficulty of actual operations a.k.a. work load vs. the salary and also the working environment. I am currently on my 14th month (and going...) here in Sitel Ortigas which is so far my longest stay in a call center.

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab335/kin_toy/P7099281_2.jpg

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab335/kin_toy/P7099293_2.jpg

EA is based in Vancouver, Canada. Telus is former BCTel (short for British Columbia Telecom) . British columbia is a state in Canada where Vancouver is located.

Telus is like our PLDT.

Telus still has XBox! :ohno:



Nope there were companies where I only finished training and did not continue to production.

oops. hind PA pala. :colgate:

Telus still has XBox! :ohno:



Nope there were companies where I only finished training and did not continue to production.

whoa sakit basahin ng resume mo nyan. 10 companies n 3 years...

EA is based in Vancouver, Canada. Telus is former BCTel (short for British Columbia Telecom) . British columbia is a state in Canada where Vancouver is located.

Telus is like our PLDT.

a friendly correction.
Canada doesn't have States, we have Provinces. :D

a friendly correction.
Canada doesn't have States, we have Provinces. :D

There are more provinces in the PHilippines and they're greener and cleaner.

^^ huh? dko gets? :D

Hahahaha. Layo ng sagot.

^^ Natawa din ako sa sagot, ang layo, parang Canada at Pilipinas sa layo. :D

a friendly correction.
Canada doesn't have States, we have Provinces. :D

i know. but in our province they always call it anything abroad as state side. Thats why anything abroad is states

:cheers:

Telus Philippines also has EA Sports Technical Support. It was in 2007 that Ambergris Solutions was acquired by Telus Canada which is why the BPO company name got changed.

Business as usual for Metro Manila call centers despite Basyang
07/14/2010 | 06:31 PM
Email the Editor Print Share This
Share27
It was business as usual for some call centers in Metro Manila as Typhoon Basyang (Conson) wrecked havoc outside their buildings around midnight Wednesday.

There was no report that operations of contact centers were interrupted in Metro Manila, Contact Center Association of the Philippines executive director Jojo Uligan said Wednesday.

"The call centers maintain their own stand-by generators to back up the generators of the buildings where they are located," he said, noting that call centers in Manila have already seen the worst, like Milenyo in 2006 and Ondoy last year.

Call centers, Uligan pointed out, will be prepared even if the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration would again fail to make a closer-to-reality predictions just like what happened in the case of Basyang.

"The shifting of power sources is seamless the moment a power interruption takes place, from the UPS (uninterrupted power supply) to the generators," he said.

The number of contact centers in the Philippines is around 230, with 150 to 180 located in Metro Manila. —Jesse Edep/VS, GMANews.TV

Business as usual for Metro Manila call centers despite Basyang
07/14/2010 | 06:31 PM
Email the Editor Print Share This
Share27
It was business as usual for some call centers in Metro Manila as Typhoon Basyang (Conson) wrecked havoc outside their buildings around midnight Wednesday.

There was no report that operations of contact centers were interrupted in Metro Manila, Contact Center Association of the Philippines executive director Jojo Uligan said Wednesday.

"The call centers maintain their own stand-by generators to back up the generators of the buildings where they are located," he said, noting that call centers in Manila have already seen the worst, like Milenyo in 2006 and Ondoy last year.

Call centers, Uligan pointed out, will be prepared even if the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration would again fail to make a closer-to-reality predictions just like what happened in the case of Basyang.

"The shifting of power sources is seamless the moment a power interruption takes place, from the UPS (uninterrupted power supply) to the generators," he said.

The number of contact centers in the Philippines is around 230, with 150 to 180 located in Metro Manila. —Jesse Edep/VS, GMANews.TV

Good thing it was my rest day when that Typhoon happened. :banana:

Good thing it was my rest day when that Typhoon happened. :banana:

hello sir gmaer! i already emailed you the questions the other day! pls inform if you receive it. thanks! :)

hello sir gmaer! i already emailed you the questions the other day! pls inform if you receive it. thanks! :)

Yes I did and I will work on it this Sunday. I haven't read the attached document though but does it require multiple respondents or just me?

Yes I did and I will work on it this Sunday. I haven't read the attached document though but does it require multiple respondents or just me?

Okay sure! thanks!
Yes its for you but if have friends in the industry that would be willing to, they can answer as well. :)
Thanks again, I know you guys are busy yet you still find time to help others.

Good to know that the outsourcing industry is still growing...

BPO company to expand RP operations, hire 3,600 new employees

By Abigail L. Ho
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:26:00 07/16/2010

BUSINESS PROCESS outsourcing firm Convergys Corp. is expanding five of its 12 sites in the Philippines, driving the need to add at least 3,600 new employees to its 21,000-strong workforce.

In a briefing Friday, Convergys Philippines country manager Marife Zamora said the expansion covered the company’s sites at the University of the Philippines-Ayala Land TechnoHub in Quezon City, Nuvali in Laguna, San Lazaro in Manila, i3 in Cebu, and the facility in Bacolod City.

The expansion involved the addition of 2,300 workstations, prompting the need to hire at least 3,600 more people. Of the total, an estimated 350 were for the Bacolod site, 600 for Cebu, and 2,800 for Metro Manila.

The addition of the new employees, Zamora said, would further cement the company’s status as the biggest private employer in the country.

Convergys Philippines business development director Jomari Mercado said the expansion was driven by increased client demand across all industries that the company was servicing.

“Clients are demanding more seats, more capacity,” he said.

Zamora added that Philippine agents were among the best, if not the best, in Convergys’ global employee pool—fueling client demand for more business to be outsourced here.

“We’re expanding mainly because of the outstanding performance of our employees here and the overall demand for the high-quality service that the Philippine operations are delivering,” she said.

While many of Convergys’ 12 existing facilities were already filled to capacity, she said there were still other sites that had room for expansion.

However, the company was already looking at several locations nationwide to house possible new sites.

“We’re constantly looking at facilities in new areas, particularly in the Next Wave Cities, as identified by the [Business Processing Association of the Philippines and the Commission on Information and Communications Technology],” she said.

“We don’t have a short list yet, although we’re eyeing either totally new areas, or areas near where we already have existing facilities. But we’ll definitely still expand,” she added.
http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20100716-281503/BPO-company-to-expand-RP-operations-hire-3600-new-employees

^^ good news

^^ good news

Only Convergys is expanding? Do you know how hard it is to qualify to that BPO company?

ePLDT Ventus and SPI merged and now called SPI Global

^^ SPI BULOK!! hehe
kuripot yan magpasweldo.. intsik kasi ang may ari.. LOL :D

^^ SPI BULOK!! hehe
kuripot yan magpasweldo.. intsik kasi ang may ari.. LOL :D

liit kita kasi:lol:

wak ka sabi ganyan ha, galit tsinoy sayo:D

^^ SPI BULOK!! hehe
kuripot yan magpasweldo.. intsik kasi ang may ari.. LOL :D

Dalawang reasons yan kung bakit bitter ka sa SPI: 1. nagresign ka voluntarily 2. terminated ka / redundancy.....:nuts:

^^ I worked for the company for 2 months.. nag quit ako kaagad ako.. naramdaman kong wala akong future dun.

I'm not bitter, super saya ko nga at nag quit ako kaagad eh.. i got a very good job right after quiting! :baeh3:

^^ I worked for the company for 2 months.. nag quit ako kaagad ako.. naramdaman kong wala akong future dun.

I'm not bitter, super saya ko nga at nag quit ako kaagad eh.. i got a very good job right after quiting! :baeh3:

Good for you. Good luck on your job!

^^ I worked for the company for 2 months.. nag quit ako kaagad ako.. naramdaman kong wala akong future dun.

I'm not bitter, super saya ko nga at nag quit ako kaagad eh.. i got a very good job right after quiting! :baeh3:

pa jollibee ka namn:D

pa-canton naman dyan :lol:

^^ nag quit na rin ako sa job na yun.. kasi nag migrate na ako sa Canada.
hehe.. and that was like more than 3 years ago. :D

Okay sure! thanks!
Yes its for you but if have friends in the industry that would be willing to, they can answer as well. :)
Thanks again, I know you guys are busy yet you still find time to help others.

I already sent you my email reply! I had to copy and paste the contents of the attached document because my work computer will not allow me to edit it so I can answer it. You can also try http://www.pinoycallcenter.com/forums/index.php so you can get more survey returns.

I already sent you my email reply! I had to copy and paste the contents of the attached document because my work computer will not allow me to edit it so I can answer it. You can also try http://www.pinoycallcenter.com/forums/index.php so you can get more survey returns.

Yes i got it! Thank you!

Okay sure i'll try the site :)

IT, BPO firm expands footing in Philippines
inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines—A world-leading information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services company on Wednesday formally announced the expansion of its recently opened global delivery center in Manila.

Cognizant , which employs some 200 professionals in Manila, said that the expansion would allow the company to accommodate as much as 600 more professionals.

“Within months of opening our Manila center in October 2009, we have steadily grown our presence and investment in the Philippine capital, and have moved into a larger facility,” said R Chandrasekaran, president and managing director of Global Delivery, Cognizant.

“Our Manila center will continue to strengthen our integrated global delivery capabilities, as our investments in new global, regional, and local delivery centers help our clients harness specialized talent globally in order to meet their requirements and risk preferences, as well as provide business continuity,” Chandrasekaran said in an emailed statement.

“ We are committed to working closely with the academic community in the Philippines to develop talent across our full range of services,” he added.

Oscar Sañez, president and chief executive officer of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, welcomed Cognizant’s expansion in the Philippines.

“We are pleased to see Cognizant expand its operations in the Philippines,” said Sañez.

“As one of the world’s fastest growing consulting, technology, and BPO/KPO companies, Cognizant’s deep insight into global best practices earned through its exposure to Global 2000 companies and a footprint spanning five continents will help the IT and BPO/KPO industry in the Philippines increase its competitiveness and define newer benchmarks,” Sañez said .

“We thank Cognizant for investing in the Philippines and providing an opportunity for experienced professionals as well as fresh graduates in the country to serve global customers,” he added.

President Benigno Aquino III also commended Cognizant for providing job opportunities for Filipino professionals. He said that the company’s expansion affirms the surging demand for global BPO services currently dominating the business arena.

“It is gratifying to note that you have again placed your confidence upon us by allotting about six hundred (600) job posts specifically for Filipinos. I know that our people are prepared to take on the global challenges that come with the demands of the industry. Together, we shall work hand in hand towards world class excellence,” Aquino said in a separate text message.

The Cognizant’s Manila office, which provides high-end operational and contact center business process services to clients worldwide, also runs on Cognizant 2.0, a Web 2.0-based platform that allows the company’s associates worldwide to collaborate and deliver important time-to-market, cost and transformational value to its clients.

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab335/kin_toy/P7099281_2.jpg

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab335/kin_toy/P7099293_2.jpg

dito ba ang wipro manila?

IT, BPO firm expands footing in Philippines
inquirer.net

MANILA, Philippines—A world-leading information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services company on Wednesday formally announced the expansion of its recently opened global delivery center in Manila.

Cognizant , which employs some 200 professionals in Manila, said that the expansion would allow the company to accommodate as much as 600 more professionals.

“Within months of opening our Manila center in October 2009, we have steadily grown our presence and investment in the Philippine capital, and have moved into a larger facility,” said R Chandrasekaran, president and managing director of Global Delivery, Cognizant.

“Our Manila center will continue to strengthen our integrated global delivery capabilities, as our investments in new global, regional, and local delivery centers help our clients harness specialized talent globally in order to meet their requirements and risk preferences, as well as provide business continuity,” Chandrasekaran said in an emailed statement.

“ We are committed to working closely with the academic community in the Philippines to develop talent across our full range of services,” he added.

Oscar Sañez, president and chief executive officer of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, welcomed Cognizant’s expansion in the Philippines.

“We are pleased to see Cognizant expand its operations in the Philippines,” said Sañez.

“As one of the world’s fastest growing consulting, technology, and BPO/KPO companies, Cognizant’s deep insight into global best practices earned through its exposure to Global 2000 companies and a footprint spanning five continents will help the IT and BPO/KPO industry in the Philippines increase its competitiveness and define newer benchmarks,” Sañez said .

“We thank Cognizant for investing in the Philippines and providing an opportunity for experienced professionals as well as fresh graduates in the country to serve global customers,” he added.

President Benigno Aquino III also commended Cognizant for providing job opportunities for Filipino professionals. He said that the company’s expansion affirms the surging demand for global BPO services currently dominating the business arena.

“It is gratifying to note that you have again placed your confidence upon us by allotting about six hundred (600) job posts specifically for Filipinos. I know that our people are prepared to take on the global challenges that come with the demands of the industry. Together, we shall work hand in hand towards world class excellence,” Aquino said in a separate text message.

The Cognizant’s Manila office, which provides high-end operational and contact center business process services to clients worldwide, also runs on Cognizant 2.0, a Web 2.0-based platform that allows the company’s associates worldwide to collaborate and deliver important time-to-market, cost and transformational value to its clients.

Good news.....

IPVG's ICT unit IP-Converge partners with Google
By Mary Ann LL. Reyes (The Philippine Star) Updated August 06, 2010 12:00 AM
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=600132&publicationSubCategoryId=66

MANILA, Philippines - IP-Converge, the information and communications technology (ICT) unit of publicly-listed IPVG Corp., has entered into a partnership with Google, authorizing IP-Converge to be an authorized reseller of the Google Apps suite of communication and collaboration tools in the Philippines.

Google Apps are Web-based applications that bring easy, secure productivity to any work team in small and large enterprises without the need for additional hardware or software, and come at an estimated one-third of the total cost of existing solutions.

IP-Converge currently operates carrier-neutral, telco-grade Internet data center and network facilities in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and provides a variety of business solutions and services to local and international enterprises.

These Web-based applications powered by Google’s global infrastructure give workers full access to their information across devices, so they can be productive in more places. Data is stored in the cloud - not on one particular computer - so employees can connect with all of their information and get work done from any Internet connection. Google’s infrastructure gives users seamless access to their information at work, at home, on the road and from their mobile devices. With traditional technology, important information can be trapped in software only available on a limited set of devices, preventing employees from being their most productive.

IP-Converge AVP for product development Herns Hermida said the Google Apps reseller program will help them provide Google Apps to users of organizations from virtually any industry.

“Google Apps Premier Edition offers a broad set of powerful APIs that enable us to further extend the abilities of Google Apps from its already powerful set of messaging and collaboration tools. We are confident that Google Apps will definitely help save our customers money – whether they are looking to deploy new software tools for email and productivity, or are looking to replace whatever they already have to lower their total cost of ownership. We further enhance this by giving our Google Apps customer 24/7 customer support, all year round,” Hermida added.

The Google Apps reseller program includes resellers, consultants and independent software vendors that sell, service and customize Google Apps Premier Edition for their customers. IP-Converge received training, support and deployment services from Google, as well as access to APIs for integrating Google Apps into their customers’ business operations. IP-Converge is able to retain a close relationship with their customers in order to provide additional service and support. The businesses receiving Google Apps will benefit from the additional attention to their specific needs.

I will be transferring to a new call center again... My 11th in 4 years!

^^ I hope it is for better pay and not because of "burn out". :)

Outsourcing reshapes Philippine society
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=149944

http://www.thedailystar.net/photo/2010/08/09/2010-08-09__business00002.jpg
A group of call centre employees relax at a restaurant in the financial district of Manila on July 10. Daybreak is happy hour in a world turned upside down at Dencio's off Ayala Avenue in the Philippines' financial district, the clientele young and loud and with a hint of California accent. Photo: AFP Afp, Manila

Daybreak is happy hour in a world turned upside down at a trendy bar in the Philippines' financial district, the clientele young and loud and with a vague California accent.

Vodka cruisers and beer fly by the bucketful as good friends Cici, Pau and Jels go off duty along with the rest of the night shift in the nation's half-million strong business process outsourcing (BPO) workforce.

Even the hors d'oeuvres are edgy -- "drunken" shrimp and green mango soaked in pale pilsen -- reflecting the punishing lifestyles of the partygoers.

"I used to drink eight bottles of Red Horse at a time and still find my way home," said 28-year-old Cici, discussing a local brew known for its high alcohol content and often called "The Devil's Own Juice."

The group of young women really let their hair down on Saturdays, hitting bars, beaches or shopping malls all day so they can socialise with friends outside the industry and sleep at least for one night like a normal person.

Life in many ways is a blast for the young, single and educated in the outsourcing industry.

Entry-level jobs bring salaries of 300 dollars a month with the promise of triple that after a few years' experience -- good wages in a country where a third of the population live on a dollar a day.

