Outsourcing Industry - Compiled Threads [Archive] - Page 3

MarkiiBoi

September 23rd, 2006, 03:07 AM

SEPTEMBER 19, 2006
Asia
By Assif Shameen

The Philippines' Awesome Outsourcing Opportunity
The islands share a language and legal system with the U.S., and offer high skills and low costs. They could outrun India for outsourcing dollars

India's dramatic economic rise this decade, powered by its role as the back office of the world, has developing countries from Argentina to Vietnam scrambling for a piece of the action. With good reason: Researcher Gartner estimates offshore infotech and business-process outsourcing amounted to $34 billion globally in 2005 and could double by 2007.

And the race is on in Eastern Europe, Latin America, China, and Southeast Asia to land jobs and economic growth by answering customer phone calls, managing far-flung computer networks, processing invoices, and writing custom software for multinationals from all over the world.

Though India continues to have a lock on most of this global business, that is starting to change. Even Indian outsourcing powerhouse Infosys (INFY) has started increasing staff in China and the Czech Republic this year, is exploring Latin America, and likely will eventually set up a base in Southeast Asia.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY.
"Some of the countries like Philippines and Malaysia have done fairly well to leverage their unique skills and carved niches for themselves," said Infosys Chief Executive Officer Nandan M. Nilekani,in Singapore recently attending an International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting.

Could all of this be a golden opportunity for the Philippines, long regarded as the economic laggard in Asia? This vast archipelago is starting to gain some traction on the outsourcing front. Chennai (India)-based OfficeTiger now has over a hundred people working in Manila on legal outsourcing for clients such as Dupont and expects to have nearly 1,500 by the end of 2007 (see BusinessWeek.com, 9/18/06, "Let's Offshore The Lawyers").

The Philippines raked in offshore service generating revenues of $2.1 billion last year, placing third behind India and China and slightly ahead of Malaysia. That's up 62% over the $1.3 billion it gained in 2004, and a huge increase from the start of the decade when the outsourcing industry in Manila employed just 2,400 people and the industry had revenues of merely $24 million.

LANGUAGE ADVANTAGE.
The outsourcing sector currently employs over 200,000 people. That is still way behind India's 750,000, but Manila is catching up fast. The Business Processing Association of Philippines estimates the industry will chalk up 57% growth this year with total revenues of $3.3 billion and is on track to deliver nearly 48% growth in 2007 to $4.9 billion. "Business process outsourcing is one of the fastest growing segments of our economy and a key plank of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's strategy to put strong growth drivers in place," says Philippine Cabinet Secretary L. Ricardo Saludo.

Consultancy A.T. Kearney, in its recent ranking of the most desirable global services locations which are competitive for business process outsourcing, ranked the Philippines fourth in the world behind India, China, and Malaysia—a huge change from being outside the top 10 three years ago. Philippines gets high marks for its large, educated talent pool and English language skills, though it lags some of the other locations in infrastructure.

Economists and analysts are startled by the Philippines' runaway growth in the sector. "The pace of development of the BPO [sector] in the Philippines has been impressive," says a recent report by U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs. "Three years ago there was a question mark whether Philippines could develop some [outsourcing] momentum. Now it's a $3 billion industry."
[B]
WHITE COLLAR FORCE.
Goldman's report also notes the outsourcing industry has begun to expand beyond the capital Manila into university towns such as Baguio as well as Clark (the former U.S. military base), Cebu, Dumaguete, and Davao. "It is clear that Philippines is now very much on the global map for outsourcing," the Goldman report said.

The recent growth spurt in the outsourcing industry in the Philippines has been fueled not by traditional low-value-added call centers but more higher-end outsourcing such as legal services, Web design, medical transcription, software development, animation, and shared services. Though call centers still form the largest part of the sector, the Philippines has begun leveraging its creative design talent pool, its large pool of lawyers, and its professionals in accounting and finance.

"Philippines as a country offers us a unique talent pool for outsourcing services in legal as well as design services," says Joseph Sigelman, co-president of India-based OfficeTiger, which was acquired by U.S. printing services giant R.R. Donnelley in April. The company chose the Philippines as the springboard for its legal services outsourcing and expects to make Manila the main center for "pre-media" outsourcing work, including desktop publishing, composition, typesetting, and graphic design.

FAMILIAR WITH U.S.
Legal services were a natural extension of the outsourcing work the firm has been doing from its base in Chennai for years. "As an ex-American colony, there is cultural affinity and the legal system is based on U.S. law," says Sigelman, a native of New York. "In Manila, every lawyer seems to know what Roe vs. Wade was about. In Chennai, they may have some of the finest legal brains in the world but not everyone has heard about Roe vs. Wade or other key cases in U.S. Supreme Court." Most Filipino lawyers sit for U.S. bar exams and that gives Manila a leg-up over India, China, or Malaysia.

Design work is another place where Filipinos have and edge, according to Sigelman. He says he has found incredible depth of design talent in Manila; the kind of talent that is hard to come by in Bangalore, Hyderabad, or Chennai.

OfficeTiger's clients include large insurance companies, retailers, and publishers of books and directories. OfficeTiger is looking at Philippines operations to provide 40% to 50% of its total annual revenue growth over the next three to five years.

TALENT POACHING.
Another factor working in the Philippines' favor is cost. In India, wage costs in outsourcing have risen 15% per annum over the past two years. This rise has outsourcing firms and clients looking for alternatives. With that in mind, the risk for the Philippines is that its relatively low office-rental and labor costs could also start to rise dramatically.

Already, heavy demand for office space, despite a boom in construction of new buildings, is causing upward pressure on rents. Companies that are expanding say costs are starting to escalate fairly rapidly. There are signs of a tight labor market, too. Excessive poaching of talent that was the norm in India a few years ago is becoming common in Manila as well.

New companies are offering "joining bonuses" to the most talented the day they sign up for the job. Many employees are given bonuses for finding new recruits. "It's inevitable that costs will rise but the Philippines is still a very competitive place for the sort of work we are doing," says Sigelman.

MONEY FOR TRAINING.
Cabinet Secretary Saludo says the government is focused on developing human capital through education and training to keep a steady supply of talent for the outsourcing sector. Manila is also beefing up the telecommunications infrastructure, he says.

Chasing the outsourcing wave is a smart strategy for an economy such as the Philippines'. Compared with capital-intensive manufacturing, service businesses are cheap to set up, and can generate a hundred times more jobs per dollar invested. President Arroyo recently earmarked $10 million for new trainees in the outsourcing industry. Students interested in outsourcing jobs are given vouchers that can be used for tuition at vocational institutes.

Unless cost escalation gets out of hand or other infrastructure bottlenecks appear, the Business Process Association of Philippines projects that outsourcing in the Philippines could be an $11 billion industry employing 900,000 people by the end of 2010. That will put it close to where India is today. "Five years from now, there could be a lot of countries doing as much as India is doing today," says Infosys CEO Nilekani. "We are just scratching the surface in outsourcing and off-shoring.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/sep2006/gb20060919_639997.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_global+business

Sinjin P.

September 23rd, 2006, 04:32 AM

Locked. Time for a new thread ;)

JAMAICUS

September 23rd, 2006, 06:26 AM

By Assif Shameen

The Philippines' Awesome Outsourcing Opportunity
The islands share a language and legal system with the U.S., and offer high skills and low costs. They could outrun India for outsourcing dollars

India's dramatic economic rise this decade, powered by its role as the back office of the world, has developing countries from Argentina to Vietnam scrambling for a piece of the action. With good reason: Researcher Gartner estimates offshore infotech and business-process outsourcing amounted to $34 billion globally in 2005 and could double by 2007.

And the race is on in Eastern Europe, Latin America, China, and Southeast Asia to land jobs and economic growth by answering customer phone calls, managing far-flung computer networks, processing invoices, and writing custom software for multinationals from all over the world.

Though India continues to have a lock on most of this global business, that is starting to change. Even Indian outsourcing powerhouse Infosys (INFY) has started increasing staff in China and the Czech Republic this year, is exploring Latin America, and likely will eventually set up a base in Southeast Asia.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY. "Some of the countries like Philippines and Malaysia have done fairly well to leverage their unique skills and carved niches for themselves," said Infosys Chief Executive Officer Nandan M. Nilekani,in Singapore recently attending an International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting.

Could all of this be a golden opportunity for the Philippines, long regarded as the economic laggard in Asia? This vast archipelago is starting to gain some traction on the outsourcing front. Chennai (India)-based OfficeTiger now has over a hundred people working in Manila on legal outsourcing for clients such as Dupont and expects to have nearly 1,500 by the end of 2007 (see BusinessWeek.com, 9/18/06, "Let's Offshore The Lawyers").

The Philippines raked in offshore service generating revenues of $2.1 billion last year, placing third behind India and China and slightly ahead of Malaysia. That's up 62% over the $1.3 billion it gained in 2004, and a huge increase from the start of the decade when the outsourcing industry in Manila employed just 2,400 people and the industry had revenues of merely $24 million.

LANGUAGE ADVANTAGE. The outsourcing sector currently employs over 200,000 people. That is still way behind India's 750,000, but Manila is catching up fast. The Business Processing Association of Philippines estimates the industry will chalk up 57% growth this year with total revenues of $3.3 billion and is on track to deliver nearly 48% growth in 2007 to $4.9 billion. "Business process outsourcing [BPO] is one of the fastest growing segments of our economy and a key plank of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's strategy to put strong growth drivers in place," says Philippine Cabinet Secretary L. Ricardo Saludo.

Consultancy A.T. Kearney, in its recent ranking of the most desirable global services locations which are competitive for business process outsourcing, ranked the Philippines fourth in the world behind India, China, and Malaysia—a huge change from being outside the top 10 three years ago. Philippines gets high marks for its large, educated talent pool and English language skills, though it lags some of the other locations in infrastructure.

Economists and analysts are startled by the Philippines' runaway growth in the sector. "The pace of development of the BPO [sector] in the Philippines has been impressive," says a recent report by U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs. "Three years ago there was a question mark whether Philippines could develop some [outsourcing] momentum. Now it's a $3 billion industry."

WHITE COLLAR FORCE. Goldman's report also notes the outsourcing industry has begun to expand beyond the capital Manila into university towns such as Baguio as well as Clark (the former U.S. military base), Cebu, Dumaguete, and Davao. "It is clear that Philippines is now very much on the global map for outsourcing," the Goldman report said.

The recent growth spurt in the outsourcing industry in the Philippines has been fueled not by traditional low-value-added call centers but more higher-end outsourcing such as legal services, Web design, medical transcription, software development, animation, and shared services. Though call centers still form the largest part of the sector, the Philippines has begun leveraging its creative design talent pool, its large pool of lawyers, and its professionals in accounting and finance.

"Philippines as a country offers us a unique talent pool for outsourcing services in legal as well as design services," says Joseph Sigelman, co-president of India-based OfficeTiger, which was acquired by U.S. printing services giant R.R. Donnelley in April. The company chose the Philippines as the springboard for its legal services outsourcing and expects to make Manila the main center for "pre-media" outsourcing work, including desktop publishing, composition, typesetting, and graphic design.

FAMILIAR WITH U.S. Legal services were a natural extension of the outsourcing work the firm has been doing from its base in Chennai for years. "As an ex-American colony, there is cultural affinity and the legal system is based on U.S. law," says Sigelman, a native of New York. "In Manila, every lawyer seems to know what Roe vs. Wade was about. In Chennai, they may have some of the finest legal brains in the world but not everyone has heard about Roe vs. Wade or other key cases in U.S. Supreme Court." Most Filipino lawyers sit for U.S. bar exams and that gives Manila a leg-up over India, China, or Malaysia.

Design work is another place where Filipinos have and edge, according to Sigelman. He says he has found incredible depth of design talent in Manila; the kind of talent that is hard to come by in Bangalore, Hyderabad, or Chennai.

OfficeTiger's clients include large insurance companies, retailers, and publishers of books and directories. OfficeTiger is looking at Philippines operations to provide 40% to 50% of its total annual revenue growth over the next three to five years.

TALENT POACHING. Another factor working in the Philippines' favor is cost. In India, wage costs in outsourcing have risen 15% per annum over the past two years. This rise has outsourcing firms and clients looking for alternatives. With that in mind, the risk for the Philippines is that its relatively low office-rental and labor costs could also start to rise dramatically.

Already, heavy demand for office space, despite a boom in construction of new buildings, is causing upward pressure on rents. Companies that are expanding say costs are starting to escalate fairly rapidly. There are signs of a tight labor market, too. Excessive poaching of talent that was the norm in India a few years ago is becoming common in Manila as well.

New companies are offering "joining bonuses" to the most talented the day they sign up for the job. Many employees are given bonuses for finding new recruits. "It's inevitable that costs will rise but the Philippines is still a very competitive place for the sort of work we are doing," says Sigelman.

MONEY FOR TRAINING. Cabinet Secretary Saludo says the government is focused on developing human capital through education and training to keep a steady supply of talent for the outsourcing sector. Manila is also beefing up the telecommunications infrastructure, he says.

Chasing the outsourcing wave is a smart strategy for an economy such as the Philippines'. Compared with capital-intensive manufacturing, service businesses are cheap to set up, and can generate a hundred times more jobs per dollar invested. President Arroyo recently earmarked $10 million for new trainees in the outsourcing industry. Students interested in outsourcing jobs are given vouchers that can be used for tuition at vocational institutes.

Unless cost escalation gets out of hand or other infrastructure bottlenecks appear, the Business Process Association of Philippines projects that outsourcing in the Philippines could be an $11 billion industry employing 900,000 people by the end of 2010. That will put it close to where India is today. "Five years from now, there could be a lot of countries doing as much as India is doing today," says Infosys CEO Nilekani. "We are just scratching the surface in outsourcing and off-shoring."

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/sep2006/gb20060919_639997.htm?campaign_id=rss_null

JAMAICUS

September 23rd, 2006, 08:21 AM

BPOs, OFWs are it in real estate
Elizabeth L. Sanchez
Inquirer

September 10, 2006

PROPERTY advisory firm CB Richard Ellis Philippines said the real estate sector will continue to be buoyed by hefty demand for office spaces particularly from business process and outsourcing firms which in turn, will boost expansion of retail development in the provinces, it said in a study dated Aug. 28.

Further, remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will continue to prop demand for the residential and retail sectors.

The key driving force in the Metro Manila "grade A" office market is the rapid expansion of the BPO industry, which provides call centers and back office locations for shared services operations such as accounting, human resource administration, medical and legal transcriptions and financial claim processing, CBRE wrote.

CBRE defines "grade A" office property as buildings located in a central business district area with high-quality amenities: large floor plates greater than 1,000 square meters, effective central air-conditioning, 100 percent back-up power, a building automation system and the availability of parking facilities.

Demand for office space has swelled in the past years as the BPO industry grew from roughly 1,500 seats and 2,400 employees in 2000 to over 70,000 seats and 112,000 employees at the end of 2005, CBRE said, citing data from industry group BPO Association of the Philippines.

The BPO Association also forecasts that BPO requirements will grow to over 200,000 seats by 2010 which translates to a real estate demand of over 1.4 million square meters.

Today, total gross floor area for "grade A" office spaces stood at 1.36 million square meters, 65 percent of which is in the Makati CBD while 22.3 percent is in the Ortigas business district.

Also, tenants now prefer to locate in technology-focused buildings registered under the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to take advantage of incentives under the law.

CBRE also said there is a shift toward a "landlord's market" due to a lack of suitable office space and land that can be developed for office use in the Makati CBD.

A landlord's market means the building owners have the upper hand in negotiating rates with tenants or lessees.

Average vacancy rates in Makati and Ortigas are now showing single-digit figures of 3.3 percent and 5.4 percent respectively, as of June 2006. With the limited amount of space and suitable land upon which to build new office spaces, CBRE estimates that vacancy rates should remain low in the office district for the remainder of 2006.

CBRE said that overall, demand for office space is predicted to exceed new supply, creating a temporary gap in the short to medium term.

CBRE said from mid-2006 until 2009, new supply for Metro Manila grade A offices is seen hitting 96,000 sq.m. The bulk of the new supply is expected to be located in the Ortigas central business district (83 percent) and Fort Bonifacio Global City (17 percent). No new supply is seen from the Makati CBD. Supply of IT buildings is also seen growing by 219,700 square meters from mid-2006 to 2009 which are located in Fort Bonifacio, Mandaluyong, Eastwood City and the Alabang CBD.

Retail
Development of the retail sector in the provinces--such as in Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Pampanga and other cities like Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Dumaguete, General Santos and Iloilo, will be influenced by growing BPO activity.

In the past five years, population in these provinces has expanded, fueled by new employment in export-oriented companies. In recent years, mall giants SM Prime Holdings of Henry Sy and Robinsons Land Corp. of John Gokongwei Jr., have pushed expansion plans into the provinces, spurred by lower operating costs and the growing spending capacity of provincial residents.

Higher spending capacity has been supported by higher OFW remittances, BPO expansion into these provinces and improving infrastructure in these provinces via roads, bridges and "roll on-roll off" boats.

In Batangas, Robinsons Land recently completed the expansion of its 36,550 sq.m. Lipa Mall. SM City Lipa, with a gross floor area of 75,000 sq.m., will be launched in the third quarter this year. In Cavite, Robinsons Land plans to build a 15,000 sq.m. mall in Tagaytay in 2008. SM San Pablo (Laguna), on the other hand, is in the planning stages and due for completion in 2008. Robinsons Land is also expected to expand into Davao by 2008 and GenSan by 2009.

Meantime, CBRE estimates that the total amount of additional future supply of shopping malls between 2006 and 2009 in nine key retail districts in Metro Manila (Alabang Center, Bay Area, Makati Central Business District, Rockwell Center, Ortigas Center, Eastwood City, East of Metro Manila, Ermita and Araneta Center) and at the North Triangle area in Quezon City will be limited, growing roughly by 446,672 sq.m. during the four-year period.

Metro Manila is still the capital for retail activities, accounting for 30 percent of the country's total retail sales.

This consists of an additional 56,000 sq.m. in Alabang Center, 44,000 sq.m. in the Bay Area, 30,000 sq.m. in Ayala Center, 20,000 sq.m. in the Bonifacio Global City and 96,672 sq.m. in Ermita. A 200,000 sq.m. new shopping mall is also underway in the emerging North Triangle area.

Future retail demand will be driven by the continued growth in OFWs' remittances, improved unemployment rate and easing inflation rate. The National Statistics Office recently said inflation eased to 6.3 percent in August this year, its slowest since June 2004 when the annual rate was pegged at 5.4 percent. OFW remittances in the first half were recorded at $6.6 billion, higher by 15 percent form the same period last year.

"Based on these trends, spending power is expected to continue to increase, supporting further growth in the retail market," CBRE said.

Competition will come from "flea markets" which have been set up in major centers as bargain shopping appears to be a growing trend, the property consultant added.

Residential
CBRE said the outlook for residential development targeting the middle to high income markets remain upbeat due to growing demand from these consumers. Tight supply however will mark the high-end market since no new developments in this category are seen until 2009. Most developers appear to be focused on the upper middle income residential apartment market.

CBRE defines middle income projects between P50,000 to P70,000 per sq.m. while high income is P70,000 to P100,000 per sq.m. Growth in the residential sector has largely been fueled by OFW remittances and Filipino-Americans as local developers continuously go on an international "roadshow" to market their projects abroad, particularly in the United States.

http://services.inq7.net/mobile/06/09/13/html_output/xmlhtml/20060910-20167-xml.html

JAMAICUS

September 28th, 2006, 06:07 AM

The Philippines: The New Outsourcing Hot Spot
By Assif Shameen
Business Week Online
09/24/06 4:00 AM PT

Economists and analysts are startled by the Philippines' runaway growth in the sector. "The pace of development of the BPO [sector] in the Philippines has been impressive," says a recent report by U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs. "Three years ago there was a question mark whether Philippines could develop some [outsourcing] momentum. Now it's a $3 billion industry."

India's dramatic economic rise this decade, powered by its role as the back office of the world, has developing countries from Argentina to Vietnam scrambling for a piece of the action. With good reason: Researcher Gartner (NYSE: IT) estimates offshore infotech and business-process outsourcing amounted to US$34 billion globally in 2005 and could double by 2007.

The race is on in Eastern Europe, Latin America, China, and Southeast Asia to land jobs and economic growth by answering customer phone calls, managing far-flung computer networks, processing invoices, and writing custom software for multinationals from all over the world.

Though India continues to have a lock on most of this global business, that is starting to change. Even Indian outsourcing powerhouse Infosys has started increasing staff in China and the Czech Republic this year, is exploring Latin America, and likely will eventually set up a base in Southeast Asia.

Golden Opportunity
"Some of the countries like Philippines and Malaysia have done fairly well to leverage their unique skills and carved niches for themselves," said Infosys Chief Executive Officer Nandan M. Nilekani, in Singapore recently attending an International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting.

Could all of this be a golden opportunity for the Philippines, long regarded as the economic laggard in Asia? This vast archipelago is starting to gain some traction on the outsourcing front. Chennai, India-based OfficeTiger now has over a hundred people working in Manila on legal outsourcing for clients such as Dupont and expects to have nearly 1,500 by the end of 2007.

The Philippines raked in offshore service generating revenues of $2.1 billion last year, placing third behind India and China and slightly ahead of Malaysia. That's up 62 percent over the $1.3 billion it gained in 2004, and a huge increase from the start of the decade when the outsourcing industry in Manila employed just 2,400 people and the industry had revenues of a mere $24 million.

Language Advantage
The outsourcing sector currently employs over 200,000 people. That is still way behind India's 750,000, but Manila is catching up fast. The Business Processing Association of Philippines estimates the industry will chalk up 57 percent growth this year with total revenues of $3.3 billion, and is on track to deliver nearly 48 percent growth in 2007 to $4.9 billion. "Business process outsourcing (BPO) is one of the fastest growing segments of our economy and a key plank of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's strategy to put strong growth drivers in place," says Philippine Cabinet Secretary L. Ricardo Saludo.

Consultancy A.T. Kearney, in its recent ranking of the most desirable global services locations which are competitive for business process outsourcing, ranked the Philippines fourth in the world behind India, China, and Malaysia -- a huge change from being outside the top 10 three years ago. Philippines gets high marks for its large, educated talent pool and English language skills, though it lags some of the other locations in infrastructure.

Economists and analysts are startled by the Philippines' runaway growth in the sector. "The pace of development of the BPO [sector] in the Philippines has been impressive," says a recent report by U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs. "Three years ago there was a question mark whether Philippines could develop some [outsourcing] momentum. Now it's a $3 billion industry."

White Collar Force
Goldman's report also notes the outsourcing industry has begun to expand beyond the capital Manila into university towns such as Baguio, as well as Clark (the former U.S. military base), Cebu, Dumaguete, and Davao. "It is clear that Philippines is now very much on the global map for outsourcing," the Goldman report said.

The recent growth spurt in the outsourcing industry in the Philippines has been fueled not by traditional low-value-added call centers, but more higher-end outsourcing such as legal services, Web design, medical transcription, software development, animation, and shared services. Though call centers still form the largest part of the sector, the Philippines has begun leveraging its creative design talent pool, its large pool of lawyers and its professionals in accounting and finance.

"Philippines as a country offers us a unique talent pool for outsourcing services in legal as well as design services," says Joseph Sigelman, co-president of India-based OfficeTiger, which was acquired by U.S. printing services giant R.R. Donnelley in April. The company chose the Philippines as the springboard for its legal services outsourcing and expects to make Manila the main center for "pre-media" outsourcing work, including desktop publishing, composition, typesetting, and graphic design.

Familiar With US
Legal services were a natural extension of the outsourcing work the firm has been doing from its base in Chennai for years. "As an ex-American colony, there is cultural affinity and the legal system is based on U.S. law," says Sigelman, a native of New York. "In Manila, every lawyer seems to know what Roe vs. Wade was about. In Chennai, they may have some of the finest legal brains in the world but not everyone has heard about Roe vs. Wade or other key cases in U.S. Supreme Court." Most Filipino lawyers sit for U.S. bar exams and that gives Manila a leg up over India, China, or Malaysia.

Design work is another place where Filipinos have an edge, according to Sigelman. He says he has found incredible depth of design talent in Manila; the kind of talent that is hard to come by in Bangalore, Hyderabad, or Chennai.

OfficeTiger's clients include large insurance companies, retailers, and publishers of books and directories. OfficeTiger is looking at Philippines operations to provide 40 percent to 50 percent of its total annual revenue growth over the next three to five years.

Talent Poaching
Another factor working in the Philippines' favor is cost. In India, wage costs in outsourcing have risen 15 percent per annum over the past two years. This rise has outsourcing firms and clients looking for alternatives. With that in mind, the risk for the Philippines is that its relatively low office-rental and labor costs could also start to rise dramatically.

Already, heavy demand for office space, despite a boom in construction of new buildings, is causing upward pressure on rents. Companies that are expanding say costs are starting to escalate fairly rapidly. There are signs of a tight labor market, too. Excessive poaching of talent that was the norm in India a few years ago is becoming common in Manila as well.

New companies are offering "joining bonuses" to the most talented the day they sign up for the job. Many employees are given bonuses for finding new recruits. "It's inevitable that costs will rise but the Philippines is still a very competitive place for the sort of work we are doing," says Sigelman.

Money for Training
Cabinet Secretary Saludo says the government is focused on developing human capital through education and training to keep a steady supply of talent for the outsourcing sector. Manila is also beefing up the telecommunications infrastructure, he says.

Chasing the outsourcing wave is a smart strategy for an economy such as the Philippines'. Compared with capital-intensive manufacturing, service businesses are cheap to set up, and can generate a hundred times more jobs per dollar invested. President Arroyo recently earmarked $10 million for new trainees in the outsourcing industry. Students interested in outsourcing jobs are given vouchers that can be used for tuition at vocational institutes.

Unless cost escalation gets out of hand or other infrastructure bottlenecks appear, the Business Process Association of Philippines projects that outsourcing in the Philippines could be an $11 billion industry employing 900,000 people by the end of 2010. That will put it close to where India is today. "Five years from now, there could be a lot of countries doing as much as India is doing today," says Infosys CEO Nilekani. "We are just scratching the surface in outsourcing and offshoring."

http://rds.yahoo.com/S=53720272/K=Philippines+outsourcing/v=2/SID=w/l=NSR/R=1/;_ylt=A9iIgM_KOxtFg.oAkwbQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHZkMjZyBHBvcwMxBHNlYwNzcg--/SIG=1242sge8l/EXP=1159499082/*-http%3A//www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/53192.html

Francis20

October 1st, 2006, 09:36 AM

sandrn

October 2nd, 2006, 02:33 AM

IBM raises ante in RP, increases talent pool
http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=24170
By Riza T. Olchondra
Inquirer
Last updated 11:19pm (Mla time) 10/01/2006

IBM INC. has grown its global delivery talent pool in the Philippines from 600 in the beginning of 2005 to almost 3,000 employees this month.

Randy Walker, IBM's general manager for managed business process services, told the Inquirer that IBM sees the Philippines as a key staffing source because of the unique combination of technical, communication and mentoring abilities among Filipino professionals.

The 3,000-strong Philippine workforce under IBM is spread across its three subsidiaries: IBM Solutions Inc, IBM Business Services Inc. and IBM Daksh Philippines Inc.

IBM delivery centers in the Philippines form a key part of IBM's global network of more than three dozen Business Transformation Outsourcing (BTO) centers, delivering multilingual specialized services to transform and manage financial, accounting and human resources processes for clients across the Asia-Pacific, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Walker said that most workforce markets are strong in either technical or communication capabilities, but the Philippines is one of the few countries where both skill sets are readily available.

He added that this so-called X-factor would be the key driver that would the country into a hub of premium business services--an arena that calls for a kind of training more sophisticated than call center work.

The call center industry is currently the main growth driver in the country's business services industry.

However, Walker said, strategy-intensive services for global companies' financial, human resource, customer relations, and supply chain management needs have become the most lucrative and fast-growing areas in the industry.

Walker attributed the change in growth area to globalization and the resulting need for multinational companies to maximize workforce investment by tapping the people with the right skill sets, even if it means setting up separate specialized departments in various countries.

Sinjin P.

October 4th, 2006, 04:32 AM

BPOs unscathed by storm
$2-B INDUSTRY'S ROUND-THE-CLOCK OPERATION FIRMS UP R.P POSITION

By Max V. de Leon
Reporter

HERE is one positive news coming out of the Typhoon Milenyo devastation—the country’s $2-billion business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, the fastest growing sector here for many years now, has shown the world that the Philippines is indeed a reliable outsourcing destination, whether in the best or worst scenario.

Even with the damage wrought by the typhoon last Thursday—knocking out the Luzon power grid, toppling communication lines— the call centers here were on 100-percent operations, according to Jojo Uligan, executive director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP).

Uligan told the BusinessMirror this is a testament to the readiness of the industry infrastructure, facilities and capability to meet the requirements of its clients worldwide at any given instance.

“So on the positive side, we were able to prove that even with a strong typhoon, we can still deliver on our commitments. We showed that we are no longer just a Third-World country in terms of facilities,” Uligan said.

Surely, Uligan said, the international business community, especially those who outsourced some of their operational requirements here, were watching the country last Thursday.

As proof, Uligan said one US firm, which is in negotiations for a possible contract with a local call center company, called Manila round-the-clock at the height of Milenyo to check on how the operations here were faring.

Because of what happened, Uligan said there is now a big chance that the local company will get that contract with the US firm.

“I’m sure we will be able to attract more companies to outsource here because that is one big factor they are looking for in a destination— continuity of service,” Uligan said.

Apparently, even though there were scattered complaints of communication disruptions, the BPOs had prepared for such problems by resorting to “redundancy.”

Such redundancy of the telecommunications services employed by the local call-center firms assured them continuous operations because they could rely on either PLDT, Innove or whatever carrier they are using, even if one of them breaks down.

The companies also have numerous back-up sources of power, so outages are not a problem.

At the same time, as another form of continuity assurance, some firms maintain more than one site so even if a location is put off-line, calls can be easily redirected to the other centers.

In terms of personnel, Uligan said the companies were quick to react by dispatching vehicles to several pickup points, so the agents still managed to report to their offices, where there are ready rations of food and clothes.

“The companies planned for these things. They have places where the agents can stay in case they will not be able to go home, with some food and clothes. We are already that reliable,” Uligan said.

There are at least 45 call centers with about 95,000 employees in Metro Manila, which is still reeling up to now from the Milenyo devastation. The number of workers in Metro Manila is nearly half of the estimated 200,000 employees of BPOs nationwide.

Majority of the call centers are operated by the 32 current members of CCAP.

Albert Mitchell Locsin, executive director of the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP), confirmed that there was no report of a single BPO firm that did not operate when Metro Manila was ravaged by the typhoon.

Aside from call centers, other BPO operations sprouting in the country are transcription centers for medical, legal, accounting and other forms of services, animation and software development.

Locsin echoed Uligan’s assurance that even with calamities, outsourcing operations in the country will continue because the infrastructure and facilities are already well in-place to support the requirements of the industry.

Locsin said in an earlier interview the BPO sector is expected to generate about $2 billion in 2005 and $3 billion in 2006, owing to the double-digit growth in investments in the industry. Investments in call centers alone have been increasing at an average of 70 percent annually in the last five years. With BusinessMirror Research

sandrn

October 9th, 2006, 04:35 AM

Texas Instruments eyes new factory in Subic freeport
By Marianne V. Go
The Philippine Star 10/09/2006
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200610090710.htm
American semiconductor firm Texas Instruments has expressed interest in putting up a manufacturing plant in Subic, according to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) administrator Armand Arreza.

Texas Instruments has an existing $27-million facility in Baguio but has expressed interest in investing $1 billion for another plant in Subic, Arreza said.

He said Texas Instruments wants a 20-to 30-hectare property and is sending a technical team to Subic on Oct. 10 to explore and inspect possible sites at the Subic Bay freeport.

The Board of Investments, the Philippine Export Zone Authority and the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) are all assisting Texas Instruments in its effort to look for a new manufacturing site in the Philippines as it no longer has space to expand at the Baguio Export Processing Zone.

The BEPZ plant of Texas Instruments has expanded at least four times already.

According to Arreza, China is also courting the American semiconductor firm.

Texas Instruments is expected to make a decision within a year. Texas Instruments%u2019 decision to locate in Subic, Arreza said, may hinge on its power cost.

Texas Instruments, at present, is reportedly spending $2 million a month for power.

Arreza is hopeful that with the plan of Cogen Taiwan to put up a power generation plant, electricity rates in Subic would go down, making the freeport more competitive.

If Texas Instruments is not satisfied with Subic, Arreza said, the CDC has identified a possible site for the semiconductor firm in Clark. SBMA, Arreza said, has identified a 28-hectare site at the second phase of the Subic Bay Industrial Park for Texas Instruments.

Texas Instruments%u2019 Baguio plant currently accounts for 40 percent of its global sales. Texas Instruments%u2019 Baguio facility is three-storys with a total floor area of 200,000 square feet and can accommodate 300 people. It employs 2,200 people in Baguio City.

TI Philippines manufactures mostly digital signal processors, which are widely used in cellular phones and other electronic devices to help convert analog signals into the digital language of computers.

It is estimated that about 90 percent of the parent company%u2019s annual requirement come from the Philippine subsidiary.

TI serves some 80 percent of the requirement of the global wireless industry.

sandrn

October 9th, 2006, 05:31 AM

Canadian education software firm out to get RP call centers
http://www.mb.com.ph/INFO2006100976541.html

Lured by the flourishing call center industry in the Philippines, a Canada-based education software company is bent on signing up local call center to adopt its "English content delivery" tool in their organizations.

NeuroLanguage Corp., based in the city of Ottawa, sent Richard Stanton, its executive vice president for product line, to the country for the second time last September to meet with call center operators and pitch its NeuroLanguage Practice Suite education software.

Stanton, who also serves as the company%u2019s chief technology officer, was in the Philippines in November 2005 and conducted two days of training for its local business partner, Gemini IT Consulting, and a seminar for call center representatives, and colleges and universities.

Renato Reyes, president of Gemini IT Consulting, said the NeuroLanguage Practice Suite makes use of the latest speech recognition technology to help students improve both oral delivery and auditory recognition.

"The unique and innovative software is regarded as highly beneficial to call center employees because this e-learning solution will definitely provide them the much-needed proficiency in English communication skills," the local firm said in a statement.

For its part, NeuroLanguage Corp. said "call centers are spending too much valuable time interviewing otherwise qualified candidates who simply cannot fulfill the English communication requirements of the job."

The NeuroLanguage Practice, it said, addresses this by "converting any English content, whether it be a textbook, novel or newspaper article, into a multi-sensory, e-learning environment that enables non-English audiences to read, speak, listen to, and understand the material at native English levels."

Aside from the NeuroLanguage Practice, the company also has NeuroLanguage Accelerator, "the only language training technology in the world that teaches people how to think in English by training the speed of their language processing skills to native English levels."

Currently, the company said its solutions are being used globally by publishers who want to deliver their content via e-learning technologies; management training companies who want to add an Executive English language training program to their offerings, or who want to incorporate English language training into their existing courses; call centers that require agents who possess the necessary level of English communication skills to listen to, understand and speak with customers in a professional and clear manner; and schools who want to complement their existing literacy and language training curriculum with e-learning technologies that provide the individual, immediate corrective feedback that is difficult to offer in a large classroom environment. %u2014Melvin G. CALIMAG

kiretoce

October 12th, 2006, 05:08 PM

Philippines Sees Job Opportunities in Call Center Business
By Douglas Bakshian 12 October 2006

When people have problems understanding their computers, they often pick up a phone and call the computer maker's help desk. Increasingly, that help desk may be in the Philippines, a growing player in the outsourcing market. More companies from high cost labor markets are shifting call center jobs to the Philippines.

In the Philippines the outsourcing business has exploded. Just five years ago it accounted for only a few thousand jobs, but by the end of this year, about 266,000 people are expected to be working in the sector.

Two thirds of those jobs will be in call centers - taking calls from customers needing technical help. The rest are in companies handling such work as medical and legal transcription, record management, animation and accounting.

And the growth is just beginning. According to the Business Processing Association in the Philippines, the industry is expected to hit nearly one-point-one million jobs in four years. The English language has a lot to do with that. The Philippines, a former American colony, is heavily English-speaking, making it a natural choice for serving the U.S. market.

Mitch Locsin is executive director of the association, and says that 90 percent of the business-process outsourcing done in the Philippines is for the United States.

"We are very U.S.-centric," he says. "We have the same legal system, we have the same general accepted accounting principles as the U.S., we have a very good neutral accent. And of course it's because the strong affinity we have with the U.S."

One example of a U.S. business using the Philippines is computer giant Dell. By mid-year it employed about 700 people at a customer service call center, handling questions on how to fix problems with computers. Dell hopes to double that to 1400 workers by February. Mike Garrison manages Dell's Philippine business.

"We're finding great talent in the Philippines," he says. "We look for three basic things. One is communication skills, the second is customer service skills, and the third is problem solving skills. These are fundamentally problem solving jobs where people are getting to the root of an issue. And on all three of those counts we're finding great talent here in the Philippines."

Among other companies that have customer service call centers in the Philippines are AOL, Sony and JVC. Customer satisfaction surveys and reservations for airlines are also handled in the Philippines.

Craig Rodger, the sales director of Customer Interactive Solutions for Dimension Data, based in South Africa, recently took part in a business conference on call centers in Manila. He says that the quality of service offered by call centers here and worldwide has improved greatly over the past few years, with both companies and their customers increasingly satisfied.

"If you had asked the question five years ago, all the offshore destinations would have taken an absolute pasting and hammering," he notes. "And as organizations have learned to work better and those destinations have matured, satisfaction has improved dramatically, significantly. In many cases a lot of contracts awarded to destinations like the Philippines are as good as what they are achieving in satisfaction scores inside the U.S."

Industry officials say call center jobs are popular with young people in the Philippines because they pay relatively well. A starting call center worker gets about 15 thousand pesos a month, or $300. Equivalent start-up jobs in industries such banking or hospitality are about half that.

The industry is seen as key to the Philippine government's efforts to cut unemployment and boost the economy. For years, the government has encouraged workers to leave the country to work overseas as either unskilled laborers or as educated workers in fields such as nursing, engineering and aviation mechanics. Often, a teacher in the Philippines can double her salary by moving to Hong Kong to work as maid, earning about $475 a month.

Unlike many Asian countries, the Philippines has a relatively high unemployment rate - eight percent - and a high birth rate. Nearly half the population of 80 million is under the age of 21. Call centers and other outsourced office jobs thus have great appeal for communities in desperate need of jobs for young adults.

But one problem in the Philippines is getting enough qualified workers who speak good English. Although most Filipinos speak some English, many have heavy accents, or they have trouble understanding the accents of English speakers from other countries.

As recently as one year ago call centers hired only five out of every 100 applicants. But industry officials say that, thanks to government funded English proficiency courses, now as many as 15 applicants out of 100 are hired. Businessmen say many of those passed over before were just slightly under the qualification margin and 100 hours of intense English training can bring them up to speed.

DoggMann

October 15th, 2006, 12:45 AM

http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=47&a=16570

Business Execs Drum Up RP's Emerging Sunshine Industries
Momar G. Visaya/Asianjournal.com

HONOLULU - Business executives from the Philippines highlighted the country's emerging sunshine businesses and encouraged delegates at the NaFFAA empowerment conference to take a look at and invest in these businesses.

A lot of foreign firms have found the Philippines to be an ideal site for locating their back-office functions, call centers and other forms of business process outsourcing (BPOs).

In the past three years or so, the Philippines has become a major competitor to India when it comes to attracting investment in call centers, medical transcription, business process, software development and other jobs that require computer skills.

According to the Board of Investments estimates, there are 112,000 people who are now working in call centers all over the Philippines and brought in an estimated $1.12 billion in revenues last year.

Outsourcing Business in RP

According to Butch Meily, adviser to the Philippine Ambassador to the United States, there are plenty of reasons why foreign investors are looking at the Philippines as a location for their expansion.

“Among these reasons are the low labor cost we offer, the high literacy levels of our workers, English is widely spoken in the Philippines, the employees they hire have neutral accent, we offer a highly-skilled workforce, low-cost of bandwidth and good international connectivity,” Meily rattled off.

Meily is responsible for the development and implementation of PR and marketing strategies for the Philippines as an outsourcing destination. He was assigned to the post by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), the Philippines’ dominant telecom provider, where he served previously as vice president and special assistant to the CEO.

According to documents obtained by the Asian Journal, the Philippines raked in offshore service generating revenues of $2.1 billion last year, placing third behind India and China and slightly ahead of Malaysia. That’s up 62% over the $1.3 billion it gained in 2004, and a huge increase from the start of the decade when the outsourcing industry in Manila employed just 2,400 people and the industry had revenues of merely $24 million.

“One of our best attributes as Filipinos is our shared history with the United States,” added Meily, explaining that both the Philippines and the United States have gone through a very colorful history.

The Filipinos’ familiarity with the American culture has also given the country an edge, and expatriate executives assigned to the Philippines opt to stay there for a longer period of time because of the “great lifestyle” that comes with the job.

“I’ve heard of expats complaining to their mother companies whenever they are recalled back to their home countries. They get spoiled with the services that we offer here. We have a polite and service-oriented people who are very eager to help out,” Meily said.

The biggest success story of the outsourcing business is still the contact (call) centers and it still is the fastest growing industry as well, according to Meily.

As of last year, the Philippines had 108 call centers, employing 112,000 Filipinos. The call center phenomenon has also moved beyond metropolitan Manila and has expanded to Cebu, Clark, Davao, Baguio and other key cities.

Aside from call centers, the Philippines has also been attracting investments in business process outsourcing (or back office operations). Among the key services offered in this are accounts payable, accounts receivable, accounting and payroll processing, financial reporting and credit card administration.

Also gaining ground in terms of outsourcing in the Philippines are medical and legal transcription, software development, animation and engineering design industry. (AJ)

sandrn

October 15th, 2006, 08:50 PM

Marami pa ang trabaho na naghihintay dyan sa Pinas. Basta pag-igihin ang training nyo..

