Outsourcing Industry - Compiled Threads [Archive] - Page 9

dinabaw

October 9th, 2008, 05:57 AM

PIA Press Release
2008/10/09

BPO players see prospects from US financial crisis

by Prix D Banzon

Davao City (9 October) -- The Operators of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms are looking at the US Financial Crisis at the positive side where more BPOs would maintain its outbound or inbound jobs in the Philippines.

Marienita del Monte, chief of Cybercity Services in Davao said at the Club 888 Forum of the Marco Polo Davao on Wednesday it would mean additional clients or opening of additional contact centers here.

She said in their case, they already had new clients lately since companies are passing on new jobs to BPOs since these are cost effective.

"For call centers looking at it vis-à-vis the US financial crises is always at the cost of business which is lower," she said.

She said instead of them maintaining their operations abroad like the US they'd rather consider transferring it here and they (BPOs) will there because of cost case.

Meanwhile she said there is big opportunity for work in the call center.

For as long as the person knows the English language and pass on the requirements and regardless of age they can get a job on line.

She said aside from the outbound and inbound jobs there is also what they call the virtual market that caters to customer service, sales and technical support.

She said this kind of jobs is highly dependent on the cabling network and most BPOs are looking at Davao City as the preferred site.

Citing some facts she said a nationally organized survey indicated that Davao City for three occasions was named as the preferred city to put up a BPO while an Asian survey also mentioned Davao City once of the ten countries to pick for contact center operations.

Meanwhile Arlene Ozoa, secretary of the Business Process Outsourcing Association of Davao said these BPOs come to Davao first because the city is growing and the market is not saturated.

The availability of good schools that can produce quality graduates as well as the steady supply of power is also being considered. We don't have brownouts here, she said.

She said the employment opportunities now is at the call center and it is the best industry that one can get into and regardless of age you get a job after meeting some requirements with basic requirement on good English.

"The employment opportunities at the call center are for everybody," she said.

She said although there is a different between the salary of the inbound and those at the outbound where the former is higher, workers at the outbound can independently build their salary because on top of the basic you get a commission.She said there is big challenge working in call centers and this is now the chance for people to make use of the technology and be connected to the world. (PIA) [top]

PIA News (PIA Press Release 2008/10/09 BPO players see prospects from US financial crisis by Prix D Banzon Davao City (9 October) -- The Operators of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms are looking at the US Financial Crisis at the positive side where more BPOs would maintain its outbound or inbound jobs in the Philippines. Marienita del Monte, chief of Cybercity Services in Davao said at the Club 888 Forum of the Marco Polo Davao on Wednesday it would mean additional clients or opening of additional contact centers here. She said in their case, they already had new clients lately since companies are passing on new jobs to BPOs since these are cost effective. "For call centers looking at it vis-à-vis the US financial crises is always at the cost of business which is lower," she said. She said instead of them maintaining their operations abroad like the US they'd rather consider transferring it here and they (BPOs) will there because of cost case. Meanwhile she said there is big opportunity for work in the call center. For as long as the person knows the English language and pass on the requirements and regardless of age they can get a job on line. She said aside from the outbound and inbound jobs there is also what they call the virtual market that caters to customer service, sales and technical support. She said this kind of jobs is highly dependent on the cabling network and most BPOs are looking at Davao City as the preferred site. Citing some facts she said a nationally organized survey indicated that Davao City for three occasions was named as the preferred city to put up a BPO while an Asian survey also mentioned Davao City once of the ten countries to pick for contact center operations. Meanwhile Arlene Ozoa, secretary of the Business Process Outsourcing Association of Davao said these BPOs come to Davao first because the city is growing and the market is not saturated. The availability of good schools that can produce quality graduates as well as the steady supply of power is also being considered. We don't have brownouts here, she said. She said the employment opportunities now is at the call center and it is the best industry that one can get into and regardless of age you get a job after meeting some requirements with basic requirement on good English. "The employment opportunities at the call center are for everybody," she said. She said although there is a different between the salary of the inbound and those at the outbound where the former is higher, workers at the outbound can independently build their salary because on top of the basic you get a commission.She said there is big challenge working in call centers and this is now the chance for people to make use of the technology and be connected to the world. (PIA)

[URL="http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p081009.htm&no=03&r=R11&y=08&mo=10)

urban Iegend

October 9th, 2008, 07:15 AM

Call center plans to open branch in Leyte next year

TACLOBAN CITY — One of the leading business processing outsourcing companies would soon open its branch here in Leyte by next year.