Jobs are plentiful and can come with generous perks such as 13th and 14th-month pay, performance bonuses and free medical insurance.

And the outsourcing industry -- which has soaked up millions of call centre, accounting and other back-office jobs from the developed world -- is becoming an increasingly vital part of the nation's economy.

Its 500,000 Filipino employees are the world's second biggest outsourcing workforce behind India.

Its revenues, which already account for 5.0 percent of the country's gross domestic product, are growing at double digit rates annually, according to the industry group Business Processing Association Philippines.

On a more micro-level, entire 24/7 service industries -- including convenience stores, bars and fast-food restaurants -- have sprung up around the new office towers to serve the needs of the booming sector.

However there are concerns about the way the industry is reshaping young adult society, as well as the pressures the workers face as they remotely help customers and clients on the other side of the world.

The odd hours, irate clients, tedious workloads and performance demands often drive staff -- particularly call centre workers -- to early burnout.

^^ I hope it is for better pay and not because of "burn out". :)


Yes it is because of a higher pay in 3 years! The last time I got an 18k pay was with Teleperformance in 2006 after that I was only getting 15k to 16k until I got this new job that offers me 18k plus more but I hope this would be my last because I am growing old and tired.

any1 here knows a part time job for workign students

I will be transferring to a new call center again... My 11th in 4 years!

grabe naman dami mong naging employer. bat di ka tumatagal?

I will be transferring to a new call center again... My 11th in 4 years!

^^I bet that raises a lot of questions during job interviews?

grabe naman dami mong naging employer. bat di ka tumatagal?

mali, bakit yung employer hindi tumatagal?:D:lol:j/k

15 years ako nag trabaho, naka 2 employer lang ako, yung isa 6 months, yung isa 14 years:D tumagal sila sa akin:D

grabe naman dami mong naging employer. bat di ka tumatagal?

I did last 14 months in my last job. The new job offer is alluring!

^^I bet that raises a lot of questions during job interviews?

Yeah it sure does but good thing my last job is related to my new job which is why I immediately got a job offer.

mali, bakit yung employer hindi tumatagal?:D:lol:j/k

15 years ako nag trabaho, naka 2 employer lang ako, yung isa 6 months, yung isa 14 years:D tumagal sila sa akin:D

Sa Adonis yong una mo tapos yong huli sa White Bird sa Baclaran, tama ba ko amigo? ikaw daw yong bouncer sa club pantaboy ng mga badet na walang pambayad :lol: nakwento mo sa akin to dati.

tsee:D

lasing ako noong nakwento ko:D


dude, hig end namn yung napgtrabahu-an ko:D

China rated as mature offshoring location
http://www.procurementleaders.com/news/latestnews/3212-mature-offshoring-location/?version=1&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+procurement-leaders-news+%2528Procurement+Leaders+Latest+News+RSS+Feed%2529

China has joined India and the Philippines as a mature location for offshore delivery of outsourced services according to research by global consultancy Everest.

However, the report, entitled What is the True Maturity of China`s Offshore Services Market?, also finds that the country is best suited for regional work and lacks some capabilities that global companies seek for supporting work from North America and Europe.

The report concludes that China is a mature offshore services destination, but only suitable for regional support as more than three-fourths of China`s offshore services exports are focused on Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. It notes that China`s primary limitation is a lack of experienced project managers who have the requisite skills to interact with clients in North America and Europe.

Challenges further limiting the scale of offshore services for these geographies are lack of adequate English skills and insufficient cultural affinity.

The report also notes that concerns around data privacy and intellectual property protection persist and constrain the types of services and platforms that buyers are comfortable supporting from China.

"In the last three years, China has witnessed continued interest and activity, with service providers scaling up operations and buyers starting to experiment with more seriousness," said Everest research director Anand Ramesh. "In our advisory engagements, China is frequently cited by buyers as a consideration but is primarily playing a role as a regional centre within their global sourcing portfolios."

^^my concern with this is if china gets to acquire a set of english language skills that would be at par with our own. with her ridiculously huge supply of human labor, this country can afford to man offshore platforms at a cheaper cost per worker. there are sporadic reports that china is now the world's second largest economy. it's a defeaningly quite transition and changing of the global economic preeminence.

china is cunningly and aggressively gobbling up and down every conceivable global economic and political prestige and rankings. it is doing so with the trappings of playing within the global rules of the game but habitually breaks them. one her strongest strengths is her huge size. a population with a cultural DNA of a deeply patriarchal obedience steeped in confucian ethics. this explains the collective obedience from a huge population spread over a large land mass even under a rule dominated by an insanely power-weilding and centrist communist party.

now, if those cosmopolitan upper class shanghai businessmen could spread their impeccable neutral accent english and mass-produce it to their countrymen, then we can possibly have an unsettling future in the bpo industry. time to further reinforce and strengthen our positions with existing and new value-added factors and create other niche offshore services.

dito ba ang wipro manila?

yes it is. i've been in their office once. i can't remember though if it's on the
5th floor or 9th floor. this area is in the corner of edsa and quezon avenue.

^^my concern with this is if china gets to acquire a set of english language skills that would be at par with our own. with her ridiculously huge supply of human labor, this country can afford to man offshore platforms at a cheaper cost per worker. there are sporadic reports that china is now the world's second largest economy. it's a defeaningly quite transition and changing of the global economic preeminence.

china is cunningly and aggressively gobbling up and down every conceivable global economic and political prestige and rankings. it is doing so with the trappings of playing within the global rules of the game but habitually breaks them. one her strongest strengths is her huge size. a population with a cultural DNA of a deeply patriarchal obedience steeped in confucian ethics. this explains the collective obedience from a huge population spread over a large land mass even under a rule dominated by an insanely power-weilding and centrist communist party.

now, if those cosmopolitan upper class shanghai businessmen could spread their impeccable neutral accent english and mass-produce it to their countrymen, then we can possibly have an unsettling future in the bpo industry. time to further reinforce and strengthen our positions with existing and new value-added factors and create other niche offshore services.

reality check:
there's a lot of foreign students in many american universities that come from china, taiwan and hongkong who are pursuing graduate studies in tesl or tesofl sent by their own government. with their numbers eventually they will overtake pinoys in the bpo.

reality check:
there's a lot of foreign students in many american universities that come from china, taiwan and hongkong who are pursuing graduate studies in tesl or tesofl sent by their own government. with their numbers eventually they will overtake pinoys in the bpo.

and you will be happy that your calls are answered by chinese, taiwanese. You disdain the Pinoy call center agents!!!!!:bash::bash::bash: I still remember your statement that you specifically wanted to talk to non-Pinoys! You don't want to talk to Filipinos....

Your prejudice against your kababayan is something....you don't deserve the respect here.:bash:

Is He a Filipino?:D

Is He a Filipino?:D

FIL-AM

Call centers, IT firms look for 15,000 new workers in job fair
abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 08/13/2010 1:34 AM | Updated as of 08/13/2010 1:34 AM

MANILA, Philippines – Around 15,000 new workers are being sought by call centers, information technology (IT) corporations, sales and marketing firms, and human resources companies at an ongoing job fair in Makati City.

The event, which is being held at the Glorietta Mall, has attracted more than 4,000 applicants as of Thursday, according to organizer JobStreet.Com.

“Malaki ang chance na makakuha ng trabaho dito kasi meron kang direct interaction sa mga employers. Talagang mabebenta mo sarili mo,” said JobStreet.Com assistant marketing manager Raffy Vicente in an interview with ABS-CBN’s “TV Patrol”.

He said call center and business process outsourcing companies taking part in the event are offering a total of 3,150 job openings. The other available positions are in IT (2,100), sales and marketing (1,650), and human resources (1,350).

Vicente said the companies are hiring employees on the spot.

Nearly 1,000 openings are also available for welders, electricians, carpenters, and engineers who want to work abroad.

Some companies taking part in the fair, which will be held until Friday, are looking for Web developers, animators, sales representatives, and online English tutors.

“I do suggest na mag-attend sila ng mga job fair kasi marami naman talagang trabaho sa Pilipinas. Kailangan lang nilang hanapin,” Infinity Support human resources officer Amanda Escanler said.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/08/12/10/call-centers-it-firms-look-15000-new-workers-job-fair

reality check:
there's a lot of foreign students in many american universities that come from china, taiwan and hongkong who are pursuing graduate studies in tesl or tesofl sent by their own government. with their numbers eventually they will overtake pinoys in the bpo.

in which case, all the more that we should be concerned!

Convergys upgrades RP command center (http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/274672/convergys-upgrades-rp-command-center)

Convergys recently announced that it has added additional capacity to five of
its existing facilities in the Philippines and will need over 3,600 new
employees. Citing the outstanding performance of its employees in
Philippines and based on overall high client demand for Philippines-based
services, Convergys expanded its UP TechnoHub, Nuvali, San Lazaro, Cebu i3, and Bacolod facilities to include 2,300 additional work stations.


:horse:

Telus (former Ambergris Solutions) has EA Sports Technical Support



You can interview me because I have 3+ years international call center experience from at least 10 different call center companies... you can send me your questions via PM! hey, howzit goin? I gotta coupla questions... aight but first off, forgive mah ignorance people but there are a whole lotta initials floatin' around these neck o' the woods. :D what is an EA (Executive Act, Emergency Act, Episcopal Anglican?...) & what is a BPO (British Petroleum Overseas?...) I just can't connect the letters to that of a call centre company.

3rd, is there an age limit to bein a newbie call centre agent? :) do you provide training? I'm now 36 and in 2.5 decades time I was toying with the idea of working there after retirement, for mah extra gas and golf money, in a manner of speaking. :D is that possible?

4th, 24 more years oughta be enough time for me to master Cervantes-like Espanyol. Is it true that bein bilingual ingles-spanis also get double the pay?

hey, howzit goin? I gotta coupla questions... aight but first off, forgive mah ignorance people but there are a whole lotta initials floatin' around these neck o' the woods. :D what is an EA (Executive Act, Emergency Act, Episcopal Anglican?...) & what is a BPO (British Petroleum Overseas?...) I just can't connect the letters to that of a call centre company.

3rd, is there an age limit to bein a newbie call centre agent? :) do you provide training? I'm now 36 and in 2.5 decades time I was toying with the idea of working there after retirement, for mah extra gas and golf money, in a manner of speaking. :D is that possible?

4th, 24 more years oughta be enough time for me to master Cervantes-like Espanyol. Is it true that bein bilingual ingles-spanis also get double the pay?

hoy, uli ka diri, dayon apply:D:lol:

hoy, uli ka diri, dayon apply:D:lol: :lol: intawon di pa ko oi. wa'a pa gani ko kaipon. :D

balita ko may Telus daw sa may bandang Serendra. Tamang tama, pagkatapos ng trabajo, lakwatsa agad sa Boni Hi at Greenbelt.

EA ata is Electronic Arts, as in EA games, ung producer ng video games, etc. ewan lang, alam ko may site sila dito sa philippines eh, di ko lang sure kung yung sa telus na yun.

:lol: intawon di pa ko oi. wa'a pa gani ko kaipon. :D

balita ko may Telus daw sa may bandang Serendra. Tamang tama, pagkatapos ng trabajo, lakwatsa agad sa Boni Hi at Greenbelt.

sa gaisano market2x ang office nla ata sa bonifacio.

hey, howzit goin? I gotta coupla questions... aight but first off, forgive mah ignorance people but there are a whole lotta initials floatin' around these neck o' the woods. :D what is an EA (Executive Act, Emergency Act, Episcopal Anglican?...) & what is a BPO (British Petroleum Overseas?...) I just can't connect the letters to that of a call centre company.

3rd, is there an age limit to bein a newbie call centre agent? :) do you provide training? I'm now 36 and in 2.5 decades time I was toying with the idea of working there after retirement, for mah extra gas and golf money, in a manner of speaking. :D is that possible?

4th, 24 more years oughta be enough time for me to master Cervantes-like Espanyol. Is it true that bein bilingual ingles-spanis also get double the pay?

No problem with the ignorance thing on this industry. I'm sure you make up for it with your knowledge in your area of expertise.

Although it was answered already (EA is Electronic Arts, the gaming company), contact centers and BPO (business process outsourcing) companies use a lot of jargon, mostly from their client. But they also have KPIs (key performance indicators) or metrics, upon which their staff are measured vis-a-vis achievement of their targets, both operational and financial. So don't be surprised if some folks here use a lot of acronyms and jargons, some even use the code names of their accounts since they can't identify them (part of their employment contract). In that same way many cannot also divulge the exact figures of their salary.

36 is a young enough age for the call center industry. I know of call centers that hire people in their 50s, even 60s. The important thing is that the employee has the necessary skills and the right attitude to become a call center agent or supervisor, or manager, for that matter. They get trained, not only for language but also for culture, as well as product/service training. Of course, you'll be with a lot of younger people, some even as young as 18 years old, and the minimum educational requirement of call centers is usually at least 2nd degree college (in the US they accept high school graduates).

Regarding bi-lingual agents, they generally have the same base pay. But their allowances (including the allowance related to their foreign language ability) can go double, even triple their base pay. However I won't advise you to wait 2.5 decades later for this since by then technology would have replaced much of the functions call center folks do nowadays.

hey, howzit goin? I gotta coupla questions... aight but first off, forgive mah ignorance people but there are a whole lotta initials floatin' around these neck o' the woods. :D what is an EA (Executive Act, Emergency Act, Episcopal Anglican?...) & what is a BPO (British Petroleum Overseas?...) I just can't connect the letters to that of a call centre company.

3rd, is there an age limit to bein a newbie call centre agent? :) do you provide training? I'm now 36 and in 2.5 decades time I was toying with the idea of working there after retirement, for mah extra gas and golf money, in a manner of speaking. :D is that possible?

4th, 24 more years oughta be enough time for me to master Cervantes-like Espanyol. Is it true that bein bilingual ingles-spanis also get double the pay?

bai mercato, with your being usually a stickler for grammar in the english language (based on your ssc posts) and your being articulate in expressing your thoughts, you'll make an excellent cc agent! there's no age limit by the way. that's what's good about the bpo industry here in pinas.

on the second thought do you find it unethical to entice amateurs to pursuit their career in callcenters albeit its drag on economy.

bai mercato, with you're being usually a stickler for grammar in the english language (based on your ssc posts) and your being articulate in expressing your thoughts, you'll make an excellent cc agent! there's no age limit by the way. that's what's good about the bpo industry here in pinas. :D :D :D I could go either way, if I wait awhile I could put up a CC company kung nakaipon or be a CC agent kung di nakaipon. :colgate:
No problem with the ignorance thing on this industry. I'm sure you make up for it with your knowledge in your area of expertise.

Although it was answered already (EA is Electronic Arts, the gaming company), contact centers and BPO (business process outsourcing) companies use a lot of jargon, mostly from their client. But they also have KPIs (key performance indicators) or metrics, upon which their staff are measured vis-a-vis achievement of their targets, both operational and financial. So don't be surprised if some folks here use a lot of acronyms and jargons, some even use the code names of their accounts since they can't identify them (part of their employment contract). In that same way many cannot also divulge the exact figures of their salary.

36 is a young enough age for the call center industry. I know of call centers that hire people in their 50s, even 60s. The important thing is that the employee has the necessary skills and the right attitude to become a call center agent or supervisor, or manager, for that matter. They get trained, not only for language but also for culture, as well as product/service training. Of course, you'll be with a lot of younger people, some even as young as 18 years old, and the minimum educational requirement of call centers is usually at least 2nd degree college (in the US they accept high school graduates).

Regarding bi-lingual agents, they generally have the same base pay. But their allowances (including the allowance related to their foreign language ability) can go double, even triple their base pay. However I won't advise you to wait 2.5 decades later for this since by then technology would have replaced much of the functions call center folks do nowadays. Thank you, sir. I am also wondering if there is a minimum number of call centre agents if one were to put up a call company. I guess it stands to reason that the only way to get overseas clients is to poach a senior call centre supervisor from one of the companies...

on the second thought do you find it unethical to entice amateurs to pursuit their career in callcenters albeit its drag on economy.

call centers are not a drag on the economy. in fact, it's helping the economy. think just where majority of those 500,000 people would go if not employed by the bpo industry. a good number of them would certainly be unemployed by now. a good number would also probably fall in line in the POEA offices applying for work abroad and be separated from their family.

call centers also create many satellite and support industries that further employ thousands of people and keep the economy stronger. the proliferation of 24-hour food establishments, security guard personnels, 7-11s, mini stops, food concessionares, increased demand for taxi services at night, increased incomes for bus companies at night, increased tax collection provided by the bpo companies, increased profit to electricity and utilities firms and consequently for their investors, among others.

the big 2 reasons why the philippines was able to come out resilient against the global financial crisis and recession are the ofw remittances and the strong and diversified bpo industry. despite those, i wonder why you consider the bpo sector a drag on the economy?

lastly, it's certainly not unethical to entice amateurs to enter the industry. what's wrong with offering work to someone whom you think is qualified for the job? at the end of it all, the person concerned still has a choice to pursue the offer or not.