LogicaCMG sets up global outsourcing center in RP
http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=26831
By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net
Last updated 09:55pm (Mla time) 10/15/2006

London-based global outsourcing firm LogicaCMG has opened a "global service delivery" center in the Philippines to serve clients in Australia, Asia, and Europe, an official confirmed with INQ7.net.

In an e-mail interview, Andrew de Cleyn, sales and marketing director of the global service delivery at LogicaCMG, said the center will hire 200 to 300 people Filipinos specializing in human resources business process outsourcing, finance and accounting outsourcing, service desk and application services.

The center, which opened on 25 September 2006, is part of an India-Philippine strategy for expansion.

"Increasingly, there is the acceptance that a pure Indian delivery is not the answer and that sourcing strategies should include alternate locations as well as a more blended model including on, near and offshore. Having said this, it is our view that both India and the Philippines will continue to expand rapidly as each location takes advantage of its core capabilities. In the case of India, the strategic advantage is in technology and process and in the Philippines it is process and an ability to engage and develop affinity with the Western European, USA and Australian culture. Both countries will play an important role in sourcing strategies going forward," the executive added.

He said LogicaCMG is also currently recruiting heavily in India, committing to increasing current workforce 2,300 to 3,000 by the end of 2006.

With more multinational firms and global call centers relocating in the Philippines, the company was convinced the country was a good place for expansion in the Asia Pacific region, apart from India.

LogicaCMG intends to use the Philippines as a stepping stone in to Asia, specifically to China, Japan and Vietnam, De Cleyn added.

He declined to divulge the initial investments made in the Philippines, and its growth targets in the next few years.

"The Philippine operation will eventually be a key location for LogicaCMG and will grow significantly over time. The rate of expansion of the delivery centre will be determined by the nature and type of business which LogicaCMG wins or transfers to the Philippines from local markets. Due to commercial reasons, we are not willing to share the planned growth curve relating to our Philippine's delivery center," he said.

"The investment will however run into millions of pounds and will have a positive impact on the local economy in the Philippines," he added.

The Philippine center will be used to deliver finance and accounting (F&A) services to the Australian operation of the company. It will also serve as disaster recovery and business continuity for the F&A shared service center in Bangalore.

The human resource shared service will be established soon in Philippines, which will support Australia, Asian and European markets, he said.

A customer service or service desk will also be integrated in the Philippines, and will become part of the global customer services. This will also support Australian, Asian and European markets.

Finally, the executive said the company will set up the SAP (business software) shared service center in the country. This will be integrated in the global network, and will again serve the Australian, Asian and European markets.

"It is anticipated that these services will continue to be delivered from the Philippines over the long-term," the executive added.

The Philippines' well-developed infrastructure (mainly in Metro Manila and a few other locations); competitive salaries; and available skills in SAP, application services, BPO including HR, finance and insurance, were among the factors considered in locating in the country, he said.

Sinjin P.

October 19th, 2006, 12:47 PM

Two leading BPO providers merge

ClientLogic and SITEL (NYSE:SWW), both leading global business process outsourcing providers, have entered into a definitive merger agreement.

Under the terms of the agreement, a newly formed subsidiary of ClientLogic will merge with SITEL and pay US$4.05 per share in cash for all of the outstanding common stock of SITEL.

The board of directors of each company has unanimously approved the transaction. The transaction would be by the first quarter of 2007 and subject to customary closing conditions, including approval of SITEL’s shareholders and regulatory clearances.

SITEL’s board of directors has recommended to SITEL’s shareholders that they vote in favor of the transaction. Approximately 19.9 percent of the outstanding common stock of SITEL is subject to voting agreements, which require such shares to be voted in favor of the merger.

SITEL has agreed to pay a termination fee to ClientLogic should the transaction fails to close due to certain circumstances. ClientLogic will fund the transaction with the proceeds of a committed loan facility.

The transaction values SITEL at approximately $450 million.

“Our board and our financial advisor Citigroup reviewed numerous opportunities, while searching for strategic alternatives that would create the greatest value for our shareholders. Based on this review, it was clear to SITEL’s board that the offer from ClientLogic represents the best alternative to create significant shareholder value,” said SITEL chairman and CE Jim Lynch.

The combined entity will continue to be named ClientLogic Corp., and will have approximately 65,000 employees across 28 countries.

“Growing market demand for bigger, more complex customer-care BPO solutions requires larger service providers with increased geographic presence, capacity and service capabilities,” said Dave Garner, president and CEO of ClientLogic. “Our mission will be to deliver the BPO industry’s highest-quality services, while providing our clients with the strategic insight, scale and diversity of offerings to guarantee success.”

The combination of ClientLogic and SITEL will create a company with revenue of over $1.7 billion, and one of the most diverse client bases, service offerings, and geographic footprint in the industry. The combined entity will offer clients world-class options for onshore, nearshore and offshore customer-care solutions, in over 145 facilities throughout the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific.

Citigroup Global Capital Markets is acting as financial advisor to SITEL and has provided a fairness opinion in connection with the transaction. Davis Polk & Wardwell and Faegre & Benson are acting as legal counsel to SITEL in connection with the transaction.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. is acting as financial advisor to ClientLogic. Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP and Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP are acting as legal counsel to ClientLogic in connection with the transaction.

JAMAICUS

October 20th, 2006, 03:10 PM

BPOs in medical field to benefit more Pinoys

INCREASING global demand makes medical transcription and telemedicine lucrative fields that Filipinos can exploit.

Maria Cherry Lyn Rodolfo of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) said in her report compiled by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies that demand for health-related business process outsourcing (BPO) services by hospitals and physicians in the United States is increasing.

Rodolfo’s report pointed out that the Philippines can take advantage of the development, which will provide additional jobs and income to the country.

In the US alone, the market is estimated to be worth $17 billion.

Transcription

“(And, some) 6, 700 hospitals in the US still require transcription,” she said in her report.

Medical transcription, which can be done anywhere over the Internet, is the process of transcribing or recording medical records.

A few companies have been established in Cebu to provide offshore medical transcription services to hospitals and clinics in the US.

Rodolfo said Filipino medical professionals and hospitals in the country can also offer telemedicine to medical institutions abroad.

“Radiological images taken in the US can be digitized and transmitted over the Internet, retrieved and analyzed in the Philippines. The findings are then sent back to the US,” she said.

But Rodolfo’s report said barriers, such as recognition of licenses and standards of Filipino physicians and health institutions, and the decline in enrollment in medical courses, have to be addressed for the BPO industry in telemedicine service to fully develop.

It said other health-related BPOs involve processing of bills and insurance claims.

Rodolfo said one of the frameworks of the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade outlined the possibility of cross-border trade services or supply of services, such as medical transcription, telemedicine and other BPOs.

She said about 80 percent of the US medical transcription market is being served by India while the Philippines accounts for only one percent.

The country could get a larger share of the market considering that it possesses the advantage of having cultural and linguistic affinity with the US and less costly telecommunication lines and bandwidth, among others, compared to India.

Lower costs

Rodolfo said the costs of telecommunications lines in the country are 30 to 50 percent lower than India. The bandwidth cost in the Philippines has also declined by 70 percent during the past four years.

She said, though, that the rapid growth of the contact center industry is one of the reasons for the slow development of medical transcription service in the Philippines.

“Contact center industry is perceived to be more attractive than medical transcription,” Rodolfo said.

Nursing and care-giving jobs overseas, and the declining number of proficient English speakers among the country’s work force, also hinder the development of the medical transcription service.

Issues related to privacy of information is another obstacle, Rodolfo’s report said. (JBN)

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/10/20/bus/bpos.in.medical.field.to.benefit.more.pinoys.html

JAMAICUS

October 20th, 2006, 03:20 PM

RP outsourcing industry working on 5-year roadmap

By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net
Last updated 08:25pm (Mla time) 10/19/2006

THE BUSINESS process outsourcing industry is working on a five-year roadmap to help sustain the growth of this industry, an official said.

"The call center industry is still growing. The revenue figures are between 42 and 60 percent," said Dan Reyes, president of the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP).

The group is now looking at creating a body that will work on the five-year roadmap. This group will be like the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) of India, said Reyes who is also country manager of ClientLogic Philippines.

Reyes said the Philippine outsourcing industry is getting more concerned with the declining office space at least in Metro Manila.

The executive said that the Philippines continues to suffer from an "image problem." However, despite this problem, he stressed that the Philippine outsourcing industry is attracting more businesses to set up shop in the country.

Meanwhile, Catanduanes Representative Joseph Santiago suggested that the Philippines should seek a mutual recognition agreement with India that would ease the transfer of engineers and software technicians between the two countries.

"We do not consider Indians a threat to local professionals. On the contrary, having Filipino and Indian engineers and software technicians working together in technology-aided services here can be highly advantageous for us," Santiago said in a statement.

He said engineers from Singapore, Australia, the Middle East work side by side in large manufacturing, construction and mining projects.

The BPAP and Nasscom earlier inked a deal to promote the Philippines and India as outsourcing destinations.

India produces more than 250,000 engineers yearly, nearly 10 times the engineers produced by the Philippines, Santiago said.

The Philippine outsourcing industry is projected to generate 12.2 billion dollars in annual revenues and employ close to 1 million workers by 2010, the BPAP said.

This industry is engaged in outsourced customer care; back office operations; medical, legal and other data transcription; animation; software development; engineering design; and digital content production.

http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=27632

DoggMann

October 26th, 2006, 05:02 PM

http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=28701

Filipino delegation claims success in Indian ICT mission

By Alexander Villafania
INQ7.net
Last updated 08:31pm (Mla time) 10/25/2006

The 11-member group of Filipino companies that went to India for a trade mission to promote partnership in ICT and business process outsourcing (BPO) development said that the companies they have talked to are examining several approaches to enter the Philippines.

The Filipino delegation, who visited the Philippines in late September, reported that Indian companies are looking to invest directly into the Philippines in three ways; through putting up a wholly owned subsidiary, acquiring or partnering with a Philippine company, or outsourcing to a local service provider.

The Filipino ICT/BPO delegation toured the cities of New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad where they met up with executives from several Indian companies, including Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Satyam, Wipro, Birla Transworks, GE Services, Color Chips, Worltech and Mphasis.

The group also met with representatives from the Hyderabad Software Exporters Association, the Federation of Indian Exporters Organization and the National Association of Software and Services Companies in Hyderabad.

In a statement, Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Edsel Custodio said the Philippines is being recognized by Indian companies as having the strategic value to their operations and of establishing a presence in the Philippines.

“This is due to the increasing demand for end-clients of Indian companies for non-IT professionals who are abundant in the Philippines; Filipino voice-based services, particularly in the front line operations such as call centers; and established offshore disaster recovery and business continuity facilities to support India-based operations,” Custodio said.

“The (trade) mission helped forge closer ties between the Philippine and Indian ICT companies. The Philippines and India need not be mere competitors in the ICT Outsourcing market. They could also be strategic partners who together can enlarge their respective shares in the global outsourcing market,” Custodio said.

The DFA has been aggressively promoting the country’s ICT and BPO industries in the last several months. Along with the trade mission to India, it also conducted a parallel trade mission to San Francisco, USA from September 18 to 22, also on ICT and BPO.

sandrn

October 26th, 2006, 08:38 PM

US firm looking for Filipino 3D animators, artists
By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net
Last updated 09:58pm (Mla time) 10/26/2006
http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=28934
A California-based company is now looking for more Filipino artists who can do three-dimensional animation modeling, its local subsidiary told INQ7.net.
Established in January 2006, Interactive Art Services (IAS) said it was now recruiting 3D animators and other artists to render some work for Storyboardsonline.com and Animatic Media, said Jonas San Diego, studio director for the Philippines.
San Diego revealed that the US companies have moved work from Vietnam to the Philippines after they discovered the local talents who can also do storyboards and animation.
"Eventually, we expect that most creative work will be done here," he added, noting that the local subsidiary now serves both the US and the United Kingdom offices.
IAS now does contract work outsourced by advertising companies. "It is our bread and butter," said San Diego who got hired by his company after it noticed his comic series in his blog.
IAS has over 30 employees but it is still recruiting more 3D animators, "pencilers," and colorists.
IAS is involved in doing storyboards and animatics. Storyboards are like comic strips that put ideas into pictures, while animatics is like a rough rendition of an animated storyboard.

sandrn

October 29th, 2006, 05:58 PM

RP BPO industry driving IT equipment growth -- COMDDAP
http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=29418
By Alexander Villafania
INQ7.net
Last updated 10:53pm (Mla time) 10/29/2006

The country%u2019s IT distributors owe it to the business process outsourcing companies and call center operators for the surge in their business this year, and this trend is not expected to let up in the coming year.

In an interview with INQ7.NET, Computer Manufacturers, Distributors and Dealers Association of the Philippines President Juan Chua estimated that revenues from IT equipment distribution grew 10 percent.

About 60 percent of the actual growth came from the BPO companies and call center operators, who acquired thousands of new computers, servers and network equipment.

Another 30 percent of their revenue growth came from consumer electronics, which also experienced a slight surge in demand this year.

Likewise, the education and SMB business contributed approximately 10 percent to the IT distribution business%u2019s growth.

Chua also noted that the weaker value of the US dollar also had effects on the higher sales margins of the IT distributors. %u201CA weak dollar means that we%u2019re buying imported goods at lower prices, which in turn helped the distributors gain more sales margins.%u201D

Chua said the organization is expecting continued uptake in IT products in the enterprise space in the coming months. The Christmas season also spells more sales for the distributors particularly in the consumer electronics space.

%u201COur strongest sales were in the first quarter of the year, after each school year and the end of the year,%u201D Chua said.

COMDDAP recent held its annual Manila Conference at the Fort Bonifacio Global Ci

****************************************************************

Dell prepares for new call center operation in Quezon City
http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=29419
By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net
Last updated 10:53pm (Mla time) 10/29/2006

Dell has announced the hiring of more local executives as the company expands its call center operations in the Philippines.

Dell has previously announced the appointment of MTV Philippines executive Jack Madrid. This week, it formally disclosed the appointment of Damian Mapa, a former executive of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, and Rene Morta, a former Sun Cellular executive.

Dell said the three Filipino executives are expected to "bring local business and technological expertise" to Dell as it expands its Philippine contact center operations.

It currently runs a contact center in the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

The new executives will report to Michael Garrison, country manager for Dell Philippines.

"These executives' backgrounds combine to strengthen the local operations as they grow and become increasingly important parts of Dell's global network that the company relies on for its direct relationship with customers," the company said in a statement.

This year, Dell said it is increasing its investment in customer service by 150 million dollars.

The fresh capital infusion will go to the establishing new contact centers, and improved training and introduction of new service tools, the company added.

JAMAICUS

October 30th, 2006, 07:15 AM

Call center merger to expand RP footprint in outsourcing

By MELVIN G. CALIMAG

The Philippines stands to benefit from the recent "merger" announced by two US-based call center operators as their combined resources could result in more outsourced jobs for the country.

This was the view aired by a legislator and the head of the Philippine subsidiary of Nashville, Tennessee-based ClientLogic, which recently acquired Omaha, Nebraska-based Sitel Corp. for 0 million in cash.

Both ClientLogic and Sitel have significant presence in the country. ClientLogic has about 3,000 employees in its call center sites in Baguio and Pasig City, while Sitel employs around 2,000 agents in its two locations in Metro Manila.

The combined entity will continue to be named ClientLogic Corp., and will have approximately 65,000 employees across 28 countries. Dave Garner, CEO of ClientLogic, will head the merged company.

Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, former chief of the National Telecommunications Commission, said in a statement that the merger bodes well for the Philippines.

"We are absolutely confident that as the new and enlarged ClientLogic pursues the strategy of serving more business offshore, where margins are higher, the company will move toward relegating even more jobs to the Philippines," he stated.

Dan Reyes, country manager of ClientLogic Philippines, said in an interview that the deal will give the company more muscle to take advantage of the outsourcing boom.

"The skilled manpower of Sitel will definitely give a big boost to our operations. They wouldn’t have grown that big if the people were not good," Reyes said, adding that demand for outsourcing work is still outstripping manpower supply.

Reyes said the combined company can also leverage on their respective expertise in dealing with clients from the same industry.

ClientLogic’s clients include electronics and media giant Sony Corp.; direct broadcast satellite subscription TV provider DIRECTV Group Inc.; financial services giant ABN AMRO Holding N.V.; digital video recorder services provider Tivo Inc.; Internet software and services provider United Online Inc.; and telecommunications provider BT Group plc.

Prior to the declared merger, ClientLogic had bared plans to build a new 300-seat call center either in Cebu City or in Dumaguete City.

The merged company will be privately owned since it is ClientLogic who will be the surviving entity, as opposed to Sitel which is publicly held. "Currently, we don’t have any plans to go public. The focus now is to make the merger successful," Reyes commented.

New York Stock Exchange-listed Sitel manages over two million daily customer interactions via the telephone, e-mail, and the Internet. The company has 101 global contact centers in 26 countries.

Sitel’s call centers in the Philippines support the customers of 15 mostly US-based clients and Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Ltd.

According to Reyes, the transaction is expected to be completed in the next 60 to 90 days. "Right now, we’re in status quo because it’s still a definitive agreement, although the boards of the two companies have already approved the merger."

The combination of ClientLogic and Sitel will create a company with revenue of over .7 billion, and one of the most diverse client bases, service offerings, and geographic footprint in the industry.

The combined entity will offer clients worldclass options for onshore, nearshore, and offshore customer care solutions, in over 145 facilities throughout the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific.

http://www.mb.com.ph/INFO2006103078400.html

JAMAICUS

November 3rd, 2006, 05:58 PM

Raising the competitiveness of the Philippine outsourcing industry
By Jaime Enrico R. Singson
The IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing markets

The outsourcing market has traditionally been divided into two major categories: IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing.

IT outsourcing focuses on farming out functions specific to an organization’s Information Technology group. This is an area that took off, especially during the dot-com boom and the 2001 economic slowdown, as multinationals found it an easy way to reduce costs. Activities range from Application Development and Support to Data Center and Infrastructure Management. Business process outsourcing focuses on farming out non-core, somewhat commodity functions common to most organizations (Call centers, Payroll, Payables and Receivables, etc.) and is sub-categorized into Voice-based and non Voice-based BPO.

By 2008, the offshore IT outsourcing market is set to grow at a CAGR of 43% according to financial services firm WR Hambrecht. Virtually all mid- and large-sized US and UK corporations already outsource a part of their IT operations, and 74% of them plan to increase their level of IT consulting in the coming year. India is the dominant outsourcing provider in the market, but the next few years will see a surge in market presence from China and Eastern European countries.

According to the same report, India dominates the offshore BPO market, capturing $5.2B of that market in 2004 (see figure below). The offshore Business Process outsourcing market is set to grow at a CAGR of 79%, reaching $24.2B by 2008 as other business functions beyond call centers gain acceptance among companies in the first world.

In the IT outsourcing space, Application Development has traditionally been the IT function most organizations outsource, but over the last 12 months, outsourcing Application Maintenance & Support has overtaken it. For the BP outsourcing space, the most prevalent service offerings are call centers, but buyers are increasingly considering outsourcing other enterprise functions, such as finance, HR, legal and procurement.

How does the Philippines fare?

Increasingly, the Philippines is being viewed as a compelling alternative to India within the BPO Market.

It is ranked second to India in NeoIT’s country survey of BPO attractiveness, and fourth in A.T. Kearney’s Global Services Location Index. These surveys consider cost structure, service maturity, availability and quality of the labor pool, infrastructure and risk to the business environment. These are reflected in the economic figures: the Philippines brought in over $1 billion through offshore BPO contracts in 2005, up from $800 million in 2004.

The Philippines strengths that have made it attractive to potential BPO clients (specifically American companies) continue to be our strong English-speaking ability and familiarity with Western business culture. It has been supported by our competitive labor rates, a sizable labor pool of college graduates, and relatively strong telecommunications infrastructure. This has made it an attractive destination for many Fortune 500 firms who have decided to outsource Call Center functions such as direct marketing and customer support.

Within the Philippines, Metro Manila is still the most attractive location for BPO providers. It has over 80 voice-based BPO providers, mostly concentrated in Makati and Quezon City.

However, because of their lower real estate value, access to local talent pool channels, and new interest by the local government, Cebu, Davao and Clark are fast emerging as substitute destinations for outsourcing providers. University towns such as Cagayan de Oro and Dumaguete are also gaining more widespread attention, and may become significant players in the market as well -- if the local universities can successfully grow the talent pool for candidates qualified to work on the global stage.

From a cost perspective, an entry level IT Professional in India would still cost less than in the Philippines ($5,400 vs $7,000 annually).

However, due to increasing demand for workers who meet the demands of global businesses, and an insufficient pipeline of high-quality graduates, India is suffering attrition rates of 15%-25%, as workers move to the companies that are willing to provide higher-wages. Attrition goes as high as 45%-50% for voice-based BPO workers. India’s wage inflation is at 12%-15%.

Average global attrition rates, on the other hand, are 9%-12%, with the Philippines on the lower end of the scale. The Philippines also experiences little wage inflation.

On the other hand, a 2006 Diamond Management and Technology Consultants’ survey of IT outsourcing buyers reports that companies plan to slow their outsourcing presence in the Philippines. As already mentioned, though the Philippines ranks second in NeoIT’s BPO Offshoring Attractiveness Index, it ranks 11th in it’s IT Offshoring Attractiveness Index. The two factors that limit the Philippines’ participation in the dynamic, fast-growing industry are the lack of an attractive IT labor pool and the perceived instability of the business environment. We will address both topics in the next two sections.

Enhancing the talent pool

Within the ITO market, the Philippines is only moderately positioned. Besides graduating more high-quality IT Professionals, Philippine companies could leverage their existing relationships with BPO buyers and provide them with ITO services as well. Service offering expansion is the most straightforward way for the country to secure a larger share of the ITO market, especially if the country improves its ability and reputation to deliver high-quality IT projects on-time and on-budget.

Currently, the country is perceived weak in terms of Service Maturity. Global standards such as the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and the British government’s IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) exist to capture best practice in the areas of IT program and project management, and application development and support. These standards are similar to a Six-Sigma program for the activities of the IT organization. Currently, there are only six companies that have attained the highest CMMI Level (Level V); three of these companies are in India. Filipino companies that take these respected global standards seriously are on the path to improved operations, association with a well-recognized standard, and building world-class credibility.

On a slightly negative note, the Philippine BPO market has started to show signs of worker shortage due to a shortening pipeline and the graduates’ English skills. There is evidence that the English skills of new graduates are deteriorating, and this should be quickly remedied by education policies that encourage English aptitude. In the AT Kearney survey, several non-native English speaking countries such as Chile, Russia, the Czech Republic and Hungary now boast comparable language skills to the Philippines. This is an advantage we cannot afford to lose.

Improving the business environment

When ATK recalibrates its weights to put more emphasis on minimizing risk (a 50% weighting instead of the original 30%), the previously fourth ranked Philippines falls off the top-20 list. International press treats the country harshly every time there is a coup attempt, street demonstration, "people power" or presidential impeachment attempt. Although many of these events do not cause interruption to infrastructure service or daily business, management of outsourcing companies constantly have to reassure their clients. Worse, these reassurances may never even reach the ears of a sourcing agent trying to narrow their consideration set of outsourcing locations.

Multinationals reduce their business risk in a number of ways. One way is a phenomenon called "nearshoring" which means a company will look to outsource in nearby countries, which are perceived to be less cost-effective but more stable (Canada, South. America and Central America for the US, Eastern Europe for Western Europe). The size of markets like Canada, Mexico, Ireland and the Czech Republic in the figure above lend credence to nearshoring’s popularity among US and European firms; the outsourcing provider is kept close to the client’s home country in order to reap cost savings, reduce the cultural gap and reduce risk.

Another way to minimize risk is to spread out the locations of their BPO providers. For instance, should service be disrupted in one call center, service can be re-routed to another location. Perhaps because of these tactical options, business environment risk is more "acceptable" to a BPO customer than an ITO customer.

An IT outsourcing provider often deals with critical systems and applications that keep a company’s operations running. Its maintenance is more difficult to geographically spread out because of reasons of coordination and technical complexity. A disruption in an IT provider’s business could mean major slippages to critical IT projects’ deadlines or outages because of delays in issue resolution. These types of incidents can have a significant impact to the daily business. A potential ITO customer, therefore, would often be more risk averse than a potential BPO customer.

In order to improve the situation, the Philippine government should enhance security in locations it has designated as strong outsourcing business clusters and keep insurgency out of these areas. Special consideration should be given to ensure that basic services to these locations are minimally impacted by natural or manmade disruptions.

Finally, and most importantly, the country has to learn to manage the global press better. According to AT Kearney’s survey, the Philippines has the second lowest ranking for country risk, along with Indonesia and Russia.

Yet, the Philippines has not suffered a terrorist tragedy in the scale of the Bali nightclub explosion, the Beslan school attack or the Moscow theater hostage fiasco. Yet, the country is branded to be a dangerous country along side Afghanistan, Lebanon and Liberia. As of June 16th, it has received another travel warning from the US State Department warning Americans against non-essential travel to the country.

Note that despite the tragic bombings in Mumbai and Madrid, no travel advisories exist for India or Spain. These comparisons stress that the Philippines’ standing among foreign governments, analysts and media channels can be improved -- the country should make this re-branding effort a priority.

"We must build credibility as a ‘location of choice’ to mitigate geographical risk associated with India," says Ernest Cu, President & CEO of SPi, a BPO vendor. "This can be done by developing a unified, concerted and focused marketing program similar to NASSCOM. Today, marketing Philippines as a BPO destination is a fragmented effort led by multiple lobby groups and associations."

Future opportunities

Analysts believe that there will be a consolidation of the BPO market, now that BPO providers are bundling their services and providing their clients with end-to-end services. If BPO companies in the Philippines start expanding their service offerings to include other non-critical business processes, they will be able to take part in several BPO markets that are set to grow in the following years.

HR outsourcing, for instance, is expected to take off and grow at 25%-30% over the next five years, according to NeoIT. Most HR outsourcing begins with payroll processing, but moves to more sophisticated service offerings such as benefits management/administration, training and time-and-labor management.

Finance and accounting outsourcing was new in 2004 and is starting to pick up pace. NeoIT also predicted this to grow at a rate of 25%-30% for the next five years, because many processes, such as accounts payable and accounts receivable management, are prime candidates for outsourcing.

In order to expand into these services, of course, the outsourcing provider will have to already have a strong relationship with their current clients and a reputation of solid delivery in their existing services.

These expected growth rates should be very attractive to existing voice-BPO vendors. "There are other factors which make non-voice BPO an attractive ‘new opportunity’," Mr. Cu urges, "These are the lower attrition rates, high seat usability or shift loading factor because most non-voice services are time zone insensitive, a higher price margin because the call center industry is becoming commoditized with predictable profitability, and lower capex per seat."

Conclusion

The Philippines is well poised to benefit from the rising offshore BPO tide in the upcoming years.

However, several actions must be taken to maintain its current momentum: reinforce and restore the population’s strong English skills and maintain its affinity to Western business practices and culture, continue expanding the labor pool of qualified candidates and promoting geographic diversity to spread the fruits of the upcoming offshore outsourcing wave.

Training hubs such as the one set up by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines to provide additional training and guidance to ‘near-hires’ will enhance throughput of those successfully transitioning from the graduate pool to industry.

If there is one area that the Philippine government should focus on, it is the re-branding of the country’s image to a secure, reliable and stable economy that can support the demands of the global business environment. A survey conducted by Outsource-2Philippines.com echoes this sentiment: fully 85% of the respondents state that the country’s image needs to be improved (though 80% also mentioned political stability was needed). This will surely improve the country’s position on both the BPO and ITO industries.

New and existing outsourcing providers need to focus on expanding their presence with their existing clients, by offering to take on additional parts of their client’s operations. Participants in the industry know that this is a highly reputation and relationship-based business, and in order to grow their customer base, it is also critical to preserve solid relationships with business partners, especially in the present-day US’ and UK’s constantly mobile executive workforce.

Leveraging their existing relationships with the BPO clients will not be enough to effect a successful expansion into the IT outsourcing space, however. The Philippines will also need to expand its graduate pool of IT specialists and enhance its reputation as a partner that delivers high quality service inexpensively, while still meeting or exceeding their client’s expectation.

The Philippines prospects are promising. Though there are several external threats on the horizon (i.e. China’s growth as an outsourcing destination), there are many more opportunities for the country to leverage in the near future.

http://www.itmatters.com.ph/columns.php?id=peso_100306

sandrn

November 6th, 2006, 12:03 AM

Hey mga Pinoy, Galingan nyo ng husto ang customer service at pag-igihan din ang mga trainings para huwag nila abutan ang talento ng mga Pinoy. Ipaglaban ang kakayahan ng mga Pinoy.

Rest of Asia ready to grab BPO jobs from India, RP--study
http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=30664
INQ7.net, Agence France-Presse
Last updated 08:44pm (Mla time) 11/05/2006

THE PHILIPPINES and India have to boost their overall competitiveness, as Asian countries gear up to get their share of the global offshore outsourcing pie, a recent global study showed.

These top two outsourcing destinations will eventually compete with China, and other Asia Pacific countries that have similarly positioned themselves as outsourcing destinations, the latest Offshore City Competitiveness Report of market research firm neoIT showed.

The study noted that companies have "moved beyond India" and the Philippines into not so well-known cities in the world since companies want to create a "global footprint."

China and Eastern European countries are starting to attract offshore outsourcing deals because of specific language skills required.

China is particularly keen on toppling India in the "services globalization arena," the study added.

Meanwhile, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan are emerging as alternative outsourcing destinations in the Asia Pacific region.

Companies outsourcing their non-core business processes are now looking for multiple locations that cater to specific requirements, the study said.

Manila is currently known for its strengths in English voice-based customer care services, which mainly caters to North American-based companies. It is also an ideal destination for back-office processing activities, such as payroll and accounting, the study said.

Manila has been a global services hub of many multinational companies, and has a "good talent supply" from universities, the study added.

The neoIT study identified two categories used to identify outsourcing destinations: generic and enterprise-specific factors. The generic factors include cost, human capital, infrastructure, risks, and environment. The enterprise-specific factors, on the other hand, include language compatibility, physical proximity (of offshore facility to the company), socio-economic affinity, and the availability of sector-specific expertise. The supply of middle managers and attrition rates are also considered.

Taking into account these categories, the study concluded that the National Capital Region of Delhi is the "most suitable location." This was, the study noted, despite the eroding cost advantage and supply constraints of these cities.

"A lot has been said about India's eroding cost advantage and supply constraints," senior neoIT consultant Sabyasachi Satyaprasad said Saturday.

"But the fact remains that in terms of talent supply and cost arbitrage, India is still the leader," said Satyaprasad, whose company is headquartered in San Ramon, California, with offices in India and the Philippines.

Industry analysts closely watch profit-margin trends of Indian outsourcing companies for signs their competitive edge is eroding.

But Satyaprasad said in an interview with Agence France-Presse that there was no sign of that happening and Indian outsourcing giants like Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services routinely report profits that beat market expectations.

New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata were the seven most favored sites worldwide to locate offshore, said the report, assembled from feedback from over 60 clients.

The study also included Manila as among the top 10 cities in the world for offshore outsourcing jobs. Other cities identified were Ho Chi Minh and Shanghai.

Cebu, Clark, and Davao are other Philippine locations that have made it among the top 24 locations based on the latest ranking of the study.
With a report from Agence France-Presse

**********************************************
Dell to bring more customer support jobs to RP
http://technology.inq7.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=29786
By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net
Last updated 08:55pm (Mla time) 10/31/2006

DELL International Services Philippines Inc. (Dell Philippines) is gearing up to handle more customer support jobs, a newly appointed Filipino executive told INQ7.net.

The computer company now employs more than 1,200 Filipinos in a contact center facility in SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City. Currently, this facility provides consumer tech support to Dell customers in the US.

Next month, Dell Philippines will open a new customer support program, which will focus on small and medium enterprise clients of Dell in North America, according to Jack Madrid, process director at Dell Philippines.

"I'm gearing up for this second process," added Madrid who stressed that more customer support jobs will soon be brought to the Philippines, including those specific to Dell's products.

Madrid said the Pasay City facility is approaching its maximum capacity.

The company is now building another contact center facility in Libis, Quezon City, he added. The company just hired about 100 more Filipinos to man its new facility.

"Dell's business is continuing to grow both the top-line and bottom line. So we're also in the midst of growing out global presence," the Filipino executive said.

Madrid joined Dell Philippines recently, leaving his former post at MTV Philippines.

"I was attracted to the scale of plans of Dell in the Philippines. Everything here is impressive," he said.

Unlike the business process outsourcing work done by the likes of PeopleSupport and Convergys in the Philippines, Dell Philippines is focused only on supporting the computer maker's global clients, he said.

Madrid and other Filipino executives were sent to India recently to study how Dell had set up its customer support services. Dell employs about 10,000 people in India.

JAMAICUS

November 7th, 2006, 03:23 PM

4 RP cities among best BPO sites
By Max V. de Leon
Reporter

FOUR Philippine cities made it to the Top 15 of the world’s most competitive business process outsourcing (BPO) destinations, according to the study of services globalization adviser NeoIT.

The 2006 Global City Competitiveness (GCC) report of the California-based firm had Manila ranked No. 9, while Cebu, Clark, and Davao were listed at No. 13, 14 and 15, respectively.

As expected, the list was dominated by Indian cities, with Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, and Kolkata taking the top seven spots in that order.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Shanghai, China; Moscow, Russia, and Guangzhou, China complete the Top 15.

NeoIT used the generic or basic factors that include human capital, which carried a weight of 40 percent, cost of doing business, with 20 percent; business and living environment with 20 percent, risk factors with 10 percent, and infrastructure, also 10 percent, in coming up with this ranking.

What were not figured in on these ratings are the enterprise-specific factors. These include the language-proficiency requirements, which depends on the companies’ client-base; physical proximity to the head office, industry-specific BPO capability, and the enterprise’s own offshoring maturity (as a company that is just starting to globalize its services operations would tend to choose Tier 1 cities).

NeoIT noted that these generic and enterprise-specific factors are used by companies in shortlisting to about three or four cities the probable sites where they would outsource some of their services requirements.

“The decision after this point, more often than not, hinges on a subjective deep dive into the characteristics of the location. The management uses its discretion to arrive at the “one” location which has the perfect fit with its objectives,” said NeoIT.

The study said Manila is ideal for English voice-based activities and back-office processing activities like payroll and accounting. Manila was ranked among the best in terms of cost of doing business and moderately in human capital, environment and risk.

Although Manila’s infrastructure was noted as not having a competitive advantage, the area’s air connectivity with the rest of the world was taken positively. The report said Manila is a very popular offshoring location, especially for voice BPOs serving US clients.

“Because of the presence of the US Army in the Philippines up until a few years back, the people are well-versed with the American accent and culture.

Manila is also a shared services hub for many global corporations. The city has a good talent supply, thanks to a large number of universities in the region,” said the NeoIT report.

Offshoring today, the firm said, is no longer limited to the top cities in India, the Philippines, China, Poland, Hungary, Mexico and Malaysia as it is already making inroads into lesser-known, smaller cities in these countries. Fuelling this trend are the overheating of established locations and evolving client needs.

Considering these factors, NeoIT came up with a forward-looking assessment of the competitiveness of major cities and predicted their would-be ranking three to four years from now. In this future attractiveness ranking, Manila went down to No. 12, while Cebu and Clark went up to No. 3 and No. 5, respectively.

Bangalore, India and Budapest, Hungary would take the Top 2 spots and Delhi would drop to No. 6.

NeoIT said the overall attractiveness is contingent upon two kinds of parameters: the “extrinsics” such as infrastructure, business environment, and government support; and the “intrinsics” such as labor pool, inherent risks and costs of operation.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/front02.php

sandrn

November 13th, 2006, 03:23 AM

LiveIT unit wins largest ever offshore legal outsourcing deal
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/comp01.php
By Honey Madrilejos-Reyes
Reporter

LIVEIT, the holding company created by Ayala Corp. to handle investments in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, said its unit, Integreon Managed Solutions Inc., has bagged the biggest ever offshore contract in the legal outsourcing sector.

Integreon, a global leader in complex BPO, will be building a service center in New Delhi, India to support the administrative functions of Clifford Chance, the world’s largest law firm. The venture, subject to appropriate consultation with Clifford Chance staff, is expected to be the biggest offshoring initiative ever undertaken by a law firm, yielding more than $18 million in annual operating savings.

In a statement, LiveIT said the Delhi facility will open in spring 2007 and will accommodate over 600 workstations. Clifford Chance will be the anchor customer for the site. The venture is innovative in that Integreon will manage the start-up and operation, working together with Clifford Chance employees in the service center. The Delhi facilities will enhance Integreon’s business continuity planning offerings to customers that operate out of Mumbai.

“Clifford Chance’s decision to dramatically expand its relationship with us is further validation of our business model to grow organically by focusing on activities where we can provide our clients with unparalleled standards of service and security,” said Integreon’s president and chief executive officer Liam Brown.

In October, LiveIt acquired 100 percent of Integreon, a company that provides high value, complex BPO solutions (also known as knowledge process outsourcing, or judgment-based BPO), specializing in document, content and knowledge services. Its clients include the world’s largest financial services institutions, law firms, consultancies, publishing and media companies and Global 2000 corporations. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Integreon also has offices in New York, London and Mumbai.

After New Delhi, Integreon will build another center in the Philippines by the first quarter of 2007.

The Philippine-based center would have 300 to 500 seats and be located in an Ayala Land-owned property within Metro Manila.

LiveIT chief executive officer Alfredo I. Ayala said the company has put in P900 million in Integreon, effectively acquiring the existing shares of an investor group led by two US-based venture capital funds ConnectCapital and The View Group and injecting fresh growth capital.

This is the second investment done by LiveIT this year, following the acquisition of an 11-percent stake in eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. for P800 million last June. eTelecare is LiveIT’s primary investment in the fast-growing call-center industry.

LiveIT is prepared to invest $100 million (roughly P5 billion) in various ventures over a five-year period. So far, the company has invested P1.7 billion this year and according to Ayala, the same level of investments would most likely be disbursed in 2007.

Over the next five years, he expects the return on investment to be more than 15 percent.

sandrn

November 16th, 2006, 04:22 AM

Biyaan ng maraming trabaho ang mga pinoy. Datapwa't ang karamihan na tinatanggap ng mga BPO working student o bagong graduate, sana maging progreso rin yung ating local na planta/pagawaan para mabigyan ng trabaho ang mga nakakaraming laborer na vocational yung natapos.

Another big call center firm to open in Baguio
http://www.mb.com.ph/PROV2006111679829.html
By DEXTER A. SEE

BAGUIO CITY — This mountain resort city will soon become a call center hub as another giant call center opens in the city come February next year.

People Support, a 2,000-seat call center, will be housed at SM’s Pines building, which was abandoned after the mall was constructed.

Bong Borja, president of People Support Philippines, said that they chose Baguio as site of their call center because the city, as the educational center of the North, has an English-speaking workforce.

The presence of facilities make Baguio a very viable venue for a call center. There are fiber optic internet facilities, which are required in the operation of a call center, Borja said.

He said that another reason why they chose Baguio is its accessibility by land and air as they have clients who want to visit their call center sites.

It was learned that the city resident’s exposure to foreigners was also a factor that made People Support to set up its call center here. Because of this exposure, city folk definitely know how to deal with the foreigners, who are the majority clients of the call center, it was learned.

Borja said their clients are mostly from the United States and call center agents must therefore know how to deal with them. Hospitality and being tourist-friendly is deciphered in the voice as an agent speaks to the clients.

Prior to its opening, a job fair will be held to hire the 2,000 call center agents and administrative personnel to ensure the smooth operation of the call center.

The business executive said that while it is true that Cordillerans have a regional defect, the American diction can be taught and learned.

Borja said they will provide a finishing course for those who are almost hired to allow them the opportunity to improve and conform to the demands of the business out sourcing trade.

At present, there are a number of call centers currently operating in this resort city which provide employment to thousands of individuals from different parts of Northern Luzon.

Labor officials cited the huge contribution of the out sourcing industry in helping reduce the rising unemployment rate in the Cordillera and other potential call center sites in the country in the coming years.

The country is trying to emerge as a pioneer in the call center industry in the Asian region. The Philippines is currently ranked second to India in the business process out sourcing operations.
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richard24

November 17th, 2006, 02:35 PM

insight sa NeoIT "global cities competitiveness"

read it... pinagtatanggol niya ang phils.. :)
dapat mas mataas daw manila sa delhi.. :cheers2:
-------------------------------

Insights, Indeed
Michael Alan Hamlin
November 08, 2006

NeoIT, a U.S.-based consulting firm whose expertise lies in assisting firms that wish to outsource business processes, released its latest report on place competitiveness last week. Titled “Global City Competitiveness,” the report concludes that seven Indian cities, led by Delhi NCR, are the most attractive destinations for investors in business process outsourcing (BPO) services. They are followed by Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, and Shanghai, in that order, rounding out the top-ten BPO sites in the world.

A read of the report, which was published in Offshore Insights, a monthly newsletter published by NeoIT, immediately provides two impressions. First, it largely consists of basic conclusions about investment decision-making that have been drawn by others previously, so there is little, if anything, new of substance. Second, the research methodology that drove the research on which the report’s competitive analysis is based is seriously flawed. More to the point, it is surprisingly, and dismayingly, sloppy.

Why dismaying? For the Philippines the report is dismaying because its conclusions and lukewarm appraisal of the Phililppines have been widely reported, for one thing. It is also dismaying that the report’s conclusions have largely gone unchallenged, suggesting by virtual default that the Philippines is in fact substantially less competitive as an attractive BPO investment site than many potential investors have begun to believe.

NeoIT’s analysts frame their analysis with their finding that “key determinants of location choice can be split into two categories:” Generic (or basic) factors; and, Enterprise-specific factors. Generic factors are human capital, costs, infrastructure, environment, and risks. Each of these factors is assigned a weight, with human capital by far the heavyweight, at 40 percent. Costs and environment receive 20 percent each, and infrastructure and risks, 10 percent each.

