^^ I had a problem before with my LAN router so I dialed the hotline. Kausap ko pinay and she speaks English very clearly. She told me she's in the Phils servicing Cisco systems technical support. I didn't tell her Im a Filipino too. (parang kilala ko ang boses) :lol: Thanked to her, I got my router to work. hehe

^ i spoke to filipina once in those service hotline about recharing my phone card. i thought it wasnt filipina first because of the accent. then i heard in the background, someone said: ang pogi ng kausap mo. then i knew they were reffering about me, i replied: I am. then we talk about what we like, ice cream we like, the moon, the sun, the star. it was awesome but then i had to go because i dont wanna be charged for more.

^^ I use to call these centers whenever I got problem with my wifi connections. Sometimes I get the urge to talk to them or simply ask them questions but i'm worried if their management are allowing them to entertain questions from their customers...

Paminsan kasi may "dead air" kapag nasa phone nakami. So I just kept quiet while I'm working with his/her instructions. :)

they have talk time yata. i guess it's 2 minutes at most. siguro it depends sa client nilang company. so don't ask too much bec the agent will fail on his KPI sa talk time

^ i thought it wasnt filipina first because of the accent. then i heard in the background, someone said: ang pogi ng kausap mo. then i knew they were reffering about me, i replied: I am.

:hahaha: :cool: :nocrook:

taken from wikipedia: Another popular call centre site is the Philippines (after india). Owing to its abundant English speakers that are college graduates and Americanized when it comes to accent and culture. The Philippines was an American colony for almost 50 years. Filipinos are said to be the best outsourcing site outside North America since the accent is nearer to that of American Consumers

I have yet to speak with a Philippine based call center. All I ever get are those in India and their damn thick as mud accents!

EDIT :D

^ i spoke to filipina once in those service hotline about recharing my phone card. i thought it wasnt filipina first because of the accent. then i heard in the background, someone said: ang pogi ng kausap mo. then i knew they were reffering about me, i replied: I am. then we talk about what we like, ice cream we like, the moon, the sun, the star. it was awesome but then i had to go because i dont wanna be charged for more.

hahaha ang kapal ng mukha mo tee :D j/k!

I have yet to speak with a Philippine based call center. All I ever get are those in India and their damn thick as mud accents!

:rofl:

RP needs 25,000 animators by 2010, says group

THE PHILIPPINES needs at least 25,000 new animators in five years if it wishes to remain competitive, say leaders of a group representing the local animation industry.

Seen as one of the key industries for the country’s outsourcing business, the Philippine animation industry has been beset by brain drain for years, steadily losing talents to US-based animation houses and outfits.

While outsourcing jobs abound in the country, it has missed opportunities due to a dwindling animation talent pool, according to Joy Bacon, executive director of the Animation Council of the Philippines Inc. (ACPI).

ACPI is now hoping to boost the industry's workforce with the recent push to institutionalize animation education in the country, according to Bacon. This is the challenge facing ACPI's 22 members.

ACPI is also spreading the word that a career in animation in the country is lucrative, added Bacon.

ACPI has recently launched programs
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to promote animation education.
Navel Academy and Artfarm Asia are now offering courses in animation.

Three major schools are currently offering animation courses. They are
Ateneo de Naga, which offers a four-year course in computer animation; College of St. Benilde whose Multimedia Arts Center has a one-year animation program; and Mapua IT Center, offering a training program in animation.

"We want to increase the number of schools offering animation courses. To do this, we are partnering with the government and educational institutions, through the regional offices of the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI), to communicate the attractiveness of a career in animation," ACPI director Bacon said.

ACPI has also tied up with the Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority (Tesda) to provide industry-relevant regulatory standards for academic requirements associated with two-year animation courses or less.

She said that ACPI and Tesda have finished drafting the training regulations, and are now finalizing the courseware.

Bacon said training regulations and courseware will be implemented by TESDA for schools looking to offer animation courses.

ACPI is also looking at the possibility of certifying animators. "It will definitely be an edge for us if we can boast of industry-certified animators. Studios will be confident that the people they are hiring are industry-ready and require little or no additional training," Bacon said.

"But our efforts in promoting the industry to the rest of the world amount to nothing if we don't get potential animators interested," said Bacon, noting that the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) will help promote the industry in the upcoming e-Services Philippines 2006.

This is an annual IT and outsourcing exhibition and conference, as a strategic venue to promote the industry. It will run from February 16 to 17, 2005.

Nice! My colleague here in the office used to be an animator and she told they did a lot of work for Disney! Most of their future animated shows are made by Pinoy animators. :)

Our company is the latest to join outsourcing frenzy in the Philippines. For starters, we will be transitioning 350 jobs to APAC and Accenture. Here is part of the memo sent to us last August.

In an effort to improve the affordability of programs and services, WellPoint has entered into partnerships with two companies, APAC and Accenture, to handle select California work related to claims and provider calls. APAC and Accenture are companies with national and global operations. These partnerships will ensure a continued high level of quality and produce greater efficiencies.

Many of our competitors have taken similar actions within their own organizations. We must address these important business issues to maintain a competitive playing field. Because health care is an increasingly competitive environment, we must find ways to address business solutions, both inside and outside the company, that keep health care costs down while also investing in our goal to continually seek improvement in quality of care for our members.

The decision to partner with these two companies, which is subject to California’s regulatory process, will affect about 350 positions over the next 12 months in California. Because of attrition rates and temporary employees who handle some of this work, no associates will be affected in 2005 as a result of this transition. Approximately 85 associates who handle claims and provider calls could be affected during the first six months of 2006.

While these positions will transition to our business partners in Manila, other jobs are being created in California and elsewhere in the West Region. As you know, Medicare Part D has created 100 new full-time positions, including supervisory roles, to handle a wide variety of work. Associates whose jobs transfer to our partner companies can post for one of these new positions or others throughout the company.

and here is part of the memo that US Department of HEalth approved our intent to outsource some jobs to Manila.

In keeping with our commitment to you, we have worked as quickly as possible to validate the number of jobs that will transition to our vendor partners and to determine whether any of you might be affected. Today, we are very pleased to announce that our analysis of the number of open and temporary positions confirms that there will be no need to have a staff reduction in our call centers or claims units as a result of provider calls and simple claims transactions moving to our vendor partners.
We also wanted to make you aware that we received notification on December 12th, that the Department of Managed Health Care has approved our filing to transition some of our claims work to Accenture.

A total of 350 Medical Claims Examiners and Customer Service Representatives from our department in California will be going to APAC and Accenture mid of 2006. Customer Service will start moving jobs this coming February and Claims will be moving jobs to Accenture by 3rd qtr of 2006. Last year we moved around 300 jobs from our Illinois based company --- Unicare to APAC. In addition, we also moved 279 jobs from our Dental Department in Oxnard, California to APAC. So WAY TO GO PHILIPPINES! The good thing is we are doing this without any layoffs.

tama yan para dito naman maraming magkaroon ng trabaho

san ka pala nakatira, u havent introduced urself to us. go to ssc pinoy roll call :)

ok :)
tagal ko na dito nagmamasid lang
sabi ni thomasian clone
daw ako?

Outsourcing in Asia Pacific will lose luster in 2006—XMG

First posted 11:36pm (Mla time) Jan 05, 2006
By Erwin Lemuel Oliva
INQ7.net



ORGANIZATIONS that have outsourced certain information technology functions to third parties will likely take some of these functions back, and run them in their own remote centers that will be established in 2006, Canada-based research firm XMG said
Organizations will also selectively outsource some IT functions, as they weigh the risks of contracting out these jobs offshore, the research firm said.

"As a number of multi-year deals are up for renewal globally, outsourcing will lose its luster as organizations take back certain IT functions, selectively outsource, or setup their own remote operations," XMG said in its 2006 predictions report in http://www.xmg-global.com.

Organizations that have previously signed multi-year outsourcing contracts are expected to establish remote operations in Asia Pacific to support its internal business process and IT requirements.

XMG, however, noted that the outsourcing of medical transcription jobs to Asia Pacific, specifically India and the Philippines, will continue due to concerns of an aging population in the United States, and regulatory issues unique to North America.
"The unique regulatory regime for healthcare in the US (HIPAA) makes it the dominant source of global demand for outsourced medical transcription services. Majority of the demand will increasingly be outsourced to offshore destinations in Asia such as India and the Philippines, but to an increasingly smaller group of high-quality service providers," XMG said in its 2006 predictions.

XMG added that the demand for transcribing patient care records into electronic format for greater record integrity and accessibility will drive continuous growth in 2006 and in the coming years.

Global revenues on outsourced medical transcription services in 2005 is already estimated to be at 2.2 billion dollars, with the US market accounting for more than 85 percent of global demand, XMG said.

The research firm also stressed that concerns over data security will keep sourcing to a few chosen countries with business operations that are certified by ISO 17799.

Meanwhile, XMG said that peer advisory will continue to guide the decision making of Asia Pacific IT executives in 2006.

IT executives in this region will also likely adopt best practices that would directly contribute to their bottom line. Vendors, on the other end, will continue attempt to influence investment decisions through proof of concepts, marketing events and the media.

Wow, lahat damay liban sa India at sa Pinas!

hmmm.. this article from abs-cbnnews seem to run contrary to the previous article..

Outsourcing industry sees 70% revenue growth

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry expects its revenue for the year to reach $3.4 billion, up 70 percent from the year-ago level.

Mitch Locsin, executive director of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), told ANC in an interview that call centers will remain the biggest contributor to the industry's revenue.

He said that Dell Inc., the world’s largest maker of personal computers, is targeting an additional 5,000 call center seats by year-end.

Locsin, however, noted that in the next two to three years, the medical transcription industry is expected to outpace the growth of the call center business.

He said he is confident the Philippines would rise to second place this year in AT Kearney's survey of 40 countries considered as attractive locations for BPO. The Philippines ranked fourth in the 2005 survey.

The BPO industry posted an annual revenue growth of 100 percent last year, with revenues reaching $2 billion.

The contact center remains the fastest-growing business, accounting for half of the BPO industry's 2005 earnings.

The first article is a much narrower view of BPO, while the Mitch Locsin talks about the general opportunities for the country in outsourcing.

tama yan para dito naman maraming magkaroon ng trabaho

:cheers:

BERT QUINTANA IS A CUBAN-American whose family moved to the US when he was two. But like many migrants, his family has preserved their traditions.

This act has enabled Quintana to adjust well to varied personalities he deals with because of his job. Quintana is VP for Dell International Services. He leads the operations and management of Dell's global network of 30 Consumer Contact Centers which support Dell business and consumers in the US, Asia and Europe.
Quintana visited Manila recently in the wake of the decision of Dell to set up two call centers in the Philippines. One will be in Makati City and the other in Pasay City at the SM Mall of Asia. The concept of a call center in a mall is a first in the country.

Quintana says it chose the Philippines for its customer contact center because of the strong language and communication skills of its high-quality workforce. It recognizes that the ability of most Filipinos to speak English and its big student population are fast making the Philippines the call center location of choice in Southeast Asia.

"You have terrific talent here. Your people represent a lot of potential," Quinata said.

The Dell VP says his Hispanic origins and his various work assignments is helping him adjust well to the different cultures the call centers are located in.

"I get amazing insights into other people," he said adding that he has worked in New Mexico, Colorado, California, Florida, Tennessee, and today Texas. "I am able to experience positive work relationship with whatever people I meet."

Quintana says working in a call center is a key to future entrepreneurs. "One learns about customers here -- how they behave. There is tremendous career growth because when one becomes a group leader, he coaches the staff in different skills."

He says a call center employee learns the art of dealing with customers -- a skill that can be valuable to the service business.

"At a call center, you develop listening skills. You get to a solution quickly," he added.

Quintana said they want to develop leaders in the Philippines. He added that Dell's style is they get locals to run so there is "regional ownership."

Dell is in the Philippines today through a representative office at the Enterprise Plaza in Makati, and through its contact center training and recruitment office at the RCBC Plaza.

The Pasay City contact center will open in February 2006. It will provide service and technical support to Dell consumer customers in the United States.

Dell, the world's largest computer systems company and recognized by Fortune magazine as America's most admired company, has led its industry in phone-based personal computer technical support services.

Dell's global customer contact network includes more than 30 locations dedicated to supporting customers anywhere in the world, anytime of day. The company is using its business process improvement expertise -- gained from its acclaimed supply chain management and manufacturing -- in its contact center operations to give its customers customized products and services at the best value.

An online innovator and leading consumer technology company, Dell is using the Internet, including an on-demand webcast and online advertising, to reach prospective employees. The company is looking for professionals with contact center experience, technical certification or technical college degrees and is collecting resumés at its employment website www.dell.com/manila.

http://www.inq7.net/globalnation/sec_fea/2005/dec/29-04.htm

Nordic, US firms eye RP for ICT, BPO needs

Companies from northern Europe and the United States are considering the Philippines for their business process outsourcing requirements (BPO), said officials who led a briefing yesterday in Makati City on an upcoming major annual conference on this industry.
The 6th Outsourcing Conference and Exhibition -- dubbed "e-Services Philippines 2006" and scheduled from Feb. 16 to 17 in EDSA Shangri-La Manila in Mandaluyong City -- aims to showcase the country’s capabilities in medical transcription, animation, software development, BPO engineering design and contact center services. The exhibit is organized by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), an agency attached to the Department of Trade and Industry.
Nordic companies are slowly recognizing the Philippines as potential site for their information technology-outsourced operations. Next month, representatives of two IT companies and trade group Swedish Chamber of Commerce will arrive to explore the country’s potential, Philippines trade representative to the Nordic region Mary Borromeo-Hedfors told BusinessWorld in an interview. Ms. Hedfors handles Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.
Once these two companies decide to partner with third-party providers here, she said; they will also serve as business consultants for other Nordic companies. "This is how the business works in the region [northern Europe]: companies award contracts through and as advised by their business consultants. Unless you are a big company, you don’t go straight to the provider," Ms. Hedfors explained.
Due to language barrier, she said Nordic companies are looking at tapping the Philippines for non-voice IT outsourcing services like back office finance and accounting requirements, as well as data transcription, which involves conversion of paper-based data into electronic format.
"For one, Sweden is pushing for a paperless society. And the Philippines can reap a windfall from this development," she said.
Already, one library has started to outsource its requirements to SPI Technologies.
Aside from this, one known Philippine-based transportation company is now processing mapping and tracking requirements of one Nordic shipping company and the country already hosts Colibria, a Nordic software development firm.
"Nordic companies are very reserved, they don’t want to talk about their business even though some companies have already started doing business here," she said.
Ms. Hedfors started to market the Philippines as an outsourcing site in the Nordic region in 2001, when this business was identified by the government as one of its priority sectors.
Moreover, seven big US companies are considering the Philippines for investments in BPO and in information and communications technologies (ICT), the Board of Investments (BoI) said.
Celeste B. Ilagan, BoI’s executive director for international marketing, said the possible entry of these seven new players may boost investments in the local ICT and BPO sectors by 50% or close to P20 billion this year. She declined to identify the interested firms.
"For 2005, the combined investments in the ICT and BPO sectors reached a total of P12.11 billion, representing 70 projects," Ms. Ilagan said at the sidelines of a briefing on the 6th Outsourcing Conference and Exhibition held in Makati City yesterday.
Currently, BoI noted, Convergys Phils. Services Corp. is considered the biggest call center operating in the country with more than 6,000 seats.
Investments in the ICT and BPO sectors are also expected to be boosted by the expansion plans of call centers such as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) Group. Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila said HSBC is keenly interested in setting up a second call center north of Metro Manila. "HSBC was very much encouraged by the operations of its call center in Northgate Cyberzone which currently has about 2,000 seats," Mr. Favila said.
The company inaugurated its P1.5-billion call center in Filinvest, Alabang last July 1. HSBC’s Philippine call center is its eighth service center in Asia.
The ICT and BPO sectors are regarded by most economists as the Philippine’s "sunrise sectors" due to its potential to create more jobs and bring in much-needed export revenues.
The Philippines, in particular, is attractive to foreign firms keen on outsourcing due to its English-proficient workforce.
According to the 2005 AT Kearney survey, the Philippines is the fourth most attractive location in IT-enabled services out of the 40 countries it surveyed.
The Filipino workforce, meanwhile, is consistently ranked as among the best in Asia by outfits like the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Swiss International Institute for Management Development. -- Maricel E. Estavillo and Jennifer A. Ng

I called Eastman Kodak Digital Imaging's help center today and got a representative in the Philippines! :lol: She was pleasant and spoke very good English, hardly a hint of that "Carabao" or "Coño" English, I could hear people talking in Tagalog in the background but can't really discern what they're talking about. My first ever call center contact that's not Indian! :colgate:

taken from abscnbnews.com..

Investments in call centers rise

By ANGELO S. SAMONTE, The Manila Times Researcher

The Philippines’ two leading incentives-giving bodies last year approved more than P12 billion in investment pledges for the establishment of more information communication technology (ICT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) enterprises.

The Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) posted combined actual project registrations amounting to P12.11 billion for ICT and BPO operations, Celeste Ilagan, BOI executive director, said.

She said the approvals would add more seats to the existing 40,000, raising the industry’s maximum seating capacity to 70,000 this year.

Given the 100-percent growth in the number of potential jobs arising from the investment pledges, the government set a 50-percent to 70-percent expansion in employment for the sector this year.

Ilagan said the Department of Trade and Industry plans to tap the US and European markets by focusing on niche services. "The Philippines can compete in medical transcription and procurement services and this is the current thrust of our promotions. Nonvoice outsourcing service has a bright prospect for our local industry," she said.

According to Ilagan, major investors in the Philippines last year include Dell, infusing more than $3 million, and Convergys, which opened eight sites. Convergys’ new investment alone would create some 6,000 seats, she said.

Meanwhile, the Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corp. plans to establish another site for its call-center operations in the Philippines, following the success of its operations in Alabang, Muntinlupa.

"HSBC was very much encouraged by the operations of its call center in Northgate Cyberzone which presently has about 2,000 seats," Trade Secretary Peter Favila said, adding that the bank is interested in putting up its second site north of Metro Manila.

Favila is egging on HSBC to locate its noncore activities and back-office functions in the Philippines. In a visit to HSBC Electronic Data Processing (Philippines) Inc., the trade chief said the country’s strength in BPO make the Philippines a premier location for IT-enabled services in international market. "The country offers a combination of ‘best-in-class’ service and operation costs significantly reduced compared with many other locations around the world," he said.

Inaugurated last July, HSBC’s P1.5-billion call-center facility is the company’s eighth service center in Asia. The bank also operates in India, mainland China and Malaysia.

Favila said several investment promotion agencies have organized more outbound investment missions to attract more foreign companies to invest in the country.

"These missions are not only sent to heighten investors’ interest but to get firm commitments from companies, thus, our investment drive will be more focused to identified and targeted firms," he said.

Another foreign firm, Siemens Inc., a subsidiary of Siemens AG of Germany, announced that it would launch a new business unit this January that will deliver IT helpdesk and customer care services mainly for English-speaking global customers.

The company said the new IT outsourcing division in Eastwood City Cyberpark will have a initial capacity of 500 call-agent seats, in addition to Siemen’s existing satellite call-center offices in the US, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Canada, Turkey and Singapore.

HSBC to expand call center, BPO operations
By Marianne V. Go
The Philippine Star 01/13/2006

The HSBC Group plans to expand its call center and business process outsourcing (BPO) operations in the country.

HSBC officials recently relayed their plans to Trade and Industry Secretary Peter B. Favila during a courtesy call.

HSBC’s decision to expand its call center and BPO operations stems from the successful operations of its existing call center and BPO site in Filinvest, Alabang.

According to Favila, HSBC is keenly interested in placing its second site north of Metro Manila.

"HSBC was very much encouraged by the operations of its call center in Northgate Cyberzone which presently has about 2,000 seats," Favila said.

The DTI supports HSBC’s project and is encouraging it to further expand it non-core activities/back-office functions in the Philippines, specifically in finance and accounting.

During the visit of HSBC Electronic Data Processing (Philippines), Inc. officials led by its president David Sutton, Favila emphasized the Philippines’ strengths in BPO.

"The Philippines is now a premier location for IT-enabled services in the international market," Favila said.

Inaugurated on July 1, 2005, the P1.5- billion call center in the Philippines is HSBC’s 8th Service Center in Asia.

Other locations include India, Mainland China and Malaysia.

HSBC’s investment in the BPO sector was secured by a Board of Investment’s outbound mission in October 2002.

Favila said that this year more outbound investment missions are being organized by various government investment promotion agencies to lure in critical investments for the country.

"These missions are not only sent to heighten investors’ interest but to get firm commitments from companies, thus, our investment drive will be more focused on identified and targeted firms," Favila said.

Started in 1875 in the Philippines, the HSBC Group is represented in the Philippines through the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. and its subsidiary, the locally-incorporated HSBC Savings Bank (Philippines) Inc.

HSBC Holdings Plc. is headquartered in London.

It claims to be the second largest bank by market capitalization and seventh largest in terms of asset size.

HSBC has 9,500 offices in 80 countries around the world.

check this out. an awesome video presentation of New York based IT Company in the Philippines. :okay:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7319148119124553965&q=cebu

PeopleSupport buys transcription firm

The local unit of Nasdaq-listed call center company PeopleSupport, Inc. is branching out to non-voice service with the acquisition of US-based transcription and captioning company Rapidtext, Inc. and its subsidiary, The Transcription Co.

About 90% of the operation of PeopleSupport is in the Philippines with 4,000 call center agents.

In a statement, PeopleSupport Chairman and Chief Executive Lance Rosenzweig said the acquisition is aligned with its strategy to enter new business process outsourcing markets and diversify its offerings with specialized voice-to-text services.

"We are excited about this combination which broadens our [outsourcing] service offering. Rapidtext is an excellent fit with PeopleSupport, as transcription and captioning services are a natural extension of our 24x7 [outsourcing] operation," Mr. Rosenzweig said.

He said PeopleSupport intends to offer additional services and capabilities through its operations in the Philippines.

"Transcription and captioning services can be conducted from remote locations and in many cases require a turnaround within 24 hours, which we are ideally suited to provide," he added.

The Rapidtext transcription services are currently provided to over 1,000 customers in several markets.

This includes transcription and captioning services for clients in insurance, law enforcement, entertainment, education, and medical markets.

For the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2005, Rapidtext’s revenues were approximately $9.5 million.

PeopleSupport Philippines President Raneiro M. Borja was not immediately available for comment.

But in a previous interview, Mr. Borja said the company is aggressive in looking at other markets to increase the utilization of its seats.

The firm operates a five-story PeopleSupport Center in Makati City that can accommodate up to 4,000 agents, five floors at the Robinsons Summit Center also in Makati City, and an 800-seat operation inside the AsiaTown IT Park in Cebu City.

Siemens aims to double staff in QC call center

Siemens, Inc. said it is eyeing to double the work force in its new call center in Quezon City by yearend.

The company yesterday launched its new information technology outsourcing division in Manila. Siemens Inc. is a unit of Siemens AG of Germany. It infused a minimum of P250 million for its new call center.

"We decided to put up a call center in the Philippines to extend our operations within Asia. We believe the Philippines has the strongest potential for growth," Siemens President and Chief Executive Tertius Vermeulen told reporters in a briefing in Makati City yesterday.

The call center will be housed in the Eastwood City Cyberpark in Libis, Quezon City and will initially have 450 seats, but the company is projecting that this would double by the end of the year.

"At least 1,000 new jobs would be created because of this project," Mr. Vermeulen said.

Alexander Langhans, vice-president and head of global operations service desk, said the firm is satisfied with the English proficiency of Filipino workers. He said the company has already hired 340 employees. "We are extremely pleased with the [Filipino work force]. Local employees are comparable with the capabilities of those in the United States," he said.

But Mr. Vermeulen said, there is still room for Filipino employees to improve their English language skills as well as their technological know-how. Filipino workers "still need to improve the level of their technology knowledge as well as their English fluency," he said.

Currently, Siemens AG has about 10 existing call centers around the world which employs 3,500 workers. Its satellite call center offices can be found in the US, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Canada, Turkey, and Singapore. -- Jennifer A. Ng



Davao City’s first call center to hire more employees

DAVAO CITY -- With a plan to go full blast this year, the city’s first call center has announced hiring additional employees to fill up seats.

G-Com Ltd., operated by US-based Cyber City Teleservices Ltd., has set up a hiring booth at the SM City Davao to recruit at least 175 call center agents in the next two months, the regional office of the Department of Trade and Industry said. It said the hiring of new agents is part of the company’s plan to go into 24-hour operation. The 175 seats would be added to the 140 seats that have been occupied since the company opened in 2004.

James Down, Cyber City Teleservices Ltd. service excellence director, was in the city to evaluate the applicants who lined up during the weekend at the company’s booth inside the mall.

He, however, said applicants are limited to females who are college graduates, fluent in English or Spanish, know how to reason out and must be friendly, upbeat and courteous and willing to work on a shifting schedule. The applicants should also be professional and good worth ethic, he said.

Before the company opened in the city, it recruited employees, which it trained in its call center in Clark, Pampanga.

Mr. Down said his company has continued expanding because the Filipinos’ hospitality has become a plus factor in the call center business. He said Filipino agents "even go an extra mile" in dealing with customers.

Although the Philippines has a lot of catching-up to do in the industry currently paced by India, Mr. Down is confident the country will soon have a multi-billion dollar business because its people "are able to understand the problems" of their customers and are capable of dealing with them. -- Carmelito Q. Francisco



PeopleSupport to transfer Rapidtext operation to RP

Nasdaq-listed call center company PeopleSupport, Inc. will transfer the operations of its recently acquired US transcription company to the Philippines over the next two years.

Last week, PeopleSupport headquarters in Los Angeles, California said it completed the acquisition of Newport Beach, California-based Rapid Rapidtext, Inc. and its subsidiary, The Transcription Co.

In an interview, PeopleSupport Philippines President Raneiro M. Borja said the local facility started doing transcription works for Rapidtext customers since December, even before the formal announcement, to become familiar with the work process.

About 90% of PeopleSupport’s operations is in the Philippines, with 4,000 call center agents.

Mr. Borja said over the next two years all the transcription operations of Rapidtext, with 200 to 300 seats, will be transferred to the Philippines to increase use of day time seats.

The Rapidtext transcription services are currently provided to over 1,000 customers in several markets. This includes transcription and captioning services for clients in insurance, law enforcement, entertainment, education, and medical markets. -- Maricel E. Estavillo

Outsourcing is the fastest growing industry in the Philippines, with government officials and industry players forecasting sales to grow fivefold to $12.41 billion by 2010 from $2.49 billion last year.

By February, the Philippines will have 150 call center companies, where the number of seats rose to 70,000 last year from 40,000 in 2004, according to the Department of Trade and Industry. By comparison, there were three million seats in US-based call centers and over 200,000 in India in 2004.

I hope we capture a large chunk of the Animation sector and Medical transcription sector this year. Actually, I can see the beginning of the growth of medical transcriptioning in Pinas now that the Philippine-based People Support has completed the acquisition of rapidtext transcription company.

STI invades the call center industry

SCHOOL at daytime. Call center at nighttime.

This will be the new venture of System Technology Institute (STI), an information technology school, starting next month.

In opening a call center business, STI will open jobs to its own graduates and even to the general public. The idea is to bring affordable education to the students and employment to the people.

The 80 STI campuses nationwide, which operate as education and training institutions by day will be transformed into call centers by night. Once established, these call centers are expected to create at least 4,000 seats.
"We're going to awaken those computers at night and use them to help secure employment for our students first and for the public in general," Monico Jacob, STI chairman said. He said they will start the pilot call center in the Makati campus by February and roll it out nationwide within the year.
Jacob said STI's plan to join the call center industry affirms the school's confidence in the strength of the Philippines as a hub of the $100-billion global customer care operations.

STI recently had a partnership with the California-based solutions provider Five9 and John F. Kennedy (JFK) Center Foundation to provide world-class training to Filipino students wanting to work in contact/ call centers. The long-term goal is to turn the Philippines into a global-customer care capital of the world next to India.

Jacob said the support of Five9 and JFK puts STI in the best position to provide the infrastructure and human resources in developing the call-center business as a cottage industry in the provinces.

Under the agreement, 80 centers will be put up in STI facilities, each with a minimum of 50 seats, with Five9 providing the technology and JFK the training of STI graduates prior to their employment as call center agents.
The plan to open call centers, Monico said, is consistent with the school's "enrollment-to-employment" vision, wherein students are fully prepared for actual working conditions to ensure their chances of getting hired.

Rigoberto Tiglao, Philippine Ambassador to Greece and former Presidential Management Staff chief said the partnership was forged to develop 400 to 500 small to medium-sized call center in the countryside that will generate an additional 88,000 jobs by 2008.

The Jobs Generations Office, under the Office of the President, signed a memorandum of agreement with Five9, JFK Center Foundation-Philippines and STI to drive employment activities in the ICT sector.

Under the agreement, the government will provide the policy environment; Five9, the technology; JFK, the training; and STI, the infrastructure and manpower.(Press release)

Source: Sunstar Iloilo 1/18

Pushed by the call center boom, 14 new business districts are rising in Metro Manila.

Combined, these emerging locations will add about 1,300 hectares of developed land, alternatives to the already congested Makati City and Ortigas Center, according to data from property consultancy firm Leechiu & Associates Inc.

Leading the development are big-ticket real estate firms -- the same ones which took the brunt of the 1997 Asian crisis but now with renewed optimism from a sudden rise in office demand.

"All of these have solid developers behind them, with deep pockets, long-term vision and track record to build buildings that are at least the same if not better than the ones you find in Makati. These buildings will be better able to address the needs of tenants," said David T. Leechiu, president and general manager.

Megaworld

First in the list is Megaworld Corp. After its successful bet on Eastwood City in Libis in Quezon City, the listed firm is now focusing on the 50-hectare McKinley Hill Cyber Park in Taguig City and the 25-hectare New Port City in Pasay City.

Designed for a mixed-use development, office construction for New Port is expected to start either late next year or 2007 after McKinley Hill, Megaworld investor relation officer John T. Hao said.

New Port is a joint venture between Megaworld and state-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

"We don’t have the final plan yet for the office development in New Port but we are expecting a dozen more IT buildings to rise in that area," he said. Along with office buildings, development will also include residences and hotels.

Office construction in McKinley is set to start early next year, to run for seven to ten years.

Megaworld has already set aside some P8.2 billion for McKinley Hill. It plans to put up at least 2,000 square meters of office space, mostly for call center and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies and to build retail shops and condominiums in the area, replicating the Eastwood City development.

Prospective company locators in McKinley Hill include new ones and those operating in the Eastwood City CyberPark that are gunning for expansion.

"This is for our future clients and existing clients in Eastwood which want to expand but still choose to locate inside Metro Manila," Mr. Hao said.

Eastwood has about 60 technology company locators, employing some 12,000 to 15,000 people.

McKinley is just a piece of a bigger emerging business district in Taguig City -- the mixed-use 41-hectare Fort Bonifacio Global City that is now controlled and managed by Ayala Land, Inc. and Evergreen Holdings, Inc. of the Campos Group.

"The Ayala-Campos consortium provides credibility and foundation for sustained development and it has high potential for capital appreciation in the mid-term," Mr. Leechiu said.

At present, office facilities in Fort Bonifacio are 100% occupied and upcoming buildings such as Net Square are already pre-sold, with strong interest coming from large multinational tenants wanting 8,000 square meters and up of office space.

Araneta Center promoted

In Quezon City, meanwhile, Araneta Center Inc. (ACI) is now aggressive in promoting its 35-hectare Araneta Center as a premier business location.

In its master plan, an eight-hectare Cyber Park will be developed on the land where the Elephant World, Fiesta Carnival and parking space fronting the Coliseum are located. The Cyber Park has been initially planned to house up to 10 office buildings.

Most of these prospective buildings are for build-to-suit development on which construction will start as the market asks, ACI leasing manager Eugenio C. Barcelona said.

Next year, it will convert the 3,000-square meter old SeaFood Market Restaurant -- now called the Expo Centro -- into a call center location. This is a one-floor facility located at the corner of EDSA and McArthur Street.

It is also looking at converting a portion of the top floor of the Ali Mall, which now hosts cinemas, into office facilities to meet urgent demand from the industry. These will add to the four-floor office facility at the Gateway Mall, which is now fully occupied by BPO firm Accenture Philippines.

ACI is also looking at expanding the Gateway and the Plaza Fair buildings, to make way for the Gateway Office Tower.

Mandaluyong developments

In Mandaluyong City, Campos-led Greenfield has EDSA Central and Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) is in the process of creating a mixed-use complex.

At an estimated cost of P2 billion, Greenfield will build a 12-storey and 35,000-square meter office building called EDSA Central IT Park by first quarter next year. It has also started the development of the two-storey and 16,000-square meter EDSA Central IT Center II that will replace Uniwide mall, located at the corner of United Street and EDSA.

These will add to the operational EDSA Central IT Center, which is composed of two buildings with a combined floor area of 36,393 square meters.

Meanwhile, RLC’s 28-storey office building for call centers and BPO firms, Robinsons Cybergate Center (RCC) Tower 2, will be completed by third quarter next year. This will replicate the already sold out RCC Tower 1.

These office buildings are part of RLC’s mixed-use community that includes Robinsons Place Pioneer Mall and RLC’s residential condominiums -- One Gateway Place, Gateway Garden Ridge and Gateway Garden Heights.

In Pasay City, Federal Land is pitching its 45-hectare Metropolitan Business Park as the next business destination.

"We are also looking at call centers and technology companies as tenants in our future office buildings. Our buildings in Makati City such as Philippine AXA Life Center and GT Tower are already 100%- occupied," said Ramon Aldaba, Federal first vice-president for sales and marketing.

Development for Metropolitan Business Park will run for 25 years. Mr. Aldaba said it has already started commercial and residential developments.

Mall developer SM Investments Corp. has also waded into office construction with its 10-storey building for call centers and BPO, to be located at the SM Central Business Park in Bay City in Pasay.

Targeted for completion by third quarter of 2007, the building, dubbed the SM Call Center Building, will have a total floor space of 55,000 square meters on a 1.2-hectare piece of land.

Other emerging business districts include Greenhills in San Juan, Rockwell Center in Makati City, Aseana IT Business Park and AsiaWorld City along the Manila-Cavite Coastal Rd. Filinvest Corporate City in Alabang, Muntinlupa.

Districts to rise in attractiveness

"The trend has started and over the course of the next ten years these districts will become more attractive locations. I think the take-up will be gradual, over a 2.5- to three-year period, because it will be unlikely for tenants to flock too far away from Makati or Ortigas so soon. Decision makers do not like drastic change, gradual, until the critical mass is achieved," Mr. Leechiu said.

Office supply in the 14 emerging business districts is increasing. By 2007, it is expected that these districts will account for 13% of the total office supply in the country. Makati will get 62% and Ortigas Center will get 25%, he said.

The figure is an increase from the current 9%, Makati City’s 61% and Ortigas Center’s 26%. The consolidated annual demand for office space in Metro Manila is pegged at 150,000 square meters per annum.

Also, the emergence of these new business districts are expected to lead to a gradual decline in land values in Makati City and Ortigas Center as competition cuts into rental rates.

Office rental rates in Metro Manila are expected to peak in 2010 and 2011 but are expected to correct either in 2012 or 2013.

Prime buildings such as Ayala Triangle Tower One & Exchange Plaza, The Enterprise Centre, Philamlife Tower, and RCBC Plaza -- are now testing the P700 per square meter monthly lease, from P600 currently.

Grade A buildings are also trying to push up lease rates to P500 to P600 from P400 to P450. Grade A buildings in the Makati CBD are 6750 Ayala Avenue Office Tower, Philamlife Tower, and PBCom Tower while Grade A facilities in Ortigas Center are Antel Global Corporate Center, Discovery Center, and Wynsum Corporate Tower.

Current lease rates are significantly higher, almost 70%, from the P280 per square meter during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

http://itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=122805a

STI invades the call center industry
SCHOOL at daytime. Call center at nighttime.
hope that this would be a success.

^$ for the owner tho

Cebu pushed as global BPO hub

The Philippine Star 01/22/2006

Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas wants national economic development planners to further build up Cebu as a global business process outsourcing (BPO) hub, saying a lot more could be done to help promote the province?s qualities as an ideal location for information technology (IT)-enabled service industries.

"Cebu can take in more BPO providers. The province has all the attributes needed by BPO providers ? a business-friendly local policy environment, extensive infrastructure, efficient connectivity and adequate human resources," Gullas said.

Gullas, a former provincial governor, also said that with highly competitive office rent and wages, doing business in Cebu is more cost-effective compared to Metro Manila.

"Cebu is the center of higher learning in Visayas and Mindanao. We produce thousands of English speaking, high work ethic, computer literate and Internet savvy college graduates each year," Gullas pointed out.

At present, Gullas lamented that over 80 percent of BPO providers operating in the country are based in Metro Manila.

Cebu now hosts 12 call centers, including those operated by US-based global BPO providers Convergys Corp., Sykes Enterprises Inc., eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. and PeopleSupport Inc.

Convergys? Cebu call center is in Banawa, Cebu City, while Sykes? is in Subangdaku, Mandaue City.

The Cebu call centers of eTelecare and PeopleSupport are both at the Ayala Corp.-owned, 24-hectare Asiatown IT Park in Lahug, Cebu City.

Apart from their four call centers in Cebu, the four global BPO providers combined also operate 14 call centers in Metro Manila.

Gullas, meanwhile, urged the Central Visayas Regional Development Council (RDC) and the Commission on Higher Education to draw up a plan to further hone Cebu?s competitive edge as an outsourcing hub.

"Going forward, we have to reinforce the skill sets of our college graduates, for them to readily qualify for more IT-enabled service jobs. For instance, we may have to identify and invigorate two or three local universities as potential centers for English mastery and engineering proficiency," Gullas said.

He also prodded the RDC to help identify more buildings in Cebu that may qualify for IT zone status.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority recently lowered from 5,000 to 2,000 square meters the minimum floor size of a building outside Metro Manila and Metro Cebu that may seek IT zone status.

IT zone locators enjoy income tax holidays, tax-free capital equipment importation, exemption from local governments imposts, simplified customs procedure and permanent residency for foreign investors, among other perks.

TRG to put up two more business outsourcing sites

Washington-based business process outsourcing firm The Resource Group (TRG) will put up two more facilities in the country this year, in addition to its newly set up office in Pasig City.

Yesterday, TRG inaugurated its 36,000-square feet and four-floor facility in Hanston Building in Ortigas Center. This has 850 seats and employ some 700 people.

Shuja Keen, TRG head of global business development and chairman of TRG Phils., said two more facilities are in the pipeline. TRG will start to fill in later this year all seven floors of MCJ Plaza in Makati City for its 1,500-seat requirement.

For its third site, TRG will consider a provincial location.

Mr. Keen said investment per seat is anywhere between $5,000 and $7,000.

In a separate interview, TRG Philippines Managing Director Arnold S. Bagabaldo said the company intends to close the year with total 2,000 seats or about 3,000 people.

BusinessWorld first reported in August last year that TRG was interested in tapping the Philippines as its next outsourcing site.

Mr. Keen came in July to explore the country’s potential. TRG also operates a 700-seat business process outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary in Pakistan.

TRG Philippines was established on September 30 after the US-based firm acquired Callworx, which was the original locator in Hanston Building.

Callworx, a 220-seat provider of call center infrastructure and technical requirements, was then managed and owned by Mr. Bagabaldo and partners Vertex and Tridel.