:D :D :D I could go either way, if I wait awhile I could put up a CC company kung nakaipon or be a CC agent kung di nakaipon. :colgate:
Thank you, sir. I am also wondering if there is a minimum number of call centre agents if one were to put up a call company. I guess it stands to reason that the only way to get overseas clients is to poach a senior call centre supervisor from one of the companies...

You can run a call center operation from your house. There are a number of part-time, even full time call center agents operating from home. Of course, if you will set up a center with more than 3 agents, you will definitely need to set up your computer network, get more phone lines (VOIP), etc. etc.

But as your operation gets bigger, you will need more specialized roles. So in addition to the call center agents and supervisor, you will need workforce management, reports analysts, tech support personnel, quality and training folks, plus someone to look after the financials and the clients.

:D :D :D I could go either way, if I wait awhile I could put up a CC company kung nakaipon or be a CC agent kung di nakaipon. :colgate:
Thank you, sir. I am also wondering if there is a minimum number of call centre agents if one were to put up a call company. I guess it stands to reason that the only way to get overseas clients is to poach a senior call centre supervisor from one of the companies...

pareng mercato, pwede ka ring mag franchise ng mini stop. hehehe.

yung mga taong masama ang pananaw sa BPO ay bitter...baka di natangap sa interview...imagine gaano kahirap ang interview sa BPO...wag sana magalit ..peace on earth.

^^ ateng kung hindi ka talaga marunong mag english eh malamang mahihirapan ka.

You can run a call center operation from your house. There are a number of part-time, even full time call center agents operating from home. Of course, if you will set up a center with more than 3 agents, you will definitely need to set up your computer network, get more phone lines (VOIP), etc. etc.

But as your operation gets bigger, you will need more specialized roles. So in addition to the call center agents and supervisor, you will need workforce management, reports analysts, tech support personnel, quality and training folks, plus someone to look after the financials and the clients. Whoa, that's gonna be one helluva feasiblity study. Where do we start? :) Is there any website I can study BPO Vol. 1 "Beginners guide to call centre companies" ... Well, I guess the only way to get started with feasibilty studies is when one is physically in Manila. Over here where I'm at, there's virtually nothing for research material or resource persons.

I tend to be very optimistic bout the bpo future in the Phils. based on my personal experience & interaction with various phone agents of different nationalities. I can't expound at the moment but later on tagalugin ko na lang para walang sumama loob mga hindi katulad natin. :D
pareng mercato, pwede ka ring mag franchise ng mini stop. hehehe. what is a mini stop?? Is that like a 7-11? why not? But I dunno if it requires membership in some sorta informal mafia, like in the States I know most 7-11s are controlled by the bumbays. well, come to think of it, bagay naman sa akin magsuot ng turban at magdala ng british payong. :D

Eventhough you are fluent in english pero kung walang comprehension, lagpak ka..whew. To all aspiring call center agents, good luck.

Are BPO employees paid in Pesos or Dollars?





:horse:

Eventhough you are fluent in english pero kung walang comprehension, lagpak ka..whew. To all aspiring call center agents, good luck.

Depende kasi yan sa client mo, and to your customers as well. You need not only comprehension, but patience, patience and LOTS OF PATIENCE.

^^@JuanPilgrim, of course in pesos. Mahirap na pag sweldo day pupunta pa sa money changer :lol:

^^@JuanPilgrim, of course in pesos. Mahirap na pag sweldo day pupunta pa sa money changer :lol:

Thanks! Now I know. A friend of mine got me intersted in getting into
Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing to the Philippines that is
why I asked the question.



:horse:

what is a mini stop?? Is that like a 7-11? why not? But I dunno if it requires membership in some sorta informal mafia, like in the States I know most 7-11s are controlled by the bumbays. well, come to think of it, bagay naman sa akin magsuot ng turban at magdala ng british payong. :D

hahaha! you don't have top be a member of a mafia for that. if you have the capital, just phone the mini stop establishment of your intention to go into a franchise business with them. yes, the concept is like 7-11. like the latter, mini stop is doing brisk business 24/7 because of many factors. chief among them is the proliferation of the bpo/call center industry.

Whoa, that's gonna be one helluva feasiblity study. Where do we start? :) Is there any website I can study BPO Vol. 1 "Beginners guide to call centre companies" ... Well, I guess the only way to get started with feasibilty studies is when one is physically in Manila. Over here where I'm at, there's virtually nothing for research material or resource persons.

I tend to be very optimistic bout the bpo future in the Phils. based on my personal experience & interaction with various phone agents of different nationalities. I can't expound at the moment but later on tagalugin ko na lang para walang sumama loob mga hindi katulad natin. :D
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You can join groups on LinkedIn, Ning and other social/professional networks. There are many of them, just choose which you think is most appropriate for you. I have too many BPO groups on my LinkedIn groups that I end up getting "spammed" by many of the members (mostly BPO related stuff though).

There is a "Call Centers for Dummies" (http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Call-Centers-For-Dummies-2nd-Edition.productCd-0470677430.html) guide book written by Real Bergevin. It's now on its second edition (May 2010). I have the first edition, it's good enough for tyros to this industry.

It's nice to know that you've generally had good experiences with call center agents of most nationalities. I'm sure the experience is better if your kapwa Filipino is handling your call, especially if he/she knows you are a kababayan. They have this "empathy" thing towards their customers, something the other nationalities don't have (no need to elaborate on which nationalities these are but you probably know what I mean). Pinoy call center agents are generally very flexible, and that's what makes them a hit with North American customers (well, among other qualities as well).

BPO firm to double workforce this year

By Paolo Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:40:00 09/01/2010

NASDAQ-LISTED outsourcing firm Rainmaker Systems Inc. plans to double the size of its Philippine workers by hiring another 1,000 employees in the next 12 months as the company takes on more clients overseas.

In recent briefing, Rainmaker officials said the ample supply of talent and stable telecommunications infrastructure made the Philippines the best location for the California-based company’s expansion.

“We’ve indicated that we expect to double our current population in the Philippines,” Rainmaker CEO Michael Silton said.

The firm recently opened its second site in the Philippines at the Alphaland Southgate Mall in Makati City. It said its new site strengthens its capacity to deliver services to its clients.

Rainmaker’s first Philippine site was set up in 1999 along Ayala Avenue. It now has about 1,000 employees.

Over the next 12 months, the company said it planned to have about 2,000 employees in the country. The new hires will be working at the new site.

Silton said the company planned to conduct a road show in the US this month, in conjunction with President Benigno Aquino III’s first official visit to the White House.

Are BPO employees paid in Pesos or Dollars?





:horse:

depende Juan Pilgrim :)

Yung dati ko na pinapasukan na call center(directory assistance) kapag December to January ay may insentibo na binibigay na 100 bucks(wow! amboy nako).
Ito yung kapag wala kang absent, lates or even undertime during Philippine holiday season. Kino-convert din sa pesos ang nasabing incentives.

Hindi lang yan, merin din na 'comp off'.
Ito yung additional paid offs, kapag pumasok ka ng holidays.
And another paid off in excess of a given overtime.
Ang nangyayari nito, dumadami ang VL's ng isang call center agent.

hahaha! you don't have top be a member of a mafia for that. if you have the capital, just phone the mini stop establishment of your intention to go into a franchise business with them. yes, the concept is like 7-11. like the latter, mini stop is doing brisk business 24/7 because of many factors. chief among them is the proliferation of the bpo/call center industry. I'll keep that in mind, thanks :D

You can join groups on LinkedIn, Ning and other social/professional networks. There are many of them, just choose which you think is most appropriate for you. I have too many BPO groups on my LinkedIn groups that I end up getting "spammed" by many of the members (mostly BPO related stuff though).

There is a "Call Centers for Dummies" (http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Call-Centers-For-Dummies-2nd-Edition.productCd-0470677430.html) guide book written by Real Bergevin. It's now on its second edition (May 2010). I have the first edition, it's good enough for tyros to this industry.

It's nice to know that you've generally had good experiences with call center agents of most nationalities. I'm sure the experience is better if your kapwa Filipino is handling your call, especially if he/she knows you are a kababayan. They have this "empathy" thing towards their customers, something the other nationalities don't have (no need to elaborate on which nationalities these are but you probably know what I mean). Pinoy call center agents are generally very flexible, and that's what makes them a hit with North American customers (well, among other qualities as well). I concur.. most agents over the phone wouldn't know what nationality I am, but Filipinas especially are a notch above the rest IMO in terms of service rendered, quality of performance, patience and attention to detail. :) At least that was my experience with Filipina operators.

Thanks for the heads up and I'll surely visit this interesting thread more often. :D

I concur.. most agents over the phone wouldn't know what nationality I am, but Filipinas especially are a notch above the rest IMO in terms of service rendered, quality of performance, patience and attention to detail. :) At least that was my experience with Filipina operators.

Thanks for the heads up and I'll surely visit this interesting thread more often. :D

Really good Pinoy call center agents can mimic certain twangs and drawls (whether Southrn', New Yorker, even Aussie and Brit) but the preference is for those with a neutral accent. But accent is not the all important thing. What is important is that the agents understand the query or concern of the client and address it to their satisfaction.

If you go for the other nationalities' English, you can tell the difference if the call is routed to some city in India (they also have their distinct English accents, city to city). But for the topnotch agents in the Philippines, you can hardly distinguish whether they are in Manila, Cebu or Bacolod.

depende Juan Pilgrim :)

Yung dati ko na pinapasukan na call center(directory assistance) kapag December to January ay may insentibo na binibigay na 100 bucks(wow! amboy nako).
Ito yung kapag wala kang absent, lates or even undertime during Philippine holiday season. Kino-convert din sa pesos ang nasabing incentives.

Hindi lang yan, merin din na 'comp off'.
Ito yung additional paid offs, kapag pumasok ka ng holidays.
And another paid off in excess of a given overtime.
Ang nangyayari nito, dumadami ang VL's ng isang call center agent.

Tama nga pala, depende din sa account mo 'yan. But mostly, pinoy agents are paid in pesos.

depende Juan Pilgrim :)

Yung dati ko na pinapasukan na call center(directory assistance) kapag December to January ay may insentibo na binibigay na 100 bucks(wow! amboy nako).
Ito yung kapag wala kang absent, lates or even undertime during Philippine holiday season. Kino-convert din sa pesos ang nasabing incentives.

Hindi lang yan, merin din na 'comp off'.
Ito yung additional paid offs, kapag pumasok ka ng holidays.
And another paid off in excess of a given overtime.
Ang nangyayari nito, dumadami ang VL's ng isang call center agent.

Compensation generally varies from one call center company to another, but generally most posts are paid in pesos (except for the expats who were hired from and signed their contracts abroad). If ever they paid you in cold cash, say greenbacks, that is generally an out-of-pocket expense that may be passed on to the client/account but via the equivalent of petty cash. For most US based large companies, they have to follow Sarbanes-Oxley guidelines...thus there should be an audit trail somehow.

Oh, in addition to what Igsuonnimo mentioned, there are also non-cash forms of remuneration, usually items/products made or promoted by the account (iPods, PSPs, etc.), usually as an incentive for meeting or exceeding a goal/target previously set by the client. At least those don't get taxed...since most call centers generally remit taxes properly to the government (save for some local companies who don't even remit SSS and other mandatory contributions). The best people to speak about this, of course, are the BPO's finance people, as well as the account/client managers. Don't always take the word of agents regarding what they're compensated for, some of them love to inflate the actual amounts since a lot of professional jealousy exists among their peers. You can see they even freely discuss their compensation in forums like Pinoyexchange, etc. something I cannot understand considering most contracts require the employee to keep their compensation details private and confidential.

I am planning to put up a BPO company there in the Philippines, I am here in the states but it seems no one can seem to point me to the right direction in setting up one. I know there is no manual for this but I was hoping a good resource to start like websites books etc... DTI does not seem to know what they are doing..... any help would be greatly appreciated

I am planning to put up a BPO company there in the Philippines, I am here in the states but it seems no one can seem to point me to the right direction in setting up one. I know there is no manual for this but I was hoping a good resource to start like websites books etc... DTI does not seem to know what they are doing..... any help would be greatly appreciated

Sent you PM.

Are BPO employees paid in Pesos or Dollars?





:horse:

Mostly in Pesos

call centers are not a drag on the economy. in fact, it's helping the economy. think just where majority of those 500,000 people would go if not employed by the bpo industry. a good number of them would certainly be unemployed by now. a good number would also probably fall in line in the POEA offices applying for work abroad and be separated from their family.

call centers also create many satellite and support industries that further employ thousands of people and keep the economy stronger. the proliferation of 24-hour food establishments, security guard personnels, 7-11s, mini stops, food concessionares, increased demand for taxi services at night, increased incomes for bus companies at night, increased tax collection provided by the bpo companies, increased profit to electricity and utilities firms and consequently for their investors, among others.

the big 2 reasons why the philippines was able to come out resilient against the global financial crisis and recession are the ofw remittances and the strong and diversified bpo industry. despite those, i wonder why you consider the bpo sector a drag on the economy?

lastly, it's certainly not unethical to entice amateurs to enter the industry. what's wrong with offering work to someone whom you think is qualified for the job? at the end of it all, the person concerned still has a choice to pursue the offer or not.


sorry i made my terminology wrong, drag = up

Outsourcing firms lease Eton building

LUCIO C. Tan-led Eton Properties Philippines, Inc. said yesterday it has fully leased its commercial and office project in Ortigas.

The last remaining space in Eton Cyberpod Corinthian will be taken up by human resource service provider Northgate Arinso.

Hans Montenegro, director for business consulting of Northgate Arinso, told reporters Eton Properties and Northgate Arinso signed the deal last week.

“Northgate Arinso signed a letter of intent to take [an additional] 2,772.6 square meters (sq. m.) at the third floor of building one of Eton Cyberpod Corinthian, [taking up a total] 5,445.2 sq. m.,” said Danilo E. Ignacio, president and chief operating officer of the listed Eton Properties.

“With Northgate Arinso taking the last available floor, Cyberpod Corinthian will be 100% leased. [call center] Startek is Eton’s other tenant who took seven floors at the project,” Mr. Ignacio added.

Northgate Arinso, which is based in the United Kingdom, provides outsourcing and consulting services. Mr. Montenegro said the company wanted to increase manpower to 800 by the end of the year from 300.

It is the first tenant of Cyberpod Corinthian, a three-building, four-storey development in Ortigas Center.

Since starting operations three years ago, Eton Properties has launched a total of 30 projects -- residential, commercial, and office buildings as well as “township” developments that started with the almost 1,000-hectare Eton City in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Shares in Eton Properties inched up by 3% or P0.13 to close at P4.38 each yesterday. -- Neil Jerome C. Morales
|

source (http://www.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=17514)

The Time for Total BPO
Accenture’s top BPO guy Benedict Hernandez sketches one more global industrial landscape where he believes the Filipino can excel
By CORA LLAMAS
September 12, 2010, 1:13pm

The potential of Filipino talent—it’s the one phrase that automatically triggers an animated torrent of words from Benedict Hernandez, the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) service delivery operations lead in Accenture Philippines, the largest and most diversified IT-BPO firm in the country that conducts diverse services, including systems integration, application development, enterprise solutions, voice customer contact support , finance and accounting, health administration, and care BPO, among others.

One of the youngest industry leaders at the age of 39, Hernandez bel ieves that the Phi l ippines is on the brink of exploring and excelling in another growth area, namely BPO services that do work aside from those found in contact centers. Global organizations and research studies have already recognized the Philippines as the premier outsourcing destination for voice-related customer service, even surpassing perennial favorite India, thanks to the unbeatable combination of English-language skills, friendliness, warmth and extreme patience generally exhibited by the typical Pinoy call center agent.

He cites the mid-year forecast of industry association Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) saying that the call center sector is poised for a robust 24 percent growth for 2010. The voice sector already accounts for 2/3 of the entire Philippine BPO industry.

The remaining 1 / 3 , which accounts for back-end services such as animation, game development, medical transcription, human r e s our c e s , and f inanc e and accounting, may be smaller but is growing rapidly. And Hernandez is more than willing to play a part in its inevitable explosion. It was part of the attraction that drew him to Accenture a year ago after almost a decade as the general manager of contact center eTelecare.