Enterprise-specific factors include language compatibility, physical proximity, socio-economic affinity, and sector-specific expertise availability. NeoIT does not provide weights for these factors. Instead, its analysts evaluated each city against its “peer group,” ranking them from one (lagging) to five (among the best). The weighted generic factors are also subjected to the same categorization.

The generic factors provided in the NeoIT report are unremarkable in the context of similar studies, so there is no argument with respect to their essential validity. However, the assigned weights are a different matter. Take infrastructure, for example, which receives a weight of just 10 percent although offshore outsourcing wouldn’t exist without enabling infrastructure. Since the Philippines’ telecom infrastructure, in the view of industry executives, is perceived as world-class and India’s, while much improved, is not by comparison, the low assigned weight should work in India’s favor. Even so, the report actually ranks Delhi NCR infrastructure three, and Manila, two.

NeoIT’s enterprise-specific factor ratings are even more curious. For example, Manila ranks just three (moderately placed in peer group) in voice services while Delhi NCR ranks five, the highest (Among the best in peer group.). Both research and anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that the Philippines ranks as high, perhaps higher, than India in voice services. In fact, this is one of the principal factors driving investment by Indian BPO firms in the Philippines.

There are other issues involving the enterprise-specific factors too numerous to address individually, some laughable. For example, a caption in the report says that Manila is “also great for back office processing activities,” but the report assigns Manila only a mid-level ranking of three in back-office activity. Manila’s capability in both healthcare and high tech is ranked just two (not a competitive advantage in peer group), yet both are considered competitive sectors by industry executives in the Philippines, as well as by their clients.

But the comparison of Manila and Delhi NCR is the most glaring flaw in the report. Manila is shown as a city of 1.7 million residents, while Delhi NCR is shown as a city of 15 million. The report obviously refers to the city of Manila, not the Manila NCR, which has a population of approximately 12 million. Worse, very little of the Philippines’ BPO capability is located in Manila; instead, it is scattered throughout Manila NCR. A valid comparison of competitiveness must evaluate Manila NCR against Delhi NCR, not Manila versus Delhi NCR. This is a classic case of an apples-to-oranges analysis, flawed from conception.

It is also noteworthy that NeoIT’s analysts acknowledge that large players such as Dell and Genpact are venturing out of tier-one, mature BPO locations while arguing that such cities are still the most attractive sites for investment elsewhere in the report. If these investors are venturing outside mature locations, and they are, that suggests eroding competitiveness of the tier-one BPO locations NeoIT asserts are the most competitive cities in the world for BPO investment.

Dell and Genpact are not just venturing outside tier-one India cities to tier-two India cities. They are also becoming large investors in the Philippines, setting up multiple locations, suggesting that Manila NCR is a competitive BPO site when compared to India’s tier-one and tier-two cities by investors. But Manila NCR hasn’t been compared to those cities in the NeoIT study. That’s just an observation, not an insight. But at least it’s correct.

(Michael Alan Hamlin is the managing director of TeamAsia and a Manila-based author. His latest book is High Visibility: Transforming Your Personal and Professional Brand. Write him at mahamlin@teamasia.com.)

Copyright © 2006 Michael Alan Hamlin. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.teamasia.com/pr/PR_media.asp?art_no=105

OtAkAw

November 17th, 2006, 04:09 PM

^^Tama lang yan noh, the comparisons are so flawed. Can't believe unknown Pune and Chennai are ahead of Manila.

sandrn

November 17th, 2006, 07:59 PM

I also believe that Manila has the best capabilities in terms of long-term investment while the other mentioned cities are just plain MEDIA-HYPE. Look even their own BPO sectors are establishing back offices in Manila.
Also, many BPO industries that opened up earlier in those foreign cities realized that they would be more profitable in Manila on the long term basis, hence a number of BPOs there reduced their size to move to Manila.
Manila provides a better environment for a long term investment.

The truth is those foreign cities are just plain over-hyped, Media-hyped and over rated.

sandrn

November 20th, 2006, 04:36 AM

TeleTech eyes more facilities
http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=33574
BPO firm says prospects bright in Philippines
By Irene R. Sino-Cruz
Inquirer
Last updated 10:07pm (Mla time) 11/19/2006

CEBU CITY--Call center firm TeleTech has just started operating its first facility here, but it is already looking at a possible expansion.

Maulik Parekh, TeleTech vice president and general manager for Philippine operations, said he expected demand for call center operations to continue growing as more companies consider locating in the Philippines.

Even call center companies with operations in India consider the Philippines a better location because Filipinos speak American English and are familiar with the United States, Parekh said.

"We will be having three or four (additional) sites next year," he added.

While he could not say where TeleTech would put up the additional facilities, he said expanding in Cebu was possible.

Parekh also expressed satisfaction over the quality of workers the company had hired in Cebu, which was one of the reasons why the company set up call center operations here.

"We believe that [the 300 people we have so far] are far different from what we have seen in Manila. And to a certain extent, I like their attitude because they really want to succeed at what they're doing," Parekh said.

He noted that Cebu employees even come to work two hours ahead of their shift to go over the documents before they start working.

TeleTech Cebu site director Dennis Tagamolila said the company's presence in Cebu would help change the negative perception hounding call centers.

Tagamolila said parents here usually discourage their children from working in call centers, thinking that call centers only offered telephone operator jobs.

"Finally, we can educate Cebuanos on the call center industry, as well as offer excellent job opportunities for them," Tagamolila said.

The competition for call center employees here is so tough that call center companies are offering a signing bonus of up to P10,000.

But Tagamolila felt optimistic the company would attract applicants since TeleTech offered a "balanced lifestyle."

"TeleTech promotes career growth for the top performers of our workforce and encourages them to maximize their potentials as leaders of the organization. Most of all, we strike a balance between working smart and enjoying life to the fullest," Tagamolila said.

Aside from the amenities in the workplace that TeleTech offers to its workers, the company also has a lifestyle program that provides employees privileges such as discounts, rebates and freebies from member-establishments.

TeleTech expectd to end the year with 400 employees.

rustyboi

November 21st, 2006, 08:16 AM

we should always bear in mind that doing business in India is cheap. Way cheaper than in the Philippines. it all boils down to "cost". :)

JAMAICUS

December 4th, 2006, 03:17 PM

BPO sector earns $3.36B in 2006
By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 12/04/2006

Business process outsourcing (BPO) operations such as call centers have generated as much as $3.36 billion this year, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.

Even this estimate is subject to intense debate but economic officials agree that the impact of the industry is being grossly underestimated in the national income accounts.

Earlier estimates put the revenues of BPO centers at around $1.7 billion a year but officials said subsequent projections pointed to a much larger number.

NEDA chief Romulo Neri said that based on a "very rough" count of seats in existing BPO companies, the estimated revenues being generated could account for as much as three percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

"Add to that fact that this industry is growing at a phenomenal rate of about 30 to 40 percent," Neri said.

According to Neri, however, the government was slow in capturing the actual contribution of the BPO industry.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) earlier this year launched a benchmarking survey of all the registered BPO operators in the country.

The BSP survey is expected to be completed before the end of the year and it would give economic officials their first empirical glimpse into the industry that has also spurred a pick-up in real estate development in urban centers.

According to the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB), on the other hand, there was also a need for the government to regularly survey the BPO industry to factor in its actual participation in the economy.

NSCB Secretary General Romulo Virola said a permanent inter-agency committee on information, communications and technology has been formed and the body would draw the policy and mechanics of account for BPO operations.

"Surveying BPOs has been difficult because these are young companies that are not accustomed to being surveyed," he said. "A lot of them had no desire to cooperate, fearing competition, maybe even tax-related problems."

The BSP earlier said the country’s balance of payments (BOP) position and even the GDP was being understated because of the increasingly significant dollar earnings of business process outsourcing (BPO) centers.

BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said BPOs could be contributing enough dollar inflows that their full impact on the country’s dollar reserves and overall BOP position could be understated.

"We just need to know exactly what we are dealing with," Guinigundo said. "Right now we don’t even know how much of their dollar incomes are being captured by the banking system so that they would be reported to us."

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/news200612040701.htm

sandrn

December 5th, 2006, 01:06 PM

Convergys expands Cebu operations
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/dec/05/yehey/business/20061205bus8.html

Convergys Corp., a global leader in outsourced contact center services, has announced the expansion of its operations in Cebu City, which is expected to be fully operational next year.

The new Convergys’ facility will have up to 700 new employees, nearly doubling its capacity in Cebu City, including the existing Banawa operating site, which also has about 800 employees.

With this new facility, Convergys will have eight of the largest US-owned contact centers in the Philippines, providing both general support and advanced technical help desk services through voice calls, e-mail, and Web chat as well as “back office” application and document processing.

“The nearly 10,000 employees in our existing seven contact centers in the Philippines have reinforced our strong belief that the Philippines offers a motivated workforce of highly dedicated professionals and world-class infrastructure for excellent customer care,” said Marife Zamora, Convergys’ vice-president and country manager.

Zamora said Convergys would continue to leverage the strengths and talents of Filipino agents and the Philippine culture as the company grows by closely integrating with its “Global Assurance Network.”

The new Cebu City contact center will deploy the network via international private leased circuits (IPLC) to avoid unnecessary duplication and expense, giving Convergys more operational control.

Located in the AsiaTown IT Business Park in the Cebu City business district, the new contact center is designed to international standards with furniture ergonomically created for contact center work, state-of-art generators and backup contingency systems.
--Angelo S. Samonte

JAMAICUS

December 5th, 2006, 02:30 PM

BPO biz seen to grow 100%
By Max V. de Leon
Reporter

THE country’s call center industry is poised to grow by at least 100 percent next year as efforts by industry players to address the problem of availability of quality manpower is starting to bear fruit. This accounts for the optimism of players they can disprove earlier forecasts by analysts that the industry would be in steady decline because of its already large base.

Jojo Uligan, executive director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), said existing call centers will continue to be in expansion mode next year, especially with clients giving high marks to the quality of services of the industry.

Aside from this, Uligan said several new players are about to open next year. They include a Canadian firm, which is set to open in 45 days with an initial 300 seats, and an American firm with a start-up operation of 500 seats.

For 2006, Uligan said the industry is sure to grow by at least 85 to 90 percent—to end the year with about 85,000 to 90,000 seats and about 150,000 agents.

Uligan said doubling the 85,000 to 90,000 seats in 2007 is an easy target for the industry, and there is also a good chance the number of agents would more than double since some call centers are now beginning to operate on three shifts. “The industry is looking very good next year [but] if we would have more qualified employees, our growth would be bigger.”

There are actually instances, he said, when companies could not fill their requirements of additional 300 agents in one month, but they have now taken several initiatives to address the manpower issue, including the intracompany trainings and tie-ups with academe.

For example, Uligan said ePLDT has an existing relationship with FEU, and eTelecare with Ateneo for the proper nurturing of budding call center agents and executives.

The industry is also actively proposing to colleges and universities some changes in the curriculum to make the quality of graduates on a par with the standards required by call center firms.

At the same, Uligan said call centers in the country have proven that they can ensure continuous operations even in times of calamities, like the super typhoons Milenyo and Reming.

He said up to now there is no report from the Bicol region, which was ravaged by Reming, of disruption of operations there. “The CCAP has prepared the industry’s business sensitivity plan so we are ready to face this kind of challenges.”

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/front01.php

great184

December 6th, 2006, 05:38 AM

Will our energy output match the growing size of our BPO? 24-hour electricity is a must-have in call centers and I believ we are nearing a energy shortage soon.

amigo32

December 6th, 2006, 05:54 AM

I think most if not all IT buildings have their own power backups incase power interruptions occur.

sandrn

December 10th, 2006, 01:55 PM

US BPO firm opens new Manila center
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/comp03.php
MORRISTOWN, New Jersey—Motif Inc., a provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) services, on Wednesday announced the opening of a new operations center in Manila, Philippines.

Motif now provides operational redundancy and access to a diverse talent pool for its clients by offering services across its India center and the new Manila center. Two of Motif’s current clients have already shown interest in expanding their business relationships to include services delivered from Manila, the company said in a statement.

The expansion is in line with Motif’s growth strategy to increase its business by maintaining its preferred vendor status with current clients, supported by high quality, innovation and reduced risk of operations.

“We’re very proud of the fact that Motif has emerged as one of the fastest growing business process outsourcing firms in the world,” said John Coker, Motif’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “Our new office in Manila will provide ‘true’ global delivery and access to a diverse talent pool for our current and future clients.”

New clients and projects that Motif added to its roster this quarter include 401(k) plan administration services portfolio to a national third-party administrator in New York City; loan-processing services for a mid-sized mortgage banker in the state of New York; and personalized e-mail response services to two e-commerce companies in California, it said.

Motif serves Fortune 500 and mid-market clients. Motif’s BPO suite is comprised of knowledge-based transaction processing services including finance and accounting services; institutional investor services and reconciliation; HR services, including benefits administration and retirement services; and mortgage services, such as loans processing and personalized customer care services.

chixbebe

December 11th, 2006, 09:34 AM

Outsourcing continues to boost services

The country’s service exports grew to P87.93 billion or 8.3 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2006, bolstered by the continuous expansion of the business process outsourcing sector.

Data from the National Statistical Coordination Board show that service exports went up 18.4 percent to P270.438 billion in three quarters ending September.

Driving the overall growth of the service exports was the 27.5 percent increase in miscellaneous services in the third quarter and 52.5 percent increase in the January-September period.

Miscellaneous services include contact center, medical transcription, animation, software development and other outsourced activities, construction services, financial services, computer and information services, cultural and recreational services, and other business services.

The statistics board incorporated the exports of call centers and BPO firms in the computation of the gross domestic product.

Miscellaneous services amounted to P38.75 billion in the third quarter and P121.358 billion in first three quarters.

Other service exports were travel services amounting to P87.953 billion in three quarters; transportation, P55.018 billion; government services, P4.209 billion; and insurance, P1.9 billion.

The National Economic and Development Authority estimated that BPO operations had generated more than $3 billion in 2006. Neda said the industry had been growing at 30 to 40 percent annually.

The Contact Center Association of the Philippines was more optimistic, saying that the call center industry was poised to grow by at least 100 percent in 2007.

Statistics board secretary general Romulo Virola said a permanent inter-agency committee on information, communications and technology had been established to draw the policy and mechanics of account for BPO operations and capture the real growth of the industry.

Virola, however, admitted that since BPO was a young industry, most call centers and BPO companies are not accustomed to being surveyed for statistical data.

sandrn

December 12th, 2006, 03:34 AM

Mod where is the medical transcription thread. I couldn't find it?! This article belongs there.

SAYS INDUSTRY TRADE GROUP
RP medical transcription firms to jointly market services
http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=37640
By Erwin Oliva
INQ7.net
Last updated 07:13pm (Mla time) 12/11/2006

(UPDATE) SAYING they were willing to set aside competition, medical transcription firms in the Philippines are working towards jointly marketing the industry as a whole in the United States, the head of a local trade organization told INQ7.net.

Myla Rose Reyes, president of the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines Inc. (MTIAPI), said that most local medical transcription are startups that lack the resources to compete with bigger players.

"We want to do this to get larger contracts," she said, adding that
any information the organization gets from trade missions would be shared with its 70 members, mainly local medical transcription companies and training institutions.

The challenge, however, lies in convincing clients to allow local companies to pool medical transcription jobs and finding enough qualified medical transcription professionals, Reyes said.

To date, the Philippines has between 7,000 to 8,000 medical transcription professionals, she said.

Local firms also face the problem of negotiating better rates.

At present, the going rate is US$0.60 to US$0.8 per line -- sometimes even down to US$0.4 to US$0.5 per line, Reyes, who is also the managing director of Total Transcription Solutions Inc. said.

To help members get better pricing terms, the trade group is working on getting "direct" clients from the US, or through industry associations similar to MTIAPI.

The group also hopes to establish a certification program for medical transcription professionals, similar to what is offered in the software industry.

Reyes said that the Philippine medical transcription industry has barely scratched the surface of the offshore medical transcription industry in the US.

The local industry organization also sees opportunities in Canada, Australia, Europe, and India--which she said is more than a decade ahead of the Philippines.

"We've only penetrated one to two percent of the offshore outsourcing market worth five billion dollars," Reyes said.

Meanwhile, Reyes stressed that the mandated digitization of medical records in the US will not diminish the need for medical transcription.

A study from Rand showed that despite large health spending in the US, the healthcare systems are "still plagued with inefficiency and poor quality." The study's highlights noted that there is still a small percentage of hospitals using health information technology.

JAMAICUS

December 25th, 2006, 05:36 PM

RP promoted as global hub for BPO
By Pia Lee-Brago
The Philippine Star 12/26/2006

The Philippines is being promoted in Luxembourg as a global hub for business process outsourcing (BPO) and the promotion of export products, including automotive and replacement parts, according to an embassy report.

In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippine Ambassador to Luxembourg Cristina Ortega said she met with Luxembourg Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jean Asselborn at the latter’s office at Luxembourg City as part of the DFA’s economic diplomacy program and enhancing relations with Philippine bilateral partners.

The promotion of the Philippines as a global hub for BPO and the promotion of export products, including automotive parts and replacement parts topped the agenda of the meeting. Luxembourg supplies car parts to its neighboring countries of Germany, Netherlands and Italy.

"The Philippines enjoys 5.2 percent growth and is globally attuned to respond to the demands of other countries for products and supplies," Ortega said.

According to Ortega, the OFWs have become a major force in the country’s economic growth through its remittances which have reached $13 billion by the end of the year.

The officials also discussed the possibility of a bilateral project on microfinance, wherein Luxembourg will share its financial expertise to uplift the technical skills and know-how of micro finance institutions in the Philippines.

The project was earlier discussed with Ortega in a meeting with Director Arlette Conzemius of the International Economic Relations Office and Director Marc Bichler of the Development Cooperation, both under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Minister Asselborn and Directors Conzemius and Bichler are very supportive of helping the Philippines not only through promotion of RP exports but also through development projects," Ortega said. "We can start with a training program in microfinance as we have structures and institutions in place. Luxembourg’s expertise on financial matters could help us enhance our bilateral cooperation."

Luxembourg is one of the most dedicated donor countries which consistently contributes almost 0.8 percent of its GNP for development projects in developing countries.

Luxembourg is the world’s number two hub for investment funds management, next only to the US banking and financial services industries.

Two-way trade between the Philippines and Luxembourg for the past years has been minimal.

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200612260703.htm

amras

December 28th, 2006, 06:09 AM

Quake forces RP BPO firms to revisit disaster preparedness

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 06:45pm (Mla time) 12/27/2006

BUSINESS process outsourcing companies in the Philippines are set to meet with telecommunications companies to discuss ways to improve disaster preparedness in the wake of yet another "unexpected" event, a representative of local call centers told INQUIRER.net.

"This is a major concern for us. What happened right now is unexpected," said Jojo Uligan, spokesperson of the Call Center Association of the Philippines, as he acknowledged the importance of having "99.99 percent" uptime despite events such as the 7.1 earthquake in Taiwan that damaged major submarine fiber optic lines.

"We're going to schedule a meeting with the telcos," he added.

In a separate telephone interview, PeopleSupport Philippines president Rainero "Bong" Borja said the major contact center operations in the Philippines are "okay" as of Wednesday afternoon.

He said, however, that the company experienced a slow down in Internet connections. But since the event happened during "lean times," the local operations were able to re-route some calls via available circuits.

"We're not totally out," Borja stressed.

Jomari Mercado, director of client business development in the Philippines of Convergys Corp. also confirmed that its Internet connections slowed down Wednesday morning, saying that they are "using less lines."

Uligan said "some call centers are already up while some are slowly restoring their services.

He said most call centers in the Philippines are designed to have "back up" and redundant networks in case disaster such as earthquakes strike.

"Some call centers were down for an hour, while others for a few minutes," he added.

BPO firms are among the biggest clients of telecommunications companies in the Philippines. They use the Internet to do outbound and inbound calls using the voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.

schaner

December 28th, 2006, 07:09 AM

These are all good news indeed for us Filipinos. More jobs for our people. It also will open the country to global exposure, making the world more aware of our country and what we can do. I believe the Philippines has all it takes to the BPO hub of Asia. Communication skills, dedication, our ease in adapting to the changing schedules and demands of callcenter life.

I've worked for a BPO for two years, and quite a few of my co-workers are not college graduates/degree holders, but because the can speak English, learn easily and are hard workers, they got in and are even getting promoted.

JAMAICUS

December 29th, 2006, 07:34 PM

Ayala moves in BPO, electronic

sectors show Philippine strength

By Max V. de Leon
Reporter

INDUSTRY experts agree that the acquisitions made by the Ayala conglomerate of a US-based business process outsourcing (BPO) firm and a Singaporean electronics maker this year reflect how strong a player the Philippines has become in these dynamic sectors.

Ayala Corp.’s BPO holding company Liveit Solutions Inc. took control of Integreon Managed Solutions Inc. when it bought P900 million worth of the American firm’s shares.

Mitch Locsin, executive director of the Business Process Association of the Philippines, said when local players gobble up foreign firms, it is indicative of the lofty billing of the country’s BPO industry as a dominant global force.

“It shows that the local industry is really strong and will continue to grow,” Locsin said.

At the same time, Locsin noted that Liveit’s acquisition of a higher value BPO, like Integreon, shows that the Philippines is really ready to venture into the so-called knowledge process outsourcing (KPO).

Integreon, which maintains offices in London, New York and Mumbai, does KPOs like document process and legal process outsourcing.

Liveit, after the acquisition, announced that Integreon will soon be having a satellite branch in the Philippines.

“It shows that we are ready to face India in the KPO segment,” Locsin said.

Aside from gaining control of Integreon, Ayala Corp. made another bold move this year when its electronics arm Integrated Microelectronics Inc. (IMI) acquired Singapore-based Speedy-Tech Electronics Ltd.

Speedy-Tech has manufacturing facilities in Shenzhen and Jiaxing, China, Singapore and Cavite. It is an electronic manufacturer service provider that services a broad customer base in computer peripherals, telecommunications, medical, automotive, industrial and power electronics.

IMI, which has a plant in Laguna and specializes in bluetooth and other wireless communication technology, bought Speedy-Tech for $120.8 million, thus, expanding its customer base and manufacturing presence.

Ernie Santiago, executive director of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines Inc., said Ayala’s move is important in keeping the local industry in-step globally.

Santiago said it is strategic positioning to expand the reach of the company and also check how the other countries’ electronics industries are doing.

He said establishing a presence abroad, especially in a prime location like China, is the best way to see how the competition is doing in other countries.

“Other countries are doing it so we should also do it,” Santiago said.

More importantly, the acquisition showed the kind of stuff that the local electronics industry is made of.

“We are really doing good in this business so our companies are now taking these strategic moves,” he said.

The electronics industry contributes close to 70 percent of the country’s merchandise exports.

The BPO sector, on the other hand, is considered the fastest growing industry in the country.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/1229&302006/companies01.html

Sinjin P.

December 30th, 2006, 02:03 PM

Outsourcing an opportunity for RP gaming industry -- XMG

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 10:50pm (Mla time) 12/29/2006

RESEARCH firm XMG Global is encouraging the country’s fledgling game development industry to initially focus on outsourcing, creating “serious games” as well as culture-specific games before aiming for loftier heights.

XMG Research Analyst Cesar Tolentino said that outsourcing is one of the first methods to help spur the local game development business in the Philippines. Outsourcing could mean doing localization of other games, artwork or providing programming assistance.

Tolentino, speaking during a recent small-group game development meeting, noted that many of the current big name game development companies started out providing outsourced services before creating their own applications.

As a follow-up, Tolentino also said that creating local content is also a key factor that could create some marketing leverage for Filipino game developers. However, he noted that local content do not have to be necessarily targeted at Filipinos but instead should target international markets.

At this point, Tolentino also said that cultural games or games that target a very specific group of people, can also be a potential market for the Philippines. Such cultural games can be categorized as “serious games” especially if these are used for professional practices.

Some of these could be in the medical field, military, police and emergency rescue. Other games can also be used for education, sales and marketing and various engineering professions.

Tolentino also noted that a potential revenue stream is “advergaming” that describes developing games highlighting existing consumer products. He used as an example video games developed for Burger King in the US.

“These games are part of the value meals offered in Burger King. This can be a possible concept also especially in the Philippines where there are some popular consumer products,” Tolentino said.

Tolentino has been closely collaborating with the Manila Chapter of the International Game Development Association and the newly formed Game Developers Association of the Philippines.

Tolentino said that the Philippines is in the right position to enter the game development market primarily due to its fast turnover rate and quality for outsourced work.

“Besides, of all the IT industries worldwide, the video game business is the only one that is recession proof because people still want to play video games,” Tolentino said.

kiretoce

January 4th, 2007, 05:29 PM

Things can go wrong

Crises of one sort or another are inevitable occurrences. As a result, contingency planning is not a luxury but a necessity, particularly in a country so prone to disaster as the Philippines. Yet as the folks in Infanta and Albay and Guimaras and in numerous other places can tell you, contingency planning just does not exist for a significant number of people.

Year after year hundreds die needlessly, because there is no disaster preparedness. Mind you, there are a few civic-minded, private groups who do what they can. They do a magnificent job, but sadly, their resources are limited.

This thought came to mind when a friend of mine called for help on quite another type of disaster. His telecom connection to the United States had been cut. No big disaster you’d think, so why complain? Well, he lost the capacity to support millions of dollars in commerce and left 10,000 Filipino employees with no work. His call center, the country’s biggest, had no contact with the US, the United Kingdom or Australia. Some 400,000 people who wanted to seek advice, ask for help, or plainly complain couldn’t.

He, of course, wasn’t alone. Every call center in the country was down— some 150,000 employees on over 120 call centers were affected. Three days later, capacity was still down 40 percent. Complaints from irate principals started pouring in. Head office management wasn’t too happy either. I’m putting it mildly.

There’s already a lot of resistance in America to transferring American jobs overseas. Here’s perfect ammunition for those who want those Americans in call centers in America (where they used to be). While the call center bosses think it’s not smart to have all eggs in one basket (sorry for this hackneyed cliché, but it does express my sentiments aptly), the Philippine basket was dropped. It was not the fault of the Philippine government (now there’s a refreshing change) nor of anyone in the Philippines. Still, a bunch of eggs was definitely broken.

The culprit was a natural disaster —an earthquake in Taiwan so violent that it broke the underwater communications cable between the Philippines and the US.

If the Philippine government rushed to do something about the situation, it certainly didn’t tell anyone. Call centers, and the entire business process outsourcing industry were left twisting in the wind. That’s a good analogy: Death to the industry may be exaggerated, but you can be sure head offices will be rethinking their expansion plans.

The inability of the Philippines to respond swiftly or have alternatives in place forced companies to re-direct their calls to other countries—Malaysia, India, South Africa, wherever call center companies have alternate sites. The sad thing is that that re-direction is likely to be permanent.

Filipinos could lose jobs. No one, perhaps, can be blamed at this point. But they certainly can if a similar disaster occurs and contingencies are not in place.

Malaysia is looking pretty good (read my column last week). Vietnam is learning English fast. South Africa can already speak it. There’s lots of alternatives out there. When, I wonder, will government ever get that message? Heaven knows I preach it often enough as to make them fed up with my bleating: consider the competition, not historical performance.

The government can stop the exodus through contingency planning. There’s not just one cable to the US, the ocean is littered with them (well, almost). But the Philippines has made almost no effort to tap into and invest in a permanent, guaranteed allocation.

The call center/BPO sector is one of the most promising businesses for the Philippines, and this fact is well recognized. Yet it’s not being given anything like the attention it deserves.

There have been two changes in the head of the Committee for Information Communications and Technology, and the office has been transferred to the Office of the President. Downgrading its importance when the correct approach is to create a full Department of ICT. This is something that has been in Congress since 2001 and gotten nowhere.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo agrees it’s important, but where’s the supportive action? Not the words: Action. With 15 days of Congress left it’s too late to get a department created, but it should be up at the top of the list in the next Congress. And congressmen should support it, it will give their constituents (read: voters) a possible job—if the congressmen focus a bit more on education and dramatically improving it—but that’s a whole another subject.

But there are other things the President can do, if she’ll but focus on them. No, sorry, that’s what’s so wrong these days. Everything ends up being “the President should do this.” That’s no way to lead. The President should no more than set general policies and directions, and then leave how to do it to competent, experienced managers, who know what to do. You must trust your staff.

Larry Mendoza’s been there long enough now to know what to do, the President should give him the leeway to do it. But she should first revert the CICT back to the Department of Transportation and Communications where it properly belongs until it can stand on its own feet. It’s an action that only she can make.

One of the problems he can address is that the Philippines has misplaced priorities. Places like Singapore (where the government owns Singtel) or NTT in Japan have clout. And they used it to get priority allocation of cable bandwidth when this crisis hit. As did several others—taking what the Philippines should reasonably have had.

So, now the Philippines must think contingency planning and buy a significant stake in a couple (in case one goes down) of the main cables. Or do what Kenya and South Africa are doing, lay their own cable. Given the importance ITES now plays, the Philippine government should seriously consider doing the same. The US150 MM or so to do it is small potatos compared to the huge potential of this sector. After all far more is spent on a road between factories and a port. The number of jobs, and well-paying jobs at that, created by one telecoms cable far exceeds whatever commerce, and jobs a single road can provide. An undersea cable can generate infinitely more revenues than any highway ever could.

What it also highlighted was need for a better communication system between all the major players: government, industry support services and, the call centers and BPOs themselves. They need a well-established “quick call” system so that when the unexpected happens everyone can be fully informed.

As a start the Business Processing Association of the Philippines needs to be strengthened to act as a unified voice and be a point of central communication between the players. But the Department of Transportation and Communications must take a lead role in pulling it all together. I believe Secretary Leandro Mendoza can, if the President backs him up and provides the necessary funds.

The time to act is now. Not after the next disaster.

Animo

January 5th, 2007, 08:43 AM

PeopleSupport does just what its name implies. It provides support services for its business customers from its facilities in the Philippines, Costa Rica and the U.S.

Some 7,200 agents in the Philippines help clients' customers by phone and e-mail. The firm also offers transcription and captioning services. It will transcribe an audiotape, or provide captions in different languages for video on a client's Web site.

Under founder Lance Rosenzweig's guidance, PeopleSupport's (NASDAQ:PSPT - News) stock price has tripled since October 2005; it trades near 21. In the third quarter, sales rose 85% to $30.1 million. After one-time charges, earnings rose 29% to 18 cents per share.

Rosenzweig has served as a divisional vice president with GE Capital (NYSE:GE - News) and an investment banker for Dean Witter, now Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - News). He also founded Newcastle Group, a plastics maker, and Unisite, a wireless cell site management firm bought by American Tower (NYSE:AMT - News) for $205 million in 1999.

Rosenzweig spoke with IBD from his Los Angeles home base.

IBD: What services are PeopleSupport's focus?

Rosenzweig: We are an offshore business support company with operations in the Philippines and Costa Rica (and the U.S.). Our main service involves customer management, to help people by phone, e-mail or for Web self-help.

We provide financial services for banking customers, and we book travel reservations and tour packages for travel firms. We also offer tech support for technical issues.

We are particularly strong in sales for inbound calls when people inquire about products. We're very good at ending the service call by selling you something else. Even our tech support team is able to up-sell or cross-sell. All the people we hire have sales skills, even when they're not on the sales team.

IBD: What about transcription and captioning services?

Rosenzweig: We acquired a company called RapidText that does transcribing for different types of voice files. We can also caption TV programs for people who are deaf and hard of hearing. This is mostly for the health care, insurance and entertainment industries.

IBD: Why did you get into that business? It seems an odd fit with customer management.

Rosenzweig: If you think about the time zone difference, it's noon in New York when it's midnight in Manila. So our call center operation is jampacked at night and (otherwise unused) by day. We can use those seats (during the day for transcription and captioning).

This is an efficient utilization of our assets. It takes a tremendous amount of infrastructure and operational cost and investment to set up (a new transcription and captioning operation). But for PeopleSupport, there is no cost. We already have all that in place.

The second advantage is we can now offer day jobs, not just graveyard shifts in the call centers. In this way, we can take advantage of more talent in the Philippines.

IBD: Why is the Philippines such a sweet spot to set up outsourcing?

Rosenzweig: We've scoured the globe for locations. We found the Philippines to be very Americanized in many respects, as a former U.S. colony in World War II. Their schools and legal system, and even their accounting system, are based on an American model.

And culturally, the employees wear iPods and listen to the same music and watch the same movies. They even like many of the same sports. So the culture there is very symbiotic to the U.S.

All the schools there teach English as a requirement. So the kids graduate speaking excellent and very non-accented English.

With all this, we found that Filipinos can really bond with Americans on the phone. That telephonic bond helps us to keep people happy and sell them more things.

IBD: What services does the company provide from Costa Rica and the U.S.?

Rosenzweig: Costa Rica is designed to support the large and growing Hispanic population in the U.S. A very significant percentage of people speak Spanish as their first language in the U.S.

We found a tremendous bilingual population in Costa Rica. Workers there can speak in Spanish while inputting information into their client systems in English.

As for the U.S., we're based here in L.A., where we have our headquarters and related operations for client services, sales, accounting and (information technology). And we have some transcription and captioning services here.

IBD: What factors or trends have driven up your stock price over the past year?

Rosenzweig: Our revenue growth has been significant. The industry has seen tremendous momentum as more companies evolve from domestic to offshore operations. This coalesces with our view of the Philippines as the ideal location.

The second part is our high margins. While we're able to grow rapidly, we find that a company saves a lot of money by moving offshore. But it has to pay a premium for that to go well. That's why we position ourselves as a premium offshore player.

Copyright 2006 Investor's Business Daily, Inc.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ibd/20061228/bs_ibd_ibd/20061227tech01

marites4

January 5th, 2007, 10:05 AM

Finally some positive news fr boOutsourcing blues
DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco
The Philippine Star 01/05/2007

ANAHEIM, California – Outsourcing, specially the variety that exports jobs, is bad trip for a lot of ordinary Americans. One hears a lot of grumbling not just about the loss of American jobs but the quality of service being provided by foreigners who replaced them. I normally dismiss such complaints as so much sourgraping, an inability to adjust to globalization, ironically, a basically American invention.

But more and more I am starting to see that we who provide those basic outsourced services from overseas will have to listen and do something about some of the quality complaints. Eventually, companies like airlines and Internet services firms that contract their call centers and help desks to companies operating within our shores, will start re-evaluating how their own competitiveness is affected by quality concerns.

It is common enough to hear of people complaining about the inability of offshore call centers to help airline passengers rebook reservations and locate lost luggage. There are also common complaints about operators in offshore help desks to provide the technical assistance of US-based customers.

The biggest nightmare of people who call customer service here is to hear an Indian voice answer their call. This is probably why some companies here are experimenting with part timers getting airline customer calls from home-based call centers. At least customers hear an American voice, one who understands their local concerns.

But there is no turning back. The Americans will just have to adjust to the brave new world of global telecommunications and offshore customer service. We just have to get better at providing those offshore call center jobs. And better yet, move up the service value chain from mere call centers operator service to business process outsourcing jobs requiring higher technical or artistic skills. The stakes are large.

The Philippines raked in offshore service generating revenues of $2.1 billion in 2005, placing third behind India and China and slightly ahead of Malaysia. That’s up 62 percent over the $1.3 billion it gained in 2004, and a huge increase from the start of the decade when the outsourcing industry in Manila employed just 2,400 people and the industry had revenues of merely $24 million.

Businessweek reports our outsourcing sector currently employs over 200,000 people. That is still way behind India’s 750,000, but Manila is catching up fast. The Business Processing Association of Philippines estimates the industry will chalk up 57-percent growth this year with total revenues of $3.3 billion and is on track to deliver nearly 48-percent growth in 2007 to $4.9 billion.

The good news, according to Businessweek, is how our recent growth spurt has been fueled not by traditional low-value-added call centers but more higher-end outsourcing such as legal services, Web design, medical transcription, software development, animation, and shared services. We have started to leverage our creative design talent pool, our large pool of lawyers, and our professionals in accounting and finance.

Now, that’s really good news. Imagine that… who would have thought our lawyers can be productive dollar earning workers too! We all thought our large pool of lawyers were just good for creating mischief as politicians and bureaucrats and fixing cases. But then again, I suspect they are talking of topnotch lawyers who are able to think and communicate in good English.

An Indian-based firm acquired by US printing services giant R.R.Donnelly has chosen the Philippines as the springboard for its legal services outsourcing services. An officer of the firm told Businessweek that "in Manila, every lawyer seems to know what Roe vs. Wade was about. In Chennai, they may have some of the finest legal brains in the world but not everyone has heard about Roe vs. Wade or other key cases in US Supreme Court." Most Filipino lawyers sit for US bar exams and that gives Manila a leg-up over India , China, or Malaysia.

Now, if that isn’t good news, I don’t know what is. Local doctors
o chancoo

Mango

January 5th, 2007, 10:49 AM

^^Good that the're beginning to see the quality of service more than the cheap location.

portludlow

January 7th, 2007, 03:36 AM

The effects of the Taiwan Earthquake on submarine cables

http://www.quezon.ph/?p=1130

…Every call center in the country was down— some 150,000 employees on over 120 call centers were affected. Three days later, capacity was still down 40 percent. Complaints from irate principals started pouring in. Head office management wasn’t too happy either. I’m putting it mildly.

There’s already a lot of resistance in America to transferring American jobs overseas. Here’s perfect ammunition for those who want those Americans in call centers in America (where they used to be). While the call center bosses think it’s not smart to have all eggs in one basket (sorry for this hackneyed cliché, but it does express my sentiments aptly), the Philippine basket was dropped. It was not the fault of the Philippine government (now there’s a refreshing change) nor of anyone in the Philippines. Still, a bunch of eggs was definitely broken.

The culprit was a natural disaster —an earthquake in Taiwan so violent that it broke the underwater communications cable between the Philippines and the US.

If the Philippine government rushed to do something about the situation, it certainly didn’t tell anyone. Call centers, and the entire business process outsourcing industry were left twisting in the wind. That’s a good analogy: Death to the industry may be exaggerated, but you can be sure head offices will be rethinking their expansion plans.

The inability of the Philippines to respond swiftly or have alternatives in place forced companies to re-direct their calls to other countries—Malaysia, India, South Africa, wherever call center companies have alternate sites. The sad thing is that that re-direction is likely to be permanent.

…One of the problems he can address is that the Philippines has misplaced priorities. Places like Singapore (where the government owns Singtel) or NTT in Japan have clout. And they used it to get priority allocation of cable bandwidth when this crisis hit. As did several others—taking what the Philippines should reasonably have had.

So, now the Philippines must think contingency planning and buy a significant stake in a couple (in case one goes down) of the main cables. Or do what Kenya and South Africa are doing, lay their own cable. Given the importance ITES now plays, the Philippine government should seriously consider doing the same. The US150 MM or so to do it is small potatos compared to the huge potential of this sector. After all far more is spent on a road between factories and a port. The number of jobs, and well-paying jobs at that, created by one telecoms cable far exceeds whatever commerce, and jobs a single road can provide. An undersea cable can generate infinitely more revenues than any highway ever could.

What it also highlighted was need for a better communication system between all the major players: government, industry support services and, the call centers and BPOs themselves. They need a well-established “quick call” system so that when the unexpected happens everyone can be fully informed.

sandrn

January 12th, 2007, 01:54 AM

Is this really the case? That students dropped out of college to work in call centers, disgusting.
To all SSC forumers who are working as call center agents, please explain the real scenario.
I think jobs in call centers should help students pay for their college education or masters, post-graduate degree, and not an excuse to drop out of college. Imagine if one day a bubble burst happen on this service sector, what will become of these drop outs - inutil, who’ll sit in one corner and stare at the ceiling. What a waste of human resources..
Oh yeah, and RP is in DESPERATE need of scientists and engineers.

NSCB chief slams call centers, RP education problems
http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=42654
By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:56pm (Mla time) 01/10/2007

"It pains me to hear about many of our brilliant, young students dropping out of college to work in the call centers. Yes, the call centers where the money seems to be."

This was the opening statement of National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) Secretary General Romulo Virola in his recent column called "Statistically Speaking" in NSCB's website, pointing to what he calls a downtrend spiral of the country's education system.

Virola, who has presented his vocal stance in education in his previous columns, questioned the reasons for students dropping out of school to work as call center agents, which could have come from the high cost of education or from the education plan fiasco in previous years.

The NSCB chief had even stressed that this was a "bothersome trend" though he essentially points to the lack of prioritization in improving the country's educational system that would produce worthy engineers and scientists.

But Virola is critical not just of call centers, but also of the overall social environment of the Philippines. He also aimed his disappointment at Filipino's fascination for "boom tarat tarat," which ostensibly is a jingle used in a popular noontime TV show.

"Of course the call centers can help us attain the economic growth that we need to be able to reduce poverty. But is education no longer the asset that we of the older generation treasured? Isn't there anything anyone can do to contain the fascination of our society for our children to become singers and dancers rather than scientists and engineers?" Virola stressed.

Virola said in his column that statistically, the situation is serious as the country faces a continued decline in the quality of human resources and despite the medium-term development goals set by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, it is in education where the Philippines is lagging the most.

Referring to statistics from the World Education Indicators (WEI) report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Virola said 27 out of 100 Filipinos from age 25 to 64 have completed only at least tertiary education, which is a higher proportion than in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Apart from tertiary education, Malaysia has already outclassed the Philippines in terms of number of people who have taken at least secondary education. "In other words, our edge over Malaysia in the attainment of at least lower secondary education ended as early as the sixties! And the wide education gap we the older generation of 'Pinoys' enjoyed over Thailand and Indonesia has been dissipated by our 'bagets.'"

Virola also referred to the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) which showed that eighth-grade students in the Philippines ranked 41st in math and 42nd in science out 45 countries that participated. Likewise, fourth-grade Filipino students ranked 23rd in both math and science out of 25 countries who participated in TIMSS.

Another point that he raised was the low investment in education where the Philippines only invests 3.3 percent of its growth domestic product (GDP) to education. In comparison, Malaysia invests 7.4 percent and Thailand invests 4 percent of their GDP to education.

"How we envy the OECD countries that have the resources to spend more than 10 times what we spend per student in primary and secondary education! If only we did not have to spend so much for defense or corruption?" Virola lamented.