"From a mere 24-seat company, Callworx grew to a 220-seat company in two years upon set up. But we realized that we could not grow any more unless we partner with a big player. So in September, we went out and began entertaining investors," said Mr. Bagabaldo.

TRG was the third company that expressed interest to partner with Callworx. But he said decision was swift, in favor of TRG.

"It was supposed to be just a visit. But the meeting turned out to be a high-level, and in the next six days, there were 18-hour ’mini’ due diligence in a day. And after six days, the deal was closed," he said.

Vertex and Tridel sold their shares to TRG for an undisclosed amount. Mr. Bagabaldo exchanged his shares for TRG shares and was appointed managing director of the new company.

Callworx started in 2002 with a capital of $100,000.

Some of the global investors in TRG are AIG Global Investment and International Finance Corp. of the World Bank group.

Aside from operating a BPO arm, TRG also invests in companies via acquisition and capital infusion ranging from $500,000 to $100 million. The Philippine facility serves clients from the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

It specializes in providing voice and data support to companies in the automotive, financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, insurance, technology, retail and e-commerce, telecommunications, consumer products and the public sector.

US firm to put up call center in RP


United States-based Lane Archive Technologies Corp., an international movement storage provider, said it would operate a business process out-sourcing business in the Philippines this year as part of its expansion program.

Brian Lane, Lane Archive’s vice president for sales and marketing, told reporters in an interview Tuesday that the company is currently finalizing its plans and would start operations before the end of this year.

“This project will not create much employment since this is not labor intensive, but we will bring in modern software technologies and this is where we are going to rely heavily,” Lane said.

He would not give exact investment figures, but said the expansion in the Philippines would be a “multimillion-dollar investment.”

A separate investment under the Tempus Online will be serving Lane Archive, the parent company in BPO services, for its movement storage. Tempus Online, which is annexed to Lane Archive’s facility in Mamplasan, Laguna, will also be applying for government incentives with the Board of Investments, Lane said.

Lane Archive (formerly File Managers Inc.) has earlier invested P130 million to run an integrated logistics service facilities at the Laguna International Industrial Park (LIIP). The project has secured incentives from the Board of Investments because it is considered the first of its kind in providing on a commercial scale top-of-the-line services, which include global speed lock racking system; computerized data management system; closed-circuit television surveillance system as well as digital fire detection and control system, among others.

Lane Archive will be building a special-purpose building in LIIP. It’s major clients include banks, hospitals, real-estate companies, solutions providers and cosmetics companies. The company is entitled to enjoy six-year income-tax holiday under the BOI after it secured a pioneer status.

In a related development, European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP) and public relations firm EON Inc. will spearhead an English advocacy campaign to improve English communication skills of young Filipinos to sustain the growing demand for business process outsour*cing such as the Lane Archive.
--Angelo S. Samonte

Canada firm ties up with locals to set up Bacolod call center

BACOLOD CITY -- A Canadian computer telephony solutions provider has partnered with local businessmen here to form Interactive Outsource Asia, Inc. (I/O) Asia and put up the first contact center in this city.

Frank Lai, vice-president and general manager of Montreal-based GoldTech Computer Telephony, Inc., led a team here on Tuesday to finalize negotiations for the opening of a call center in March. GoldTech is the exclusive distributor for Telephony@Work, which offers computer telephony solutions for call centers and companies such as CallCenter@nywhere.

"Support is coming from all sectors of the city, through the IT focus team. This is the principal reason for choosing Bacolod as location [of the call center]," he said.

City councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, who chairs the Bacolod information technology focus team, said I/O Asia will initially pour in P200 million and will hire more than 300 people.

"They have studied the viability of operating here. They want to be the first to put up a call center in Bacolod," she said.

I/O Asia targets to open its call center on March 16, or about a month before Teleperformance’s target, she added. The local unit of Teleperformance, one of the largest contact center outsourcing firms in the US, earlier announced it will set up a call center in this city within the next four months.

Ms. Sigue said Mr. Lai and other GoldTech executives were expected to return next week to finalize the lease contract. Neither she nor Mr. Lai would disclose the location of the planned call center.

In a talk with reporters, Mr. Lai said officials believed they would easily find trainable people for the call center because there are a lot of highly educated and English-speaking residents here. "I like the English of the Bacolodnons. We are very interested to put our company here so we can help the people here. We also feel very welcome here," he said.

The I/O Asia call center will provide back-office customer support and sales and marketing services to the North American, Asian and Philippine markets.

Ms. Sigue, meanwhile, was optimistic the call center sector will soon emerge as a major source of employment in the city.

Earlier, she said representatives of a call center and a medical transcription facility were evaluating the capability of Bacolod to host their operations.



Call center expands business, hires agents from Zamboanga

Representatives of Cyber City Teleservices Limited (CCTL) recently visited Zamboanga City in search of female call center agents to complement its expansion program in the Philippines.

CCTL is a provider of customer relationship management (CRM) services and solutions including inbound and outbound offshore call center and business process outsourcing (BPO) services based in New Jersey and California, USA.

Today, CCTL is one of the largest call centers in the country, with its operations at the Clark Special Economic Zone in Pampanga and its Davao-based affiliate, G-Com Limited, employing almost 5,000 agents.

The Philippines remains to be a favorite destination of many American call center and outsourcing firms due to Filipinos’ proficiency in English.

A study in 2004 revealed that the country ranked sixth in the offshore location attractiveness index. The Philippines is the fourth choice location in Asia, preceded by India, China and Malaysia, the study stated.

At present, more than 50 contact center outsourcing providers are based in the Philippines. More call center and BPO firms are projected to set up operations in the country due to its cost-efficient, flexible and trainable manpower.

Learn English fast? Everyone else wants to!
INSIDE CEBU By Bobit S. Avila
The Philippine Star 01/27/2006

I?m four square behind the proposal of Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to promote English as the country?s medium of instruction. Sto. Tomas said in The Philippine STAR report of Mayen Jaymalin last Tuesday that education authorities should set aside nationalism and restore English as the country?s medium of instruction. I say it?s about time! By just learning how to speak English in this country guarantees you a well-paying job in a call center and yes, you do not have to leave your family or your home or country to do so.

If this happens, finally we can say that the Department of Education (DepEd) is on the right track because too many Filipinos have already lost this great advantage of being a nation of English-speakers. Thanks to many DepEd teachers who can hardly speak or write in good English, many students, too, hardly speak English. Yet, our neighboring countries like China, Korea and Japan are frantically trying to jump into the English bandwagon. Koreans, as you?ve already known, have established mini-schools just to learn the English language right here on our own shores!

But what about Filipino nationalism? First of all, let me point out that our kind of language nationalism is focused on only one spoken ethnic language?Tagalog. Hence we have always said that speaking Tagalog isn?t in our book of Filipino nationalism as it does away with the other ethnic languages of the Philippines, like Cebuano, Ilonggo, Waray, Bicolano or Ilocano. If we?ve not seen any Filipino unity, it is because the Tagalog nationalists promote only Tagalog nationalism, which is totally wrong!

What we need is for all Filipinos to respect all our spoken languages? this is what God ordained in the Old Testament, in Genesis during the Tower of Babel, and fulfilled in the New Testament during Pentecost Sunday where the people in the upper room spoke in tongues! Indeed, this is a Divine ordinance, which teaches us respect for one another. Alas, Tagalog nationalism has only brought the other spoken languages in the Philippines to the brink of extinction! Thanks to the pro-Tagalog only language policies brought forth by the Cory Aquino administration.

I attended a language workshop last November at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Cebu and I got a first-hand taste of Tagalog nationalists in the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) who bewailed the proposal of the Arroyo administration to make English the nation?s medium of instruction.

One professor bewailed this plan, saying, "If this is pushed through, Filipinos will soon become second-class citizens in their own land!" Well, I reacted to that statement, saying, "Thank you ma?am for finally, you will get a taste of how people in Cebu and the other non-Tagalog areas feel? that we, too, have become second-class citizens in our own land? because Tagalog, which is not the language of my birth, is being taught here, while Cebuanos are not allowed to learn their own spoken language!" Of course, those who espoused Tagalog nationalism told me I was wrong? but that?s the reality on the ground? If I love the Philippines, I can do so without having to learn Tagalog, but Cebuano? and so too with the rest of our countrymen who speak different languages. Respect our other spoken languages, and then we can see Filipino unity blossom!

imo, english should really be the country's medium of instruction.

ok, i think i missed something here. before i left the country in 1999, the medium of instruction in schools is english. when did they change it?

during Cory's time lang ata naging tagalog. Hindi ko rin alam kung totoong naging tagalog. Graduated in HS 1990 pero english pa rin naman gamit namin sa probinsiya. Hindi kasi ganun ka dali mag palit/translate ng mga libro from english to tagalog. The only tagalog subjects we have: Araling Panlipunan and Pilipino, the rest in English na.

^^ganun din sa amin. Filipino at HEKASI lang ang tinuturo sa Pilipino. that's why everytime i read an article just like the one above it makes me wonder kelan napalitan ang English as medium of instruction sa school.

me ilang schools ata na kahit science ang subject, teachers prefer speaking in tagalog. cyempre except scientific terms. taglish ang nangyayari.

When I was still in high school in the Philippines, they only class I had that was taught in Tagalog was Pilipino, all the rest was taught in English. Has English usage and proficiency really deteriorated that much in the Philippines? It's such a shame that it as come to that while the rest of non-native English speaking Asia is rapidly catching up to us, it truly is the end of an era if they have in fact truly surpassed us in that too.

Transnational BPO providers prefer Pinoy call center agents
By EDU H. LOPEZ

Transnational business process outsourcing (BPO) providers prefer Filipinos call center employees because of their superior work ethics and higher language skills.

Filipino call center employees work harder, are easier to train, have better language skills and are more devoted than their counterparts in India, according to a survey cited by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).

Based on a survey by a global staffing firm and a market research outfit, TUCP general secretary and former Sen. Ernesto Herrera said Filipino employees average only eight days of sick leave each year, while Indian workers report sick for 15 days.

The survey showed that Filipino agents are also considered more loyal, spending an average of 19 months with their firms, while Indians spend only 11 months.

Filipino personnel need only 19 days to fully train, whereas Indian staff take 24 days to train, thus forcing employers to spend more money for training.

Filipinos have better language skills, with 64 percent of Filipino agents able to speak more than two languages, while only 40 percent of Indians have multilingual skills.

Michigan-based Kelly Services Inc. and Singapore-based ACA Research Inc. conducted the survey.

"There is no question our call center workers, mostly young women, are outsmarting and outperforming their Indian counterparts," Herrera said.

"More important, the survey clearly shows that Filipinos are more cost-effective call center personnel. At the end of the day, worker productivity and overall cost-efficiency are the factors that matter most, in order for a labor-intensive, technology-enabled service operation to succeed financially," Herrera added.

Meanwhile, TUCP is endorsing initiatives to reinstate English as the medium of instruction in all school levels.

"English proficiency is a core human resource competency that we have to strengthen if we are to attract more BPO providers, particularly call center operators that deal with the customers of large American firms," Herrera stressed.

"In order to stay competitive, it is absolutely imperative for us to reinforce the English skills of young Filipinos joining the labor force each year," he said.

Even citizens of highly developed and technologically advanced countries such as South Korea are "passionately studying English," according to Herrera.

"Thousands of young Koreans visit the Philippines to get either formal or informal crash courses in English. This is why South Korea is now our biggest source of foreign tourists," he added.

India and the Philippines are fierce competitors in the global BPO market, particularly in call center operations.

Earlier, Amsterdam-based ING Group N.V., a global financial services company that provides an array of banking, insurance and asset management services in over 50 countries, bared plans to establish a major backoffice operation in Asia. The company said it would choose either India or the Philippines as the location.

The local BPO industry, which currently employs 233,000 workers, is expected to generate 103,000 new jobs this year, mainly in call centers, according to a Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) forecast.

The booming industry expects to generate .8 billion in revenues this year, 52 percent higher than last year’s revenues of .5 billion.

By 2010, the industry is expected to fully employ some 1.2 million Filipinos and generate up to .4 billion in annual revenues.

Call centers to provide
thousand jobs in Bulacan


MALOLOS CITY: Thousands of jobs will be created in the next three months in Bulacan as two call-center companies open for business, the provincial government said.

“We have better prospects in terms of investments this year,” Gov. Josie de la Cruz said referring to the call centers, one of which will open in April.

The governor said that the continuous influx of investors in Bulacan is a sign of confidence in the business climate in the province.

Bulacan has passed a provincial investment incentive ordinance giving investors a three-year tax holiday if they invest at least P50 million in the province.

Provincial administrator Gladys Sta. Rita told The Manila Times that the first call center is expected to rise in Marilao.

She said that Indian investors have expressed interest in establishing business in the province.

The investor, according to Sta. Rita, will need at least 1,000 operators who will work in three shifts.

Sta. Rita said the provincial government is opening speech classes at the Bulacan Polytechnic College for a minimal fee to train call-center workers.
--Dino Balabo

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/jan/20/yehey/prov/20060120pro7.html

nice news for Bulacan !

Baguio-based call center firm to expand seats within year

BAGUIO CITY -- Nam-Ay Ti Umili, Inc., a local firm, expects its call center operation to expand by 25% this year.

Nam-Ay Ti Umili expects its call center operation to grow to at least 50 seats from the current 40. The company started its call center operation only in November.

Rafael R. Orpilla, president, said the company may add more seats this year if negotiations with some Australian firms are concluded early this year. "Currently, our clients are all from the United States. But we’re now in negotiations with Australian firms," he said. He, however, declined to name the Australian firms.

He said while the company’s call center operation is still in the red at this time, he expects revenues to turn around and improve this year. He, however, refused to give an estimate as to how much the company may generate from its call center business.

Its US clients include E-Bridge Telecommunications, National Choice Co. and Wasabi Marketing Co.

Aside from its bid to cash in on the growing business process outsourcing sector, Mr. Orpilla said Nam-Ay Ti Umili is seeking to encourage professionals to remain in Baguio City. "We pay them rates that are at par with industry standards. We hope they will be enouraged to stay here," he said.

Nam-Ay Ti Umili is also engaged in micro-lending and business consulting. It is registered with the Baguio City Economic Zone and enjoys fiscal incentives, including the 5% gross income tax in lieu of all national and local taxes. -- Jennifer A. Ng

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

Call centers get creative
as worker pool shrinks

With the steady rise in demand draining the talent pool, call center firms are getting more aggressive and resourceful in recruiting agents.

Stock options, sign in bonuses, travel benefits and free gadgets such as cellular phones and portable music players are just some of the come-ons adopted recently.

TRG Philippines, a call center and business process outsourcing (BPO) firm, has even come up with a $1,000 image model tilt, in which finalists and grand prize winners will serve as the firm’s "ambassadors".

These recruitment packages and gimmicks were unheard five years ago when the industry was just starting up, with less than 10 operating firms and total work-force of less than 5,000.

There are now 90 such firms nationwide employing an estimated 100,000 people.

"We would imagine now that with the number of call centers sprouting like mushrooms around Metro Manila, the pool of candidates that we are considering continues to shrink," Sykes Enterprises, Inc. said.

Sykes has a workforce of about 7,000 in Pasig, Makati, Quezon and Cebu cities.

Sykes said that it can no longer rely solely on traditional sources of applicants -- job fairs, newspaper advertisements, e-mails and walk-ins.

Convergys Philippines recruitment manager Wak Laqui said his firm has evolved its promotional efforts from traditional -- help wanted ads -- to non-traditional.

"We utilize public billboards, roving van ads and backlit streamers located at the city’s busiest streets to attract applicants. With supporting promotions ... Convergys makes its presence felt to all possible applicants," Mr. Laqui said.

Both Sykes and Convergys confirmed the benefits of giving away freebies.

"No doubt incentives and freebies do help in attracting candidates, especially that majority of our employees are fresh graduates. They are definitely attracted to all sorts of gadgets," Sykes said.

"Incentives play a key role in driving the behaviors in the desired direction and what better motivation than variable pay."

Mr. Laqui said "Giving additional incentives or freebies does increase the number of applicants. Convergys has explored that possibility, and it does provide an additional incentive for applicants to come in ... It gives potential employees another reason to apply--you get paid even before you start working."

Philippine call center earnings may overtake India's
Posted: 3:00 AM | Feb. 10, 2006

Ronnel W. Domingo
Inquirer

THE Philippine call center industry may overtake India's in terms of earnings as foreign investors continue to locate in the country, an industry research firm said.

Philippine call centers can match by end-2007, not in 2008 as previously projected, the $3.2 billion annual revenue posted by call centers in India, said Lauro Vives, global managing partner of XMG Inc.



"That is achievable if current factors like earnings per seat remained," Vives said.

"Still, we should not be comparing the country to India, but rather to similar markets like those of Brazil, Mexico and Russia," he said.

He said India was in a different league than Malaysia and China in terms of what they can offer in services, infrastructure and businesses in general.

XMG senior analyst Cesar Tolentino said call centers accounted for about half of the total earnings from information technology-enabled services (ITES) in the Philippines.

"Of the estimated $1.8 billion ITES earnings in 2005, call centers contributed $1 billion, or about 56 percent, Tolentino said.

He said call center earnings grew 16.3 percent in 2005 from $860 million in 2004, when the sector contributed 72 percent of total $1.2 billion in ITES revenues.

"For this year, we expect total ITES earnings to reach $2.3 billion, of which call centers would account for up to $1.7 billion," Tolentino said.

He added that the estimate for call center earnings in 2006 was conservative, being based on the assumption that no new investments would come in for the remainder of the year. "In fact, there are several investors that are planning to set up operations here," he said.

Vives earlier said ITES earnings was expected to grow by about 33 percent this year as the country continued to attract foreign businesses.

He said ITES providers would be wise to reposition their businesses amid a trend of "backsourcing," switching from outsourced services to internal back-office operations.

He added that with heightened awareness on the capabilities of Asia-Pacific countries and the increasing internal tolerance for risks in operating offshore, several organizations that have previously outsourced multi-year contracts with overseas operators would set up their own outfits abroad to meet internal business process and IT needs.

http://money.inq7.net/topstories/view_topstories.php?yyyy=2006&mon=02&dd=10&file=8

From IndiaDaily.com

Philippines could corner as many as 450,000 call center jobs from the offshoring operations of large United States corporations over the next five years

Media Release
Feb. 19, 2006

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said the Philippines could corner as many as 450,000 call center jobs from the offshoring operations of large United States corporations over the next five years.

US firms are under enormous pressure to cut costs and boost shareholder returns and may eventually decide to offshore or outsource up to 1.5 million US-based call center seats that are now being staffed by Americans, said TUCP general secretary Ernesto Herrera.

Our projection is that US firms will find ways to offshore to low-wage English-speaking countries about 50 percent, or 1.5 million, of all call center seats now based in the US, Herrera, a former senator, said.

He said that with the Westernized culture of college-educated Filipinos, we should get 30 percent of the seats. The US has at present more than three million call center seats, most of them in-house, supporting the operations of large companies that routinely deal with millions of customers.

Philippines favored for call centers
Beting Laygo Dolor, Feb 01, 2006

MANILA – If the recent Pacquiao-Morales war was seen by some as a one-on-one between the Philippines and Mexico, then the ongoing battle for call center jobs is also some kind of showdown, this time between India and our homeland.

The good news is the country that produced Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao is also winning this face-off in a big way.

A survey by global staffing firm Kelly Services, Inc., a Troy, Michigan-based Fortune 500 company, shows that the Philippines has been grabbing a growing share of call center jobs from traditional provider India.

India is no longer the first choice for U.S. companies looking to set up some of their backroom operations abroad. More and more, they are eyeing the Philippines as the better site because Filipinos are proving to be better workers.

Filipinos, according to the study, are superior to their Indian counterparts in three areas:

* They are “healthier” as the average Filipino call center worker only uses eight days of sick leave per year, compared to 15 days for Indians;
* They are more loyal to their employers, as Filipino call center workers spend an average of 19 months with their firms, as compared to only 11 months for their Indian counterparts; and,
* They have better language skills, with 64 percent of Filipino call center agents able to speak more than two languages, whereas only 40 percent of Indians have multilingual skills.

“Our call center workers, mostly young women, are outsmarting and outperforming their Indian counterparts,” according to Trade Union Congress of the Philippines secretary-general and former senator Ernesto Herrera. The TUCP is the country’s largest labor organization.

The Kelly Services study was done in partnership with Singapore-based ACA Research, Inc., a market research agency.

The study also found that Filipinos take less time to train, meaning foreign-based employers have to spend less for training.

“The survey clearly shows that Filipinos are more cost-effective call center personnel,” said Herrera, “At the end of the day, worker productivity and overall cost-efficiency are the factors that matter most, in order for a labor-intensive, technology-enabled service operation to succeed financially.”

In an earlier interview with Philippine News, Damian Domingo Mapa, head of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), confirmed that the Philippines was grabbing market share from India, due to other unquantifiables.

“Generally, Filipinos’ spoken English is better understood by Americans,” he said.

It is the CICT’s job to unify all government agencies involved in IT and offer incentives to companies involved in call center operations.


Forecast: more than one million jobs by 2010



Both Herrera and Mapa cited a forecast by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines that by 2010, more than a million Filipinos would be employed in the call center industry, generating more than $12 billion in revenues.

At present, there are an estimated 130,000 call center jobs in the country.

Already, call centers are moving out of the Makati Central Business District, to such areas as Alabang and Ortigas, said Mapa. Some are even locating in Cebu, and looking at Davao.

Just how successful is the Philippines in grabbing jobs away from Indian companies?

A recent Asia Wall St. Journal article said that Indian call centers had started to veer away from that part of operations where a local had to take incoming – or in some cases, outgoing – calls, in favor of technical support.

Indians, it must be noted, are schooled in the “British” style of English, as against Filipinos who are more well-versed in the American or international style of English.

(“It’s the only kind of English!” the Indians insist. “It came from England!”)

Formally known as transnational business process outsourcing, call center jobs involve locals answering incoming calls from the clients of foreign-based companies. The U.S. is the biggest source of call center jobs for India and the Philippines, although there has been a growing trend for other countries to farm out such jobs elsewhere.

Of late, Japanese, Arab and Chinese companies have been taking their first steps with outsourcing, the hitch being their use of their own languages rather than the international language of English.

If the forecast of one million call center jobs by 2010 is realized, this would mean that one out of every 100 Filipinos would be employed in the industry. More importantly, this would translate to greater economic stability, which in turn would spell political stability.

While pitifully small by American standards, the average pay of $250 to $300 a month for a call center agent – who comprises the bulk of call center workers – is considered more than decent by present Philippine standards.

The per capita income in the Philippines is still below $1,000 per annum, although this was once breached in the mid-‘90s.

Meanwhile, the TUCP is endorsing the reinstatement of English as the medium of instruction in all school levels.

good news. ^Believe ako sa galeng ng mga pilipino. at sa mga kagagohan at kasakiman ng mga ilang mga pinuno kuno.

Oo nga eh! Kaya natin to. :cheers:

good news. ^Believe ako sa galeng ng mga pilipino. at sa mga kagagohan at kasakiman ng mga ilang mga pinuno kuno.

I hope more call center firms would venture outside Metro Manila.
This industry can be the biggest contributor to economic decentralization.

Para hindi na masyado umaasa ang mga tao sa Maynila. (Mamatay na sana si Binay)

^Oo nga eh dito sa Pampanga, namamayagpag ang Clark sa high-tech-ness. (mamatay na si Binay)

^^ kasali na rin cebu dyan! 12 call centers and counting... (patay na si binay) :D

mabute kailangan ilibing na si binay

HP call center in makati is supporting the company I am working with. Dahil sa gulo ayon wala silang pasok sa Makati, nag onsite na lang sila sa company namin hanggang ngayon yata. Kainis talaga yang Binay na yan!

Marikina City gets its first call center locator

Nasdaq-listed ICT Group, Inc. has started operation of its third site inside the Riverbanks Center in Marikina City, making it the first industry locator in the city.

For its latest site, ICT is using the 5,000-square meter office building developed by Marikina-based property developer Riverbanks Development Corp.

This used to be a factory of Universal Textile Mills, Inc., part of the 14-hectare property that Riverbanks Development bought from the textile company.

"ICT is already using one-fourth of the building, while the remaining space is still being developed," Riverbanks Development President Meneleo J. Carlos Jr. told BusinessWorld in an interview.

In a statement, ICT said the Marikina facility is expected to have up to 800 seats in operation by middle of this year.

As a pioneer call center locator in the two-hectare Riverbanks Center, ICT can leverage on the center’s strategic position.

It is currently being developed as the next business district in Metro Manila and it is also near the university area, counting Ateneo de Manila, University of the Philippines, Miriam College, and the Philippine School of Business Administration, among others.

ICT’s operation in Marikina City will add to the combined 1,500 seats ICT operates in its two sites in Makati City and in Ortigas Center, which began operation in April 2003 and in July 2004, respectively.

The three sites support ICT clients in the US, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

The company targets its Philippine operation to account for over 25% of its global production by the fourth quarter, an increase from 17% in the same period last year.

"We are pleased with the rapid expansion of our Philippines operations, which experienced call volume increases of over 50% in the fourth quarter of 2005 compared to the prior-year period," said John J. Brennan, chairman and chief executive of the ICT Group.

Furthermore, ICT Group said that it is now looking at opening its fourth site outside Metro Manila by middle of this year.

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

Look how the opportunist oppositionists hampered the business growth catalyst in the Philippines:
Sun Microsystem Postpones Java in Manila:

http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=022706c

^^ Haha! Malapit sa amin yan!! Its only 5 minute ride to Riverbanks. :lol:

I really hope we corner more than 1M call center jobs by 2010.
Let's say a call center agent earns 15,000 (some earns, 12K, some 20K, some even more) on the average every month.
Imagine how much money this industry would be pouring in for their 1M employees every month. 15 Billion tama ba? (1,000,000 x 15,000 = 15,000,000,000) Ang daming zeros! hahahahah!

Seriously, that's major earnings for our workforce and it would definitely create a ripple effect on other sectors of our economy as well. Thank God for call centers.

^^ The opposition rarely thought about what our call centers can bring to the economy.

They're busy sourgraping over GMA's success.

they're busy sourgraping about everything.. :P the 1M call center seats are good but the government should also aim for other jobs.. business process outsourcing or software development would bring in even more income.. and the 15B pesos is on the low side based on your computations.. cuz the 15k a month salary would be the base salary, most project managers and other higher positions earn even more than 3x as much as that..

so this industry really has the potential to give so much more to our economy..

Hey, our animation industry is budding once again and there is a reason to be happy because they are also given much more emphasis at present than before. Software development wouldn't be a problem because there is a pool of IT graduates to supply it. Construction industry is on the rise because of the construction boom not only in MM but in the countrysides as well. Tourist arrivals increased and infrastructures spent on tourism are trying to cope up. Shipbuilding and exporting industries are getting more attention as well.

Transportation industry like the Roro. Malaking tulong yun sa pagbawas ng gastos sa transportation. I tried RORO to boracay before and what took about almost a day of travel now takes 12 hours and we spent as much as half the transport costs compared to a ferry and about a quarter if you travel by plane. In addition, it created more jobs too because shipping, trucking and bus companies are hiring more people to be drivers, conductors, crews and captains. They are buying more vessels and vehicles to accomodate the growing volume of traffic in both land and sea routes between Luzon and Visayas.

they're busy sourgraping about everything.. :P the 1M call center seats are good but the government should also aim for other jobs.. business process outsourcing or software development would bring in even more income.. and the 15B pesos is on the low side based on your computations.. cuz the 15k a month salary would be the base salary, most project managers and other higher positions earn even more than 3x as much as that..

so this industry really has the potential to give so much more to our economy..

Yeah I know. It's a pretty conservative estimate but still, 1 Million individuals with strong purchasing power is really something. My former colleague used to be an animator and Disney outsources their future animated shows here in the Philippines. So most of the Disney cartoons we're seeing now and would be seeing in the future are mostly Philippine made. Mabuhay ang Pilipino!

^^ Not only that, Japanimation too is coming over!! Doon natin matatalo ang India. ano say nila? :lol:

BPO eTelecare to hire 3,000 more agents, mulls new site

Call center firm eTelecare Global Solutions targets to hire at least 3,000 more agents for its Philippine operations this year as it snatched new big-ticket deals.

These agents will add to its present workforce in the country of 4,100 scattered in four locations. New agents will be tapped for sales, technical support and financial-related service requirements of eTelecare clients.

"We plan to hire well over 3,000 this year. We have won several major new Fortune 500 clients in the past few months plus our existing programs continue to grow," eTelecare Chairman Fred Ayala said in an e-mail reply to BusinessWorld.

To accommodate the growing workforce, Mr. Ayala said the company is looking at adding more floor space.

"We plan to expand in our existing locations as well as open a new site, probably in Alabang [Muntinlupa]," said Mr. Ayala.

At present, eTelecare has two facilities in Makati City in central Metro Manila, one facility in Eastwood CyberPark in Libis in eastern Metro Manila, and another in the AsiaTown IT Park in Lahug Cebu City in Central Visayas.

Abroad, eTelecare operates seven call center facilities in the United States.

Mr. Ayala said eTelecare is still interested to list either in the local or international.

"We are continuing to work on a listing by the end of this year, but this will depend on many things, including market conditions," he said.

On Monday, eTelecare appointed John R. Harris, 58, as President and Chief Executive.

Mr. Harris was previously a top executive at Electronic Data Systems (EDS), one of the pioneers of the IT outsourcing industry. During his 25 years with EDS, it grew from approximately $100 million in revenues to more than $19 billion.

Mr. Harris said: "I am very positive about joining eTelecare and looking forward to spending a lot of time in the Philippines."

Hello friends! Our company will finally set up its planned call center. However, we're having a difficulty finding a T1 line provider that can provide us with efficient and cost-effective service. I hope someone here can possibly refer us to a good T1 line provider. We'd greatly appreciate your help friends. :)

^^ there aren't too many companies providing this, the usual suspects, globe, pldt, digitel, bayantel, and the operators of the gateways like eastern telecom, you can ask the satellite companies but from what i know of the businness they prefer to use optic am not sure mabuhay does that much business in critical 24/7 linkups.

Monday, March 06, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Open House
BPO Trends and Predictions for 2006
By Nilo S. Cruz
Country Managing Director and
Technology Solutions Group Leader
HP Philippines

As Thomas Friedman pointed out in his book "The World is Flat," distance is becoming a shrinking barrier, markets are globalizing rapidly, and business today needs to operate at Internet speed. To compete successfully in this new flat world, companies are looking for ways to better align business and IT, standardize and streamline business processes, mitigate risk, and cut costs overall.

Similar to IT outsourcing’s ability to help businesses compete through lower costs and greater access to technology, companies are beginning to evaluate and take advantage of business process outsourcing (BPO). Within this evaluation process, companies are looking to identify those non-strategic processes that are ripe for outsourcing, to educate themselves on the risks and benefits, and to understand the offerings and capabilities across the BPO service provider landscape.

Based on companies’ findings, we are seeing some interesting purchasing trends in BPO including such things as an increase in adoption rates, companies demanding more from BPO providers, clients demanding greater focus on measuring impacts and results, and a focus on service providers that can provide rigor and governance within a multi-vendor outsourced environment.

Based on what we’re seeing in the marketplace, the following are top BPO trends happening in the global as well local markets:

1) Companies want and need more from BPO.

Companies are looking for more than just cost savings. Labor arbitrage is not enough on its own. Buyers’ are making sourcing decisions that will improve processes and customer service balanced with cost cutting goals. They are also looking for business transformation along with rigor from a BPO provider in benchmarking and measuring the performance outcome of the outsourced services.

By leveraging the best people, processes and technology for business transformation, corporations are looking to achieve better consistency in services to their customers and suppliers, compliance with regulatory mandates and better governance, and decreased time to market. It is through refocusing on the broader goal of business transformation that companies can better align IT and business processes to drive business growth and gain competitive advantage.

2) Success will be defined by the collaborative nature of relationships and ability for continuous improvements

As companies continue to outsource more of their business processes, building solid relationships with service providers will become increasingly more important. The relationship needs to be collaborative, meaning that the company and the service provider work together to build strategic frameworks, preparing the corporation for growth and agility to meet the changing demands of the business.

In the past, being reactive was "good enough." But moving into the future, being proactive will put companies ahead of the competition. By working collaboratively, service providers will be able to better anticipate what changes and challenges companies will most likely face as a result of their business plans and help them to respond accordingly. There will be a greater focus on partnering with a service provider that successfully (and painlessly) can implement global integration strategies, whose technology is cutting edge, and that is continuously working to upgrade the quality of its workers and its processes in order to continue to adapt to changing business needs.

3) As multi-sourcing becomes more standard, governance will be key

While companies see the great benefits of outsourcing, they also see everyday, more and more sourcing options. Multi-sourcing therefore has become a more standard option. By using multiple vendors, companies can get access to best in class across processes and industry expertise.

With this new multi-source strategy however, companies are faced with a bigger challenge than which vendors to select. They will need to learn how to effectively manage multiple vendors. To do this, governance and training will be critical for clients’ multi-sourcing project managers in order to mitigate risk and ensure service levels are met in alignment with the contract. And for their part, service providers will need to learn how to best work within this multi-sourced environment in order to effectively and efficiently collaborate with the client and the other vendors in order to solve challenges and deliver against expectations.

4) Measurement and quality are top of mind

For both the buyers and service providers, having a set way to measure the impact of outsourcing on the company’s growth will aid them in proving the benefits of outsourcing. Without it, companies are at great risk of not making clear their expectations and services providers are at risk of not proving their value. By having a way to measure benefits and goals, the buyer will be able to prove to his company that by outsourcing, they’re not only saving money, but they’re acquiring access to highly educated and skilled people, along with cutting-edge technology and processes that delivers benefits to the business. The result is greater (and better) productivity and cost savings.

As for service providers, they will need to utilize current standards for process management and measurement such as Six Sigma, CMMI and ITSM in order to ensure governance and measure the benefits of outsourcing such as: process improvements, customer satisfaction, compliance and the ability to adapt to changing business needs. Once a set way to measure performance is put in place, the process will become an integral part of the business contract.

5) BPO contracts will become increasingly sophisticated

BPO contracts are becoming more sophisticated, focusing on how the service provider can transform the business by offering an array of business capabilities. In the past, contracts focused primarily on cost-savings and services, but now the focus has shifted to value add. The buyer wants more options, and wants a set way to measure progress.

And, like companies that need to be flexible in an ever-changing business environment, contracts too will need to be flexible. They’ll need to mold to the changing needs of the company. As the complexity of the contracts increases, they’ll be a growing need for third party advisors. The advisors will act as "mediators" during the contract process and will clarify the services and the way they’ll be measured.

6) Global footprint for BPO will continue to expand As buyers are moving more toward a global delivery model, they are looking to take advantage of skills and BPO delivery centers around the globe. India is no longer the only place that buyers will go for outsourced services. Although companies have become more comfortable with India, they’re looking for other options. They’ll be outsourcing wherever it makes the best sense for their business. Some areas that are growing in popularity are: China, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Buyers are looking at areas that have a large pool of educated applicants with various language capabilities and "solid geographies." When choosing where to outsource, companies will also be checking to make sure these new areas are advanced enough that they can recover from natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods.

Companies are no longer just looking for a place for their customer service desks or for a place to manufacture goods more quickly. They’re looking for highly-educated people specialized in different fields, such as Finance & Administration, Procurement or Product Fulfillment, that have the right processes and capabilities to cut costs and help drive revenue.

7) To become truly global, rigor and consistency will be needed

As companies become increasingly more comfortable with a global delivery model, having less worries as to where work is getting done, they will be looking for standardization and consistency in services around the globe. Service providers that have a truly global sourcing delivery model will concentrate not only on building clients a solid integrated global infrastructure, but on processes and standards that will deliver consistency. This is especially important now that work is being moved to all different parts of the world. When that move takes place, the company can’t "miss a beat".

This new global delivery structure will need to have a broader reaching multi-site processing strategy. No longer will one or two sites outside of the U.S. be able handle all the business transactions. Several facilities will need to work simultaneously throughout the world, acting as a back-up to each other. When things are integrated and standardized effectively worldwide, companies can be assured that business will be uninterrupted and that their employees, customers and partners, no matter where they are located, are receiving the same level of service.

In addition and through a globally harmonized and standardized environment, companies will be able to more easily support growth strategies. For example, if an office needs to be relocated across the globe from the U.S. to China, wouldn’t it be easier to handle the change if standardized processes were already in place? When consistency and confidence is reached, The Global Delivery Model will prove to continuously work because of its synergy. It’s just a matter of time before all companies feel it.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2006, HP revenue totaled $87.9 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.

^^ Thanks for the advice bustero. I really appreciate it. :)

Philippines outgrows label
By William Pesek Jr. 2006-03-08

Welcome to the "Argentina of Asia." That's how many investors view the Philippines, a place with vast potential that never seems to get its act together.

The most recent crisis in Manila - an alleged coup attempt against President Gloria Arroyo - was a reminder that while 5 percent growth may look good, it's not enough for the Philippines to thrive. The nation also needs political stability to convince investors it won't default on debt, Argentina style.

Reports of plotting generals and televised images of riot police fending off thousands of protesters would seem to be the last thing the Philippines needs. Asia's 13th-biggest economy already gets scant foreign direct investment and 10 percent of the population has fled for lack of jobs at home.

In fact, those angling to oust Arroyo may be proving precisely that the Philippines, unpredictable as it is, enjoys growing political stability.

"What the world seemed to miss is that the stock market didn't plunge, the peso didn't collapse and bond yields didn't shoot up," said Luz Lorenzo, economist at ATR Kim Eng Securities. "And people here in the Philippines didn't panic."


Event-rich

Central bank governor Amando Tetangco has a similar take on things. When I entered his Manila office Friday, Tetangco was standing before a television, remote control in hand, watching a live report that Arroyo had just lifted the state of emergency she declared on February 24.

"The way I see it, the Philippines is an event-rich country - there is always something going on," he said in an interview. "But in all cases, there is a knee-jerk reaction and then things start to correct."

Perhaps the clearest sign a crisis is unlikely is the hundreds of 20-somethings on the streets of Manila's financial district at 3 a.m. Far from loitering or being up to no good, they're working the nightshift at call-centers, which hold great promise for creating jobs here (the government hopes they'll number in the millions).

While India's wealth of well-educated English speakers gets most of the headlines, the Philippines is quietly grabbing its share of fast-growth outsourcing industries. Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and International Business Machines Corp. are just a few of the companies tapping into this young, growing population of 86 million.


People Power wanes

That the call-center crowd has little interest in grabbing banners and marching against Arroyo shows why "People Power" is losing its appeal.

"It's not that the president has our support, but who wants to support these people desiring to take over?" asked call-center employee Francesco Reyes, 27, during a 3:15 a.m. smoke break. "They're not offering much of an alternative or better ideas, so why follow them?"

Well put. So you manage to unseat Arroyo - then what? While voters quibble with Arroyo, her economic polices are the most sober the Philippines has seen since the mid 1990s. Arroyo has done little to spread the benefits of economic growth, and her declaration of a state of emergency seemed hasty. Still, it's heartening to see a leader taking some gutsy steps.

Arroyo's biggest success is returning a sense of fiscal sanity. The Philippines continues to swim in debt, much of it foreign, yet the budget deficit is moving in the right direction. It's expected to fall to 2.1 percent product or less of gross domestic this year from 2.7 percent in 2005.

Reducing public debt will lower bond yields and leave more money for education, health care and poverty reduction. More funds to improve roads, ports, power plants and productivity in sectors like agriculture and manufacturing would increase growth and attract more foreign investment.