Best of Both Worlds

“The 2009 BPAP study says that of the 440,000 employees in the overall BPO sector, 280,000 belong to the contact centers and the rest to the capability to look at the bigger picture at all times that made Hernandez a constant pioneering figure in sectors that belied their humble beginnings to grow into giants. At the age of 19, he was the youngest officer who rose to manager rank in Smart Telecommunications during its startup years. His next four years as a VP for the customer service division in another start-up, Nextel, prepared him for the customer-centric culture of the contact center industry. He mo v e d t o eTelecare at the age of 29 as its general manager , and then a year ago joined Accenture.

Hernandez elaborates on his work philosophy, “It’s been about asking the ‘why’s’ so I can look into the ‘why nots?’ You can easily get lost in the sea of data and reports, e-mails, and non-stop meetings so you have to really force yourself to step back and ask yourself, ‘What’s really going on here?’”

He credits his “rigor in thinking” to his UP stint as a teacher in statistics, which he calls a study of “cause and effect.” Back then, after his graduation from the same university with a degree in Psychology, he thrived on challenges like figuring out “what are the boring subjects and how I can make them relevant to my students. I taught weekly nine hours of statistics, variance analysis, multiple regression, and research methods,” he ends the recollection with a chuckle.

Always the Teacher

These days, Hernandez’s inner teacher is reaching out to a wider audience. In the general assemblies that contact centers hold regularly with their thousands of employees, he answers their toughest questions – like the removal of the annual Christmas ham as a cost-cutting measure during the recent global crisis . The then eTelecare GM told his staff that he understood their reaction but also quipped, “You guys are so fortunate that those are your questions because the other industries are asking if they will have jobs.” In the end, the staff come out of these Q&A sessions with a much more informed perspective of the issues.

He admits, “I enjoy honest conversations with employees and get excited by the toughest and most raw questions.”

Another c las s room i s the academia itself, as industry leaders like Hernandez are building links between the BPOs, contact centers, and educational institutions to help develop a curriculum that would develop the skills that are relevant to the workplace. In a partnership with one school, Accenture trained their college seniors in health administration outsourcing before graduation, and half of the students ended up being hired by the company.

“It’s important that each BPO company nurture one school and then send their trainers to coach and mentor their teachers or look at and tweak their focus,” Hernandez points out. “You can’t just talk about [the needs of the industry in a seminar]—you have to go the schools and spend regular time with the teachers.”

The development of the Filipino talent pool relies a great deal on the kind of education that they receive, and Hernandez, who once took regular tricycle trips to a bank to collect his teacher’s salary of R900 a month, is well aware of the challenges that his former colleagues face. “We have to invest in our teachers and schools.

How much training are our teachers getting? How much are we paying them? If the teaching profession is as attractive as the call center, then we attract the more qualified teachers.”

Accenture invests significant amount s o f time and training in their people and intentionally creates a nurturing, team-centric culture that builds confidence, a factor that Hernandez credits for his own professional growth. “I was surrounded by people who were generous in their confidence with me,” he acknowledges, mentioning his middle-class family who encouraged his working part-time throughout college, and his professors who made him part of their teams on their consulting projects even though he was just a student at that time.

He believes that it is the building of that same self-confidence, along with the necessary training, that can make the Pinoy BPO worker a stand-out in the international arena, another of Hernandez’s audience that he is reaching out to through client presentations and conferences.

The forecaster in Hernandez sees a “talent revolution that will shake up the system. The Filipino need not be second to anyone. Let’s start believing in ourselves and our capabilities. [In this industry] we are holding the Philippine flag, we are the trailblazer.”
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/276675/the-time-total-bpo

British payroll service provider eyes deals with RP conglomerates

THE LOCAL unit of United Kingdom-based human resource (HR) services firm NorthgateArinso, Inc. wants to expand operations by securing local clients starting this year.

http://www.bworldonline.com/webpics/articles/image/201009124bbea.jpg
NorthgateArinso, Inc.’s local unit, which has 300 employees, has up to 50 clients in its portfolio.

The company wants to provide services to as much as 25 local firms to help Philippine operations generate €10 million to €16 million in annual revenues, an executive said.

“The original operation is, we are the delivery center for the outsourced payroll of large companies like Shell, Unilever and Cadbury,” Hans Montenegro, director for business consulting in the Philippines of NorthgateArinso, Inc., told reporters late last week.

“The aim is to establish a business presence in the Philippines ... we are now 300 [employees] with a mandate to grow to 800 by the end of the year,” Mr. Montenegro added.

NorthgateArinso started local operations in 2004, with clients passed on by the parent firm.

Mr. Montenegro said the company was looking at inking deals with local units of global companies, similar to an agreement with Kraft Foods Philippines, Inc.

NorthgateArinso has also approached government agencies for potential deals, he added.

The HR service provider can process 5,000 payroll accounts in two to three days using software of Germany’s SAP AG or Precida from Australia.

Mr. Montenegro said the local unit, which now has 40-50 global clients in its portfolio, wants to provide payroll services to conglomerates like the SM group and the diversified San Miguel conglomerate.

NorthgateArinso supports HR processes in work force administration, multi-country payroll, recruitment, learning, and talent management.

New local and foreign clients will allow the company to attain growth targets for the fiscal year 2010-2011 ending in April.

“You are looking at upwards €60 million in the fiscal year starting May [for Asia Pacific]. Of that €60 million, I believe about €10 million to €16 million will come from the Philippines,” Mr. Montenegro said.

There should be 10% to 12% growth for Philippine operations given further expansion, he said.

Philippine customers could bring in about €500,000 in fresh revenues.

Local key accounts should have an average of 1,000 payroll accounts each, he said.

Last week, NorthgateArinso occupied the last free office space in the three-building, four-storey Eton Cyberpod Corinthian of Lucio C. Tan-led Eton Properties Philippines, Inc.

NorthgateArinso signed a letter of intent to take an additional 2,772.6 square meters (sq. m.) at the third floor of Building 1 of Eton Cyberpod Corinthian, taking up a total 5,445.2 sq. m.

The firm has more than 8,000 employees in 35 country offices serving companies in more than 100 countries, including global Fortune 500 companies. -- Neil Jerome C. Morales

http://www.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=17582

IBM urges Aquino to continue development of BPO sector

By Paolo Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:21:00 09/13/2010

Filed Under: Technology (general), Investments, Government

MANILA, Philippines—The local unit of New York-based multinational computer giant IBM has urged President Benigno Aquino III to continue the work of his predecessor in supporting the growth of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, one of the few bright spots in the country’s economy.

At a recent courtesy call in Malacañang, local IBM officials pledged their support for the new chief executive’s initiatives to fight corruption and improve business conditions in the country.

“The President could expect the company’s commitment on four of the Chief Executive’s advocacies on good governance, growing the BPO sector, leadership, talent development and innovation,” IBM Philippines president and general manager James Velasquez said in a statement.

The meeting with the president took place last Thursday.

IBM Philippines’ BPO business operates under the brand, IBM Daksh.

The company has global delivery centers located in Makati City, Mandaluyong City, Quezon City and the University of the Philippines-Ayala Technohub in Diliman, Quezon City, from where it supports more than 20 global clients

IBM today has over 7,000 employees in various Metro Manila sites.

The Philippines is the computer giant’s second largest BPO location, next to industry leader, India.

So has the Philippines surpassed India yet as the biggest in the global BPO industry? I remember reading predictions from 2007-2008 that the Philippines was aiming to surpass India by 2010.

BPO sector poised to exceed $9-b revenue target

by Jeremiah F. de Guzman

The country’s business process outsourcing industry will likely register foreign exchange revenues of close to $10 billion this year, exceeding the government’s target of $9 billion, the Commission on Information and Communications Technology said Monday.

CICT Chairman Ivan Uy said in an interview with reporters that revenues of the BPO industry would likely hit $9 billion this month or the next on the back of strong demand from foreign companies.

“This year it will be a big jump from the $7.3-billion revenues last year. Projection was about $9 billion, and by this month or next month, we might be already pushing that number,” Uy said.

He said the increased revenues would result the industry workforce hitting 600,000 by the end of 2010 from about half a million jobs so far this year.

“All are going up, including the animation industry, the health information management system, software industry and the traditional voice and non-voice that we already have strong presence in,” he said.

The CICT earlier projected a 26-percent growth in the BPO sector, with revenues and workforce expected to reach $9 billion and 600,000, respectively.

Uy said the country’s BPO industry could end the year with close to $10 billion in revenues.

The Philippines, according to a report of the Everest Research Institute in 2009, accounted for 15 percent of the offshore BPO market and had emerged as a key destination for English-based work, especially for North American companies.

The Philippines, whose offshore market has grown 46 percent annually since 2004, is poised to emerge as a leading destination for non-voice business process outsourcing work.


http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideBusiness.htm?f=/2010/september/14/business3.isx&d=2010/september/14

^^ finally!! some news on the BPO Sector..
medyo nakakalimutan na ang sektor na eto ah.. matagal tagal na rin ang huling balita tungkol dito.

So has the Philippines surpassed India yet as the biggest in the global BPO industry? I remember reading predictions from 2007-2008 that the Philippines was aiming to surpass India by 2010.

nope! we still have a long way to go to catch up the size of India's outsourcing industry. :D

nope! we still have a long way to go to catch up the size of India's outsourcing industry. :D

because Indians have a faster learning curve...

because Indians have a faster learning curve...

There are 1 billion Indians as opposed to 100 million Filipinos... And not all BPO apps are in the voice industry.

right, if you will check the nation population to bpo population of india and philippines,you will see that philippines will have higher percentage of BPO employee than India.

Convergys launches San Lazaro contact center

By Eden Estopace (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines - Demand for Philippine-based customer service support is growing with more facilities opening and generating jobs for Filipinos. Only recently, the largest contact center in the country, Convergys Corp., inaugurated its newest facility in Manila with no less than President Aquino as guest of honor.

Jeffrey Fox, president and CEO of Convergys, and Andrea Ayers, president of customer management, flew in for the occasion and to personally witness the unveiling of the marker at San Lazaro.

The facility was Convergys Corp.’s 12th contact center in the country and its first in Manila. It boasts of a recruitment center, executive and administrative offices, training rooms, conference rooms, and employee lounges and is expected to employ about 2,400 when filled to capacity.

“As the largest contact center in the country and the largest private employer in the Philippines, Convergys continues to invest, grow and prosper here,” said Marife Zamora, Philippine country manager and managing director for Asia-Pacific and EMEA.

Aside from the President, a high-level team of government officials led by Trade and Industry Secretary Greg Domingo, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) chairman Ivan Uy, and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim graced the facility’s inauguration.

The President cited the outsourcing business in the country for generating jobs for an estimated 557,000 Filipinos, with forecast $9.1 billion in revenue by end of 2010, which he said could mean more funds that the government could use to build more schools and provide basic health care to the people.

“The BPO industry is an increasingly vital factor in our economy. As one of the most globally attractive locations in setting up call centers, we need to take advantage of the opportunity in generating jobs and investments. As we embrace the challenges of a technology-driven world, we will further harness the partnership between government agencies and private entities,” Mr. Aquino said.

Fox and Ayers accompanied Mr. Aquino on a guided tour of the production floor after the ceremonies.

The unveiling of the San Lazaro contact center came shortly after the transfer of Convergys’ state-of-the-art command center from Jacksonville, Florida to Manila last month.

Ayers said that with 12 of its 68 sites around the world now in the Philippines, handling as much as 188,000 inbound calls and employing 22,000 of its current 65,000 workforce across the world, it makes sense to put up a state-of-the-art command center in the Philippines to monitor and manage huge call volumes.

The command center uses advanced proprietary technology to route calls with spare capacity among different locations in the Philippines and in its other global facilities. There are two other command centers in Cincinnati, Ohio and India.

“The journey to the Philippines with Convergys and success of the Convergys team is a great testament to the partnership between the Filipino people, the government and our company,” Fox said.

Currently, the operations of Convergys in the Philippines support 28 clients in industries such as technology, health care, communication, online retail, consumer finance, and online payments.

Just as the San Lazaro facility will be generating about 2,400 jobs, Convergys is also expanding in five of its 12 sites. The company announced recently that additional jobs expected to be generated in these five sites will reach about 3,600 by yearend.

“We are very happy with the talents that we have here and we will continue hiring thousands of people every month,” Ayers said, noting that in Manila alone, Convergys is being supported by 35 colleges and universities.

The three biggest schools to have provided manpower to the facility are the University of Santo Tomas, Far Eastern University, and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.

Convergys executives disclosed that the company is also looking at the next wave cities for possible expansion in the years to come.

nope! we still have a long way to go to catch up the size of India's outsourcing industry. :D

because Indians have a faster learning curve...

There are 1 billion Indians as opposed to 100 million Filipinos... And not all BPO apps are in the voice industry.

right, if you will check the nation population to bpo population of india and philippines,you will see that philippines will have higher percentage of BPO employee than India.

Right now, the Philippines has the edge over the Indians in voice and customer service programs but that will be wiped out soon. In just one generation you will have Indians who will speak English without the funny sing-song accent, plus also the Chinese who will be able to speak non-halting English as well. Our Education department has to wake up to get the current batch of high school students on the right track to speak PROPER English, and get rid of the traces of Jejemonism (which is fatal to communications for BPOs).

As for the Indians and their learning curve, you will realize that 1 percent, population wise, already account for 10 million people (which is 10 percent for the Pinoys). The application success rate for college grads to the BPO/call center industry here is 3-5% (only 3-5 out of 100 applicants get accepted to a call center). Now they can lower their criteria and accept 5-10% of applicants, but I will tell you that the customer satisfaction scores will suffer greatly just by moving to the next 5% from the top of the ladder.

Now compare that with say the top 1-3% of Indian college graduates (about 20 lakh or 2 million graduate annually) and you'll get numbers in the tens of thousands, far better than the 3-5% of about 400,000 college graduates in the Philippines. If they improve their communication skills and we don't, then we will lose out our competitive edge even in the areas we normally excel at (voice and customer service).

Why do I say that if the gov't. doesn't do anything drastic with our education we will ultimately lose out? Take this simple statistic...India spends more than 4% of its GDP for education while the Philippines spends only 2.1% of GDP, down from 2.5% in 2001 and 3.2% in 1997 (Manasan study at Philippine Institute of Development Studies).

Right now, the Philippines has the edge over the Indians in voice and customer service programs but that will be wiped out soon. In just one generation you will have Indians who will speak English without the funny sing-song accent, plus also the Chinese who will be able to speak non-halting English as well. Our Education department has to wake up to get the current batch of high school students on the right track to speak PROPER English, and get rid of the traces of Jejemonism (which is fatal to communications for BPOs).

As for the Indians and their learning curve, you will realize that 1 percent, population wise, already account for 10 million people (which is 10 percent for the Pinoys). The application success rate for college grads to the BPO/call center industry here is 3-5% (only 3-5 out of 100 applicants get accepted to a call center). Now they can lower their criteria and accept 5-10% of applicants, but I will tell you that the customer satisfaction scores will suffer greatly just by moving to the next 5% from the top of the ladder.

Now compare that with say the top 1-3% of Indian college graduates (about 20 lakh or 2 million graduate annually) and you'll get numbers in the tens of thousands, far better than the 3-5% of about 400,000 college graduates in the Philippines. If they improve their communication skills and we don't, then we will lose out our competitive edge even in the areas we normally excel at (voice and customer service).

Why do I say that if the gov't. doesn't do anything drastic with our education we will ultimately lose out? Take this simple statistic...India spends more than 4% of its GDP for education while the Philippines spends only 2.1% of GDP, down from 2.5% in 2001 and 3.2% in 1997 (Manasan study at Philippine Institute of Development Studies).

Have you watched the 2006 movie Outsourced (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourced)?

Have you watched the 2006 movie Outsourced (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourced)?

Now that you ask, I'd say no. But I know this scenario first hand and vicariously.

However, upon reading about the synopsis, the parallelisms to one of my previous jobs are there. Having dealt with both Indians and Americans in the call center industry, I've seen how my staff were affected when more than 30 of them one day woke up to have no work routed their way but to India instead (the client gave one day notice).

Now going back to the 2006 movie, it's obvious that the culture shock would be greatest with the protagonist, having to travel halfway around the world to a culture he probably never saw up close until that trip. When one gets lonely in a foreign land after coming from a personal crisis, anything goes. So I'm not surprised with the sob story of the lead character, I've seen many smaller versions of this with call center staff who had to uproot themselves from their provinces, separate from loved ones, etc. etc. Working in the call center industry is like being immersed in a real life soap story before your very eyes. Good thing I wasn't affected in the way it affected the others, the only real threat I saw was deterioration of health due to the odd hours and stress.