Another point that Virola raised are the low salaries of teachers some whom he said have left the country to work as caregivers or are forced to sell food items to students during recess just to compensate for their low paycheck.

Incidentally, Virola also criticized the apparent gender disparity in education wherein females are favored more than their male counterparts. Basing his argument on the WEI report, he said 50 percent of enrollees in secondary and tertiary levels are female, except in primary which is at 49 percent. "Just look around you -- you hear all those intelligent and articulate but sometimes 'artekulit' women!"

"More can be said by reading the WEI report. But one conclusion is safe: in education, we used to be better than many of our neighbors and competitors! Not anymore, or at least not much longer! Time to wake up! Maybe time to shift entertainment from Boom Tarat Tarat to something else!"

nayki

January 13th, 2007, 08:30 AM

^^Marami akong kakilala na huminto ng pag aaral pansamantala para lang magtrabaho sa call center. Nasisilaw lang sila sa pera hindi dahil sa wala silang perang pampaaral.:ohno:

Kaze

January 15th, 2007, 12:57 AM

IT firms expect 2007 a better yearhttp://www.mb.com.ph/images/spacer.jpg

By EDU H. LOPEZ

Many information technology companies are expecting a sustained growth in their businesses for 2007 with the improving economic environment in the country.

"I think 2007 will continue to become better. We expect areas like storage to become better, as well as specialized applications," said Wilson Ng, president of Cebu-based Ng Khai Development Corp.
Ng noted that there are integrated solutions, business applications and more web applications that will become useful in business and personal functions.
"I also expect that mobile mail, and anywhere surfing will become a reality," said Ng as he noted that IT Industry has been growing in the Southern Philippines, especially in Cebu.
"There has been rapid growth in the number of call centers as well as new software development companies that were established which we believe stimulates technology adoption."
It was also in 2006 that most major IT players now have a local office presence in Cebu such as Microsoft, IBM, HP, APC, Oracle, Cisco and others. "This means that the Southern Philippines area is maturing to be a significant market in the technology arena."
Ng said technology has become better. "The cell phones are more powerful, andgadgets, such as MP3 players, PDAs and digital cameras are finally getting more matured and getting mass adoption."
"More and more service providers like Smart Bro, Globe’s HSDPA, PLDT’s WeRoam, and various DSL offerings would mean more ways to connect with highspeed Internet for downloading music and videos are becoming more common," Ng added.
In the software industry, Antonio Javier, managing director of Microsoft Philippines believes that the local software economy has a lot of potential to grow and undergo further development in 2007.
Microsoft is working with government, NGO and industry partners to jumpstart programs that will accelerate the development of our software industry.
Javier said that the increased support for Philippine software firms was a definite boost to the local software industry.
Another area where IT can have a major impact in 2007 is in education. Quality education can be achieved by integrating ICT in teaching. Technology expands the possibilities for learning.
"We would like to see a Filipino workforce that is skilled and capable of competing at the global stage."
The demand for mobile devices will continue to grow and in the years ahead, more exciting innovations will unify the software, hardware and services in people’s lives, said Javier.
Consumers have become more discerning and these innovations will offer users more engaging and connected experiences.
Microsoft is launching the new Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office system this month.
For the first time, Microsoft will be launching its two flagship products together. "We are committed to empowering people with the right software and tools that will make them become more productive and efficient."
Javier said focus on individual productivity continues to be a major area of investment in the next releases of Windows, and the Microsoft Office System.
"We have listened to our customers, invested heavily in research, and made major improvements in new, intuitive user interfaces designed to increase the productivity of all users."
CHALLENGES
Piracy remains to be one of the biggest challenges not just to Microsoft but to the industry as a whole.
The Philippines is part of the top 15 countries with a projected fast growing IT sector and if software piracy is lowered and addressed properly, growth will be even faster.
Growth without reduction is only 81 percent, whereas growth with piracy reduction is 95 percent.
Piracy undermines the value of intellectual property and the need to protect intellectual property as an asset is essential to a country’s information economy.
High piracy rates hinder the development of the domestic software industry to create solutions for local software needs. Also, piracy causes the loss of local jobs and investments in new technologies.
EXCITING YEAR
2006 proved to be an exciting year for the IT industry. The past year saw growth and opportunities of the local software industry with Microsoft initiating business matching programs that enabled local software firms to showcase their competitive edge and seek partnerships with international businesses.
Microsoft also spearheaded Software Innovations Philippines 2006, which showed the breadth and talent of our local software companies that are developing using the Microsoft platform.
The event put the spotlight on the Filipino Independent Software Vendors and what they can do, the innovative spirit of the Filipino and their potential to be at par with top IT industries in the world.
Microsoft also strengthened its vision to empower people to reach their full potential through technology through programs and citizenship projects to bridge the digital divide.
Lasy year, Microsoft worked closely with the academe, NGOs and various partners for ICT skills development, collaborative research and the development of business and industry software solutions.
The active participation of the academe, NGOs and other organizations, contributed greatly to the growth of the Philippine IT industry.
2006 presented a lot of opportunities for the IT industry to grow. The local software economy has a huge amount of talent and potential that can be tapped to further boost the growth of the industry.
This talent and potential is not exclusive to the Philippine capital and Microsoft recognizes the IT development in the South.
Microsoft expanded its operations in the Philippines by opening the Microsoft Southern Philippines Office in Cebu in 2006. The business matching program of Microsoft also enabled our local software developers to interact with foreign business counterparts and show these companies what our local firms have to offer.
"We also saw technology being strongly integrated in our daily lives with the emergence of the ‘digital lifestyle’. We ventured into the retail space with the launch of the Microsoft Experience Center," said Javier.

http://www.mb.com.ph/INFO2007011584625.html

kiretoce

January 15th, 2007, 05:35 AM

NY Times cites call centers rise in the Philippines

The New York Times last month wrote an article about the rise of call centers in the Philippines because of lower cost, employee loyalty and cultural similarities with the United States.

D. Greenlees of the NY Times said that as India moves up-market in outsourcing, the Philippines is quickly gaining a share of the customer-service call center business. It may be a low-end, low-margin business, but for the Philippines it has been an employment boon.

He said “evidence of that sharp growth is on display early in the evening in the lobby of the RCBC Plaza building in Makati City, the main financial district of Manila. Clutches of young men and women, Starbucks coffee and McDonald’s bags in hand, head to work at more than a dozen call centers serving the United States, just as other workers are heading home.”

On a recent trip to Hong Kong to drum up investor interest, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo noted that there were barely 2,000 people in the so-called business process outsourcing industry when she gave her first State of the Nation address in 2001.

“Today, five years later, it is 100 times bigger - we have 200,000 workers there,” she said at a news briefing. “And every B.P.O. company that I meet is looking to double their work force.”

The caveat in the rise of call centers, however, is the deterioration of the Philippines’ main advantage, which is English proficiency. A study conducted by the European Chamber of Commerce in Manila found that 75 percent of the more than 400,000 Filipino students that graduate from college each year have “substandard English skills.”

A survey in June by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines found that English proficiency was among the top three areas that the country should seek to improve, behind only the country’s poor international image and political stability.

“English proficiency is also an urgent impediment to growth,” the group said in the study. “Fifty-one percent of respondents indicated that English proficiency has a ‘very significant impact’ on their organizations’ ability to grow."

The same survey indicated that most call center companies hired only 5 percent to 10 percent of the job applicants they interviewed, mainly because of inadequate English proficiency.

The Philippine Congress responded to those concerns last month by passing a law restoring English as the primary instruction language from high school onward.

Local dialects can be used up to third grade, and from third grade to sixth grade English will be taught separately under the new law.

The Philippines is always referred to as an English-speaking country, with more than 95 percent of the population able to speak or understand it. English, an outgrowth of American colonialism, was the medium of instruction in schools for decades.

Greenlees said “companies seeking cheaper alternatives for basic services have discovered the Philippines. For companies, the country’s appeal, aside from lower costs, include cultural similarities to the United States and employee loyalty.

“With a long history of contact with the United States, including several decades of American colonial rule, Filipinos are more attuned to Western culture than most Asians are. Call center employees not only find it easy to relate to Westerners but are also quick to adapt to a variety of accents. Most call center employees receive intensive training to acquire the accent of the customers they will be talking to.

“I have relatives in California, so I am familiar with the way they speak,” said Jessica Cauilan, 37, a Manila native who works overnight shifts trying to persuade bank customers in the United States to make payments on late credit card bills. Her call center company, IRMC, based in New York, has several such contracts with big consumer credit issuers."

The call center business is the fastest growing industry in the Philippines, growing last year by 90 percent as revenue reached $1.7 billion. More than 100 centers around the country have created a new class of relatively affluent and independent young Filipinos.

But growth in the industry has put such skilled employees in high demand, driving up competition and labor costs.

In India, the poaching of employees is behind an increase of about 50 percent in labor costs, according to outsourcing companies. They say turnover of staff in some call centers in India has been as high as 200 percent a year.

Filipino companies have turnover rates of 40 percent or lower.

“The longer you have an employee, the higher the quality they are going to deliver,” said Clint Streit, executive vice president for global operations at Convergys, an outsourcing company based in Cincinnati. “From that point, the Philippines has a clear advantage over India.” He added: “Ultimately we have to stem attrition rates in India, otherwise switch to the Philippines.”

Outsourcing company executives say that trend will ensure more call center operations are attracted to the Philippines.

“There are the lowest unit costs, the highest quality and the lowest attrition of any centers in the world,” said Vikas Kapoor, chief executive of IRMC. “It is well placed not only to compete, but to dominate in the sector.”

IRMC started its Philippine operations in February 2005. By early 2007, the company estimates, it will have 1,000 employees. Convergys has hired 9,500 people in the first three years of its operations.

“We will be doubling the size of our business over the next three to five years,” Mr. Streit, of Convergys, said.

Sheryl Lapuz, an IRMC employee with a degree from the University of the Philippines, said the combination of good wages and a modern workplace made it easy for call centers to attract qualified staff. “It’s the ‘in job’ in the country right now,” she said.

crappypants

January 15th, 2007, 06:05 AM

the article conveys good news but at the same time It seems condescending because it's about the PHilippines. THe NY times never has anything good to say about the PHils.

portludlow

January 19th, 2007, 06:34 AM

BPOs expanding, talent pool drying up

By IRMA ISIP
http://www.malaya.com.ph/jan19/busi1.htm
Business process outsourcing companies in the Philippines are expanding and the government is trying to correct the drying talent pool.

Trade secretary Peter Favila told reporters after his speech yesterday at the e-Services Philippines Forum, that one telephone company’s hiring rate has dropped to three percent.

A year ago, BPO firms fret that out of 100 applicants they screen only six qualify. Now it is down to three.

Favila said companies and schools are intensifying English proficiency and technical training to correct the present problem.

Despite the current problems, so many BPO companies are expanding like Ericsson Telecommunications Inc.

Favila said it will triple the number of accountants under its fold.

Other new investments include those of: Genpact, a member of the GE Group which has established an 800-seater contact center and hopes to expand to 3,000 employes in a few years; Dell, for a 700-agent contact center with expansion to 3,000; NetSuite, a global provider for integrated software; Sutherland Global Services, a New York-based company for a 1,000-seat BPO operations; Logica CMG, a London-based BPO firm for financial and accounting outsourcing and; Grand Vision International, a UK firm for a website design center in Clark.

He added that those who have expanded recently include: PeopleSupport, $15 million for its call center operations; Teletech, $75 million in Lipa, Dumaguete and Bacolod; Convergys which intends to hire 700 people by the end of the year and; HSBC which plans to open up another facility in Quezon City.

Favila said the information technology-enabled and business processing outsourcing sector is projected to to triple to a $12.4-billion industry by 2010 from $3.6 billion last year.

Favila said the sector is seen to create 920,764 jobs by that year, about four times the number of jobs as of 2006 which was 244,675.

Favila said the investment is significant since Ericsson’s Manila Shared Services Center is the only one outside the company’s headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden where two others are located.

The company inaugurated its headquarters at the Bonifacio Global City, Taguig last September.

The Center started its operations in July 2004, initially covering seven Southeast Asian countries and has since expanded its coverage to include United States, Canada, Mexico among others.

Ericsson had noted that Philippines as a perfect location due to its highly skilled, competitive and hardworking Filipino workforce.

In his speech, Favila said government is now positioning the country as a location for higher end knowledge work, known as knowledge process outsourcing to grab a slice of the global $17-billion industry.

The Philippines, Favila said, has a vast pool of people that can take on knowledge-intensive jobs like architecture and engineering. The two alone are estimated to reach $10 billion in three to five years.

Currently, the Philippines hosts Fluor Daniel, JGC (Japan, IBM Solutions, Bechtel, among others, for these kinds of work.

Favila said apart from a stock of 75,000 licensed professionals, the Philippines also offers competitive labor costs, at 15 to 30 percent of salaries of those in the US, Japan, and Singapore.

He noted that the Philippines can also make a mark in game development, animation and design.

In his speech, Favila said government is addressing concerns of the sector in sourcing qualified human resources since takeup rate in the sector has fallen drastically. Favila later told reporters that one telco’s hiring rate is a mere 3 percent.

"We are in discussions with our private sector partners and academic institutions to make sure that we have continuous supply of English proficient and highly-skilled professionals for high value jobs," Favila said. He added that the ongoing English Proficiency Enhancement Program being pursued in 30 universities and training institutions nationwide.

Other initiatives involves a focused investment targetting mission in untapped markets in the United States to widen our reach, such as areas like Florida, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Seattle and Chicago. Another is an update of our inventory of IT firms and workers to encourage expansion in the regions and provinces.

On the legislative front, Favila said the trade department is supporting the ratification of the Data Privacy Bill to sustain our image as a choice location for critical business processes.

jjpaul_c

January 24th, 2007, 10:33 PM

Philippines: Business Process Outsourcing To Keep Growing
Source: Nasdaq (http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20070118%5cACQDJON200701180211DOWJONESDJONLINE000381.htm&)

MANILA -(Dow Jones)- The Philippine government is projecting the fast-growing business process outsourcing sector to continue turning in double-digit growth in terms of revenue and employment, based on new investments and the expansion of existing industry members.
"For the past years, it's no secret that the IT (information technology) and BPO sectors of the Philippine economy have set up strategic businesses here, and the Philippines has benefitted enormously from these investments," Trade Secretary Peter Favila said in a speech during a news conference on the seventh Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition scheduled next month.
The trade department's Board of Investments estimates that the BPO sector's revenue this year will grow 37% to $4.99 billion from last year's estimated $ 3.63 billion. The sector generated revenue of $2.42 billion in 2005.
The Board of Investments also estimates the sector's workforce to expand 40% to 343,013 employees this year from the 2006 estimate of 244,675. In 2005, the sector employed a total of 162,250.
Back in 2000, the BPO industry had only 2,400 employees and $24 million in revenue.
"By 2010, this sector is projected to grow to a $12.5 billion industry and create close to a million jobs," said Favila.
Towards this end, the government has been pursuing efforts to market the Philippines as a BPO site for companies in the U.S., Australia, Asia and Europe. The U.S. currently accounts for 85% of the Philippines' BPO market, said Jeanette Carrillo, business development manager for IT and officer in charge of the information and technology division of the Board of Investments.
"During the next few years, the U.S. will remain our top market, but we want to expand our reach in Europe, Australia and Asia. India is also looking at the Philippines as an outsourcing destination," Carrillo told Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday.
India currently ranks as the world's top outsourcing destination.
Carrillo said the government expects the BPO sector to become the third- largest contributor of foreign exchange after merchandise exports and overseas workers' remittances.
Targeting Higher Value-Added Services
The Philippines is now moving toward higher value-added services to further enhance the revenue potential of outsourcing, said Favila.
"We are positioning the Philippines as a location for higher-end knowledge work or knowledge process outsourcing to target the global KPO market, which is expected to growth to $17 billion by 2010," he said.
Data provided by the Department of Trade and Industry's Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions showed that traditionally the U.S., UK and Europe have outsourced low-value business processes to service providers in India and the Philippines while retaining core processes and those that involve analysis or strong domain expertise. However, recent trends indicate an emerging market for higher-value services known as knowledge process outsourcing.
"The success of the outsourced and captive contact centers, followed by the fast growth of the back-office processing and shared services industry that supports multinational companies from the Philippines, had paved the way for new opportunities," said Dan Reyes, president of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines.
Reyes said the shift is apparent across all sectors of the local outsourcing industry, and includes human resource services, engineering design, and health information.
Favila said Fluor Daniel, JGC Corp. of Japan (1963.TO), IBM Solutions, and the Philippine unit of Bechtel Group Inc. (BTL.XX) are some of the clients in the Philippines for KPO work.
Carrillo said it is possible that in three to five years time the KPO business would have reached critical mass, just like what the BPO sector is now experiencing.
Some of the big names in BPO have already set up operations in the Philippines, among them Convergys Corp. (CVG), PeopleSupport Inc. (PSPT) and Teletech Holdings Inc. (TTEC).
The Philippine unit of Ericsson Nikola Tesla DD (ERNT.ZG) of Sweden is also expanding its shared services facility, where the company performs accounts payable processing of Ericsson companies worldwide, from 70 accountants to more than triple that number.
"The challenge now is to sustain our gains and lift our capabilities to even higher levels," said Favila, citing among others, efforts to ensure continuous supply of English proficient and highly skilled professionals for high value jobs.
-By Micheline R. Millar, Dow Jones Newswires; (632) 848-5051; micheline.millar@dowjones.com

jjpaul_c

January 24th, 2007, 10:37 PM

Tampa Mail-Order Company Outsources To Philippines
By MICHAEL SASSO The Tampa Tribune
Published: Jan 24, 2007
Source: TBO.com (http://www.tbo.com/news/money/MGB6J6V3BXE.html)

TAMPA - Trouble finding enough customer service workers has prompted one cigar and linens mail-order firm to look to the Philippines for help.
This week, an employee of Thompson & Co. of Tampa, which operates catalog-based retailers Thompson Cigar, Casual Living and Linensource, told The Tampa Tribune about recent mass job cuts and work furloughs at the company. On Tuesday, the company's vice president of human resources, David Gebhart, said that's a bit of an overstatement.
The company, which has 131 employees at its call center near Tampa International Airport, did let go some seasonal workers. Gebhart insisted that's not unusual, because the company brings on extra help on a seasonal basis. Business "slows to a peep" after the holiday season, he said.
However, the company also has reduced its permanent work force by about 70 employees over the past year, he said. At this time a year ago, Thompson had 203 call center employees, he said. Aside from its call center operations, Thompson also has warehouse and other staff members that bring its total work force to about 650, Gebhart said.
The call center cutbacks were needed because of a slowdown in business, and because more of its sales are coming from its Web site rather than from telephone orders. Web orders require less labor, he said. Finally, over the summer the company hired an outsourcing company to handle some customer orders from an office in the Philippines. The number of Filipino employees there has increased to 70 from about 12.
Although employees in developing nations are known to earn much less than their American peers, Gebhart said the real motivation to outsource was the constant challenge of filling jobs in the Tampa Bay area.
The Filipino operation is just a test for now, Gebhart said, because the company still is evaluating the quality of the outsourcing company's customer service.
"Our ambition is to always have a call center in the Tampa Bay area," he said.
Reporter Michael Sasso can be reached at (813) 259-7865 or msasso@tampatrib.com.

kiretoce

January 26th, 2007, 01:59 AM

Convergys targets home-working to curb cost
January 25, 2007

Davos, Switzerland (Reuters) - Convergys Corp. , which runs call centers for other companies, is planning to get thousands of its staff working from home to keep a lid on rising wage costs.

The U.S.-based group is already piloting a home-working scheme in the United States and President and Chief Operating Office David Dougherty said on Thursday he aimed to export the idea to Asia, where the company has major operations.

Convergys has 60,000 call center staff worldwide, including 12,000 in India and 8,000 in the Philippines.

"I would like our next 60,000 call center agents to be home agents, whether those are in North America, India or the Philippines," Dougherty said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

"It's lower cost -- even though we actually pay that person, in some cases, a higher wage -- because you don't have the capital required to build a contact center."

Dougherty said the almost universal access to broadband made the proposition very workable in the United States, while broadband deployment was also growing dramatically in its offshore locations.

Industry analysts say wages pressures are intensifying across the call-centre industry, reflecting currently low U.S. unemployment levels and strong demand for staff elsewhere, particularly in India.

Despite the upward pressure on costs, Dougherty said India remained a very appealing location, given its large pool of skilled, English-speaking labor.

"The turnover is higher and the wages have gone up relative to when we went there, there is no question about it. Relative, though, to other alternatives, it still remains an attractive market for us," he said.

Convergys, which also handles billing for telecom firms and other clients, said on Wednesday that fourth-quarter profit rose 90 percent on higher revenue from its services.

The company reported net profit of $44.5 million, or 32 cents per share, on revenue up 8 percent at $720 million. It forecast 2007 earnings of more than $1.20 a share.

kiretoce

January 28th, 2007, 05:47 AM

ECCP promotes RP as main BPO destination for EU firms

The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) announced that it has formed a broad government-private coalition that will push the country as a primary outsourcing destination for European companies.

Dubbed IT Task Force Europe, the coalition will seek to tap Europe’s outsourcing needs which is projected to hit $ 47 billion this year and grow to $ 152 billion over the next two years.

Members of the coalition include the Board of Investments and Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions from the government and Soluziona, Common Quality Language, European IT Service Center, and the British Chamber of Commerce from the private sector.

ECCP executive vice president Henry Schumacher said the coalition is currently consolidating its initial plans to come up with a single strategy for the year.

"We are looking at several options right now including the participation in trade fairs, joining congresses on outsourcing, sending of missions to Europe, and inviting European companies to the Philippines. If we can have European delegations coming over to the Philippines to look at the country’s capabilities, then half the battle is already won," Schumacher said.

Currently, the Philippines only gets a small fraction of European outsourcing needs with the bulk coming from the United Kingdom and Ireland which are both English speaking countries.

Schumacher said the Philippines should not only target North America as there is a huge untapped opportunity in Europe for IT enabled services that transcend language barriers.

IT enabled services include accounting, animation, back office, banking and finance, insurance, medical transcription, software design, and telecommunications.

"There is a need to push the Philippines as an outsourcing destination as there is now a danger that Eastern European countries with their proximity becoming the choice location," Schumacher said.

The government considers outsourcing as one of the sunshine industries in the country and has been projected to grow substantially until 2010.(BAC)

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines) turned over today the IP Case Database to its partner agencies in the National Committee for Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR).

The IP Case Database is a web-based application that provides real-time updating of IP violation cases filed with the Department of Justice (DoJ) by law enforcement agencies, and document tracking for the Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Optical Media Board (OMB), Bureau of Customs (BoC), the DoJ, and IP Philippines.

"The IP Case Database is a central repository of data and information on intellectual property cases for strategic and tactical decisions of NCIPR members. We have embarked on this project in the interest of transparency in government operations," Atty. Adrian S. Cristobal Jr., Director General of IP Philippines, said.

The creation of the IP Case Database forms part of the nine-point directive of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her November 17, 2006 memorandum to the NCIPR, "IP Philippines shall maintain a database and enforcement monitoring system, and consolidate information and reports from other agencies."

In the PNP and NBI module, authorized users can search for existing warrants, draft new files of cases, and access the case master list. The general information field in the module contains details of warrants of arrest, and status or report content that require data from the users.

Some of the information fields that are being accomplished include the complainant or plaintiff, the defendant or accused, search warrant number, enforcement area, seized items, estimated commercial value of the confiscated pieces, and the type of violated law and charged offense.

Similarly, the OMB and BoC module contains the same fields for the input of information with the inclusion of inspection details. Authorized users of the four agencies forward the new cases to the DoJ, which then completes the required fields and submits the accomplished form to the lower courts for appropriate action.

IP Philippines can likewise upload new cases to the database. It can also generate a master list of complainants and defendants, and the list of cases listed by the six agencies. After the completion of data uploading from the agencies scheduled late February, the Intellectual Property Case Database (http://ipcdl.ipophil.gov.ph) can be accessed by IP owners.

The IP Case Database will be launched on February 22 during the first meeting of the Public-Private Partnership Council for Intellectual Property Rights (P3CIPR) in 2007. The council was established in 2005 to serve as a venue for consultation, coordination and cooperation between the government and private sector in strengthening the IP system.

Animo

January 30th, 2007, 01:21 AM

Monday, January 29 2007 @ 09:31 AM GMT

Business
Western Mindanao State University (WMSU) President Eldigario Gonzales has sought the intervention of Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo to help realize the establishment of a call center at WMSU.

Gonzales decided to bring the matter to the attention of Saludo after learning that the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has removed WMSU from the list of 10 State Universities and Colleges (SUC)-member schools as beneficiary of the CHED project.

He said that WMSU is included in the original project proposal but was later removed from the list for reasons the school already has other job-generation undertakings in place.

He said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the release of P300 million from the CHED development fund "in order for SUC-member schools to venture into job-generation project through the establishment of call centers.

Gonzales is also the president of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) aside from being the president of WMSU.

He said in line with the order of the President, each of the 10 identified SUCs in the country will received P30 million to start with the call center project.

He said at least 180 personnel will be employed once a call center would be established at WMSU.

There will be 60 personnel rendering service in each of the eight-hour shift since the call center will be operating 24 hours daily.

Once established, Gonzales envisions the call center in WMSU to cater not only to the English and Spanish speaking customers but to include Arab nationals as well since "right now there is an ongoing training for Arabic language in our school." (PNA)

http://biz.balita.ph/html/article.php/20070129093141193

richard24

February 14th, 2007, 10:13 AM

i found an interesting article on an indian website about medical transcription while researching on indian literacy... wala lang..

Up and running

( Published on June 19, 2006 in Business Line (business daily from The Hindu group of publications )

Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee

The Indian medical transcription industry is on its feet again and appears to have learnt from past mistakes. A look at the opportunities - and the threats.

At a plush upmarket hospital in New York City, a doctor dictates medical diagnosis for a patient onto a digital recorder. Thousands of miles away, in Siliguri — a rapidly developing metropolis in the state of West Bengal — a young Medical Transcriptionist receives the dictation in a voice file, and then readies herself for the task in hand.

Over the next few hours, the spoken words are efficiently transcribed, formatted, proof-read and perfected into a digitised medical record, which will eventually become a part of patients' permanent files, ready to be retrieved by the hospital for insurance and research purpose.

Make no mistake. The Medical Transcription (MT) outsourcing industry, which had come under a cloud after its initial runaway success in the 1990s, is all set to make a grand comeback.

According to the latest Market Intelligence Service report of Nasscom, with at least 120-150 companies engaged in medical transcription in India, the sector is clocking an annual revenue aggregate of about $220-240 million. And this figure, analysts say, will witness a meteoric rise in the coming years, given factors such as increasing healthcare costs in the US, its ageing population, and increasing regulatory emphasis on digitisation of medical records and documentation.

MT activity — which by definition refers to conversion of doctor or physician interactions with their patients, including patient history, medical diagnosis from oral or written exchanges into a digitised format — hit the Indian shores way back in the 1990s, when large US-based service providers made a beeline for the country to leverage the cost advantage achievable through the offshore outsourcing model.

Outsourcing Medical Transcription allowed physicians to not only devote more time to attending patients but also paved the way for standards in the documentation and management of medical records.

Moreover, offshoring to remote locations such as India meant access to a large skill-pool in remote locations, and substantially reduced costs. It was a situation that appeared too good to be true. And it was.

Quality - the casualty

With few players in the Indian offshore outsourcing industry having onsite prowess to interface with customers, many companies had to rely on middlemen to build business. This dependence led not only to severe price undercutting (cost per line transactions declined from 12 cents to as low as 2 cents), but also, in the rush to serve customers and to grab substantial market share, the quality of work delivered got reduced substantially.

Several companies also failed to meet all the provisions of their contracted agreements, thereby affecting performance, says the Nasscom report. "Although a multitude of factors could have contributed to the setback in India, most likely there was a lack of quality MT work being returned to the US, small transcription outfits underestimated the complexity of the industry, and very few companies acquired the critical mass for surviving long-term," Peter Preziosi, Executive Director of the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT), recalls.

Bouncing back

However, the sector seems to have come a long way since then. It has bounced back and has also seen a substantial degree of consolidation, with 10-12 companies accounting for almost a third of the industry employee base.

According to the AAMT, the global medical transcription pie is estimated to be anywhere between $12 billion and $20 billion, with the US being the largest market. Only 50-60 per cent of the US transcription market gets outsourced from hospitals and clinics, and of that amount approximately 10 per cent is offshored to countries such as India and the Philippines.

"Today, India's share is roughly over $200 million. This means, as an industry, we are capturing less than 2 per cent of the overall size of the US market, but it also shows there is a tremendous opportunity waiting to be tapped," says Suresh Nair, CEO of Spheris India, and President of the Indian Medical Transcription Industry Association.

Demand build-up

K.B. Anand, Chief Operating Officer of medical transcription firm Acusis India, sees a huge demand building up for MT work in US hospitals. "For hospitals and clinics in the US, the bottom-line is always a concern. One area to cut expenses is outsourcing good quality work from offshore locations, at less than half the price. Also, there is an immense backlog when it comes to transforming dictations into medical records and dearth of professionals (the average age of an American medical transcriptionist is 49 years) to ease that backlog. Together these factors are creating a burgeoning demand-supply gap in the US market," he reasons.

India, with its talent pool, English language skills, and the advantage of a favourable time zone, is in a unique position to tap this opportunity, say industry observers. In India, it is estimated that service providers charge anywhere around 12-18 cents per line of 65 characters, while the same work, when sub-contracted further to smaller outfits, can go as cheap as 4-5 cents per line.

"In contrast, the work done within US shores could be billed at 15-25 cents per line," says Anand.

Privacy concerns

Given this backdrop, while there is obviously a great potential for the growth of the medical transcription industry in India, companies need to be acutely aware of the sensitivity of the data being handled and also realise the sensitivity of the US public towards privacy concerns, Nasscom says, adding that MT service providers need to have stringent data protection laws in place to acquire more business.

"There is also increasing pressure on companies to be HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliant. The purpose of HIPAA is to protect confidential healthcare information through improved security standards and it defines certain requirements for storing patient information. Under HIPAA, transcription service providers must implement technology and business processes to ensure the security and confidentiality of patient information and establish an audit trail of all those who have accessed this information," says the report by Nasscom.

"There is no specific data protection legislation in India equivalent to the US. However, if you see all the Indian laws, including the Information Technology Act, there is enough teeth to prosecute those violating the stipulated norms. However, we will be happier if we have a specific Act on data protection," says Nair.

So, for offshored MT providers, overcoming perceptions of enforcing privacy and security standards could continue to plague efforts in expanding market share, cautions Preziosi.

Manpower crunch

Another major challenge is the impending manpower crunch facing the industry, which currently employs about 20,000 professionals. Even with the resurgence of this industry, there exists an acute shortage of qualified MTs, both in India and in the US. This holds true for the established large Medical Transcription service organizations in India who have more work than professional medical transcriptionists to do the job.

Consider this. Spheris India alone intends to add 1,000 employees every year from now. The company has 2,300 now and hopes to reach 3,000 professionals by the end of this year, according to Nair.

With thousands of new job positions peering out of the MT horizon, many players feel it is about time the Government adopted initiatives to embed medical transcription programmes in the college curriculum.

"Huge Government support is required to make MT a viable vocational subject in institutions. If this does not happen, we may see a manpower shortfall in the next 1-2 years. The industry's manpower requirements is in thousands while we are getting people in hundreds," Acusis' Anand says, while pointing to issues of attrition and cross-poaching.

The sector also rues the inclusion of domestic medical transcription services under the service net in the Union Budget 2006-07. While the move does not directly impact the export segment, the industry fears it may lead to an increase in costs for those companies that sub-contract part of their activities to domestic players.

Threat factors

Also, although well ahead of other alternate destinations and potential competition, Indian firms need to be wary of developments in locations such as Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, China, Mexico and Brazil.

Amongst them, the Philippines is the most visible threat. Being one of the largest English-speaking nations in the world with a literacy rate of over 90 per cent, the Philippines had about 5,000 medical transcriptionists as of May 2005 and this figure is expected to reach a whopping 25,000 by 2010.

"Canada, Ireland, and the Caribbean countries are also emerging locations for providing MT services. Countries who adhere to building a strong education and credentialing programme will achieve success in the marketplace," says Preziosi, whose organisation will soon launch entry-level `Registered Medical Transcriptionist' certification in the country.

Ultimately, the state of `well-being' of the industry will hinge on building a strong education infrastructure for medical transcription; projecting the profession as a life-long career; adhering to professional standards of practice, and promoting credentialing for medical transcription practitioners, he adds. moumita@thehindu.co.in

http://www.acusisindia.com/AIP0302/News/Upandrunning270606.asp

kiretoce

February 15th, 2007, 06:07 PM

RP ready to take bigger slice of BPO business
Thursday, February 15 2007

With two of the world's largest business watchdogs upgrading the country's economic outlook for the next 12 months, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared on Thursday the Philippines is ready to take a bigger slice of the highly lucrative and booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

In her speech keynoting the seventh e-Services Philippines (ESP) Global Sourcing Convention and Exhibition held at the Isla Ballroom of the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City this morning, the President said the International Business Report of Grant Thornton and the California Pension and Retirement System's (CalPERS) favorable outlook on the Philippine economy have made the country a more "desirable investment destination."

The recent International Business Report of Grant Thornton, one of the world's leading organizations of independently owned and managed accounting and consulting firms, ranks the Philippines second among 30 world economies in terms of optimism on the economy over the next 12 months.

CalPERS, America's largest pension and retirement fund and top global leader in the investment industry, on the other hand, has raised the rating of the Philippines, making it a more desirable destination for its funds than China or even India, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

"This event (ESP) should further convince our potential investors that we are ready and here to stay after taking a growing slice of the global BPO business," the President said.

She pointed out that this was not the case six years ago.

"In 2001, there were only 2,000 employees working in BPO companies. But due to the "tough decisions" to raise revenues, these have proved to have a positive development on the economy," the President explained.

The tough decisions cited by the President were the implementation of radical revenue collection measures such as the Expanded Value-Added Tax (E-VAT) Law which raises the VAT on goods and services from 10 to 12 percent and the Lateral Attrition Law which imposes penalties on revenue collection agencies for failure to meet collection targets.

Because of these measures, the government was able to increase collections which were then used to fund vital infrastructure projects and in turn helped in improving the economy.

"Infrastructure spending is a main driver of investor confidence in the same way that a balanced budget has the same effect on our creditors and the capital markets: they must be at the top rung of priorities," the President said.

"In our country, in our administration, of the last six years, especially the last three years, we have struck a healthy balance among all aspects of the economy to maximize confidence, credibility and payback to the people," she added.

The BPO industry, according to her, has grown to 250,000 employees with prospects reaching well into the millions in the years to come.

"Our option to spend on infrastructure and social services will spur growth in the countryside, notch up grassroots enterprises and build wealth in the communities," the President said.

She stressed that BPO players are now pushing for higher-end projects, which include the utilization of editors, medical diagnosis, accounting and all kinds of higher value e-services, to create a million jobs to generate US$ 12 billion in revenues by 2010.

"We are committed to go up the value chain and the influx of multinationals puts us several notches higher," she said.

The President said that to keep this commitment, the government would continue to hone the strengths which the Filipino worker has over other employees: extensive digital infrastructure, trusted business environment, class A office spaces and skills of the Filipino workforce.

"We continue to sharpen our workforce by enhancing the English curriculum. English is back as the medium of instruction in our country. Bridging courses and skills; honing the curriculum for medical editors; and building more IT (Information Technology) hubs in the Super Regions," the President said.

In ending, the President pledged to the more than 500 delegates who attended the ESP that she would "keep the economic ship on course and our political stability steady in the sea of optimism and hope."

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye, meanwhile, said in a statement that the long-term effect of President Arroyo's tough decisions is clearly evident in the stream of positive news on the economy.

He disclosed that German and Singaporean firms are staking their interest in the water utility firm Maynilad in a bid to be the country's partners in the delivery of clean water.

crappypants

February 15th, 2007, 06:18 PM

good news . i hope the govt seizes the moment.

nayki

February 16th, 2007, 04:55 PM

Philippine ICT sector is booming and booming each year!

kiretoce

February 17th, 2007, 04:01 AM

Regions competing with Metro Manila for investments
Friday, February 16 2007

Major cities are gearing up to the challenge outside Metro Manila to capture majority of the BPO investments that are coming to the country.

Trade and Industry Undersecretary for Regional Development Carissa Cruz-Evangelista reported that about 68 IT-enabled locators have already established businesses outside Metro Manila owing to improved infrastructure and abundant IT manpower resources.

The Undersecretary cited Board of Investment (BOI) data showing 2006 investments in the information technology (IT) and IT-enabled/business process outsourcing (BPO) sector at P15.75 billion.

"Part of these local and foreign investments went to the provinces of Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod, Leyte, Cagayan de Oro, Baguio and Laguna," she said.

To date, Cebu has a total of 29 IT locators; 11 call centers and 18 business process outsourcing. Considered as the oldest city in the country, Cebu has ready-facilities such as two PEZA registered IT Parks and numerous IT buildings.

"Telecommunication is at par with modern city in the world. Broadband through fiber optic cables, DSL and WiFi are available all over Metro Cebu area. It is also complemented by an international airport and seaport making Cebu accessible to the world, and a wide array of hotel, convention and resort facilities," Cruz-Evangelista said.

Davao City, on the other hand, boasts not only its infrastructure but also their typhoon-free zone with a land area of 244,000 hectares touted as one of the world's largest.

Doing business in Davao is also the lowest cost, proven by the study made by the Asian Institute of Management through a project called "Philippine Cities Competitiveness Program."

Identified as one of the IT Hub area in the Philippines per National Telecommunication Memorandum no. 05-05-200, Davao has efficient public utilities such as 711,839 fixed lines, six WiFi enabled coffee shops, more than 200 Internet Cafes, international airport and seaports.

Iloilo, the regional center of Western Visayas, hinges their economic progress on the development of information and communication technology industry.

Iloilo has available sites for ICT investments, namely Robinson's Place, Far Eastern Building, Payless Plaza, Gaisano City and SM City. Four call centers have, likewise, established their businesses in the province: ePLDT Ventus, Callbox Contact Center, IV Call Center, Echo Customer Systems, Inc.

Bacolod has three Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) accredited IT Zones namely The Block, Robinsons Metro Bacolod and Bacolod Information Technology Park are available. Telecommunication is also excellent with fiber optic and submarine cable as the type of local loop in the area.

The province of Leyte has also two existing ICT companies -- Direct Data Capture and Mariq Ventures. These two companies have located in the newly erected Leyte Information Communication Technology.

Three call centers, one medical transcription company and one software development company have already established their ventures in Cagayan de Oro. The presence of infrastructure like telephone companies, broadband network and internet protocol applications complemented to this development.

The Calabarazon region, compose of Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon and Rizal, has a total of 3,779 internet access stations and internet café.

The region has also copper/fiber optic cable as their type of local loop.

Rizal and Laguna has existing locators namely INFONXX Call and TELETECH Call Center, respectively.

"We are optimistic that more investments will come to the regions. At the same time, we are working closely with the local governments to improve doing business in the provinces," Cruz-Evangelista said.

kiretoce

February 17th, 2007, 04:25 AM

Medical transcription sector rakes in $75M in revenues

Manila, Philippines -- The medical transcription (MT) sector is expected to grow faster than the call center industry after generating an estimated $75 million in revenues in 2006.

Industry group Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines Inc. (MTIAPI) noted a sharp rise in total revenues in the last three years from $42 million in 2004, based on figures from the Board of Investments (BOI).

The association also increased its membership from 46 to 70 member-companies in the last 12 months.

The US is the largest market for local MT companies and the high demand for offshore services is driven by the passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a law that requires medical institutions to archive records in digital format.

MTIAPI chair Josie Gonzales also attributed the high demand to a rise in healthcare spending in the US due to an ageing population, leading to an increase in patient documentation.

"The steady decline in the number of qualified medical transcriptionists in the US is driving companies there to outsource offshore to destinations with strong English-language skills," said Gonzales, who is also and executive for SPi Technologies, a local business process outsourcing firm that offers third-party MT services.

According to ValueNotes Research, 40 percent of the total MT market in the US is being outsourced to third-party service providers; five percent of which is contracted abroad.

India gets nearly 80 percent of the offshore MT market while the Philippines gets about 10 percent.

kiretoce

February 17th, 2007, 04:27 AM

BPO worker shortage looming in RP -- CICT

Manila, Philippines -- The country's BPO (business process outsourcing) industry will need more than 400,000 workers this year, according to Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) chief Ramon Sales.

The demand is even higher than the total number of graduates the country produces annually. The number of college graduates in the Philippines is estimated at 350,000 per year.

"Last year, the industry demand was around 250,000 workers," Sales said. "But the actual number of workers fell short and was about 230,000. This year, the industry will need around 403,000 workers."

While the BPO industry has grown tremendously in the last five years, companies have always lamented the declining pool of qualified workers. Compounding the industry's labor shortage woes is the high turnover rate among existing workers.

According to Sales, the industry's hiring rate is currently around 25 to 30 percent.

"This is also a very good indication of the attrition rate among companies," Sales added. "At worst, it is about 50 percent while at best it is 20 percent for a few of the larger players."

But if it's any consolation, India's BPO firms are said to be suffering attrition rates as high as 90 percent, which is why Indian companies are now looking to locate operations in the Philippines where the attrition rate is "quite reasonable."

"The industry itself in the United States and Canada is suffering from very high attrition rates, and now there's India," Sales noted. "To a large extent, the industry growth is very high. But we are not necessarily creating (growth), it's all coming from the outside."

kiretoce

February 17th, 2007, 04:28 AM

Outsourcing, call center revenues increase

No less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo graced the grand opening of the Teletech Business Process Outsourcing, Inc. in Bacolod City, this province in her recent visit in the province.

Teletech is just one of the four call centers now existing in the city providing employment for thousands of Negrenses.

To date, since it started operation in Bacolod, Teletech has more than a thousand employees serving the company.

According to XMG global, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) research in its recent study, the Philippines’ overall revenue in the outsourced ICT services is $ 2.54 biillion in 2006 higher by 41 percent in 2005

By the end of this year, XMG predicted that the global market share of the country could reach approximately $3.5 billion.