"We still need to continue working and the job isn't complete yet," Tetangco said.

That's not to say these periodic bouts of political instability don't take a toll. Still, with each incarnation of People Power the numbers taking to the streets are declining, as is the reaction in financial markets.

"This is normal, but I wish it weren't," said John Forbes, president of Eastern Voyager Corp., and an American who's lived in the Philippines on and off since the early 1970s. "This is the land of permanent potential, and these kinds of political upheavals explain why."

For all the messy images transmitted around the world in recent days, the Philippines has returned to normal. Detractors claiming she cheated in the May 2004 election haven't unseated Arroyo, who's making former U.S. President Bill Clinton's Teflon coating look pretty ordinary.


No Argentina

So Tetangco can approach Thursday's interest-rate meeting without a full-blown crisis hanging over his decision. In our meeting, he dropped few hints he's about raise rates amid few signs inflation is getting out of control.

Even so, convincing markets that debt won't spiral out of control is a challenge in the best of times. Investors have a funny way of remembering when nations declare a moratorium on foreign bond payments, as the Philippines did just over 20 years ago and Argentina did in 2001.

The sad fact is that the Philippines has yet to shake the legacy of mismanagement created by former President Ferdinand Marcos, who was brought down by People Power in 1986. Yet Arroyo's fiscal moves and the stride in which markets took recent events show the economy is maturing.

That fact, while little noticed overseas, suggests the Philippines is making important progress toward dropping its reputation as Asia's version of Argentina.

^^ VERY GOOD NEWS!!! I hope our resilience in terms of economy and politics will bring about stability.

Sorry if this has been noted already in previous discussions, but I'm quite surprised to see that Manila will soon be getting calls for UA's Mileage Plus Program.

I think outsourcing is not just becoming inevitable, but simply the reality for business competitiveness. To guage it's viability and advantages depends entirely on the perspective the observer is using. I do have to say that there have been so many complaints regarding 'performance issues' about the India call centers of UA, since there is a huge learning curve that agents need to overcome. Whether the Manila center will be better (I expect it to be) is the big question. As a customer, I really could care less where the center is located as long as the service remains unaffected.



United Airlines Call center in Manila

Mileage Plus, Inc. (MPI) will close its office in
Tucson, Ariz., effective April 29, 2006. The MPI
call center in Rapid City, S.D., will handle some of
the customer service work previously handled by
Tucson. Additionally, MPI will contract out some of
the Mileage Plus customer service work to IBM Daksh
in Manila, Philippines, which will begin taking
calls in February. The 130 IAM-represented
employees in Tucson have the option to relocate to
the MPI call center in Rapid City. Tucson's 20
salaried and management employees will be
furloughed.

MPI's other offices are located in Huntington,
W.Va.; Rapid City, S.D.; and Rolling Meadows, Ill.
The Tucson closure is not expected to affect service
to Mileage Plus members in any way.

some excerpts from the TWF book:
The INternational Finance Commitee drove home this point with a comprehensive study of more than 130 countries, called"Doing Business in 2004".The IFC asked five basic questions about doing business in each of these countries, questions about how easy or difficult it is to 1) start a business in terms of local rules,regulations,and license fees,2) hire and fire workers,3) enforce a contract,4)get credit,and5) close a business that goes bancrupt or is failing. To translate it into my own lexicon,those countries that make all these things relatively simple and friction-free have the undertaken reform retail,and those that have not are stalled in reform wholesale and are not likely to thrive in aflat world.The IFC's criteria were inspired by the brilliant and innovative work of Hernando de Soto, who has demonstrated in Peru and other developing nations that if change the regulatory and business environment for the poor, and give them the tools to collaborate, they will do the rest.
Five-step checklist for reform retail:
As the IFC report notes, excessive regulations also tends to hurt most the very people it is supposed to protect. 1) Simplify and deregulate wherever possible in competitive markets, because competitions for consumers and workers can be the best source of pressure for best practices, and overregulation just opens the door for corrupt bureaucrats to demand bribes,2) focus on enhancing property rights ,3) expand the use of the of the internet for regulation fulfillment. It makes it faster, more transparent,and far less open to bribery ,4) reduce court involvement in business matters,5) make reform a continous process.

Call center agents: cash-rich and carefree?

Young and flush with cash, call center agents with their penchant for food, accessories and travel are rapidly becoming a prime market for nonessential expenditures.

Nikka Santos, 22 and single, works in one of the country’s largest call center companies, earning close to P20,000 for about a year now.

Despite her salary, already twice that of a college classmate who opted to work for a bank, she doesn’t have any savings, even though she still lives with her parents and is only required to contribute to food and utility expenses.

According to CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, a provider of brokerage and investment banking services in the region, most of the estimated 100,000 call center agents the Philippines has to date are in the 22-30 age bracket, are single, live with their parents, and commute or use the family car to and from work.

"With no heavy home mortgage or car amortizations and household expenses to worry about, call center agents’ disposable income is generally allocated to personal consumption and savings," reads part of CLSA’s paper on call center.

The paper explored the spen-ding habit of Rina Bautista, who works for e-Telecare. Ms. Bautista said 22.5% of her after-tax income went to food/drinks, 15% on travel/recreation, 12.5% on clothing, 10% on gas/transportation, and 5% on mobile-phone fees, with the remaining 35% going to savings.

Call center agent salaries are estimated to range from P12,000 to P35,000 per month, depending on the company and their experience.

For Ms. Santos, the "culture" in her office has pushed her to splurge on stylish clothes complete with accessories. Even though transactions with their foreign clients are facilitated over the phone, she said most of the agents come to the office fully dressed-up.

In their free time, agents like her frequent posh coffee shops, dine in classy restaurants at least twice a week and go out of town along with other agents at least once a month.

Nowadays, it is just natural for call center facilities to be surrounded by food establishments like 24-hour fastfood chains.

Aileen Jose, 22, another call center agent interviewed, said fresh graduates like her are lured into the industry because of the pay and the "fun" environment, where most of her co-workers are also young and come from a similar background -- middle class, graduates from known and reputable schools, and not burdened by "too much life worries."

Indeed, the call center industry has created a young and cash-rich market that is rapidly emerging as a key target for the retail, food and beverage and travel industry segments.

Preliminary research conducted by Canada-based information technology research and consulting firm XMG, Inc. showed a significant portion of call center agents’ disposable income is spent on consumable items, particularly food and accessories.

"Accessories are items that define the day-to-day lifestyle of call center agents, such as clothing and jewelry. The pervasiveness of mobile phones in daily life qualifies these devices as ’accessories’," XMG said in an e-mail to BusinessWorld.

Based on its conservative projection for the industry, CLSA said the aggregate annual disposable income from all call center agents in the country will hit P18.4 billion this year, up from P4.2 billion in 2003.

This is expected to boost consumption of products and services at restaurants, bars, cafes, convenience stores, boutiques, department stores, telcos, airlines, resort operators and banks for the excess savings.

Biomedical software firm set in RP





US-based medical biotechnology firm Bioimagene, supplier of world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, will invest in medical software outsourcing in the Philippines as the country can emerge globally-competitive here.


William M. Valtos Jr., senior managing director of global venture capitalist ICCP Venture Partners Inc. (IVP), said IVP has immediate plans of establishing a biomedical software firm that will deal on cancer diagnosis and pathological tools.

The investment will be a migration of models of a similar venture in India where Bioimagene is now engaged in software programming and data warehousing as devides in pharmaceutical and life sciences.

"That’s where we have comparative advantage. We do a lot of software programming. We’re very competitive — (with the presence of) Accenture, Headstrong SVI (Software Ventures Inc.)," Valtos said in an interview.

ICCP has been working on the deal for one year now, exploring possibilities for the lowest cost and highest value for the investment. The investment in the biomedical software programming may be in the form of putting up a subsidiary or a joint venture firm.


"There’s a cost for anything. If you pay , and you get a quality for a certain level, and there’s one that costs {{MB:DR(ARTICLE:CONTENT):MB}}.50 for the same quality, why pay more? But if there’s a cost of , and nobody can do that (there’s no choice). The Philippines is competitive here in quality, as good as Ireland and Canada, cost of doing business is less expensive," he said.

Bioimagene is one of IVP’s investee companies along with other highly-established ventures in information technology (IT) or pioneering R&D (research and development) ventures in the US.

An outsource software firm which is labor-intensive for highly-skilled IT individuals or gives the Philippines benefits in employment and in perhaps revenue generation for the subsidiary.

The country, though, is still far behind in drug discovery for which Bioimagene has strength in the US and Canada and is a supplier for Pfizer, Aventis, GSK, Lilly, Roche, and Merck. It has links with Mayo Clinic, UCLA medical center and is well-entrenched in US laboratory work.

But R&D experts that are recognizably superior are still in the Philippines.

"We find a lot of potential in the Philippines. We have good academic work, but what’s lacking is the commercial relevance," he said.

Bioimagene is a leader in advanced image informatics, producing biological image data which are tools for greater productivity in drug discovery and development of healthcare practices. Diagnosis of a person’s disease, for instance, may be known through fingerprint imaging.

And IVP has been looking into possible investments in the Philippines in a product or service that has stirring market demand that may not necessarily be price-driven.

"We want to see companies that can scale up, that can compete with the top tier in the world, and has a product that has customer loyalty (no matter what the price because of its unique value)," he said.

IVP is pleased that the Department of Trade and Industry just recognized biotechnology as a promising investment sector, but nothing compares to a market-led idea with original leadership edge.

"We try to support companies that are standalone businesses that can be successful (even without government support). A technology has to be better, faster, cheaper than those existing in the market," he said. (MMA)

http://www.mb.com.ph/archive_pages.php?url=http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/03/12/BSNS2006031258418.html

Pero bakit ang foreign news palaging india lang ang binabanggit na outsourcing hub. Malayong malayo pa ba tayo.

India is leading all the way since the y2k.It has milions and millions of the most gifted engineering, computer science, and software talent on the globe. Bangalore is asia's silicon valley.

Big boys like Microsoft,GE,Intel,HP,Reuters,and IBM to name a few,has long been tapping the brain power of India. Now they're on the second phase of outsourcing, which is developing and innovating software products there .

So your point is chicken feed lang tayo compared to them.

So your point is chicken feed lang tayo compared to them.


imo,market niche have unlimited success depending how innovative pinoys are. Kaya lang mas advantage yata ang India. Here's why according to Thomas Friedman,author of the World is flatbook. In 1951, Credit to India's prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, set up the first of India's seven Indian Institutes of Technology(IIT) in the eastern city of Kharagpur. In the fifty years since then, hundreds of thousands of Indians have competed to gain entry and then graduate from these IITs and their private-sectors equivalents(as well as the six Indian Institutes of Management, which teach business administration). Given the India's 1 billion-plus population, this competition produces a phenomenal knowledge meritocracy. It's like a factory, churning out and exporting some of the most gifted engineering, computer science, and software talent on the globe.
For most of their first fifty years, these IITs were one of the greatest bargains America ever had. It was as if someone installed a brain drain that filled up in New Delhi and emptied in Palo Alto.
And then along came Netscape, the 1996 telecom deregulation, and Global Crossing and it's fiber- optic friends. The world got flattened when fiber -optic cables crossed the oceans. India could never have afforded to pay for the bandwidth to connect brainy Indian with high-tech America, so ironically,American shareholders paid for it (overinvestment) but the foreigners who benefited. India got to ride for free.

well i think we can give em a run for their money. It's just that with a billion people i guess they have the advantage in numbers. We are slowly creeping up kaya lang hindi ata nanonotice ng mga foreign media kase we are dwarfed by INdia.

IBM has outsourced a local company to do some tech stuff for them. They have already started hiring people and starting salary for level 1 employee is 30k/mo (according to grapevine). This actually caused unrest among my employees because if it's true then they might want to consider to move to IBM. We are investigating this and if we find this true, then we may have to increase our tier 1 employees' salaries (from 20k somethin').

The Philippines is also starting to become an IT powerhouse...

our biggest selling point and i always point this out to my "kids"...it's fun here...at IBM, for less than 10k more, all day might be just pure work...here, you always get to play...

wow ang lake ng salary^ that's very good news. Makakatulong den yan kahet papano sa mga unemployed college grads.

Also, it's not only American companies that are outsoursing to pinas but the whole industrialize Europe and Asian countries too. The wealth of the world will gradually spread out and Philippines will definitely benefit. Long live Philippines and Death to Corruptions.

If salary is going up,that means, there's must be a great demand for it. One good effect of outsourcing,I notice, is that work is not centered in one location but rather more diffused. It's good for that towns local economy and ,in turn, will relieved some congestions in Manila.

but they say while India's IT sector growth is unstoppable, so as the digital divide. when you're in an up-scale business district, a few minutes drive away from it will lead you a 100 years backward, seems so far from civilization. i've seen CNN's documentary about India's success on outsourcing.

India is or was one of the poorest countries in asia per capita. Like Philippines ,their political system are pretty screwed up and corrupted too. But for the first time in their history, no longer they have to export their IT talent force to US to seek for a brighter future since now work is knocking at their doorstep. India has still a long way to go(infrastucture and politics wise) but it's developing slowly and already in some areas standard of living are improving. Same phenomenom going on with China. Offshoring and manufacturing is turning China into a big capitalist market overnight. No longer the Chinese people ride their bikes to work ,but they are driving their own made automobiles and ready to export some of it too. And just imagine, India and China's population together made up half the population of the entire planet. Also, wonder why gasoline prices are going up?

Big Banana in town

Tuesday March 21, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
News
BY MARICEL E. ESTAVILLO, Reporter
Dell chief in town for call center opening

Michael Dell, chairman of top computer systems and services firm Dell, Inc., is scheduled to make a brief stopover in Manila today for the grand opening of a Philippine call center facility.

The 13,470.5-square call center, located at the north parking building of the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, started operations last February 13.

Dell has refused to disclose how much it has invested, but according to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) list of approved projects as of last year, the total investment for the facility is P366 million.

The facility is now a PEZA-registered economic zone, allowing Dell to avail of fiscal incentives from the government such as tax holidays and exemption from value-added tax.

Mr. Dell, now in his early 40s and ranked by Fortune magazine last year as the world’s twelfth richest man with net worth of $17.1 billion, will only be in the country for only four hours.

He is expected to arrive at seven in the morning and fly out at eleven the same day. From the airport, Mr. Dell is scheduled to go directly to the Pasay call center facility for a series of meetings with his local management team, key local businessmen and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her economic team.

The government may again pitch for Dell to consider opening a manufacturing plant in the Philippines.

Industry sources said the government tried to woo Dell in the late ’90s when it heard that the computer maker was interested in opening a Southeast Asia plant. The big-ticket venture, however, went to Malaysia in 2001.

Trade Undersecretary Elmer Hernandez, however, said the government only went to Dell for the call center project, which was eventually put up here.

Dell’s call center is tagged as the "heart" of the company’s success, now valued at $52.8 billion in revenues and with 61,400 employees worldwide.

Dell has call center offices in the US, Canada, Panama, El Salvador, India, Malaysia, China and Japan.

As a company, Dell has popularized the direct-model approach, where it talks directly with customers to sell products, supported by its own customer and technical support team.

This year, it is estimated that Dell will screen some 30,000 applications just to get the 700 agents it needs for the facility. This is equivalent to a hiring rate of 2.3%. The company began interviewing applicants last November 1 to fill its first class of 200 agents.

Aside from the Pasay City facility, Dell also maintains a one-floor office in RCBC Plaza in Makati City as its recruitment and training house.

That's true macky, but there's something about India and China that just seems so unsustainable!

Hope Michael Dell's impression of Manila is good, so that he'll invest more. He only has 4 hours:D

That's true macky, but there's something about India and China that just seems so unsustainable!


The thing is, this whole new global" plug and play" business inter-connections is fairly new. I think even the American people have no solid idea of its long term effects. Everyone is guessing .All i know is half of the planet's population can now join and participate productively, and with the internet's technologies, the playing fields are more friendly.

wow ang lake ng salary^ that's very good news. Makakatulong den yan kahet papano sa mga unemployed college grads.

It's a good starting point for fresh graduates. Whether or not the call center phenomenon lasts, we're obviously benefiting from it.

Investments in the BPO sector are surging. Last year, it generated estimated revenues of 1.12 billion dollars. Recently, an international call center has expressed interest to operate in Cagayan de Oro. CdO is known as the "Information Technology Goldmine" among the country's ICT investors. Dell, the world's largest producer of personal computers, has begun operations at its call center in the Philippines, increasing its staff to 700. The Bacolod Convention Hotel is also being eyed by several IT companies.

This would mean more jobs for our countrymen and a big boost to our economy.

US firm to hire 1,400 Pinoys in new call center in Pasay

The Philippine Star 03/22/2006

They came here to find the best talent and they liked what they found.

Computer magnate Michael Dell, America’s fourth richest man, personally led yesterday the opening of his company’s customer contact center at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City and, this early, announced plans to expand its operations in the Philippines.

"We came to the Philippines to find the best talent and we’re very pleased with the talent we found. I am pleased to announce today our plans to expand this Pasay operation from 700 to 1,400 people," Dell said.

"We will (also) donate a computer lab to make sure they (the students) have access to the latest technology available out there," he added.

Dell said the Pasay call center will be a communications hub for millions of his company’s customers worldwide.

While doing business here, Dell said his company will actively engage in community involvement and help through charitable works — something that he said is "culturally, very important in our company all around the world."

"What we have found here in the Philippines is a very well-trained, well-educated, English-speaking workforce," he said.

Dell is the founder of Dell Inc., the world’s largest personal computer (PC) manufacturer.

President Arroyo, who graced the inauguration of the project, thanked Dell for choosing the Philippines as one his company’s operation sites.

Dell and Dell International Services vice president Bert Quitana and DIS Asia Pacific vice president Rajan Andan and DIS Philippines general manager Mike Garrison gave Mrs. Arroyo a tour of the Dell Philippines call center facility after the formal inauguration.

Dell and the President also witnessed the turnover of a personal computer to Pasay City East High School principal Lourdes Monje. The Dell PC is one of 15 computers the company pledged to donate to the school’s computer laboratory.

Dell’s 145,000-square-foot state-of-the-art contact center is a premier tenant in the new SM Mall of Asia complex.

"This new facility is a result of the direct way we do business and it’s an important investment that demonstrates our commitment to providing customers with the best possible experience when they contact Dell," he said.

The President said Dell’s investment "is a compelling expression of your company’s confidence in the knowledge, skills and abilities of our great Filipino workers, especially the young."

"We possess the language and technological competencies to be the back office or the front desk of the world. There were less than 2,000 business outsourcing employees just five years ago. Now there are 125,000 in a billion-dollar industry and by 2010, we expect that there will be two million business process outsourcing and call center employees in the Philippines," the President said.

"When America calls, the Philippines answers," said. "When the world complains, we listen… Many say that this is the Filipino’s competitive edge in the business outsourcing business: That we answer queries fast with facts and feelings."

Mrs. Arroyo said while giant breakthroughs in telephone technology "may synthesize a human voice" or create speaker-independent technology, "no one has and no one can ever replicate the warmth (with) which Filipinos attend to calls.

"We have proven that fiber optics not only transmit data and voice but also Filipino hospitality," she added. "Because it’s not yet possible to download a handshake or e-mail a hug, the next best substitute is the Filipino call center employee."

The Pasay site is Dell’s second facility in Metro Manila after it opened a 17,000-square-foot recruiting and training center in Makati City in October 2005.

In 2005, the Forbes 400 magazine listed Dell as the fourth richest man in the United States and the 18th richest in the world with net assets of around $18 billion.

The government is counting on back-office businesses to help boost economic growth, which slowed to 5.1 percent last year. Call-center jobs are rising as overseas companies take advantage of the low wages and English-speaking college graduates the Philippines has to offer.

In October last year, the government said the Philippines had as many as 60,000 call center "seats," each equivalent to about 1.8 jobs, and the number may rise by 50 percent this year.

However, office rent rates may rise for a second year as overseas companies set up call centers or hire back-office service providers, property consultant C.B. Ellis said in January.

Rents rose by as much as 4.5 percent to P575 a square meter in the fourth quarter of 2005 from the third quarter of that year, Ellis said.

Dell operates 30 call centers worldwide and has hired 300 call center workers in Metro Manila so far. — Aurea Calica, Bloomberg News

"What we have found here in the Philippines is a very well-trained, well-educated, English-speaking workforce," he said.

Dell is the founder of Dell Inc., the world’s largest personal computer (PC) manufacturer.

Dell has been outsourcing to the Philippines even before their in-house operations began. call centers in the Philippines with Dell accounts have consistently ranked best in Tech support.

I was once part of the Dell campaign in one of the call centers I joined before.
It's funny to hear Americans pleading not to be transferred to India when I have to transfer their misrouted call. Wala lang. Share ko lang. hehehehh!

^^Kakatakot daw ang mga bumbay!

^^ Yeah, I had one call that was picked up by an Indian woman and it was hard because she couldn't get the write spelling of my last name and she was not that good in english.

Dell has been outsourcing to the Philippines even before their in-house operations began. call centers in the Philippines with Dell accounts have consistently ranked best in Tech support.

And since you're part of Dell bai, you're one of the best. hehehe. :D

About 500 Indian doctors want to work in the Philippines
03/22 5:50:06 PM

MANILA (AFP) - About 500 Indian doctors have applied to work in the Philippines to ease a chronic shortage but cannot be given jobs because the constitution forbids it, the health secretary said Wednesday.

Francisco Duque said the Indian doctors were awaiting Manila's approval to start work but a provision in the constitution bars foreign doctors from working in government hospitals.

"I have 500 applicants from India but I cannot hire them because our constitution doesn't allow that," he said in a speech to a medical group.

He said the Indian doctors could otherwise have filled the vacant posts at various government hospitals due to the large number of Filipino medical professionals who seek work abroad.

Asked how the Indian doctors could be accommodated, Duque said: "We really do not know." He called for a review of the constitutional provision.

The Philippine Medical Association warned last year that the country's health system risked complete collapse in a few years due to the large numbers of Filipino nurses and doctors who have found better-paying jobs abroad.

The constitution strictly limits the areas where foreigners can find jobs. Foreign doctors are allowed to work here only in very exceptional cases.

^^ That's bull! India is offering help and we won't accept it? :bash:

Yeah, that's the bullshit i'm worried about....as if they have a better idea. They really need to reform this bullcrap! I"ll say let them in and take advantage of the knowledge that they can offer. Hindi puro papogi my ass lang.

^^ mahirap yan kasi nasa constitution na bawal daw...they have to ammend the constitution first para pwedeng magpasa ng law ang congress about dyan...

You are right there @Fhoy. But it seems there is an escape clause. I just checked the 1987 Philippine Constitution and it states:

"Art. XII. Section 14. ... The practice of all professions in the Philippines shall be limited to Filipino citizens, save in cases prescribed by law."

So, it seems that they can still legislate an exemption to this clause should dire circumstances warrant it.

^^ mehh Philippines is already facing that "dire circumstance" though, they should definitely accomodate them, the health care system is apparently on the verge of collapse right now....LET THEM IN I SAY!!!

Besides, a lot of filipino doctors are here now in the States working as nurses,respiratory therapist,lab tech,etc. I applaud those Indian doctors offering their services in our country while our kababayan doctors have long jump ship for a better future, and i don't blame them. The question is , if they insist on this constitutional barrier bs, what is their plan or solution to alleviate shortages of doctors in our country? See, I thought so too.

Pass the law then. No, need for constitutional amendment if that is possible.

First,they need to think what positive effects would this be for their citizens before they say no, that's all. Baka naman makapag bigay hanap buhay pa, diba ?

Protectionist kasi ang Constitution natin. It failed to foresee an age when we would be experiencing a "brain drain" with talented medical practitioners leaving for abroad. It should be amended to answer current needs and realities.

IMO, I'll bet you some of those Indian doctors have something better in mind. There's a good chance that some of them are eyeing the business realm of Medical industry,ie,medical transcription, coding, and anything related that can be digitized. The important thing here is the "idea and knowledge" to run this thing effectively and I think the capital to set up one of this facilities is secondary, especially if they know there is a great demand for it. Just a few computers, system softwares, and a virtual private network(VPN) as a command link you can basically ready to plug-and-play. Imagine the jobs that will create, taxes the gov't can collect and the boosts to our economy.

That's unbelievable - indians queueing for a job here in the Philippines.
and it's sad to hear that we are running out of local nurses and doctors.
i hear some clinics or hospitals closing down due to lack of medical manpower.
now what's next?

Rusty, are you working with Dell?
You should see how huge the ad of Dell is on Sunday Ads of Manila Bulletin and Inquirer. One of the largest i've ever seen for the same industry - covering 2 whole pages. But it has reduced to only one page recently.

Aside from Dell, Siemens has also put up it's technical support office at Eastwood. And someone told me that 11 other companies are scheduled to put up their contact centers in the country. Undisclosed pa ata ang names ng companies. One of them is with the bank industry. Perhaps other big names are still on the drawing board.

What do you guys think about Contact Center or Technical support job? If the future is here, we might as well try jumping into the bandwagon. :) The question is...would we qualify? :D Oh, by the way, Philippines had recently surpassed the share of India in contact centre industry. I haven't read this myself...so i have yet to confirm if this is true or not.

Citibank and HSBC already have their in-house call centers here.

Yes right bulakenyo. i've seen HSBC's building at Alabang. Epixtar also has its own in Eastwood. Convergys and People Support have signed up for built-to-suit structures along Ayala. Both are now being occupied. Infonxx (sp?) has put up its facility in Sta Rosa. People support and E-Telecare now have offices in Cebu (tama ba?)...dami na ngang ng put up ng offices dito sa pinas - pati American Bank, Shell and Caltex Shared Services offices. We hope to see more companies to come...sana. More jobs for our fellows. and maybe for us.

@francis: yes i used to work with Dell :cool: working for more than a year. since i can't take the pressure no more, i decided to take a break muna. unlimited allowance from parents :lol: but in the future, i am open to work again with outsourcing companies for one reason -- the pay slip. :cool:

I was once part of the Dell campaign in one of the call centers I joined before.
It's funny to hear Americans pleading not to be transferred to India when I have to transfer their misrouted call. Wala lang. Share ko lang. hehehehh!
very true. customers who end up talking with indians usally make 'em irate/dissatisfied. so you'll know what i'm talking about, check this out http://illwillpress.com/tech.html

Philippines a silent outsourcing star
By Michael Backman
March 22, 2006


WHAT images do the Philippines evoke? Probably images of domestic maids, palm trees, mail-order brides and perhaps Imelda Marcos' shoe collection.

Other than these stereotypes, the Philippines means little to much of the rest of the world. That is a pity because the Philippines has almost 90 million people.

Part of the reason for the stereotypes relates to its economy, which has been plagued by disastrous governance. The Government suffers from a chronic inability to balance its books. It is one of Asia's poorest countries and yet it is Asia's second-biggest borrower. Interest payments consume about 40 per cent of government income and another 30 per cent is spent on government salaries. That doesn't leave much for infrastructure, capital works and income redistribution.

Corruption is a huge problem. The Philippines ranks as more corrupt than Vietnam but less than Indonesia in Transparency International's survey of perceived corruption rates.

The Philippines likes to shoot the messenger, too. Last year, it was second only to Iraq in terms of the number of journalists killed while working. Most were murdered.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's elevation to the presidency in 2001 generated high expectations, but she has been a big disappointment. There has been a vote-rigging scandal and claims her family profited from illegal gambling. And on February 24, Arroyo declared a week-long state of emergency in response to an alleged plot to overthrow her Government. She is still in the job only because there is no obvious successor.

Foreign investors dislike the Philippines, investing a paltry $US1 billion ($A1.4 billion) last year.

But it is not all bad. Arroyo's Government increased value-added tax from 10 per cent to 12 per cent on February 1 after removing exemptions on power, oil and other products and services in November. This will help restore government finances. And confirmation of a 1995 law permitting 100 per cent foreign-owned mining ventures is resulting in more investment.

The Philippines earns more from Filipinos who have left the country than from almost anything else. About 5.7 million Filipinos work abroad, mostly in Saudi Arabia (which has about 1 million expatriate Filipinos), Hong Kong, Kuwait, the US and Singapore. Several million more Filipino migrants send money to the Philippines — $US10.3 billion last year — the highest level ever. Probably another $US3 billion was sent via unofficial channels.

One of Asia's great sights occurs each Sunday morning in central Hong Kong: thousands of Filipino maids gather on their day off. They sit on pieces of cardboard and blankets to talk and pray. The high-pitched, rapid-delivery chirping of thousands of voices generates an unforgettable noise.

Outsourcing is another important earner for the Philippines. The US accounts for at least half the world's potential outsourcing and the Philippines, a former US colony, is well placed to benefit. It has a compatible commercial code and 95 per cent of the population speaks English.

A high literacy rate, a large pool of IT professionals, and patchy, but cheap telecommunications infrastructure, makes the Philippines a competitive place for US outsourcing, reflected in the fact the US companies account for about 90 per cent of outsourcing deals in the country.

Procter & Gamble, Delta Airlines, AIG, and Citibank have all outsourced work to the Philippines. US engineering giant Fluor Daniel has much of its technical work undertaken there by an almost 1000-strong team of local engineers, architects and draughtsmen. And AIG's Philippines business processing unit now has more than 4000 staff.

Medical transcription has become big business for outsourcing companies. Almost 7000 US hospitals are required to convert medical records into data format. It's a $US15 billion market in the US. Some work has gone to the Philippines, now home to 40 or more medical transcription companies, up from nine in 2001.

The efforts of the Philippines' Government in attracting such work has paid off. Local outsourcing firms report revenue of about $US4 billion, up from $US350 million in 2001. They employ 230,000. India, the world's outsourcing giant, employs five times as many, but has 12 times the population, which suggests the Philippines is something of a silent star on the outsourcing stage.

To many, the Philippines is a basket case. But to mix a metaphor, even this basket has a silver lining. The Philippines might be worth a second look.



http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/philippines-a-silent-outsourcing-star/2006/03/21/1142703361345.html

SPI to transfer some Manila operations to Dumaguete

Business process outsourcing firm SPI Technologies, Inc. is set to transfer some publishing operations from Metro Manila to its facility in Dumaguete City, in Central Visayas.

“Manila is getting extremely crowded with players, there are so many players right now. And this results in labor shortage and inflation,” Ernest L. Cu, SPI Technologies, Inc. president and chief executive, told BusinessWorld in an interview.

Mr. Cu said SPI is set to hire 1,200 to 2,000 more workers this year, to add to its present work force of 6,500 on continuing demand from existing and new clients. It has 600 workers in Dumaguete.

“The company is growing, depending on acquisition, between 20% and 30% a year. I would imagine it the same for this year,” Mr. Cu said.

For the past years, he said hiring is nearly proportionate to projected revenues. “But I hope it is not one-to-one, that is for every revenue growth, there is 1% headcount growth. People should be more productive and people growth should lag behind revenue growth,” he said.

In the Philippines, SPI has facilities in Parañaque City, Laguna, Dumaguete City and Cebu City. He added that there is continuing thrust to invest in the provinces, although it has no plan to invest on a new location this year.

Aside from Dumaguete City, SPI is keen on investing in Vietnam, where labor cost is lower than in Philippines, for low-end transcription jobs such as data analytics, data entry and simple data tagging.The 24-year old SPI Technologies was established in the Philippines in 1980 and has since expanded its operations to 18 offices across Asia, the US and Europe.

Businessworld, February 20, 2006, S1/9

I feel like, since i'm part of the millions of OFWs sending money there in the Philippines to resuscitate and sustain our long ailing corrupt economy,I might as well voice out my opinion. If we want to grow and flourish in a flat world,we better learn how to align ourselves with it.
Some observations from TWF book:...
Why does one country's skyline change overnight and another doesn't change over half a century? A society's ability and willingness to pull together and sacrifice for the sake of economic development and the presence in a society of leaders with the vision to see what needs to be done in terms of development and the willingness to use power to push for change rather than to enrich themselves and preserve the status quo. Some countries ( such as Korea and Taiwan ) seem to be able to focus their energies on the priority of economic development, and others (such as Egypt and Syria) get distracted by ideology and local feuds. And some countries simply have venal elites, who use their time in office to line their pockets and then invest those riches in Swiss real estate. The latter sounds more like what's going on in our country.

Call center boom picks up steam; gov't to train 100,000
By Daxim L. Lucas and Christine O. Avendaño March 28, 2006

Call center operator eTelecare Global Solutions will expand its operations in the United States and the Philippines and will hire as many as 3,000 additional Philippine agents, the company's new chief said.

Speaking before reporters, eTelecare president and CEO John R. Harris said the additional staff would complement the company's existing headcount in the Philippines, which stands at 4,000 employees.

"We will grow bigger," he said. "The Philippine operations will continue to be at the heart of the company."

Two-thirds of the company's employees are based in the Philippines.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday ordered a scholarship program for 100,000 Filipinos to ensure a "continuing pool of world class Filipino personnel" for the call center industry.

The President made the announcement at the inauguration of the new call center facility of Sutherland Global Services in Makati City.

Thanking Sutherland officials, the President said she was elated that the New York-based outsourcing firm was employing 750 Filipinos and plans to employ 750 more in the next six months.

This year, eTelecare will expand its operations in Makati, the Libis area of Quezon City and Alabang town, in Metro Manila, and is actively searching for a suitable location for its fifth call center in the Philippines.

The company also expects its revenues to rise further as demand for call center services and business process outsourcing (BPO) increases in its primary North American market.

eTelecare chairman Fred Ayala predicted that the company would make as much as P9 billion in revenues this year, representing a significant jump from the P7 billion in revenues it reported in 2005.

The eTelecare officials dismissed worries about the rising level of competition in the call center industry, saying there was still a large pool of potential clients which stand to benefit from outsourcing some of their internal operations to call centers and BPO companies.

"There are over four million call center clients in the US alone," Ayala said. "We are still very early in the industry. This is just a drop in the bucket."

Meantime, Arroyo said she had ordered the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to "develop a scholarship program for the call center Philippine school to be able to benefit 100,000 younger Filipinos."

In a roundtable discussion in the afternoon, Arroyo said putting up buildings for a call center school might be expensive and it would be better to just grant the scholarships to students.

TESDA Chairman Augusto Syjuco told reporters that the President had increased his office's budget from P50 million to P500 million in order to fund the call center scholarship program.

RP is TeleTech’s fastest growing market globally

TeleTech, a global business services company which employs some 5,000 call center professionals in the country today, ranks its Philippine operations as its fastest growing market worldwide.

Operating in 17 countries in five continents, TeleTech now has four customer management centers (CMCs) or call centers in Metro Manila, the newest of which is in Cainta, Rizal (formally opening in the first quarter of 2006).

TeleTech also now owns the Makati offices of FinSource, a Philippine-based business process outsourcing (BPO) company which it acquired last month.

In addition, TeleTech is in the midst of building its first call center outside Metro Manila — in Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental where it expects to hire at least 500 people in the next 18 to 24 months.

"The Philippines is by far the fastest growing market for TeleTech worldwide in terms of absolute headcount… This year, (we performed) beyond expectations. TeleTech is really very comfortable with the Philippines," says Craig Reines, vice president and general manager of TeleTech’s Philippine operations.

TeleTech estimates that with the completion of its Cainta and Dumaguete facilities, it will account for the biggest area occupied by any single customer management provider in the country. The Cainta facility alone will take up over 10,000 square meters of floor space inside the Big R mall, enough to house over 15,000 workstations, Reines says.

Off to greener pastures
Beginning with the Dumaguete CMC, TeleTech’s future investments in the country will take place outside Metro Manila. This new expansion thrust mirrors the company’s view that it has made the most of the resources available in Metro Manila. This also means that TeleTech’s call center in Cainta will be its final facility in the metropolis.

"It doesn’t make sense (for us) to continue in Metro Manila as it has been tapped out," explains Reines. "To sustain a strong labor pool, we believe that additional expansion in the Philippines will be best supported in the provinces."

Reines says Dumaguete is an ideal call center site because it has four major universities from where they can source manpower and it has at least six commercial flights daily to and from Manila.

"Dumaguete has a population of about 250,000 which is big enough to support a decent-sized operation. It generally enjoys good weather and is also geographically near other places with similar features where there are opportunities to pull in resources from," Reines adds.

But the biggest attraction TeleTech found in Dumaguete, which also came as a nice surprise, is the higher English proficiency of the applicants from the province. "Based on our pre-certification test, the English in the province is better than what we get in Manila," notes Reines.

So that its target regions in the country can deliver the right business environment it requires, TeleTech will work with provincial governments in developing growth plans. In Dumaguete, Reines says they are now working with an e-service council made up of local businesses, universities and local government units to develop manpower development programs. TeleTech also gave a P1-million performance bond to guarantee that it will provide employment to the province over the next three years.

"We asked the city to develop a growth plan that will create an environment that can support X number of jobs that we will guarantee to hire. We’re helping the city develop the environment logically by putting together resources like a teachers’ training lab for English or IT in the universities. The e-service council will meet once a year to look at the program’s sustainability… The renewal of the bond could be based on our performance versus our target or our success rate based on our hiring perspective," says Reines.

He adds that TeleTech has carried out similar programs in the US, Canada and other parts of the world to avoid having a place with too many players tapping the same resources, ultimately ruining the environment. He points out that foreign investors don’t come to the Philippines because it’s a low-cost job market, but because "most of us in these industries are performing well in the productivity arena."

Teleperks
Aside from being one of the country’s largest employers in this industry, TeleTech also wants to be known as an employer of choice.

TeleTech employees in the Philippines enjoy the same benefits as their counterparts in North America, Reines says.

"We have extended ‘Teleperks’ to our employees here. Leveraging on our big buying power, our employees enjoys discounts from Apple, HP and our other partners and suppliers. We are also increasing our community service programs and after-work programs and we’re doing major lifestyle enhancements for our employees." And to disprove that there’s only so much room for professional growth in a call center, Reines says they have promoted 600 Filipino employees last year.

TeleTech expects to employ more than 7,000 Filipino professionals in 2006.

The Philippine STAR 12/19/2005

http://imageserver4.textamerica.com/user.images.x/40/IMG_519040/_0317/TZ200317000601142.jpg
Fiber-Rich City
By Dominique Cimafranca*
Dumaguete's telco infrastructure qualifies it to ride on the growth of global outsourcing industry

One secret that will serve Dumaguete well in its ambitions is the telecommunications infrastructure in the city. Unknown to many, Dumaguete actually has a robust high-capacity network already in place. This network consists of microwave links and a fiber-optic backbone which connect the city not only to Manila and Cebu City, but to Mindanao and other islands, as well.

The fiber optic links going into Dumaguete are among the best for a city outside of Metro Manila. The total capacity of these fiber links is a whopping 320 Gbps** which translates to 4.5 million high quality data and voice lines – a capacity which can accommodate five million call center agents. Bandwidth-hungry outsourcing businesses such as call centers, transcription services, and digital post-production will find ample room for growth for their telecommunication needs.

Redundancy is another key feature of Dumaguete’s telco infrastructure. Dumaguete is a landing site for the fiber optic backbone networks of Globe Telecommunications, as well as Telecphil – the national consortium of telco providers. In addition, microwave communications supplement the links, assuring that service businesses need not fear outages caused by a downed cable.