As an educator, I see that the Philippines is not keeping up its competitive advantage. Sure, I hear stories from schoolkids that their parents would always tell them "study hard so that one day you will get a good job and not wallow in financial challenges like us", but then, these parents somehow lack a grasp of what globalization is. They never were exposed to such in their childhood. In the 50s-70s, there was a thriving Philippine manufacturing sector, both local and multinational companies. Now, the local manufacturing companies are losing their competitiveness (when did you last see a "Made in the Philippines" tag etched on durable goods ... exception of course are food and clothes) to countries like India, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh? Even among these countries mentioned, the competition is tough...I remember having Nike shoes many years ago that were "Made in the USA", then "Made in Korea", then "Made in the Philippines", then "Made in China", "Made in Vietnam", etc. Companies will continue to look for the cheapest place for labor and manufacturing costs...sad to say, that is no longer the Philippines.

The same thing will happen with BPO and call center work...countries will eventually move from here to China or even Vietnam in a generation or two when the kids being born this decade start working. So the Philippines has to reposition itself from plain BPO work to KPO work or anything where we have a competitive edge...but with the sorry state of our educational system, this eventually will pass:ohno:

^^Philippines will remain a top BPO in the entire world...:):cheers:

^^Philippines will remain a top BPO in the entire world...:):cheers:

Yes, if the recommendations on improving education, infrastructure and keeping down the costs of doing business are followed.

Otherwise, I'm willing to bet with you ten years from now that if none of these are followed, we'll be falling behind China not only in terms of total revenues (right now the Philippines accounts for USD 9 billion annually), but even in other key performance indicators used by call centers.

And the Philippines should watch out for African countries who have English as one of their official languages. I know of a call center in Ghana where Filipinos have already started taking on managerial posts and are training the locals (Ghanians) to service the UK market.

We should also encourage students to take European languages as majors in college. The demand for Spanish and French speaking bilingual agents is great a number of BPOs/call centers here in the Philippines have to resort to hiring foreigners to keep up with the demand.

The 25 Safest Cities for Offshore Outsourcing in 2010
1.Prague, Czech Republic
2.Warsaw, Poland
3.Brno, Czech Republic
4.Krakow, Poland
5.Toronto, Canada
6.Halifax, Canada
7.Singapore, Singapore
8.Dublin, Ireland
9.Kiev, Ukraine
10.Chennai, India
11.Pune, India
12.Wuxi, China
13.Monterrey, Mexico
14.Sao Paolo, Brazil
15.Bangalore, India
16.Beijing, China
17.Santiago, Chile
18.Brasilia, Brazil
19.Mumbai, India
20.Dalian, China
21.Chandigarh, India
22.Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
23.Cebu City, Philippines
24.Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
25.Kolkata, India
http://www.bpoindia.org/knowledgeBase/25-safest-cities-for-offshore-outsourcing-in-2010.shtml
Source: Black Book Of Outsourcing

The 25 Safest Cities for Offshore Outsourcing in 2010
1.Prague, Czech Republic
2.Warsaw, Poland
3.Brno, Czech Republic
4.Krakow, Poland
5.Toronto, Canada
6.Halifax, Canada
7.Singapore, Singapore
8.Dublin, Ireland
9.Kiev, Ukraine
10.Chennai, India
11.Pune, India
12.Wuxi, China
13.Monterrey, Mexico
14.Sao Paolo, Brazil
15.Bangalore, India
16.Beijing, China
17.Santiago, Chile
18.Brasilia, Brazil
19.Mumbai, India
20.Dalian, China
21.Chandigarh, India
22.Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
23.Cebu City, Philippines
24.Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
25.Kolkata, India
http://www.bpoindia.org/knowledgeBase/25-safest-cities-for-offshore-outsourcing-in-2010.shtml
Source: Black Book Of Outsourcing

Cebuanos speak good english accent

Cebuanos speak good english accent

^^ do you mean like "British accent?"




:horse:

^^ do you mean like "British accent?"




:horse:

walang sykel, buckel and singel sa bisaya. is that what theyre teaching in up, ust at ateneo :lol::lol::lol:

Congrats Cebu...

Cebuanos speak good english accent

I agree with this. In addition, other Visayans speak with good accents, especially the Ilonggos:)

^^ do you mean like "British accent?"

:horse:

walang sykel, buckel and singel sa bisaya. is that what theyre teaching in up, ust at ateneo :lol::lol::lol:

I've had the privilege of studying at those schools you've mentioned (except UST), and the answer is...these [sic] "words" are expected to be known already by the students when they enter college, otherwise, they shouldn't even have passed the NCEE/PCEE or UPCAT or other college exams.:lol:

I know you're from Cebu, but I'm sure you'll agree with me that it's the training and background of the person (not the origin or region) that determines their ability to communicate.

Cebu call center agents are among the best in terms of neutral English accent. In one of my former jobs I oversaw hundreds of agents in Manila and Cebu, and believe me, once the English conversations started going, you could hardly determine what city or region the agent was based in. It's another story when it comes to speaking Tagalog though, but that's beside the point.

The agents in major call centers would not have made it beyond Communications training if they did not have the proper pronunciation, good fluency and mental aptitude for such demanding tasks. Now then again, call centers are of different calibers which becomes a problem when say AT&T outsources to over half a dozen call centers in the Philippines (plus far more in other countries, including India), and they all are representing the same company even though their methods and styles differ.

And one thing I strongly believe in ... good communication skills starts at home and continues on through grade school up to high school. By college it might be a different story already (but of course there are exceptions). So if you try to create an Eliza Doolittle out of someone who's never spoken English except for usual "Hi Joe", forget it. You'll just get frustrated.

Employers still cautious; online job growth slower

GROWTH in online job postings slowed in August from a year ago, still reflecting cautious employer sentiment.

The Job Availability Index’s statistical measure of monthly job placements at Jobstreet.com rose by 17.8% last month, slower than August 2009’s 78.6%.

A total of 21,189 job vacancies in 2,117 companies were announced online, higher than the 17,992 posted jobs during the same period last year, data from Jobstreet.com showed.

Growth in online job ads was dragged by the service sector, where job vacancies only rose by 14.1% to 18,802, a significant slowdown from last year’s 110.3%.

Companies in the service sector accounted for nearly 90% of total jobs posted on the Internet.

“I believe that the year-on-year slowdown is a consequence of the tremendous increase last year. In other words, there is a base effect,” said Cid L. Terosa, senior economist at the University of Asia and the Pacific.

Rene E. Ofreneo, professor at the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations, said the August results reflected the labor market’s wait-and-see attitude.

“The slowdown is an indication [that business environment] has become timid,” he said in a telephone interview.

Job opportunities in the service sector continued to be dominated by business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, which reported significantly increased vacancies at 6,812, a record.

“It (BPO postings) confirms our many surveys which say that almost all BPOs plan to expand at a faster rate this year than last [year],” said Gillian Joyce G. Virata, executive director for information and research of the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPA/P).

Job opportunities were significant in the industry sector which, heavily influenced by electricity, gas and water, construction and manufacturing firms, needed 75.8% more workers in August.

“[There is] continued recovery in the industrial economic zones especially in eletronics and auto parts,” said Mr. Ofreneo.

Mr. Terosa meanwhile said: “The growth in the industrial and service sectors reflects the upbeat mood in these sectors as regards future economic and business prospects.”

Only agriculture was lackluster, with available jobs in this sector falling by 41.2% year on year, according to Jobstreet data.

“Agriculture posted a loss of 41.2% because of the lingering effects of the slowdown in the sector caused by El Niño,” Mr. Terosa said.

Mr. Ofreneo echoed the view, saying that “[the result] is an indication that there’s a problem in agricultural sector.”

Vicente Leogardo, director-general of Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECoP), said growth in job availability was not consistent with the stronger-than-expected 7.9% economic growth in the first half.

“The number of jobs created as compared with the net increase in labor force is much lower,” Mr. Leogrado said.

“The economy is supposed to be growing,” he added.

Despite the modest annual numbers, last month’s 17.8% growth in jobs available was a turnaround from July’s 0.1% slump, which should point to favorable employment prospects, labor experts said.

“[The turnaround from July] reflects the positive outlook of businesses in the coming months,” Mr. Terosa said. -- Karen Joyce Q. Ang
|

http://www.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=17876

Yes, if the recommendations on improving education, infrastructure and keeping down the costs of doing business are followed.

Otherwise, I'm willing to bet with you ten years from now that if none of these are followed, we'll be falling behind China not only in terms of total revenues (right now the Philippines accounts for USD 9 billion annually), but even in other key performance indicators used by call centers.

And the Philippines should watch out for African countries who have English as one of their official languages. I know of a call center in Ghana where Filipinos have already started taking on managerial posts and are training the locals (Ghanians) to service the UK market.

We should also encourage students to take European languages as majors in college. The demand for Spanish and French speaking bilingual agents is great a number of BPOs/call centers here in the Philippines have to resort to hiring foreigners to keep up with the demand.

Nagsisimula na po yan Sir...:) I am very optimistic about it...:cheers:

We should also encourage students to take European languages as majors in college. The demand for Spanish and French speaking bilingual agents is great a number of BPOs/call centers here in the Philippines have to resort to hiring foreigners to keep up with the demand.

i'm interested in studying the french language. i find it cerebral and sexy at the same time. morely, i like the language's nuances in the use of the letter "L", the subtle dropping of some letter sounds and its rhythm.

^^ I studied for a bit in Alliance Francaise...

i'm interested in studying the french language. i find it cerebral and sexy at the same time. morely, i like the language's nuances in the use of the letter "L", the subtle dropping of some letter sounds and its rhythm.
If I had the opportunity to master foreign languages, I'd do them in this order:

1. Mandarin - not as practical in the Philippines compared to Fookien, but very useful in most parts of the world where there is a Chinatown. Practically the only language spoken in the hinterlands of China, plus their major cities as well

2. Spanish - most useful south of the border of the United States all the way down to Ushuaia, as well as the Iberian peninsula

3. French - aside from France, useful in Quebec and the western part of Africa

4. Hindi - Indians are becoming a major economic power. I am seeing more of the intellectual kind here in Metro Manila, mostly in business suits or long sleeves and ties, at the least. Prior to that most of them were in shirts that weren't tucked in, slippers, a turban or so, and usually on motorcycles:lol:

5. Arabic - widely spoken in the Moslem world

The others would be Japanese, Korean, German, Portugeuse, and the languages of the colonial powers of the 19-20th century...

Skilled graduates needed to fill BPO seats

Business process outsourcing (BPO) firms that offer high-end services are finding it hard to fill worker requirements, with only one out 10 applicants able to pass the application process, the head of WNS Philippines said.

Keshav R. Murugesh, group chief executive officer of BPO firm WNS Philippines Inc., told reporters in a briefing on Friday the employability rate in the country needs to be improved.

"In our case, we get only one out of 10 applicants," he said.

Mr. Murugesh said his office has been closely coordinating with the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) to conduct training and special courses.

"However, the challenge is to produce skilled graduates who are employable once they apply for the job. It should be that when there are 10 applicants, all 10 get accepted," he said.

Martin Crisostomo, BPAP executive director for external affairs, told BusinessWorld in a telephone interview yesterday his office has been closely coordinating with BPO companies and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to conduct training for employees.

"Our main problem is the scarcity of funds. The annual budget for talent development programs for BPO workers is just P350 million. We hope the current administration will give the same budget or hopefully higher to support TESDA and BPAP’s projects," he said.

WNS Philippines has 1,200 employees in the Philippines at its work sites in Cubao and Libis in Quezon City.

"We are expanding our seat capacity by the end of the month. The expansion will have 300 more seats. We have started to recruit for the expansion. Our delivery center in Manila has expanded operations to offer a range of services including finance and accounting and analytics," Mr. Murugesh said.

He added: "The Philippines was an obvious choice as a delivery center for WNS as it provides us access to a large pool of talent especially voice-based. There are 350,000 college graduates from various universities who graduate every year and 65,000 chartered accountants who pass the board exams."

The company began operations in the country in 2008. It has offices in Costa Rica, Romania, Sri Lanka, India and United Kingdom. WNS said it has 22,000 employees worldwide.

"We will be spending $20 million for our capital expenditure this year for global operations. A decent part of that amount will go to the Philippines to improve facilities and enhance our talent pool," Mr. Murugesh said.

He said the company’s clients come from the finance, telecommunications, travel and leisure, retail and shipping industries in Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan. -- A. M. P. Dagcutan
|

http://www.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=17957

^^ I studied for a bit in Alliance Francaise...

good for you!:)

If I had the opportunity to master foreign languages, I'd do them in this order:

1. Mandarin - not as practical in the Philippines compared to Fookien, but very useful in most parts of the world where there is a Chinatown. Practically the only language spoken in the hinterlands of China, plus their major cities as well

2. Spanish - most useful south of the border of the United States all the way down to Ushuaia, as well as the Iberian peninsula

3. French - aside from France, useful in Quebec and the western part of Africa

4. Hindi - Indians are becoming a major economic power. I am seeing more of the intellectual kind here in Metro Manila, mostly in business suits or long sleeves and ties, at the least. Prior to that most of them were in shirts that weren't tucked in, slippers, a turban or so, and usually on motorcycles:lol:

5. Arabic - widely spoken in the Moslem world

The others would be Japanese, Korean, German, Portugeuse, and the languages of the colonial powers of the 19-20th century...

my other reasons for wanting to study the language would be the following:

1.) except for english, french is perhaps the most widely used official language in many UN and sports organizations. FIBA, FIFA, FIDE, among others.

2.) it's the language of high culture: from fashion to food.

3.) when i encounter french being translated to english, the profound emphasis on things seemingly mundane is evident.

4.) for something else, hehehe

voice is practially low value. The Philippines' need to focus more on IT and R & D. This is KPO or knowledge process outsourcing. We also need to produce our own car brand and export it to the world.

Philippine BPO Company Among Top 100

By EMMIE V. ABADILLA
September 18, 2010, 9:13pm

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine-based SPi Global, a leading global provider of Knowledge Process and Customer Relationship Management outsourcing services, has been selected to be among the Top 100 companies in the 2010 Global Services 100 list. SPi Global has also been named in two sub categories ¬ Top BPO Vendors and Top Industry-Specific BPO Vendors.

The GS100 is a benchmark in the global ITO and BPO industry because of its rigorous selection process, exhaustive coverage, and value to the server buyer community.

The 2010 GS100 List was conducted by Global Services in association with NeoAdvisory, a globalization and sourcing advisory firm. The GS100 assessment methodology includes management excellence, customer maturity, global delivery maturity, and breadth of services and portfolio. The survey recognizes service provider excellence and maturity to serve the global market.

“This is the fifth consecutive year that SPi Global has been acknowledged as one of the top BPO service providers. We are the only Philippine-based company that has been included in the GS 100 list, and this is a testament to our vision to be the premier Filipino-owned company in the league of the biggest and most renowned foreign-owned outsourcing companies in the world,” says Maulik Parekh, president and CEO.

Founded in 1980, SPi Global was one of the first BPO firms in the world offering content outsourcing services to Fortune 500 companies.



http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/277801/philippine-bpo-company-among-top-100

ICT department crucial for BPO’s ‘next-wave cities’

Written by Jennifer A. Ng / Reporter
Saturday, 18 September 2010 10:06

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The creation of a government agency that will focus on issues concerning the business process outsourcing (BPO) in the country is crucial to ensure areas outside of Metro Manila fully realize their “next-wave cities” status.

“We believe that the Department of Information and Communications Technology [DICT] is one department that we really need right now. Currently, there is no agency that is on top of these things,” Elpidio M. Paras, vice president of the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. (Oro Chamber), told reporters at the sidelines of the opening of the 19th Mindanao Business Conference here on Thursday.

Paras, who is also president of the Philippine Cable Television Association Inc. (PCTA), noted that while the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) oversees the ICT [information and communications technology] sector, it is not solely focused on the sector as it also has to deal with other issues concerning transportation in the country.

“We’re going to be left behind by other countries if we don’t create a department that is dedicated to tackle the issues concerning ICT. This is the information age and technology is moving faster than regulation,” he said.

With a DICT in place, Paras believes that cities and municipalities like this city will be able to fully take advantage of its “next wave city” status.

Recently, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) and the Department of Trade and Industry recognized this city as one of the Top 10 BPO locations in the Philippines.

Paras disclosed that at least one locator may invest in Cagayan de Oro City in “one or two years.”