XMG Chief Executive Officer Lauro Vives said the Philippines is still considered as a “green field” site for IT services.

XMG also said that 94 percent of the Philippines' business is combined business process outsourcing and call center revenues while another five percent is from ICT services.

With the booming BPO and call center industries, 79,400 IT professionals and 120,000 call center agents are employed both serving the local and offshore markets.

Malacañang statement said that this stream of positive news on the economy is the effect of President Gloria Arroyo’s tough decisions.

Infrastructure is a main driver of investor confidence in the same way that a balanced budget has the same effect; and both are in the top rung of the Government’s priorities, the statement added.

DoggMann

February 21st, 2007, 11:58 PM

http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=50798

RP BPO industry to grow $3.3B in 2007 -- XMG

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:43pm (Mla time) 02/21/2007

MANILA -- The Philippine business process outsourcing industry is set to grow to $3.3 billion in terms of revenues in 2007, 38 percent higher than the $2.54 billion in revenues from 2007, according to research firm XMG.

In a report, XMG Asia Pacific Director for Intelligence and Data Services Cesar Tolentino said that the Philippine IT-related services outside the BPO industry can also grow another 40 percent to $200 million, which points to an overall growth of the Philippine ICT market at $3.5 billion by the end of this year.

Incidentally, XMG noted that the contribution of the Philippines to the overall business is just one percent in 2006, though this is expected to grow to two percent in 2009.

Tolentino said that growing price pressures continue to exert influence on service providers to increase their presence offshore, while the growing cost of business process and IT services is forcing multinational firms to utilize offshore services.

Incidentally, Tolentino said that based on a previous research they conducted, a large number of Global 2000 companies say that terrorism is a problem and that there are geopolitical risks involved in their business, pushing them to take the offshore outsourcing route.

Tolentino added that offshore delivery centers and lean operating models could sustain an 8- to 10-percent margin advantage.

XMG's report also characterized the level of proficiency among offshore service providers to have certification, particularly the CMM (Capability Maturity Level), a software certificate that is used as basis by potential customers to gauge a provider's capability to provide services.

Just last year, 51 of 381 outsourced software services firms are certified in either CMM, International Organization of Standardization and Europe's own excellence model, EFQM.

Other aspects affecting the accelerated growth of the BPO market in the Philippines are the commoditization of software licenses that become ideal for outsourcing. Standardization of most business applications also make them suitable for online distribution.

Furthermore, hosted applications that offer specialized functionality are being hosted online, which also encourages the development of the "software as a service" platform wherein customers only need to pay the application per use compared to the traditional packaged software purchase.

swatch69sg

February 22nd, 2007, 11:00 PM

US outsourcing firm to expand to RP

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 06:19pm (Mla time) 02/22/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- United States-based outsourcing and consulting services provider ProV International is looking at moving a majority of its operations from the US, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom to the Philippines in the coming years as part of its expansion plans.

The company provides an entire list of IT-related outsourced services such as staff augmentation, software development, manpower training, customer relations management, data center management, network security and data warehousing. Their main target firms are retailers, schools and government agencies primarily from the United States.

ProV International co-founder Jim Lynch told reporters in the Philippines that they hope to migrate much of their services to the Philippines, which means they would be getting more people. Currently, the company has 54 employees, some of whom are being trained abroad. Lynch said they are hoping to get about 500 people in the Philippines by the end of the year or in early 2008.

Part of their program is to get software engineers and consultants and train them in the latest software certifications in order to provide services to foreign firms.

crappypants

February 22nd, 2007, 11:08 PM

good news^^

Animo

February 24th, 2007, 06:32 AM

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 03:25pm (Mla time) 02/19/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- As the call center industry grows and expands outside of Metro Manila, the business is becoming multilingual as well with operators from Spain and the Middle East reportedly looking to set up shop in the country.

In an interview, Carissa Cruz-Evangelista, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) undersecretary for regional operations, said a number of these call center operators have been eyeing cities in the South -- particularly Zamboanga City -- as possible locations for offshore operations.

A number of companies from Spain, as well as Dubai and Bahrain in the Middle East, have been reportedly recruiting agents in Zamboanga City for overseas work. Zamboanga residents speak "Chabacano," a local dialect derived from the Spanish language.

"The province is also known for its Madras style of schooling similar to countries in the Middle East," said Cruz-Evangelista, who heads DTI's efforts to promote regional cities as investment destinations for business process outsourcing or BPO.

"President [Gloria Macapagal-] Arroyo herself has been campaigning the past two years that the Philippines should attract investors not just from the US but in other parts of the world as well." she added. PeopleSupport, one of the largest operators in the country, has existing services tailored for Spanish-speaking countries.

According to statistics from the Board of Investments (BOI), investments in the IT and IT-enabled/BPO sectors totaled P15.75 billion last year.
It is estimated that 70 percent of investments in the BPO industry go into Metro Manila and the rest in various provinces. Cebu comes next with about 20 BPO companies.

In the last three years, a number of companies have set up operations in other cities such as Davao, Baguio, Iloilo, Bacolod and Cagayan De Oro.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=50343

Animo

February 24th, 2007, 06:49 AM

By Tracey E. Schelmetic
Editorial Director,
Customer Interaction Solutions magazine

As Hispanic-American consumers become more affluent, they represent a rapidly expanding sector of the business-to-consumer market. American businesses are starting to realize that if they want to reap sales from this increasingly valuable market segment, they need to offer marketing and customer service in both Spanish and English, in whatever combination the customer prefers. And they need to start doing it now.

Call centers that offer support for Spanish are growing by leaps and bounds. Outsourcing to countries with high quality, Spanish-speaking work forces is also on the rise (in terms of U.S. outsourcing, this may put a crimp in the popularity of India as a customer service outsourcing destination, as India does not generally offer European languages other than English, though it may prove a boon to the Philippines, which, as a former Spanish colony, offers Spanish language support.)

South and Central American and the Caribbean are also poised to benefit from the increasing need of Spanish-language support.

Once touted as “the little economy that could,” the Dominican Republic’s decision to bet on the high-tech service sector has begun to pay off. By the close of 2006, the Dominican contact center industry boasted more than 40 centers employing more than 18,000 people, gaining the country a growing reputation as an extremely viable destination for business process outsourcing (BPO) outsourcing.

The blossoming of call centers in the country has indeed attracted industry attention as the Dominican Republic focuses on high-tech services more sharply. According to the Zagada Institute, a business development analytics firm, the Dominican Republic is the leading call center location in the Caribbean and Central America, followed by Jamaica, which employs roughly 10,000 agents throughout 16 centers, Panama with 9,500 agents, Costa Rica 4,500 and El Salvador with 4,000.

Eddy Martinez, executive director of the Dominican Republic’s Center for Investment and Exports (CEI-DR for its Spanish acronym), expects the number of BPO agents to grow to 30,000 by the end of 2007.

“We are bullish on the BPO industry because we have seen the explosive demand for Spanish-language back-office, telemarketing and customer support services,” said Martinez. “We are now starting to reap the benefits of our investments in training and technology, and our positioning as the Spanish-language partner to countries such as India, who are global BPO industry leaders.”

(Note: India, aware of its lack of European language services, in many cases choses to partner/sub-contract with other countries for support in the languages Indian agents lack.)

There are several other contributing factors to the Dominican Republic’s emergence as a call center/BPO destination. Among them is the country's convenient proximity to the U.S. mainland, which makes it attractive to U.S.-based companies that want their offshore operations to be “nearshore.” The Dominican Republic is located less than 850 miles from Miami, or about a two-hour flight. Additionally, the country's cultural affinity with the U.S. makes it easier to find skilled bilingual agents at a time when the labor pool is tight.

This was a key factor for Stream, a global contact center services provider, when the decision was made to expand its contact center operations in the Dominican Republic.

“A lot of our clients like to jump on a plane and come and see the center and see the people who are handling their business,” said Toni Portmann, CEO of Stream.

Additionally, operating costs are much lower then those of other destinations, such as India, Chile, Puerto Rico or Mexico. It easier to find skilled bilingual agents, at a reasonable rate, as competitive wages in the Dominican Republic can be as much as 70 percent lower than the cost for a bilingual worker in the U.S. According to the Boyd Company, an independent location consulting company, costs to operate call centers in the Dominican Republic are the lowest among Caribbean locations.

While industry experts agree that India and China have led the charge in the development of the BPO industry, a geographical competitive shift has already begun to take shape. A.T. Kearney, an industry standard in rating BPO competitiveness, has already stated that for its 2007 report, it will include 15 new countries, among them the Dominican Republic, Tunisia, Ghana and Uruguay.

According to Martinez, the Dominican Republic has everything in place to capture a larger share of this increasingly growing market, which last year raked in approximately US $6.3 billion for India alone.

“We’re prepared for the challenges ahead,” said Martínez. “And because of that preparedness, we’re ready to take our game to the next level.”

http://www.tmcnet.com/news/2007/02/21/2360065.htm

kiretoce

February 24th, 2007, 08:41 PM

Growing tomorrow’s leaders today
Sunday, February 25, 2007

In today’s corporate world, building a career may seem like a daunting task. While the BPO industry booms in the Philippines, with thousands of jobs being offered to Filipinos all over the country, the prospect of building a dynamic career is something that young professionals look for yet infrequently find.

Despite possessing the talent, drive, and willingness to succeed in the workplace, oftentimes young professionals are not afforded the proper avenues for personal and professional development. This reality can make finding a job that is tailor-fit to one’s ambitions with room for growth truly challenging.

Fortunately, Convergys, the world’s largest contact center operation, has recognized this fact. A pioneer in the Philippines, Convergys recognizes today’s budding talents and is ready and willing to cultivate tomorrow’s leaders.

Convergys’ Management Development Program (MDP) was designed to address the dearth of talent in the industry and it aims to establish, develop, and place future managers. Dispelling notions of dead-end careers, Convergys’ MDP prepares young leaders with the skills they need to climb the corporate ladder and has already created many success stories with real people who know the value of building a career.

Creating World-Class Leaders

“We really are committed to developing our people to be world-class,” says Christine Cancio, Manager of Convergys’ Management Development Program.

A graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, Christine (or “Canch” as she is affectionately called by her team) helped develop Convergys’ MDP after rising the ranks of their company.

“Convergys is definitely the right choice for people who are really looking to build a career and who really want to be successful. We are a strong and financially stable multinational company that is recognized globally. We believe in building people from within, and we have created structures to support our people at every level, from staff to top management, to better ensure success. Most of all we are a company that truly cares for its employees and are always striving to do things better and make growing with us worthwhile for our employees,” continues Christine.

Already in its second year, the Convergys Team Leader Management Development Program accepts those agents who possess and exhibit that drive to succeed. After getting accepted into MDP, agents undergo a 35-day curriculum based on a blended approach to learning which includes instructor-led classroom training, on-line learning, mentoring, process learning, and project implementation. Upon certification, the new well-trained and homegrown team leaders are placed back into their business units ready to lead others.

Challenge & Fulfillment

“Working with Convergys has been very fulfilling,” exclaims MDP Trainer Junyx Onrubia Jr., “From the start, I immediately felt that the company had a concrete plan for me, I just had to do my best. Sure enough my hard work and dedication has paid off and now I get to help others realize their potentials.”

Originally from Olongapo, Junyx now resides near the Convergys Makati offices. When speaking of his training experience he found it challenging yet fulfilling at the same time.

“It put my confidence and belief in myself to the test. MDP also served as a reality check for me, to validate if this was the direction I really wanted to go. At the end of training I felt that something changed inside of me…that I became a better person. My leadership skills were enhanced, and most of all I realized that I am an integral part of helping the company succeed. MDP is more than just a training…it’s a self-defining moment.”

Convergys has already cultivated many leaders and this focus on development sets this global leader apart from other call center companies in the Philippines. By guiding and caring for its employees with real opportunities for development and growth, it’s no wonder why thousands plan to build their careers at Convergys.

A Commitment to Building Careers

“We stand out because of our strong commitment when it comes to developing our people. We believe in talent and take great lengths to make sure that we hone this no matter what level we belong to in an organization. We are strategic at planning; we provide direction and give people the tools they need to act and produce results,” says Jennifer Becerial. A cum laude of U.P. of the Visayas, Jennifer knows how to work hard and play hard. At just 23 years old, she manages to successfully juggle her love for beach hopping as well as her demanding position as Operations Manager.

“If you have what it takes, you’ll be surprised how quickly you can get promoted in our company. At Convergys, good enough is not always enough because you can always do BETTER and be MORE than you are right now. Inasmuch as compensation and benefits matter in a company, to me it’s more important that the organization I work for shares my values and beliefs. Recently, I have developed a habit of reflecting before I leave the office. I can’t believe how much satisfaction it gives me to know that I have reached out to touch someone’s life and somehow, made it a little better. Nothing beats that feeling and I get a dose of that every single day that I am here.”

Smiling at her fellow Management Development Program graduates, Jennifer shared, “MDP opened my eyes to endless possibilities within the organization and gave me the training and the resources to make those possibilities a living reality. Overall, I can say that MDP equipped me to be able to do what I do best every day. And how many development programs can give you that?”

kiretoce

February 24th, 2007, 08:59 PM

RP as Prime Business Process Outsourcing Destination
By Agnes M. Abrau

The Philippines is poised to become an attractive outsourcing site in the world counting India as its close competitor in Asia. India being the “king of outsourcing”, industry leaders cited the rise of the number of business process outsourcing (BPOs) companies in the country and the high demand for employment in the sector. In 2005, the Philippines’ Department of Labor took pride in the country’s productive workforce who possesses the necessary skills in customer service and English proficiency to match world standards.

Mitch Locsin, executive director of Business Process Association of the Philippines, said that at present there are 266,000 Filipinos employed in several BPOs across the country, adding that in the whole BPO industry, the Philippines ranks third, India on top and China in second. He also said that the country enjoys a 40 to 45 percent growth in the BPO industry in the Philippines. Based on this growth path, it is expected that the employment numbers in this sector will reach 800,000 by 2010, Locsin said.

The industry leaders also said the Philippines BPO sector placed second to India in terms of cost.

In 2005, the Department of Labor recorded the employment of 132,000 workers in the first half of the said year.

“The BPO industry is doing quite well. 2007 will be a year to reckon with. There will be more value-added services. The trick is to work closely with the government and the academe,” Locsin told members of the media during a press briefing held Feb. 19.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the leveraging of technology or specialist process vendors to provide and manage an organization’s critical and/or non-critical enterprise processes and applications. The most common examples of BPO are call centers, human resources, accounting and payroll outsourcing. Business process outsourcing may involve the use of offshore resources.

In line with this, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (CCCP) spearheads the first 2007 ICT Awards night on March 1 at the Ballroom 2 and 3 of Renaissance Makati City Hotel, Manila. The awards night, said CCCP Executive Director Sean Georget, is set to highlight and promote the success of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry in the Philippines.

Bullish about the BPO industry, Georget also told the media that the chamber is promoting the Philippines as the BPO destination of choice in the international market.

“What we’re doing here is to recognize outstanding performers in the industry, to promote the Philippines as BPO outsourcing venue. We’re branding the Philippines as the choice of BPO destination. We need to market the Philippines internationally,” said Georget, adding that Filipinos can do an extraordinary job in the area of customer service.

Moreover, the ICT Awards night also recognizes the contributions by organizations and individuals within the Information and Communication Technology community. The awards also provide a medium to promote the work and achievements of category winners and finalists to the broader Philippine business community and to provide a launching pad for marketing the Philippines a destination of choice for multinational companies.

Believing that the Philippines would achieve this target, Georget said it’s a win-win situation for the Canadian Chamber to organize this first-ever recognition night.

“If we win, it’s a win-win situation. It brings up the ICT industry. By promoting the Philippines as a BPO destination, it creates a bigger pie in the international community,” Georget said.

Locsin, for his part, added: “We will have to make sure that the Philippines is foremost in their (international market) minds. The Philippines is the destination of choice for their outsourcing.” He added that the Philippines is “moving up the value chain”. Recognizing India being the leader in the field, the Philippines is not far behind. “India is four to five years ahead of us,” he explained.

On the telecommunications infrastructure, Locsin said the Philippines is “up there”. In 2004, the country ranked fourth in the infrastructure aspect. A closer collaboration, however, is needed among the industry players, the government and the academe to achieve this goal, Locsin said.

Locsin’s robust projections are echoed by Richard Mills, 1st vice president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines as well as Belen Bonifacio, managing director of Cebu Educational Development Foundation Information Technology. The three, along with Board of Investments Executive Director Celeste B. Ilagan, Don Felbaum, head of the ICT Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Executive Director Henry Schumacher and Sean Georget of CCCP serve as the ICT 2007 board of judges.

BPO’s role

BPO also refers to the rearrangement of entire business functions to some other service providers, mainly in low cost locations. The service provider may be either self-owned or a third party. This relocation or contracting out of business processes to an outside provider is mainly to achieve increased shareholder value.

Some of the general services provided by the BPOs are receivables and payables, inventory management, order processing, budget analysis, cash flow analysis, reconciliation, data entry, payroll processing, QuickBooks accounting, financial statement preparation and accounting services. Some of the web based services include live online sales and order entry, E-commerce transaction support, Live online enquiry handling, Web Design/Development, among others.

BPO may include both IT management and business operations. Business operations include relocating functions such as payroll, accounting, billing or even real estate management to a third party. Invariably all these business processes depend on IT but they are separate from hard-core IT operations like data center activities or network administration. An important facet of business process outsourcing is its ability to free corporate executives from some of their day-to-day process management responsibilities and duties.

2007 ICT Awards

According to CCCP statement, this year’s ICT Awards on March 1 will focus on the international community and aims to bring together senior professionals from the Philippines and Asia to highlight Philippine competitiveness at the global level in the ICT sector.

In early 2005, the CCCP established and created the ICT Committee as a result of its regular monthly event known as the ICT Leaders Forum, which has become prominent within the international community in the Philippines and the Asia Pacific region. The forum gathers together senior decision makers in the ICT sector to listen to industry leaders and to provide participants an opportunity for networking and discussion. It attracts more than 100 key industry professionals from the Philippines and the Asia Pacific region per event. It also has received strong media coverage provided by local and international publications.

Eight awards will be given out. These are BPO Company of the Year, Best New BPO Locator of the Year, Best Mid-sized BPO Company of the Year, BPO Employer of the Year, Fastest Growing BPO company of the Year, Most Innovative BPO Company of the Year, ICT Individual Contributor of the Year and the ICT Individual Contributor of the Year award (public and private).

The awards night will feature Jim Dvorkin, chief technology officer of Five9 and Eric Alberto, senior vice president of PLDT/Smart as keynote speakers. Dvorkin will talk about “Technology Revolutionizing the Call Center Industry.” It is supported by the country’s multinational companies such as PLDT Business Solutions, Five9, BlackBerry, Colliers International, Nortel, Business Mirror, Renaissance Makati City Hotel Manila, Sommelier and Yes Payments.

Awards Criteria

Judges and the general public can provide nominations. Three to five finalists for each category as well as the winners are voted on and chosen by the Awards Judging Board.

Any company involved in providing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services to offshore client organizations from the Philippines during the year 2006 can be considered for the award. The company may provide services to internal clients (as a captive BPO) or to external clients (as a non-captive BPO). The services provided may include voice or non-voice.

The judging criteria include size and growth in revenue and employees, size, quality and diversity of international clients (internal or external), depth and breadth of competencies as demonstrated through industry recognition, relevant certifications, and investment in the development of people, processes and technologies; management capabilities as reflected in the experience and accomplishments of the business’s top leaders and its investment in management systems that ensure outsourcing success; involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives; strong evidence of actively supporting the international ICT industry in the Philippines.

portludlow

February 26th, 2007, 07:15 AM

Philippines challenges India for outsourced dollar
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=68111
By Rosemarie Francisco

It's dusk in the Philippine capital Manila and the five-storey office of Advanced Contact Solutions Inc. (ACS) is beginning to fill up.

By 10 p.m., all 1,600 call centre agents will be at work, rebooking airline flights in the United States and dealing with clients of phone companies and insurance firms.

The Philippines, with a large pool of English speakers and a cultural affinity with the United States, is developing as a strong second to India in the global outsourcing market.

"We're actually flooded, we have a deluge of client visits. Every week we are entertaining somebody," said Arthur Harow, vice president for operations at ACS, which is looking to expand into non-voice outsourcing, including documentation, IT and financial services.

"In the past, you would sell the concept of 'Why the Philippines?' Now you don't have to sell the Philippines."

ACS has 5,400 seats now in call centres, up from 800 in 2004, and shares in its parent firm Paxys climbed threefold in 2006 and are up 39 percent so far this year.

The Philippines earned $3.6 billion from outsourcing in 2006, up 50 percent from the previous year, and the government estimates revenue could jump to $12.2 billion by 2010 as the industry diversifies.

India, the leader in the global outsourcing market, earned $6.2 billion in the 12 months to March 2006, and this is likely to jump to $8 billion in the year to March 2007.

Even outsourcing firms based in India are moving some of their operations to the Philippines.

"India is getting to be an important source of investments in IT and IT services," said Celeste Ilagan, executive director for international promotions at the government's investment agency.

"Clients of Indian companies have dictated that apart from operations in India, they should have a backup offshore and the Philippines is always chosen to complement Indian operations."

INDIA AS PARTNER
Big outsourcing players from the United States such as Sykes Enterprises Inc., Convergys Corp., PeopleSupport Inc., Accenture Ltd. and eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. already have branches in the Philippines.

Last year, the world's largest maker of personal computers, Dell Inc. opened its first call centre in the country and a second contact centre is in the works.

Kiran Karnik, president of India's software and service industry group, said that, for some lines of business, the Philippines was a better bet because it has stronger cultural ties to the United States than India does.

"If you want to do a marketing kind of thing, India is not the place. Go to the Philippines because the cultural affinity is very, very high," Karnik said at a recent conference in Manila.

The stakes are high, with the Philippines tapping less than a fifth of the $80-billion global outsourcing market at the end of 2006. India corners at least 43 percent.

"I think 2007 is going to be another positive year for the industry," Ilagan said. "Since 2007 started, there have been more enquiries on IT outsourcing, software development. It has become more diverse."

Ayala Corp., the country's oldest conglomerate and its fourth most valuable firm, joined the outsourcing bandwagon last year when it set up a unit focusing on high value services such as graphics design and legal process outsourcing.

But while the high value of so-called business process outsourcing (BPO) is growing, the Philippines will remain mainly a voice-based centre.

STRONG PESO
The expansion in the foreign-currency-based BPO industry comes despite continued strength of the Philippine peso.

"We have enough margins to absorb that," ACS President Victor Endaya said of the strong peso. "The margins in this industry are good if you know how to run the business."

The impact of a continued rise in the peso will be felt more by new players in the industry.

"Those companies which entered quite late in the business, instead of registering break even in two years, because of the peso they may have to wait for a few more years," said Jojo Uligan, a director at the country's call centre industry group.

Entry-level wages for call centre agents in the Philippines have risen as much as 69 percent in 2006 from 2003, but that should not dampen interest in the Philippines, Endaya said.

"India has quite a few costs like free meals, door-to-door pickup of agents, those are standards in India. We don't have those costs," he said. - Reuters

jbkayaker12

February 27th, 2007, 04:40 AM

Speaking of BPO work, my cousin who is employed by Citigroup recently went to Australia to train Australians in their BPO services. Lucky him all expenses paid for. Oh and he's a graduate of De La Salle-Taft.

schaner

February 28th, 2007, 04:41 AM

A lot of opportunities open up when a BPO begins it's operations. First off there's the people they hire to man the phones. Then there's the "behind the scenes" people --- janitorial, maintenance, security, food (caterers or proprietors of canteens etc). What more if these BPOs decide to build their own buildings rather than rent one? Jobs for the construction industry! And those who do well as agents can move up to higher positions that pay well and have excellent perks.

sandrn

February 28th, 2007, 12:49 PM

US outsourcing firm to expand to RP
http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=51003
By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 06:19pm (Mla time) 02/22/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- United States-based outsourcing and consulting services provider ProV International is looking at moving a majority of its operations from the US, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom to the Philippines in the coming years as part of its expansion plans.

The company provides an entire list of IT-related outsourced services such as staff augmentation, software development, manpower training, customer relations management, data center management, network security and data warehousing. Their main target firms are retailers, schools and government agencies primarily from the United States.

ProV International co-founder Jim Lynch told reporters in the Philippines that they hope to migrate much of their services to the Philippines, which means they would be getting more people. Currently, the company has 54 employees, some of whom are being trained abroad. Lynch said they are hoping to get about 500 people in the Philippines by the end of the year or in early 2008.

Part of their program is to get software engineers and consultants and train them in the latest software certifications in order to provide services to foreign firms.

US firm to open contact center in Cebu
http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=52053
By Riza T. Olchondra
Inquirer
Last updated 06:21am (Mla time) 02/28/2007

Cordia Corp., a telecommunications service provider in Florida, United States, said it would open a 130-seat call center in Cebu City.

“We hope [it] will be operational by May 1,” Cordia president and chief operating officer Kevin Griffo told the Inquirer via e-mail.

“We estimated that we could save about 50 percent on our cost of getting new customers through this new call center,” he said.

The call center will provide outbound sales service for US and other international markets, and may also provide customer relations, support and collection services, Griffo said.

He said it would have 140 employees, most of which would come from Cebu.

Cordia chairman and chief executive Joel Dupre said in a statement, “We have been reviewing this plan for some time and chose Cebu for its staffing capability, accent-neutral spoken English, and lower operational cost.”

Cordia offers through its operating subsidiaries local and long-distance telecommunications services in more than 60 countries. With INQUIRER.net

DoggMann

March 1st, 2007, 02:41 PM

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=52335

(UPDATE) Arroyo inaugurates second Dell call center in RP

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 07:24pm (Mla time) 03/01/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inaugurated Thursday morning Dell's second call center facility in the Philippines at the Eastwood Cyberpark in Quezon City.

About 1,200 workers are eyed for the facility, bringing the company's workforce total to 2,600. The Eastwood facility currently employs 200 agents and Dell plans to hire 1,000 more employees this year.

Dell's other call center facility is located at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City and was opened in February 2006. The facility provides service and technical support to Dell consumer customers in the United States.

Richard Hunter, vice president of Dell's Customer Experience and Support Team, noted that Dell is expanding its global network of customer support centers to keep up with its growth as a company.

Dell operates facilities in 25 locations, including the Philippines and India.

Asked how Dell's call center operations locally compare with India, he replied: "We are also growing rapidly in other locations. But in terms of percentage basis, growth in the Philippines is higher than anywhere else in our global network."

Hunter declined to divulge how much Dell has invested so far in its Philippine operations.

Texas-based Dell Inc. is one of the world's largest computer companies.

In a statement, Dell said the company selected the Philippines for its customer contact centers "because of the strong language and communication skills of its high-quality workforce."

"With its English-savvy population, about 100 similar facilities in place and 650,000 students, the Philippines is fast becoming the contact center location of choice in Southeast Asia," the company said.
Originally posted at 2:37pm

crappypants

March 1st, 2007, 09:12 PM

^^ good news ule

schaner

March 2nd, 2007, 08:55 AM

The contact center and BPO industry is definitely a big business. This is a very positive indicator that foreign investors have huge confidence in the capabilities of the Filipinos, as well as in the government. They're really taking a risk with their ventures here, and I'm proud that we are able to fulfill those expectations.

Ady001

March 3rd, 2007, 12:38 AM

^^ I hope the problem of cables will be solved soon. Power problems are likely because the Philippines is not in the mainland of Asia. But then again...

The BPO industry sure is booming. If the Philippines did not embrace the "benevolent assimilation" of the americans hundreds of years ago, the Americans surely would still keep their jobs.

kiretoce

March 3rd, 2007, 07:19 AM

Hard-living youngsters drive Philippine outsourcing
Friday, March 2, 2007

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines' outsourcing industry is generating billions of dollars in revenues but executives fear employees are turning to caffeine, cigarettes and booze to deal with unsociable hours and demanding customers.

"I worry when I go to the call centres that we are spawning a generation of chain smoking, coffee addicts or worse, chain smoking beer drinkers, Rosalie Montenegro, senior vice president of the Call Centre Business Group under Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) told Reuters on Friday.

"It is a reality, because the social support has not kept up with the growth of job creation."

Around 200,000 people are employed in the Philippines' outsourcing sector, many of them hired straight out of college.

Quick access to a monthly salary -- entry level wages have risen as much as 69 percent since 2003 -- and an open office plan full of twenty somethings creates a hectic social life.

But the strange working hours -- 9 pm till 6 am to cater for the U.S. market -- is wearying and going for a post-shift drink to unwind means boozing at daybreak.

Aside from modern offices, Montenegro said investments must be made in what she calls "social infrastructure" to promote the well-being of the industry's employees, who are often spotted nabbing a quick cigarette outside their offices.

"We need to invest in social wellness of our kids because the next generation should be the highest focus going forward," she said.

COUNTRY CLUB

Montenegro said PLDT, the country's biggest phone company and a medium-sized player in the outsourcing sector, was considering building a country club for its call centre agents.

Montenegro said she hoped other outsourcing companies would support such a facility.

She said health and wellness providers, like spas, gyms and fitness centres should also be encouraged to extend their operating hours to cater to the needs of stressed workers.

The Philippines, with a large pool of English speakers and a strong cultural affinity with the United States, is developing as a viable alternative to India in the global outsourcing market.

It earned $3.6 billion from outsourcing in 2006, up 50 percent from the previous year. The government estimates revenue could jump to $12.1 billion by 2010 as the industry diversifies.

Big outsourcing players from the United States such as Sykes Enterprises Inc., Convergys Corp., PeopleSupport Inc., Accenture Ltd. and eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. already have branches in the Philippines.

Last year, the world's largest maker of personal computers, Dell Inc., opened its first call centre in the country and recently opened a second contact centre.

"The Philippines is working very hard to achieve it's '10-10-10' vision of $10 billion dollars, 10 percent market share by 2010 and this is not going to happen by dreaming about it but by having a solid strategy," Montenegro said.

kiretoce

March 3rd, 2007, 07:23 AM

Philippine firm targets app development outsourcing

Software development firm Exist Global aims to arm business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in the Philippines with “software development outsourcing” services -- seeing the niche as the trend of the future.

In an interview this week with Computerworld Philippines, Charles Ames, vice president for business development for Exist Global Inc., said that although the Philippines is seen as a leader of the BPO space relating to call centers and other types of key business processes, it has yet to be recognized as a leader in software development outsourcing. “We plan to work with Philippine BPOs who want to extend their portfolios to offer software development services,” he said.

Ames said Exist Global intends to align with BPO providers to provide a sort of a private label at the software development service, allowing BPOs to extend their client relationships and keep the business in the Philippines.

“This is to mitigate the risk of BPOs going let’s say for example to India to get software and then later on decide to consolidate because he can get all of it from India. We don't want that to happen. We want to extend those services here and keep the business in the Philippines,” he said.

Ames revealed Exist Global has actually enabled one BPO provider to offer software development but declined to name the company. He said they are currently reaching out to top BPO providers here to help them offer software development in a special way.

“The initial reactions have been positive,” Ames said. “They (BPOs) are looking at it as a strategic risk.”

Winston Damarillo, founder and chairman of Exist Global and a Filipino, reported that their company's global expansion plans include the addition of new executive officers, a significant increase in the company's Philippines-based workforce, and intensified sales and marketing efforts both in the US and Europe.

Only recently, the firm added a slate of industry veterans to lead its expansion efforts, including former Sun executive Steve Nathan as its president and CEO, Ames as vice president of business development, and Nicholas Hughes as corporate controller.

Drawing from its success and experience in open source software development, Exist Global has developed a hosted operating infrastructure called Distributed Engineering Network (DEN), which enables the company to deliver the benefits of open-source style development to distributed engineering projects, building proprietary and Web-delivered applications in addition to open source software.

crappypants

March 3rd, 2007, 08:38 AM

go go go i hope we overtake india.

earlat

March 5th, 2007, 03:04 AM

go go go i hope we overtake india.

^^ For voice-enabled services I think we can be ahead but quantity-wise it's not gonna happen this year or the next... But I have the same feeling though. I HOPE we can beat India. :)

diehardbisdak

March 6th, 2007, 07:39 AM

IT firm to expand Cebu force
Sun-Star (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2007/03/05/bus/it.firm.to.expand.cebu.force.html)
5 March 2007

A GLOBAL software development company is planning to expand its operations in Cebu within the year by hiring 50 to 70 software engineers.

Together with this planned expansion, Exist Global, which develops open source software solutions to various companies in the United States and Europe, is also moving its Cebu operations to a bigger office in the i2 Building at Asiatown IT Park.

Exist Global founder and chairman Winston Damarillo said in a press conference last Friday that the company has secured venture financing to accelerate its growth plans.

Damarillo said one of Exist Global’s expansion plans is to increase its pool of software engineers in Cebu and Manila.

Exist general manager Jerry Rapes said the company considers Cebu’s vision to be an information technology (IT) hub favorable to its expansion plans.

The company, whose Philippine subsidiaries are Exist Quest Inc. in Cebu and Exist Software Labs Inc. in Manila (Ortigas), is also preparing for its initial public offering at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Damarillo said that as Exist Global continues to grow, it will venture into “partnerships or buy smaller companies.”

But he said the first step towards implementing the company’s expansion plans is to strengthen its senior management.

“We got Steve Nathan, a proven leader with a great track record of inspiring and scaling technical organizations, to deliver world class services and products,” he said. He added that Nathan, who is the company’s president and chief executive officer, will “drive Exist Global’s vision for global software development optimization.”

Nathan, in the same press conference, said that once the company goes public, it will offer its employees stock options.

He said this is one way to give employees a chance to share ownership of the company. It is also another way to provide competitive compensation to employees, he added.

Damarillo admitted that it is difficult to prevent IT professionals, particularly software engineers, from working overseas.

“But we can show that it is better to export the product of engineering work in the Philippines than export Filipino engineers,” he said.

He said Exist chose to be “silent” until now, although it has been operating in Cebu for one year, to first gain “strength and recognition” as a software development company.

Exist was included last year in the top 100 companies list of Red Herring Inc., which described the company as a “rising star” among start-ups. Exist also bagged the ZDNet Asia Top 10 TechnoVisionaries Award last year.

To ensure a sufficient pool of competent engineers, Exist has partnered with academic institutions like De La Salle, University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University to implement software development training courses for teachers and students.

Damarillo said Exist is “likely” to conduct the Exist Code Camp in Cebu to provide training for selected teachers. (LAP)

diehardbisdak

March 6th, 2007, 07:40 AM

ICT industry in Cebu City expands by 300 percent

CEBU CITY — The number of software developers in Cebu today has more than tripled since 2001, which demonstrates Cebu’s massive growth in the area of information and communication technology (ICT).

Bonifacio Belen, chairman of the ICT-Link Asia that will host the Cebu ICT 2007 International Conference and Exhibition in June, said that there are now 3,500 software developers in the province, compared to only 850 six years ago.

Workers in the ICT services such as call centers and data encoding have reached 18 thousand compared to only 7 thousand a few years back largely due to the presence of the top six call center firms that have branched here, according to Belen.

"We’ve got something to say when it comes to ICT," Belen said during the recent Cebu media launching of the Cebu Business Month (CBM).

The ICT conference and exhibition is one of the highlights of the CBM, a yearly celebration in June spearheaded by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) to promote the province as an ideal investment haven.

India considers the Philippines as a close competitor specially in the global outsourcing market with 266 thousand Filipinos employed in the business, Belen said.

Currently, the Philippines has only one to three percent world market share of the global outsourcing trade with India leading with more than 50 percent of the global market share of the ICT field, Belen said.

Belen said the country hopes to capture around 20 to 30 percent of BPO world market. The ICT conference and exhibition aims to initially pave the way for this, he said.

The ICT conference will bring together 150 information technology leaders from 11 Asian countries with a minimum of 15 delegates per nation.

About 40 IT experts have already confirmed attendance to the conference. The experts will come from India, Beijng in China and the US. Participants will focus Asian collaboration in the ICT field, it was learned. (PIA)

Source: Manila Bulletin

kiretoce

March 13th, 2007, 07:55 PM

Outsourcing Turns Philippine Culture Inside Out
By Audrey Carpio March 13, 2007

MANILA, Philippines — It is called the country's latest sunshine industry, but thousands of call-center employees in the Philippines barely get to see the light of day. As dusk settles and most others are heading home, customer-support representatives begin their nocturnal shifts, energized by take-out food from the nearby McDonald's or Starbucks franchises located in the shadow of Business Process Outsourcing buildings, or BPOs. These boxy new edifices, taking their place along the skyline of Manila's financial district, Makati, are emblazoned with high-tech names like ePerformax, eTelecare, and InnovaQuest.

Call-center employees have to adjust to a new sleep cycle as well as a new way of speaking, sometimes even a new name — answering callers from America and Britain, who ask technical questions about their recently purchased computer, such as, "Why is the cup holder not working?" (Answer: "Because it's a CD-ROM drive.")

Yet new graduates are flocking to the industry, and it's not hard to see why: The average starting salary of $275 a month is well above minimum wage of about $6 a day.

"Call centers have modern workplaces, offer good wages, and you are likely to be surrounded by young people. The job usually attracts people aged 19-35 years old, regardless of their course in college," an operations supervisor at Advanced Contact Solutions, Hazel Manzano, 26, explained.

An exception to the age norm is Linda Cahilig, who, at 52, occupies an entry-level position as a customer-care representative at a top BPO. But because of her extensive previous experience at traditional companies and her two master's degrees, she is also a communications coach, with long-term goals of contributing in the training department. Her reasons for joining, just six months ago, were idealistic; she is hopeful for what the industry can do for the Philippines. "I like the fact that it is currently employing a lot of our graduates. Dedicated people who work well but would most likely be mismatched with the job requirements in traditional companies … [They] are the very ones attracted to the call centers. Personally, I want to do something to make our country the top BPO country in the world."

crappypants

March 15th, 2007, 07:50 AM

i think that's achievable. everytime i make a call i always seem to get someone from the PHils. washington mutual, direct tv, verizon, american express, aol, vonage, Hsbc, I'm suremany otheres will follow suit. they're much understandable than the Indians and not because of bias.

amigo32

March 15th, 2007, 09:26 AM

my buddy just got hired. A call center in makati supporting Car rental service in the US.

kiretoce

March 15th, 2007, 04:51 PM

BPO players ramping up Philippines operations
Galloping wage inflation in India is driving companies to cheaper global destinations
By Reema Jose Thursday, March 15, 2007

BANGALORE, INDIA -- The wheel has come a full circle for the Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) sector with runaway wage inflation driving the who’s who in the domestic BPO world to look for low cost destinations such as the Philippines to scale up operations.

Leading the pack is the Infosys BPO, which has already set up shop in the Philippines in association with a local partner. The company is said to be planning to ramp up its presence there through an acquisition or floating a new facility.

Other BPO players such as HTMT, IBM Daksh and GenPact are also ramping up their Philippines operations, industry watchers say. Company officials, when contacted, refused to comment.

Ironically, India scripted its much acclaimed and much lampooned (in the West) BPO success story on the back of its low wage cost advantage.

Investments, advisory and management firm Tholons’ Principal Vinu B Kartha told FE that the challenges of scaling up in India are getting tougher each day.

“The challenge is real. For a tier-II player who needs to grow to graduate to tier-I, Philippines are an extremely attractive base to expand into. In 2007, we expect four to five deals involving large Indian players who are moving to that country,” he said, adding, “most of the investments there would be towards setting up support operations for primary facilities based in India.” Many BPOs are eyeing tier-II locations outside Manila and Makati in the Philippines to set up disaster recovery centres for Indian facilities, sources said.

While initial establishment costs for launching BPO operations there were comparable to those in India, scaling up in that country proves easier unlike in the crowded and costly Indian cities. The Philippines is already known as a major global BPO hub.

“In the off-shoring space, companies are now comparing tier -II locations within India to those even in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the like, that offer similar price advantages and support expansion needs,” said senior director of consulting company neoIT, Sabyasachi Satyaprasad.

Industry watchers, however, caution that this should not be seen as the end of India’s BPO dream run.

NOVO ECIJANO

March 24th, 2007, 02:06 AM

As the purse is emptied the heart is filled. - Victor Hugo.
Good Morning, Guest Register / Login India Time: Saturday, March 24, 2007 4:32:56 AM

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Philippines Catching up with India in the Outsourcing Industry By Winston Pepito

India, the dominant player in outsourcing touted as the “back office of the world,” would soon have to contend with a third-world rival—the Philippines.

A highly skilled English-speaking labor force. A reliable telecommunications infrastructure. Low cost of qualified personnel. These are some significant reasons for choosing India or the Philippines for outsourcing support.

IT OUTSOURCING IN INDIA

India, a former colony of the British Empire for almost two centuries, has the second-largest IT talent pool in the world, a result of its Britain-influenced education system that places great emphasis on science and mathematics. With 120,000 trained IT professionals added to the Indian workforce yearly, India is gearing to be an IT giant in the third world and is ranked as the first choice of U.S. companies for software outsourcing. According to Nasscomm, a conglomerate of India-based software and services companies, Indian companies are software solution provider to more than half the Fortune 500 companies.

The launch of India’s first private undersea cable has tremendously improved the international bandwidth situation. In addition, considerable bandwidth is available with the state-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, partially owned by India’s largest business conglomerate. The privatization of telecom industry has also resulted in a significant drop in telecom rates. Observers predict that the entry of newer industry players will see a further drop in telecom prices. In the last ten years, telecom costs in India have dropped by 85 percent.

Over the years, India has built a strong brand equity as an attractive destination for software development and support. India is host to established IT companies such as IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Sun, HP, and Alcatel.

OFFSHORE DESTINATION: PHILIPPINES

But the Philippines—one of the world’s second-largest English-speaking populations—is fast catching up to India.

With a literacy rate of 94%, the Philippines has a large pool of information technology professionals and a cost-competitive telecoms infrastructure. The country ranks third in Knowledge and Information-based jobs in the 2002 Global Technology Index research done by the META Group. Three million college graduates join the workforce each year, providing a tremendous source of talent.