The APAC Customer Service, with main office in Manila for its Philippines operations, is to open its branch at the Leyte Academic Center in Palo, Leyte with initial seats of about 500 and an investment of over P100 million.

“We welcome their coming here. And what it more exciting is that they would be operating in the Visayas for the first time and it’s Leyte,” Nelieta Baguna, unit head of the Leyte Tourism and Investment Promotion Center, said.

The operation of the said call center would mean hiring of about 500 people to cater to their clients who are mostly based in the United States.

Baguna estimated that the APAC Customer Service would be investing over P100 million for their operation in Leyte. “It’s one of the biggest investments in the province under Governor (Jericho) Icot (Petilla),” she said.

Baguna also said that based on an agreement entered into between the said multi-national company and the provincial government, the APAC Customer Service would occupy its space at the Leyte Academic Center for three years with an option to renew it for the same number of years.

APAC Customer Service is one of the largest BPOs operating in the country. At present, it employs about 8,000 people from its existing 11 customer interaction centers both in the United States and in the country.

It serves in a variety of fields including financial services, communications, government, healthcare, insurance, parcel delivery, utility, pharmaceutical, retail, automotive, entertainment and travel.

Vice Governor Mimiette Bagulaya said that she welcomes the operation of the APAC Customer Care, saying that it would help boosts the province’s economy as well as provide job opportunity to locals.

She also assured the company that the province has enough human resources to provide its needs.

The vice governor said that the coming in of the APAC Customer Service was also an indication that BPOs are now giving a serious look on the potential of Leyte as the next hub on information and technology.

Governor Petilla is pushing for Leyte to become an IT center as he converted the Leyte Academic Center as an IT Park.

Meantime, at the jobs fair sponsored by the Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry, several employment agencies participated in the event, among them was a BPO owned by the governor, the Accudata.

A personnel of the said company, who asked not to be identified, said that at least they need 100 new personnel to meet its increasing demand. “But only few applicants submitted their applications so far,” she said.

BY JOEY A. GABIETA
Staff Writer
http://leytesamardaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4920&Itemid=233

jaywalker

October 9th, 2008, 01:50 PM

^^ang sa Silay City pa proposed by the Japanese investors

SUV111

October 9th, 2008, 01:51 PM

Oh yeah!!! zyanz missed it :) hehehhehehe

cyclosimon_89

October 9th, 2008, 02:21 PM

Ayala Land to build IT
park in Iloilo City

Property developer Ayala Land Inc. is planning to build an Information Technology park in Iloilo City that will host business process outsourcing companies.

Mayor Jerry Treñas said ALI will either buy or lease a two-hectare lot in Brgy. San Rafael in Mandurriao district for its proposed four-storey building.

“Iloilo City needs investments on IT buildings,” he said, adding that what is keeping BPOs away from Iloilo City is the lack of infrastructure support.

Iloilo City has been identified as one of the next wave cities in the country.

ALI had announced late last year that it is eyeing more business process outsourcing space in Visayas and Mindanao.

Marivic Anonuevo, ALI senior vice president and head for corporate business group, then said that as one of the major real estate players in the country, their company see the IT and BPO sector growth as a great opportunity for investment.

ALI is going to provide infrastructure support for more BPO facilities in second-tiered cities as the company has already established its presence in major cities like Makati and Cebu, she said.*PNA

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2008/October/09/businessnews2.htm

RonnieR

October 10th, 2008, 03:47 AM

By Abigail L. Ho
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:17:00 10/10/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Amid fears of job cuts and investment pullouts, the information technology and offshoring industries — of which the Philippines is a big beneficiary — will continue to grow albeit at a slower pace, a Canadian research firm said.

Canada’s XMG said the Philippines and India would continue to get offshoring jobs and dollars in the next two years, and even well into the next decade, even in the midst of the global economic crisis.

The crisis might even open new doors for the country, as affected firms may depend more on offshoring to reduce expenses and to focus on their core competencies, XMG said. Expected market consolidation should also present new opportunities.

“Industries such as the financial, insurance and manufacturing, which will all take a direct hit by the slowing economy, will slash jobs. This increases the potential talent pool for larger and upbeat business process third-party vendors with healthy sales pipelines for business process services,” the research firm said in a statement.

XMG said financial institutions and insurance companies were also likely to sell their IT and business process service units to third-party providers to monetize their assets.