“Ayala Land is putting up a building and part of it is an area for BPO. The fact that they’re building it means they already have a client,” he said.

Last year, figures from BPAP showed that the revenue of the BPO industry in the Philippines grew by 19 percent to $7.22 billion.

BPAP noted that over 70,000 new jobs in the BPO sector were created last year. The total number of employees in the IT-BPO sector was pegged at 442,164 or 19-percent higher over the 2008 level.


http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/1430-ict-department-crucial-for-bpos-next-wave-cities

The 25 Safest Cities for Offshore Outsourcing in 2010
1.Prague, Czech Republic
2.Warsaw, Poland
3.Brno, Czech Republic
4.Krakow, Poland
5.Toronto, Canada
6.Halifax, Canada
7.Singapore, Singapore
8.Dublin, Ireland
9.Kiev, Ukraine
10.Chennai, India
11.Pune, India
12.Wuxi, China
13.Monterrey, Mexico
14.Sao Paolo, Brazil
15.Bangalore, India
16.Beijing, China
17.Santiago, Chile
18.Brasilia, Brazil
19.Mumbai, India
20.Dalian, China
21.Chandigarh, India
22.Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
23.Cebu City, Philippines
24.Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
25.Kolkata, India
http://www.bpoindia.org/knowledgeBase/25-safest-cities-for-offshore-outsourcing-in-2010.shtml
Source: Black Book Of Outsourcing

Thanks for posting sir! Congrats to Cebu! :cheers:

I know you're from Cebu, but I'm sure you'll agree with me that it's the training and background of the person (not the origin or region) that determines their ability to communicate.

Cebu call center agents are among the best in terms of neutral English accent. In one of my former jobs I oversaw hundreds of agents in Manila and Cebu, and believe me, once the English conversations started going, you could hardly determine what city or region the agent was based in. It's another story when it comes to speaking Tagalog though, but that's beside the point.

Yes! I agree that a person's ability to speak the language comes from his/her training and education and not exactly where he/she comes from! and I am glad that all 10 universities in Cebu and its numerous colleges offer extensive and quality english training programs to ensure that their graduates are highly competent and globally competitive. :cheers:

Philippine BPO Company Among Top 100

By EMMIE V. ABADILLA
September 18, 2010, 9:13pm

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine-based SPi Global, a leading global provider of Knowledge Process and Customer Relationship Management outsourcing services, has been selected to be among the Top 100 companies in the 2010 Global Services 100 list. SPi Global has also been named in two sub categories ¬ Top BPO Vendors and Top Industry-Specific BPO Vendors.

The GS100 is a benchmark in the global ITO and BPO industry because of its rigorous selection process, exhaustive coverage, and value to the server buyer community.

The 2010 GS100 List was conducted by Global Services in association with NeoAdvisory, a globalization and sourcing advisory firm. The GS100 assessment methodology includes management excellence, customer maturity, global delivery maturity, and breadth of services and portfolio. The survey recognizes service provider excellence and maturity to serve the global market.

“This is the fifth consecutive year that SPi Global has been acknowledged as one of the top BPO service providers. We are the only Philippine-based company that has been included in the GS 100 list, and this is a testament to our vision to be the premier Filipino-owned company in the league of the biggest and most renowned foreign-owned outsourcing companies in the world,” says Maulik Parekh, president and CEO.

Founded in 1980, SPi Global was one of the first BPO firms in the world offering content outsourcing services to Fortune 500 companies.



http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/277801/philippine-bpo-company-among-top-100

So Proud of my company...:cheers:

Thanks for posting sir! Congrats to Cebu! :cheers:



Yes! I agree that a person's ability to speak the language comes from his/her training and education and not exactly where he/she comes from! and I am glad that all 10 universities in Cebu and its numerous colleges offer extensive and quality english training programs to ensure that their graduates are highly competent and globally competitive. :cheers:

the cebuanos and other bisaya speaking provinces prefer to communicate in english rather than in pilipino especially in high school and college which is an advantage. i hope the dept. of ed will focus on the use of mother tongue and english only plus the teaching of other foreign languages such as spanish, french, chinese, niponggo, german, rusian, and arabic. that may sound unpatriotic but thats just the norm downsouth except for one province who is emulating ncr when they talk.

voice is practially low value. The Philippines' need to focus more on IT and R & D. This is KPO or knowledge process outsourcing. We also need to produce our own car brand and export it to the world.

we have a respectable number of IT and KPO platforms in the country. we do have a profound lack of R & D set-up.

voice is practially low value. The Philippines' need to focus more on IT and R & D. This is KPO or knowledge process outsourcing. We also need to produce our own car brand and export it to the world.

Agree with you on the first three sentences. The second sentence is probably the reason why we haven't really gone beyond developing new and innovative products, such as cars. Look at the budget of the DOST and you'll see why our scientists are frustrated and would rather move abroad.

KPOs are a promising area for Filipinos. I hope more and more KPO organizations will set up shop here.

As for producing our own car brands, it seems to me it is only the jeepney segment that we are successful in. And that is for domestic consumption, not for export. Sure, we have assembly plants for foreign car brands here in the Philippines, and Ford exports the Focus to countries worldwide. But that's more the exception than the rule. Much of the assembly/manufacturing process here in the country are remnants of the more established Japanese brands from more than 20 years ago. Good thing Honda put up a plant in Laguna so that has helped the local economy a great deal.

But as for our own Filipino car brand, I think we will have major issues with quality just like the Chinese car brands (Chery, Geely, Chana, etc.). Even the Chinese car brands don't sell that well in the Philippines. The technology nowadays is too expensive to do research on our own so we're better off doing assembly line work for the major Japanese brands.

^^ But how about adopting those technologies? AFAIK there are even Chinese trucks that adopt Japanese technology.

^^ But how about adopting those technologies? AFAIK there are even Chinese trucks that adopt Japanese technology.

There is a difference between manufacturing on behalf of Japanese or American technology (e.g. Buick factory in China, now there are at least 8 GM vehicle plants in China) vs. adopting Japanese or Korean technology and making near clones of the vehicles (e.g. Chery, Geely, Chana, etc.).

Take a look at the Chery QQ - it is a cheap imitation of the Chevy Spark. Even other Chery models are imitations of other well known Japanese models. But then look at how the Philippine automotive market has responded...Chery hasn't really gotten a significant slice of the automotive market.

Of course, the Philippines is just a small market so the Chinese manufacturers don't really care about us ... what they are interested in is their own (Chinese) market, now the fastest growing vehicle market in the world.

^ there appears to be some kind of cartel or protectionism occuring in the Philippine car industry. The Philippines manufacture car parts for export, it also produces cars under foreign brands, but does not have its own brand. Which is somewhat dodgy and suspicious. It also tax cars too high that it is almost impossible for an average Filipino to be able to afford it.

Also, you may not be aware, but design and reverse engineering of semiconductor chips (not just manufacturing), under some Japanese brands are being done in the Philippines since 20 years ago up to now. The Philippines has the capability to become like a South Korea if only it wants to. It is like an employee working for a master or boss when it can actually go on its own.

^^ I agree so much on the second paragraph!!

In the last few decades, Filipino design engineers has contributed so much in the electronic Industry.. if we could just capitalize those talents for our own interest instead for other countries.. we might as well be the next South Korea..

God Bless Mr. AYALA for being one of the few in the Philippines who supports R&D in the country. :D

^ there appears to be some kind of cartel or protectionism occuring in the Philippine car industry. The Philippines manufacture car parts for export, it also produces cars under foreign brands, but does not have its own brand. Which is somewhat dodgy and suspicious. It also tax cars too high that it is almost impossible for an average Filipino to be able to afford it.

Also, you may not be aware, but design and reverse engineering of semiconductor chips (not just manufacturing), under some Japanese brands are being done in the Philippines since 20 years ago up to now. The Philippines has the capability to become like a South Korea if only it wants to. It is like an employee working for a master or boss when it can actually go on its own.

I also agree on the second post. Para lang tayong mga tauhan na ayaw ng pagbabago. :ohno:

Also, you may not be aware, but design and reverse engineering of semiconductor chips (not just manufacturing), under some Japanese brands are being done in the Philippines since 20 years ago up to now. The Philippines has the capability to become like a South Korea if only it wants to. It is like an employee working for a master or boss when it can actually go on its own.

reverse enginnering is something china does very well. i didn't know that we have such capabilities in place for years now. the brick and mortar economy (manufacturing) is something the philippines admittedly, will have difficulty in firmly establishing for a number of reasons. one of them woulld be a still predominantly feudal or semi-feudal economic set-up. a third world brand of politics where political and economic focus is geared towards winning the next elections rather than spending a good part of their pork barrel on R&D (R%D spending won't add to their political pogi points).

reverse engineering, coupled with a determined national policy of economic and developmental leapfrogging via transfer of technology and productive knowledge could help us to somewhat close the technological gap with advanced nations. the purpose definitely of that reverse engineering and transfer of economically profitable theoritical and applied knowledge is to achieve relative technological and developmental parity with other nations without being too costly about it. but here lies tghe dead end. government priorities are geared toward something else obviously.

to make our own national car into a succesful venture, two important things maybe considered.

1.) it should be cheap enough to create a sizable and consistent local demand first.

2.) it should be technologically feasible enough which is consistent with the expectations of a contemporary car for the filipino car buyer to actually want to buy it.

from there, we could consider exporting the product. but creating a good local demand first is actually more important.

to make all these things still relevant to this thread, our nation has already made huge inroads in the global and domestic aspects of the service economy via the BPO industry. voice or non-voice, you can't argue with success. an industry revenue of $9B in a span of 12 months is proof of effective threesome between and among policy, talent, and private enterprise initiatives. admittedly, we do need to diversify the strengths of this sector to be able to compete more effectively against up and coming outsourcing nations. what we are sorely lacking in is effective national policy and priority for the development and advancement of our manufacturing economy. given the right priority and of course, budget, R&D and reverse engineering could help the sector.

Posted on 08:26 PM, September 19, 2010

Firm to build IT building in Cebu City

ANOTHER building qualified to house information technology (IT) firms that are eligible for tax perks is set to rise in Cebu City by 2011, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said in a statement on Friday.

Filipino-owned Skyrise Realty & Development Corp. (SRDC) will be investing P105.171 million to construct “Skyrise 4,” the latest addition to its three facilities which already host 10 PEZA-registered firms at the Asia Town IT Park.

The new development is expected to meet the “demand for office space in the area which are still growing [and] exceeding that which SRDC’s facilities can actually provide,” PEZA said.

Sixty firms have set up shop at the IT park including Convergys Philippines Services Corp. and JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A.’s Philippine customer care center, data from the PEZA Web site showed.

IT park locators across the country have so far enjoyed robust sales growth, with revenues in the first semester rising by roughly a fifth to $2.044 billion from year-ago levels, according to earlier reports.

The new building will occupy a 1,491-square-meter lot, PEZA said without elaborating on the size of the planned facility. Construction starts this month.


http://www.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=17993

reverse enginnering is something china does very well. i didn't know that we have such capabilities in place for years now.

yes we do. I know because I have worked on one. :lol:

The japanese are very organized and efficient. Everything we need at work are cleanly organized and compiled in index cards. Very easy and quick to access the information. They follow something called 5S.

yes we do. I know because I have worked on one. :lol:

The japanese are very organized and efficient. Everything we need at work are cleanly organized and compiled in index cards. Very easy and quick to access the information. They follow something called 5S.

Correction, if I may. It's called "KANBAN" - a card containing a set of manufacturing specifications and requirements, used to regulate the supply of components; a coordinated manufacturing system using such cards.
It's basically how they implement the "just-in-time" concept in production.

The 5S of the Japanese is a Manufacturing Model around the world.
I had the 5S training here in Canada. lol

Correction, if I may. It's called "KANBAN" - a card containing a set of manufacturing specifications and requirements, used to regulate the supply of components; a coordinated manufacturing system using such cards.
It's basically how they implement the "just-in-time" concept in production.

if i'm not mistaken, that "just-in-time" delivery model for supply components to assemble parts was pioneered by the japanese manufacturing sector in the 1980s. the purpose of which is to prevent an oversupply of component parts thereby preventing unnecessary production costs inventories.

if i'm not mistaken, that "just-in-time" delivery model for supply components to assemble parts was pioneered by the japanese manufacturing sector in the 1980s. the purpose of which is to prevent an oversupply of component parts thereby preventing unnecessary production costs inventories.

Very correct! Kanban operates on a "pull" concept; i.e. the materials are made/ delivered when needed, not too many/ not too few as well as being delivered on time! JIT was pionered by Taiichi Ohno in Japan at the Toyota car assembly plants in the early 1970s.
OTOH, 5S is a way of arranging things so that everything is in its right place, thereby saving storage space and ease in locating parts/ supplies. This 5S also evolved into 6S with additional emphasis on safety (the 6th of the S's)!

Eton to put up another BPO building in QC
abs-cbnNEWS.com
Posted at 09/22/2010 5:24 PM | Updated as of 09/22/2010 5:27 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Eton Properties Philippines Inc. will start the construction of another office building in Quezon City in October to cater to strong market demand.

Danilo Ignacio, president and chief operating officer of the Lucio Tan-led property developer, said the 12-storey project within Eton Centris will have 18,000 square meters of leasable space. It will be completed by the fourth quarter of 2011.

"We have a very strong BPO (business process outsourcing) market this year," said Ignacio.

"Our existing tenants have expressed interest to expand in the new building," he added.

Eton currently has two office buildings, one in Eton Centris and another in Eton Cyberpod Corinthian in Ortigas, which are already leased out.

Ignacio said the company is "studying" a plan to construct another office building in Eton City, its largest mixed-use development located in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Eton earlier posted earnings of P385 million in the first half, almost ten times the P40 million it booked a year ago, owing to higher residential sales.

The 3-year-old company has launched a total of 30 projects since the start of its operations.

BPO Expands RP Facility Into Its Asia-Pacific Hub

By EMMIE V. ABADILLA
September 21, 2010, 7:59pm

MANILA, Philippines – WNS (Holdings) Limited, a leading provider of global business process outsourcing services, is expanding its operations in Manila by over 300 seats and making the country its Asia Pacific hub for voice and data services for clients in the banking and financial services sector, announced Keshav Murugesh, Group CEO, WNS Global Services during his visit to the WNS Philippines center last Friday.

“Considering the quality of talent available in the country and the demand for our services, we believe that 10 percent of WNS’ workforce could be based in the Philippines over the next few years,” he elaborated. “WNS’ delivery center in Manila began by offering contact center services to global clients across various industries in 2008 and has now expanded operations to offer a range of services, including finance and accounting and analytics.”

“We are extremely committed to growing our delivery centers in the Philippines and have increased our capacity by 300 seats to cater to the growing demand. We are excited with the quality of talent in this country and the ability to deliver superior services to our customers from this region,” Prabakhar Bisen, CEO of WNS Philippines, added.

“The Philippines was an obvious choice as a delivery center for WNS as it provides us access to a large pool of high-quality talent, specially voice-based. 350,000 college graduates pass out from various universities in the Philippines every year, and 65,000 chartered accountants clear the Board,” Murugesh went on.

“The Philippines has also been recognized as the third largest English-speaking nation in the world with a high literacy rate of 94%,” he underscored.

WNS, a leading global business process outsourcing company, also operates international sites in Costa Rica, Romania, Sri Lanka, India and U.K.

http://www.mb.com.ph/node/278299/bpo-expand

Manage clients’ online image, call centers told

CONTACT centers should use social networking tools as a “customer engagement strategy” as more people are resorting to the Internet to complain about services real-time, experts said.

Nitin Bhat, partner at Frost & Sullivan, told the Customer Contact 2010 conference yesterday customers are using multiple channels of communication to express their concerns. “Contact centers should be able to monitor all these channels and capture the voice of the customer. Companies should redesign their processes and corporate objectives,” he said.

Sandra De Zoysa, group senior vice-president for service delivery and enterprise of Contact Management Dialog in Sri Lanka, said contact centers should focus on “customers of the future,” or those aged 30 years old and below.

“[Half] of the population worldwide is under 30 years old. Social media is a great equalizer. These tools had demonstrated influence. This area is the most vulnerable as comments and feedback posted on these tools can influence peer decisions,” she said.

Some companies are starting to implement “online reputation management,” she noted.

“[Contact center] agents should engage themselves in such medium and study the products and services of their companies very well,” she added.

Rob Delnoij, director at SAP Asia Pacific, Japan and India, said: “It is more democratic now. Customers can freely post their thoughts about a product they bought or a service they just had.”