An American colony for close to 50 years, the Philippines has a Western-influenced culture, a unique trait that clearly distinguishes the country from other offshore destinations. Although Asian in orientation, Filipinos watch American TV and are thus able to communicate effectively in American English.

PHILIPPINES: CALL CENTER HUB

In recent years, the Philippines has become the offshore destination of choice for call center outsourcing, specializing in customer support services. Because of the Filipinos’ high level of English proficiency and strong customer orientation, many leading multinationals have used the Philippines as a global center for customer service. American OnLine, the largest U.S. Internet service provider, maintains a staff of 600 at its call center in Clark, Pampanga. Caltex, Procter & Gamble, Barnes and Noble, among others, have built large-scale service centers in the Philippines.

One very promising industry that has sought outsourcing support in the Philippines is the medical transcription business. The Philippines boasts a large talent pool of medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and medical technologists. The demand for medical transcription has risen as U.S. hospitals are now required by federal regulations to convert medical records into data format. Seventeen medical transcription companies are now in operation, employing 1,200 Filipinos.

GIVING INDIA A RUN FOR ITS MONEY

While the Philippines may not be as a huge an offshore provider of web and software services as India, it holds great promise in the customer service industry. Although India does charge lower than the Philippines—for data encoding work, India charges around $4 (U.S.) versus $10 in the Philippines—more multinationals are choosing the Philippines because of the high quality of work. Moreover, Filipinos make good customer service agents not only because they are fluent in American English but also because of their helpful and friendly nature.

More companies are choosing the Philippines for offshore support. Among the services offered in Philippine-based outsourcing companies are copyediting and indexing; web design and maintenance; data conversion, data warehousing, data capture and data entry; OCR and scanning services; proofreading; encoding and keyboarding; imaging services and graphics design; call center and customer service; abstracting and document conversion; typesetting; and tagging, among others.

About The Author

Winston Pepito is the President of Phil-Am Outsourcing Solutions, Inc. (one of most successful outsourcing companies in Asia) based in Cebu City, Philippines. More details about his company can be found at http://www.outsourcing-services.net

winston@outsourcing-services.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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i got it from indian website

nayki

March 24th, 2007, 04:54 AM

wornout

March 24th, 2007, 09:50 PM

Accenture, a leader in consulting, outsourcing, and IT solution provider recently reached 12,000++ employees in the Philippines. They are now going to set their first Delivery Center outside Manila which is in Cebu city.

yeah...i know this and it is going to be in a building which is under construction right now at the cebu business park, I think it is called the Cebu I.T. Commercial Building just infront of Parklane Hotel. Accenture is reportedly going to occupy 6 floors of the said 16-story building. There are also reports that IBM Business Services will occupy 4 floors of the same building...Very good for Cebu then...What I'm waiting for right now though is the establishment of the establishment of the global delivery center of Lexmark at it's own 24-story building.

kiretoce

March 24th, 2007, 10:42 PM

Yesterday, I got to talk to a callcenter agent from the Philippines for the very first time! Her name is Cathy Salazar, and she handles HSBC accounts. Though she didn't say she's from the Philippines, a hint of an accent while we were conducting business revealed where she was based at (plus the background noise had a light smattering of Tagalog in it). She was pleasant and very helpful, a whole lot better than the Indian callcenter agents I most often encounter with their heavy and thick accents, I swear sometimes you need a third person to translate what these bumbays say in English! Sheesh! :lol:

crappypants

March 24th, 2007, 10:50 PM

I agree and it's not because of bias.
they're everywhere though, just practically everyplace i call ,if it's not indian it's pinoy.

kyle@1008

March 24th, 2007, 11:35 PM

portludlow

March 25th, 2007, 12:21 AM

I don't think that's her real name, Cathy Salazar is a favorite pseudonym, we even use it in training :lol:

Do they encourage the use of pseudonyms? What if you need to get back at them regarding a transaction and would be ask who you communicated before?

nayki

March 25th, 2007, 12:26 PM

^^ For voice-enabled services I think we can be ahead but quantity-wise it's not gonna happen this year or the next... But I have the same feeling though. I HOPE we can beat India. :)

I think its hard to overtake india in IT and outsourcing. Our workforce is not that big compare to them. But in terms of value, we can get the higher value of services because of high quality of work done by our workforce. Atleast we have our share and we are one of the leading players.
:)

earlat

March 26th, 2007, 12:48 AM

I think its hard to overtake india in IT and outsourcing. Our workforce is not that big compare to them. But in terms of value, we can get the higher value of services because of high quality of work done by our workforce. Atleast we have our share and we are one of the leading players.
:)

^^ It's indeed very hard. But Quality-wise, we're ahead.

kyle@1008

March 26th, 2007, 02:49 AM

Do they encourage the use of pseudonyms? What if you need to get back at them regarding a transaction and would be ask who you communicated before?

always ask for the extension numbers, pseudonyms are not encouraged, but not discouraged either and employees are forbidden to give their last names... some companies also allow ther CSRs to give out their id #s

nayki

March 26th, 2007, 02:48 PM

^^ It's indeed very hard. But Quality-wise, we're ahead.

Absolutely, I think just getting the majority of the high end services for outsourcing and IT will be enough for the supply of our talents. This is a big advantage for us since high end services will also mean high paying jobs. And we can leave the rest of the services that we cannot accomodate to india and china.

diehardbisdak

March 27th, 2007, 09:01 PM

:okay:

SingTel consultancy arm plans to expand in Cebu
By Ehda M. Dagooc
The Freeman 03/28/2007

SingTel Group’s ICT services and consultancy arm, NCS Pte. Ltd is eyeing Cebu as the next site for its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and research and development (R&D) center.

In an interview with NCS general manager Lim Boon Guan, he said that Cebu will be the next target for site expansion of the company, noting Cebu’s ample supply of highly skilled ICT human resource, as well as in place infrastructure for IT company investments.

"I will be setting my first trip to Cebu to personally see the potential for the province for our expansion plan. We would also like to understand more of Cebu’s ICT industry, what kind strength the province has, so that will know the kind of operation we have to set up in Cebu," Lim Boon said in an interview.

NCS Pte Ltd, is a leading regional IT and communications engineering company in Singapore and a wholly-owned subsidiary of SingTel.

The company provides one-stop, end-to-end suite, if IT and communications engineering solutions to meet customers’ business and technology needs.

He added that Malaysia and China BPO facilities have a total of 200 seats. The company has huge requirement for backroom operations, he said, and that if the Cebu expansion will be pushed through, NCS still have to find out how many seats in BPO operations that will be established, depends on the supply of human resources, and building facility.

NCS has a satellite office in Metro Manila for two years, for marketing purposes. However, if the company were to decide in setting up facility here, it could be a software development, or BPO operation for human resource, of financial operation, as we as hardware and technical development.

The company offers consulting services in business continuity, e-Government, strategic organization, IT service management and IT applications and infrastructure.

NCS’ business solutions include business process re-engineering, application design, development, implementation and maintenance, ERP implementation and maintenance, and systems integration.

NCS is a leading vendor-independent IT and communications engineering solutions provider with some 4,000 staff in Asia Pacific & Middle East. It was established in early 1980s as the principal IT solutions provider to the Singapore government.

Now a wholly-owned subsidiary of SingTel – Asia Pacific leading Telco company, its portfolio of customers includes international blue-chip market leaders such as Citibank, Schenker Logistics and Honda ICVS, as well as governments in Hong Kong, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Middle East. NCS has the largest pool of Certified IT Project Managers (CITPM) in the region and is ranked second in Professional Services in Singapore (2003) by Gartner Dataquest.

Lim Boon attended the Cebu Business Month (CBM 2007) roadshow, held recently in Singapore.

DoggMann

March 29th, 2007, 03:08 PM

http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=189&a=19181

March 29th, 2007

BPO sector seen employing up to 800,000 by 2010

MANILA, Philippines -- The country's business process outsourcing (BPO) sector can create jobs for up to 11 percent of the new labor force entrants between this year and 2010, a high contribution for a single economic activity, an Asian Development Bank study said.

A March 2007 working paper prepared by the ADB economics and research department projected that the total number of BPO employees could hit 600,000 to 800,000 by 2010, equivalent to seven to 11 percent of the expected new labor entrants during the period.

As of end 2005, the BPO sector employed 163,250 people.

The paper, "An Analysis of the Philippine BPO Industry," authored by ADB economists Nedelyn Magtibay-Ramos, Gemma Estrada and Jesus Felipe, was released at the sidelines of an ADB press briefing on its flagship publication Asian Development Outlook 2007.

ADB projection, however, was lower than the joint forecast of the government and the BPO industry at one million workers by 2010.

In 2005, the BPO industry generated total revenue of $2.4 billion, accounting for 2.4 percent of the gross domestic product.

The contact or call center subsector accounted for the bulk, posting earnings of $1.8 billion and employing 112,000 individuals or almost 70 percent of the BPO workers.

"Given improvements in human capital and the right policy environment, the Philippine BPO sector may indeed become an important employment-generating sector in the future," the study said.

To date, the ADB said, the BPO sector has had very little interaction with the rest of the domestic economy, which means that an increase in its output may not necessarily increase production in other sectors.

"Notwithstanding its low intersectoral linkages, the BPO sector has the potential of generating a significant increase in the total wage bill for the economy," the study said.

The biggest challenge is whether the Philippines can continue attracting fresh investments in BPO, given tougher competition from other locations, it said.

"Although the advantages of locating in the Philippines should be emphasized, constraints like low hiring rates, high attrition rates, high cost of electricity and weak governance must be addressed without delay," the study said.

The ADB said another challenge was how to move up the knowledge intensity ladder. It noted that while this is desired by the government and the industry, there is no specific strategy so far laid out to achieve this goal.

The third challenge is whether the sector would continue to require government support.

"If the government is seriously bent on moving toward knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), it is then important to identify strategies to entice more investors that are involved in KPO, as well as to encourage BPO firms to move into higher value-added activities," the study said.

Since the existence of a pool of educated workers with tertiary education is seen as a key to the development of the sector, the ADB study said the following two questions must be answered:

• Is it the right policy for a country like the Philippines to continue investing in tertiary education to satisfy the needs of the BPO sector?

• Are students who take degrees in disciplines such as engineering, statistics, economics, etc. to be blamed for their lack of appropriate skills to be employed in the BPO sector?

( www.inquirer.net )

[dx]

March 30th, 2007, 12:28 PM

What percentage of the Philippine BPO industry do contact centers take up? How about other "knowledge-based" jobs such as web development, SEO, animation, etc? How big is their share of the BPO pie?

venntro

April 2nd, 2007, 06:30 AM

BPO: A mistaken priority?
BIZLINKS By REY GAMBOA

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Yes, while the BPO industry indeed has brought tangible benefits to the country, generating about $2.4 billion in revenues and employing 163,000 workers in 2005, its contribution to national growth merely shadows the input of, say, our overseas Filipino workers.

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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has essentially thrown cold water on the Philippine government’s euphoria over the growing business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.

In its Asian Development Outlook 2007 (released March 27), the ADB says that the industry’s positive features need to be kept in perspective, particularly because "it is highly unlikely that the advent of BPO services signals a paradigm shift that will put the economy on a higher trajectory."

Yes, while the BPO industry indeed has brought tangible benefits to the country, generating about $2.4 billion in revenues and employing 163,000 workers in 2005, its contribution to national growth merely shadows the input of, say, our overseas Filipino workers.

The ADB comments that if considered in relation to the size of the economy, the BPO sector’s revenues were just about 2.4 percent of total gross domestic product (GDP), and its employment not even a fraction of the country’s 36 million workforce.

Even probing deeper, 70 percent of the workers in BPO services are in call centers, which is the least knowledge-intensive part of the industry, and only about 13 percent are in IT-related industries, in contrast to India ’s 70 percent.

The ADB, citing the findings of the 2006 Workforce Development Summit, also notes mismatches between labor supply and industrial demand. While there are opportunities for expansion as far as the Philippine BPO is concerned, the supply-demand disparity should to be taken against a backdrop of the kind of workers and graduates we have.

Putting BPOs in the right perspective

But before we get the ADB all wrong, this is not say that the agency is urging government to drop the BPO sector like a hot potato and walk away with its commitment to support the growing industry.

Estimates show that by 2010, the Philippine BPO sector could create 500,000 to 600,000 jobs, and possibly another 300,000 jobs in retail trade and other areas as the sector pays well, and salaries of much of those working in call centers are relatively on the higher side.

What the ADB simply wants to stress is that the services sector alone cannot provide the kind of growth that would substantially lift the economy. As such, developing other sectors need to be prioritized.

On top of the ADB list is the industry and manufacturing sector, which since the 1990s had posted a flat, if not declining, share to both total economic output and employment.

The Philippines cannot simply bypass industrialization, stresses the ADB, since countries that have embraced industrialization and increased its share to both output and jobs are the ones which grew more quickly. These are the likes of China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.

Looking at RP’s manufacturing sector

The ADB laments the fact that while a sophisticated manufacturing sector emerged in the Philippines in the 1950s, it is now lagging behind compared to its regional peers. Perhaps, the ADB suggests, it is now time for government to focus on boosting investments in the manufacturing sector.

But would this be the best tack for the Philippines now? Shouldn’t government instead look at new sectors to focus on, such as those where our neighbors still do not have a dominant hold?

With China, Thailand, Korea, even Indonesia already far ahead in terms of putting up manufacturing plants and building related industries, it would be extremely difficult for the Philippines – or for any developing country, for that matter – to play catch-up.

In the first place, the Philippines lacks the basic ingredients that would ensure the competitiveness of its existing and new industries. We need good roads, bridges, ports and other similar vital infrastructures. We still have to improve on our telecommunications services.

And don’t forget the most important element: power. We continue to have one of the highest electricity rates in the region, not to mention the continued threat of a power shortage likely to happen several years from now.

Our greatest asset

While recognizing ADB’s research expertise and capability, I cannot make myself fully accept their prognosis that a revitalized manufacturing sector, and the need to encourage more direct foreign investments in this field, is still top priority for the long-term solution to our anemic economy.

Yes, I agree that government must not rely solely on the BPO sector to liven up the economy to grow at a pace that will alleviate poverty. In the same breath, over-reliance on earnings remitted by overseas working Filipinos should not lull our bureaucrats into a false sense of economic stability.

As I have harped over and over again, the key to the future stability of the country’s economy is a stronger agricultural base. While those in the agri sector may lack the glamour and the sophistication of those in BPOs or those working on high-tech modern manufacturing complexes, agri workers and producers are the ones that will bring food to the tables of every Filipino, and keep prices of basic commodities at a relatively stable keeling.

We have to take things one step at a time. Let’s get back to basics. Only then can we move to bigger things.

Poker satellite matches take a break

Satellite/qualifying competitions for the 3rd Philippine Poker Tour (PPT) Million-Peso Hold’Em Philippine Championship will resume next week as poker tournament enthusiasts take a five-day holiday break in observance of the Holy Week and Bataan Day on April 9.

For the month of April, the following are the venues and schedules of satellite/qualifying tournaments: every Wednesday and Friday at San Mig Alabang Town Center; every Thursday at Elbow Room, Metro-Walk, Pasig; April 14 at Airport Casino Filipino; April 21 at Hyatt Manila Hotel and Casino; April 29 at CF Cebu-Lahug and at CF Angeles.

Details of prize structure and tournament rules for the 3rd PPT Million-Peso Hold’Em Championship are posted in the official PPT website, www.PhilippinePokerTour.com. Interested parties may also call the PPT secretariat (c/o Cindy) at 817-9092 or 812-0153.

venntro

April 2nd, 2007, 07:24 AM

IPVG unit, HK's PCCW in call center deal

IP Contact Center Outsourcing Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of IPVG Corp., said Monday it has signed an exclusive agreement with the Hong Kong-based PCCW Teleservices Ltd. for the operation of contact centers in the Philippines.

"IP Contact will be the sole and exclusive vehicle of PCCW Teleservices and IPVG in the Philippines to service the English-speaking requirements of clients referred by PCCW Teleservices and sourced by IPVG," IPVG said in the statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Under the agreement, representatives from IPVG, IPCCO and PCCW will form a committee that will oversee the operation of the call centers for the term of the agreement.

PCCW is business process outsourcing provider with operations in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. - Judith Balea

venntro

April 3rd, 2007, 09:59 AM

US-based PFSweb to launch BPO operations in RP

PFSweb, Inc., a global provider of integrated business process outsourcing (BPO) and web commerce solutions, said Tuesday it was expanding its customer care services operations with a new 6,500-square foot customer call center in the Philippines.

The new facility, located in downtown Manila, will initially house the customer service department for eCOST.com, PFSweb's wholly-owned subsidiary.

Additionally, certain support functions for eCOST.com, including an expanded web development team, will be relocated to the facility.

On a case-by-case basis, PFSweb, which is listed on the Nasdaq, will evaluate offering this location's services to other PFSweb service fee clients.

"The Philippines offers exciting new opportunities for us to advance our growth strategy and expand our service capabilities, while maintaining high levels of customer service at a reduced cost," PFSweb vice president Cindy Almond said in a statement.

"We consider this new facility to be yet another avenue to extend our market reach, reduce cost and deliver the highest level of service to our clients and their customers."

Mark Layton, chairman and chief executive officer of PFSweb, said the new Manila facility will also staff a team of IT and web development professionals.

The Philippines has become a popular place for companies worldwide to look for call center workers.

A trade group, the Contact Center Association of the Philippines, estimated in 2006 that the country's call-center employment will rise from 179,000 people in 2006 to 506,500 people in 2010.

The group also estimates the industry's revenues will rise from $2.6 billion in 2006 to $7.3 billion in 2010.

PFSweb call centers provide complete customer lifecycle management through interactive voice response technology and web-enabled customer contact services that utilizes voice, e-mail, voice over internet protocol (VOIP) and internet chat communications that are fully integrated with real-time systems and historical data archives.

PFSweb currently operates multi-lingual call centers in Memphis, TN, Plano, TX and Liege, Belgium dedicated to meeting the most challenging customer support and technical requirements.

swatch69sg

April 6th, 2007, 10:27 PM

HK telecom firm licenses call center business in RP

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:35pm (Mla time) 04/06/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Hong Kong-based telecommunications firm PCCW Limited has expanded its regional call center business into the Philippines through a partnership with local firm IPVG Corp.

PCCW, through its subsidiary PCCW Teleservices, has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with IP Contact Center Outsourcing Inc. (IPCCO), a subsidiary of IPVG, for the latter to establish and operate the Hong Kong firm's call center business in the country.

Under the agreement, PCCW Teleservices will provide its proprietary technology and methodology while IPCCO will provide the infrastructure and local workforce.

PCCW Teleservices operates 11 call centers sites across Asia with a total capacity of more than 5,000 seats.

These sites cater to internal customer service requirements of the parent company PCCW as well as existing clients from telecom, finance and airline industries in Asia, North America and Europe.

Eric Paragas, IPCCO's president and COO, said the Philippine site will cater to the latter segment and target clients from English-speaking countries.

IPCCO expects to grow the business locally to between 3,000 and 5,000 seats over the next year "in multiple locations nationwide", Paragas said in a briefing.

The first site is located at IPVG's corporate offices at RCBC Tower in Makati City.

IPVG is listed at the Philippine Stock Exchange and has subsidiaries engaged in information technology, online gaming and telecommunications.

Enrique Gonzales, IPVG's chief executive, said he expects the call center venture with PCCW to account for almost 30 percent of IPVG's revenues in the next three years.

IPVG Corp. reported P78.06 million in total revenues for the third quarter of 2006.

swatch69sg

April 8th, 2007, 07:22 PM

PCCW Teleservices contact center mines local talents to service premier clients
By EDISON D. ONG

Pacific Century Cyberworks a.k.a. PCCW Ltd., a Hong Kong-listed company that has been in the telephone business for 120 years, has mined Filipino talents to extend PCCW Teleservices contact center and telecommunications solutions in the Philippines to service premier North American clients.

Helping PCCW Teleservices (Hong Kong ), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of PCCW Ltd, to achieve this goal is IP-Contact Center Outsourcing, Inc. (IPCCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of IPVG Corp. The cooperation will establish the first PCCW-branded and certified contact centers in the Philippines.

IPCCO will provide call center services in the Philippines to meet the English-language requirements of PCCW Teleservices’ clients in other parts of the world.

PCCW Teleservices is a leading provider of Customer Contact Management and Customer Relationship Management services and solutions in Asia. It has been providing outsourcing services in Hong Kong, Greater China region and Taiwan for more than 10 years. It operates in the region focusing on Technology, Telecom, Airline and Finance industries.

PCCW Teleservices is the largest networked call center operator in Greater China and currently runs 11 contact centers in Asia, involving more than 5,000 seats, providing a source of formidable expertise to support new call center operations in the Philippines. IPCCO will also benefit from using PCCW Teleservices’ proprietary knowledge, in-house technology and PCCW trademark in its day-to-day operation of contact centers in the Philippines under a licensing arrangement with PCCW Teleservices.

IPVG is publicly listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange and engaged in the information technology and communications space. IPVG owns three operating subsidiaries in: Information Technology and Telecommunications (IT&T); on-line gaming, and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

The cooperation will develop a sharper competitive edge for IPCCO, which will replicate PCCW Teleservices’ internationally recognized operational excellence via proprietary processes, procedures and support systems based on world-class standards.

At present, IPCCO has a staff of 500 that handles all of the IPVG group’s customer service requirements out of its site in the RCBC Plaza headquarters in Makati City. It is in the process of building a purpose-built facility to accommodate international clientele requirements.

Eric Paragas, IPCCO President and COO said, "We expect this cooperation to win a significant share of the call center market, thanks to the Philippine call center industry knowledge brought to the table by IPCCO’s core management team, plus established international IT infrastructure and support, all combined with PCCW Teleservices’ industry-leading expertise and existing client base."

For his part, IPVG CEO Enrique Gonzalez said, "Our cooperation with PCCW Teleservices is a major milestone for our company and for the Philippines. PCCW Teleservices’ entry here amounts to a vote of confidence for both IPVG and the Philippines as a global hub for BPO and contact center services. With such an internationally-respected partner making industry best practice available to us, we see IPCCO evolving into one of the leading BPO providers in the country."

venntro

April 10th, 2007, 11:18 AM

AYALA BARES NEW BUSINESS INITIATIVES

In its annual stockholders’ meeting, Ayala Corporation bared plans to embark on new business initiatives outside of its current portfolio of businesses and explore investment opportunities in the region.

The country’s largest and most diversified business group performed strongly in 2006, posting record net income of 12.2 billion pesos and delivering a total return to shareholders of 89% during the year. The robust earnings growth of its operating units combined with gains from share sales drove consolidated net income 49% higher year-on-year.

Ayala chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala remarked, “The positive trends we are seeing in the economic and business environment have created the right conditions for the company to shift gears and begin a new investment cycle. Ayala has created a strong track record of value creation in the past, particularly reflected in the way market values of new businesses like Manila Water, Globe, and IMI have grown. We hope to continue to replicate this and believe we are in the best financial position to fulfill our mandate to build businesses, create, and realize values from these for our shareholders.”

The company has identified the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector as a potential growth platform, leveraging on the inherent strengths and natural competitive advantage of the Philippines in this space. The Ayala group is engaging this industry across all fronts--as a supplier of BPO offices through Ayala Land, a provider of telecommunications services through Globe, and through Ayala Corp.’s direct investments in global BPO companies that have the potential to develop a Philippine platform. Through its 100% owned subsidiary LiveIt Solutions, Inc., it has invested US$73 million in three BPO companies that provide high value-added services to some of the top multinational companies in the US.

Ayala has also begun to explore investment opportunities overseas where it can tap and leverage on its core competencies, particularly in real estate development. Ayala has co-sponsored together with Ayala Land and international real estate arm, Ayala International, a real estate private equity fund under Arch Capital that will invest in high growth property markets in Asia, ex the Philippines and Japan.

Ayala president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala said, “We view this as an exciting opportunity for the Ayala group. Ayala International’s track record of partnering in markets across Asia, combined with Ayala Land’s property development skills and competencies complements Arch Capital’s specialized deal sourcing and structuring abilities. Asian markets have largely normalized and such a multi-faceted, value-adding approach in this kind of ownership structure will provide important advantages as investors’ capital continue to look for investment opportunities in our region.” Currently, the fund has identified three projects in Macau, Bangkok, and Beijing which combine residential, office, and retail components.

Following this, Ayala shareholders ratified the action of the Board of Directors declaring a 20% stock dividend to shareholders which will be issued in the first half of this year.

marxman

April 11th, 2007, 11:33 AM

Hi... im from a BPO company... in case you need my expertise just PM me... hehe...

Call centers dominate BPO's here in our country... even here in cebu... but hopefully knowledge based BPO's will expand and grow... so we programmers/developers dont have to go abroad.

diehardbisdak

April 11th, 2007, 06:22 PM

:)

April 11, 2007
ePerformax Opens Another Contact Center in Philippines
by Global Services

ePerformax, a Philippine outsourcer, has opened a new contact center in the coastal city of Cebu.

The Cebu facility will conduct inbound customer service for two of ePerformax's clients. ePerformax chose Cebu for its close proximity to Manila , the highly educated labor pool, the excellent English spoken by Cebuanos and the solid infrastructure for electric power, telephony and Internet.

The company has plans to expand to several additional floors in an adjacent building in 2008.

http://www.globalservicesmedia.com/sections/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199000033

diehardbisdak

April 12th, 2007, 11:21 AM

LAZYMOVIE is now in Cebu...here's some info:

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A Scandinavian outsourcing company specializing in rotoscoping and chroma keying has recently established itself in the Philippine shores.
Mandaue, Cebu, Philippines
04/12/2007

A Scandinavian outsourcing company based in Cebu, Philippines is willing to take over where most graphic VFX (visual effects) designers would rather leave off, but can’t.

LazyMovie does frame by frame rotoscoping and chroma keying jobs. The company delivers first-rate 2D digital post production work, like cleaning up dirt and wires in high-kick and high -flying martial arts films, using the rotoscoping and chroma keying techniques.

Rotoscoping and chroma keying are necessary in video editing, which is often thought of as the lackluster aspect of an otherwise glamorous and celebrity-studded industry.

LazyMovie took off as a rotoscoping and chroma keying service provider after LazyMask, a sister company, established a niche for itself across several image-related industries in the United States and Europe. LazyMask provides clipping path and image masking services to its clients. Like LazyMovie, LazyMask also has its production offices in Cebu, Philippines.

Beyond rotoscoping and chroma keying, LazyMovie offers certain valuable intangibles that are typically associated with outsourcing. Clients can actually bank on (a) reduced post production costs, (b) improved process procedures, (c) and more time to focus on core competencies when they outsource their rotoscoping and chroma keying needs to LazyMovie.

LazyMovie’s production team is composed of highly skilled Filipino visual effects designers with professional experience. The company is run by a Scandinavian management team, thus minimizing cultural and linguistic misunderstandings - an otherwise possible downside to outsourcing.

Interested clients can have their one sec. video clip rotoscoped and chroma keyed for free so they can asses the quality of the work delivered by LazyMovie.

****************

more info:

Why Cebu of all places?

Cebu is the growing IT hub in the Philippines. You get access to affordable highly skilled IT professionals and computer graphic artists. Swimming in the beautiful beaches and basking in the culture of its history-rich landmarks is another reason for our being here in Cebu.

The Filipinos are fluent in English and since the country has eight major dialects, English has become the major unifying language amongst the people. In fact, it is not uncommon to find a Filipino who has a wider vocabulary in English than in the native language

The English proficiency of our digital video editors however doesn’t exempt our clients from communicating clearly and specifically on the work they want to be done on their video clips.

Foreign entertainment companies have been utilizing Filipino computer graphic artists because of their high-skill levels, quick adaptation to new technologies and software, and their strong familiarity with western humor and nuances. During the 1990's according to the Asian Wall Street Journal, the Philippines was already known as a “vital cog” in the world's animation industry. Local animators and graphic artists have been involved in lucrative projects in the past, with studios such as Walt Disney, Dreamworks, Hanna Barbera, Marvel and Warner Bros. Over the years, Filipino artists have been a part of the many heartwarming stories brought to life by animation such as Hoodwinked, Finding Nemo, Addams Family, Buzz Lightyear, Timon and Pumbaa, Johnny Bravo, X-Men and so much more.

stephencua

April 13th, 2007, 08:41 AM

taken from inquirer.net..

Filipino IT workers are lowest-paid in Asia Pacific--survey

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 01:21pm (Mla time) 04/13/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- IT professionals in the Philippines receive the lowest salaries in Asia Pacific, according to a study by ZDNet Asia.

The average annually salary in the Philippines was slightly above $10,000, based on a survey of some 400 respondents.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, tops the list of seven countries surveyed, with IT professionals raking in close to an average of $52,000 every year.

Findings also show that executives with more experience earn more, although IT workers with five to 10 years of work experience earn an average of less than $10,000 per year.

Those with more than a decade worth of industry experience earn close to $20,000 annually.

Company size isn't much of a factor as those working for places with a thousand employees or more are only paid slightly higher at more than $11,000 yearly.

At 26 percent, the Philippines also has the lowest portion of IT workers holding at least one professional certification, even lower than Indonesia .

The survey, conducted online between August and November last year, drew more than 5,000 respondents from different industries in Hong Kong, India , Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

diehardbisdak

April 14th, 2007, 10:49 AM

^^ mas mabuti 'yan na may trabaho kesa sa wala.... :)

amigo32

April 14th, 2007, 01:50 PM

highest paid ka nga, pero after a year wala ka nang trabaho.

nayki

April 14th, 2007, 02:15 PM

Kaya nga napakarami ng Top IT company sa mundo ang pumupunta d2 sa pinas. Bukod sa d kamahalan ang pasweldo napakataas pa ng kalidad ng output ng mga IT professionals natin. Ok lang naman un eh kasi once na nakapg gain na ng experience mga IT professionals natin napaka indemand na nila sa ibang bansa na nagbibigay ng mataas n sweldo sa kanila.

nayki

April 14th, 2007, 02:18 PM

recently may nag open nanaman na Top IT company d2 sa atin, american company sha Safeway ang name. Kaya humihigpit ang competion sa hiring ng mga talents ngayon, kaya ung ibang IT companies ngayon nag papagandahan kung hindi sa sweldo sa benefits nila.

smokingunmanila

April 14th, 2007, 05:39 PM

anybody here into outsourcing business? me and my brother were planning to set up an outsourcing for accounting jobs....probably you can help or be a partner...

amigo32

April 14th, 2007, 05:41 PM

I can help in setting up the computer system.

smokingunmanila

April 14th, 2007, 05:46 PM

what about the networking..is it included...wat about VOIP access and lease lines

amigo32

April 14th, 2007, 05:48 PM

networking, yes but for VOIP we have to deal with service providers.

smokingunmanila

April 15th, 2007, 04:36 AM

sige minsan usap tayo ....I will still have to meet with other partners....may mag set up ata dito na Vietnamese based in silicon valley...lilipat nya ang accounting departmet nya dito sa pinas....right now..they have 400 people in vietnam and 200 people in silicon....we will meet him april 24th...hopefully ma close namin...this will help accountants here sa pinas for jobs...

smokingunmanila

April 15th, 2007, 04:38 AM

Wala bang interested dito mag tayo ng graphics and web design outsourcing dito sa pinas...or partners in the states who will market us?

amigo32

April 15th, 2007, 05:14 AM

nayki

April 15th, 2007, 05:53 AM

MANILA, Philippines -- Accenture has formally opened its seventh and largest business process outsourcing (BPO) facility in the Philippines and announced plans to expand outside of Metro Manila.

Located at the Robinson's Cybergate 2 Tower in Mandaluyong City, the new facility houses around 5,000 seats. Accenture now operates a total of 10,000 seats in the country.

In the Philippines, Accenture does applications development, infrastructure or IT outsourcing, BPO and recently expanded into call center operations.

The company expects to have a total of around 15,000 employees in the country by the end of its current fiscal year in August.

Basilio Rueda, senior managing director of Accenture's Global Delivery Network, said that in the Philippines, call center operations exhibit the biggest growth in terms of employee count. In terms of revenue, application development contributes the highest at about 40 percent.

"Our BPO clients go for integrated offerings," Rueda said, noting demand for outsourced call center work abroad as existing BPO clients expand their operations worldwide.

Stephen Rohleder, Accenture's chief operating officer, added that aside from expansion, cost efficiency is also driving clients to outsource.

More specifically, he noted these two factors apply to industries such as the banking industry in Europe , driven by the deregularization of industries like telecommunications and continued expansion of multinational retail companies.

Meanwhile, Beth Lui, Accenture's Philippine managing director, said the company will open another facility this year located in Cebu City in the South, which will initially have 500 seats.

http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=60393

smokingunmanila

April 15th, 2007, 06:41 AM

thank you lord for the jobs being sent here...sana mag tuloy tuloy na ang pinas umunlad...

venntro

April 16th, 2007, 07:26 AM

ePLDT's BPO unit acquires Springfield for $44M

Business process outsourcing firm SPi, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ePLDT Inc., said Monday it bought a US-based Springfield Service Corp. for $44 million.

"The inclusion of Springfield's service offerings in our healthcare portfolio allows us to further strengthen our relationships with the more than 400 hospitals, multi-specialty clinics and physician practices that we currently serve," Ernest Cu, SPi's president and chief executive, said in a statement.

Springfield provides billing and accounts receivable management services for over $1.3 billion of physician charges yearly. It operates in five locations in the US.

Springfield is projected to generate over $30 million in revenue over the year, SPi said.

ePLDT is a wholly-owned Internet unit of dominant phone firm Philipppine Long Distance Telephone company. Judith Balea, abs-cbnNEWS.com

kiretoce

April 20th, 2007, 05:13 PM

Infosys BPO plans facility in Manila (http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/business/infosysbpo/infosysbpoplans/market/stocks/article/277198)

Driven by a strong customer demand, Infosys BPO is planning to scale up its presence in Manila by setting up its own delivery centre soon. Infosys BPO currently has a tie-up with Ventus, the call centre company of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co's (PLDT) unit ePLDT Inc.

"We are looking at setting up a 300-seat facility in Manila over the next two quarters," said Mr Amitabh Chaudhry, CEO and Managing Director, Infosys BPO Ltd. "The partnership with Ventus has worked well for us and we plan to continue with it," Mr Chaudhry said.

Ideal destination

Infosys BPO plans to use the Manila facility to serve the US clients in both voice and non-voice processes. Mr Chaudhry said clients are more comfortable with getting serviced from the Philippines because of the availability of better skill sets, especially in areas of F&A (finance and accounting), the familiarity with the US GAAP standards and in customer relationship management.

Moreover, the Philippines has emerged as an ideal offshore destination for BPO firms because of the English fluency and familiarity with American culture. The Manila facility would also double up as a business continuity centre for Infosys BPO, Mr Chaudhry said

Infosys BPO is also planning to ramp up its operations in China. "We currently have 70 people in China mainly servicing global clients, which we plan to expand rapidly in the coming years," Mr Chaudhry said. Besides China, Infosys BPO also has operations at Brno in Czech Republic

kiretoce

April 20th, 2007, 05:18 PM

LazyAnimation – in Full Throttle (http://www.openpr.com/news/19082/LazyAnimation-in-Full-Throttle.html)

A Scandinavian outsourcing company, based in Cebu City, Philippines, is willing to play in the competitive arena of animation.

After successfully establishing LazyMask, an outsource clipping path provider, and LazyMovie, a service provider dedicated to the rotoscoping and chroma keying segments of video editing, Jane Kirk is gung-ho that LazyAnimation will reap a good number of wanted attention with a good marketing niche at hand.

“We can animate anything under the sun” said LazyAnimation’s top animator Owen Cartegena.

LazyAnimation, a digital animation studio, is a service provider of both 2d and 3d animation and, currently, is also seeking to win partnerships across Europe and USA.

Jane Kirk said that the Philippines have always been her top choice when it comes to graphics. “Not only do we offer our clients low cost but the quality is superb, just superb.”

Jane Kirk also added that the “Philippines is one of the best English speaking countries in Asia Pacific. Linguistic and cultural misunderstanding is very minimal and that’s a plus for LazyAnimation since this has always been the common downside to the Asian outsourcing industry.”

LazyAnimation has recently launched its website which has signaled the official launching of the business as well. However even before the official release of their website, LazyAnimation has been doing several 3d animation projects for Danish clients.

Animo

April 20th, 2007, 06:32 PM

Joydeep Thakur

KOLKATA, April 10: With companies in the IT and IT Enabled Services sector trying to capture markets in South America, a demand for Spanish-speaking candidates has surfaced in Kolkata and other metropolitan cities. But with a huge gap in the demand and supply, companies are now compelled to provide inhouse training to employees by hiring teachers from various institutions.

The vice principal of the School of Languages at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture in Golpark, Dr Dibyajyoti Mukherjee, said 23 countries in the world have Spanish as their national language, while two countries ~ the USA and the Philippines ~ have Spanish as their second language. Most of the South American countries, except Brazil, which has Portuguese as its national language, have Spanish as their national language.

With the boom in the IT and ITES industry and companies in this sector trying to set up their offices in South American countries, there is a huge demand for those who know Spanish. Peru, Argentina, Columbia, Panama, Chile and Cuba have no other language except Spanish.

Call centre personnel must know the language to cater to the clients of these countries.

He said Cognizant set up an office in Argentina early this year. TCS already has an office in Venezuela and a project in Argentina. Several other giants in the IT, ITES and other sectors, including IBM, HP, Philips and Oracle, are all trying to set up offices in South America.
The problem is few institutes in West Bengal teach the language. “To cope with this sudden demand, companies are hiring teachers and providing inhouse training to their employees who are then being sent to those countries where offices are being set up. Cognizant Technologies had hired teachers from the RKM’s School of Languages in December to train a batch of students in Bangalore. This year, another batch of employees was provided training in the Kolkata office.

Datacore has also provided training to at least nine of its employees in Spanish to cater to one of its client in the USA,” Dr Mukherjee said.

He said even a few years back, the School of Languages had just seven to 10 students a batch, in the Spanish section. The number has now grown to nearly 500 a batch. There are two types of certificate courses in the RKM ~ a six-month crash course and a three-year course. The drop-out rate of candidates is nearly 50 per cent.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?clid=10&id=180481&usrsess=1

Animo

April 20th, 2007, 06:38 PM

Thursday, April 19 2007 @ 11:49 AM BST

Business

The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) recently spearheaded a five-day trade mission to Spain to explore potential business process outsourcing (BPO) partnerships between Philippine and Spanish companies.

Dubbed Mission Urdaneta, the mission was participated by five Philippine BPOs under the Common Quality Language (CQL) project consortium of the ECCP and funded by the European Commission and the Association of Industries for Electronic and Information Technologies (GAIA) of Spain.

ECCP executive vice president Henry Schumacher said the mission aims to equip local companies better understanding of Spanish businesses and look at partnerships with companies that conform to European Foundation for Quality Management excellence model.

“We are following through on what we started last year when we pooled together 16 companies to train and develop an integrated capability in European management systems. We are now looking at business potentials for them,” Schumacher said.

The five companies brought to Spain led by CQL official Ester Costanzo included BlastAsia, Leverage Systems Technologies, Navigator Systems, Pointwest Technolgies and Radix Systems Services.

The companies have targeted Spain as part of their global clientele and have received Capability Maturity Model Integration, International Standards Organization, or Microsoft certified partners certifications.

The companies took part in a roundtable discussion in Barcelona with their Spanish counterparts in Casa Asia –a non-profit organization that aims to increase and improve cultural and business relations between Spain and Asia.

In San Sebastian, the companies were introduced to GAIA members during a seminar standardization seminar. Meetings were also held with telecommunication companies Igarle, Nextel and Ikusi for possible business partnerships.

“We maintain the BPO as one of the sunshine industries in the country and that it is competitive enough to provide Europe’s outsourcing needs,” Schumacher said.

The country’s BPO industry is expected to hit US$ 12 billion in 2010 after it reached US$ 3.63 billion last year. (PNA)

http://biz.balita.ph/html/article.php?story=20070419114918116

venntro

April 21st, 2007, 09:32 AM

^^ Aside from Spanish, there's even a BPO (based in Eastwood)catering to French speaking nations.

venntro

April 24th, 2007, 08:09 AM

Convergys reaps employer, exporter of year awards

04/24/2007

US-based business process outsourcing firm Convergys Corp. was given two awards by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) for its local unit.

The company was recognized as Employer of the Year for the second time in a row, and also received the Outstanding Exporter of the Year award.

Peza recognized Convergys as the Employer of the Year for having generated a high number of jobs, maintaining an excellent employee relations and development program, creating a harmonious relationship between labor and management and conducting operations as a good corporate citizen. Its outstanding contribution to exports, based on its total export value, growth and net trade balance, was also recognized.

The Peza Awards are the second set of local recognition for the global company. Convergys received the Employer of the Year award at the International ICT Awards just last month. The International ICT Awards event recognizes organizations and individuals who help put the Philippines and Filipinos in the minds of global business leaders.

From its beginnings in 2003 with a workforce of 800, Convergys has grown to have over 10,000 employees deployed in eight facilities in Manila and Cebu. The company provides customer care services for global clients in various industries.

Convergys’ development programs support an employee from initial hire to team leader, to operations manager, on to director and eventually potentially to a vice president level position and above.

These career path support programs and other programs designed to help reduce attrition are innovations that have helped Convergys achieve the highest employee commitment and satisfaction rating across all sites in the region.

Additionally, Convergys is the only non-domestically-owned call center provider in the Philippines that has an all-Filipino executive committee team.

From facilities in the Philippines and globally, Convergys is a world leader in providing customer care, human resources and billing services.

kiretoce

April 30th, 2007, 06:53 PM

Hard day's night for Philippine call centre workers (http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2007-04-30T154611Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-296192-1.xml&archived=False)

MANILA (Reuters) - Bernadette, Claidel, Ted and Layne are relaxing after work with a few bottles of cold beer and some cigarettes in a bar beside their Manila office.

It's 8 a.m.

"After working the night shift, we are very stressed out and want to unwind," said Layne, who, like his drinking buddies, works as a call centre agent in the Philippine capital and who declined, like the others, to give his full name.