“[There will be] further consolidation in the market, as deep-pocketed and larger technology service vendors focus on increasing size, scale and market share through next-wave acquisitions in late 2009. Unlike the bubble burst in the earlier decade, these companies have a stronger balance sheet and the liquidity that can hold strong throughout the economic upheaval,” it added.

In the meantime, companies already in the IT and business process services space, such as Dell, will infuse more cash into their offshore delivery centers to improve their client satisfaction levels, it said, adding this would ensure client retention and new customer attraction.

Philippine-based delivery centers should keep client satisfaction ratings up and talent attrition down to ascertain that they will get a big chunk of these expected investments.

While prospects remained upbeat, XMG slashed its offshoring growth forecasts, in light of the economic downturn.

From the 31.2-percent growth through 2010 that the group projected in 2007, the Philippines’ offshoring industry growth was now seen reaching only 25.6 percent.

“The global financial upheaval will have a deleterious effect across most industries, but the IT industry and offshoring will still experience double digit growths,” XMG chief analyst Lauro Vives said. “These numbers are rare bright spot during tough times.”

dinabaw

October 10th, 2008, 04:38 AM

Friday, October 10, 2008
Concentrix ties with universities, colleges
By Joy Romares-Sevilla

TO STRENGTHEN its position in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry the Synnex-Concentrix (formerly Link2Support), one of the big contact centers in Davao City, forged a partnership with six colleges and universities in the city.

Junar Amador, senior director of Concentrix based in Cagayan de Oro City, said the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) at the Marco Polo Davao, spells out the commitment of the colleges and universities in the city for the Concentrix's Academe Linkage Program (ALP).

Get updates and join Dabawenyos Kadayawan 2008 celebration

"Competition in the industry is very tight. We initiate this approach to strengthen our competitive advantage. We are the ones now who get close to the schools (to inform them) of what the industry requires," Amador said.

Amador said the issue on human resources mismatch is not that really the problem. What is needed, he said, is proper communication with those who provide human resources like colleges and universities to suit graduates with the career they want to pursue.

"Schools should have a big coordination with the industry," he said.

Amador said there is huge demand of human resources for contact centers in the country. He disclosed that around 400,000 people are needed every year on top of what the industry has already employed at present.

"We will help in enhancing the quality of the soon-to-be graduates," Amador said.

Amador said the same program was also initiated by the Concentrix in Manila. The company partnered with the St. Paul's College.

"We were able to expose students to the industry. We provide technical support and expose them to new technology," he said.

Amador said they also encouraged schools to inspire students to speak English for at least 90 percent of their time inside the school campus.

Amador said Concentrix already has 16 school partners today. It has offices in Manila, Cagayan de Oro, and in Davao.

Its partners in Davao City are the University of Mindanao, STI College, Philippine College of Technology, Holy Cross of Davao College, AMA Computer College, and the Mindanao Kokusai Daigaku.

Its partnership with the University of Immaculate Concepcion, San Pedro College, and University of Southeastern Philippines (Usep) are also underway.

If the need arises, Amador said they are very much willing to expand partnership especially to the schools outside Davao City. JGRS

Sun-Star (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2008/10/10/bus/concentrix.ties.with.universities.colleges.html)

dinabaw

October 10th, 2008, 05:20 AM

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.

Business World I.T. Matters (http://www.itmatters.com.ph/columns.php?id=peso_100306)

diz

October 10th, 2008, 06:38 AM

Philippines aims to become Southeast Asia's game development hub (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/380108/1/.html)
Channel NewsAsia Correspondent Christine Ong
2008.10.09

MANILA : Game developers in the Philippines are eyeing a slice of the global game development industry, which is expected to grow rapidly in the next couple of years.

Although the Philippines is still a relatively new player in the game development outsourcing industry, Filipino game developers are confident that the country can become the ultimate game development hub in Southeast Asia.

Recognising the country's potential, Australian game development company Matahari Studios set up shop in Manila two years ago.

Eric Marlow, general manager, Matahari Studios Philippines, said: "When you make games, you have to try things that have not been done before. You need to find a culture that is not afraid of taking risks.

"With regards to the culture, this also represents a little bit of crossroads between the West and the East. So one of the big advantage of working here is that the local game developers have (an) appreciation and understanding of both types of games."

Over 20 game development companies employ about 400 game developers in the Philippines. To attract more clients from the United States and Europe, local firms are now doing shared bids for major development projects.