Investment promotion is going full-speed ahead for Dumaguete with the coordinated efforts of local government, national agencies, and non-government organizations. Already boasting of topnotch graduates, the city is well positioned for growth in the booming international services outsourcing industry.
____________________________
*Dominique Cimafranca used to work and play in the country's premier IT Park, Eastwood City, at the IBM. This article was originally published at the Makati Business Club's Philippine Business Magazine (http://www.philippinebusiness.com.ph/archives/magazine/vol11-2004/11-6/geographics.htm).
**320 gbps and growing...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"In the past few years, several software development companies have emerged in the Philippines, as well as many other IT-related enterprises, like Medical Transcription Services and Call Centres, most of them however clustered in big cities like Manila and Cebu. Little did the world know that Dumaguete City, apart from its human resources, has access to the country’s most advanced telecom infrastructure right outside its doorstep, comprising a high speed fibre optic backbone network with a 320Gbps capacity!

This rarely promoted advantage this little city has over the rest of the country, combined with four well reputed universities and several other learning institutions, and added to that a considerably lower cost of operating businesses compared to the metro cities, makes Dumaguete City probably the most attractive place in the Philippines for ICT growth today. " - Nestwood Software Development Corporation (http://www.nestwood.com/default.aspx?tabid=47)

Dumaguete/Oriental Negros is IT! (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=306989&page=7&pp=20)...

March 27th, 2006
Call center boom picks up steam; gov't to train 100,000
THE call center industry boom continues to pick up steam.

Call center operator eTelecare Global Solutions will expand its operations in the United States and the Philippines and will hire as many as 3,000 additional Philippine agents, the company's new chief said.

Speaking before reporters, eTelecare president and CEO John R. Harris said the additional staff would complement the company's existing headcount in the Philippines, which stands at 4,000 employees.

"We will grow bigger," he said. "The Philippine operations will continue to be at the heart of the company."

Two-thirds of the company's employees are based in the Philippines.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Monday ordered a scholarship program for 100,000 Filipinos to ensure a "continuing pool of world class Filipino personnel" for the call center industry.

The President made the announcement at the inauguration of the new call center facility of Sutherland Global Services in Makati City.

Thanking Sutherland officials, the President said she was elated that the New York-based outsourcing firm was employing 750 Filipinos and plans to employ 750 more in the next six months.

This year, eTelecare will expand its operations in Makati, the Libis area of Quezon City and Alabang town, in Metro Manila, and is actively searching for a suitable location for its fifth call center in the Philippines.

The company also expects its revenues to rise further as demand for call center services and business process outsourcing (BPO) increases in its primary North American market.

eTelecare chairman Fred Ayala predicted that the company would make as much as P9 billion in revenues this year, representing a significant jump from the P7 billion in revenues it reported in 2005.

The eTelecare officials dismissed worries about the rising level of competition in the call center industry, saying there was still a large pool of potential clients which stand to benefit from outsourcing some of their internal operations to call centers and BPO companies.

"There are over four million call center clients in the US alone," Ayala said. "We are still very early in the industry. This is just a drop in the bucket."

Meantime, Arroyo said she had ordered the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to "develop a scholarship program for the call center Philippine school to be able to benefit 100,000 younger Filipinos."

In a roundtable discussion in the afternoon, Arroyo said putting up buildings for a call center school might be expensive and it would be better to just grant the scholarships to students.

TESDA Chairman Augusto Syjuco told reporters that the President had increased his office's budget from P50 million to P500 million in order to fund the call center scholarship program. (INQ7)

Contact centers soon to shift to Internet-based calls


Call centers and business process outsourcing (BPO) firms are seen to shift to Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) to cut costs and offer feature-rich services, a US-headquartered research and consulting firm said.

In a briefing, Sheryl Kingstone, managing director of Yankee Group, said industry trends show an increasing use of VoIP in outsourcing. "There will be a strong demand in VoIP in the next three years," she told reporters.

VoIP allows the transmission of digital voice and data over a general-purpose packet-switched network like the Internet. This allows users to make phone calls using broadband Internet connection instead of a regular phone line.

Kingston said another industry trend in the BPO sector is the use of on-demand or hosted model as the next generation infrastructure for outsourced call-center operators.

On-demand or software as a service (SaaS) is a software delivery model or fully hosted system that enables companies of any size to build a comprehensive, feature-rich contact center anywhere in the world, without large upfront investment.

Instead of constructing physical infrastructure in most call centers in the Philippines, an on-demand delivery system allows any establishment to deliver customer relations management services using the software of a host company through the Internet.

The SaaS enables a company to alleviate the maintenance, daily technical operation and support of business and or consumer software and related infrastructure.

Outsourcers, Kingston said, require superior next generation technology and services. "Sophisticated business will demand sophisticated capabilities to meet customer requirements," she said.

Kingston noted that the on-demand delivery and VoIP are two outsourcing models, which have evolved to offer sophisticated services, and not just "butt-in-seat" services.

She added that the use of VoIP could help a call center cut down its costs by 6 percent to 16 percent, while on-demand delivery software could slash costs by 25 percent to 85 percent.

She cited Five9 Inc. as an example of a call center that taps VoIP and the on-demand model.

Darwin G. Amojelar

For comments, go to the message board

‘Lord of the Rings’ special effects creator to put up studio complex in Clark Field

By Cai U. Ordinario, Reporter

THE special effects creator of the Lord of the Rings recently began development of a Universal Studios-type of complex in Clark Field, Pampanga, according to the Clark Development Corp. (CDC).

Antonio Ng, CDC president, said the developer, Clark Shogee Studio, is a joint venture between California-headquartered Shogee and Cyber City Philippines.

With offices in China, Singapore and Canada, Shogee is considered a technology leader in creating effects for box-office films such as King Kong and Harry Potter.

Ng said the project would cost $10 million, with an initial tranche of $2 million.

To date, Shogee has begun rehabilitation of the existing building in Clark. Ng said the building will open in August or September this year.

“The project, once fully developed, will become a tourism spot, like Universal Studios with many computer-generated imaging films shot and made in the 40-hectare Clark Shogee Studio,” he said.

The studio will also offer prop and facade manufacturing for export, forming part of the full Hollywood-style studio.

Besides the studio, the complex would also host an animation school and training center. The education and training will be imparted by internationally acclaimed experts.

The school and training center will offer full scholarship with allowance, board and lodging for students as well as Filipino artists and film industry personnel who need additional information technology training.

Ng said the complex will generate from 400 to 500 jobs in its first phase and has a potential to create 4,000 full-time and part-time jobs.

The technology to be used in the complex will originate from those created by professionals in Hollywood, China, Canada and the Philippines.

The Shogee Studio is part of the industrial component of the master plan for Clark Field, Pampanga. The industrial area will also include the P1.3-billion worth Technopark.

The CDC expects the whole area to generate 6,622 jobs.

The existing industrial park generated 36,883 jobs last year, over the 33,504 jobs in 2004. The businesses in the area also hired additional seasonal/temporary employees totaling 15,170 last year.

The area is also responsible for the 15-percent increase in exports from Clark-based firms last year. Clark firms shipped out $310 million over $227 million in 2004.

The duties and taxes collected from Clark industries amounted to P2.87 million, of which P1.9 billion went to the Bureau of Internal Revenue and P978.33 million to the Bureau of Customs.

Eto isa pa....in China, a lot of officials in their goverment are Engineers and Scientist, therefore,they can easily relate and at the same educated level when they talked business with big tech name companies,like,pareng Bill Gates, Michael Dell,etc. Meanwhile in our country we have wannabe Actors,Actresses, etc. Great!!

Morgan Stanley eyes BPO in Philippines


INVESTMENT bank Morgan Stanley is evaluating information technology (IT) outsourcing in the Philippines for possible expansion, Trade Secretary Peter Favila said.

Without giving specific figures, Favila said Gari Guglielmi, Morgan Stanley’s vice president, had paid him a courtesy call regarding a multimillion-dollar expansion on IT outsourcing in the Philippines.

However, because of concern over the lack of personnel in business process outsourcing (BPO), Favila said he talked with the BPO associations to work with the government in honing new hires.

“BPO is new in the Philippines, and it has to do something to catch up with other countries that have been providing services in this area in the past few years,” he said. Favila also noted that the government is now encouraging civil servants to shift to BPO because they have the knowledge and skills necessary to work in this area.

“The government is looking at enhancing the competitiveness of our workers because of the big demand. With BPO associations’ good inputs, the government would be supportive of their initiatives. The only obvious problem is the lack of qualified workers,” Favila said.

“We want the BPO associations to go to specialized areas such as para-legal service and research since high-value chain is the emerging trend,” he added.

He noted that the demand in special services is huge that it is expected to surpass the call center industry. “Knowledge process outsourcing has a very huge potential and could even outperform call center services,” he said.

Another area is animation, which is also a fast-growing industry, he said.


http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/apr/03/yehey/business/20060403bus4.html

So Conyo accent is like the beverly hills-ish girly accent of the Philippines, like "oh my god, like my like teacher told me that i was like not good enough, like whatever."
As Thomasian suggested LIKE Cory Aquino.

Speaking of reading books, ever since I got here i've been trying to get my cousins to read fiction, non-fiction, history, etc... just about anything, but they are so adamantly lazy about reading. It's frustrating. The only thing they like to read are inspirational quotes from the bible or something. While there's nothing wrong with that, it just isn't enough.

You all should have seen the looks on my cousins' faces when I gave them a copy of "East of Eden." They sure aren't gonna read that long of a book. So i suggested short stories like "Interpreter of Maladies" (a great fucking book). I think people who don't usually read would be more open to short stories. Reading is such a great avenue for people to take in order to explore and perfect the English language.


Right! Though I admit that I've caught some grammatical errors on some books even though they were written by Brits and Americans. Well, People do make mistakes. Anyway, I hope that the government will realize this and that they will relegate Filipino - which is really Tagalog - to a local dialect to be used only in Manila. This Filipino project has made our people stupid and narrow minded. It would be better to use a neutral language for the entire Philippines - which is English to better unify our people and upgrade our people's proficiency in it. We should also reintroduce Spanish as a 2nd language so that we will be better able compete in the world. I'm just thankful that this BPO's or Outsourcing firms have even considered the Philippines in the first place. If you visit Manila and other Luzon communities, you will hardly find anybody who could speak decent English. Here in the Middle East, I know of only ten Filipinos who have a good command of English. Most could manage one or two sentences in English, but eventually they start to stammer - which is a pity since the Americans had left us with a good education system and we bungled it by being too insecure and afraid of being branded as colonialists. Hey if the Americans did the same thing, they might all be speaking a hybrid of English and American Indian language. So I hope they will realize the folly of this Filipino/Tagalog project of theirs (which they say is a patriotic thing to do) and restore English as the only Official language of the country.

Lawson shifts Philippines operations into high gear
Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal - March 31, 2006by Mark ReillyStaff


Lawson Software Inc., which two years ago moved some of its business to India to save on labor costs, has decided that move didn't go far enough.

The St. Paul company, which develops business-automation software, is ramping up its staff at a new development and administrative facility in the Philippines. By year's end, the facility could have 200 employees performing software development, customer support and administrative tasks.

Lawson Software began to build the facility, near the capital city of Manila, over the winter and is now aggressively hiring. Its Web site lists more than 30 open positions at the Philippines office, with jobs ranging from technical writer to software engineer to financial support. Key software architecture would still be done at Lawson's offices in the United States or Europe, where it is buying the Swedish software firm Intentia in a $480 million deal.

In a conference call with analysts earlier this year, Lawson CEO Harry Debes said the Philippines facility will efficiently extend Lawson's global reach.

"We are going to see the benefit of having a lot more capacity at a much, much lower cost," Debes said. Lawson expects to realize savings from the new facility by late 2006.

Debes didn't say how much Lawson was investing in the Philippines office. At least some Lawson managers are expected to relocate temporarily to the Philippines to get the facility up to speed.

Software companies have been turning to overseas markets for lower-cost development or support work -- the industry term is "offshoring" -- for several years. In 2004, Lawson joined the march by contracting with Xansa, a London-based tech-outsourcing company, to handle product-maintenance tasks at Xansa's location in Chennai, India.

But that effort is modest compared with the Philippines push. Xansa's India center only amounted to about 70 people working on behalf of Lawson. The Philippines office not only has more people inside, it's got Lawson's name on the door.

"This seems to be a much bigger commitment for Lawson," said David Rudow, an analyst with Piper Jaffray Cos. in Minneapolis. Ludow doesn't own stock in Lawson, though Piper Jaffray makes a market in its stock.

The move makes sense because of the cost advantages of offshoring, Rudow said. "Lawson was pretty late to the party in offshoring."

Lawson's Director of Public Relations Terrence Blake said opening a dedicated center, rather than using an outsourcing contractor, lets customers know that Lawson had plenty of resources to handle projects.

The Philippines, despite its internal struggles with insurgents and terrorism, has some particular advantages for Lawson, Rudow said. The predominant language is English, and both attrition and labor costs are lower than in India, where the technology boom of recent years has driven up salaries and prompted competition for labor.

A recent study by Indian software lobby NASSCOM and labor firm Hewitt Associates found that the average tech salary in India increased between 16 and 18 percent last year, the steepest increase in the Asia-Pacific market. Philippines workers saw their salaries increase 8.2 percent. Attrition rates in India's tech sector also are climbing, from 20 percent in 2004 to 30 percent in 2005.

Moreover, Debes has some experience in the Asian market. He worked for 11 years at Geac Computers, an enterprise software company, serving as managing director of Geac Asia-Pacific among other roles.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2006/04/03/story6.html?from_rss=1

the way i see it... its not much on the gadgets that influence the person's language/ communication skills. its the people around 'em and of course the school where they go to. its really nice to hear a lot of kids in our neighborhood or even in public speaking english with their parents and even yayas pinagpawisan na sa kaka-english. haha.. average filipino family yun ha. :)

That's true in the Visayan cities but I don't think it is still true in Manila - except in uppity families. My parents and grandparents even went to the point of banning Tagalog movies and shows, but we were allowed to watch Old Filipino movies that were in English... I think the same should be done by everybody... English is not only important in the outsourcing industry, I found out that most companies here in the Middle East reserve the higher paying jobs to Native English Speaking people only - something which we could have been if our leader had not insisted on supposedly patriotic but foolish Filipino as a National Language project of theirs!

^ All your comments about the deterioration of English language speaking and comprehension skills surprised me. That's deplorable. And I thought that the reverse was true, that most of the Pinoys prefer to talk in English. Especially now that US media influence is all over. Medyo naiinis pa naman ako sa nephew ko nang pa-ingles-ingles. I wanted him to talk to me in Tagalog when I speak with him Tagalog.

I guess there is truth to Aaron (Thomasian)'s statement that another reason why some can't express themselves in English is that they are thought of as "maarte". I may be guilty of this labeling (sa nephew and niece ko pa). So now I've learned that this stigma should be erased so that folks will not be self-conscious when trying to express themselves in another language.

I've bumped into you several times before. I say it's about time you yourself start writing in English! The same thing happened to me here in the Middle East. People from other provinces and NCR start whispering that "only fags speak English" or "pa-ingles-ingles pa". Thing is Bacoleno families do value English and consider it important. When you go to the restaurants in Bacolod, you could here guys speaking in pure English and maybe some Ilonggo in between, but usually, it is never mixed up in one sentence like they do in MAnila. The result, Call Centers have started to notice that and are set to open up shop in a couple of months. Manila only has those call centers because it is manned by people from the rest of the Philippine Islands.

I really agree that your exposure to media shapes your ability to use a certain language. I think tv show producers in the philippines should create their own shows in tagalog and just leave the english shows in english. In this way our own shows in tagalog will help us learn our culture more while at the same time we are able to gain knowledge and competence in english through the english language shows. It's really pathetic to hear though that our media is still not putting any action about this issue.

We don't need Tagalog/Filipino to learn our own culture. Each region in the Philippines has its own culture and as such, using Tagalog fo movies is just a gradual process of alienating all the other cultures and imposing the tagalog one on them. What should be done is that the producers revert to English just as they use to do before. I haven't seen a Filipino movies for years because it is in Tagalog... or as some people would insist - Filipino.

What's even worse nowadays is that some Tagalog's would feel insulted if you don't speak their language... they even tell you to learn Tagalog - though we are presently outside the country.

That's all just propaganda by vested interests who want to stop these jobs going out of the US. If you were in their position you wouldn't go down without a fight, would you? Nothing personal, that's just how Business operates... and that's exactly how we Filipinos need to act. The industrial nations didnt get that way by being sentimental.

Anyway I wouldn't worry too much about this bad publicity. Business (at least the good ones) will always seek to streamline and make their operations more efficient and cheaper. Fact of the matter is, you've got the same skillset in Manila as you would in the US for these jobs and for cheaper, so jobs are going here. Expect the same thing to happen to us when the Chinese improve their English skills.

Let me just go off on a tangent: I really hate how our TV stations are 'dumbing down' our populace with all their Taglish dubbing for the popular shows. When I grew up, robot cartoons were all dubbed in straight English and we still had Sesame Street.
They should be shot for harming the national interest.

That's right!!!

^^ I THINK YOU SHOULD MAKE A THREAD FOR THIS LANGUAGE PROBLEM. We are a little bit going "off topic" with this. This thread concerns "OUTSOURCING".Just a suggestion. :)

Learn English fast? Everyone else wants to!
INSIDE CEBU By Bobit S. Avila
The Philippine Star 01/27/2006

I?m four square behind the proposal of Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to promote English as the country?s medium of instruction. Sto. Tomas said in The Philippine STAR report of Mayen Jaymalin last Tuesday that education authorities should set aside nationalism and restore English as the country?s medium of instruction. I say it?s about time! By just learning how to speak English in this country guarantees you a well-paying job in a call center and yes, you do not have to leave your family or your home or country to do so.

If this happens, finally we can say that the Department of Education (DepEd) is on the right track because too many Filipinos have already lost this great advantage of being a nation of English-speakers. Thanks to many DepEd teachers who can hardly speak or write in good English, many students, too, hardly speak English. Yet, our neighboring countries like China, Korea and Japan are frantically trying to jump into the English bandwagon. Koreans, as you?ve already known, have established mini-schools just to learn the English language right here on our own shores!

But what about Filipino nationalism? First of all, let me point out that our kind of language nationalism is focused on only one spoken ethnic language?Tagalog. Hence we have always said that speaking Tagalog isn?t in our book of Filipino nationalism as it does away with the other ethnic languages of the Philippines, like Cebuano, Ilonggo, Waray, Bicolano or Ilocano. If we?ve not seen any Filipino unity, it is because the Tagalog nationalists promote only Tagalog nationalism, which is totally wrong!

What we need is for all Filipinos to respect all our spoken languages? this is what God ordained in the Old Testament, in Genesis during the Tower of Babel, and fulfilled in the New Testament during Pentecost Sunday where the people in the upper room spoke in tongues! Indeed, this is a Divine ordinance, which teaches us respect for one another. Alas, Tagalog nationalism has only brought the other spoken languages in the Philippines to the brink of extinction! Thanks to the pro-Tagalog only language policies brought forth by the Cory Aquino administration.

I attended a language workshop last November at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Cebu and I got a first-hand taste of Tagalog nationalists in the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) who bewailed the proposal of the Arroyo administration to make English the nation?s medium of instruction.

One professor bewailed this plan, saying, "If this is pushed through, Filipinos will soon become second-class citizens in their own land!" Well, I reacted to that statement, saying, "Thank you ma?am for finally, you will get a taste of how people in Cebu and the other non-Tagalog areas feel? that we, too, have become second-class citizens in our own land? because Tagalog, which is not the language of my birth, is being taught here, while Cebuanos are not allowed to learn their own spoken language!" Of course, those who espoused Tagalog nationalism told me I was wrong? but that?s the reality on the ground? If I love the Philippines, I can do so without having to learn Tagalog, but Cebuano? and so too with the rest of our countrymen who speak different languages. Respect our other spoken languages, and then we can see Filipino unity blossom!

I totally agree with that. Put a stop to Tagalog Imperialism and relegate Filipino - which is really tagalog in disguise to the status of a local dialect for use in Manila and some parts of Luzon. What I'm saying is that our government should even do one step further than what Mr. Avila has suggested, that is to make English the only National Language for the whole of P.I., not just as a medium of instruction - which means all local movies and TV shows should be done in English as well. Only local stage plays should be done in the local dialect.

during Cory's time lang ata naging tagalog. Hindi ko rin alam kung totoong naging tagalog. Graduated in HS 1990 pero english pa rin naman gamit namin sa probinsiya. Hindi kasi ganun ka dali mag palit/translate ng mga libro from english to tagalog. The only tagalog subjects we have: Araling Panlipunan and Pilipino, the rest in English na.

Even Araling Panlipunan is taught in English in most Bacolod private schools since the teacher and students don't care to speak Tagalog anyway. When my Filipino teacher asked why we needed to learn tagalog/filipino, I answered "because all maids and drivers speak that language" heheh, she must have cried in the faculty room. Our helper at the time were tagalogs but they never got me to learn it, instead they learned to speak Ilonggo... or at least understand it.

^^ I THINK YOU SHOULD MAKE A THREAD FOR THIS LANGUAGE PROBLEM. We are a little bit going "off topic" with this. This thread concerns "OUTSOURCING".Just a suggestion. :)

That's right. Why don't you do it?

^^ Yeah, I had one call that was picked up by an Indian woman and it was hard because she couldn't get the write spelling of my last name and she was not that good in english.

You mean "the right spelling..."?

Sorry but I have to erase the previous post, just got a little bit emotional. Anyway, Dinho you should be the one who will create the thread. You are the one who has been talking about it.

BPO industry to sustain rapid growth



By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT

The domestic business process outsourcing (BPO) industry will continue to expand rapidly even as it starts a consolidation process to strengthen the industry and compete globally, an industry expert said.



Rainerio "Bong" Borja, president of PeopleSupport (Philippines), Inc. and director of the BPO Association of the Philippines, said there are more BPO companies coming in and expanding operations.

"We’re going through that pace of consolidation now but this is not enough to impact on our growth," he said.

"Industry consolidation is just a means to make the industry healthy because the true competition is to be able to get a bigger share of the bigger pie in the US market," he said. Borja said the industry is growing between 50 percent to 70 percent this year.

There are already 70 BPO players in the market and over 100,000 seats and still expanding.

In fact, PoepleSupport is one company that combines both mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and expansion of operations in terms of actual number of seats.

For its M & As initiatives, Borja said, PeopleSupport has million in free cash. In the first quarter this year, the company has acquired Rapidtext and the Transcription Company.

"We are scouring the globe and we have a team that is evaluating three foreign BPO firms for possible M & As," Borja said.

The acquisition of Rapidtext and the Transcription Company is expected to raise the revenues of PeopleSupport this year to as much as million in the first quarter alone. For the whole of 2005, PeopleSupport’s revenues grew to .1 million from million in fiscal year 2004 and net income to .8 million from .3 million in fiscal year 2004.

Other M & As happening in the industry lately involved that of an acquisition of another BPO by etelecare. Ambergris has also merged with another BPO firm.

Parallel to the M & A initiatives, the NASDAQlisted PeopleSupport is adding about 2,000 new seats in first half this year with estimated investments of million or ,000 per seat investment.


In March, the company has announced the opening of its operations in Costa Rica with 420 seats to service the Hispanic clients of its Fortune 150 client.

Likewise, the company also opened last month a recruitment center in Davao to support the company’s initiative of tapping the southern Philippine workforce for its sites in Manila and Cebu.

It is also adding a second site for its Cebu operation with an additional 450seats and another site in Manila for another 1,000 seats since the fourth floor of the PeopleSupport Center in Makati is already filled.

"This is the single biggest expansion in a short period of time as we add close to 1,900 seats before the end of the second quarter this year," Borja said.

Borja further said the industry should be moving towards the higher value chain of the industry and into the huge potential in the Knowledge Process Outsourcing.

"For the U.S. we are well position because we have a strong affinity with the U.S. accounting principles, legal system while all our neighbors are using the UK system," he said.

"We have a unique advantage versus India because are not saturated yet," he said.

KPO involves a lot of technical know how like the preparation of legal pleadings, researches and preparation of annual reports.

Borja said this is also good for the BPO firms to maximize the use of their empty offices during the day since most of their workload is at night because they are servicing clients mostly from the U.S., which has a different timezone than the Philippines.

The Philippines also has better infrastructure, way of life and environment than India.

Borja further said the take-up rate has gone up to 5 percent now than the previous three percent as more BPO firms have gone to the provinces to tap the cream of the crop of the new graduates.

In addition, the government has granted the industry P500 million scholarship fund to be able to send the near hires or those call center applicants that needs to go to some sort of a finishing school to be able to be accepted.

To augment its manpower supply, Borja said PeopleSupport and some industry players have undertaken the Employee Referral Program wherein an existing employee can refer or recruit a prospective agent and earn from that.

Borja said that one employe even received P50,000 for a successful referral.

While the industry encourages the employe referral program, Borja said they frowned upon the practice of poaching.

Although BPAP cannot prevent such a practice, the industry players have signed a gentleman’s agreement to refrain from such.

The industry is also opposed to any move that would standardize the salaries for call center agents because as Borja said this would only limit the growth of the industry.

"We have no problem with the existing standards," he said.

With a tight supply in manpower, the industry offers a better compensation package. Industry monthly salary average is placed between P11,000 to P16,000 a month depending on the skills set of the agent.

Aside from the monthly salary, BPOs offer performance bonuses, monthly incentives, health insurance, a 15 percent night shift differential, meals and transportation allowances.

"I’ve never known an industry that gives so much bonuses," Borja said.(BCM)

http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/04/04/BSNS2006040460535.html

You mean "the right spelling..."?

Yes, I was supposed to say "she couldn't get to write the right spelling..." :nocrook: I must have been typing and wasn't really concern about correct grammar usage. :)

Yes, I was supposed to say "she couldn't get to write the right spelling..." :nocrook: I must have been typing and wasn't really concern about correct grammar usage. :)

No problem. Typo errors are normal.

People Support begins Expansion


PEOPLESUPPORT, a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm, is expanding in the Philippines and abroad with the infusion of a significant amount of money for the increase in the company’s number of call-center seats, an official said.

Rainerio Borja, PeopleSupport president, said his company has begun investing $15 million to add more seats in its Philippine operations and open a new facility in Costa Rica to serve Hispanic clients in the US.

“This year will be a positive year for us and we have an aggressive seat expansion target to meet, which is around 2,000 seats by the second quarter of this year,” Borja said, adding that part of the investment would benefit its Manila and Cebu operations.

The company plans to add 1,000 seats in Manila, 450 seats in Cebu and 450 seats in Costa Rica.

Every seat costs some $8,000, the executive said.

Borja said growth this year would involve mergers and acquisitions, as long as these are in line with the company’s objectives and profitability. “We will expand our offerings to new BPO markets, as well as expand in other geographies, both in the Philippines and abroad.”

PeopleSupport announced the opening of its operations in Costa Rica in March, to provide Spanish and bilingual customer management services to new Fortune 500 clients based in the US.

The company expects first quarter revenues to be anywhere between $20.5 million and $21 million, including the earnings of newly acquired subsidiaries such as Rapidtext and The Transcription Co. PeopleSupport reported revenues last year of $62.1 million, a 40-percent increase compared with the 2004 topline.

Profits last year came in at $22.8 million, or $1.2 for every diluted share, as compared with $8.3 million or $0.55 a share for 2004.

The company also recorded a $12.1-million income tax benefit last year, including additional reductions of the deferred tax asset valuation allowance, compared to a similar $6.9 million benefit for 2004.

PeopleSupport Inc., a NAS-DAQ-listed company, is a leading BPO provider that offers customer management, transcription, captioning and accounts receivable management.

A majority of its services is performed in the Philippines, and it is considered as one of the largest BPO companies. It employs around 5,000 people in the country.


http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/apr/04/yehey/business/20060404bus10.html

Where is ICT education in the Philippines headed?

First posted 00:13am (Mla time) Mar 10, 2006
By Alexander Villafania
INQ7.net



While the country’s ICT industry continues to enjoy strong growth in the last few years, few notice what is being done when it comes to improving ICT education, particularly in the farther reaches of the country’s rural areas.

Unlike in private schools were ICT is starting to become not just a curriculum but an integral tool for classroom teaching, most of the public high schools do not have the infrastructure nor the equipment to start ICT-based learning. Therefore, the private sector has to intervene to get young people acquainted with technology since it is they who will eventually benefit from graduates with specific ICT skills.

During the recent Advanced Science and Technology (ASTI) Day Conference 2006, IT educators, engineers, economic advisors, scientists and policy makers came together to discuss how to pursue ICT education in the Philippines, both in the aspect of teaching and integrating it into traditional curriculums. It was also here that people saw the bigger picture of how the Philippine public education system is faring.

There are over 40,000 public schools in the country. A handful of the public elementary schools are providing basic computer literacy though 73 percent of the public high schools are already teaching basic computer use and other applications.

Most of these schools with computers are recipients of projects such as the Department of Trade and Industry’s PCs for Public Schools and other private sector-led programs. The reason why high schools are mostly the targets for computer and Internet donations is that high schools are more familiar with computers, making it easier for them to teach computer skills.

Not surprisingly, the few schools that have computers are the lucky ones; only 66 percent of all public schools have electricity and only 30 percent have Internet connectivity, which indicates an infrastructure disparity in public education. In addition, only 15 percent of the schools have their own local area network and less than half have other multimedia equipment such as TVs, tape recorders, VHS or VCD players and screen projectors.

Department of Science and Technology Science Education Institute Director Ester Ogena stressed the existence of inequality between those with access to technology and those that do not. For instance, she pointed out that in the last Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study -- where the Philippines almost placed last among 25 countries -- those that used computers and the Internet performed better in science and math compared to those who have not used them. The need to maximize existing capacity building programs for ICT teaching becomes even more apparent.

“ICT is emerging as a science, it is a tool for education and other fields, but the bottom line for whatever we do, and with the use of ICT we should focus our concern on building the capacity of our country so that we could contribute towards improving the quality of life,” Ogena said.

Ogena identified some of the DOST’s intervention projects to provide access to public schools. These include the Mobile ICT Classroom (large buses that have computers used for various training purposes in far-flung areas), Multimedia Kits and Innovative Computing System, as well as computer grants and software development for math and science teaching.

Likewise, the Department of Education (Deped) ICT Coordinating Chairman Jesus Huenda said his agency has been doing a lot of interventions to increase ICT accessibility by partnering with private firms such as Smart Communications, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Ayala Corp., among others.

In addition, Huenda pointed out that the Deped developed and is currently implementing an ICT masterplan for education, which includes getting all public high schools connected to the Internet within the next five years and transforming schools into digital learning resource centers. Likewise, the Deped will establish computer and speech labs in all of their elementary schools, establish connections in specific areas and also converting libraries into digital resource centers.

The government is also conducting ICT projects through the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization -- Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology (SEAMEO-INNOTECH). Its Director, Erlinda Pefianco said that for ICT education to be successfully implemented the Deped should start integrating ICT education first into the curriculum and should be followed up by getting teachers, parents and the community involved in the educational program.

She pointed out that technology requires community support more than anything else.

“Technology will work if you let it happen inside the community that is allowed to give its full support,” Pefianco said.

For its party, SEAMEO-INNOTECH has successfully implemented the BridgeIT or Text2Teach project with the United States Assistance for International Development (USAID), aimed largely at Grade 5 and 6 schools that do not have basic communications infrastructure and electricity. SEAMEO-INNOTECH and USAID provided multimedia hardware and wireless connectivity to 122 public elementary schools in Mindanao.

As much as the private sector and the government are expanding its ICT education program, there were still many questions and suggestions that should make any ICT program work. The most prominent suggestions was that the Deped should create an umbrella organization that will coordinate all ICT-related projects for the educational system and also the creation of an online educational portal for academicians and students. Representatives from the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, Ayala Foundation, the National Economic and Development Council, University of the Philippines and the Philippine eLearning Society all agreed that a single coordinating body would speed up the government’s ICT education program.

http://news.inq7.net/thegoodnews/index.php?index=1&story_id=68893

McKinsey says Philippine IT low in cost, high in quality

First posted 09:25pm (Mla time) Feb 19, 2006
By Ronnel Domingo
Inquirer



Editor's Note: Published on Page B12 of the February 20, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE INFORMATION technology-enabled service sector in the Philippines is the best in the world in terms of cost and quality of labor, but it needs to improve on international perception issues regarding the local market, according to global research and consultancy firm McKinsey.

Christopher Beshouri, president and chief executive of McKinsey Philippines, said in a report presented during the e-Services Philippines 2006 held last week that the country was clearly in a "good" position, but could become "great."

McKinsey data showed that the labor cost per hour in the Philippines was just 12 percent of what a BPO operator would spend in the United States, better than India's 13 percent.

As for the suitability of job applicants on the requirements of a firm, the Philippines bested those from Russia China and India, the data showed.

Further, the Philippines also excels in terms of the number of available workers as a percentage of total population as well as infrastructure related to information technology, real estate and transportation.

Still, Beshouri said the country could still capture an "unfair share" of the global market if it comes up with a clear strategy and program to address its weaknesses.

Beshouri recommended that the country focus on the non-voice sector or services other than call centers; to continue to attract high-profile locators; and enhance the suitability of the labor supply through investments in language education and development of skilled managers.

http://news.inq7.net/thegoodnews/index.php?index=1&story_id=68506

CONTINUUM: Call centers and growth
By Edgardo B. Espiritu Wednesday, April 05, 2006

The National Economic and Development Authority reported that call centers created about 103,000 new jobs and earned $3.7 billion for the country last year. This is one area that for many years has been considered a sunshine sector and holds great promise as a growth-driver for the economy.

Call centers constitute a form of business process outsourcing, or BPO, which essentially involves the export of services. This is similar to exporting labor, although in this case the workers do not have to leave our shores. In a way, therefore, it may be a bit better than sending out OFWs since it is not subject to the familial dislocations and other social ills that the latter tends to engender. Also, call centers represent a substantial source of foreign-exchange earnings.

However, a policy that pins too much hope on call-center operations as a major factor in long-term economic growth may not be justifiable. I will try to explain why.

In the same way that we cannot depend forever on emigrant labor to bring in a large part of the foreign exchange that is needed to cover our trade gaps and debt payments, we cannot depend on call-center earnings as a major driver of sustained growth. First of all, as a BPO activity, this is at the lower rungs of the ladder in terms of value added.

It does not offer much opportunity in terms of technology transfers and linkages with other domestic industries. Moreover, although it may not constitute “brain drain” in the same way that exports of skilled and professional manpower do, it also has a limiting effect on the development of our human resources. Because of the usually very competitive recruitment process for call-center jobs, the high standards required particularly in terms of English proficiency, and the limited employment opportunities elsewhere, call centers are able to get college graduates from our better schools. But the work really does not offer them very much in terms of acquiring new learning and skills, and the economy, as a whole, is not able to make the best use of their capabilities.

Moreover, growth that is led by call centers and similar activities in the service sector at our stage of economic development is not consistent with worldwide experience. This is also the conclusion of a recent study conducted by the Asian Development Bank. The study observed that call centers and service activities “cannot provide the impetus that the country needs to generate sustained growth.”

The usual pattern of growth, as experienced by almost all of today’s economically advanced economies, is a sequential shift of dominance, in terms both of employment and output, from the agricultural sector, then to industry, then to services. These changes are made possible by steady increases in the productivity of labor, in turn enabled by improvements in technology and capital investments. Short-circuiting the process and moving directly to service sector dominance, without first developing a strong industrial base, is not a tenable strategy.

Although it is true that in many developing countries, a big part of the labor force can be found in the service sector, this is more a reflection of a lack of opportunities in the industrial sector rather than of an increasing dynamism in services. In fact, very low productivities often characterize the service sector. In fact, the very reason why the call centers and other BPO activities are being transferred by the large global companies to the developing countries is the presence of surplus but skilled labor that can be tapped for relatively low productivity jobs and paid lower wages compared to their counterparts in the developed countries.

Moreover, putting too much emphasis on low value-added BPO activities such as call centers make our growth prospects too dependent on foreign economic cycles. Much of call-center operations, for instance, are in the form of after-sale servicing for consumer durable and software products. When sales of these products slide either because of cyclical or long-term trends in the developed countries, these services and call-center operations would also likely suffer a decline.

Ultimately and essentially, economic development is about enhancing people’s productivity and, relatedly, also their incomes and command over resources. It is about people contributing more to producing goods and wealth as well as partaking more of their benefits. Call centers, which operate only on the fringes of production activities, which do not provide people with long-term employment where they can take root and grow, and which are very mobile in terms of locating to places where the cheapest inputs in terms of labor and facilities are available, are not likely to provide a lasting and reliable basis for long-term economic growth and sustained employment creation.

BIG DEAL: KMU, Teamsters gang up on call centers
By Dan Mariano Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Filipino leftists have found common cause with American unions — including some shady ones, targeting the relatively recent phenomenon of business process outsourcing (BPO) as exemplified by the dozens of call centers that have sprung up in the Philippines. While local Left-wingers dismiss call-center jobs as demeaning for their countrymen, the US unionists are angry that those jobs are going to foreigners like Filipinos and Indians.

A relatively recent phenomenon, call centers serve the information needs of the predominantly American customers of various businesses. They can do so thanks to the digitization of global telecommunications. Call centers in the Philippines now employ about 80,000 English-speaking Filipinos—and that figure is projected to grow further. The call centers reportedly generated some $1 billion last year. However, that is not good enough for some quarters.

The Kilusang Mayo Uno, Bayan Muna and similar organizations have condemned the BPO industry as a “hub for exploitation.” They dismiss work in contact centers as “dead-end jobs.” They point out that while call-center workers in Manila are each paid a monthly salary of about P15,000 their American counterparts get the equivalent of about P40,000.

A KMU spokesman was recently quoted as saying: “With the same amount of work, our call-center workers are receiving a lot less. This cost-saving measure means greater profit for [BPO] like the call-center industry but translates to greater exploitation for poor countries like the Philippines.”

In an ideal world a Filipino in, say, Cebu doing the same kind of work as his US counterpart in Michigan ought to get the same wages. If that were the case, however, foreign BPO companies would have no incentive to set up shop in the Philippines. Given the numerous hassles of operating overseas, the American owners of these businesses would prefer not to leave home.

But since there are enough Filipinos who can do the work of their American counterparts for a fraction of US wages, American and other BPO companies have found that by operating their call centers from out of the Philippines they can maximize their profits. And profit is what business is all about, right?

Besides, it is not as though the Philippines were the only country where call centers have been springing up like the proverbial mushrooms. In India, BPO investments sunk in by American and other companies are much larger.

The Filipino leftists’ campaign against call centers is supported by major US unions such as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (wink, wink) and American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), which have been pressing for mainly state laws that would regulate outsourcing, if not ban it outright.

According to former ABS-CBN correspondent Mike Cohen, who is developing a story on the subject for an international news organization, India is the real target of the American unionists, but “you can expect some backlash for the BPO industries in the Philippines.”

To date, Cohen reports, over 30 American states have proposed legislation that would bar their state governments from contracting or subcontracting services from companies that employ people who are not American citizens.

Cohen quotes Mary Bottari of Public Citizen—a policy watchdog set up by US consumer advocate Ralph Nader—who said: “The goal of such policies is to keep taxpayers’ dollars working for the community and reflecting the values of the state.”

Legislation to penalize out*sourcing—also called “off*shoring” by Americans—have been either passed or filed in such states as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Washington, Missouri, Minnesota and Indiana.

In a recent e-mail, Cohen writes: “To highlight the impact of offshoring American information technology jobs, the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers launched a Web-based advertising and fund-raising campaign on April 7. The first ad features Seattle-area tech workers who have lost jobs to offshoring, including one who, to receive severance pay and retain unemployment insurance eligibility, had to train her offshore replacement. To see the ads and learn more, visit www.washtech.org.”