Rosario Cajucom-Bradbury, managing director of SGS Philippines, Inc., said customer management through social networking is the new trend. “When you say social networking, it’s not just Twitter and Facebook. We are implementing such tools through our corporate and technical teams. It is a vast segment of delivering quality customer service,” she said. -- Aura Marie P. Dagcutan

http://www.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=18221

RP moves up in value chain in BPO sector

Written by Max V. de Leon / Reporter
Thursday, 23 September 2010 13:18

THE Philippines is moving up the value chain in the contact-center industry as the country is expected to capture more business in the high-end or premium voice segment owing to the innate talent and English-language capability of Filipino Agents, according to Indian business process outsourcing firm WNS Global Services.

Keshav Murugesh, group CEO of WNS Global Services, said the premium voice segment relates to some of the work it is doing for clients mostly in the banking and insurance industry, where the associates deal with complex transactions or provide advisory service to the customers.

“These are inbound unscripted calls and require the associate to have deep domain knowledge, as well as decision-making skills. We already provide such services to our clients from other WNS centers and are building these capabilities in the Philippines too,” he told the BusinessMirror.

This means better pay for the Filipino agents as Murugesh said the salaries for such work are differentiated through higher skill allowances and performance incentives.

To prepare for this, Murugesh said WNS will be using a mixed approach to build the capabilities and skills for this segment.

“While we are tying up with some schools locally to provide students with relevant industry training, the focus is on [honing the skills of] the associates further internally and [transitioning] the associates to such complex voice programs as they move up the learning curve,” Murugesh said.

The premium voice segment, he said, is important for clients who want to give their customers a fantastic experience beginning from the phone call.

“We expect the premium service in the voice side to shift to the Philippines,” he said.

WNS currently has about 1,200 agents in the country and has just inaugurated its new 300-seat facility in Eastwood City, Libis, Quezon City. It is looking for another site to host its next 500-seat expansion. About 80 percent of its current Philippine operations is in the voice segment.

WNS also has facilities in India, Costa Rica, Romania, Sri Lanka and the US, employing a total of 22,000 personnel.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/economy/1676-rp-moves-up-in-value-chain-in-bpo-sector

Outsourcing firms told to hire more workers from provinces

THE BUSINESS process outsourcing (BPO) industry should intensify efforts to recruit workers outside Metro Manila as there are competent talent pools in the provinces, according to an official of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

http://www.bworldonline.com/webpics/articles/image/2010092395191.jpg

TWENTY PERCENT of business process outsourcing workers are from outside Metro Manila, according to an industry group. -- AFP

Ma. Jamea S. Garcia, BPAP executive director, told BusinessWorld in an interview on the sidelines of a call center industry conference that only 25% of the 400,000 fresh graduates every year come from Metro Manila, and the rest come from other regions.

“We should correct the impression that there’s not enough talent in the provinces and outside cities of Metro Manila. Actually, most of these potential employees are compelled to leave their hometowns just to work here,” she said.

Ms. Garcia noted that 20% of BPO workers are already based outside Metro Manila. “Last year, the BPO workers we have outside Metro Manila are very far from 20%,” she said.

Companies are always challenged to look for the “right set of people” that are not just fluent in English but are equipped with the skills needed for the job, she said.

“Talents are always there, the companies just need to find the applicants who will perfectly match their expectations,” she said.

In 2009, the organization listed the following as “next-wave” areas for the BPO industry: Angeles in Pampanga, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro and Davao.

“We are targeting to reach $12-billion revenues by 2011 as United States’ demand recovers and as the market diversifies. However, there are still challenges such as correcting the negative impression about working in a BPO company, and getting more support from the government in terms of funding,” she said.

Meanwhile, Andy Cranshaw, general manager of professional services of Datacom South East Asia, said employees should be engaged in company projects to nurture their “sense of responsibility” and company loyalty.

“There have been studies that employees who are highly engaged in company activities tend to absent less and perform at their best. We should inspire especially the new hires to be the best that they can be, as young graduates compose 60% of the employees in most BPO companies,” he said. -- Aura Marie P. Dagcutan
|

http://www.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=18333

RP moves up in value chain in BPO sector

Written by Max V. de Leon / Reporter
Thursday, 23 September 2010 13:18

THE Philippines is moving up the value chain in the contact-center industry as the country is expected to capture more business in the high-end or premium voice segment owing to the innate talent and English-language capability of Filipino Agents, according to Indian business process outsourcing firm WNS Global Services.


:cheers:

Good news.

Outsourcing Companies Grow Their Workforces on Philippine Soil
by: Outsourcing Insider September 23, 2010 | about: CVG / EPHE / INFY / WNS

By: Audrey B.

While outsourcing hubs China and India are currently leading in the outsourcing space, other destinations such as countries in Latin America and Southeast Asia have seen growth in outsourcing business over the past few months. The Philippines in particular, is seeing a number of expansions by outsourcing companies this month alone.

As mentioned in a previous article, U.S. based outsourcing companies, Rainmaker Systems and Convergys (CVG), as well as Australian outsourcing company, Salmat, have all announced plans to further expand their workforce in the Philippines. Rainmaker Systems announced on the 1st of September that it will be doubling its Philippine workforce by hiring as much as 1,000 people in the next twelve months. The Philippines is currently Rainmaker’s only Asian site, and cites that it is the supply of skilled workers, and a stable telecommunications infrastructure that appeals to it in building and expanding in the country. On the other hand, Convergys cites “phenomenal growth” among Philippine clients in the last few years as the reason for its expansion plans. According to country manager for Convergys Philippines, Marife Zamora, the company is looking to increase the headcount in the country to 25,000, up from the 22,000 that the company currently employs across the country. Lastly, Salmat, announced that it is expanding its Philippine workforce by 200 people in order to support clients from hometown Australia, as well as neighboring countries’ New Zealand and Japan. It will be providing targeted media solutions, customer contact solutions and business process outsourcing solutions to Salmat clients.

Indian outsourcing companies are also planning on expanding their businesses in the country. Infosys (INFY) was the first of two Indian companies to announce plans, on the 13th of September, followed by WNS Holdings Ltd (WNS) on the 17th of September. Infosys said the company will be doubling its headcount in the country in the next 12 months. According to Ritesh Idnani, Infosys BPO Chief Operating Officer, the company will be expanding into areas such as legal outsourcing and finance and accounting outsourcing in the country, aside from contact center services. WNS Holdings said it will be increasing by as much as 300 people in order to take advantage of the English-speaking workforce. The company’s CEO for WNS Philippines, Prabhakar Bisen cited “growing demand” as the reason, while Keshav Murugesh, WNS CEO, said that, “10 percent of WNS’ work force could be based in the Philippines over the next few years.” Like Infosys, WNS will also be utilizing its Philippine workforce to cater to clients in the finance industry.

While India mulls over its current problems with the U.S. and China, other outsourcing hubs are emerging from India’s shadow. Case in point: the Philippines. One thing that shows in the recent expansions is that companies such as Infosys and WNS, are now looking towards the Philippines for financial services, an area that had once been slated towards India in past years. Will the trend continue? We’ll have to wait and see in the months ahead.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/226747-outsourcing-companies-grow-their-workforces-on-philippine-soil

It is amazing to see the transformation of a place from nothing to these - office blocks of mostly BPO companies. :cheers:

http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd350/RonnieR_2008/P1010980.jpg

http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd350/RonnieR_2008/P1010979.jpg

^^ Where is that place?

looks nice out there

Alabang, sa Filinvest.

RP seeks to become global call center hub (http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20100927-294653/RP-seeks-to-become-global-call-center-hub)
By Abigail L. Ho
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:58:00 09/27/2010

Filed Under: business process outsourcing (BPO), Employment, business

DESPITE the tough competition from India, the Philippines is cementing its position as the world’s contact center hub, leveraging its claim on its steady and abundant supply of highly skilled, English-speaking talents.

According to Contact Center Association of the Philippines executive director Jojo Uligan, the local call center industry alone now had about 300,000 workers providing various voice-based services through the more than 220,000 available seats.

Call centers have also ventured out of the usual locations, particularly Metro Manila and Cebu, to reach as far as Batangas, Bacolod, Cabanatuan, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Iloilo.

The country’s most prized asset, he said, was still the Filipino workforce. Not only do Philippine talents have a good command of the English language, they are also very service-oriented and had an inherent warmth and friendliness not present in most other ethnicities.

The Filipino workforce’s close affinity with the American culture is another huge plus, he added.

“The Filipino workforce is already known around the world as a global knowledge professional. In fact, other countries are even hiring Filipinos to work in their call centers,” he said.

“Last year, we generated about $4 billion to $5 billion in revenue. This has established us as one of the biggest, if not the biggest, in the world, with only India as our main competitor when it comes to call center outsourcing,” he added.

In an earlier interview, Keshav Murugesh, group chief executive of WNS Global Services, said many of the world’s premium voice service requirements would eventually shift to the Philippines.

The country also had a lot of potential to steadily move up the value chain, he said, from traditional voice services to transaction services such as accounting and finance.

“We’ll be moving away from just front-office to back-office processes. The companies [that are tapping our services] are also moving up the value chain,” he related.

However, he said the government should exert more effort to boost the employability of graduates by honing skills other than just English language.

“Of course, the government should make more English-speaking talents available [to the industry]. But we also want to be provided with more employable people, to have access to the right kind of people,” he said.

Skills such as accounting and other processes that were now being outsourced, he said, should be given focus and improved.

^^ Where is that place?

looks nice out there

Yes, it is in Alabang near Madrigal Business Park. There are so many establishments there.....really nice. Underground wires, no traffic, safe, middle to high end restaurants, ...etc.

repost from Bacolod thread...thanks to migo pomperadz..

Maayung hapun bacolod!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


just got home..kag kakapoy na kasadya..hehehee..

il post our pics after this..mga migs very exciting gid ang plano sang ayala diri sa negros..galing keep quite lang kami anay ah..di pa bi pwede..in due time mabal an nyo gid na..hehehe..for the mean time heres what we got from the groundbreaking of AYALA Technohub..infairness mga migs..VIPs gid man ang SSC..basta mahambal ko lang..EXCITING GID AND A LOT OF SUPRISES FOR BACOLOD AND NEGROS!!!..


PATIKIM..

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs688.snc4/62792_149947755041629_131339263569145_212055_3706625_n.jpg


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs348.ash2/62792_149947748374963_131339263569145_212053_6772023_n.jpg


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs348.ash2/62792_149947741708297_131339263569145_212051_874836_n.jpg


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs688.snc4/62792_149947745041630_131339263569145_212052_2857613_n.jpg
Mayor Saratan with ALI executives


http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs708.snc4/62792_149947751708296_131339263569145_212054_3641778_n.jpg
Pompe, migo SUV, Ms. Therese Borromeo, & Mr. Jorge Marco (ALI Exec), Amega Shugar

repost from Bacolod Thread....thanks migo SUV



http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4126/5032620672_8f3e1dc9bf_b.jpg

site plan of Ayala Retail and BPO project

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4083/5032677034_feeed3c071_b.jpg

Ayala Land Breaks Ground for Talisay BPO Campus


Sept 28, 2010 -- Ayala Land, Inc. broke ground today for its first Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) campus in the city of Talisay, Negros Occidental. The Ayala North Point TechnoHub is envisioned to be a fully-integrated Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled services community designed for 24x7 operations.

When completed, the campus will consist of several BPO facilities with a total gross leasable area (GLA) of approximately 40,000 square meters, supported by a retail component on the ground floor of each office building, all within a 215-hecatare property that Ayala Land is developing in the city.

“Talisay is one of the major growth centers Ayala Land would like to have a strong presence in,” said Ayala Land senior vice president Marivic Anonuevo.
We are encouraged by the support of the Talisay city government units and our partner, the Lacson family, in facilitating the early start of this project.”

According to Anonuevo, this project brings the success of the company’s existing environment-friendly developments such as the UP-AyalaLand TechnoHub in Quezon City and One Evotech in NUVALI, Sta. Rosa, Laguna, to the Talisay community.

The initial phase of the project will involve the construction of the first 2-storey building with approximately 4,500 square meters of GLA. It is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2011.

Upon completion, the development is expected to generate more than 15,000 jobs for the local community from the BPO offices, retail establishments and support maintenance services.

Call-center industry sees P267-B earnings, 344,000 jobs this year

Written by Max V. de Leon / Reporter
Tuesday, 28 September 2010 12:26

The Philippine call-center industry is expected to grow by 23 percent this year, which means it would be pouring into the economy $6.15 billion (P269.98 billion) in export revenues and expand its employee base to 344,000.

And for the next five to 10 years, Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) president Benedict Hernandez said the industry will expand by 20 percent annually.

These figures, he said, are based on the survey the CCAP conducted in July, with 51 of its member-companies responding.

“We have proven to be resilient as an industry despite the crisis, and we will continue to have a good run,” Hernandez said at the International Contact Center Conference and Expo 2010 at the SMX Convention Center on Tuesday.

Also in the survey, Hernandez said the challenges that were mentioned by the contact centers were the same as in the past—availability of talent, rising operating costs, including labor and utilities; and development of leaders from mid-level up.

Industry CEOs Dave Rizzo of Teleperformance, Maulik Parekh of SPi Global, Steve Barker of Sitel Philippines and Steve Emerson of Thomson Reuters were one in saying that for the 20-percent annual growth to be met, these challenges should be addressed, plus a better incentives regime and the initiatives to move up the value-chain in the voice segment.

Jojo Uligan, CCAP executive director, said the industry has been growing steadily at a fast rate and that industry interventions that aimed to address the challenges have so far not met the requirements of the contact centers.

It will take some time before the interventions bear fruit, particularly on the aspect of education, he said

Uligan said the industry ended 2009 with about 280,000 agents and $5 billion in revenues. By growing 23 percent this year, Uligan said the number of contact-center seats would already be at 245,000.

The 20-percent annual growth for the next five to 10 years, he said, is what the industry players are expecting based on the analysis of the market.


http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/economy/1825-call-center-industry-sees-p267-b-earnings-344000-jobs-this-year

^^ sarap nman basahin ng balitang to.. :)

WNS re-affirms Manila center as delivery base

(The Philippine Star) Updated September 27, 2010 12:00 AM Comments (0) View comments

MANILA, Philippines - WNS Limited, a leading provider of global business process outsourcing services, announced that it will expand its operations in Manila in response to increasing demand from its clients.

During a visit to the WNS Philippines center which began its operations in 2008, Keshav Murugesh, group CEO of WNS Global Services, announced that the Manila center will be a hub for offering voice and data services to its clients from the banking and financial services industry, and to those based in the Asia-Pacific region.

“WNS’ delivery center in Manila began by offering contact center services to global clients across various industries, and has now expanded operations to offer a range of services, including finance and accounting and analy-tics,” Murugesh said.

“Considering the quality of talent available in the country and the demand for our services, we believe that 10 percent of WNS’ workforce could be based in the Philippines over the next few years,” he added.

“We are extremely committed to growing our delivery centers in the Philippines and have increased our capacity by 300 seats to cater to the growing demand. We are excited with the quality of talent in this country and the ability to deliver superior services to our customers from this region,” said Prabakhar Bisen, CEO of WNS Philippines.

Speaking about the reasons for selecting the Philippines as an outsourcing destination, Murugesh said, “The Philippines was an obvious choice as a delivery center for WNS as it provides us with access to a large pool of high-quality talent, specially voice-based. (There are) 350,000 college graduates from various universities in the Philippines every year, and 65,000 chartered accountants clear the board.”

“The Philippines has also been recognized as the third largest English-speaking nation in the world with a high literacy rate of 94 percent,” he added.

Other international WNS sites are located in Costa Rica, Romania, Sri Lanka, India, and United Kingdom.

Yes, it is in Alabang near Madrigal Business Park. There are so many establishments there.....really nice. Underground wires, no traffic, safe, middle to high end restaurants, ...etc.

yes it's very nice over there.

RP urged to revise ‘incentives regime’ for BPO sector to be more competitive

Written by Max V. de Leon / Reporter
Wednesday, 29 September 2010 12:38

THE Philippines must revise its incentives regime for the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, including setting a longer income-tax holiday (ITH) coverage, in the face of tougher competition, specifically from China, Vietnam and Latin American countries, the Pangilinan-owned SPi Global said.

Maulik Parekh, SPi Global president and CEO, said it was not enough that the Philippines grants up to six years of ITH to new BPO investors.

Retaining the investments, he said, is equally important since other countries are dangling better incentives, such as subsidies for rent and upfront capital expenditure for the construction of IT buildings.

Currently, the government grants up to six years of ITH to the BPO industry.