A booming outsourcing industry is generating thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenues but many of its young employees are turning to caffeine, cigarettes and alcohol to deal with unsociable hours and demanding, sometimes abusive, callers.

"I worry when I go to the call centres that we are spawning a generation of chain smoking, coffee addicts or worse, chain smoking beer drinkers," Rosalie Montenegro, senior vice president of the Call Centre Business Group under Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) told Reuters.

Workers often deal with up to 70 calls during their 11-hour shift, and admit that while the work is not physically tiring, it's wearing them down mentally and emotionally.

Customers cursing and insulting them are all in a day's work.

Claidel said one client accused her of "stealing jobs from the Americans" while Bernadette said a caller from New York told her he thought Filipinos "live in trees".

"Physically, it is not so difficult because you are just sitting down, but it's a different story when you get cursed at," said Claidel, while munching bar snacks.

"No one from my family and friends has ever cursed me."

PALPITATIONS

The Philippines, with a large pool of English speakers and cultural affinity with the United States, is developing as a strong second to India in the global outsourcing market, employing 200,000 people, mostly graduates fresh out of college.

Total industry revenues jumped 50 percent to $3.6 billion in 2006 and the government estimates they could rise to $12.1 billion by 2010 as companies shift higher-earning jobs overseas.

While the hours are long, the pay is good.

Entry-level wages are around 13,000 Philippine pesos ($275) per month, nearly double the minimum wage, and can quickly rise to around 20,500 pesos, excluding bonuses.

Dondie, who works for a global outsourcing firm in Manila, earns triple what he was getting as a university employee. The higher pay means he's able to compensate his family for missing birthdays and celebrations because of work.

But the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. working hours to service the U.S. and European markets is tiring and coffee and caffeine loaded energy drinks have become a staple on agents' desks.

"After ten months of drinking coffee, I had to stop because I was already having palpitations," Dondie said.

An open plan office full of twentysomethings creates a hectic social life and Jose Torres, who joined PLDT's call centre to deal with employee relations, said new graduates would always party hard, regardless of their occupation.

"It goes with the generation of people between 18 and 25 years old who comprise the call centre workforce," he said.

PLDT is trying to make sure staff at Ventus, its call centre operation, live healthy lives by building them a gym and spa and setting up dormitories close to its offices. But Torres said the workers were ultimately responsible for their own well-being.

"We have to understand that the world is a global environment operating on a 24-hour basis," he said. "You can let the system swallow you or you can organise your life."

smokingunmanila

April 30th, 2007, 07:13 PM

the final saying is: organize your life...that's what it is...corporate life is very streneous...and yet rewarding...I had experienced working almost 18 hours a day in a law firm...wherein we sleep under the table of our offices to steal a nap....

working at night could be difficult..first..you need an airconditioned room with no windows...if ever there is..then thick curtains should be installed to prevent the sun penetrating your room...

but of course...the problem of coffee to wake you up...alcohol to make you sleep or downers...either or is bad for you... learn to live a healthy life....coffee and alcohol adds stress...

Insanedriver

April 30th, 2007, 08:31 PM

oh yes... the abusive callers were right...

Line from the article "Filipinos are stealing American Jobs"

Filipinos are prefered here more than the others, Its so obvious that even the newspaper ads says "looking for Filipina secretaries, looking for Filipino tutor...Filipino Civil Engineers... Filipino this and that..."

Line from the article "i thought filipinos live on trees"

and lastly... yes I had a kiddie tree house back when i was a child, around 7 i think (a tree house made of newspapers and boxes though... i just got jealous of my friends who also have this kind of tree house ) :P

hehe lolz

smokingunmanila

May 1st, 2007, 05:16 AM

^^ Aside from Spanish, there's even a BPO (based in Eastwood)catering to French speaking nations.

grand ! est-ce que je peux m'appliquer ?

smokingunmanila

May 1st, 2007, 05:19 AM

Line from the article "i thought filipinos live on trees"

Yes we can live on trees because we all have a tree house in our backyard...now..do you have even a tree in your backyard? (with a british accent address to Americans who are hill billys"

Perhaps you only have a corn yard..or pumpkins...too bad..you can't built tree house on a corn or pumpkins...

amigo32

May 1st, 2007, 08:47 AM

one more thing, they love to eat our bananas, but in the Philippines only monkeys eat bananas.

J/K. lols

smokingunmanila

May 1st, 2007, 09:45 AM

right term sa kanila "moron"

Animo

May 2nd, 2007, 10:43 AM

By Jerome Aning
Inquirer

OVERSEAS Filipino workers eyeing jobs in Spain may now avail of training in Spanish language and culture following the signing of an agreement between the labor department and the Instituto Cervantes de Manila, the cultural arm of the Spanish government.

Under the accord, the government and the ICM agree to conduct a Spanish language and cultural orientation program to equip qualified OFWs with the language skills to perform their jobs.

The center will also train call center agents for companies serving Spanish-speaking customers.

The agreement was signed by Labor Secretary Arturo Brion and ICM director Jose Rodriguez.

Call center jobs

"I expect our accord to help train successfully our aspirants for Spanish-language call center jobs at home, as well as to reinforce the welfare of workers under our Pilot Project with Spain as without a knowledge of the Spanish language, there will be no jobs in Spain," Brion said.

"By equipping and jointly certifying our workers on Spanish language skills, we in effect also arm them with protection against the menace of illegal recruiters preying on unsuspecting migrants," he said.

Rodriguez said that Spain was giving importance to the further strengthening of the Spanish language, an international language spoken by 440 million people worldwide.

The labor department will establish the selection criteria, process and methodology that would ensure suitable levels of qualification and professionalism.

The syllabus to be used by the ICM and other training institutions will be drawn up by ICM and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

ICM will handle, for a reasonable fee to be paid by the workers, Spanish language and cultural training, supply the teachers for the course and conduct the assessment of workers trained in other institutions.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=38378

kiretoce

May 2nd, 2007, 11:55 PM

New call center to hire 400 agents (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2007/05/03/bus/new.call.center.to.hire.400.agents.html)

Despite being a new player in the Cebu’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, a US-based contact center is bullish in providing short-term fast career advancement for its employees.

US-based ePerformax Philippines, in a joint venture with ePerformax US and Transna-tional Diversified Group Philippines, opened its first site outside Manila in JY Square Mall, Cebu City last Saturday.

“We strive to promote every determined and passionate individual within a year,” ePerformax president and chief executive officer Teresa Hartsaw said.

Because its Cebu site is starting up, she said the company is targeting 100 hirees per month to fill the 400-seater facility.

Hartsaw said ePerformax Cebu has only about 50 employees to date, but is now training around 80 individuals.

The company, she said, prides in its Performance Maximization Model, which is to develop every employee’s passion to maximize their performance in order to capitalize on the team’s contribution to the company’s business objectives.

“We believe that a business process outsourcer is only as good as its ‘weakest link.’ If even our weakest representative is not prepared to deliver top quality, then we have not done our job in maximizing performance,” she said.

Maximize

Although the company is bullish in hiring 100 employees, Hartsaw assured that every qualified applicant is “properly profiled” to ensure they fully maximize their ability to interact with clients.

“We don’t hire for the sake of hiring,” she added in an interview.

In its website, ePerformax requires that applicants hold a college degree or equivalent technical degree and pass a series of American English proficiency tests, comprehension and listening tests, plus applicable partner-specific tests.

The testing often takes six to eight hours.

The training is designed for each partner and includes a minimum of six days of diction, intonation and enunciation training for all employees, with more extensive training for the management team.

Trainees must certify from this program and certification rate is approximately 70 percent to 80 percent.

“This enables us to eliminate those that do not have a full command of the English language,” Hartsaw explained.

Curriculum

Trainees are then required to certify in the partner-specific curriculum prior to becoming employees of the program.

Like all other BPOs, the company also offers scholarship programs apart from competitive salaries.

“We offer double base salaries for progress and good performance,” said Hartsaw.

Driven by its vision in providing low labor cost and high work ethics, she believes the Philippines provide the “best venue” for its offshore operations.

“Bringing the best practices from the U.S. together with the best practices and talent from the Philippines is a good combination,” she said, citing the Filipinos’ good customer service orientation, high proficiency in the English language, and the huge affinity to the American culture as factors considered in expanding operations to the country.

While most international BPOs have offshore operations to India, Hartsaw said the company has no other sites apart from the Philippines, and has not mulled plans to expand in other countries.

ePerformax, which began its Philippine operations in Manila last 2002, has 1,800 employees.

It has provided solutions for companies in information solutions, telecommunications, transportation, technology, travel, hospitality and retail.

kiretoce

May 17th, 2007, 03:43 PM

Outsourcing To The Philippines: An Increasing Number Of U.S. Companies Sending Work Overseas (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/15/uttm/main2811142.shtml)

CBS News -- We're inside a contact center, one of many in the Phillippines. This is run by Dell, an American technology company that scouted Asia for business locations. According to Michael Garrison of Dell, "We came to the Phillippines specifically for growth because of the availability of talent and because of the great communications skills available here. We're serving U.S. Customers out of our site here."

Personnel in these call centers come mostly from the country's large English-trained, college-educated workforce. "The empathy, the real ability to connect with the American consumer is something that is very unique in the Phillippines, so it's been a great base for us to talk to American customers," says Garrison.

It's not all voice services; this firm does that and some back office operations. Maulik Parekh, a manager, says "A lot of it is credit card verification, loan processing for financial institutions. We also do a lot of back office work for one of the major airlines in the U.S."

Contact centers and back office operations. These are part of Business Process Outsourcing. It's a surging industry in the Philippines. John Forbes, of the American Chamber of Commerce, says "It's really quite spectacular. It's the fastest growing sector in the Philippine economy in terms of percentage growth."

Most of the foreign firms in the outsourcing business here are American. Industry spokesman Mitch Locsin notes their operations are complemented by the country's strong cultural ties with the United Sates.

"We are very U.S. centric," says Locsin. "We have the same general accepted accounting principles, we have the same engineering standards, the same laws, the same medical standards, so basically we have a very strong affinity with the U.S."

Businessmen say outsourcing can become a ten billion dollar industry here by 2010. They see the Philippines developing as one of the major destinations in Asia for global outsourcing, from customer service to software development.

nayki

May 24th, 2007, 05:59 AM

By Daxim Lucas
Inquirer
Last updated 05:28am (Mla time) 05/24/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- By all measures, the country’s call center industry is still booming.

Around Metro Manila and in a growing number of provincial locations, new contact centers are being put up while the present ones are being expanded, as more large clients abroad take advantage of Filipinos’ English language skills.

Allied service industries continue to make a killing as call center agents -- most of them awake at ungodly hours -- spend their wages on food, consumer electronics, and entertainment.

But emerging trends from within the industry reveal that the landscape is changing.

Demand for non-traditional services

While demand for English-speaking, “accent-neutral” call center agents will always be there, leaders and research data from the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry show that the bulk of the growth and revenues in coming years will come from other segments not considered traditional Filipino strengths.

It comes as no surprise, therefore, that some of the largest players in the industry are now working double time to provide services that provide more value than just the usual order-taking or help desk activities that call centers have long been known for.

“The outsourcing industry is still a high growth industry, but we now do end-to-end ,” Accenture’s outsourcing group chief executive Kevin M. Campbell said, responding to queries about changes in the local call center business.

“We’re always focused on differentiation and we’re not a commodity player,” he said. “If people feel that [the industry] is topping out, then they have a commodity service.”

To fortify its unique service offerings from other call centers, Accenture spent $700 million on training around the world last year, and plans to further increase its training budget this year for its outsourcing businesses in the Philippines and in India.

Locally, it conducts 37 training courses each week in its eight facilities, which already house over 10,000 BPO agents.

Call center growth disappoints

Beyond just relying on speaking “correct” English, the investment in training would become even more important for Accenture and other contact center firms in the coming years, according to the local industry’s umbrella organization.

Data from the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) showed that there were 160,000 agents employed with various contact centers nationwide.

This is equivalent to 67 percent of all 237,175 workers employed by the wider BPO industry, which includes operations like back office operations, medical transcription, legal transcription, animation, and software development, among others.

[B]If all goes well, BPAP expects the number of call center workers in the country to balloon to 331,000 by 2010, representing a growth rate of 106 percent.
This doubling of the call center population looks ambitious and impressive, but pales in comparison with the growth rates expected for the other segments of the industry.

Another boom area

The number of people employed in back office work, for example, is expected to grow to 299,000 by 2010 from the present headcount of 36,000 -- a growth rate of 730 percent.
The medical transcription business is another boom area, with the growth rate expected to top 1,600 percent from now until 2010, and the employee headcount rising from only 7,000 to 122,000.

By 2010 therefore, call center agents will make up only one-third of all workers in the BPO industry from the present two-thirds

Dvorak

May 25th, 2007, 09:36 AM

is it getting expensive to operate here in Phils?? Why does PLDT needs to outsource to Vietnam?? So we will soon here Vietnamese agents catering to Phils??

PLDT’s BPO unit opens Vietnam office
By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes
Friday, May 25, 2007

SPi Technology Inc., the business process outsourcing (BPO) unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has opened a new 1,200 square meter facility in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The new state-of-the-art facility was built to support the growing needs of SPi’s publishing operations in the Philippines and India. Located at the Detech building in Hanoi’s My Dinh district, the facility will initially house 350 production and support personnel, increasing the manpower complement to 1,300 by end 2008.

From this new facility, SPi will initially provide data processing services including keying, data entry and pre-XML work.

“Our new facility in Vietnam enables us to further expand our global capabilities and provides us with another cost-efficient delivery center to support our rapidly expanding operation,” said Ernest Cu, SPi president and chief executive officer.“We are relentlessly focused on the search for optimal skill sets across the globe which will enable us to meet our clients’ needs while providing a seamless, robust, and 24/7 delivery experience.”

Aside from the Vietnam center, SPi is also scheduled to open a new purpose- built facility in Chennai, India next month. This facility is being built to support the significant ramp-up of SPi’s publishing and healthcare operations.

The company earlier acquired Springfield Service Corp. (SSC), the 10th largest player in the medical billing and revenue cycle management market, boosting opportunities to transition work offshore.

SPi also recently won significant new business in its book operation, which has necessitated the need for more space and publishing talent to meet its customers’ needs.

amigo32

May 25th, 2007, 09:44 AM

para hindi maintindihan ng viet agent pag nagmura ang mga subscriber ng pldt. hehehe

marxman

May 25th, 2007, 11:59 AM

.NET developer for sale... can do WINFORMS and WEBFORMS... just PM me...

dattebayo

May 26th, 2007, 11:01 AM

I was surprised that everytime tatawag yung mom ko sa mga customer service dito sa US ang sumasagot pinoy.

lightning099

May 30th, 2007, 10:25 AM

INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:25pm (Mla time) 05/30/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Business process outsourcing (BPO) operator TeleTech Holdings is on an expansion binge with the opening of two new centers that will focus on existing markets in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

The two new facilities will be in Bacoor, Cavite and Iloilo City, Iloilo, and the construction us expected to finish by the latter part of 2007.

Teletech Asian Operations General Manager Maulik Parekh said the Bacoor office will have 1,300 seats while the Iloilo center will have 650.

"We're expecting to increase our employee base from 10,000 to 12,000 by the end of the year," Parekh said.

With a total of 10 BPO centers in the country, TeleTech is now the country's biggest outsourcing operator. Parekh himself said that 20 percent of their global operations are based in the country.

"We're serving a wide variety of vertical industries. Our biggest users are in the telecommunications business, followed by banking and finance, then retail," Parekh said.

Since it started operating in the Philippines in 2001, the company's overall operations have grown an average of 150 percent per year.

Teletech started opening up offices in Metro Manila but has since expanded to provincial areas such sa Cebu, Negros, Bacolod, Batangas and Dumaguete.

NOVO ECIJANO

May 31st, 2007, 02:48 PM

Thursday, May 31, 2007

:banana: HSBC to expand call-center operations

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) is set to expand its business process outsourcing (BPO) business and plans to invest in the government’s infrastructure projects.

At the opening of the HSBC Center in Taguig, Mark Watkinson, HSBC Philippines chief executive officer (CEO), said the bank will put up its new call-center site in Quezon City with 3,500 seats. HSBC’s call-center sites in Alabang and Makati house a total of 5,500 agents.

“We are building another one in Quezon City with 4,500 people, probably in 2008,” Watkinson announced.

Moreover, HSBC has put up its new back office in Global City, Taguig, together with a new bank branch.

He also announced the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has granted HSBC “new licenses” to operate five savings banks that it plans to open this year in greater Metro Manila.

He said the bank’s decision to invest more in personal financing services has paid off.

Michael Smith, HSBC CEO for Asia Pacific, averred that “Philippines’ risk is now less than it was.”

With the improvement in the country’s fiscal position and economic condition, Smith said comparative to two and half years ago, “Now is more uptick, more optimistic, much more positive.”

Matkinson added that HSBC may invest in infrastructure development, particularly in building toll roads and airports, saying, “The Philippines will be a good location with the expansion of China and India’s growth in the development of tourism and mining industry. You need excellent infrastructure for that.”

He said the Clark airport has a potential as a major airport terminal in the next five years.

HSBC recently financed the acquisition of the Magat hydropower plant for acquisition.

sandrn

June 3rd, 2007, 09:04 PM

Western Union opens RP call center
Facility said to be fourth of its kind in the world
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW060407/content.php?id=021

New-York listed global money transfer service network Western Union on Friday opened a regional operations call center in Quezon City as part of its expansion activities in the Philippines.

David Larkworthy, Western Union se-nior vice-president and head of global operations, told reporters that the Asian Regional Operating Center in Muñoz, Quezon City, will initially employ 100 Filipino agents.

"We consider this new facility to be yet another avenue to deliver the highest level of service to our customers as well as our agents," Mr. Larkworthy said.

"By opting to locate the [center] here in the Philippines, Western Union shows its confidence in the Filipino customer service representatives who are known not only for their professionalism, but also their innate friendliness. Filipinos are always happy to help people," he added.

Western Union officials declined how much the company invested in setting up the regional operating center.

Ian K. Marsh, Western Union executive vice-president and managing director for Asia Pacific, said the Quezon City call center is just the fourth of its kind worldwide. Western Union has regional operating centers in Texas and Missouri in the US, and in Costa Rica.

"As part of Western Union’s continued expansion and commitment within Asia Pacific, [the center] will provide dedicated customer service, agent support as well as backroom operations for 37 countries and territories in the region," Mr. Marsh said.

He said the new operation center is capable of accepting 2,000 to 3,000 calls everyday, in 23 languages including English, Filipino, and Mandarin.

Western Union operates through a network of more than 305,000 agent locations in over 200 countries, and territories worldwide. Famous for its pioneering telegraph services, the original Western Union dates back to 1851. Western Union has been in the Philippines for the past 19 years.

Mr. Larkworthy said Western Union partnered with global customer interaction solutions provider VXI Global Solutions, Inc. for the Quezon City call center’s facilities.

In addition to amenities including sleeping quarters, lounges, recreation rooms and a cafeteria, the center’s customer service representatives will also participate in VXI’s four-phase best practice training program.

"We provide operating center proficiency training by familiarizing and keeping customer service representatives up to date with our leading-edge call center solutions and technologies," VXI president David Zhou said.

"The four-phase training program is expected to develop them into the country’s top performers in delivering superior customer contact experience by meeting, if not exceeding, expectations in terms of customer empathy, cultural alignment, professionalism and expertise," he added.

Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila welcomed the opening of Western Union’s operations center.

"We are extremely pleased that Western Union, a significant global player in the financial industry, has chosen to consolidate and centralize their regional support for both business partners and customers in the Philippines," the Trade chief said in a statement.

"This reaffirms the fact that the Philippines is well-poised as a preferred location for Southeast Asia’s hub for call center services," Mr. Favila added. — Jeffrey O. Valisno

sandrn

June 3rd, 2007, 09:08 PM

I guess this is a manpower service outsourcing too:

Ship repair facility returns to Subic Bay free port
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW060407/content.php

Subic Bay Freeport Zone — Subic Drydock, a subsidiary of prominent United States-based ship repair service provider Cabras Marine Corp., announced the arrival of AFDM-5 floating dry dock on Saturday which would revive the operations of the Ship Repair Facilities (SRF).

Cabras is a private firm which has been considered as the leading ship repair service provider of tugboats, salvage vessels, and waterfront maintenance for the United States Navy and commercial vessels in Guam and Micronesia for over 30 years.

Fifteen years after the floating dry dock was towed out of Subic Bay as part of the 1992 US base withdrawal, the sophisticated equipment has been returned and now back in ship repair business.

In October 2005, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Feliciano G. Salonga and Administrator Armand C. Arreza signed a long-term lease contract with Subic Drydock Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Catalino Bondoc for the setting up of a P275-million SRF.

Mr. Salonga said the floating dry dock would open opportunities for highly skilled former US base workers who were trained and used to be employed with the SRF during US Navy days.

Shut down in 1992 after the historic withdrawal of US Naval troops and facilities, the floating dry docks (AFDM-5) were towed to Hawaii, USA, displacing thousands of highly skilled direct SRF employees and indirect workers.

Cabras, through sister company, Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp. (MTSC), purchased the AFDM-5 from the state government of Guam after the US Armed Forces donated the sophisticated ship repair machinery before being decommissioned allegedly for lack of operational and technical manpower.

Mr. Bondoc earlier told BusinessWorld that while the floating docks were strictly utilized for military purpose, it will now be servicing commercial clienteles for ships like interisland-sized vessels and ferries.

He added that Subic Dry Dock would also be offering ship repair service to Philippine Navy ships and other navy vessels within Asia.

Mr. Bondoc said the international shipping market will be the primary target client of the project, particularly of vessels operating in the region.

These vessels are represented by international shipping agents composed mostly of customers of Malayan group of companies.

Subic Dry Dock will also be looking into service contracts with 88 domestic shipping companies operating 315 domestic vessels.

Subic Dry Dock will also secure the Master Ship Repair Agreement (MSRA) and be accredited for US Navy ship repair contracts that require dry docking and repair services particularly from the Military Sealift Command based in Yokohama, Japan.

Initially, we will be hiring 150 workers which will be made up of former SRF workers who will also be in charge as trainers to new breed and young ship repair workers, Subic Dock Project Director Gerald Hammond said.

Mr. Hammond added that the ship repair facility is expected to be completed and operational in two months after the arrival of another dry dock to support its operations and upgrade handling capabilities.

The project will be employing 600 skilled and semi-skilled workers composed mostly of those who used to be stationed in the SRF area for their familiarity on the dock and at the same time train apprentice.

The company’s total capital expenditure of around P276 million will be used to acquire the dry docks amounting to P165 million and the remaining P110 million would be for the improvement of berthing and other port facilities of the Bravo pier inside the SRF compound such as the administrative office building, machine shop and warehouse.

The AFDM-5 floating dry dock is a wielded structural steel capable of accommodating ships of 18,000 tons displacement with length-span of up to 150 meters.

Subic Freeport bested other port areas that the company explored for the setting up of its ship repair facility project such as the Sarangani Bay in General Santos and Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam. — Rey Garcia

Animo

June 4th, 2007, 08:02 PM

By Vincent Cabreza
Northern Luzon Bureau
Last updated 07:53pm (Mla time) 05/31/2007

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines -- The government's campaign to produce English speaking workers for the business outsourcing industry may soon become an outdated goal because the job market is now looking for Spanish speakers too, according to a school owner here.

Outsourcing clients from Spanish speaking countries have started checking out the Philippine labor force because of the country's historical Spanish links, and because its schools once required college students to take Spanish courses, Maria Bryce Fabro, president of the Center for Technical Excellence Integrated School Inc. (CTEISI), has said.

This client base accounted for 37 percent of the outsourcing market, she said.

Most businesses that require the services of call centers in the country have been concentrated in production and manufacturing, but demand is also growing for call centers that help manufacturers sell their products overseas, according to Fabro.

Many countries that buy these products are Spanish-speaking countries in America and Europe.

The Commission on Higher Education dropped Spanish from its mandatory courses more than 10 years ago, and many universities elected to make this language course as an elective.

Department of Labor and Employment studies showed a mismatch between popular courses taken by students and the actual demands from the labor force, Fabro said.

But new studies revealed an anomaly in communication skills being required by a section of the outsourcing market, she said.

In a recent study by the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP), experts agree that the industry is looking for good communicators and not necessarily grammatical English speaking workers.

Fabro set up Language Zone Inc. this year to offer crash courses in Spanish when she realized that most business outsourcing enterprises are looking for workers who are fluent in Spanish.

An outsourcing firm in Pampanga advertises its Spanish-speaking work force as one of its strengths when it offers its services overseas, according to Fabro.

Language Zone was selling its services with the slogan "The World Speaks English" but was also teaching Nippongo to overseas workers who found new opportunities in Japan, she said.

She said English may have helped break down borders in trade but it opened the doors for other cultures to trade with the Philippines.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=68860

waketrex

June 4th, 2007, 08:12 PM

papi_chulo

June 5th, 2007, 02:19 AM

TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS By BABE ROMUALDEZ

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

Surveys showed that Filipinos are showing a marked decline in their proficiency and comprehension in all aspects of the English language – whether spoken, written or read. Just listen to the complaints of businessmen – or worse, just try listening to new graduates struggle in expressing themselves during interviews – and you will understand why the situation has become disturbing if not downright disappointing.

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

When English was abolished as a medium of instruction in schools – a move made in 1987 shortly after EDSA I – it only resulted in the birth of “Engalog” – a mishmash of English and Tagalog words and phrases which did not succeed in making Filipinos truly bilingual. It was really a disastrous move to impose Tagalog-based Filipino as a medium of instruction even for subjects like math and science, because little did we know that we would be suffering its effects today with Filipinos slowly losing their competitive edge in getting good job opportunities particularly in technology-based industries. Filipinos are clearly losing out because of that very big mistake to abolish the use of English as a medium of instruction 20 years ago. Today, a lot of employers are complaining about the deteriorating quality of our graduates, and the fact that majority of them lack the required skill and facility in the English language.

Take the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, for instance. Last year, around 200,000 were employed in BPO companies, mostly contact centers, which generated approximately $3.8 billion in revenues. This industry is acknowledged as one of the most dynamic of all sectors in the Information Technology (IT) industry, contributing to some 12 percent of the country’s GDP. In the Philippines, the call center sector – a subset of the BPO industry – has the highest growth rate in Asia with some 105,000 call agent seats reported last year.

Government is positive that the Philippines will capture 50 percent of the total English-speaking market in 2008, and that some 900,000 Filipinos would be employed by 2010 in an industry projected to earn $11 billion in revenues. But this may be a tall order considering that the Philippines is showing a sharp decline in its attractiveness as a location for offshore services. This country currently ranks third behind India and China and just slightly ahead of Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. But while the Philippines is said to be the biggest rival of India in the BPO industry, it has dropped from 4th to 8th place out of 50 countries that are considered attractive locations for off shore services. This slide in attractiveness is blamed mostly on the fact that the college graduates who apply for jobs in call centers fare poorly in the qualifying exams – meaning they lack sufficient comprehension skills and they do not have the high level of conversational fluency required for the job. Of the approximately 400,000 fresh graduates churned out by colleges and universities, less than three percent are hired in BPO companies and call centers.

Purists and nationalists may disagree, but whether we like it or not, English is still considered the lingua franca of business and finance. It is estimated that 400 million people speak English as the primary language, while another 300-500 million are adept at it and use it as a second language, with still 750 million more using it as a foreign language. Many Asian countries are obviously beginning to recognize the advantage of being fluent in the English language. In South Korea, its oldest and most prestigious private university, Yonsei, has began to offer a four-year program for English-language classes, in part to keep their best and brightest from going abroad to study. Korea University previously offered less than 10 percent of classes in English. Today, it has increased to 35 percent and is expected to go up by as much as 60 percent. In Japan, Waseda University has been running a successful English college program since 2004 even while it focuses heavily on Asian culture, politics, history and other liberal arts. Beijing University and other top schools in China have likewise followed suit, increasing their English-language class offerings.

There is a big opportunity for the Philippines to eclipse India and China as the most attractive location for offshore services – but our students’ English proficiency has to improve – and we’re not only talking of the collegiate level here. Facility and proficiency in English has to start even during the elementary and high school levels. Fortunately, there are a number of initiatives by business groups for the promotion of English, like the Promoting English Proficiency (PEP) project of the American Chamber of Commerce. According to PEP co-chair John Forbes, there is a gap of hundreds of thousands of jobs that are not being filled in the Philippines because of poor English and other skills. This is what PEP is trying to address through its information and advocacy campaign, and through partnerships with educational institutions for the establishment of computerized English language centers, and encouraging employers to adopt higher standards of certification for hiring or advancing employees, like the Test of English for International Communication or TOEIC.

Surveys showed that Filipinos are showing a marked decline in their proficiency and comprehension in all aspects of the English language – whether spoken, written or read. Just listen to the complaints of businessmen – or worse, just try listening to new graduates struggle in expressing themselves during interviews – and you will understand why the situation has become disturbing if not downright disappointing.

Sinjin P.

June 5th, 2007, 04:50 AM

BPO firms looking for Spanish speakers (http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=69535)

Inquirer
Last updated 06:36am (Mla time) 06/05/2007

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines -- The business process outsourcing (BPO) job market is looking for more Spanish speakers, a school owner here said.

Clients from Spanish-speaking countries have started checking out the Philippines as a possible site for BPO services because of the country’s historical Spanish links, and because its schools once required college students to take Spanish courses, said Maria Bryce Fabro, president of the Center for Technical Excellence Integrated School Inc.

Fabro said the Spanish-speaking countries accounted for as much as 37 percent of the potential global outsourcing market.

The Commission on Higher Education dropped Spanish from its mandatory courses more than 10 years ago, and many universities have made the language course an elective.

Fabro set up Language Zone Inc. here to offer crash courses in Spanish, realizing that most business outsourcing enterprises were looking for workers fluent in Spanish.

An outsourcing firm in Pampanga province even advertises its Spanish-speaking workforce as one of its strengths when it offers its services overseas, she said.

Language Zone sells its services with the slogan “The World Speaks English” but it also offers Nippongo, she said.

She said English might have helped break down borders in trade but it also opened the doors for other cultures to trade with the Philippines.

jhunix

June 5th, 2007, 07:02 AM

US-based call center offers 1T jobs here
By Joy Romares-Sevilla

WHILE a few Manila-based call center companies have signified interest to expand their operations in Davao City, a multi-million foreign-based call center company will put up its branch in the city within six months, the regional office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reported.

Sutherland Global Services, a New York-based business process outsourcing (BPO) company, will offer at least 1,000 job opportunities for qualified applicants.

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View here the list of local winners

Trade Assistant Secretary Merly M. Cruz said talks between Sutherland and National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center (Nerbac), the call center executives have signified their interest to locate in the city.

"They have decided to have a branch here in Davao because they've seen the city's potentials. Among others, the city has already installed the necessary infrastructures for BPO's and a number of its graduates are highly-competent to become call center agents," Cruz said.

Cruz also cited that the Damosa IT (information technology) Park has already received an accreditation from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), a development which makes Davao City more attractive to BPO investors.

Cruz said the entry of Sutherland will further boost the region's information and communications technology (ICT) industry.

Sutherland Global Services is a private-owned company with over 20 years of experience in the customer management space.

Since 1986, some of the world's most respected companies have depended on Sutherland to manage various aspects of their customer operations.

The company offers an end-to-end set of contact center and back-office outsourcing services that clients can choose to implement in either an integrated or stand alone manner.

sandrn

June 6th, 2007, 11:05 PM

7 NY-based BPO firms to set up shop in RP
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/06072007/economy01.html
By Estrella Torres
Reporter

AT least seven New York-based companies engaged in business process outsourcing (BPO) are set to start operations in the next few years following the successes and phenomenal revenue growth gained by US companies that have already set up operations here, said an official of the Philippine Consulate General in New York.
Consul general Cecilia Rebong said in a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that the Philippines’ outstanding qualities as a haven for BPOs were cited during the forum on “Global Sourcing and Finance and Accounting Business Process Outsourcing Services” held in late May in New York.
Rebong, however, did not name the seven New York-based companies.
She said chief executive officers (CEOs), presidents and managers of major American financial, banking and investment companies based in New York attended the forum organized by the Business Process Outsourcing Council, the Philippine Consulate General and the Philippine Trade Office in New York.
Cynthia Houlton, senior analyst of RBC Capital Markets, in her speech said that the US companies already in the Philippines and consider it as a top destination for their offshoring services are ACN (Accenture), Genpact, ICT Group Inc., TTEC (Teletec Holdings, Inc.), ETEL (eTelecare Global Solutions, Inc.), and PCPT (People Support, Inc.).
Houlton said these companies posted phenomenal revenue growth during the first quarter of 2007 from their offshore BPO/contact center operations.
At the same time, Gary Reddick, senior vice president of AIG Worldwide Life Insurance, said the Philippines provides an environment highly conducive to US-focus operations.
AIG American General is the second-largest life insurer in the United States, said Rebong in her report to the DFA.
In 2002, AIG American General entered into a joint venture with Philamlife for the operation of AIG-BPSI. The firm is now the largest and most diversified insurance company in the Philippines.
“AIG-BPSI was to provide outsourced backroom processing as well as contact center services to AIG and its various customers worldwide. AIG-BPSI launched full operations in January 2003. In April 2006, AIG American General completely bought out Philamlife interests in AIG-BPSI,” said Rebong.
Reddick said the Philippines was considered by AIG for its expanded operations because of its advantages over alternative Asian sites.
He cited the following during his speech in the New York forum: Labor costs equivalent to China and lower and more stable than India; prevalence of spoken American English; cultural and social affinity with the US; modern and stable infrastructure such as water, power, roads, telecommunications; large pool of qualified college graduates seeking white-collar employment; access to specialized skills aligned with US professional standards; government support and tax breaks for the industry; and more familiar environment for expatriate trainers and managers than other Asian alternatives.
Reddick also said that having a local partner like Philamlife helped a great deal in the AIG operations in the Philippines.

smokingunmanila

June 7th, 2007, 07:14 AM

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What is this? do you do web sites?

marxman

June 7th, 2007, 08:14 AM

yes i can do that too... using .NET technology... VB 2005 and ASP .NET... by microsoft...

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 11:34 AM

Challenge

The negative perception of IT investors toward Davao City and Davao Region as a whole.

Solution

Davao Technopreneurship

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 11:35 AM

Why ICT for Davao City?

Given its potentials to become a “center of excellence” in Information Communications and Technology (ICT), Davao City is declared as an IT HUB area in the Philippines by the National Telecommunications Office per memorandum # 05-05-200.

As a modern metropolis bustling with life, verve and color, situated in a typhoon-free zone with a land area of 244,000 hectares touted as one of the world’s largest, recent study made by the Asian Institute of Management through a project called “Philippine Cities Competitiveness Program” revealed that the City is the Most Competitive City in the Philippines (Urban Category) with the lowest cost of Doing Business.

Moreover, using a scorecard developed by the Commission on Informationa and Communications Technology (CICT), Davao City ranks high as an attractive ICT investment location in the country.

In the area of Workforce Potential, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) XI reported that as of January 2005 out of 76 colleges and universities in the region, Davao City has a total of 42, three (3) of which belonging to the Top 20 in the country namely: Ateneo de Davao University, University of the Philippines in Mindanao and San Pedro College.

About 14 colleges and universities in the region were also granted the PAASCU, PACUCOA, and AACUP accreditations, hence, assuring that quality graduates are produced each year in many higher education.

Moreover, a total of 15,731 graduates were recorded for the schoolyear 2004-2005 with the following top courses: Education (with 2,715 graduates), Commerce, (with 2,707 graduates) and Nursing (with 2,241 graduates).

In the area of telecommunications infrastructure, Davao City has an available high-speed Digital Subscribers Lines (DSL) that can support 24×7 operations. The presence of major telecommunications companies i.e., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, BayanTel, Globe, Digitel, Meridian Telekoms, Inc. and PT&T can provide such services from fiber-optic links, wireless broadband, to simple and triple redundancy.

In the area of real estate, Davao City has huge open spaces that can be developed into an IT Park or IT Building. There are five (5) major hotels and more than 10 business inns.

In the area of vendor support, large vendors in Manila and Cebu are now in Davao City to cater the requirements of local companies in terms of hardware and software namely: GlobalChips Technologies, Co; Trinet Multimedia Systems Corporation; Micro-D International, etc.

In the area of power infrastructure, Davao City has the most stable power supply and one the cheapest rates in the country. Its power utility company, the Davao Light and Power Company has a backup power supply of 44 MW at its Bajada Power Plant. In the last 5 years, there was no recorded incidence of massive power shortage and blackouts.

In the area of transportation, a total of 189,621 motor vehicles in the region were registered in the Land Transportation Office (LTO) XI in 2005 distributed as follows: motorcycles & tricycles - 109,142; Utility vehicles - 44,118; Taxi/Cars - 18,983; Trucks – 11,310; Sports Utility Vehicles – 4,045; Trailers – 1,265 and Buses – 758. Davao City and nearby provinces have more than 2,000 aircon/non-aircon taxi units equipped with 2-way radio system running 24 hours a day.

In terms of local incentives, Davao City is the first local government unit in Mindanao to provide incentives to investors in the city.

For Quality of Life, Davao City was adjudged as the most liveable city in the Philippines and included in the Top 20 in Asia.

Jason Banico - author of Silicon Gulf.

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 11:37 AM

The Davao ICT Ecosystem

I. Associations / Organizations:

Association of Computer Businesses in Mindanao (ACBM)
Association of Solution Integrators in Davao, Inc (ASID)
Business Process Outsourcing Davao (BPO-Davao)
Council of Deans in I.T. Education (CDITE-Region XI)
DabaweGNU
Davao Inventors Association
Davao IT Organization (DITO)
Davao Technical Expert for Computer Hardware & Software Support, Inc (TechSupport)
ICT Real Estate Association of Davao (ICTREAD)
Internet Cafe Association of Davao, Inc. (ICAD)
MIS-Corporate Davao
Philippine Society of I.T Educators (PSITE-Region XI)

II. Universities and Colleges:

San Pedro College
AMA Computer University
Ateneo de Davao University
University of Immaculate Conception
University of the Philippines, Mindanao
University of Southeastern Philippines

III. Companies:

III.A. IT-Enabled Services and Training:

Davao First Transcription Center Corporatin (DFTCC)
G-Com Ltd.
JIB E-Academy
Link2Support
MTC Academy
Nakayama Technology Corporation
PeopleSupport
TeamAssist

III.B. Application Development and Web Design:

Automata Interactive
Blinque Tech
Cerveo Computer Systems
CubePixels
Hubport Interactive
ids-Media
KAI, Inc.
KwikRelease Studios
Lane Systems
Mynd Consulting
PhilAmerican Global Solutions, Inc.
PixelWeaver

III.C. EXISTING IT Parks and Incubators:

3G/Brokenshire Davao IT Incubation Center
Damosa IT Park
NCCC ICT Pavilion

Davao Technopreneurship

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 11:40 AM

ICT Davao, Inc.

ICT Davao, Inc. is an umbrella organization of Davao City’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) stakeholders.

Launched last October 6, 2006, the founding organizations are the Philippine Society of IT Educators (PSITE-Region XI), Council of Deans in I.T. Education (CDITE-Region XI), Association of Computer Businesses in Mindanao (ACBM), DabaweGNU, Association of Solution Integrators in Davao, Inc (ASID), Internet Cafe’ Association of Davao, Inc. (ICAD), and Technical Expert for Computer Hardware & Software Support, Inc (TechSupport).

ICT Davao Inc. was created to implement the plans outlined in the “ICT Roadmap for Region XI” drafted by DTI Region XI’s ICT cluster.

VISION:
Davao as the premier ICT destination of choice providing cutting edge products & services.

CORE VALUES:

Excellence
Integrity
Synergy
Innovation
Commitment
MISSION:

To assure that our members are recognized financially & professionally for the value they provide (Financial & Professional Respect)

To educate the members and their clients about technical and fare business practices. (Education & Research)

To educate the members about emerging trends and technologies having an impact on the industry. (Education & Research)

To offer programs and services that anticipate and respond to the needs of our members, helping the prosper and enhancing their health & security. (Valued Benefits)

To advocate for the interest of our members in the legislative, judicial, and regulatory arenas. (Legislative)

To be responsible stewards for our members by building an organization that works efficiently on their behalf. (Organizational Development)

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:

1. To help provide the strategic directions for Davao ’s ICT sector;

2. To engage in programs and projects for the development and advancement of the ICT industry;

3. To enable radical collaboration between industry, academe and government;

4. To advocate innovation and technopreneurship as key enablers for a strong and globally competitive knowledge economy;

5. To advocate ICT industry development and its global competitiveness as one of the top priorities in the local government;

6. To help build Davao ’s image as a mature ICT player on the national and global levels;

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS:

Increase in IT locators
Increase in IT businesses
Increase in IT employment

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICERS:

President : Manolito Tee
Vice President (Internal) : Erriberto Barriga
Vice President (External) : Wit Holganza
Secretary : Yvonne Cabada
Treasurer : Randy Gambo
Auditor : Edwin Marañon
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

ACBM - Manolito Tee
Association of Solution Integrators in Davao - Oliver Robillo
Council of Deans & IT Educators - XI (CDITE-XI) - Edwin Marañon
Corporate ICT Association of Davao - Erriberto Barriga
DabaweGNU, Inc. - Nathaniel Jayme
Davao Inventors Group - Vir Sangutan
Internet Café Association of Davao - Yvonne Cabada
Transcription Alliance of Davao Inc. - Wit Holganza
Philippine Society of IT Educators - XI (PSITE-XI) - Randy Gamboa
TechSupport - Rey Cariño
Council of Deans of Engineering - XI (CODE-XI) - Engr. Randel Espina
Institute of Electronic & Communications Engineers of the Philippines – Southern Mindanao Chapter (IECEP-SM)

junax

June 8th, 2007, 11:44 AM

nice info for the world bai TJ... :)

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 11:46 AM

^^ Now let's get the ball rolling! So what's up and coming to Davao's IT Industry this 2007?