Meanwhile, American unionists working with legislators in 33 states have introduced or plan to introduce model legislation developed by the AFL-CIO to slow the offshoring of American jobs, Cohen says. Among others, the legislation prohibits states from contracting with companies that send jobs out of the United States.

Critics of the burgeoning BPO industry in the Philippines fail to mention that call centers offer entry-level salaries that are the equivalent of supervisors’ pay in other companies, that call centers take in even undergraduates who would be automatically turned away by other employers, that call centers provide perks—such as subsidized meals, rest areas and even gyms—to keep their workers in top form, that the call centers have boosted other businesses.

Above all, call centers employ thousands of Filipinos who would otherwise be jobless. The Teamsters (which calls itself “the world’s most powerful union”), the AFL-CIO and other US unions want those jobs to go exclusively to Americans.

Is that what KMU and Bayan Muna also want?

You must really be against outsourcing here in the RP.

You must really be against outsourcing here in the RP.

Who me? :dunno: I was just posting news about the industry....lighten up dude! :colgate:

^^ Sorry, I was a little bit fatigued when I was typing that. I was actually refering to the groups and the unionist. Sorry. PEACE! :cheers:

^^ We're cool! :okay: No harm, no foul. :colgate:

This may give you an idea of areas where the USA will most probably experience shortage of workers which may impact employment-based immigration or outsourcing of jobs:
_________________________________
Today's Most Unpopular Jobs

By Laura Morsch, CareerBuilder.com writer

Is there a severe labor shortage looming for the United States? It depends whom you ask. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a labor force of 162.3 million people by 2012. At the same time, the BLS predicts that the 2012 economy will require 165.3 million jobs to be filled.

For years, doomsayers have interpreted these statistics to mean the economy will experience a shortage of 3 million workers. But this simply isn't true, insisted Michael W. Horrigan in the February 2004 issue of the BLS' Monthly Labor Review.

Horrigan wrote that multiple job holding and statistical differences between the BLS and Current Employment Statistics surveys, not an impending labor shortage, account for the differences between the numbers.

Although the BLS says there will not be a generalized shortage, certain jobs will experience a shortage of qualified workers. Here are five that are expected to be hit particularly hard:

1. Registered Nurse

The nursing shortage has been fairly well-publicized. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, there was a shortage of 110,000 RNs in 2000, or about 6 percent of the national demand. The shortage is expected to grow to 29 percent by 2020.

What's causing this dramatic shortage? For one thing, the report states there will be an 18 percent increase in the population by 2012. Plus, the aging of the baby boomers will result in a larger proportion of elderly people. To make matters worse, after 2011 the number of nurses leaving the profession is expected to exceed the number entering it.

Nursing salaries are increasing to help boost interest. The starting salary for registered nurses was nearly $39,000 in an April 2005 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. According to the BLS, median annual salaries were $53,640 in November 2004.

2. Machinist

In Deloitte's 2005 Skills Gap Report, 90 percent of respondents indicated a moderate to severe shortage of qualified skills production employees like machinists, who use machine tools, such as lathes, machining centers and milling machines to produce precision metal parts.

Machinists are becoming ever-more productive, but job opportunities for machinists are expected to be excellent, according to the BLS. These days, many young people are choosing to attend college or are shying away from production occupations. Thus, there are not enough new machinists to fill newly created jobs or replace experienced machinists who leave the occupation or retire.

According to the Princeton Review, the average starting salary for a machinist is $22,500. The median salary for machinists is just over $34,000, according to the BLS.

3. Librarian

Studies have shown that librarians are expected to exit the profession en masse in coming years. The American Library Association Web site quotes statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau indicating that more than one-quarter of all librarians will reach the age of 65 by 2009. A study published in the Library Journal found that 40 percent of library directors would retire by that same year.

In addition to the librarians expected to retire within the next decade, interest in the profession is waning among younger workers, according to the BLS. The situation is particularly dire for colleges and universities, which report the greatest difficulty in hiring librarians due to lower pay.

Graduates of library programs in 2004 reported an average starting salary of more than $39,000, an increase of nearly 3 percent over the previous year. The median salary for librarians is nearly $47,000, according to the BLS.

4. Truck Driver

Getting those eBay packages delivered might take longer by 2014. A report prepared for the American Trucking Associations by Global Insight, Inc. warns there is already a shortage of about 20,000 long-haul heavy-duty truck drivers. By 2014, the deficit is expected to reach 111,000.

The report blames slipping wages for the shortage. Trucking wages fell sharply with the onset of the recession in 2000 and have yet to recover. According to the BLS, the median salary for heavy or tractor-trailer truck drivers is $33,870.

5. Pharmacist

What, no refills? Pharmacists should have no trouble finding a job in coming years. A recent report from the Pharmacy Manpower Project predicted there will be a shortage of 157,000 pharmacists by 2020. Already, the American Hospital Association reports a 7.4 percent vacancy rate for pharmacists.

The shortage can be partially attributed to the aging population and the fact that more drugs are being manufactured and advertised to the public. In fact, the number of prescriptions has increased from 2 billion to 3.2 billion in the last 10 years. That problem is expected to worsen with the new Medicare prescription drug program that began Jan. 1, pharmacy officials told CNN in November.

To help cope, universities are opening new pharmacy programs and expanding existing ones. The high pay currently offered by pharmacist employers can't hurt, either. The BLS reports the median salary for pharmacists is over $87,000.

Laura Morsch is a writer for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.

I've bumped into you several times before. I say it's about time you yourself start writing in English! The same thing happened to me here in the Middle East. People from other provinces and NCR start whispering that "only fags speak English" or "pa-ingles-ingles pa". Thing is Bacoleno families do value English and consider it important. When you go to the restaurants in Bacolod, you could here guys speaking in pure English and maybe some Ilonggo in between, but usually, it is never mixed up in one sentence like they do in MAnila. The result, Call Centers have started to notice that and are set to open up shop in a couple of months. Manila only has those call centers because it is manned by people from the rest of the Philippine Islands.

Even Araling Panlipunan is taught in English in most Bacolod private schools since the teacher and students don't care to speak Tagalog anyway. When my Filipino teacher asked why we needed to learn tagalog/filipino, I answered "because all maids and drivers speak that language" heheh, she must have cried in the faculty room. Our helper at the time were tagalogs but they never got me to learn it, instead they learned to speak Ilonggo... or at least understand it.

Excuse me, I don't know you and I don't remember having any exchanges with you in these threads. You have no business commenting on how I write. To lift a comment I posted way back in July 2005, put it out of context and attack it the way you did is uncalled for and out of line. I was speaking of my personal experience with my nephew who was born and raised in Manila.

I have no patience dealing with people as intolerant and close-minded as you, who will treat the househelp in such a condescending manner and your teacher with disdain and disrespect. If you have a gripe with the Tagalogs and the Manilenos, don't take it out on them nor me since we did not create the Filipino policy.

Why don't you just make the best out of your stay in the Middle East and impress them with your "impeccable" English.

thats crazy about trying to be a Nurse because alot of people are trying to register yet here in illinois, they dont have that much facility or teacher to teach. for instance in this school, i applied and i spoke to the dean, they told me that thers about 1200 that applied this year for 35 slots :no: for the whole year, thats damn crazy

about being a librarian, i didnt realize that it was an actual career until i saw a flyers in my school offering it. are they for real!!! in this school mostly students runs the library

^^ There is a degree in Library Science. I know what you mean about the Nursing degrees here in the US. It is so hard to get into the program, especially the clinical phase of it. Well, it's not bad to have rigid requirements to get into those programs, because the students have to pass the NCLEX and licensing later on. If the colleges do not have good batting average of students who will pass these certification/licensing exams, their own Nursing program licenses/accreditation will be revoked.

ICT firms secure regulator’s nod
to provide, resell Internet calls


THREE information and communication technology firms have secured the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) nod to offer Inter*net voice calls or voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).

Ronald O. Solis, NTC chief, said the agency granted the separate petitions of BTnT Network Corp., Technetworks Corp. and Transpacific Broadcast Group International Inc. (TBGII) to offer VoIP as either providers or resellers.

VoIP is a cheap alternative to traditional telephony, which transmits voice via the Internet making it less expensive. The NTC defines a provider as a person or entity offering VoIP services to the public, directly or through resellers for compensation, while a reseller is a person or entity that intends to derive or source VoIP from a duly registered provider under an agreement to resell the service directly to retail end-user customers.

BTnT Network said it has entered into a lease agreement with Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel) to provide VoIP services exclusively for the Gokongwei family-led company’s subscribers.

BTnT Network said it would charge from $0.0025 to $.0050 for international calls, and a monthly payment of $500 for customers using the VoIP gateway.

Technetworks Corp., a Cebu-headquartered ICT company has applied as provider and plans to link up with the Telephone Office (Telof) to serve areas in the Visayas and Mindanao.

TBGII, meanwhile, will offer VoIP as a reseller in areas of Metro Manila, Laguna, Angeles, Pampanga and Cavite provinces.

The company plans to use the network facilities of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/apr/05/yehey/business/20060405bus13.html

Schwa is in

MICHAEL DELL, whose name rings a bell as chairman of the world’s largest maker of personal computers, was in Manila recently, with plans to hire 1,400 Filipinos for a call center in SM’s Mall of Asia. The day before, Dell was in Bangalore, India, where he promised to double his company’s employee strength there to 20,000.

A few years ago, I asked a Cabinet secretary if there was cause to worry that US outsourcing firms were hiring 55,000 Indians and not Pinoys. "Don’t worry," the secretary said, "our call-takers will beat them anytime. It’s hard to get rid of an Indian accent."

Some of our own regional accents may sound funny to us, but with a little coaching by trainors like the chocolatey-voiced Jo San Diego, who speaks the schwa-wurszwursz language, American style, call-center agents or customer service reps, as they are called, lose no time speaking the English that, as Henry Higgins noted, has not been spoken in years.

Not only is it easy to train Pinoys to sound like Americans; they communicate in slang, understand American jokes and idioms, and call the famous and notorious in America by their nicknames.

So what’s 1,400 Pinoys working here in Dell and 20,000 working for him in Bangalore? We’ll catch up, just you wait and see.

Unless stress gets to the workers first. In an environment where night is day and the angry, stupid, or impossible customer is always right and always demands to be placated within a limited amount of time (counted in minutes and seconds), stress levels are so high that job turnover is short and fast. Not all agents can take all that complaining and swearing – at eight hours a day, nonstop! – and within a year or two the faint-hearted are ready to call it quits.

Meanwhile, the schwa phenomenon has spawned a subculture in Metro Manila. Evenings are alive, buildings shine bright, staying awake with 24/7 snack shops and coffee bars. Food servers deliver round-the-clock meals. Pedicabs extend their operating hours. Boyfriends adjust their schedules for hatid-sundo. It’s going to be a very different world when we snatch 55,000 jobs from India.

http://www.mb.com.ph/archive_pages.php?url=http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/04/04/OPED2006040460558.html

taken from abs-cbnnews.com..

BPO office supply tight

VIRTUAL BUSINESS
By TONY LOPEZ


If you have money and want to put up a business, go into call centers. More specifically, office space for call centers.


If you have money and want to put up a business, go into call centers. More specifically, office space for call centers.

The demand for office space for BPO (business process outsourcing) is so big, there is not enough supply. Makati of Ayala and Eastwood City of Megaworld have both run out of space.

Ayala Land, Inc. has just completed two big buildings for call centers and won’t be able to finish another one (actually two are coming up for 60,000 square meters) until two years from now.

Between now and 2010, the demand for additional space, per estimates of Colliers International Research is 447,526 square meters, assuming 15 percent increase per year in call center work force. However, in each of the last three years, the increase has been a hefty 30 percent—from 69,700 workers in 2002 to 91,500 in 2003, 120,000 in 2004, and 162,250 last year.

At 30 percent increase in call center personnel, office space demand is estimated at 1.2 million square meters by 2010. Yet, supply will only be 541,400 sqm, just half of expected demand.

What to do then? Build more buildings. They cost a lot, more than P50,000 per square meter because of the need for stable power supply, state of the art telecommunications and security, plus amenities to service the workers. At the Mall of Asia, SM is offering interest-free one-year money to locators who will put up restaurants to service call center workers which will triple in number almost overnight from 3,000 to 10,000.

Refurbished buildings could be used for BPO but they are costly to renovate, says Megaworld. The lack of viable supply has resulted in the emergence of alternative sites such as Filinvest Alabang, the Bay Area reclamation like Mall of Asia, Fort Bonifacio, McKinley Hill and Robinsons Pioneer area. And of course, the Mall of Asia.

As expansion BPO continues into 2010, continued growth in demand for non-traditional space is expected due to:

• The need to find, hire and train an adequate number of employees.

• The need to stay away from competitors that poach employees, resulting in higher wage levels and duplicative training costs.

• Traditional areas are running out of space, with traditional developers wary of constructing new, multitenanted premises for fear of repeating 1998.

• Established BPOs are expanding while business center rental levels are increasing continued occupancy of expensive centers.

It is likely that some BPOs may shrink operations in Makati, the most expensive location so far, and expand elsewhere, essentially saving in the long term without the need to increase headcount.

Aside from Megaworld and Ayala Land, only a handful of other developers have the capability to build a true BPO building. Even fewer are inclined to risk development. To date, the most aggressive developers are Megaworld (1800 and 1880 Eastwood Avenue, McKinley Hill Corporate Plaza and Newport Corporate Plaza), Robinsons Land (Cybergate 1 and 2), 18-2 Realty (Net Square) and Filinvest (Northgate A and D).

WITH more than 80 percent of Internet traffic originating from search engines, SEO or "search engine optimization" is now being used to increase the visibility of blogs and websites in search results of Google, Yahoo! or MSN, according to Marc Macalua, founder of SEO Philippines and self-acknowledged search engine marketing expert. SEO is now being used for Internet marketing or advertising. Search engine marketing is a big industry in the United States and Canada, according to Macalua.

Spending on search engine marketing in these countries has reached 5.75 billion dollars in 2005 alone, according to a US-based Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization report found at (http://www.sempo.org/news/releases/Search_Engine_Marketers).

"Advertisers in the US and Canada spent 5.75 billion dollars on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) in 2005, a 44-percent increase over 2004 spending," the report said. It projects that SEM spending in North America will reach 11 billion dollars in 2010."

"The annual totals include payments to search engines and search-related media companies, search engine marketing agencies and in-house expenditures in support of such programs. The programs include paid placement, paid inclusion, organic search engine optimization and search engine marketing technology platforms," the report said.

Why are websites or online services turning to search engine marketing to reach Internet users? Macalau said that search engine marketing is a "cost-effective and measurable" way of Internet marketing. Gone are the days of banner advertising, he added.

SEO experts like Macalau use various techniques to increase the visibility of websites or blogs during a search process in Google, Yahoo! or MSN. These techniques are divided into "on page" and "off-page" ranking factors. On page techniques usually manipulate the hypertext markup language (HTML)codes used to create blogs or websites. They also make use of common keywords that are often used by other people to start a search.

Off page techniques, on the other end, take advantage of "quality links" and the "quantity of links" in a website or blog. Macalua said that Google is, for instance, biased to highlighting websites that use "gov.ph" domains.

Search engine marketing is also big in Eastern Europe, India, and North America, Macalua said.

In the Philippines, SEO and search engine marketing is a relatively new field or specialization. However, he believes that the Philippines is in a position to become a hub for "outsourced SEO" jobs from abroad.

Macalua said that the country now has a lot of web developers and copywriters who could specialize in SEO. "We can use our English language advantage to take on this opportunity," he added.

By Erwin Lemuel Oliva
INQ7.net

A British Isle company that has been hiring Filipinos to do search engine marketing jobs for a consortium of small- to medium-sized hotels worldwide said the Philippines can become the hub for offshore search engine marketing jobs. Search engine marketing is a relatively new field that converts web traffic into revenues for companies. It uses search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to increase visibility of websites and blogs in popular search engines like Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

Directwithhotels.com has established a representative office in the Philippines on November 2004, pouring in about 1.5 million dollars in capital investment, according to Emiliano Zulberti, chief executive officer of this relatively new outsourcing service company. Hiring more than 30 Filipinos to develop a "holistic approach" to search engine marketing, Zulberti said that Directwithhotels.com expects to double its headcount in the country with new deals coming in from Europe this year.

"In the area of creativity, the Philippines is way ahead of other countries in the region," he said, noting the reasons why Directwithhotels.com has decided to put its back office operations in the country. Directwithhotels.com currently uses search engine marketing to lure people to a consortium of small- and medium-sized hotels with which they have signed agreements. Zulberti said they expect to sign up 20 to 30 hotels a month as they expand their services to other countries.

Search engine marketing uses various methods to make sure people "convert" upon their visit to websites they find in search engines like Google. In the case of Directwithhotels.com, converting visits means people would eventually book one of the hotels being pushed or marketed to them. "Not all people who visit websites for the first time will convert. So we analyze how they behave using search engine marketing techniques," said Jonathan Casuncad, lead of quality traffic service at Directwithhotels.com

Directwithhotels.com treats each member-hotel as a "store" that offers unique services for a specific group of travelers. The online travel booking service is now a huge industry in the US. Figures vary depending on whose talking but Zulberti said that the rate of online travel bookings is increasing by 20 to 25 percent every year.

"With more people buying PCs, going online with broadband Internet access and more suppliers providing online services, the demand will increase," he added. Directwithhotels.com is currently building a "guest loyalty management system" that would allow small and medium-sized hotels to keep tab on their clients.

The company, however, faces the challenge of finding more people to man their growing operations in the Philippines. They are currently looking for copywriters, software engineers, web designers and SEO experts, Zulberti said. The company is also torn between the idea of recruiting experienced search engine marketing professionals who are currently "freelancing" for local and foreign companies or training fresh college graduates.

"Most of the college graduates with good communications skills are funneled to call centers. We're looking to hire fresh graduates," Zulberti added. India and Eastern European countries are also involved in outsourced search engine marketing contract jobs. In the case of Directwithhotels.com, it now earns 7,500 dollars to 15,000 dollars a month doing contract work, according to the executive.

The Philippines is however still a small market for such services, he said.

By Erwin Lemuel Oliva eoliva@inq7.net
INQ7.net

about being a librarian, i didnt realize that it was an actual career until i saw a flyers in my school offering it. are they for real!!! in this school mostly students runs the library
kaya students kasi kulang ang librarian!

ok itong course for you , lot of bespectacled chicks who are actually hot babes in these courses:)

PO industry seen to generate $ 3.8-B revenues, 336,000 new jobs
spacer


By BERNIE CAHILES–MAGKILAT

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is projected to generate $ 3.8 billion in revenues this year and employment of 336,000, Trade and Industry Secretary Peter B. Favila said.

Favila expressed confidence of the continued boom in the outsourcing industry saying this sector of the economy is among the good news the country is experiencing.

"The Philippines has indeed emerged as a location of choice for the offshore business process and services of foreign companies," Favila said.

At present, there are over 70 BPO firms operating in the country and over 70,000 seats.

He cited the recent inauguration of additional facilities by Dell Inc. and Sutherland Inc., the Resources Group and e-Telecare Global solutions, which he said are among the companies that he and President Gloria Arroyo met with in New York in September last year.

Other outsourcing companies are also coming in including that of Morgan Stanley and HSBC.

Favila further allayed fears on the impact of FedEx decision to transfer its Asia-Pacific hub operations to Southern China saying the world’s leading logistics provider will nonetheless expand its express businss in the country with the addition of a direct link to Cebu.

In line with this its Asia Pacific growth strategy, FedEx has also prominently positioned the Philippines for its outsourcing requirements, particularly for financial services and call centers.

Favila noted that more investments are pouring in not just in the BPO sector but also in the infrastructure side.

He cited the entry of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction for a $ 1-billion shipbuilding facility with initial jobs generation of 6,500.

Favila said the government has already approved the amendments to the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Build-Operate-Transfer Law by shortening the processing period of infrastructure projects under BOT scheme.

Under the amendment, BOT projects presented to the Investments Coordinating Council Technical Board and the Cabinet committee levels should no longer go through the first, second and third approvals.

At the same time, the government has proposed amendments to the BOT law to make it more attractive and encourage wider private sector participation.

In line with the infrastructure development, the government has launched the P8.33 billion rehabilitation and upgrading of the South Luzon Expressway.

The Philippine Infrastructure Corp. and the National Development Co. have also identified 8 priority infrastructure projects.

"The infrastructure challenge is great and must be addressed now if we are to make businesses more efficient and sustainable development real," Favila said.

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006040660789.html

Call centers to help wean RP away from OFW dollars

First posted 03:19am (Mla time) April 08, 2006
By Doris C. Dumlao
Inquirer



Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the April 8, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE Philippines looks to the booming business process outsourcing and call center industry to help wean it from its reliance on the money that overseas Filipino workers bring in and to boost its potential for economic growth, according to National Economic Development Authority.

The government will also be investing heavily in infrastructure, knowing how the country's shortcomings here may well turn off investors, said Dennis Arroyo, the Neda's director for policy planning and research.

"We'll slowly be replacing [earnings from] OFWs with BPOs [business process outsourcing] over the medium term," said Arroyo, in reaction to a cautionary report on the Philippine economy from the Asian Development Bank.

The ADB, in its annual Asian Development Outlook released on Thursday, warned that sluggish investments along with high dependence on consumption and overseas workers' remittances were stunting the Philippines' growth prospects.

Only 5% growth in '06

regional bank's report predicted that Philippine gross domestic product would rise by only 5 percent this year against the government's down-scaled growth target of 5.5 to 6.2 percent and the 5.1 percent growth posted in 2005.

The ADB lamented that the country's growth performance was falling short of what was required to make "significant inroads into persistent high levels of poverty and unemployment."

Arroyo said the government was confident that the country could post a GDP growth of at least 5.5 percent this year.

"This growth target is even conservative given that we've had strong growth in the services sector led by telecommunications and the BPO/call center business," Arroyo said.

He said the telecom sector would remain competitive with the advent of the VOIP (voice over Internet protocol), which allows users to make long distance calls using the Internet, and even 3G technology which allows real-time video broadcasting through the mobile phone.

Arroyo said OFW inflows would remain strong as it would be driven by the global aging phenomenon which would boost demand for migrant workers in industrialized countries.

By 2009 to 2010, the lucrative BPO sector would become even bigger, allowing the country to earn more foreign exchange without more Filipinos having to join the worker exodus abroad, Arroyo said.

Cost of migration

The ADB report warned that the high level of out-migration, though it generates high-remittance income, comes at a high cost to the country in terms of loss of knowledge and social problems.

Aside from call centers, Arroyo said the BPO sector would be boosted by other services such as medical and legal transcription, animation and software development.

The services sector, of which BPO is part, now accounts for about 48 percent of the country's domestic output, edging out agriculture and industry which respectively contribute 19 percent and 33 percent of GDP in 2005.

Arroyo also noted that OFW remittances were being directed into the stock market and even real estate.

"OFWs are looking more into investing in blue chips, especially now that the stock market is trading at a seven-year high," Arroyo said.

Shift to real estate

He said the shift of OFW money from pre-need plans to real estate would help the construction sector.

Cash remittances sent by OFWs through the banking system amounted to $10.7 billion in 2005, 25 percent higher than the previous year, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

If inflows through informal channels were to be included, OFW remittances were estimated at about $13 billion in 2005.

To address infrastructure bottlenecks, Arroyo said the government was committed to devoting a bigger portion of the annual budget to infrastructure spending.

"Now that we've implemented the VAT (value-added tax) reform, we have more resources for capital outlays," he said.

Enhance highway systems

A major priority is to enhance the highway systems connecting the three major economic growth areas of Luzon-the National Capital Region, the Clark-Subic development area and the Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) growth corridor-whose combined output accounts for 55 percent of the country's GDP.

Based on Neda estimates, the Philippines needs P1.1 trillion ($21.25 billion) in fresh investments from 2006 to 2010 to ease the gaps in transportation, power, water, communications and social infrastructure in the next five years.

According to Arroyo, the thrust is to encourage the private sector to undertake those projects "with positive financial and economic returns" while the government focuses on "essential projects with high economic returns despite poor financial viability."
Fiscal discipline

But to maintain fiscal discipline, the government will focus on projects that will not burden it with contingent liability and encourage the participation of local government units whenever feasible.

Of the amount required for infrastructure spending over the next five years, the national government is expected to shell out P171.56 billion from its budget and another P108.98 billion outside the budget (such as those involving LGUs), on top of its contribution to joint venture projects with the private sector.

Projects involving public-private partnership, or the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme, are expected to amount to nearly P500 billion.

Arroyo said partial liberalization of air transportation in key areas as well as further improvements in the nautical highway system through the ro-ro (roll on, roll off) mode, would also boost the investment climate.


http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=72045

Philippines becoming a 'better option' than India
By: Jenalyn M. Rubio
Computerworld Philippines (10 Apr 2006)
The Philippines is becoming a better option than India as an outsourcing destination due to several factors like performance issues and increasing wages, according to an executive from international management consulting firm Chalré Associates.

Chief executive officers from the U.S. are now saying that the Philippines has “better people, better business environment, better infrastructure, and a better lifestyle,” according to Richard Mills, chairman of Chalré Associates.

“The Philippines has not really done a very good job in marketing the country; still, managers are now looking at the Philippines as a very good option,” Mills noted in an interview with Computerworld Philippines.

This does not mean, however, that the Philippines has overtaken India and that the latter has somehow “gone bad,” according to Mills. “India proved to the world that offshore outsourcing was viable; the Philippines has a BPO opportunity today because of India.”

In explaining why India is currently a “worse” option for outsourcing, he pointed out the country’s alleged problems like increasing salaries and worsening staff turnover becoming “more pronounced.”

On the other hand, this provides a window for the Philippines to prove itself as a worthy or even better option for companies looking to outsource operations offshore.

Advertisement




“Most regional leaders I talked to say that, probably because of its great success, India has become a more difficult environment, also mainly because of the increasingly intensive competition,” Mills described.

Success stories

Chalré Associates is a management recruiting partner to multinational corporations throughout the Asia Pacific region, with specific focus on Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.

“Most experts I talk to also say the environment here is easier, because the people have a better customer service mindset and they are more comfortable with Western culture,” said Mills.

Sharing some the stories of various outsourcing organizations that have located in the Philippines, Mills cited as examples Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), IBM, and Sykes.

After setting up its BPO delivery center in the country less than two years ago, the bank’s Philippine delivery center now employs 2,500 people and is ranked number one among eight HSBC Global Delivery Centers in terms of quality of service.

IBM, meanwhile, is also reportedly growing its outsourcing operations in the Philippines a lot faster than India. Located in Eastwood, Quezon City, IBM last year officially announced IBM Business Services, promising to expand its “business transformation outsourcing” operations in the Asia-Pacific market.

According to Mills, IBM had a large site in Bangalore last year that was closed down because it was allegedly not performing well in terms of quality. Majority of these jobs were then moved to the Philippines and IBM is reportedly targeting to employ 10,000 employees in the Philippines for next couple of years.

In the case of Sykes Enterprises Inc., the company reportedly spent millions of dollars to set up capacity in India, which was later shut down due to similar performance issues, after which all 1,500 jobs were transferred to the Philippines.

“Companies are going to move a lot more jobs here. The next phase will be that companies from a broad range of industries, even the small ones, will be moving jobs here,” Mills said.

He added: “These companies locate here not just for lower cost; a lot of it is because they seek to improve quality and Filipinos can do this job very well.”

And now India produced this call center film to get their customers back in their shores.

Philippines becoming a 'better option' than India
By: Jenalyn M. Rubio
Computerworld Philippines (10 Apr 2006)
The Philippines is ...

Chief executive officers from the U.S. are now saying that the Philippines has “better people, better business environment, better infrastructure, and a better lifestyle,” according to Richard Mills, chairman of Chalré Associates.


Yeah, we put on deodorants.

Jamaicus,
I appreciate the way you're feeding us with your informations. The way our Goverment seemed responding to our changing business environment, I think we are following the right pathway to success and heading for a brighter future, don't you think?
Key issues having been adressed,like more funds for the infrastuctures. And, they seemed like they are doing something to improve and loosen up local regulations and requirements to better align with International business standards. Look at what has been happening to communist Russia, and now, China, and India too in some respect. Their old communist system failed as it produced more poor of an economy, and so now, they are trying to in someways adapt and adjust their own stagnant system to better align with their International bussiness partners.
It seems that Internet is the "de facto" way of doing business now and beyond, and, I hope the Goverment in our country make a consciuos efforts to set funds to our Edcational system,(ie), like more computer facilities and programs in our Schools.
(a word about VOIP) This is a killer application. Not only it will be less expensive and very effective way to communicate, but, It's basically free since your voice calls are nothing more than just a digited data, just like an ordinary e-mail or chatting in the net. Cool.. :)

Yeah, we put on deodorants.
hahaha that was funny! anyways outsourcing creates so many job opportunities for the newly graduates and i don't find it bad even if their course is unrelated to their work it's just to have a work experience and make it their stepping stone! salary isn't bad and it really makes you challenged by the work!

Yeah, we put on deodorants.

LOL...is rexona doing bad in india?

^^ i think so... i had an indian co-worker who felt insulted when he was given deodorant as Christmas gift...

Outsourcing seen sharply rising in the Philippines
First posted 02:01pm (Mla time) April 10, 2006
Agence France-Presse




Subscribe to Breaking News alerts, send ON EXTRA BREAKING to 2207 for Globe, or send EXTRA BREAKING to 386 for Smart.


Outsourcing is the way forward for the Philippines, with employment, revenues and investments from the sector expected to rise by at least 42 percent this year, Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri said Monday.
While call centers are now at the forefront, other big business process outsourcing firms are expanding their operations beyond call centers in the English-speaking Southeast Asian country, Neri said in a statement.

He cited a study jointly sponsored by the trade department's Board of Investments and the industry groups Business Process Association of the Philippines, and the Commission on Information, Communication and Technology that forecast outsourcing jobs rising by 44 percent this year compared to 2005.

The study also projected outsourcing revenues growing by 52 percent, and investments surging by 42 percent in 2006, he said.

He said the study forecast investments would be around 12 billion pesos this year and by 2010, up to 1.2 million people would be employed in the sector from 233,000 people at present.

"Outsourcing is a sector with much dynamism. Companies are also getting more creative to respond to industry demand. For example, some firms are buying warehouses because of the lack of office space," Neri said.

He cited industry estimates that business process outsourcing will bring 3.8 billion dollars in revenues to the Philippines this year, close to four times higher than the 2001 figure of one billion dollars.

In 2001, Philippine revenues from business process outsourcing amounted to 349 million dollars, Neri said.

Global consultancy McKinsey has reported that at least 120 outsourcing companies operate in the Philippines, predicting that revenues from the sector would reach 10 billion dollars by 2010, Neri said.

Neri said the Philippines should aim to get 10 percent of the market for medical transcription, which comes amid a massive exodus of Filipino doctors, nurses and other medical workers for higher-paying jobs abroad.

"Think of all the high-paying jobs that will provide our medical professionals," Neri said, citing reports that the United States lacks about 80,000 medical transcriptionists.

Medical transcription outsourcing in the Philippines occupies just a one-percent share of the US market of 12 billion dollars, he added.

Neri said the outsourcing boom should also be a boon for other industries.

"This is clearly a market for the telecom companies offering landline connectivity. Real estate is also benefiting from the surging demand for office space while restaurants open 24 hours a day to cater to the food and leisure needs of call center agents," he added.

No problem. Typo errors are normal.

Sorry mods but i have to say this... Dinho your an ASS

Outsourcing seen sharply rising in RP

Outsourcing is the way forward for the Philippines as employment, revenues and investments from the sector are expected to rise by at least 42 percent this year, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri said Monday.

Neri amplified the remarks made last week by National Economic Development Authority's director for policy planning, Dennis Arroyo, who spoke to answer an Asian Development Bank exhortation that the Arroyo administration should not rely solely on OFW remittances to keep the country’s economy afloat.

Call centers are now at the forefront, Neri said. But other big-business process outsourcing firms are expanding their operations beyond call centers, Neri said in a statement.

He cited a study jointly sponsored by the trade department’s Board of Investments and the industry groups’ Business Process Association of the Philippines and the Commission on Information, Communication and Technology that forecast outsourcing jobs rising by 44 percent this year over the 2005 figure.

Outsourcing revenues and investments will grow

The study also projected outsourcing revenues growing by 52 percent, and investments surging by 42 percent in 2006, Neri said.

He said the study forecasts that investments would be around P12 billion ($234.83 million) this year and that by 2010 up to 1.2 million people would be employed in the sector, increasing from 233,000 people employed at present.

"Outsourcing is a sector with much dynamism. Companies are also getting more creative to respond to industry demand. For example, some firms are buying warehouses for lack of office space," Neri said.

He cited industry estimates that business process outsourcing will bring $3.8 billion in revenues to the Philippines this year, close to four times higher than the 2001 figure of $1 billion.

In 2001 Philippine revenues from business process outsourcing amounted to $349 million, Neri said.

Global consultancy McKinsey has reported that at least 120 outsourcing companies operate in the Philippines, predicting that revenues from the sector would reach $10 billion by 2010, he said.

Market for medical transcription

Neri said the Philippines should aim to get 10 percent of the market for medical transcription, which comes amid a massive exodus of Filipino doctors, nurses and other medical workers for higher-paying jobs abroad.

"Think of all the high-paying jobs that will provide our medical professionals," Neri said, citing reports that the United States lacks about 80,000 medical transcriptionists.

Medical transcription outsourcing in the Philippines occupies just a one-percent share of the US market of $12 billion, he added.

Neri said the outsourcing boom should also be a boon for other industries.

"This is clearly a market for the telecom companies offering landline connectivity. Real estate is also benefiting from the surging demand for office space, while restaurants open 24 hours a day to cater to the food and leisure needs of call-center agents," he added.


http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=35492

NEDA: Growth to rely on BPO

The Philippines is banking on the continued growth of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector to grow the economy this year.

This, despite an earlier Asian Development Bank warning that the country should refrain from putting all its eggs in the call-center basket.

In a statement, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri said the country should take advantage of its highly educated work force, citing the language proficiency of information communication technology and finance professionals.

Although call centers are at the forefront of BPO, Neri said outsourcing encompasses more than just call centers, noting that other big BPO firms are investing or expanding their operations in the Philippines. These include HP Global Delivery Center, Manulife, and Deutsche Knowledge Services.

"We should . . . diversify our outsourcing work beyond call centers," Neri, also the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, said.

The Board of Investments (BOI), Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPA), and the Commission on Information, Communication and Technology (CICT), forecast outsourcing jobs to rise by 44 percent, revenues by 52 percent, and investments by 42 percent in 2006.

Total investments would be around P12 billion this year and by 2010, up to 1.2 million people will be employed in outsourcing, from the present 233,000, according to the BOI, BPA and CICT.

"Outsourcing is a sector with much dynamism. Companies are also getting more creative to respond to industry demand. For example, some firms are buying warehouses because of the lack of office space," Neri said.

Industry estimates showed that the BPO sector this year will bring in $3.8 billion in revenues, close to four times the revenues in 2004. In 2001 the revenues from BPO amounted to $349 million.

A study by the McKinsey global consultancy firm showed there are at least 120 outsourcing companies in the country. BPO revenues are expected to reach $10 billion by 2010. Neri added that the country should aim to get 10 percent of the market for medical transcription.

In the United States there are 150,000 medical transcriptionists, which is below the requirement of 230,000, with the Philippines occupying a mere one-percent share of that market which is worth $12 billion.

Neri said the boom in outsourcing is driving growth in other sectors. "This is clearly a market for the telecom companies offering landline connectivity. Real estate is also benefiting from the surging demand for office space while restaurants open 24 hours a day to cater to the food and leisure needs of call center agents," Neri noted.

The government is set to hold a survey of call centers and information technology-enabled services in the country to measure their contribution to the economy.

Romulo Virola, the National Statistical Coordination Board secretary-general, proposed to hold the survey in April to coincide with the different associations in the BPO industry.

ADB said the phenomenal growth of the call center industry in the Philippines would not be enough to address the unemployment and underemployment problems of the country.

"Most likely call centers, and in general most service activities, cannot provide the impetus that the country needs to generate sustained growth," the regional lender said.

The ADB added that those hired by call centers are university graduates "for whom a job in a call center is a form of underemployment."

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=35461

(IMO), I think landline connectivity is pretty much obsolete once cable and wireless tech companies becomes the mainstream internet connectivity in the near future. For example, some parts of under developed China completely by-passed land line installations, but now, benefitting just the same via wireless connections.

Davao IT plan projects P1B new investments

DAVAO CITY -- The information and communications technology industry sector in the city in particular, and the entire Davao Region in general, has drafted a plan that targets up to P1 billion in new investments in the next four years.

It is also projecting 16,000 new jobs during the period with about 1,000 small and medium enterprises starting in this industry.

But Teololu Pasawa, information technology industry cluster co-chairman and Trade and Industry Davao City Field Office chief, said the industry must first be able to improve the image of the entire region as good area of investment. "There is an impression from outsiders that our area is unstable for investments. This is not true, but we have to exert our efforts in erasing that impression," Mr. Pasawa said in a telephone interview.

The plan is to conduct marketing assistance to information technology companies and regularly hold events like expositions and seminars that will showcase the industry, the plan said. Promotional activities will also showcase local talents and developments through channels of information.

Another key strategy the sector has thought of is demonstrating information services to strategic areas and embarking on trade promotions to key hubs like China, India, US, Canada and Australia. The group will also organize the road shows that will showcase the region’s information technology sector.

In luring investors, the industry aims to designate "ICT aware" persons in key position and push local government units to grant special tax incentive packages for these companies.

In Davao City, for example, the city government, through its investment promotion board, has started discussions on including information technology in the list of preferred areas of investments that will enjoy a variety of tax and non-tax perks.

The sector also saw the need to improve the human resources. The proposal is for the Commission on Higher Education to come up with guidelines that will strengthen curricula intended to improve information technology courses, including English proficiency for students wanting to work in call centers and other similar companies.

Mr. Pasawa said the commission would evaluate the courses and task schools in the region to find ways to strengthen these courses. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, information technology organizations and other groups will also administer manpower accreditation examinations to graduates.

The cluster, the plan pointed out, will also participate in "activities updating knowledge through training on new trends on a regular basis" and will advocate "provision of special loan funds to educational institutions and businesses for the purpose of upgrading of tools. The sector is also pushing for the establishment of information centers in key areas of the region, including formation of a database.

Based on the plan, the city has been identified as top destination for information technology related services in the country considering that the National Telecommunications Commissions, through Memorandum 05-05-200, declared the city as an information technology hub.

The sector players also pointed out that even using the Commission on Information and Communications Technology-developed scorecard, the city "ranks high as an attractive investment location in the country."

The plan also pointed out that the city has a good workforce potential, considering that based on a report as of January last year the region had 76 colleges and universities, with Davao City having 42.

Mr. Pasawa said the city has among the highest absorption rate in terms of graduates getting employed, particularly in the information technology industry. A top official of a call center earlier pointed out that graduates of Davao City schools would likely land in business process outsourcing related jobs if they intended to apply.

The city, the plan pointed out, already has available digital subscribers line considering the presence of big industry players that can provide such services "from fiber-optic links, wireless broadband, to simple and triple redundancy."

The planners also pointed out that the city still has huge spaces that could become locations to companies.

In terms of vendor support, Davao City hosts hardware and software companies that could cater to the needs of new investors, the plan added.