“But after six years, we are on our own. It doesn’t ‘incentivize’ us to continue growing,” Parekh said.

The Philippines, he said, should beware because Latin American countries were now becoming comparable in the voice segment, while China and Vietnam were becoming stronger in the nonvoice side of BPO. He said it would be best if the government granted them continuous coverage for tax breaks.

“Or at least give us an extension. Maybe five plus five [years] instead of four plus two,” he said.

Jojo Uligan, executive director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines, said more incentives from the government would help the industry meet its pressing challenges, such as the need to improve the quality of the workforce here and the operating costs, including labor and power. “If we can get additional incentives, we will be able to use the savings for the other aspects of our operations,” Uligan said.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/economy/1894-rp-urged-to-revise-incentives-regime-for-bpo-sector-to-be-more-competitive

Small-, medium-scale contact centers touted as industry’s ‘next big thing’


SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SCALE business process outsourcing (BPO) operations are being eyed by the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) as the "next big thing" in the industry that will cater to specialized sets of clients.

http://www.bworldonline.com/webpics/articles/image/2010092954e9e.jpg

Employees of a medical service contact center chat during the two-day International Contact Center Conference & Expo at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City that ended yesterday. -- <i>Photo By Jonathan L. Cellona</i>

CCAP President Benedict C. Hernandez told reporters at the sidelines yesterday of the International Contact Center Conference & Expo at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City that there is an urgent need to track and focus attention on this industry segment.

"This portion of the contact center industry could be that small. However, these companies have unique set of clients that can open more opportunities for the industry. These companies just need to have access to right information and promote their brand, regardless of size," Mr. Hernandez said.

To date, Mr. Hernandez said that there are over 300 such small-and-medium contact centers operating in the country.

He said small contact centers are those with a maximum of 1,000 seats, medium ones have up to 5,000 seats, while large contact centers have up to 10,000 seats.

During panel discussions, Manuel L. Lopez Jr., chief executive officer of Pacific Hub Corp., said small and medium contact centers like his need tax perks to grow. "As of now, BPO companies, regardless of size, have been enjoying the same incentives. As homegrown BPO companies, we think that it would be a great help if we could get more support from them [government]," he said.

He added that maintaining service quality while keeping costs down have been a major challenge. "Clients want to get maximum utility on their spending. They will not pay the same amount for a lesser number of seats, compared with a large multinational BPO company that could give more seats," he said.

In the same discussions, Frederick D. Chua, chief executive officer of Magellan Solutions Outsourcing, Inc., said establishing one’s brand is another concern. "The market is big. However, small companies like ours have to compete with these industry giants," he said.

Moreover, Mr. Chua said, his company has found it difficult to attract talent. "We can’t compete with more attractive compensation packages offered by bigger companies. Without the right people, we can’t offer the best service," he said.

While the industry expects revenues to increase 23% to $6.15 billion by yearend, CCAP has cited dwindling talent and the need for more attractive perks as challenges to long-term growth.


http://www.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=18651

InContact says RP operations account for 18% of earnings

Written by Max V. de Leon / Reporter
Thursday, 30 September 2010 14:01

AMERICAN cloud-based software solutions provider inContact expects its newly launched Philippine operations to immediately make an impact and deliver up to 15 percent of the company’s global revenues in 12 to 18 months.

Paul Jarman, inContact chief executive officer, said the company’s technology, which does not require upfront investment for expensive equipment since it is cloud-based, is now getting wider acceptance because of the cost-savings it brings.

For example, Jarman said Vector used inContact’s technology and it managed to save P22 million.

The Nasdaq-listed firm just opened its Philippine office two months ago. Although some American companies that have operations in the Philippines already have existing contracts with inContact, Jarman said the company decided to establish an actual presence here due to the fast-growing Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.

“About 5 percent of our global revenues are currently coming from the Philippines. We expect this to increase to 10 percent to 15 percent in 12 to 18 months,” Jarman said.

He said inContact will be targeting mostly the mid-sized BPO firms in the country that are looking to replace their technology or expand in a less-expensive way.

“A lot of the big ones already have their equipment. The mid-sized usually do not have good equipment so they will probably replace them, and others will be expanding,” he said.

Depending on the software package, Jarman said inContact will only charge on a monthly basis at a minimum rate of $25 per seat and no upfront cash.

This, he said, is the way to go for companies that do not have much capital to fund their expansion.

Based on a study, Jarman said inContact’s technology can deliver up to 45-percent savings to a company over a five-year span compared with on-premise solutions.


http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/companies/1932-incontact-says-rp-operations-account-for-18-of-earnings

SPi Global targets 30,000 employees in three years


By Abigail L. Ho
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:31:00 10/01/2010

Filed Under: business, business process outsourcing (BPO), Company Information



SPI GLOBAL Holdings Inc., the business process outsourcing arm of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., aims to more than double its employee base in the next three years.

Speaking at the chief executive officers forum of the International Contact Center Conference and Expo 2010, SPi Global chief executive Maulik Parekh said the company was targeting to grow its current manpower base of around 14,000 to 30,000.

These new employees would be spread over new sites that the company also planned to open, both here and abroad, within that timeframe, he said.

Without being specific, he said SPi Global planned to put up facilities in Latin America as part of its overall expansion plan. Additional locations in other countries were also in the pipeline.

He said that in the Philippines, the company was looking at more provincial sites, prompted by the success of its facilities in Iloilo and Dumaguete.

Revenues should also triple within four years, he had earlier said, from last year’s $185 million to around $500 million. The biggest chunk of these would still come from local operations but would be driven by global expansion.

The company in late August launched its new brand, SPi global, representing a consolidation of SPi Technologies Inc. and ePLDT Ventus Inc.

PLDT had earlier placed all its contact center operations under ePLDT Ventus. ePLDT is the telecommunications’ giant’s information technology arm, which had BPO, gaming, and data center businesses under it.

The purchase of SPi Technologies spurred PLDT’s further expansion in the BPO space, and eventually the consolidation of all BPO businesses under the SPi Global umbrella.

SPi currently operates 24 sites, 11 of which are in the Philippines, and employs around 11,000 individuals. Apart from the Philippines, other facilities are located in Vietnam, India, Europe, and the United States.

It claims to be the largest Filipino-owned BPO company.

Call-center boom breeds new culture–and risky behavior

Written by Diana G. Mendoza / Inter Press Service
Saturday, 02 October 2010 10:27

MANILA—Anthony, a 22-year-old call-center agent, goes to work at 6 p.m. and finishes at around 2 a.m. But instead of going home, he heads to a bar to meet another male agent over beer, and if the late night looks promising, they spend more time together until daytime.

“The rest of the day is a struggle to sleep,” Anthony said in an interview. The young man’s typical day consists of work, chill time with his buddy, often having sex with that same buddy, and then forgetting what happened during the night to try to sleep when the sun is up.

Since the business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry created a growing number of call centers in the Philippines—its BPO industry is second to the world’s largest, India—professionals like Anthony and his friend found their niche in the world of work.

Here, they can be comfortable being gay. They can come to work in jeans, sneakers and hoodies, and can grow or color their hair without being reminded of office rules.

“You can be who you are,” said Anthony. When asked why having sexual relations seem casual among his colleagues, he said it might be because of the unconventional work hours and the comfort that the workplace offers.

“It’s just us seeing each other during odd hours every single day, and because nobody seems to be looking, we can do things we don’t normally do outside,” he said.

The nonjudgmental atmosphere creates an accepting environment for homosexual males like him.

In other words, a new social phenomenon is taking shape around the lifestyle of Anthony and nearly half a million young people like him working in call centers in this Southeast Asian country of 94 million people. Their unusual hours stem from the fact that centers provide services—including customer and technical support—to banks, telecommunication and Internet companies—during work hours in places like the United States.

This environment has come about not only because of the promise of employment and income—studies say call centers provided 70,000 new jobs in 2009 and 2010 in this country where 33 percent of citizens are poor. It is also due to the accepted permissiveness among workers that is perceived as risky sexual behavior, several studies say.

The high prevalence of risky behavior might put the youthful work force in call centers at risk of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), two studies say. A third study found 12 of its respondents testing positive for HIV.

One of these studies into risk behavior, conducted by the Ateneo de Manila University among 650 respondents aged 15 to 29, from 20 call centers in Metro Manila, showed that casual, unprotected sex is quite widespread among both males and females.

More males had multiple sex partners—nine out of 10 males and seven of 10 females had sex, but in the sexual encounters, 73 percent of males and 80 percent of females did not use protection, such as condoms.

Among the men who have sex with men younger than 20, all said that they did not use condoms, and 70-percent reported having four or more partners in the past 12 months.

Dr Isabel Melgar, head of the Ateneo university’s psychology department, said that “sex under the influence of alcohol” is rampant in the call center industry, and that since sexual contact, often with different partners and at one-time encounters is accepted, dating is no longer the norm.

“We also saw changes in socialization, gender identity and sexual attraction,” she said.

The mobile phone is the most common mode for meeting up, while personal interactions have been minimized due to social networking, e-mail and chatting on the Internet. The Internet is also the major source of information about STI and HIV among males, as against magazines for females.

Although awareness of STI and HIV is relatively high, the young workers do not seem mindful of the risks of their sexual behavior even if, as one respondent said, “sex sometimes occurs during the 15-minute or one-hour break.”

Melgar said, “There is a fear factor attached to STI and HIV, and they don’t want to talk about it,” especially because call centers and HIV infection are already in the news.

One male respondent admitted, “I’m embarrassed to say I’m a call-center worker because people think I have AIDS.”

But “to consider the call centers a hotbed of HIV infections is stigmatizing and totally wrong,” points out Melgar.

Before the Ateneo study, the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) and the UP-Philippine General Hospital (PGH) released findings of their studies on young professionals’ vulnerability to STI and HIV.

Conducted from November 2009 to January 2010, the UP-PGH study interviewed 406 young male respondents and conducted free rapid HIV tests; 130 of the total respondents were call-center agents. The study found 48 HIV-positive respondents, 26 of whom worked in call centers.

The UPPI study on sexual risk behavior among young workers in call centers and other industries found that call-center workers reported having more sexual encounters than those in other industries, and that more males than females practice unsafe behavior.

Regardless of industry, the risky behavior was high, but levels were slightly higher among call-center agents in unprotected, casual, paid sex and sex with multiple partners.

These point to the fact that “there is a need to embed HIV prevention in a total health package for call-center agents, and this needs the cooperation of managers and owners”, Melgar pointed out.

She said a young person’s sexual behavior is strongly influenced by the immediate environment, and values from one’s family and any sexuality education learned from school, even in this mainly Catholic country, can only do so much.


http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/2016-call-center-boom-breeds-new-cultureand-risky-behavior

^^Aside from permissiveness, we're seeing a lot of young workers have practically little or no respect for time honored values, such as loyalty, hard work and industriousness, patience, respect for others and most of all, integrity.

This is because they tend to mingle only with their kind, i.e. same work and personal circles, with few senior folks to provide them wisdom and guidance. In the end, they are so much centered in the "now" and not the "future".

^ that's practically one of the reason why even if investments come in to this country, we just dont have enough workers with integrity and discipline to make us a rich country like Japan, Singapore, or say South Korea.

These workers are living the current and not even investing and saving for the future. Saving and investing is how we become a wealthy country

My cousin told me about this, even married employees, her words were "sila ,sila nagpapatusan" I didn't think it was true. what a shame for these young people to be practicing such risky and immoral behaviors. HIV is a serious illness and for them to be not taking it seriously makes them irresponsible.
the country will make money from the call center industry but the social costs of treating an HIV implosion will outweigh the benefits.
why is there a trademark of irresponsible and undisciplined behavior in everything ...?

^^Aside from permissiveness, we're seeing a lot of young workers have practically little or no respect for time honored values, such as loyalty, hard work and industriousness, patience, respect for others and most of all, integrity.

This is because they tend to mingle only with their kind, i.e. same work and personal circles, with few senior folks to provide them wisdom and guidance. In the end, they are so much centered in the "now" and not the "future".

Actually I still have those (loyalty, hard work, industriousness, patience, respect for others, and integrity) and I work in a call center (3 years, without any spent sick leaves and only one single incident of being late.) :rofl:

As they say, the more you give, the more you spoil.

^^Cool...so you should be at least an operations manager by now. Your employer should reward you for such qualities, these are quite hard to find nowadays:)

Also, I agree with "the more you give, the more you spoil". Imagine many agents who apply for jobs nowadays ask if there's a "signing bonus"...they haven't proven anything yet, and then they ask for a signing bonus?:bash:

This is a vicious cycle perpetuated by the clients sometimes. Many of the telco clients give SPIFFs which are by no means, cheap (iPods, flash drives, the latest gadgets, even junkets)...they would give cash but most agents complain that they will get taxed...so they give gift cheques instead...

As a result of these incentives, agents are not motivated to perform if these are taken away...or they start looking for another job which pays 10% higher (obviously, another call center). This is all too common but the ones who stay longer than 2 years and still deliver good service quality with a smile are rarities...so that probably includes you:)

^^ I'm still in voice handling clients. Thankfully our clients are manageable so no headaches whatsoever. Not yet in ops but I'm planning to go being a higher-up if needs arise.

This thing about rising HIV in Call Centers are very alarming. 2 weeks ago, a cohort's live-in partner was "fingered" by another cohort of mine (all three are my officemates) which caused a stir in us teammates. The guilty party resigned.

Another thing that's rampant in call centers is attrition rate. There are some reasons which could be justified (the grass is greener on the other side, growing families and needs) and I could understand that on some higher-ups but there are some who join the fray and then leave immediately, then we find them in another company.

The place I'm working now (and the company I worked for) is pretty decent. The only thing that dampens you is when an old cohort resigns. What makes the workplace fun is not the perks, but the quirks and the friendships, the experience.

^^ I'm still in voice handling clients. Thankfully our clients are manageable so no headaches whatsoever. Not yet in ops but I'm planning to go being a higher-up if needs arise.

This thing about rising HIV in Call Centers are very alarming. 2 weeks ago, a cohort's live-in partner was "fingered" by another cohort of mine (all three are my officemates) which caused a stir in us teammates. The guilty party resigned.

was fingered? Is that supposed to be literal?

11 call center employees charged for selling Viagra (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideMetro.htm?f=2010/september/30/metro2.isx&d=2010/september/30)

by Roy Pelovello

THE NATIONAL Bureau of Investigation has filed criminal charges against 11 employees of a call center for allegedly selling Viagra, Cialis, and other medicines online without the proper license.

In a complaint filed before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office, the NBI sought the prosecution of the employees of Bluestream Information Technology Services, based in Quezon City, for alleged violation of the Food and Drugs Administration Act.

NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula named the respondents as Alcris dela Cruz, Keith Bernard DJ Villamayor, Peter Gucaban, Jason Alancado, Alvin Santos, Carolina Intalan, Germaine Aldrene Tan, Nikki So, Joanna Bolante, Katherine Mae Manaluz, and Erica Teng.

Gatdula said Bluestream is a business process outsourcing firm that sells medicines and other pharmaceutical products through the internet.

Apart from drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction, the NBI said the company also sells pain relievers like Tramadol and Soma, as well as other medicines.

Bluestream operates its campaign without license or permit from the Philippine Food and Drugs Administration, the NBI said in its complaint.

A certification issued by FDA said it does not allow the selling of medicine or other pharmaceutical products online.

According to the NBI, it got a tip last February about the alleged illegal activity of the company, which has its office at the corner of Quezon Avenue and Edsa.

To verify the information, the NBI sent undercover agent Sherwin Uy to apply last March as a call center agent to Bluestream.

The agent was accepted for training, during which he said they were asked to call prospective customers from a list provided by the company, with names of various persons and medicines they regularly buy.

Another thing that's rampant in call centers is attrition rate. There are some reasons which could be justified (the grass is greener on the other side, growing families and needs) and I could understand that on some higher-ups but there are some who join the fray and then leave immediately, then we find them in another company.

The place I'm working now (and the company I worked for) is pretty decent. The only thing that dampens you is when an old cohort resigns. What makes the workplace fun is not the perks, but the quirks and the friendships, the experience.

Attrition rate on the average runs at 70% or even more. Especially with the new recruits to the industry and at those companies who don't pay their employees on time and with the proper benefits.

BTW, attrition is not only self-generated (i.e. by the employees themselves if they violate policies), but also imposed by the clients (for groups of agents not meeting their KPIs).

viagra? how old are these agents..
why don't they have the policy of absolutely no co mingling between employees like they do for other legitimate companies. I would say HIV infected employees may affect their bottomline in the future. oh well if the attrition rate is that high i guess they don't care much.