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 11:51 AM

SM City Davao to operate an ICT Park

WITH several investors on information and communication technology (ICT) scouting for space to locate, SM City Davao's plan to develop and operate an IT park is very timely.

Davao City council committee chair on trade, commerce and industry Peter Lavina in an interview said several interested locators are willing to come to Davao but could not find the right place to put up their business.

Lavina said he introduced a resolution, endorsing for support and approval of the proposed IT Park project of SM City Davao at Ecoland.

SM will develop its three-hectare property as an IT Park to house call centers, business processing operations and IT companies to provide IT-related facilities.

He said when developed it would create thousands of jobs and generate added revenues to the city government.

Within the IT Park will be built at the most three buildings where locators can house their operations.

Lavina said it is just right for companies like SM to build the infrastructure now as many are already looking at Davao City to become an IT hub.

He said the project also needs to be endorsed to the Regional Development Council (RDC XI), Department of Trade and Industry and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) for accreditation and application for incentives.

Once the necessary permits and clearances are granted the project is now eligible to avail of incentives from the national government plus the incentives given by the city government of Davao to new investments.

davaoeagle

June 8th, 2007, 11:52 AM

[

ACBM - Manolito Tee
Association of Solution Integrators in Davao - Oliver Robillo
Council of Deans & IT Educators - XI (CDITE-XI) - Edwin Marañon
Corporate ICT Association of Davao - Erriberto Barriga
DabaweGNU, Inc. - Nathaniel Jayme
Davao Inventors Group - Vir Sangutan
Internet Café Association of Davao - Yvonne Cabada
Transcription Alliance of Davao Inc. - Wit Holganza
Philippine Society of IT Educators - XI (PSITE-XI) - Randy Gamboa
TechSupport - Rey Cariño
Council of Deans of Engineering - XI (CODE-XI) - Engr. Randel Espina
Institute of Electronic & Communications Engineers of the Philippines – Southern Mindanao Chapter (IECEP-SM)

Thanks for this thread TJ, now we have thread to post IT dev'ts in Davao City and the Region. :cheers:

I know those two guys personally and I find them no-nonsensical in IT matters and savvy.. Kudos!

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 11:54 AM

Another group formed to intensify Davao's ICT Industry
Sunstar Davao Online

A NEW organization in Davao City was recently established to further develop the information and communications technology (ICT) industry.

The Transcription Alliance of Davao Inc. (Tadi) was to boost the ICT in the city especially the operation of transcription companies.

In fact, Tadi's new set of officers will be inducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Assistant Secretary Merly M. Cruz on Thursday after the organization's first membership meeting on the same day.

Lizabel "Wit" Holganza, who chairs and administers the MTC Academy, the largest Tesda-accredited transcription school in the country now, will be the incoming Tadi president, while Fred Nadela was chosen as Tadi vice president.

DTI, the lead agency of ICT, said the ICT industry in Davao City has developed a total of 691 jobs as of the year 2005, while the investment recorded as of the same year amounted to P198 million.

The investment targeted for the industry in 2010 amounts to P1 billion.

The new organization also aims to acquire the highest level of investment and job requirement of the city in terms of ICT.

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 12:00 PM

NCCC MALL to apply for ICT PARK PEZA Accreditation

ANOTHER establishment is preparing its application for its information and communications technology park before the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA). Eriberto Barriga Jr., chair of the New City Commercial Center Public Relations Council, said the company is applying with the PEZA so the fourth floor of its mall in Matina could be converted into an ICT park. “We are still finalizing the documents,” Mr. Barriga told the Mindanao Times.

Barriga said the company decided to apply after some prospective locators asked the management whether the area was accredited as ICT park. It is easier to sell the place to prospective locators if it is already an ICT park, he added, pointing out that these businesses wanted to avail of incentives granted to locators in ICT park.

Barriga said the initial strategy of the management of the company was to invite the locators first and ask them about the specifications for their businesses. However, the locators would instead persuade the company to apply first for accreditation before they would consider locating at the mall. Several companies have already scouted the place, one of them willing to set up a call center with about 500 seats, Barriga added.

Councilor Peter Laviña, chair of the city council committee on trade and commerce, said the city government is willing to help businesses that wanted to invest in the formation of ICT parks. Laviña said the city government is also willing to provide incentives both to the ICT park and its locators. Last month, an official of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that two more companies have signified their intention of setting up ICT parks in the city, the Robinsons Land Inc. and the SM City Davao.

Andre Joseph Fournier, a trustee of the business group, said the application of the two companies will boost the move of making the city a hub of the ICT sector not just in Mindanao but in the country. Early this year, the PEZA approved the application of Damosa Land Inc. for the setting up of an ICT park in its property in Lanang.

Ricardo Floirendo, senior vice president of the company, said the approval has signaled the company to invest another P150 million for the development of the park as investors have already been waiting for the completion of the two buildings within the two-hectare property devoted to the park. Among those waiting for the completion of the buildings was Link2Support, a call center company which became the first locator of the park.

Gary Dumael, the call center’s operations manager, said the expansion of his company will even depend on the completion of the building. Mr. Dumael said the company wanted to expand its operations to 1,500 seats by the end of the year from 512 seats at present.

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 12:06 PM

TASK FORCE ICT DAVAO
Oliver V. Robillo

On 3 November 2006, the Davao City mayor’s office issued an executive order constituting an information and communications technology task force. Executive Order No. 16 is an offshoot of the proposal by Councilor Pilar Braga to create the ICT Task Force, which is now mandated to create a road map of the city’s I.T. industry. That is, to provide the local government unit with a much-needed development plan.

With the sudden increase in I.T. investments in Davao, the city government has finally adopted a more serious stance vis-à-vis the I.T. industry. In the past, Davao’s elected officials merely paid lip service to the wonders of information technology — having used the word “wonder” makes it rather clear that the government wasn’t yet all that clued-up, doesn’t it? While EO16 deserves our gratitude, we in the private sector see it as a knee-jerk reaction: not a well-planned strategy to address the burgeoning new industry. Nevertheless, the EO does have its merits, and the task force appears to be ready for action.

A weakness of EO16, in my view, is its over-emphasis on only one sub-sector of the broader I.T. industry. Namely, contact centers. The whole document was premised on the projected rise in business process outsourcing (BPO) opportunities in Davao, and dwelt mainly on call center investments. Not a single mention regarding the strengths of software development, which is at the heart of the I.T. industry. This reveals the government’s low level of awareness of the real deal behind the industry.

However, the establishment of the ICT Task Force speaks well of the present efforts of the Davao LGU: it proves to be a step forward. It’s a sign that they are now beginning to see the digital light. Let’s hope that we will be able to successfully formulate this road map, and that the LGU will adopt it in earnest. The task force, through its technical working group (TWG) — of which I am a part — is supposed to produce the road map, otherwise known as “a city development plan to make Davao City the ICT Hub of Mindanao,” by 3 September 2007.

The ICT Task Force is composed of the City Administrator (chair); City Planning & Development Coordinator (vice-chair); SP Committee on Trade, Commerce & Industry; Department of Trade & Industry-Region 11; Department of Science & Technology-Region 11; National Telecommunications Commission-Region 11; the Davao City Chamber of Commerce & Industry; the Proponent, Councilor Pilar Braga; and the City Legal Officer. During the first organizational meeting last 6 June 2007, the Chairman accepted the proposal to include three more members: ICT Davao Inc.; Philippine Society of I.T. Educators, Davao Chapter; and Technical Education & Skills Development Authority-Region 11. The Task Force will henceforth meet once a month.

The TWG, on the other hand, will meet once a week, running up to its September deadline. It is tasked to create the aforementioned road map. Fortunately, the TWG will benefit from existing road maps that have already been generated by the ICT Industry Cluster of the Regional Development Council-Region 11, and by the Fly High: Philippine Software 2010 program.

An interesting development — albeit not exactly an earth-shaking one — is the plan to include an I.T.-related event during this year’s Kadayawan sa Dabaw festivities. A float perhaps? Or maybe a software design contest? The TWG will brainstorm on this in its first meeting next week.

Recently I’ve received some e-mails from my readers, pointing out the slow-paced development of Davao’s I.T. industry. But the truth is, things are really starting to happen for Davao in the I.T. arena.

In October 2007, we will hold the 6th Mindanao ICT Congress, which will coincide with the 1st BIMP-Eaga ICT Conference. There will also be the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit on 27 October. Also, an important conference on Free & Open-Source Software is on the drawing board and is slated for September. The COMDDAP Expo is back in Davao this month.

On the business side, a New York-based company, the Sutherland Group, will proceed with its plan to open call center operations here. They are initially targeting a 1,000sqm. area within the NCCC Mall. I hope that software development houses will also start to flourish here.

Now is Davao’s time to make its mark in the sphere of I.T. I sincerely hope that the newly-minted ICT Task Force, hand-in-hand with ICT Davao Inc and the Davao Chamber, will live up to our expectations.

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 12:09 PM

BPOs on the rise in Davao
Oliver Robillo

Another potential investment in the field of business process outsourcing (BPO) is on the horizon. Michael Chua of Transkripsyo Inc, a 200-seat medical transcription company based in Ortigas, was in Davao last 29 May 2007 for a first-hand look at what the Land of Promise has to offer.

Chua was welcomed by Wit Holganza, school administrator of MTC Academy and founding president of Transcription Alliance of Davao Inc (TADI). Holganza reports that Chua considers Davao as having 3 plus points: a significant pool of human capital; the city’s accessibility in terms of air routes; and, lower power rates compared to Iloilo’s.

Transkripsyo is apparently also looking at Iloilo City as another possible investment site. Then again, it might not even be a toss-up, relates Holganza. If feasible, Chua said that his company might in fact locate in both cities. Transkripsyo is planning on opening an initial spread of 20 seats, and possibly transferring half of their operations outside Metro Manila in the near future.

Let’s examine this sudden increase in BPO locators in Davao more closely, though. Does this signify that we are now really prepared for the influx of bigger I.T. / ITES investments? Are all necessary facilities and allied services already in place? This might not be the case in reality. In recent articles I have pointed out some weaknesses in our city’s development planning, especially in our purported I.T. Parks. Those issues aren’t resolved yet.

Chua observes that this growing interest in Davao and other regional I.T. hubs is driven not necessarily by their preparedness, but by the weakening dollar. Remember, BPOs are essentially exporters. It might be that these call centers and medical transcription companies are relocating to regional hubs in order to cut their losses — hence the concern for power rates. Of course Davao, Iloilo and other I.T. hub aspirants can offer cheaper lease and rental rates as well.

So, the strengthening of the peso against the dollar may be good for us now. But this cannot possibly last: eventually the currencies will stabilize. And when industry recovers from its effects, we will probably lose our sudden advantage — IF we do not secure our position.

How? We give ICT Davao, the representative organization of Davao’s I.T. industry, a set of teeth. It’s a mobile and young group that has the capacity to adapt. It has leadership potential. But, it does not yet have any authority to set the course for Davao I.T. It cannot yet interface directly with the local government, much less influence it. (Easier said than done, I know. But somebody’s gotta put a finger on the button!)

Another way of ensuring that our BPO locator numbers continue to rise, even beyond the grace of a weak dollar, is a success story. Or several. Holganza says that the 40+ member-companies of the MTIAPI are at present on a wait-and-see mode. That is, if Transkripsyo locates to Davao and decides to stay for good due to fiscal viability, we might see more of MTIAPI companies here in the foreseeable future.

Ergo, in order to address immediate concerns in I.T. / ITES investment management, a consolidated and collaborative effort by industry, academe and government is urgently called for. Imagine this scenario: An I.T. firm wants to locate to Davao, and sends representatives here. Whomever they contact here will know to which agency or office they should be referred right away. Whatever requirements this company might have will be met within a reasonable period. They need office space? Our answer: ‘How large?’ We’ll even anticipate that they’ll need a leased line to the U.S., and a 24-hour standby generator that can power an entire high-tech building (which they most probably won’t use because our power company is super reliable). They need manpower? Our schools interface directly with industry, so fielding graduates won’t be a problem….

Utopia? I hope not, because this situation is supposed to be within reach if we are to truthfully call ourselves an honest-to-goodness I.T. hub.

davaoeagle

June 8th, 2007, 12:12 PM

Nice ICT updates TJ!

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 12:14 PM

6th Mindanao ICT Congress
Oliver Robillo

As Davao Chamber trustee Andre Fournier has pointed out, the Techno Kapehan has become a mainstay in Davao’s ICT arena. Initiated by the DCCCII, the Techno Kapehan is a once-a-month informal gathering of the city’s industry associations, businessmen, government officials and the media.

The main topic during the 5th Kapehan was the Mindanao ICT Congress, which is now definitely scheduled from 23 to 27 October 2007. The Davao Chamber explained that the reason for the delay in the announcement of the event’s particulars was the negotiations with the BIMP-Eaga, whose leadership had apparently expressed an intent to take part in the MICT Congress, but could not firmly commit to a November schedule, hence the need for further negotiations.

Finally, it was decided that the MICT Congress would coincide with the BIMP-Eaga SOMM here in October. It was also decided that the 1st BIMP-Eaga ICT Conference be established and conducted during the Congress.

Also in time with the MICT Congress is the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit. This is the brainchild of Councilor Pete Laviña, and will be organized by the same people who put together the Davao Bloggers Party last 17 March. The upcoming summit will focus on the business aspect of blogging, community-building, as well as technical topics. (More details on this event in the very near future.)

Yet another I.T. event, but happening earlier, is the Mindanao FOSS and C.C. Conference. This will be held from 27 to 29 September 2007, and is being organized by DabaweGNU, the FOSS advocacy group in Davao. The conference, according to Nathaniel Jayme, is going to feature trends in intellectual property (IP) practices in the music industry.

The MICT Congress and the BIMP-Eaga ICT Confab aims to explore the possibilities of synergizing the ICT initiatives of the Eaga member nations. At present, ICT is not a top priority industry of this 4-member regional aggrupation. Still, it does identify ICT as one of its preferred areas of development. Since its inception in the early 90s, however, no significant advances have been accomplished within the BIMP-Eaga in terms of ICT. In fact, the committee on ICT of the Eaga is reportedly dormant.

Holding the 1st BIMP-Eaga ICT Confab during the MICT Congress hopes to amend this. It would also be a good opportunity for Mindanao ICT players to get to know their counterparts in Sabah, North Sulawesi, Brunei, and other areas covered by the Eaga.

The working theme of the 6th congress is “Borderless ICT Collaboration on human resources, infrastructure and technology innovation.” This coincides with the Eaga SOMM’s discussion points: developing ICT infrastructure; strategic business development via e-commerce; human capital development; and e-governance. The Congress will be held at the NCCC Mall convention center, where there will be a trade expo, seminars and plenary sessions. In order to drum up participation, the organizers plan to conduct a nationwide roadshow. Planned missions to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia are also on the drawing board.

Just as agreements and treaties on agriculture and other industries among Eaga member-nations have been successfully established, hopefully the same will happen for the ICT industries of the East ASEAN countries.

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 12:16 PM

Nice ICT updates TJ!

^^ thanks..updates courtesy of our Davao based netizens such as the chairman of ICT Davao - Oliver Robillo and Jason Banico aka Silicongulf.

By the way, the upcoming Mindanao ICT Congress this 2007 will have a facelift as it will become an international event with participants from East Asian Growth Area.

davaoeagle

June 8th, 2007, 12:20 PM

^

I've read of that development with Minda ICT this October TJ. Now I can see Davao is not laying low on this industry.

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 12:28 PM

The newly organized ICT Davao is consist of young movers and shakers! Im wishing them all the best.

Regarding ICT, yes Davao is not laying low. IMO, the local sector is silently doing the best that they can to fully develop ICT in Davao.

Anyway, I'm glad that ICT Davao recognizes the challenges. And now, they're working hand in hand along with the local government and the academe for the development of Davao's ICT industry.

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 12:41 PM

This has already been posted in Davao Main Thread. It's another Davao ICT Update:

Davao to hold first medical transcription job fair
DavaoToday
June 8, 2007

DAVAO CITY — Davao City is well on its way to establishing itself as a major player in the country’s BPO (business process outsourcing) industry with the holding next week of a job fair for medical transcription professionals, the first such event in the city.

The Transcription Alliance of Davao Inc. (Tadi), an industry group, is scheduled to hold the First Medical Transcription Career and Job Fair on Saturday, June 16, at the MTC Academy along Quirino Avenue.

Wit Holganza, the president of Tadi, said the job fair would “create awareness on medical transcription as a career and industry in the city.”

Holganza said the job fair aims to provide employment opportunities for Davaoeños and promote medical transcription as a priority investment area. The one-day event includes a career-orientation seminar, a forum on Davao City as “Best BPO Location,” entrepreneurial seminar, testimonials as well as job interviews and placements.

Medical transcription is now considered a promising industry in Davao City, which has a growing number of medical transcription service organizations (MTSO) and training providers. These companies have established production and training centers here. Presently, there are more than 10 MTSOs in the city with a combined 200 seats. Five medical trancription training providers have also been accredited by the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

Among the participants in the job fair are the MTC Academy-Davao, SSP Transcription Inc., Davao First Transcription Center, Corp., Synergy Active Transcription Services Inc., Brokenshire Learning Systems Inc., Scribemasters Transcription Services, A-Plus Global Transcription Services, Kidapawan Technical Learning Center, Inc. and Transkripsyo Inc., one of the largest medical transcription companies in Manila.

Michael Chua, chief executive officer of Transkripsyo, said during a recent visit that his company is was planning to expand its operations in the provinces, with Davao and Iloilo as priority areas. He said that if the company could get “quality people” in the city who can form the core team for his new production center, then “definitely we will locate here.”

Industry official said Davao City is a good location for BPOs because of its strong support from the local government, the academe and the private sector.

During his visit here, Chua visited some potential locations for his company, among them the proposed IT building at the NCCC Mall, the Brokenshire Learning System-s, Inc., MTC Academy–Davao, and the Damosa IT Park, the first Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)-registered IT park in Davao City.

tj_brewed

June 8th, 2007, 12:42 PM

Cyber Games to highlight 1st Davao Cyber Expo
MindanaoTimes Online

A five-on-five best-of-three cyber games will serve as highlight of the upcoming 1st Davao Cyber Expo on June 22 to 24 at the Exhibit Center of the NCCC Mall of Davao.

According to Leonardo Paquito Avila IV of the organizing committee the cyber games DOTA and Warcraft 3 will be used during the event with teams coming from the different internet cafes in the city.

“As of now BoyzTrek and Net Express has the most number of teams and there are a total of 16 teams that has signified to join the event. These games will be open to kids 15 years old and above,” Avila said.

He added that cash prizes and trophies will be given to the winners on the finals slated on June 24.

Aside from the cyber games, the expo will also have graphic animation and design competition, speed assembly competition, computer show and exhibition, computer technology forum and the 2007 cyber expo support groups’ exhibition.

“Our objectives for this event is to promote a productive cyber culture in the city, showcase the ingenuity of the young people of Davao through cyber activities, develop leadership, teamwork, and competitive spirit. We would also like to enhance decision making skills and problem solving, promote responsible use of cyber space and technology and to make Davao known as the leading cyber city in the country,” Avila explained.

He also stressed that during the event, there will be forums that will be supervised by TESDA as well as local bands playing till the closing of the expo.

davaoeagle

June 9th, 2007, 02:30 AM

Saturday, June 09, 2007
Tadi sets 1st MT career, job fair

THE Transcription Alliance of Davao, Inc. (Tadi) is set to hold the First Medical Transcription Career and Job Fair on June 16 at the MTC Academy on Quirino Avenue, Davao City.

Medical Transcription is now considered a promising industry in Davao City with the growing number of medical transcription service organizations (MTSO) and training providers establishing production and training centers in the city.

Presently, there are more than 10 MTSOs with a total of more than 200 seats and five training providers accredited by the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

A Tadi official said the conduct of the job fair will create awareness on medical transcription as a career and industry in the city.

He added that the event aims to provide employment opportunities for Davaoeños and promote medical transcription as priority as investment areas.

The one-day event includes Career Orientation Seminar, Talk on Davao City as Best BPO Location, Entrepreneurial Seminar, Testimonials and Job Interview/Placement.

Among the participants of the job fair are the MTC Academy-Davao, SSP Transcription Inc., Davao First Transcription Center Corp., Synergy Active Transcription Services Inc., Brokenshire Learning Systems Inc., Scribemasters Transcription Services, A-Plus Global Transcription Services, Kidapawan Technical Learning Center, Inc. and Transkripsyo Inc., one of the largest medical transcription companies in Manila.

Michael Chua, CEO of Transkripsyo, said during his recent visit in the city that his company is planning to expand its operations in the provinces with Davao and Iloilo as priority options.

He said if the company can get quality people in the city who can form part of the core team for his new production center, then "definitely we will locate here, he added.

Davao City is a good location for business with strong support from the local government support, academe and government offices.

During his visit here, Chua went to some potential locations for his company, namely: proposed IT building NCCC Mall, Brokenshire Learning Systems, Inc., MTC Academy-Davao and Damosa IT Park, the first Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza)-registered IT park in Davao City.

The activity is supported by the Department of Trade and Industry-National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center (DTI-Nerbac) Davao and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Davao, Inc.

davaoeagle

June 10th, 2007, 08:20 PM

Monday, June 11, 2007
5 events to highlight Davao Cyber Expo
By Joy Romares-Sevilla

ORGANIZERS of Davao Cyber Expo 2007 have revealed at least five components of the first-ever cyber exposition in the country slated at NCCC Exhibition Center in Matina on June 22-24.

Cyber games, creative edge, LAN party extreme, forum and exhibits will be among the highlights of the exposition.

The cyber games component is a fun event where teams from all over Southern Mindanao are invited to compete with each other.

“Each internet cafe in the region will represent their own team, this is actually the main event where the games were patterned in olympic styles,” said Leonardo Paquito Avila VI, president of the e-Squared Events Organizing, the expo's organizer.

The creative edge is another competitive event where digital creativity is given emphasis.

The event is aimed at recognizing the city's finest graphics designers and animators, as well as inspiring others to pursue a career in this field.

“Here in Davao City, wala pang school na nagtuturo ng video activity and animation. Through this event, maybe we can come up with the realization that there is a need to support the establishment of animation schools,” Avila said.

The LAN party extreme, on the other hand, is a friendly gathering of local gaming and PC enthusiasts.

The event will host a free for all LAN gaming, as well as knowledge sharing among fellow games and PC enthusiasts.

Avila said participants of the LAN party will bring their own computers where these computers are usually highly modified, optimized, and over-clocked.

This gives the regular computer user chances to see what can be done to a computer and how to improve its looks and performance.

This event will also host a small computer hardware-related contest such as speed building.

Learning sessions from Davao City's leading graphics designers will also be made available during the Davao Cyber Expo 2007 through a forum.

The event aims to educate and inspire young minds to get into the information technology (IT) industry via creative skills such as graphic designs and digital animations.

“We will be putting cyber culture to higher level that's why we came up with this event,” Avila said.

Another component of the exposition is the exhibit that will gather the latest technologies and gadgets in the computer industry.

This event will showcase the products and services of the exhibitors, sponsors, and supporters of the first Davao Cyber Expo 2007.

“All these we put in one big event. We want to make Davao City as the leading cyber city that will lead to the development of the cyber entertainment culture,” Avila said.

tj_brewed

June 12th, 2007, 03:31 AM

Mindanao Business Council pushes three major events at 2-day MICT 2007(MINDANAO ICT CONGRESS).
June 12, 2007

THE Mindanao Business Council (MinBC), organizer of the 6th Mindanao Information and Communications Technology (MICT) Congress and the first Bimp-Eaga ICT Conference, has already identified major components of the big event, slated on October 23-24, 2007, at the NCCC Mall Convention Center in Davao.

MinBC is pushing for the staging of Bimp-Eaga ICT Forum, the congress proper, which includes plenary and break out sessions, and the Special ICT Events, which include trade exhibits and other ICT events.

The MICT Congress is an adopted event by the Mindanao ICT Task Force chaired and co-chaired by the Mindanao Economic and Development Council (Medco) and by the MinBC, respectively.

It is annually organized by the MinBC to sustain initiatives and build up on the gains of the Mindanao business community, academe, government, NGOs, and other sectors in the field of ICT.

The first MICT was also held in Davao City in 2000.

The event aims to prepare and equip the Mindanao business community to compete in the international business arena through active involvement and use of e-commerce.

The congress, MinBC said, will also be a venue for advocacy by both private sector and the government to make ICT an effective tool for the development of Mindanao and its economy in relation to the increasing ICT campaign within the East Asean Growth Area (Eaga).

Sunstar Online

davaoeagle

June 12th, 2007, 08:17 AM

SM still preparing documents for ICT park accreditation
By Rizalene P. Acac

THE management of SM City-Davao is still in the process of finalizing its application with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) for the establishment of another information and communications technology (ICT) park in the city.

The company intends to build the park in the three-hectare property at the back of the mall which will be open to business process outsourcing investments and other ICT related business ventures.

Debbie Go, manager of SM City-Davao said their main office is processing the documents for the accreditation of the park.

She said the mall will start planning for the structure as soon as the application is approved.

Go revealed that there are already inquires from their tenants who are interested to set up ICT related investments in the area.

“We already have existing tenants that have inquired. They come from the Mall of Asia, our biggest mall and SM Iloilo which is a call center,” she said.

The first park in the city was the own operated by the Damosa Land Inc., while the New City Commercial Center is also processing its application for the accreditation as ICt park of the fourth floor of its NCCC-Mall in Matina.

tj_brewed

June 12th, 2007, 09:30 PM

Captains of industry
Bloggie Robillo

Last 7 June 2007 I was invited by the Rotary Club of Davao to be their guest of honor and speaker. Rotary Davao, otherwise known as “the mother club”, is comprised of Davao’s captains of industry. The membership roster boasts an impressive list of the city’s leading businessmen and professionals. Needless to say, it was rather daunting to stand in front of them and deliver a speech, although that was actually my second time to be invited by the mother club.

What immediately drove out the butterflies was the Rotarians’ apparent interest in my subject matter. I had thought it would be difficult for me to inspire enthusiasm among a group of “traditional” industrialists. But I was mistaken. After all, they did invite me specifically to talk about Davao’s information technology industry. The interaction after my presentation was lively, and it was clear that the advances our I.T. industry has made have reached the ears of Davao’s industry leaders.

I focused the discussion on the present state of the local I.T. industry. After providing a brief history (we trace the start of the I.T . industry’s growth spurt back to 1996), I delved into what the industry’s movers and shakers have been accomplishing thus far. I did admit that Davao’s I.T. portfolio is still very thin — but that the problem is not in quality or capability, but in numbers, in capacity. And so I enjoined the Rotarians to consider investing in information technology businesses. While we welcome external investments, the point I hope I was able to drive was that local investments in I.T. are vital.

After the Rotary Davao meeting, I was able to connect with a few of the members for potential I.T. projects. This is what I do: endeavoring to bring Davao’s I.T. products and services to the marketplace. The principle that I abide by is this: Davao’s I.T. offerings are world-class. And the goal is to further strengthen the local I.T. industry in order for it to become the city’s second largest contributor to the local economy. (The first is, of course, agriculture.)

Today I am scheduled to deliver a similar talk to the Rotary Club of East Davao (the Sun•Star Davao publisher’s home club). It’s fulfilling that I’m able to bring the I.T. industry’s message to the city’s Rotarians. I hope that this effort will soon translate to more Davao companies coming online, and thus join the world of digitally-connected businesses. Local acceptance, I believe, is what will spur the growth of the local I.T. industry.

Happy Independence Day! Mabuhay ang Pilipino!!!

davaoeagle

June 14th, 2007, 02:30 AM

Thursday, June 14, 2007
20 technology firms join Comddap Davao 2007

THE Computer Manufacturers, Distributors, and Dealers Association of the Philippines (Comddap) has gathered over 20 technology companies for this year's Comddap Davao 2007 slated on June 21 to 23 at the Davao Convention and Trade Center in Davao City.

Exhibit hours for the three-day event are from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

"Exhibitors and visitors keep on coming back to our shows because they increasingly reflect the pulse of the market. This show will be all about creating opportunities and closing deals, offering special event-discounts, and addressing the increasing demand of information technology products and services in the Mindanao region," said Gigi C. Ngui, event chairman.

Considered as the country's biggest computer trade show and technology event, the Comddap regional show has evolved from a mere showcase of the latest computers and related products, consumer electronics and digital gadgets into a one-stop shop for corporate and individual consumers.

Participating companies will offer visitors special rates, trade-in promotions and bundled deals on desktops and peripherals, network equipment, multimedia projectors and accessories, office automation equipment, digital video and film cameras, imaging tools, papers and chemicals, servers, printers, scanners, plasma monitors, audio systems, broadband equipment and other related gadgets.

Exhibitor companies include Astech Pengson Distributors, Inc., ATP Peripherals/Achieva, Axis Global Technologies, Inc., Brother International Phils., Corp., Canon Marketing Philippines, Inc., Chase Technologies Corporation, Epson Philippines Corp., Hitachi-Glee Electronics, MDR Microware Sales, MSI-ECS Philippines, Inc., Microwarehouse, Inc., Millennium Computer Technologies Corp., Neo-Glee Electronics, PLDTmyDSL, RASI Computers, Inc., Redwood Ventures, Sanyo Philippines, Inc., Trinity Marketing, Inc., and Wordtext Systems, Inc.

Media support and sponsorships are being given by Media G8Way Corporation, PC Buyers' Guide, and Sun.Star Davao Publishing, Inc.

For further inquiries, call the Comddap Secretariat at Expo Hotline 750-9456 or email exhibit@comddap.org and edwin@comddap.org.

tj_brewed

June 15th, 2007, 02:11 AM

NCCC Mall - ICT PAVILLION

An ICT / BPO zone, a shopping destination, and a lifestyle enclave.....

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/tj_brewed/DAVAO/ncccmalldavao.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/tj_brewed/DAVAO/DL_NCCC.jpg

jonno

June 17th, 2007, 06:36 PM

I think the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry whose main component are the call centers will change the Philippines forever. Here are some ways it would:

1.) English would truly be "ingrained" in the Filipino culture. They said that the English proficiency of most Filipinos have declined relative to decades ago. On the other hand the constantly growing BPO industry have contributed and will keep on contributing in making English more a part of Filipino character. Just think of the children of these increasing call center agents, chances are they'll be taught by their parents how to speak English with even the "right" accent. Bear in mind that "affairs" are rumored to be not uncommon in call centers, this means that the offsprings of this friends with benefits (FB) relationships would have English speaking parents. :)

2.) Makati (and other cities in the Philippines) would be a "city that truly never sleeps". I think Makati should start branding itself as a "city that truly never sleeps". Why? Many cities in the world from New York to Sydney brand themselves as a "city that never sleeps". But are they truly? I mean aside from the 24 hour casinos, most clubs and bars (who would be closing by around 2 am from Sundays to Wednesdays), etc. I don't think these cities have the same number of workforce doing the same graveyard shift we do here in Makati. Try stopping by at 7/11 in The Fort for example (for a hotdog and hot chocolate), say 2 am tuesday morning and you'd always see these call center agents taking their breaks. This is happening all over Makati and would be increasing and increasing. This is why I believe that Century Property Group's project in Makati - Century City - would really be a 24/7 city in a literal sense as it would also have the largest BPO center in Makati (2 to 3 buildings I think). My advice to our government; let's start branding our business capital as the "city that truly never sleeps". I mean how many cities in the world are like us?

What do you think?:) :)

waketrex

June 17th, 2007, 06:41 PM

Yes in a way, but don't put all eggs in one basket :)

How timely I just created this entry:
BigFoot Entertainment: Movie Industry > BPO
http://waketrex.i.ph/blogs/waketrex/2007/06/17/bigfoot-entertainment-movie-industry-bpo/

jonno

June 17th, 2007, 06:46 PM

tj_brewed

June 17th, 2007, 06:52 PM

jonno

June 17th, 2007, 07:12 PM

^^ Yes it would. Look where India is now. The BPO Industry has changed India from what it was before to a giant and an economic miracle today.

But I think, branding our business capital is uncalled for. Instead of doing so, why not focus our concerns to our IT education, english proficiency, and education as a whole. We need to strengthen our workforce.

What's next to BPO? its KPO or Knowledge Processing Outsourcing. The BPO industry in the country is still at the tip of the iceberg! We gotta work harder! This is our chance to bounce back after centuries of economic depression.

I agree my friend. I think the government could do more for this industry. I mean for example why not set up 1 whole building/school in UP specializing just in English??? I wonder if our government's aware how much countries such as Australia is earning from their international English students. Another opportunity going down the drain because of too much politicking. What's happening here is it's the Koreans setting up English schools in the country WHICH IS GOOD but I think we could do more. We could have this "English school" in UP for instance to also offer scholarships to a selected number of students from our Asian neighbors (Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, etc.). This would promote good will with our neighboring countries as well as promote our country even further as an "English destination". THERE IS NO ROOM FOR COMPLACENCY. Is our government aware that many other Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, China,etc.) have actually hired thousands of Western teachers to their respective countries? In other words, Japanese are learning English from "real" English speaking teachers. Bear in mind that the Philippines have developed more or less its own "Filipino English" and I don't want to go further and discuss the debatable issue of whether it's actually HARDER to unlearn the "wrong" type of English you've acquired. The point is let's not be complacent and yes we should proceed towards higher value processing jobs or what you call as knowledge process outsourcing. With regards to branding Makati as a " city that truly never sleeps", I think it would help a lot in acquiring more tourists and investors.

tj_brewed

June 17th, 2007, 07:26 PM

jonno

June 17th, 2007, 07:33 PM

^^ Here in Cebu, most of the schools are offering ESL courses to students from East Asia such as Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, etc. Most of the schools are also incorporating "call center trainings" as part of their electives.

Good on you! That's one reason actually why I believe in Federalism; other cities in the Philippines can do much more than Manila specially if they are given more autonomy and flexibility to do their own thing.

jonno

June 17th, 2007, 07:37 PM

By the way, I don't know if this is true, the average IELTS score of Koreans who took IELTS in Korea is reportedly higher than the average IELTS score of Filipinos who took IELTS here. I dunno if that's true but that's why I said let's not be complacent about our nation's competitive edge, our government could do more. How about hiring English professors from the US to re-train our English teachers??

tj_brewed

June 17th, 2007, 07:46 PM

^^ that's a good move!

gen1

June 18th, 2007, 02:25 AM

portludlow

June 18th, 2007, 03:55 AM

^^ No wonder the attrition rate is very high on call center jobs. Anecdotal evidence shows that young people tend not to stay too long. It will be interesting to see their data on retention rates.

Overall BPO is good to our economy and I hope it will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. The business was able to generate billions of pesos in a short period of time and gave thousands of young people a decent paying job.

I agree that if you have been working there for sometime, you better find another job that will give you more upward mobility.

jonno

June 18th, 2007, 04:36 PM

Call Center jobs are deadend jobs.

It has a great starting salary but career wise, not a very good job in the long run.

If you're a fresh grad, the pay's mighty inviting. But if you're in your forties and still in that industry as an employee, the pay won't send your kids to ateneo or la salle.

Among my peers those who are in the call center companies as supervisors or managers don't make as much money as the others. In fact the only fellow I know in the call center biz who makes good money off it is an IT company landlord.

I don't work in a call center but I find some of your comments above interesting cause I've heard some of them a few times. Say for example that you can NOT make a career working in a call center; I've heard that a few times and I come to realize that it's unfortunate that with these opportunities coming to our youths; such negative attitude is not being put in place. It seems that all "call center" jobs are simply being lumped into one category. Call center jobs could vary from sales to fraud detection to directory assistance. . With "higher value" jobs on the pipeline of what's going to be outsourced here, there's going to be more opportunities. It's true that employee turnover is high in call centers; and this applies to aLL call centers all over the world. By the same token, turnover is high to sales jobs but sales jobs could be one of the most financially rewarding jobs. It's understandable as you can't imagine a business on this planet that wouldn't need good sales people. The thing is "call centers" produce some of the best salespeople in the world and being a good salesperson would require years of practice. For people who don't know much about sales, this may be an exaggeration but like I said sales could be one of the most financially rewarding job.

richard24

June 18th, 2007, 04:48 PM

tj_brewed

June 18th, 2007, 04:51 PM

^^ I guess it boils down to the question "is this job for u?" I do not agree with the above statement that it is a dead end job. To those people who are not within the industry, then maybe the notion is that when u work in a call center, you only take calls, supervise a team, or manage an account. That's it!

I dont know about other companies but in our company, we do have a lot of positions available that you can apply for. Working in a call center company doesnt mean that you only take calls. For a start, yes you would, but you have the option to move or apply to other departments or take other positions.

With finances, it's all a matter of budgeting! 15k, 20k for an entry level position? not bad compared to an average office work. Which reminds me, how much does an average employee in an average company earns? What's their entry level salary?

tj_brewed

June 18th, 2007, 04:57 PM

@Richard24 - I agree...Callcenter is the best stepping stone there is. It offers alot of opportunities. Some of our trainers in the company were hired directly by our clients and are now in the US.

IMO, it is the best training ground. The highly competitive employees survive, the others who cannot handle the emotional, psychological, and physiological stress? Well they got kicked out or resigned!

amigo32

June 18th, 2007, 05:11 PM

jonno

June 18th, 2007, 05:15 PM

^^

people should also be not misled - call centers create a lot of other jobs aside from agents ( who like I said above are actually doing different kind of work) - think of the HR Managers, team leaders, supervisors, managers, security guards, etc. It support a lot of other industries - security, IT, real estate, construction, retail, food, telecommunication, etc.

When we say call center jobs don't make much money - compared to what? I know a lot of managers in other non call center industries that earn only between 20 to 35 k a month and this is lower than what team leaders in call centers earn.

The SAD thing is that our so called leftists have once again unconsciously influenced the Filipino psyche. Since they are hell bent on destroying the positive aspects of the currents admins economic achievements, they are once again focusing on the negative aspects of the BPO industry instead of its opportunities.

jonno

June 18th, 2007, 05:18 PM

Best training ground if you want to have your own business in the services sector.

Gusto ko nga sana i-try mag call center bago ako nag-open ng business eh.

not just service sector, sales apply to all sector

amigo32

June 18th, 2007, 05:24 PM

not just service sector, sales apply to all sector

tama.

ang maganda kasi dyan, masasanay ka sa mga customers na, reklamador. Yun kasi ang magandang kustomer yung maiingay, kaysa mga tahimik na basta na lang umalis sa business mo hindi mo alam kung anong problema.

tj_brewed

June 18th, 2007, 06:09 PM

^^ Customer Service. One of the skills you'll learn from it which you can apply in your own business.

Wind Shear

June 18th, 2007, 06:13 PM

dancethingy

June 18th, 2007, 09:40 PM

No job is a dead end job if it can put food on the table, just my two cents. Also, i don't really think "call center" jobs are dead end jobs, i think they require a lot of people skills and other miscellaneous skills that can benefit a person later on in his/her career.

kiretoce

June 18th, 2007, 10:03 PM

Cebu Emerging as Strong, Tier-Two BPO Site (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/06/prweb533980.htm)

The Philippines has become an important global center for information and communications technology (ICT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. The southern province of Cebu is now emerging as an important tier-two center. While most investors build facilities initially in several business districts and IT parks in greater Manila, Cebu is an ideal location for facilities outside the national capital region. The province is home to many universities and colleges, boasts low costs, and provides a high quality lifestyle for expatriates and knowledge workers alike. It is also well-suited for the provision of value-added BPO services.

Cebu is fast emerging as a strong tier-two center for information and communications technology (ICT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) services, which are experiencing "tremendous growth momentum" in the Philippines, reported senior trade department officials.

With an overall industry growth rate of 35 percent, the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is benchmarking global process standards and skills mapping to further enhance the Philippines' targeted marketing and promotional efforts in the U.S., EU, and Asia, according to Jeanette Carillo, Department of Trade and Industry brand manager for IT services.

"We're developing an inventory of skills in various locations nationwide which will enable us to confidently point investors to places that can deliver," Carillo said. "Right now, we're seeing growth in back office services and Cebu can play a major role in supplying the requirements of this sector."

Back office services include such things as claims processing, HR management, and accounting functions. Cebu is also considered an ideal site for such value-added services as market research and analysis, legal research and related services, and equities brokering. Cebu also offers an attractive lifestyle alternative for expatriates and knowledge workers alike, providing the benefits of living in a low-cost, tropical location without the crowding typical of larger urban areas.

The DTI attributes the industry's high growth to the continuous expansion of early locators, the entry of new global players and their immediate ramp up, as well as greater interest in investing in the Philippines in general. It has identified seven priority ICT and BPO target sectors: contact center, back office business process outsourcing, health information management, animation, software development, engineering design and more recently, game development.

"Our strategy is to let investors see and experience the country for themselves," said Domingo Bagaporo, director of the ICT and electronics department of the Board of Investments. "We regularly conduct outbound missions to facilitate networking and business matching, and organize the annual e-Services Conference and Exhibition. The Cebu ICT 2007 conference and exhibition is definitely a great complement to all these efforts."

Carrying the theme "Pioneering Landmark ICT Collaboration in Asia," the Cebu ICT 2007 Conference and Exhibition (www.cebuict2007.com) takes place June 26-27. It features more than 75 experts and top executives from global and Asian ICT and BPO firms, industry suppliers and associations in plenary sessions at Shangri-La's Mactan Island Resort and Spa June 26, and in breakout sessions at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) June 27. It will also host a three-day exhibition showcasing the best of the regional BPO space June 26-28 at CICC.

Cebu ICT 2007 is organized by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCCI) as part of its annual Cebu Business Month (CBM) festival. CBM aims to celebrate the achievements of the Cebu business sector, and promote the province to investors.

"We will continue to implement focused target marketing," Carillo said. "That's how we got the attention of the leading contact centers in the world. And in terms of country promotion and assisting investors, we have a 100 percent success rate getting prospects to decide in our favor."

Carillo observed, "Cebu's promotion is very tactical and strategic, and it makes an impact on the country as a whole. We welcome the efforts of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and believe in the capability of Cebu to deliver on its promise."

CCCI retained strategic marketing communications firm TeamAsia (www.teamasia.com) to organize and manage Cebu ICT 2007. TeamAsia is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and is one of Asia's most successful professional conference organizers.