The city has also has ample source of stable power, with the Davao Light and Power Co., which gets power from the National Power Corp., has also its 44 megawatt stand-by plant that can be tapped in case of power outages.

The plan, however, pointed out that the city lacks a business zone, or industry park, and some companies are not also able to buy "cutting edge technology."

There is a also poor promotion of e-services.

Moreover, training of personnel is costly due to "job description unmatched with information technology curricula." -- Carmelito Q. Francisco

http://itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=041106f

Gov’t prepares for Asian IT industry fairs

The government is set to fund participation of local companies in two trade shows in Singapore and Japan in June, aimed at promoting the country’s expertise in wireless and software development.

These two shows are the CommunicAsia in Singapore on June 20 to 23 and the 15th Software Development Expo & Conference (SODEC) in Tokyo on June 28-30.

The government, thru the Trade Department’s exports promotion arm Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), is now finalizing the list of local players in wireless services and software development that will attend CommunicAsia and SODEC.

CITEM head Trade Assistant Secretary Fe Agoncillo-Reyes said in a statement that CommunicAsia will provide a venue for companies to expand their markets, scale up their operations, meet potential business partners, and enhance the country’s position as a hub for global infocomm business.

This year will be the third time the Philippines is joining the annual expo in Singapore.

Last year, nine mobile content providers and ICT companies joined CommunicAsia, namely: AHD Advance Communication System, Inc.; Chikka Asia, Inc.; Cube Interactive; Globe Telecom; Globequest/Innove Communications; Icon Interactive; PLDT; Smart Communications, Inc.; Tin Can Mobile Solutions Corp.; and Veritas System Solutions Inc.

CommunicAsia last year was attended by over 35,000 trade visitors from Europe, United States, Canada, Australia, China, and the Asia Pacific.

Meanwhile, Philippine participation in SODEC is aimed at sustaining the country’s promotion as an offshore destination to Japanese software companies. product and service offerings.

"The shortfall of skilled engineers and rising cost of IT services in Japan present an opportunity for the country’s IT outsourcing services firms," said Ms. Agoncillo-Reyes.

To date, she said Japan represents a large potential market for software outsourcing.

Japan’s information services industry sales in 2003 amounted to $129 billion, according to a statistics from the Japan Information Service Industry Association.

This showed that outsourced software development work in Japan rose to $445 million in 2003 and could reach $3.5 to $ 5.8 billion this year.

"SODEC is a good opportunity to find out new trade leads and leverage our strengths when it comes to software outsourcing," Ms. Agoncillo-Reyes added.

At present, Philippines is already host to subsidiaries of large Japanese companies such as Fujitsu, Canon, EPSON, and NEC.

Ms. Agoncillo-Reyes said Filipino workers are highly flexible and adaptable, a major criteria regarded by Japanese clients.

Aside from this, she said the country’s geographical proximity, international business sense and abundance of young software engineers position the Philippines as a potential market for Japanese companies seeking an offshore destination. -- Maricel E. Estavillo

http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=041206a

I just want to update you guys...

More and More BPO are now extablishing their operations in the Philippines. That's why you would most likely see these multinational BPOs to cover most of the pages of Sunday job ads.

Accenture is seen to be expanding more after getting more outsourcing jobs in Finance and Accounting, IT and Life Sciences.

IBM has acquired its subsidiary - Daksh Call Centre and will eventually become IBM Call Centre catering to industries like internet shopping, digital imaging, etc.

PeopleSupport, one of the country's larget Call Centre is gearing itself towards more BPO jobs other than contact centre. It sees more deals with IT and medical transcription services in addition to its travel voice support accounts.

Logicall is the newest call centre in Makati. I dunno is someone else is setting a contact centre right this moment.

Siemens has set up its in house contact centre in Eastwood while Dell in SM MoA.
Technically, these are not considered BPOs.

Around 1 million Filipinos are expected to be working with call centre and bpo industries combined . In preparation to that, PGMA has released money to fund more than 100,000 scholars to be trained for call centre and bpo jobs.

stay tuned...for more news...

Got this from a friend....

1. dahil halos di na kayo nagkikita ng nanay at tatay mo, an tawag na nila sayo ay "boarder" at sinisingil ka na nila sa upa mo! (uy magbayad ka!)

2.pag sa sagot ka ng telepono, lagi na lang may opening spiel...exampol : ring ! ring ! ....tenk u for calling (the company) this is (your name) how may i help you?

3. eksperto ka na sa power nap, yung mga 15min break nyo, itinutulog mo na lang...para fresh pagka kolls uli, mya na yung 1 hour nap...

4. di mo na alam bumiyahe pag may araw, nalilito ka bakit andaming tao, at bakit di na dumadaan ang dyip dun sa mga kalsada na 1 way....

5.mas sanay ka ng matulog ng nakabussiness attire...na mimiss mo yung matigas na sahig ng opisina nyo...tsaka yung malamig na aircon.

6. sanay kang maglaka-lakad ng nakamedyas.

7. an tawag mo sa mga friends mo...dude, bro, coach, tl, sup.

8. di na dugo ang dumadaloy sayo, kape na. nung nagpaospital ka ang nilagay sayo dextrose na my instant coffee.

9. sanay kang makipagusap kahit tulog...pagtinanong ka ng kahit ano, tama ang sagot mo...ummmm naghihilik ka pa hayup ka!

10. tadaaaaa! nag sasalita ka sa pagtulog mo, pati kols mo napapanaginipan mo, at minsan, sinampal ka ng kapatid mo dahil nagsisigaw kang sup call! sup call! sup call!

11. pumuputi ka na dahil di ka na naaarawan.

12. sanay ka nang matulog kahit maingay sa loob at labas ng bahay nyo.

13. kinalimutan ka na ng mga kaibigan mo dahil existing ka lang pag tulog na sila.

14. sanay ka na sa mga prank callers at mga death treats na nakasulat lang.. sa dami ba naman ng ma-encounter mong ganito gabi-gabi sa trabaho eh.

15. di ka na sanay sa traffic. papasok at pauwi sa trabaho walang traffic.

16. di na tama ang oras ng pagkain mo. breeakfast mo ay hapunan na. lunch mo sa madaling araw. dinner moi pag uwi mo sa umaga. pag Rest Day mo naman at natulog ka sa gabi, magigising ka pa din pag madaling araw na. iba na ang body clock mo.

17. lahat ng kasabay mo sa jeep pag papasok ka, pagod na. ikaw lang ang bagong ligo at bagong gel.

18. maski sa bahay, mabilis kang kumain.

19. nde ka na kilala ng aso nyo

20. tawag sa auto mo ay taxi, kasi palaging gabi bumabyahe..

21. wala ka nang pakialam sa buhay

22. nahihiya kang magpunta sa mga reunion lalo na't alam mong successful lahat ng ka-batch mo.

23. sasabihin mo field ng trabaho mo IT, di call center.

24. nasusuka ka na pag nakita mo ang pc sa bahay nyo..

25. sasabihin mong tech support engineer ka, pero rep ka lang..

26. pag payday... olats lahat sweldo ng mga kaklase mong board passer. (8k per month lang sila) isang kinsenas mo na yun..

27. pag day off mo n lang ikaw nkakapaanood ng Eat bulaga at MTB

28. Nde mo na kilala ang mga bagong artista.... si mahal at mura lang

29. nde mo n alam itsura ng mall...

30. di ka na maebs sa bhay, sanay ka na sa cr ng 5th floor or ibang floor.

31. gusto mo na ding maglagay ng alcogel sa banyo nyo..

32. ayaw mo nang pumasok sa internet cafe!

33. puro kalyo na wrist at daliri mo.

34. sanay ka na ding mag Niponggo. gozaimas!

35. maglo-lock ka ng pc kahit sa bahay na. pag pndot mo ng CTRL + ALT + DEL iba ang lalabas at matatawa ka na lang sa sarili mo dahil para kang gago.

36. sanay ka ng kumain sa harap ng pc mo kahit nsa bahay...

37. papasok ka sa ofc na nka-jeans, tshirt and cap (astig!)

38. mas malaki sweldo mo sa mga ka-batch mo, nagkakanda-kuba na sila sa trabaho nila

39. puro ka-age mo mga ka-opisina mo, walang old maids and DOMs!!

40. mabilis k ng mag pabili ng corn bits at chicharon sa ermats mo...

41. isa ka na rin sa mga nagbebenta sa free ads (you name it meron dito even endangered species)

42. pag nakakarinig ka ng Kaching!!! akala mo may mail ka na dumating. hehe

43. pindot mo ilong nung tindera kala mo vendo machine.... isa nga coke syet ilong pala yun! hehehehe... masama pa kung sa bumper na-pindot mo.... syet!

44. na inlove ka nsa kape...

45. madalasa mong sabihin sa ka IM mo n "email chat n lang tyo"

46. sanay k na makarinig ng napakalakas n pag singa ng sipon... dahil sa japs..

47. marami ka ng naipon na microwavable container

48. at ketchup galing mcdo at julibee

49. pag nagkukwento ka sa mga barkada jargon lahat. di nila maintindihan ang ibig sabihin ng ticket..

50. bumibumili ka ng chicharon sa lahat ng sikyo n makita mo.. hehehhehehe

51. pag gumagamit k ng cr,, d ka na nagpa-flush.. kc akala mo kusa n lulubog ebs mo.

52. sawa ka na internet kasi sa trabaho panay ang browsing..

53. sanay ka na ang katabi mo sinusurprise visit ng GF niya akala kc nambababae.........noh marlon?

54. akala mo mo may sarili kang locker sa bahay nyo.....

55. at magtataka ka dahil hindi lahat ng hapon galit sa kumakain ng chicharon..

56. sanay k ng magyosi o umidlip pag alas dos at alas kwuatro ng umaga

57. dito ka na makakakita ng gf, bf, or asawa. wala ka ng time maghanap sa labas.

58. pag may problema ka sa pc mo, una mong ginagawa ay clear cache at cookies..

59. yung iba dito na nakakahanap ng kabit nila eh........

60. nang ho-hoard ka na din ng tissue sa bahay

61. kala mo libre ang kape sa select...

62. libre parking mo sa building, klasmeyts mo nagbabayad araw-araw ng parking.. hahahaha

63. pag nag cr ka...sanay ka na sa gripo na automatic at toilet bowl...

64. nag hahanap ka sa kahitbahay nyo ng mga hapon....

65. pag binabati... ano nlang, pag kinukumusta ka ng mga kabarkada mo, lagi mo sinasabi, GOZAIMAS!!!!

66. naka id ka pa kahit nasa jeep

67. kaya mong tiisin na nde palitan ang damit mo ng 16 hours

68. pagtinanong ng mga ka tropa mo kung ano ang sinusupport mo... sabihin mo yahoo.com (hahahaha)

69. kasi pagsinabi mong passport, di nila alam yun. ako nga dito ko lang nalaman na may ganun pala eh..

70. ....yung uniform nga ng basketball may passport logo tanong sa akin nag-aayos kayo ng passport? hehehe anong travel agency? ayus! quote kita sa hongkong gusto mo!

71. Nasanay ka nang may katabing TL na hindi umuuwi. pagpasok mo nandun na. paguwi mo nandun parin.

72. kahit may malaki kayong speaker sa bahay gusto mo pa din naka-earphones!

73. pudpod na tenga mo sa kaka-pakinig ng paolo "payatot" santos

74. nung pinasok ng akyat bahay ang bahay nyo, magsisigaw ka ng HACKER!!! HACKER!!!

75. tanong na mahirap sagutin ... " pag-introduce urself na - first day sa sykes -engineering grad-" ..... em a nursing grad ; pt grad ; engineering graduate.BAT KA NANDITO ?...akala mo...talagang engineer ang kailangan....kasi nasa ads...technical support engineer.....hayyy hehehe...beep beep...ala naman cguro eng grad dito ha...peace.

76. oO NGA PLA! DATI PAGNAGCOPY PASTE KA SA PC, GINAGAMIT MO ANG RIGHT CLICK, NGAYON, ctrl C AT ctrl V.

77. nagkaroon ka ng galit sa mga hapon at sana iniisip mo na kasama ka sa pangalawang dgmaang pandaigdaig at pingapapatay mo yang mga *&^%$$#@# hapon na yan!

78. naisip mo tuloy yung mga comfort women at gays nung panahaon na yun.

79. dati 1 word per minute ka kabilis magtype, mgayon 2 words per minute. sanay kc copy and paste lang kya naSF.

80. kahit sa bahay, mahilig ka na mag chenes, chuba, chubaloo at charing...

81. sanay ka nang matulog ng dilat ang mata...kasi d pde pahuli

82. lahat ng style ng pagtulog....maiisip mo...

83. lahat ng kaibigan mo may christmas vacation ikaw wala

84. habang umiihi ka may nagtatanong kung anong oras na

85. yung ex mo may kasama ng iba

86. lahat ng holiday pumapasok ka kasi double pay malaki ang bayad.

87. d2 ka n sa opisina nakabili lahat ng gamit mo.. 2nd hand celfon, 2nd hand pc, sabon, shampoo, sapatos, tocino, longganisa, hikaw, magazine, tv, ref, aso, libro, tshirt, pants, prepaid card, vcd, dvd, yema pati apartment d2 ka nakuha

88. d2 ka na nasanay kumain ng pagkain na luto sa microwave

89. d2 ka na nakatikim ng kape na may ipis

90. kahit syampoo ng kabayo meron... hahahaha

91. gusto mo na den bumili ng water dispenser kasi pitsel lang ang nasa bahay nyo...

92. ok lang sayo uminom ng kape na may ipis kase no choice!

93. dami mo na naiipon na stirrer(red) galing starbucks kakabili ng kape.

94. nasanay ka nang mgpadeliver ng pagkain.

95. nakakita ka ng artista na nagbebenta ng pgkain sa pantry.

96. dito ka lang makakakita ng pinagsama samang tinda na : medyas, vitamins, christmas lights, cologne. yosi, siomai at lahat ng klase ng pagkain, relos, kalendaryo, stuff toys, make up, kikay kit, deodorant, kwintas, sasakyan, camera, video, audio, foot spa , milk spa, bags wallet, sinturon, mamon, hamon,

97. d2 ka na expose sa tapa king, zuppa, yellow cab, jugnos, bermuda hotel's pancit canton, wendy's. north park, star bucks,

98. di mo maenjoy christmas party kasi kaylangan mo bumalik sa office dahil may pasok ka pa ng C shift.

99. ice tea ka lang, mga kasama mo.. beer!! syet!

100. sumasama ka pa sa email chat miski wla ka na sa Sykes... shift pa nila! ayus move on with your life....

101. nanghihingi ka pa ng baon sa nanay mo kahit mas malaki sweldo mo sa kanya..

102. tapos yung fud magtatake out ka na lang. dito mo na lang sa office kakainin.

103. kapag may natinola crisis at rally... di ka makakasama... pakikinggan mo na lang sa radyo

104. lahat na ng rason para umabsent nagawa mo na

105. dito sa opisina mo nararanasan na napakabagal ng oras!

106. d2 lang ako nakakilala ng mga taong ang tindi managarap...lalo na pagdating sa mga babae

107. pantry carenderia!

108. kapag may gusto kang bilhin...titingin ka muna sa freeads...

hmmm...funny and true. i just wonder if majority of call centre workers agree with that or thinks the same way as does the author. for those who see contact centre job as a temporary job...he would likely adapt those attitude...but not for one who sees it as a career. everytime i think of my boss, i am tempted to try my luck with call centres and BPOs. i know it's hard. we have no idea what hardship these workers are going through...and think of this...BPOs (where most call centres) are classified are playing a vital role in propelling our economy. it's the fastest growing industry. i just hope we will not run out of skilled graduates...otherwise, we might lose the title of being the most preferred contact centre destination for western multinational companies. India used to hold the title.

now going back to ^ above post...let me express my opinion...for someone like me who does not work with a call centre. mine is an in-house back office support that has something to do with world trade. our clients are customs and governments.

1. nakaranas na rin daw sa office na yung kape or hot chocolate from the bottomless Nestle dispenser ay me ipis. not really sure if it's the Oriental or German ipis. i guess it's the german...yung maliliip na hindi lumilipad.

2. bottomless din ang water, iced tea at pineapple juice. kaya pag nasa resto ka sa labas...you are craving for something else.

3. pag nasa CR, wala namang nagtatanong ng oras. mgt is not really strict when it comes to timekeeping. but being late is a No no. you will not be recognized if you come to work everyday one hour before your shift begins. but you will be reprimanded if you are one-minute late.

4. i used to be on a 3-12 shift. you have to take the taxi, kasi unsafe na ang mag biyahe by the time you get out. most cab drivers mistake me for a call centre agent. except nga lang pag naka formal ako (during mon-wed). most call centres allow you to come to work wearing anything but nothing.

5. my work does not require me to answer calls. only on special cases. but most of our affiliates are european, asian and african. so...i didn't learn the English accent very well. communication is usually through MS Outlook but not the email chat type. on some occasions, you are required to give a very technical correspondence where you can write as much as you want. (that's what i like about my job)

6. salary. hmmm...definitely better than 8000/month. and even better than 8000/payday. but hey i have been with the company for almost 3 years. a good call centre agent staying that long with his company probably is earning 8000/week.

now let's talk about the benefits.
i will be comparing traditional company benefits with Call Centres like Convergys and PeopleSupport.

Meal Allowance: Around Php100 is given by Call Centres (CC) to each day you come to work, whether partial or full day. Same as ours plus an additional amount for every 3 hours overtime you render. The difference: Most call centre agents are entitled to this benefit even before they get regularized.

Health Benefits: This is one of the most important benefit one could get. Call Centres pay the premiums for their employees even before they get regularized. I am not sure if they cover some of your dependents. Other multinational corporations like San Miguel only covers the employees premiums. Mine includes two of my dependents.
And guess what? some call centres want the best health benefit provider. they do not go for Medicard who only covers 125K. they go for Maxicare who covers up to 500K. I'm impressed with these.

Insurance: As you get hired, most companies pay your insurance premiums. The coverage is upgraded when you get confirmed. Call Centre also have this pension plans they pay for 5 years while you are with the company.

Career Path: I am pretty sure there’s a career path in contact centre industry. This is a growing business and estimates have it that there will be around 1 million Filipinos working with BPO by the year 2010. Supervisors, Operations Managers, and assistants thereof, are needed. I suppose TL means team leader? If you have what it takes, I am sure you will be able to make a career out of this industry and bring home an impressive paycheck. A workmate’s relative working with Convergys is earning as high as 6 digits (of pesos). For most multination corporations around, you have the skills and everything needed to be promoted. You end up being stuck in your position unless one of your superiors decides to retire or (hopefully not) dies. The big problem is…there’s no opportunity. Remember…to be promoted to the next higher level…you need these factors:

Skill to do that job
Opportunity

Hay….dami ko na nasabi. Please feel free to post your comments. Napagod ako sa pagtytype.

I encourage everyone to post both pros and cons of working in a call centre. Call centre agents are welcome to post their comments. :D

http://www.sketches.kom.ph/uploads/Sketches/contactcenterranking-sm.jpg
Courtesy of Dominique Cimafranca

wow! convergys leads by a mile.

They are the world's largest? WOW, and they have offices here in the Philippines.

By MARICEL E. ESTAVILLO, Reporter
New office supply insufficient for growing BPO industry needs

At least 12 new large office buildings in Metro Manila are due for completion next year, equivalent to an all-time high of 210,000 to 240,000 square meters of additional office supply.

But even this is not enough to soften the expected increase in monthly rental rates nor sufficiently address the ever-growing demand for office space of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry for next year, according to property consultants polled by BusinessWorld.

"There has been very little new construction in core areas in Manila between 2002 and 2006. Once new supply starts to come on stream next year, occupiers will have some attractive options to choose from. Developers who proceed now will be well-positioned to benefit," said Alan J.M. Dalgleish, managing director of Colliers International Phils., Inc.

"A few large office buildings are expected [for next year] -- delays are likely -- but will not relieve price hike in Makati and Ortigas central business districts," said David T. Leechiu, president and general manager of Leechiu & Associates, Inc, citing the firm’s latest research.

"The call center business [accounting for 80% of BPOs] is here to stay and continued growth is expected. Our current market is the US and we already have phenomenal growth. What happens [now] is centers from Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other locations start to move [their non-core business functions overseas]," said Ryan L. Isip, associate director of CB Richard Ellis Phils., Inc.

Most of the buildings expected to be completed next year will be located outside the Makati Central Business District (CBD), which now holds some 48 of the 114 call centers the country has to date.

In fact, Leechiu & Associates said about 14% of the overall estimated office supply for next year -- up from 9% in 2005 -- will be spread out among emerging business districts outside Makati and Ortigas CBDs, which will have 62% and 24% of office supply, respectively.

Last year, Makati and Ortigas CBDs respectively held 65% and 26% of the total office supply.

Furthermore, most of the new buildings for next year are either "build-to-suit" -- custom-built for a tenant -- or already sold in agreement to companies even at the start of construction.

A few of the planned buildings for next year have not been announced in public by their respective developers, although talks with their prospective locators and partners have been progressing. "Construction has not yet commenced on some of these, so it likely that for some, actual completion may slip to 2008," Mr. Dalgleish said.

New office building projects with completion target of 2007 are spread out among Bay City in Pasay City, Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, Mandaluyong City, Quezon City and Alabang.

There is the One E-comCenter in Bay City of SM Investments, a 10-storey building with total floor space of 94,000 sq.m.

In Fort Bonifacio, there are the 16,000-sq.m. Fourth 26th Street, the 23,000-sq.m. McKinley Hill Tower, the 32,000-sq.m. Net Cube Center and the 15,000-sq.m. HSBC Manila Back Office -- a build-to-suit facility to serve entirely the requirements of HSBC’s domestic backroom operation.

In Filinvest Corporate City in Alabang, there is the Plaza @D, a six-storey building with total floor space of 10,800 sq.m.

And in Mandaluyong, there are the 12-storey EDSA Central IT Park of Greenfield Development Corp., with total floor space of 35,000 sq.m. and the Robinsons Cybergate Center 2 [phase2], with total floor space of 20,000 sq.m.

Except for the HSBC Manila Back Office, Net Cube Center and the second phase of the Robinsons Cybergate, most of the new buildings due for completion next year will either be scheduled for turn over to tenants at the start of third quarter.

For next year, amid the anticipated 240,000 sq.m. of additional of office supply, Mr. Dalgleish said there will still be a "significant office supply shortfall," as the demand from the BPO industry continues to grow.

Industry group Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) has projected that industry workforce will double from 162,250 persons at the end of last year to 343,013 persons by the end of 2007, meaning 180,763 new jobs will be created from this year until next year.

"This [forecast for 2007] is theoretically equivalent to around 1.1 million sq.m. of office demand, assuming six square meters of floor space per person. This is a slightly crude measure, but significantly there is some anecdotal evidence from occupiers to show that floor space requirements are indeed growing as rapidly as this," Mr. Dalgleish said.

"Even if you refuse to believe the BPAP forecasts and reduce them to historic growth levels, there is still a significant office supply shortfall. And don’t forget the rest of the service sector -- finance, banking, real estate and insurance -- which will also be the source office [space] demand," Mr. Dalgleish added.

For this year, Mr. Isip said the the estimated 90,000 cumulative call center seats is roughly equivalent to some 640,000 sq.m. of space occupied. Leechiu & Associates has estimated annual growth in demand for office space in Metro Manila at about 150,000 sq.m.

The growing demand for office space amid insufficient supply is expected to result in higher monthly rental rates next year, particularly for buildings in Makati and Ortigas central business districts (CBDs).

"Rental levels will likely be under the most upward pressure in Makati, in the absence of new supply. Vacancies, all grades, could hit 4.7% at the end of 2006 from 7.4% at the end of 2005," Mr. Dalgleish said.

He added that premium grade office rents -- such as Ayala Tower One, The Enterprise Center, PhilamLife Tower and RCBC Plaza -- will likely hit P780 per sq.m., an increase of 20% from current average of P650/sq.m.

"With most new supply due for completion in the latter part of 2007, we expect further rental growth in 2007," Mr. Dalgleish said.

In Makati City, Leechiu & Associates said rents for prime and grade A buildings have gone up by 20% to 25% from 2004 and renewals are at risk of 40% to 80% rental increases.

In Ortigas CBD, the firm added that rents for prime and grade A buildings have gone up 20% from 2004 and renewals are at risk of 20% to 30% rental increases, slightly lower than those of buildings in Makati CBD.

Office spaces are considered prime and grade A if located in prime or more luxurious buildings in key CBDs, with contiguous floor space of at least 2,000 sq.m., have the accreditation from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority for tax cuts and incentives, and if they have facilities and amenities required by big companies.


http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=042506a

Tuesday, April 25, 2006
1st call center in city opens
By Roberto L. Bacasong

I/0 ASIA Inc., the first call center in Bacolod City opened Monday at the Block, Don Carlos Hilado St.

Fernando Gonzalez, president and general manager of I/O Asia Inc. said their agents were trained to handle their clients who are mostly based in the North America.

Gonzalez, in a press conference, said I/O Asia a Canadian-based company is an outbound type of call center. Outbound call center calls are primarily telemarketing calls.

"I/O Asia is a joint venture between the local entrepreneurs of Bacolod.

Bringing our company here will give opportunities for Bacoleños," said Gonzalez.

We saw that the City had the people. It had the institutions such as schools and universities to support this booming industry, Mr. Gonzalez added.

"Our presence here is to provide employment for Bacolodnons. We tie up the institutions thru the help of the Bacolod IT Focus Team," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez added: "We are not here just for the business. We are here for social responsibility and that is to encourage Bacoleños especially fresh graduates of the opportunities they offered."

He said they had 200 qualified applicants in which 70 percent had experience in the field and 20 percent are inexperience.

"What we did is that we put the inexperience applicants to the experience group in order to equip them about the job," said Gonzalez.

He added that to be customer service representative, applicants must be fluent in the English language, must have strong comprehension skills, among others.

"A CSR must also have the stamina to do a night shift duty since our country has a big time difference in the US," said Gonzalez.

Ellen Ruth Zeisler, counsellor of the Embassy of Canada they very much promote a sustainable partnership between the government of the Philippines and Canada.

"We are very happy to be here," said Zeisler.

Gonzalez, on the other hand, said Bacolod is a conducive place for their business since there are too many call centers in Manila and Cebu.

City Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chairman of the Bacolod IT Focus Team said many call center companies are interested to expand in the city soon.

She said the promising industry of call center would soon emerge as a major source in employment and economic boom here.

I/O Asia will have an auxiliary entrepreneurial opportunities for small business that will serve the labor pool of a 24x7 operations.

I/O Asia will provide back-office customer support and sales and marketing services to the North American, Asian and Philippine market by way of an Agent-assisted and automated voice and data service technology, Sigue added.

"GoldTech Computer Telephony Inc., (GTCTI) is a division of the 24-year system interior GoldTech Systems, the Canadian partner of this venture based in Montreal, Quebec, which will provide I/O Asia with the state-of-the-art contact center solution, currently installed worldwide," the lady councilor said.

Frank Lai, vice president and General Manager of GT-CTI Canada said I/O Asia sees Bacolod City as a pristine location to build the industry.

"Support is coming from all sectors of the city, including the regional and especially the city government, through the IT Focus Team, the academic body establish its center has been the principal reason for choosing Bacolod as its location of choice," said Lai.

Supplementing this basis is the abundance of highly educated, trainable, English speaking people capable of sound judgment when communicating with local and foreign customers, added Lai./RLB

The Philippines' fall in global IT not a setback
26 April 2006

The Philippines' fall from a latest worldwide IT survey is not really a concern and Filipinos should even be inspired about it, according to a high-ranking BPO (business process outsourcing) trainer.

Mark Philip Galutera, director of training and development of the IT Group in the Philippines said he is not worried about the country sliding down from 67th to 70th place in the fifth World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006, “since the report speaks only about IT, and the BPO industry is so much more than that.”

Galutera said the Philippines continues to advance in customer contact, animation, and medical transcription (MT), which he describes as high-potential industries in their own, and IT being only one segment.

“That (IT survey) should even inspire us because by jumping backwards from 67th to 70th, that means a lot of other countries are focusing on IT,” he said. “What we should do is we must grow our customer contact centers, animation, and MT specialists more and then that’s how we can grow into BPO and not be just devoted to IT.”

NOT THE SOLUTION

However, speaking in a colloquium at the De La Salle Professional Schools Inc. Graduate School of Business in Makati City, Galutera said BPO is not the solution to the country’s problems.

“If we think of it as the solution to the problem, then we’re not going to do what we need to do to manage it properly. It’s just a start towards the solutions to the country’s problems,” Galutera said.

He explained the emerging BPO industry should be broken down and analyzed, to identify areas where continuous growth is possible.

“We need to break it down, we need to look at how many people we need to be able to continue to grow and train the necessary people. We need to reach out to media so people learn the proper communication skills and we need to change peoples’ ideas to English. Then, and only then, can we really make a significant impact in solving the country’s problems,” Galutera said.

Galutera added he agrees with presidential adviser on jobs creation Arthur Yap in urging foreign BPO players to raise their concerns about the current political situation in the country.

“The BPOs have appealed. We have spoken with the government and we made our own efforts to train but we can only do so much because we are limited by the profitability of our efforts. It is only government and media that could reach out to larger numbers and that’s why Yap is correct—we really need the support of media and the government to really turn the tide in the country and create a strong pool of English speakers that can make this industry grow,” he said.

Yap recently appealed to BPO players to speak up about the political scenario in the Philippines when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Proclamation 1017—placing the country under a state of national emergency, banning all protest rallies.

It was reported that according to foreign BPO players, the real emergency in the Philippines is the huge unemployment rate among college graduates in the country due to poor English-speaking skills.

MORE ENGLISH

Galutera recalled that in 1986, the Philippines switched back its teaching instructions to Tagalog, the country’s national language, among schools and even educational programs on television. Thus, he claimed the generation that came after 1986 does not speak English as well as the people before them.

“Right now, the Philippine English speakers are sustaining themselves from the momentum that we had in the past. If we don’t do something about it, that momentum will sooner or later come to a halt. We need to push for more English speakers to spur the growth of the industry,” he said.

DIRTY POLITICS

Galutera added the current political crisis in the Philippines is affecting the BPO industry and like presidential adviser Yap, he urged the lessening of political bickering between erring government officials, if not totally eradicating it.

According to the fifth World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2005-2006, the Philippines’ neighboring Asian countries improved on implementing IT policies.

The report indicated there was a significant improvement in regulatory environment, governance, education, and training in some Asian countries both in the Southeast and the Pacific. Some of these countries are Malaysia (24th from 27th) and Thailand (34th from 36th), while Indonesia finished at 68th place.

The survey was based on the Network Readiness Index, which refers to the degree of preparedness of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from IT developments. It is used to measure the tendency of countries to use IT for development. The survey covered 115 countries worldwide.

THE Zamboanga Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (Zamboecozone) is finalizing its plans to put up call center sites in this southern port city.

Councilor Juan Climaco Elago, II, chairman of the city Council's Committee on Science and Technology boasted that Zamboanga City is the only source of call centers agents in the country and Asia who are capable of speaking English and Spanish languages.

Officials from big call center operating in Pampanga and Davao started hiring agents last year.

The Zamboecozone is now studying the possible strategic locations of call centers, he said.

Some of the areas considered are downtown area and Barangay Recodo, west of this city.

Three big call center firms expressed interest in establishing headquarters in the area.

Public Employment Service Officer (PESO) Francisco Barredo said call center operators in Manila and Davao prefer to hire Zamboangueños because of their ability to speak Spanish.

Barredo said that three universities here are laying down the groundwork to put up a training center for call center agents.

The PESO officer said that the Manila-based G-com call center officials have been frequently coming here preparing for the initial phase of the project of putting up the training center.

Under the proposal, interested teachers from the Universidad de Zamboanga, Western Mindanao State University and Ateneo de Zamboanga University will be trained by G-com personnel, said Barredo.

He said that the trained teachers would later be conducting re-echo training and seminar to interested students or young professionals who want to become call center agents.

http://www.zamboanga.com/news/news_body.htm

Philippines touts need to 'go South'


2006-05-04 / Taiwan News, Staff Reporter / By Marie Feliciano

Some of the Philippines' IC design and engineering services pioneers are enticing Taiwan's leading semiconductor players to "go south" for their outsourcing activities.

The Manila delegation, comprising seven small- and medium-scale R&D-centric firms, is currently in town for the four-day SemiTech Taipei 2006 - an annual trade fair featuring the Who's Who in Taiwan's robust semiconductor industry from foundry technology giants to equipment, components and materials specialists. The show is being held at Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center.

"We can do a lot for Taiwan's IC leaders," said Victor Gruet, president of Symphony Consulting.

"We can be very strong in a number of niche segments, and we will be able to further enlarge those by working with the Taiwan industry. It's a win-win situation for both countries."

There are several reasons why Taiwanese semiconductor companies should turn to the Philippines for their outsourcing needs, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei said. MECO, alongside the Board of Investments and the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, organized the Philippine companies' participation in SemiTech Taipei 2006.

"We have a large pool of talented knowledge workers who can perform critical business processes and outsourcing work. The AT Kearney Index 2005 ranks the Philippines as the fourth top outsourcing location in Southeast Asia due to its highly skilled, competent human resource," MECO said.

Currently, the semiconductor industry is the largest sub-sector of electronics in the Philippines. According to the latest trade figures, the industry contributed 49 percent to the country's total exports - or US$20 billion - last year.

Major multinational players such as the subsidiaries of Intel, Texas Instruments, Philips, Amkor, and Fairchild Semiconductors have made the Philippines their home because it makes business sense, it added.

"We are cost-competitive, and our engineers are extremely easy to train," said Gruet.

"In fact, Taiwanese IC design specialists who trained our graduates last year (were impressed with the quality of our engineers). I asked them, 'What do you think of our graduates?' They answered, 'They learn fast - very fast.'"

According to MECO, multinational companies choose the Philippines as their partner of choice for key outsourcing activities because of its talent pool.

"We are the third largest English-speaking population in the world outside the UK and the United States, thus making us your best link in reaching out to English-speaking markets," said the industry advocate.

"We are flexible and highly trainable. The Philippines is one of the most Western countries in Asia, yet we possess the multicultural, multilingual adaptability attune to international business practices."

Human resources top the list of Taiwanese enterprises eying the Philippines' as an outsourcing partner, said Rosula Reyes, chief operating officer of Blue Chip Designs.

"But it's a chicken and egg thing. We have students who (know all the basics), and they can be trained in just a few weeks. They can easily absorb (whatever is taught them)," Reyes said. "(Just like what Gruet mentioned earlier), all our students passed the two-week training program (conducted by Taiwanese IC specialists) last year."

The Philippines is pushing for a long-term training and exchange program with Taiwan, Gruet added.

"We are (working on) programs with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Board of Investments to further improve our human resources, and attract foreign investors. We have to bring in foreign experts or Filipinos from abroad (to further groom our graduates)," he said.

In addition to Symphony Consulting and Blue Chip Designs, the Manila delegation included Circuit Solutions Inc., EAZIX Inc., eDesign Technologies, Fastech Synergy Philippines, and PSi Technologies.

Gruet and his peers are also counting on the implementation of a "super export corridor" agreement between the special economic zones of Clark and Subic in the Philippines and Kaohsiung in Taiwan to bring in more Taiwanese investors to the Southeast Asian country.

I guess its high time to build a really tall building in our country...
maybe instead of a park in the middle of the fort, they can build two twin iconic towers... like petronas... hehehe :)

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/05/05/1639419.htm

[May 05, 2006]

Demand from call centers, IT firms jack up office space rates

(Philippine Daily Inquirer Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)VACANCY LEVELS FOR PRIME OFFICE space in Metro Manilas two main business districts continue to drop as call centers and information technology companies hog the limited supply, a leading property management firm said yesterday.

More importantly, the rent and capital price appreciation will likely continue to rise for two more years before tapering off in 2008, officials of CB Richard Ellis Philippines Inc. said in a press briefing.

Already, the company said strong demand has pushed down vacancy levels for prime or grade A Makati office space to 4.3 percent at the end of the first quarter from 4.9 percent as of end-2005.

Some of the newest and most attractive office buildings in Makati are already reporting either no vacancies or no available large or contiguous floor space, the company said.

Contiguous floor spaces are important for call centers and business process outsourcing (BPO) firms which depend on large floor plans to help manage hundreds of staffers at computer workstations.

Because of the dwindling supply of office space, Richard Ellis said the average rent for prime office space rose by 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2006 to P610 per square meter from only P575 per square meter in the previous quarter.

Leasing rates in some prime Makati buildings are already at P700 per square meter or above, corporate services director Joey Radovan said. The tenants are still lining up to sign [contracts] at that level.

He added that major multinational corporations continue to either outsource their call center and back office functions to the Philippines or inquire about the possibility of doing so.

With outsourcing growth not expected to plateau in the near future, many developers are now bullish enough to start new office projects that are specifically designed with call centers and BPO clients in mind, he said.

The same trend can be observed in the slightly cheaper Ortigas central business district where prime office space can now be rented at P450 per square meter, and the vacancy rate has fallen to 5.4 percent.

The supply crunch has even pushed down the vacancy rates of some grade B buildings in good locations to single-digit levels, the company said.

In spite of the rising rent and falling vacancies, real estate costs in the Philippines remains competitive in comparison to the cost of real estate in other locations.

The country also provides a well educated, English speaking workforce that is able to provide high quality customer service, especially to North American-based clients.

The call centers and BPOs are coming to the Philippines not just because of the low cost of doing business here, CB Richard Ellis chair Rick Santos said. They are coming here because their clients demand it.

the growth of call centers in the philippines is really really phenomenal. grabe, job ads are everywhere. the best thing is, salary rates are going up too due to competition. DELL Philippines for instance has a starting rate of +/- Php 24K. not bad huh...

the growth of call centers in the philippines is really really phenomenal. grabe, job ads are everywhere. the best thing is, salary rates are going up too due to competition. DELL Philippines for instance has a starting rate of +/- Php 24K. not bad huh...

:eek2:
In explaining why India is currently a “worse” option for outsourcing, he pointed out the country’s alleged problems like increasing salaries and worsening staff turnover becoming “more pronounced.”

On the other hand, this provides a window for the Philippines to prove itself as a worthy or even better option for companies looking to outsource operations offshore.

Qouted from Philippines becoming a 'better option' than India
http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/Integrating-IT/d76adc5c-f5be-4104-807f-c0396a7614e1.html

naku! baka magaya tayo sa India... hmmnn ... sana hindi umabot sa ganito... di bale mga pinoy naman madali kunin ang kiliti at loyalty e... :)

BPO seen spurring software industry growth
Philippines will continue to attract foreign investments from the information technology (IT) industry as it gains increased recognition in foreign markets as a competitive service provider.

Just last week, Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments managing head Elmer C. Hernandez recounted, two big business process outsourcing (BPO) companies came to the Philippines to conduct due diligence.

One is based in the United Kingdom while the other one is a US-based company, Mr. Hernandez said during a chance interview yesterday at the opening of the three-day technology exhibit and trade mission "Software Innovations Philippines."

He said both companies are eyeing operations valued to be similar in size with the existing big-ticket outsourcing projects of Dell and Accenture.

"It took us some six minutes of discussions before these two decided to finally come over. They like to start operations immediately but our only problem is the availability of manpower," Mr. Hernandez said.

To address this concern, he said the government is encouraging foreign companies to consider provincial locations.

Mr. Hernandez added that the government is now preparing to fund trade missions to the United States, Taiwan, China and Japan within this year.

"We are not only pitching to call centers but also those BPO companies doing data processing, including the whole IT services, electronics and design engineering. Particularly, we are seeing growing interests from China for data processing," he said.

With the local BPO industry now globally recognized, Microsoft Phils. managing director Antonio Javier Jr. said the software industry targets to piggyback on the popularity the former. Microsoft Phils. is the main sponsor of the Software Innovations Philippines event.

A business matching initiative was organized during the event. Foreign dignitaries from the United States, Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom, Germany and Saudi Arabia presented market opportunities and breakthrough strategies for Filipino software developers.

"This is a great opportunity for local software vendors to showcase their products and services to different teams from around the world and to explore different business opportunities," Mr. Javier said.

Fermin Taruc, president of industry group Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), said the business matching efforts support the industry’s five-year development road map, called: "Fly High: Philippine Software 2010."

The road map aims to accelerate the growth and development of the industry, particularly grow domestic demand for software products and services, develop skilled software professionals and increase software exports.

"PSIA expects to generate a lot of attention from the offshore market. We want to convey the message that the Philippines cannot only provide low-cost service in terms of software development but it also offers high quality and domain expertise," Mr. Taruc said.

Government and industry data estimate that the software services sector of about 300 companies exported about $200 million in services and applications last year.
http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=050906a

:bash: what am i doing here.. gosh i shouldnt have enrolled myself in a medical transcription class.. cant wait to work for 8K bwahahahaha.. i shouldve just applied in a call center!!!
anyways, i think people here are really smart!

"Lack of Money Is The Source of All Evil!" ~ Robert Kiyosaki !!! hey hey so you read RK books huh!! cool... rich dad poor dad huh..

the growth of call centers in the philippines is really really phenomenal. grabe, job ads are everywhere. the best thing is, salary rates are going up too due to competition. DELL Philippines for instance has a starting rate of +/- Php 24K. not bad huh...

yeah...plus they also give out an Inspiron laptop to each employee...

and oh btw!!! im sick tired here at our office.. damn this is such monotonous work!!! ill just build my own company instead! eheheh IN DUE TIME!!!

yeah...plus they also give out an Inspiron laptop to each employee...

oh yeah how can i get in?

i think their recruiting office is in the RCBC Plaza...one of my friends work sa Dell kasi...20k basic + allowances + new laptop...

i think their recruiting office is in the RCBC Plaza...one of my friends work sa Dell kasi...20k basic + allowances + new laptop...
oh yeah.. thanks.. i might drop by RCBC kasi my editor.. sa mt class worked at one of the offices there (RCBC)
:)

i think their recruiting office is in the RCBC Plaza...one of my friends work sa Dell kasi...20k basic + allowances + new laptop...
so what does people usually do when they are ***damn bored at work?

There's too many call centres now in Manila and their employees are still working even during Holy Week.

@jean, i usually watch videos at youtube hehehe...right now, im watching Hunter X Hunter...episode 48 na ako :D
------------------

@wanch, the more, the better for the economy...i'd say, bring them all in! :D

as long as they're not working in sweatshop conditions they're ok i guess. remember, textile and garment jobs are technically outsourced jobs. (just like aol outsources its technical support, gap outsources its garment making)

any job is a bobo job if you do it repeatedly and there's no change in it.


i should really go to bed. even my answers are bobo now.

thats too smart for a bobo answer huh... but you know he's got a point any work is a bobo work if you are not learning from it... i mean if your work is monotonous.. its going to be a bobo job? well what do you want a bobo job which is paying high or a smart job and an 8k per month..
who says life is fair
:bash:

^^ i usually watch videos at youtube hehehe...right now, im watching Hunter X Hunter...episode 48 na ako :D

damn i wish i can do that here.. but the only thing i can do here is to.. uhmmm take a nap!@! my editor is so tamad!!!!

@jean, i usually watch videos at youtube hehehe...right now, im watching Hunter X Hunter...episode 48 na ako :D
------------------

@wanch, the more, the better for the economy...i'd say, bring them all in! :D

YEAH!!! you gotta work til you can... then go into business... set it up good.. then you can take time off... right?

damn the aircon is making me sick... hope its not that hot outside.. im really bored.. im having otitis from these operative reports!!!! i want real work!!! ehehehehe

boy oh boy.. work is really crappy ehehehe

^^ With all due respect, but can you please put your entire thoughts, in a period, in just one post... because it's a waste of bandwith... thank you... :)

I believe this should treated as more of a challenge for us most especially to our school....

Southeast Asia May 10, 2006

Help wanted for Philippines outsourcing
By David Llorito

MANILA - Has outsourcing to the Philippines already hit a human-resource barrier? There are growing indications that something may be amiss in the country's fastest-growing industry.

Never before has Philippine labor had such negotiating power. Call center recruits are now being offered signing bonuses before they start work. Employees are given bonuses for finding new recruits - more often than not poached from other call centers.

Still, call center managers complain about the lack of workers who are able to speak American English. For the Philippines, which suffers perennially from crushingly high unemployment rates, currently at 8% according to a recent official survey, unmet labor demand is a new and unfamiliar problem.

The explosive growth of business process outsourcing (BPO) has plugged the economy of the Philippines into the global services industry, raising high new hopes about the country's economic prospects. Just 10 years ago, economic analysts and pundits concurred that the future of the predominantly agrarian economy lay in exporting fruit, seafood, garments, low-end electronics, and people.

Nowadays, Filipino workers are increasingly doing the information technology enabled services (ITES) once held by low or middle-income-earning Americans, landing jobs in everything from accounting, payroll processing, credit-card administration, revenue management, database management, supply-chain management, and business intelligence to long-distance warehouse and inventory management.

Since 2000, outsourcing companies have sprouted like mushrooms throughout major Philippine cities, including Manila, Clark (the former US military base in Pampanga province), Cebu, Dumaguete and Davao, catering largely to US firms seeking cheap labor to handle so-called "cyberservices", including customer care, back-office processing, data transcription and other information-technology-related services.

Less-known urban centers, such as Iloilo Bacolod, Lipa, Naga, Tacloban and Subic, have more recently become BPO hot spots as multinational demand for cheap, English-language services grows. In five years, outsourcing has emerged as one of the Philippines' top job generators and foreign currency earners, second only to merchandise and labor exports.

Until now, it seemed as though the sky was the limit. Mitchell Locsin, executive director of the Business Processing Association Philippines (BPA/P), an umbrella organization of ITES firms in the Philippines, said that the industry currently employed around 245,000 people, 68% of which work at call centers.

In 2005, the industry's total revenues reached US$2.4 billion, almost double the previous year's $1.5 billion, he said, optimistically estimating that this year's outsourcing revenues would jump to $3.6 billion.

"The Philippines has barely scratched the surface of the huge outsourcing market in the United States," contended Locsin, estimating that at current growth rates the outsourcing industry would employ over a million people and generate revenues of $13 billion by 2010.

Shallow labor pool
But if these projections are to be met, outsourcers will have to find ways to bridge a huge emerging labor supply gap. Damian Mapa, commissioner of the Commission for Information and Communications Technology (CITC), a government body, estimated that from 2006 to 2010, the outsourcing industry may suffer a recruitment shortfall of 273,000 English speakers - potentially a large enough gap to drive multinational companies to other offshore destinations, such as emerging economies in Eastern Europe.

Nowhere is this problem more acute than in Philippines-based call centers, which the CITC estimates will account for 55% of the skilled labor shortfall. Industry leaders say the hiring growth rate last year was particularly low at 2-4% due to a lack of skilled applicants. For every new hire, industry leaders say they receive about five "near-hires", or applicants who must undergo extensive training in oral English and keyboarding before they meet minimum job requirements.

The future of the industry is clearly at stake. "ITES or cyberservices are certainly the future of the Philippines," said Henry Schumacher, executive director of the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines. "But that will not work unless you have English as a communicating base, and we have seen over the last maybe 10 years that the English speaking capability [of Filipinos] has declined. English was always one of the [Philippines'] competitive advantages."

Danilo Cruz, under secretary of the government's Department of Labor and Employment, added, "We used to be the third-largest English-speaking nation, but call centers and medical transcription firms have failed to hire 100,000 [workers] they expected to employ in 2005."

Carol Dominguez, president and chief executive officer of the John Clements Consultants, a human resources and executive search consulting company, described the emerging skilled labor shortage as a "national emergency".

It may come as a surprise that spoken English is actually in decline in the Philippines, given that the country is a former American colony known for its enthusiastic embrace of US fast food and pop culture. Manila-based experts said that many factors had contributed to the recent national decline in English language proficiency.

Schumacher, who has lived in the Philippines for more than three decades, points to several factors, namely the widespread use of "Taglish", a mongrel mix of the local Tagalog dialect and English, on television and in advertising, as well as the widespread notion that English is somehow an "elitist" language.

Politicians are also to blame. After the 1986 "people power" revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos, nationalistic framers of the new 1987 constitution mandated the use of Filipino or Tagalog as the main medium of instruction in schools in a drive to promote a sense of "Filipino identity".

However, English has remained the language of business and trade for the Philippines' export-geared economy. Nowadays, Filipinos' widespread use of "Taglish" often perplexes their international business partners, including Norwegian shipping company managers, who say that they often cross linguistic wires when speaking with their Filipino ship crews. (Filipinos currently account for about 25% of the global supply of seafarers.)

Brain drain
Has the Philippines reached the limit of its absorptive capacity for outsourcing? In 2000, there were only four call centers in the country, employing 2,400 call-center agents. At the end of 2005, there were at least 105 call centers with over 112,000 workers, representing a 60% per annum growth surge.

According to Dan Sebastian Reyes, chief executive officer of Clientlogic, a call-center firm, that's a growth record that not even India, which currently employs 350,000 call-center agents but is now facing similar human resource restraints, has been able to replicate.

Significantly, the frenetic growth of the Philippines' outsourcing industry coincided with an unfortunate concomitant trend: the brain-drain of skilled professionals to higher paying countries. From the 1970s to the 1990s, the bulk of Filipino labor exports were composed of low-skilled workers, mostly construction workers, domestic helpers, and entertainers.

By 2000, however, officials from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), a government agency managing the placement of overseas Filipino workers, recorded a rising tide of fleeing skilled workers and professionals, including doctors, nurses, engineers, information technology professionals and banking professionals, among others. In other words, precisely the types of workers outsourcing companies would most like to hire.

The growing scarcity of English speakers has alarmed the Philippines-based outsourcing community, which executives say they began to notice shortages as early as 2003. Many of these companies have since established training programs at private universities and human resource consulting companies that train potential recruits.

For instance, outsourcer FuturePerfect is helping Mapua Institute of Technology, one of the leading engineering and technology schools in Manila, to develop their English language curriculum and retrain their English instructors. IBM-Daksh, a business process outsourcing services provider, is providing voice and accent training for students at the Asia-Pacific College, a business college based in Makati.

John Clements Consulting, meanwhile, has tied up with the state-owned Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) to train so-called "near-hires" in several remote regions of the Philippines. According to Dominguez, John Clements' CEO, this has led to a 60% absorption rate of students trained in the program.

Sensing the potential loss in one of the few bright spots in the Philippines' economy, the national government has also started to throw money at the problem. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently earmarked P500 million ($9.8 million) for outsourcing industry training. As a part of that scheme, students interested in outsourcing jobs are given vouchers that may be used for tuition at government-accredited human resources institutions.

Locsin, head of the BPA/P outsourcing trade group, claimed that government and private efforts had already started to address the problem. Perhaps predictably, he played down the labor shortage, chalking it up to media hype. "I've met with several call centers lately, and they told me their hiring rate of fresh graduates who walk in to apply is now significantly higher at 8-10%," said Locsin. "Last year, it was 2-4%. Things are improving."

He noted that many big multinational firms, including Chevron, Shell, JP Morgan, Dell, IBM Daksh, Safeway, American Online, Manulife and Siemens, to name a few, last year all increased their outsourcing presence in the Philippines. "In the first four months of this year, about 14 more companies are coming in, two of them call centers, and the rest back-office processing," Locsin said.

"That's a good sign because you don't really need very, very good English speakers, but rather [individuals] with technical backgrounds and good written English, which we have an adequate supply [of]."

That may not be exactly how big multinational companies view the situation, particularly as other global English-speaking countries vie for a share of outsourcing contracts. As the Philippines reaches ever-deeper into its pool of semi-skilled labor - hype or no hype - the viability of its fastest-growing industry is still very much in doubt.

Problems to IT growth being addressed

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo L. Neri urged stronger ties between the academe and the business sector to help ensure a sustainable pool of relevant skills for promising segments of information technology and business process outsourcing.

Mr. Neri made the call amid concerns of attendees in the Software Innovations Philippines’ CEO Forum in Shangri-La Hotel, Makati City the other day that the country might lose its niche in the global IT arena unless it increases supply of talents and office spaces and clears out security issues.

"Every time a software engineer is developed, he gets pirated and leaves the country. The challenge now is how to keep up the supply [sic] because there is a lot of development potential in the country. The bright kids are in college and in high school -- we would like to develop them as IT workers," said a press release quoting Mr. Neri’s speech, titled "Growing the Philippine Software Industry", during the forum.

Mr. Neri said the role of the government is to facilitate this "proposed academe-private sector linkage."

The NEDA chief also encouraged "knowledge diffusion" and faster information dissemination. "We have a lot of research done by universities and other institutions. The challenge is to spread these for use of others," he explained.

Mr. Neri noted the competitive advantage of the Filipino IT worker compared to IT workers from other countries. "Solving problems of the client, not just providing software, as well as providing value for money is our comparative advantage. In the call centers’ sector, India may be the cheapest, but we give more value for money in giving services overall. That entails creativity and services, and that is where Filipinos are good at," he said.

Consultancy firm McKinsey & Co. said the domestic IT industry currently holds a 4% global market share, valued at $1.3 billion. This can easily grow to $10 billion by 2010, with $7 billion to $8 billion coming from BPO. At the local level, the Bacolod City Information Technology (IT) Focus Team and the IT Network of Schools (ITSNET) in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental province will develop strategies to capture at least 1% of the 1.3 million projected jobs in the IT services sector from 2006 to 2010.

Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chairman of the Bacolod IT Focus Team, said the 16 colleges and universities in Bacolod as well as over 26 educational institutions in Negros Occidental will be encouraged to produce competent graduates for the IT services sector.

"About 735,500 call center agents, 109,590 legal/medical transcriptionists, 122,100 software developers and 23,260 animators are needed based on specific projections on occupation or skills under the cyberservices sector," Ms. Sigue said.

This year, the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) projected 148,350 employment opportunities in the IT sector. In the next four years, the so-called "cyberservices" sector is projected to the second biggest source of jobs, next to the agriculture sector which is projected to generate more than two million jobs.

She said her team has submitted plans for 2006 to Bacolod City mayor Evelio R. Leonardia for approval. These include working for closer coordination among the business, IT, academe and government sectors to ensure development of a big, sustainable pool of skilled IT workers. But in Iloilo City, the lack of power supply and the absence of an information technology park or building could hamper Iloilo’s bid to attract IT investments.

Diosdado P. Cadena, Iloilo provincial director of th Department of Trade and Industry, said the newly formed Iloilo Foundation for IT (I-FIT) should focus on addressing these setbacks if it wants to make Iloilo an IT hub. "The inadequatte power supply could put the industry in a scary situation. The power sector here should take part in the promotion of IT," Mr. Cadena said.

He also encouraged the real estate sector to develop IT buildings and parks. "Iloilo has no identified IT park yet and this matter should not be left to the government," Mr. Cadena said.

I-FIT will be launched during the first IT Week celebration here on June 13 to 19. The foundation is composed of representatives from academe, industry players, city and provincial governments, as well as agencies like DTI and TESDA.

The core group has been undertaking focus group discussions and workshops with the assistance of the Cebu Educational Foundation for IT, represented by executive director Bonifacio Belen -- R. Leonoras, J. V. Fernandez and PJLL

http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=051106a

Business outsourcing industry gets government boost
By Aurea Calica
The Philippine Star 05/13/2006

President Arroyo said yesterday the government will continue supporting the vigorous growth of the call center and business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the country with the right policies, quality manpower resource and the infrastructure needed to cut down the cost of connectivity.

She said this was the reason she funded various scholarship programs to make would-be workers in the call center and BPO industry more competitive.

Upon her arrival from a four-day state visit to Saudi Arabia last Thursday, Mrs. Arroyo also proposed that a P250-million student loan fund be set up as an incentive for schools not to increase their fees this year.

The Commission on Higher Education also put a cap of 7.6 percent on tuition increases by private institutions to keep them within the annual inflation rates.

In her message during the grand opening of Teletech’s largest BPO center at Robinsons Place in Cainta, Rizal, Mrs. Arroyo described the development of call centers and outsourcing as one of the brightest spots for the economy because it "uses the country’s greatest resource — our people."

"Our people are our greatest resource, whether they are our one million workers in Saudi Arabia or our 100,000 workers in our business process outsourcing industry," she said.

Calling the BPO industry the "new symbol of competitiveness," Mrs. Arroyo pointed out that her administration had released P500 million for high school vouchers "so that our young people can study in private high schools."

Another P500 million was released for scholarships to finishing schools to enable young Filipinos to cope with the manpower requirements of the industry, particularly fluency in the English language.

"We have moved up the value chain and our country will continue to support the BPO industry with the right policies," Mrs. Arroyo said.

She noted that Teletech’s hiring rate increased to 21 percent of its applicants. "I’m very happy that Teletech has a very high hiring rate," she added.

Mrs. Arroyo said the country’s telecommunications infrastructure improved tremendously, resulting in lower cost of communication — the key to the success of the BPO industry.

The government is determined to improve the economy and efforts at governance such as fighting graft, among others, "but there are no quick fixes and the competitiveness and the enduring drive of the Filipinos will carry us through," she said.

"We are making headway due to our good governance and fiscal performance. Our economy is on a winning streak due to the tough decisions we make," Mrs. Arroyo said, as she pointed out that the "flowback" of a growing economy would trickle down to the grassroots through enhanced basic services.

The Teletech BPO Center in Cainta, Rizal is the largest customer management center in the country. It is also Teletech’s fourth and largest center in the Philippines.

The 11,000-square meter facility houses more than 1,000 modular work stations and has world-class training rooms, e-learning laboratories, and employee-client friendly rooms.

Craig Reines, Teletech vice president and general manager for North Asia, said that by the end of this year, Teletech expects to employ more than 10,000 Filipinos as the company expands its BPO operations to the provinces.

To date, Teletech employs 6,000 Filipinos in its BPO centers in Fort Bonifacio, Pasay City and Novaliches, Quezon City.


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200605130409.htm

^^ With all due respect, but can you please put your entire thoughts, in a period, in just one post... because it's a waste of bandwith... thank you... :)


ooops mah bad... sorry.

......................................
The Teletech BPO Center in Cainta, Rizal is the largest customer management center in the country. It is also Teletech’s fourth and largest center in the Philippines.

The 11,000-square meter facility houses more than 1,000 modular work stations and has world-class training rooms, e-learning laboratories, and employee-client friendly rooms.
.............................................


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200605130409.htm

how could this be the biggest? eh nasa loob lang to ng robinsons cainta-junction, kung d ako nagkakamali...

but this is good news... 1000 new call center seats.

Indian group opens $8-M outsourcing facility in RP

First posted 06:11pm (Mla time) May 19, 2006
By Erwin Lemuel Oliva
INQ7.net


HINDUJA TMT Ltd. (HTMT) has announced the opening of an eight-million dollar outsourcing facility in the Philippines, officials told reporters in Manila.
The local operation, HTMT Philippines, is a result of an acquisition of firms C-Cubed and SourceOne, Ramkrishan Hinduja, co-chairman of the HTMT said.

HTMT came to the Philippines three years ago after it decided to buy into C-Cubed, Hinduja said.

The C-Cubed facility now employs 2,400 agents for 2,000 seats, the executive said.

It will handle in-bound calls for mainly American clients, Hinduja added.

HTMT is also involved in other businesses, including technology and telecommunications, but the co-chairman stressed that the group's business is now moving towards the fast-growing outsourcing industry.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will inaugurate the local facility which is located at the HTMT Cyberpark in E. Rodriguez Jr Ave., Quezon City on Saturday.

HTMT has invested over 25 million dollars in the Philippines, with eight million dollars going to the construction of the Manila facility. The rest went to the acquisition of C-Cubed and SourceOne, according to Hinduja.

That investment is just the firm's initial investment in the Philippines. More is expected as HTMT acquires more firms in the country, and expand operations, the executive said.

HTMT has a total of around 7,000 employees for its outsourcing business, with 2,400 now employed in the country, Pushkar Misra, president and CEO of HTMT added.

Misra said that the HTMT projects to end fiscal year 2006 with 85 million dollars in revenues.

C-Cubed is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of HTMT Philippines, and will now act as its marketing arm in the country, Hinduja said.

HTMT also maintains operations in the Mauritius, the US, and Canada.


http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=7&story_id=76338

video about outsourcing (funny)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR_-aMVQWZI&search=call%20center

VICE Mayor Beng Climaco established partnership with various civic groups and organizations in the United States of America for possible implementation of telecommunication projects that would result in the setting up of a call center in Zamboanga City.

The vice mayor met with Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company executive Buth Meiley in New York City last May 28 to explore the possibility of improving the telecommunication set-up to prepare for call centers.

In an overseas call, Climaco said Meily is studying how to improve telecommunication facilities in the city.

Climaco cited the need to restore broadband Internet connection, initially discussed during the visit of Ric Santos, president of the Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce at the Zamboanga Economic Zone and Freeport Authority, to Zamboanga City last year.

The meeting of investors at the economic zone was graced by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Mayor Celso Lobregat and economic zone officials were also present.

Like Councilor Kim Elago, the lady vice mayor believes there is a need to "expand possibilities to utilize the talents of Zamboanga's graduates in the Spanish-speaking market as well as the English and even Arabic-speaking countries."

She hoped that such moves will materialize the soonest possible time so that local graduates will have greater employment opportunities and that Zamboanga City will not lag behind and instead be at par with other areas in the country and the world.

The City Council, through the initiative of Councilor Elago, had approved a month ago a resolution requesting the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) to study the possible inclusion of additional units for Spanish and English proficiency and Arabic language in the tertiary curriculum in view of the increasing demand for call center agents.

Call centers are flourishing in major cities like Manila, Cebu, and Pampanga but most operators prefer to hire Zamboangueños as call center agents due to their proficiency in the Spanish and English languages as most of their clients are Spanish and English speaking.

A call center deals with customer phone calls and serves as place that handles high volume of in-coming telephone calls on behalf of a large organization.

The vice mayor took the opportunity of meeting with various groups in the US after attending the Women's Global Connection forum in San Antonio, Texas recently. She was one of the only three Filipina speakers during the international forum. (Press release)

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/zam/2006/06/01/news/vice.mayor.links.zambo.with.us.civic.groups.html

Headstrong invests $1M in RP BPO operations

First posted 08:55pm (Mla time) June 04, 2006
By Alexander Villafania
INQ7.net
http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=78060



AFTER SUCCESSFULLY launching its first and only business process outsourcing (BPO) facility in the Philippines, the US headquarters of IT consulting firm Headstrong has pooled in nearly 1 million US dollars in capital expenditure to expand its BPO operations.

The amount will be used to acquire new equipment, hire more professionals and also to expand the physical size of its office at the Export Bank Plaza Building in Makati City.

The company has already spent close to 250,000 US dollars for the physical expansion from just one floor to three floors in the building.

Headstrong Philippines already has one client, the US-based customer relations management software provider NetSuite, in a co-sourcing agreement wherein Headstrong would provide quality control, professional and technical support center.

Country Manager Nora Terrado said in an interview that Headstrong Philippines will still focus on a niche market, particularly the financial services space, which is one
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of Headstrong’s core markets for its consulting offerings.

“We want to create a niche that is close to our core services especially in the financial sector. Some financial institutions would want to complete their IT services requirements from consulting to full implementation,” Terrado said.

Terrado said Headstrong’s core consulting business already has 300 people while their BPO business has about 100.

“But we hope to get over 120 people in the BPO business by the end of the year as we implement the expansion plans,” she said.

Terrado said that the US office was happy with the start of a Headstrong BPO operation in the Philippines that the US marketing staff of Headstrong is already looking for clients for the Philippine operations.

“We’re riding on the success of the outsource business in the Philippines and we’d want to continue grow this business,” Terrado said.

http://www.pcb007.com/anm/templates/article.aspx?articleid=7889&zoneid=127&v=


IMI-PSi Technologies Strategic Alliance to Promote Philippine Electronics Industry
June 8, 2006|IMI

Integrated Microelectronics Inc. (IMI), one of the leading electronics manufacturing service (EMS) providers in Asia, has formed a strategic partnership with PSi Technologies Inc., a NASDAQ-listed semiconductor assembly company.

Under the partnership, IMI would promote PSi Technologies’ power semiconductor assembly and test services to its foreign clients while PSi Technologies will markets IMI’s services to its own customers.

The alliance is also expected to highlight the Philippines electronics manufacturing capability. “This is the first time that two Filipino global electronics companies have come together to promote Philippine electronics industry,” says Arthur R. Tan, IMI president and chief executive officer. "We have strategically formed an alliance with PSi Technologies so that when their customers require not only their capability in providing power components, we can provide a streamlined supply value chain in building their products for them."

IMI’s partnership with PSi Technologies is patterned after its deals to cooperate with foreign EMS companies--Hansatech in Europe, Pensar Electronic Solutions in the United States, BuS Elektronik in Germany, and Japan-based Pulax Corp.—on getting outsourcing contracts.

IMI's merger last year with Singapore-based Speedy-Tech Electronics Ltd added the latter's capabilities in design, development, and manufacturing of power electronics products to IMI's capabilities.

PSi Technologies could also tap IMI’s subsidiary Speedy-Tech for EMS and original design manufacturing (ODM) projects on power electronics.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/june/09/yehey/business/20060609bus1.html

Friday, June 09, 2006

Growth of BOP sector seen to soar this year

By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter

BACK office business process outsourcing (BPO) is seen to grow by 100 percent this year in parallel with the acceleration of the call-center industry in the Philippines.

This was observed by Rainerio Borja, president of call-center operator People Support, who said growth in back office BPO service will be stiffer in the coming years than it was two years ago due to the discovery of new areas to be outsourced, particularly in the United States.

“American firms have successfully removed legal impediments to outsourcing, which opened opportunities for other countries,” Borja said.

Some BPO sub-areas, which are gaining momentum like voice-based services, include accounting and medical transcription as well as medical services.

Borja said the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) is holding a conference and exposition this month to address the labor shortage problem and the declining number of qualified call-center personnel.

“It will bring together all the players in the contact-center industry, providing a one-stop venue for learning, networking and business opportunities. It’s designed with both outsourced and in-house call centers,” he said, adding that 27 of the largest local and multinational outsource call centers are expected to participate.

In addition to private sector initiatives, the government has allocated P500 million to train call-center agents through Technical Education & Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

Many call-center companies are also signing up in a program launched by the European Chamber of Commerce that promotes the use of English and Filipino to orient young people to the English language. A government and private-sector program, on the other hand, provides applicants who failed to qualify for the job short-term training.

“Apart from these activities, we want to address the problem of declining ability of our graduates by directly assisting colleges and universities improve the capability of their curriculum and teachers’ know-how,” Borja said.

Based on industry figures, the English communications skills of 75 percent to 90 percent of some 400,000 college graduates each year are substandard.

Only three out of 10 applicants are hired, according to the industry’s record. The industry-wide attrition rate is 19 percent.

I read the other day in NJ business news paper that IBM is infusing $6 BILLION into Indian economy over the next three years. Tripling its investment in India and taking advantages of the country's lower-cost labor and diverse engineering skills for technology services customers around the world. The announcement follows similar plans by other technology companies. Microsoft said in December that it would double its workforce in India with an investment of $1.7 billion in four years. Around the same time, Intel announced a $1 billion India investment plan, weeks after a group of expatriate Indians said they would spend $3 billion to build a chip-making facility with technology from Advance Micro Devices, Intel's rival. Meanwhile, Cisco System plans to invest $1.1 billion in India over the next three years. Whew!!! But that's a whopping $12.8 billions over the next three to four years. How i wished sana sa Pilipinas nalang sila nag-invest. Anyway, it's okay because we got a little bit of foreign investment there too. I just can't believed they were talking in billions of dollars ,and those are the bluest chip companies. :bash: :bash: :bash:

Call center group sees 70% growth
By Marianne V. Go
The Philippine Star 06/09/2006

The Call Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) is projecting the call center industry to post a continued growth of 70 percent this year.

However, according to CCAP director Reinerio Borja of People Support and concurrent chairman of the Business Process Association, the growth of business process outsourcing (BPO) is expected to exceed 100 percent, outpacing the projected 70 percent growth of call centers.

In a press conference, the CCAP expressed optimism that the local call center industry would continue to attract investments, clients and applicants as it expands into other related services such as BPO and animation.

The expansion into BPO and animation, the CCAP officials explained, is logical and maximizes their resources.

Most often call centers operate in the evenings when their US clients are calling.

Thus, in the daytime in the Philippines, most of the call centers have little to do.

While competition in the sector is increasing worldwide, the CCAP is confident that the Philippines will take the lead in the world market, not because of lower cost but because of quality service.

CCAP officials also disclosed that a number of Filipino-Americans are finding their way back to the Philippines to work in call centers here because of the better opportunities it presents to them.

The CCAP is holding a two-day Call Center Conference and Expo on June 20 and 21 at the Edsa Shangrila with the theme "Sustaining the Industry’s Hypergrowth."

Previously, BPO International president and chief executive officer Christopher Orcullo had projected that finance and accounting outsourcing in the world market would reach $25 billion in 2009 and the Philippines should benefit from this by establishing a niche on highly voluminous, repetitive finance and accounting processes like transaction processing.

Finance and accounting outsourcing growth is 15 percent of the total BPO growth amounting to $641.2 billion, based on an IDC estimate on BPO 2009 spending.

"Large offshore companies will demand integrated services like purchase and payment combined with procurement and finance and accounting services. And the primary driver to outsourcing is no longer just cost reduction but a more strategic objective of improving competitive position, market leadership among other things," Orcullo explained.

The US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) cited Filipino accountants as "among the best in the world."

Filipino accountants are also well versed with GAAP and International Accounting Standards for financial reporting, standards employed in the US, Japan, and most of Europe.

Government statistics show that the Philippines has the largest pool of accountants in Asia.

The Philippines has about 120,000 certified public accountants (CPAs) and graduates over 4,000 CPAs annually.

Meanwhile, over 80,000 graduates have degrees in business administration and related discipline.

To date, there are more than 60 BPO operators in the Philippines.

Some of the multinational companies outsourcing their finance and accounting processes in the Philippines are AIG, Procter & Gamble and Citibank among others.

Price waterhouse coopers, KPMG Consultancy, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Ernst and Young are also represented in the Philippines.


http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606090706.htm

^ You could see how huge the investments coming to India are. In fact, the share of philippines when it comes to outsourcing is still very little compared to India. But as early as now, we are already experiencing shortage of qualified workforce, a problem that India suffered before investors started eyeing for Philippines as the alternative.

We can be the best breed in terms of customer support. But there the demand is way higher than the supply of manpower. The reason can be rooted down to the inefficiency of our educational system. Most schools do not really require their students to speak fluent English. Another can be...the qualified people are not really considering working with contact centres. Most youngsters consider the job as something temporary. There can be a mile of difference between a 'job' and a 'career.'
The attitude of the workforce can be a factor in the success of call centre. The government factor is already established or being established. PGMAs scholarship, PEZA certifications, investments on infrastructure, promotions overseas...etc. all of which were proven effective.

However, how would one call centre company establish it's operations in the country when there is a limited number of qualified candidates. I'm not saying there are very few who fit into the job. But there are very few who have what it takes to do the job efficiently.

Now this is the good news: Filipinos are trainable. We can adapt pretty easily. That's one of our advantage over India. There are very few qualified applicants, but there are a lot of applicants who can be considered near-hire. Meaning, they only need honing of whatever skills they have.

Another good news: It's not on what you did that matters now. Several companies are not considering your experiences anymore. It's what you are and what you have. If you can do the task and you have what it takes then why should a company hesitate to hire you. An Engineering grad can do HR functions. A nursing grad who is interested into computers can do programming. Of course, there are still key functions that need extensive experience on that area but if you have the will, then there will be a way.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606270711.htm

BPO a bigger boon to economy than mining, says lawmaker
By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes
The Philippine Star 06/27/2006

Business process outsourcing (BPO) will do more good to the Philippine economy than any mining investment, according to Sen. Pia Cayetano.

Cayetano, who chairs the Senate committee on natural resources and environment, said investing in human skills, rather than altering natural resources through mining, should be the focus of the government’s economic policies.

"The Philippines should fully harness the economic benefits of the BPO-contact center (CC) sector for the jobs generation program for our people," she said during a recent forum sponsored by Five9 Inc., a California-based information technology company providing solutions to the contact center industry.

"Unlike mining, the BPO-CC industry does not have too much baggage for our environment to carry," she pointed out. Cayetano warned that mining, if not properly managed, could have destructive effects on the environment. The government, she said, must properly balance mining’s economic and environmental impact.

On the other hand, the BPO-CC industry could result in economic growth and better income for the people, without causing damages on the environment, because it focuses on human resource development.

She said companies like Five9 are doing the country a favor by training and equipping thousands of Filipinos with the right skills to become highly paid contact center agents and other BPO professionals.

Five9 country manager Junie Pama echoed this, saying that with the number of call centers in the country steadily rising, "the employment opportunity for Filipinos is also experiencing unprecedented growth as the Philippines is now tagged as the BPO-CC capital of the world."

Another 300 call centers are expected to operate in the country within the next two years, because of the many advantages the Philippines has over other Asian countries, in terms of personalized customer service, impeccable work ethics, language, diction, and robust communication infrastructure.

Five9 has chosen the Philippines as the site of its regional headquarters in Southeast Asia. In 2005, the company introduced its award-winning Five9 Virtual Contact Center (VCC), a revolutionary technology that allows small organizations to start a call center with minimal capital.

"With the development of low-cost and state-of-the-art technology such as the Five9 VCC, we will be able to help differentiate Filipino BPO centers with higher skills, excellent or superior customer satisfaction and customer experience, high velocity delivery, and specialized value and increased knowledge," Pama said.

Pama said that with the advent of new low-cost technology, it is expected that the 100,000 jobs in the BPO-CC sector will increase by another 90,000 over the next three years, expanding the business by $10 billion.

Accenture to expand Philippine operations
Inquirer
Last updated 04:10am (Mla time) 07/06/2006

THE consultancy and outsourcing firm Accenture will invest $20 million in its Philippine operations over the next 18 months as demand of overseas clients for outsourced services is projected to grow at an average of 12 percent annually in the coming years, a company official said.

The money “will be spent on facilities, technology building, more delivery centers, BPO [business process outsourcing], and to hire new people,” Accenture technology and delivery COO Basilio Rueda said at a media briefing.

“We have a plan to grow our Manila Delivery Center in the area of 40-50 percent next [fiscal] year,” Rueda said.

The delivery center -- centralized offices catering to various clients -- has 7,500 employees. By the end of the next fiscal year, it is expected to have up to 12,000, Rueda said.

Accenture invested $50 million in the Philippine operation over the past four years, he said.

About 5,000 of the employees are in the information technology sector, 2,200 are in BPO operations, and 350 are classified as support staff.

Accenture has eight facilities in Metro Manila with a capacity of 8,411 seats. More than 1,000 seats are expected to come online next month in the initial expansion phase.

The company also operates two disaster recovery facilities in Laguna province, south of Manila, and four third-party disaster recovery sites in Metro Manila.

Accenture has been operating in the Philippines since 1985, and serves more than 80 clients.

The delivery center’s clients are all foreign, and many are on the Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 lists, Rueda said.

The US market accounts for about 80 percent of revenues, followed by clients in Germany, the Nordic countries, Turkey, the United Kingdom, France and Denmark.

“For now, we have no Philippine clients for the delivery center but we are always revisiting this,” Rueda said. Daxim L. Lucas, with INQ7.net

By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT

Local IT (information technology) and business process outsourcing (IT/BPO) are eyeing to get the first crack of the 8.4 billion Western Europe’s market after gaining confidence from an earlier exposure in the US market.

To facilitate the local firms foray in Europe, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) is implementing a country-bycountry strategy that would fit the service requirements of Western Europe.

Trade Assistant Secretary and CITEM Executive Director Fe Agoncillo-Reyes said that part of the activities being lined up is a business forum on the Philippine ICT advantage, pre-arranged business meetings, and high-level networking reception.

"An EU trade mission this coming September 11 to 20 in London and Netherlands is part of our ongoing promotion of the Philippine ICT capabilities to European IT/BPO market," added Agoncillo-Reyes.

Last year, the DTI-organized trade mission yielded business leads with Logica CMG, a leading wireless telecom leader with headquarters in the UK, putting up an offshore development center and inhouse call center in the country.

Other firms that followed include Express Gifts for outsourced call center activities; KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for a shared-facility and contact center operations; Emirates Airlines for BPO and software development services; and HSBC with a prospect to continue its expansion for Philippine-based shared services, among others.

The forthcoming business mission also aims to strengthen ties with the Philippines’ counterpart organizations such as the London Chamber of Commerce, National Outsourcing Association (NOA), International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) in the UK; FENIT, The Agency for International Business and Cooperation (EVD), and CBI in Netherlands.

The Philippines consistently ranks among the top attractive offshore location by various research firms, such as the A.T. Kearney, Gartner, and META.

Philippines is now the outsourcing location of some Dutch companies like Getronics, ING Group, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and ABN-AMRO.

British companies like Standard Chartered Bank, Sykes, and Ambergis Solutions have established outsourcing operations in the Philippines.

According to the PriceWaterhouseCoopers, one of the largest international professional services firms, the global outsourcing market is projected to reach US$ 310 billion in 2008, 22% of which will come from Europe.

The United Kingdom still stands out as Europe’s dominant market, but outsourcing has gained ground in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and France.

"The continuing pressure on time to market and cost bases are driving European companies to look at offshore outsourcing as a strategic alternative," Agoncillo-Reyes said.

The financial services sector is the largest consumer of BPO-ITES services in Europe, followed by utilities and telecommunications. Human resources, finance and accounting are also showing notable growth.

Studies also projected that Western Europe’s spending on core BPO services will grow from US$ 20.9 billion from 2005 to US.8 billion on 2010, based on a research conducted by research group IDC.

Of this figure, the largest was customer care (US$ 8 billion) and industry-specific BPO with US$ 7.6 billion. Procurement BPO is seen to be the fastest growing segment, from US$ 245 million in 2005 to US$ 716 million by 2010.

Another independent technology and market research company, Forrester Research, estimates that the UK will account for three-quarters of all European offshore outsourcing in five years’ time, with software development as the main service provided. (BCM)

http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/07/08/BSNS2006070868790.html

The growth of call center industry remains to be an important factor in the significant improvement of the country’s employment sector, with a projected annual growth of 1.083 million by 2010.

In its latest report, the Labor Force Survey (LFS) noted a 2.5 percent or 803,000 growth in April 2006 up from the 32.2 million recorded during the same period last year.

Though not the biggest employers to date, call centers will remain to be the most important sector in the next five years, accounting for 431,000 jobs out of the total 1.2 million for the BPO sector.

Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) chairman Raneiro Borja said around 120,000 slots are expected to be filled by end-2006, up from the 70,000 that the industry generated in 2005.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/business/20060711bus9.html

wow! the thread is nearing the 500 cut off. i'm trying to read each and every post you guys are posting. :)

for the EU market, I believe international companies with their operations in the country already have infiltrated the market. the governments publicity and marketing strategies seem to be creating good results. a friend's brother who does IT task at Accenture will be going to Amsterdam. so that means they are getting Dutch clients now.

about the post above, that would mean a lot. steep growth would mean promotion opportunities for those who had joined BPOs before. talk of being promoted to the Operations Manager position in just a year you joined in at entry level position!

as usual, I am anxious about the time when there will be more jobs than qualified people. and i also wonder if BPO related functions would succeed in enticing highly competitive youngsters into joining the industry. i find the pay competitive, but i wonder if the benefits would compensate the downsides.

RP’s outsourcing sector gains from India’s rising wages
http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=071906b

The Philippine information technology-enabled outsourcing industry, which has been pitted practically since the start against India, is poised to reap a windfall as its biggest rival gives in to high attrition and sharp wage inflation.

Raneiro M. Borja, president of business process outsourcing firm PeopleSupport (Philippines), Inc., recalled that when his company set up shop back in 2000, the starting salary was P12,000. Six years later, its starting salary for call center agents increased by only P1,000 to P13,000.

"But, of course, there are some benefits on top. But that is only one-twelfth wage inflation over a six-year period. That is equivalent to only 8% increase. In India, their wage inflation is running at 15% to 20% every year and yet the attrition rate of one company can go up to 100%," Mr. Borja said in a recent interview.

Attrition in the local call center industry is pegged at 35%. According to IT consulting firm XMG, Inc., this means that for an industry with a current capacity of at least 65,000 agents, 22,500 agents resign every year and 12,350 agents resign and leave the industry altogether every year.

It is estimated that at least one-third of the yearly expenses of companies goes to work force management.

Although it is still difficult to identify which companies have transferred their operation, or at least part of it, from India, Chalre Associates Chairman Richard Mills said the shift goes "beyond anecdotes."

"This is happening. Some companies have started to consider the Philippines as an alternative," Mr. Mills said in a separate interview.

His company does consulting works for companies in the outsourcing industry.

Even India-based companies have started to consider the Philippines as a site for expansion. For one, leading Indian conglomerate, the Hinduja Group, recently earmarked some $25 million for investments in the Philippines, creating its biggest foreign site to date.

Miguel P. Juliano, data services manager of Watson Wyatt Phils. Inc., said companies, including those in the outsourcing industry, have started to move away from salary as the means for rewarding their employees.

Companies, he said, are now more performance-based and the amount of reward is dependent on the value of the work rendered by the employee in given period. In the BPO industry, this comes in the form of bonuses and other perks such as shares in the company.

well we better learn from india's mistakes then or else we might suffer the same problems in the future.. so to whoever is the goverment official who is leading/monitoring the wages and to all HR practitioners there, hope you do a damn good job!

well we better learn from india's mistakes then or else we might suffer the same problems in the future.. so to whoever is the goverment official who is leading/monitoring the wages and to all HR practitioners there, hope you do a damn good job!

di ba ang nag se-set ng wage eh yung kumpanya mismo? minimum lang naman ang binabantayan ng government. kung nagbibigay ang isang outsourcing company ng malaki dahil kaya nila at gusto nilang lumipat yung nasa ibang outsourcing company, wala tayong magagawa dun. kaya habulan na lang sila ng rates. tuwang-tuwa naman yung mga skilled na, kasi mamimili na lang sila ng mas malaki ang rates.

so i guess its the HR people's job to regulate the wages that are given then.. :P

Actually mga call center companies talaga ang nagse-set ng wages for their employees. I think it's safe to assume that there will be a significant increase in the minimum pay for call center agents as companies would try its best to lure more agents by making their compensation package more attractive than others. A call center based in QC offers a base pay of 15,000 to 18,000; 20% night differential and UNLIMITED FREE MEAL. Tataba ka talaga pag dun ka nagtrabaho.

Sa pinanggalingan ko naman ang base pay is 15,000 for Customer Service Reps (Tech support agents earn more). Tapos may 3,000 fixed, non-taxable transpo allowance. Kahit absent ka madalas buo mong makukuha yung 3,000. I heard the company's about to increase the transpo allowance. Not to mention their night differential pay is 30% on top of the daily base pay.

I really hope companies would be more aggresive in setting up their facilities outside Metro Manila. We have so many provinces with tremendous potential for this industry.

RP still a ‘financially attractive’ BPO destination: Report
http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=12115
By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net
Last updated 01:30am (Mla time) 07/28/2006

THE PHILIPPINES remains the most "financially attractive" destination for outsourcing mainly because of its traditional ties to the United States, a study showed.

"Despite political instability and infrastructure weaknesses, the Philippines continues to benefit from the global exposure and the English language skills of its workforce. The country tops the financial attractiveness," a report from consulting firm A.T. Kearney.

In its "Global Services Location Index," A.T. Kearney said the Philippines' low cost, well-education population, and English proficiency gives "the country an edge, particularly among American companies."

The report also noted the country's neutral English accent is also attracting more North American companies to outsource their call centers in the country.

The report cited the Philippines' strong base of local and global outsourcing vendors.

Among the more known companies that have decided to outsource service centers in the country include Citibank, Procter and Gamble, Shell, Alitalia, Barnes & Noble and NEC, the report added.

The adoption of American financial certifications also makes the country attractive to financial services companies, it said.

Even the International Red Cross operates a processing center in the Philippines.

The report, however, noted that the Philippines' success is raising issues on wage inflation and attrition.

"This is particularly worrisome because the vast majority of the sector is concentrated in the Manila region," the report said.

Reacting to this report, Mike Hamlin, author of “High Visibility and Marketing Asian Places,” wrote in his blog that the country's current rating was achieved despite very limited government promotional budgets.

Hamlin is also the managing director of Philippine events and public relations firm Teamasia.

The A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index evaluates 40 countries as potential locations for services, including information technology services and support, contact centers, and back-office support.

Each country is rated according to their financial attractiveness, people skills and availability, and business environment.

Hamlin said the country's 2004 ranking (announced in 2005) was the sixth highest in the index. The Philippines was behind India, China, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, and Singapore.

In the 2005 ranking, the country moved up to fourth place.

"Given recent reports of the Philippines' low competitiveness ranking in other global surveys, the A.T. Kearney results are encouraging," he said. For 2005, the Philippines was ranked above Singapore.

In terms of financial attractiveness, the Philippines did best but rival countries like Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam are closing in, Hamlin said.

"The Philippines must work to sustain its appealing financial structure; and second, despite that hard work, it is unlikely that the Philippines can sustain this advantage given the relative parity of its hungry competitors," he added. Hamlin said the report indicates the Philippines needs to improve the "business environment."

He said the country performs poorly compared to most of the 40 other countries in the survey, confirming poor global competitiveness findings in other studies.

"So while the Philippines should be justifiably proud of its rating for the year 2005, there's little time to savor the results. Because we are at risk financially, far behind our major competitors overall in terms of workforce and skills, and have much to do to improve the business environment," he added.

A copy of the report can be gleaned at http://www.atkearney.com/main.taf?p=5,3,1,143,1

Call centers welcome but Philippines needs more jobs
http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=12116
By Rosemarie Francisco
Reuters
Last updated 01:30am (Mla time) 07/28/2006

MANILA -- At a spartan hall converted from a closed textile company east of Manila, hundreds of Filipinos milled around small corporate booths looking for work. The longest lines at the job fair were for call center or business process outsourcing firms.

Despite the odd hours -- employees sit down to work just as much of the country gets ready for bed -- the call center sector is the current favorite among job seekers, from the annual wave of 400,000 college graduates to more mature workers.

"I earn double here than in my previous job," said Jasmin, 35, who quit her position as a clerk at city hall to handle calls from customers of a major telecoms company in the United States.

Above-average salaries and fast promotions are some of the attractions at call centers and outsourcing firms, which have expanded to include legal, data and medical transcription, as well as animation and software development.

This year, the outsourcing sector is expected to employ about 266,000 people in the developing Southeast Asian country, surging from just about 2,000 five years ago.

The number is likely to hit nearly 1.1 million by 2010, according to the Business Processing Association Philippines.

But with call centers hiring just three to five people for every 100 applicants -- a reflection of the declining quality of education in the Philippines -- some analysts say the industry is far from the cure for the country's unemployment problem.

"Of course, it will generate jobs but the majority of our unemployed don't have adequate skills," said Emmanuel Esguerra, associate professor at the University of the Philippines' School of Economics.

Esguerra said only a quarter of the 3 to 4 million Filipinos without work -- the number depends on the government's new or old definition of unemployment -- had more than a high school education.

Quality of labor is a major issue facing the Philippines, where budget deficits and the government's debt of about $76 billion have limited state spending on basic education.

Patricia Sto. Tomas, who recently quit as labor secretary, said Manila had set aside 500 million pesos ($9.5 million) to retrain "near hires" in the outsourcing industry -- those needing more computer training or English-language skills to get a job.

Despite President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's vow in 2004 to create 1 to 1.5 million jobs every year until the end of her term in 2010, progress remains slow in an economy driven by remittances, domestic demand and exports of electronics and farm products.

Arroyo's job creation goal was premised on the economy growing 7 to 8 percent per year, a target that has been elusive.

"This administration has the worst unemployment record," Esguerra said. "It has to do with the accumulation of the problem, but I think it also suggests the response has been inadequate."

The unemployment rate has stayed above 10 percent since 2001, when Arroyo was propelled to the presidency after a popular uprising. The last time it was as high was in the final years of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos's rule in the mid-1980s.

In April, using the old definition, the unemployment rate was 11.8 percent.

With labor force growth of 3.5 percent per year, the number of people without work would still have widened by 2010 even if 1 million new jobs were created annually, Esguerra said.

Only 807,000 jobs were created in the year to April 2006 after nearly 700,000 from May 2004 to April 2005, government statistics show.

"Many of the jobs created are not the quality jobs because the big increase came from the ranks of own-account workers and unpaid family workers," said Dante Canlas, an economics professor and former socioeconomic planning secretary.

Own-account workers include Filipinos who shift to the underground economy with street stalls or small village shops when they are out of work or seeking to supplement low salaries.

The rise in underemployment is another worrying trend.

Workers wanting more hours made up 25 percent of the labor force in April, almost flat from 26 percent a year earlier but higher than the 18.5 percent in the same month of 2004.

With annual average inflation above 6 percent since 2004 and likely as high as 7.9 percent this year, real wages have been falling, pushing Filipinos to work longer hours.

Low wages and lack of opportunities have sent about a 10th of the population of 85 million to work abroad as sailors, nurses, maids, entertainers, IT professionals and accountants.

Canlas said the underemployment problem cut two ways, with most businesses not investing in new technology that would lead to higher production and workers failing to build their skills for better productivity.

"Unless the economy is able to significantly increase its investments and raise its productivity so that there will be a scale effect on employment demand, in the short run the unemployment rate will remain high," Canlas said.

In the case of agricultural workers, who make up about 35 percent of total employed and 41.5 percent of underemployed, most of the jobs created are either seasonal or part-time.

Sto. Tomas said the Philippines must harness the potential of its agribusiness, which could employ an extra 2 million people from this year to 2010, the highest in any sector.

Industry was not likely to contribute as much as services and agriculture to put a dent in unemployment in the next five years because of the huge investments required, she said.

WITH DIGITAL FIBER OPTIC LINK
Baguio set to become potential ICT outsourcing hub

By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net
Last updated 04:19pm (Mla time) 07/30/2006


BAGUIO CITY – This summer capital of the Philippines is ready to attract more outsourcing firms with the firing up of a digital fiber optic link, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) officials said.

Representing an investment of over 30 million dollars, the digital fiber optic network (DFON) now connects the city to a 10 gigabit per second data pipe, according to George Lim, senior vice president and network services group head of PLDT, in a briefing.

The Northern Luzon digital fiber optic loop traverses several key areas in the area, including the Ilocos region, Aparri, Cagayan, Cabanatuan, La Union, among others.

"We've made a gamble to lay down DFON in northern Luzon," said Ernesto Alberto, senior vice president and group head of the corporate business group of PLDT.

Alberto said a big US outsourcing firm and PLDT itself are now considering locating their call center operations in Baguio City. He declined to identify the US firm.

Currently, call center firm ClientLogic and semiconductor firm Texas Instruments are among the beneficiaries of this faster data pipe to the city.

Alberto said more business process outsourcing companies are now looking at Baguio City as a potential destination for offshore operations.

"Baguio is now posed to become a business center with the DFON expansion in Baguio," the executive said.

In a separate interview, Dan Reyes, ClientLogic country manager, said the biggest call center operation in the city expects to grow its headcount and revenues following the firing up of the DFON.

ClientLogic expects to increase headcount to more than 1,000 people this year because of better data infrastructure in the city.

Lim added that Baguio City is now emerging as the next "suitable place for a cyber city."

The presence of digital fiber optic network will also boost tourism in the city, added Alberto.

Global IT outsourcing giant enters RP[/I[
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607300704.htm
The Philippine Star 07/30/2006

A global information technology (IT) outsourcing giant belonging to the Fortune 500 has quietly entered the Philippines by initially putting up a call center in Makati City that provides customer and help desk support services to major US airlines and other large clients in the travel industry.

Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, a promoter of the country’s technology-empowered services industry, said the Dallas, Texas-based and New York Stock Exchange-listed Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS) would soon build up its budding operations in the country to include other back-office jobs.

"We obtained information that ACS is already looking to engage 250 call center agents in the months ahead to add to its initial staff here of 50," Santiago, a former chief of the National Telecommunications Commission, said.

ACS is engaging fluent English-speaking and computer proficient college graduates of tourism, hotel and restaurant management and related fields to brace the company’s nascent operations here, according to Santiago.

The company supports most major airlines not just in the US, but also in global markets, as well as related services in the travel and transportation industry such as online booking and reservations.

"ACS is starting here with a small center. However, we understand the firm is set to expand service offerings to include claims processing, software applications support and other client support services," Santiago added.

ACS has 700 offices and more than 55,000 employees in over 100 countries, and posted $5.2 billion in 2005 revenues. The company has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion.

ACS ranked No. 1 in the "Top 50 Best-Managed Global Outsourcing Vendors" in the 2006 survey of The Blackbook of Outsourcing and The Brown-Wilson Group.

The firm provides outsourcing and IT solutions to large commercial and government clients. The company’s services include administration, human resources and related consulting, finance and accounting, customer care and payment services.

ACS focuses on transaction processing and program management services. In the US, the firm handles the processing of child support payments and traffic violations, welfare and community services and electronic toll collection.

The company typically starts with a minimal presence in a new location, and then develops local management teams and expands operations. In Fiji, for instance, the firm began with a small team that has since grown to a staff of 400. In Ghana, the company started with a modest center that today has nearly 2,000 personnel.

Complete article: http://www.sys-con.com/read/254152.htm

"PeopleSupport continues to perform exceptionally well as we posted record revenues and our 16th consecutive quarter of revenue growth," said Lance Rosenzweig, PeopleSupport's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We delivered solid operating margins of 14% and strong operating cash flow of $7.8 million for the quarter. This performance further demonstrates our continued progress in expanding our revenue stream across a portfolio of services and geographies. We are executing against our strategy to become a diversified high performance outsourcing provider for the global enterprise."

Lance Rosenzweig continued, "We expanded operations as planned. During the quarter, PeopleSupport successfully increased our operational capacity in the Philippines and Costa Rica by roughly 60% to approximately 5,000 production seats worldwide. We expanded our operations and leadership position in the Philippines by completing the entire build out of the PeopleSupport Center in Manila and expanding our operations in Cebu City, the second largest city in the Philippines.

"Additionally, I am pleased with the high quality and consistency of our Spanish and bilingual services being delivered from our operational centers in Costa Rica which are now producing planned revenue. With this added worldwide capacity PeopleSupport is well positioned for continued profitable growth."

US BPO company eyes JV with big real estate developers
http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006081471669.html
By JAMES A. LOYOLA

Global business process outsourcing firm Intellirisk Management Corporation is exploring the possibility of entering into joint venture agreements with real estate firms including the Ayalas and the Aboitizes of the Philippines.

IRMC president Vikas Kapoor said they are looking for a partner since they do not want to be weighed down by concerns over looking for a suitable site for the call centers and the contruction and other real estate concerns.

"We would like someone to take care of the real estate development part of the business so we can concentrate on bringing in the required technology and operating the business," Kapoor said.

Kapoor said the idea was brought up when he met Ayala Corporation chairman Jaime Zobel de Ayala II during the President Gloria Arroyo’s strategic planning meeting for outsourcing in Cebu with 30 Chief Executives of top international corporations.

He said they are looking for investors who can partner with them and has the capacity to develop their real estate requirements not just in the Philippines but also overseas.

Ayala Corporation’s Ayala Land Inc. is aggressively building projects that will cater to the burgeoning BPO sector in the Philippines while Ayala International has already made forays into the real estate business overseas such as in the United States, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and Hong Kong.

On the other hand, the Aboitiz group is one of the top conglomerates in Cebu where a lot of BPO firms are planning to relocate to because of the availability of skilled labor and good infrastructure.

ALI is allotting P1.1 billion to P1.2 billion of this year’s capital expenditures to raise its gross leasable office space aimed at the rapidly expanding business process outsourcing market.

ALI president Jaime Ayala said aim to increase significantly their gross leasable area for BPOs to 105,000 square meters from around 36,000 square meters last year.

He said developments for BPOs will mostly be outside Makati with master-planned areas composed of multiple buildings complete with hotels as well as residential and commercial areas.

"Growth in the coming years (for corporate developments) will be fueled by the full-year operations of our BPO offerings and the sustained strength of our traditional office leasing segment," Ayala said.

He said that their experience with their three BPO buildings will serve them well in capturing more of this market as ALI is now better prepared to adjust its product specifications and delivery schedules to meet client-specific needs.

Ayala said they will be building BPO facilities as fast as they can as demand is expected to continue to be strong. "We have proven that we can build a building for a BPO firm in as little as four months," he said.

He said they will also have campus type developments for BPOs which will incorporate training centers to ensure that BPO firms will have a good supply of skilled workers or agents.

ALI corporate business group head Ma. Victoria Anonuevo said they will be spending about P500 million for two BPO campus developments with one each north and south of Metro Manila.

She said they chosen Canlubang in Laguna for the site of the campus-type development in the south while they are still negotiating with landowners for the northern site.

"Both of these are expected to act as major catalysts for the development of these respective areas," Anonuevo said.(JAL)
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Fritz & Macziol aims for No. 1 by 2009
Leading European software, systems and services provider Fritz & Macziol formally opens its business in the Philippines headed by the charismatic Victor Silvino, former country manager of IBM Philippines’ business partner organization and managing director of Lotus Software Philippines.

As its new country manager, Silvino will lead Fritz & Macziol’s initial goal of offering IT solutions, including hardware, software and services that address customers’critical business needs as well as focusing further in advancing the level of the company’s already solid business relationship with IBM, and to eventually become a major player in the Philippine market.

“As one of the most successful IT companies in Europe, the move to the fastest growing markets in the world is a logical step for Fritz & Macziol,” Silvino said. Adding, “The Philippines is a perfect regional hub for our current Asian expansion.”

Founded as a joint venture in 1987 with headquarters in Germany and Austria, this is Fritz & Macziol’s first foray in the Asia Pacific region. The company is a leader in providing enterprise-class solutions in countries such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Together with its sister company INFOMA, F&M develops and sells software and systems solutions for medium and large sized companies offering clients with complete IBM, Microsoft, VMWare and Citrix product portfolios including comprehensive service package in consulting and system integration.

“We really want to become the partner of choice in the local market; and we’re aiming to become the number one IBM solutions partner by 2009,” Silvino said.
--Jing Garcia

Good English seen landing high school grads call center jobs~

By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net

INCREASING the English proficiency of high school graduates will help them qualify for call center jobs, Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) chairman Ramon Sales has said.

With proper training, high school graduates can be a possible solution to the labor supply problem in the call center industry, he stressed.

The CICT is now planning to spend at least five million pesos on television and radio advertising to encourage high school graduates to get more English training, Sales said.

The CICT will approach the Philippine Information Agency to work on the campaign, he said.

Filipino high school graduates can opt to make use of a voucher program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), he suggested last week.




read more..........
http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=16292

IT companies form partnership to put up call center on Taft Avenue


TWO local information technology (IT) companies have formed a joint venture to establish a call center on Taft Avenue in Manila.

Under the partnership, 999 Call Center Corp. and Taft Offshore Solutions Inc. will put up a call center that will cater to the Australian and European markets.

Al Cruz, 999 Call Center president, said the venture will use the technology of California-based solutions provider Five9 Inc.

Initially, the call center will have 25 seats, which will be later expanded to 50, Cruz added.

He said his company will handle the day-to-day operations, including recruitment, training and business development while businessmen Eric Honrado and Pablo Alluso of Taft Offshore will handle the finance, facilities and later, the eventual operation of the call center.

The two companies have tapped the services of Shell Foundation to provide training for its call-center agents.

Honrado said that once established, the call center will be the first on Taft Avenue, and away from the crowded Makati and Ortigas business districts.

He said that with Five9 providing the technology, the call center will surpass the quality of services offered by multinational BPO firms operating in the Philippines.

Five9 offers the Virtual Contact Center (VCC), which allows small organizations to start a call center with minimal capital.

Junie Pama, Five9 country manager, said the technology is in line with the company’s target of helping generate up to 90,000 call-center jobs in two to three years.

“This is in line with the long-term goal of Five9 to spur growth of the call-center industry in the country and position the Philippines as the global hub of BPO,” Pama said.

Pama noted that since Five9 chose the Philippines as its Southeast Asia headquarters in 2005, the company has helped put up 1,600 call-center seats, providing 2,500 direct and indirect jobs and business opportunities as of June 2006.

He said that among the direct jobs generated are those for managers, call-center agents, other BPO professionals, bookkeepers, accountants and human resource staff.

His company has also helped provide livelihood opportunities for small- and medium-scale enterprises such as coffee shops, restaurants and eateries, and other food and beverage establishments located near the call centers.
--Darwin G. Amojelar

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200608280713.htm

Robinsons Land inks deal with Accenture
By Zinnia B. Dela Peña
The Philippine Star 08/28/2006

Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), the property unit of Gokongwei listed flagship holding firm JG Summit Holdings Inc. has inked a deal with Accenture Inc., one of the biggest global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing companies, for the lease of 30,000 square meters in Robinsons Cybergate Center 2 (RCC2) in Mandaluyong City.

This is the biggest office building lease transaction in the Philippines for a single corporate occupier to date, according to RLC.

Frederick Go, RLC executive vice-president and group general manager, said: "This latest transaction reinforces the position of [RLC] as the country’s biggest landlord of call centers and BPOs today."

Almost fully leased-out even before completion, RCC2 is a modern 28-story prime office building that is conveniently located at the corner of EDSA and Pioneer St., Mandaluyong City and a few meters away from the railway transit system.

RCC2 is part of the mixed-use community that includes the Robinsons Place Pioneer Mall, Robinsons Cybergate Center Tower 1 and residential condominiums like Gateway Garden Heights, One Gateway Place and Gateway Garden Ridge.

This transaction is in addition to the 16,000 square meter office space leased by Accenture at RCC Tower 1.

Aside from Accenture, RLC also has existing lease agreements with Convergys Philippines Services Corp.; Hellocorp Philippines Inc.; Hewlett-Packard Philippines; Influent Philippines Inc.; PacificHub Corporation; PeopleSupport (Phils.) Inc; SITEL; TeleDevelopment Services Inc.; TeleTech Customer Care Management (Phils.); and Winsource Solutions (Phils.) Inc.

"We are enjoying almost full occupancy in all our office buildings and our success is primarily due to the prime location, value innovation and superior technical design of our office buildings," Go said.

Inspired by the success of RCC2, RLC is now considering fast tracking the launching of Robinsons Cybergate Center Tower 3 to meet the office space demand of global outsourcing companies.

For its third tower, the company has already received reservations and inquiries from several of the world’s leading outsourcers.

Driven by the continued expansion and need of global outsourcing firms and other data-information companies for office space, the shortage of office building space is projected to continue in the next two to three years.

Studies showed that the annual take-up of office space for call centers and BPOs is currently estimated at 150,000 square meters.

The current lease rate in the Philippines continues to be one of the cheapest rates in Asia and this further attracts global outsourcing firms to seriously consider moving their back-room facilities in the Philippines.

In another development, RLC said it is set to launch Woodsville, a 9.3 hectare residential subdivision in Merville, Parañaque City.

RLC High-Rise Buildings General Manager Danilo E. Ignacio said the project involves the conversion of the property into a nature inspired mixed-use type development with three gated enclaves consisting of affordable condominium units, townhouses, and duplex in the range of P2 million and up.

"Woodsville’s first enclave will be a three-hectare community — aptly named Woodsville Viverde Mansions, this affordable residential condominium is geared in tapping the growing residential needs of start-up families and OFWs."

Pasay City, Philippines (PRWEB) August 28, 2006 -- The Philippine business processing sector is growing at such a fast rate that last year the industry grew by 137 per cent or 2.5 billion dollars in revenues. During the same year, the industry saw a 53 per cent increase in the BPO workforce or 81, 000 new jobs generated.

If the figures were to speak for themselves, there is no doubt that in the global market for offshore work, the Philippines is king.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), the Board of Investments (BOI), and the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) project that the business processing industry in the Philippines will grow further to 12.4 billion dollars by 2010, creating 303, 000 new jobs and with the total BPO workforce reaching 1.1 million.

The Philippine competitiveness roots back few decades ago when multinational brands began sending their critical offshore work to the country. Dubbed as the “best kept secret” of many a global firms like Procter & Gamble, AIG, HSBC, Intel, and Shell just to name some, the Philippines became home to these brands mainly because of its highly skilled, talented workforce, cost-competitive salaries, reliable infrastructure, and business-friendly policies.

The Philippine image as a destination of choice for global companies got its biggest boost when the contact center industry started growing at an impressive rate to 42, 000 seats today from
3, 500 seats in 2001.

To further drive this growth in IT services, the Philippines through the Department of Trade and Industry’s export promotions agency, Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) is adopting a country-by-country strategy that would fit the service requirements of each region in the world.

On 13-20 September 2006, the Philippines will bring 12 IT/BPO companies to Western Europe to target European companies pressured by time to market and cost bases and looking into offshoring as a strategic alternative.

The global outsourcing market is projected to reach US$310 billion in 2008, 49% of which will come from Europe, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, one of the largest international professional services firms. The United Kingdom still stands out as Europe’s dominant market, but outsourcing has gained ground in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and France.

The financial services sector is the largest consumer of BPO-ITES services in Europe, followed by utilities and telecommunications. Human resources, finance and accounting are also showing notable growth.

“The EU trade mission is part of our ongoing promotion of the Philippine ICT capabilities to European IT/BPO markets,” said Trade Assistant Secretary Fe Agoncillo-Reyes, also head of CITEM.

The mission will include business forum on the Philippine ICT advantage, pre-arranged business meetings, and high-level networking reception.

The Philippine companies joining the mission are: Logicall (call center services); Alliance and DTSI (call center and BPO technology enabler); ADEC Solutions (diversified BPO); RG Financial Services (financial and accounting services); IT outsourcing and software firms Apsmith, BlastAsia, IAMD Software Solutions, Pointwest Technologies, Vinta; and telecom giants Innove (Globequest) and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company.

In 2005, the DTI-organized trade mission yielded business leads with Logica CMG, a leading wireless telecom leader with headquarters in the UK that decided to set up an offshore development center and in-house call center in the country; Express Gifts for outsourced call center activities; KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for a shared-facility and contact center operations; Emirates Airlines for BPO and software development services; and HSBC with a prospect to continue its expansion for Philippine-based shared services, among others.

The business mission also aims to strengthen ties with the Philippines’ counterpart organizations such as the London Chamber of Commerce, National Outsourcing Association (NOA), International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), Intellect and London Chamber of Commerce in the UK; Federation of Netherlands IT Companies (FENIT), and The Agency for International Business and Cooperation (EVD), and in the Netherlands.

The Philippines consistently ranks among the top attractive offshore location by various research firms, such as the A.T. Kearney, Gartner, and META. British companies like Sykes, and Ambergis Solutions have established outsourcing operations in the Philippines. It is also the outsourcing location of some Dutch companies like Getronics, ING Group, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and ABN-AMRO.

Likewise, the business mission to Europe, added Agoncillo-Reyes, is also a venue to invite overseas visitors and investors to attend e-Services Philippines 2007: Global Sourcing Exhibition and Summit (15-16 February 2007), the Philippines' annual platform for the IT and ITES industry.

The Philippine business mission to Europe this year is organized by CITEM and the BOI. For more information, please contact CITEM’s IT Services and Electronics Division at (+632) 8325044 and (+632) 8312201 locals 212, 251, and 301, or visit the website www.e-servicesphils.com/europe2006

http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20060828/bs_prweb/prweb429949_2

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2006/9/emw433690.htm

The press information is about the Philippine capability in IT/BPO and the current government initiatives to promote the sector in the US.

(PRWEB) September 6, 2006 -- The demand from global companies wanting to cut costs and focus on their core competencies remains a vital market for Philippine IT and IT-enabled services firms.

The United States is not new to this game, accounting for about 60 percent of the total business processing spending in the global market. Business processing work involves an outside company taking over various backoffice functions, including accounting, procurement, and human resources administration, and the like.

In fact, one of America’s Fortune-listed companies Dell has already established a 700-seat contact center in the Philippines in 2005 for technical and customer support.

In 2005, the Philippine business processing sector grew at such a fast rate by 137 per cent or 2.5 billion dollars in revenues. During the same year, the industry saw a 53 per cent increase in the BPO workforce or 81, 000 new jobs generated.

As one of the Philippines’ fastest growing industries, the BPO boom was led by the demand for offshore call centers. In fact, there were about 112,000 workers employed in call centers in 2005, and the industry generated about 1.12 billion revenues during the same period.

In addition, the BPO industry in the Philippines has the largest number of accredited accountants in Asia. Filipino accountants are known for their flexibility in working with multiple standards in accounting.

According to neoIT’s Annual Mapping Offshore Markets Update in 2005, the Philippines is ranked 3rd in the world’s top BPO destinations. It is considered the most serious rival to India when it comes to BPO.

Aggressive marketing of ICT and BPO

On September 25-October 6, the Philippine business processing companies’ foray into the global market will be given a boost through a trade and investment mission organized by the Department of Trade and Industry through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) and the Board of Investments (BOI).

“The mission aims to sustain the government’s aggressive marketing promotions of the Philippine IT and BPO capability on customer relations management, procurement, financial, H&R, data transcription, design and engineering, as well as animation in the United States,” explained Trade Assistant Secretary Fe Agoncillo-Reyes, executive director of CITEM.

The US mission is also in coordination with the Philippine Trade and Investment Center and will focus on New York, Miami, Chicago, and Denver as primary target markets for the Philippines. The Philippine delegation will consist nine companies providing BPO and IT sourcing services. The Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines (MTIAPI) will also join the mission in Chicago and Denver.

Joining the Philippine trade mission are ADEC (Diversified BPO solutions); BPO International (Diversified BPO solutions); Exterieur Services Worldwide Inc. Philippines (Diversified BPO solutions); Innove Communications-GlobeQUEST (telecommunications solutions); Logicall (Contact center); Rapid Data Services, Inc. (medical transcription); Provincial Government of Camarines Sur (IT park); Pointwest Technologies (software development); Quisumbing Torres (Legal support) and WinSource Solutions (Contact center).

MTIAPI members in the mission are Audio Dicta Transcription Corporation, First International Document Master, Inc., HealthRecord Solutions, IT Outsource, Incorporated, Multi-Scribe Global Outsourcing, Inc., PeopleSupport Philippines, Pilipinas Data, SPi,Transkripsyo, Total Transcription Services, Inc., and Rapid Data Services, Inc.

Activities during the mission include a business forum on the Philippine IT advantage, pre-arranged business meetings, and a high-level networking reception. Telecom company Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company is sponsoring the business forum.

The United States remains the Philippines’ primary source market for outsourced business processes and contact center services.

According to statistics, the global BPO market is projected to reach 173 billion dollars by 2007. In 2004, global BPO market reached 131 billion dollars. Presently, North America remains the dominant market for ITES-BPO services, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the total market.

“We would like to help our small enterprises in the BPO space who want to collaborate with international partners through this trade and investment mission. These local enterprises are going to be crucial players in the knowledge-based economy and the US mission can become a strong bridge for partnerships and investments,” added Agoncillo-Reyes. “Also, we hope to invite delegations from the United States to attend e-Services Philippines, the government’s flagship show for our players in the IT and ITES industries.”

As more US firms focus on core competencies, Agoncillo-Reyes said, opportunities abound for niche back office services. For the Philippines, its cultural and geographic lead is already a key advantage. It is only a matter of developing scalable skills and resources required by target niches through domain expertise and continuous training.

“If we are to leverage on our unique attachment to the US model, there are vast opportunities present for customer contact center, business back office, human resources work, content management and development, arts and engineering, procurement, software and medical transcription,” said Agoncillo-Reyes. “The challenge is to position the Philippines as a preferred sourcing destination of choice for US companies.”

For information on joining the Philippine delegation to the United States, please contact CITEM, IT Services and Electronics Division at (02) 8325044 and 8312201 locals 212, 251, and 278, or email itservices @ citem.com.ph.

# # #

Indian IT firms to help prolong outsourcing boom

India’s software association and its Philippines counterpart on Wednesday signed an agreement to work together in promoting outsourcing in the two countries.

This came as President Arroyo said the Philippines could have a million people working in call centers by the end of this decade, up from about 200,000 today.

Officials of India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA-P) signed the memorandum in Manila to cooperate in strategic areas.

“Cooperation and collaboration ... is going to happen anyway so why don’t we plan it ourselves so that it happens in a way that is beneficial to all,” said, NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik.

The Philippines has emerged as a major location for business process outsourcing such as call centers and back-office operations, in direct competition with India which has led the world in that area.

The two associations agreed to cooperate in strategic communications, geographic risk mitigation, shared best practice and adherence to international standards, data security and privacy, workforce development, collaboration and cooperation and infrastructure improvement.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/business/20060907bus5.html

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2006/09/09/bus/us.firm.eyes.smes.in.davao.html

Saturday, September 09, 2006

US firm eyes SMEs in Davao
By Nelson C. Bagaforo

AN AMERICAN firm that manufactures power backup systems is seeking partnership with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Davao Region, offering products and services specifically designed for SME clients.

Emerson Network Power, which started its business operations in the Philippines in 2001, launched Friday a whole line of products and services that would address power protection needs, not only of large corporations, but also of other sectors, such as manufacturing, telecom, banking, and small and medium enterprises, which comprise more than 90 percent of businesses in Davao Region, and even individual personal computer users.

Emerson also launched its uptime partner program in Davao to better serve SMEs and other targeted partners, such as government agencies and business process outsourcing (BPOs).

"We want to keep their equipment work all the time...to boost their productivity and competitiveness," Emerson Network Power (Philippines) Inc. managing director Laurence Chan said.

He said Emerson intends to gain a bigger share of the market in the region, adding that they have embarked on similar product launches in Metro Manila in May and Cebu on Wednesday to tap SMEs, the fastest growing sector in the region.

"We would like to get a piece of that market," Chan said.

Emerson Network products are distributed in the Philippines by Lamco International Trading Co., but Friday's launch here was also meant to bring in more resellers.

Lamco is the country's largest IT distributors in the country, distributing computers and computer-related products to value-added resellers, systems integrators and retailers.

Emerson, on the other hand, provides a full spectrum of reliable power, connectivity, and precision cooling solutions for computers, communications, healthcare and industrial system.

Hitesh R. Prajapati, Emerson's channel business director, said the company has operations and distributorship in almost all parts of the world. It has three manufacturing plants in Asia, including one in Philippines located in Rosario, Cavite.

He said the company posted a sale $17.3 billion for fiscal year 2005.

Prajapati said he foresees Emerson's remarkable growth in the next few years as more sectors realize the need to protect equipment, products, and data from power supply interruptions.

He said the prices of Emerson Network Power products are "very competitive" but there are more value-added benefits in purchasing the systems.

Chan said customer care services, which Emerson has outsourced to Sykes, also provides 24-hour technical support to buyers.

He expressed confidence about the company's technology, saying the company has been consistently named among Forbes top 400 most admired companies in the world.

In 2005, Emerson also landed on no. 2 spot as world's most admired companies as listed by Fortune magazine, behind General Electric (GE). On the third spot was Sony.

Emerson Network's customers include Globe Telecom, Smart Communications, Dell, IBM, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Nokia, Siemens and Citibank.

http://business.inq7.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=22433

Call center bullish on RP

By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Inquirer
Last updated 07:40am (Mla time) 09/22/2006

THIS GLOBAL call center company has more than 40 offices spread across different countries.

The biggest of its offices, employing close to 2,000 call center agents and trainers, is the seven-month-old workstation in Marikina which was inaugurated early yesterday by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The company is the ICT Group, a business process outsourcing solutions provider based in United States but which also operates in Canada, Australia, India and Mexico.

The group has 16,000 employees, 4,000 of which are Filipinos working in the company’s three offices in the Philippines, according to company president John Brennan.

ICT’s two other Philippine call center offices are in Makati and Ortigas.

Brennan said he was on the look-out for three more cities and towns outside Metro Manila as possible locations for new call center offices.

He said the performance of Filipino call center agents was “of the highest quality.”

‘Spectacular’

“They are quick to learn and they show great enthusiasm for the job,” he said.

ICT senior vice president John Langford described the work of Filipino call center agents as “spectacular.”

He said customer satisfaction for their call center offices here was “very high”.

Though the group worries about political instability, this would not discourage the company from expanding its operations here, said Longford.

Langford, who has been overseeing the group’s operations here for the past three years, said he had witnessed the 2004 elections, the numerous rallies against the President and other controversies.

“But these issues do not disrupt the operations of our company,” he said, adding that the company had already exceeded its original investment plan in the country.

The new office at the Marikina City Riverbanks cost the company close to $5 million, Brennan said.

He said they chose the city as the site of their third office in the country because of its proximity to universities and companies as well as the local government’s support.

“The supply of good labor here far outweighs the demand as we see it today,” Brennan said.

Local officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the new call center office, the first to be set up in Marikina, will boost the local economy and attract more investors to the city.

By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net
Last updated 09:10pm (Mla time) 09/21/2006


FIVE9 Inc., a United States-based call center solutions provider, said it was moving more global operations to the Philippines, a top executive told INQ7.net.

Brian Silverman, chief executive officer of Five9 Inc., said the Philippine subsidiary is now the "fastest growing subsidiary," contributing about 15 percent to its global revenues. He declined to give details.

Noting that he was "bullish" of the Philippine market, Silverman said the company is in the process of moving at least three global programs to the country.

Currently, Five9 Inc.'s global technical support is located in Quezon City, Philippines.

The executive said the company is now building "professional services" in the Philippines to pave the way for a possible global operations in the country. This group will be engaged in training and consultation for clients of the company.

It is also building a "campaign generation program" in the Philippines, designed to drive call center businesses to the country.

Finally, he said Five9 will eventually move its "global lead generation program" in the country. This program involves finding potential US businesses interested in the company's technology and services.

Junie Pama, Five9 Philippines country manager, said the Philippine subsidiary now employs around 70 people, with about 30 now working for the company's global technical support operations in Quezon City.

Meanwhile, Silverman said Five9 Inc. is expected to generate 150 million dollars in revenues worldwide.

http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=22347