Gabby Dizon, president and CEO, Flipside Game Studios, said: "We are still small... and the industry is big enough that it does not make sense to compete with each other or try to bring each other down, because there is so much more work out there than we could compete for, so what we should do is cooperate with each other in bringing in more work to the Philippines."

Filipino game developers are also producing original games for the global market.

Anino Games produced the first Filipino-made computer game in 2003, which won an award in the Independent Games Festival in 2004.

Niel Dagondon, CEO, Anino Games, said: "The games that we are trying to do fits into the market that we are going to release the game in. We are slowly introducing parts of our culture into our game."

Last year, the global game development industry recorded US$7.4 billion in revenues, and this is expected to go up to US$12.5 billion in 2010. - CNA/ms

icarusrising

October 10th, 2008, 11:07 AM

Investment growth in IT zones to hit double digit levels (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/126070/Investment-growth-in-IT-zones-to-hit-double-digit-levels#)
VERONICA C. SILVA, GMANews.TV
Article posted October 09, 2008 - 06:18 PM
MANILA, Philippines - Investments in information technology (IT) zones under the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) are expected to grow to double digits this year despite a “conservative" expansion, a top government official said on Thursday.

Total investments in all PEZA-accredited zones are expected to increase by only 15 percent for the full year in 2008 against an increase of 60 percent the previous year, PEZA Director-General Lilia de Lima told reporters.

However, investments in IT, which grew to eight percent last year, are expected to hit double digits, or 10 percent.

De Lima spoke with reporters at the sidelines of the inauguration of Pointwest Innovations Corporation’s new delivery center in Quezon City.

The new center is located in the University of the Philippines-Ayala Technohub, a technology park accredited by PEZA.

In De Lima's remarks at the inauguration ceremonies, she said investments in PEZA accredited zones alone increased by 60 percent in 2007 against 2006 investments.

“Close to 60 percent of these investments are reinvested in the country by companies already here," she added. “This speaks a lot about the confidence of these investors in the economic fundamentals of the country."

With the credit crisis in the US, PEZA’s investments this year would be “conservative," de Lima told reporters later, but IT will remain the fastest growing sector among the industry investments.

PEZA is one of two investment promotions agencies of the government.

Industries accredited with PEZA locate in specially accredited PEZA zones to gain government incentives.

Since 1999, PEZA has been accrediting special IT zones, including IT parks and centers. From 1999, de Lima said PEZA has already accredited a total of 107 out of the 176 operating PEZA ecozones nationwide employing 168,000.

As of August 2008, exports of all PEZA-accredited ecozones have increased by 48 percent, valued at $1.7 billion, said de Lima.

About eight percent of this comes from IT investments, making it the fastest growing sector among PEZA ecozones investments.

“One competitive edge as far as investing remains to be the Filipino workers who are among the best in the world," de Lima said in her remarks. - GMANews.TV

icarusrising

October 10th, 2008, 11:26 AM

Infotech firms to employ the visually-impaired (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/122605/Infotech-firms-to-employ-the-visually-impaired#)

Article posted September 24, 2008 - 06:44 PM
MANILA, Philippines - Information and communications technology (ICT) companies are planning to employ persons with disabilities (PWDs), helping fill up positions in an industry that is expected to produce a million jobs by 2010.

Organizations such as IBM Philippines, Inc., Resources for Blind, Inc. (RBI) and Adaptive Technology for Rehabilitation, Integration and Empowerment of the Visually Impaired (Atriev) and the Asia Pacific College are helping visually-impaired individuals to secure employment in the ICT industry.

IBM and RBI launched on Monday its 7th training program for the blind nicknamed “Computer Eyes."

The week-long training aims to equip 19 blind students from all in high school and college levels in basic computer applications, such as keyboard skills, word processing, and web page creation.

More than 150 blind students from all over the country have already been trained under the program since its introduction in 2001, said IBM Philippines country manager and president James Velasquez.

In other occasions, the training program has included participants from the elementary level.

Velasquez expressed confidence that with the target of one million jobs, some of the visually impaired can soon become part of the ICT industry which has the largest number of people productive and gainfully employed.

Randy Weisser, executive director of Resources for the Blind, said finding employment is a “big issue among the blind" in the Philippines.

According to the RBI website, there are an estimated half a million Filipinos who are visually-impaired.

At the opening ceremonies of the 7th Computer Eyes training, Weisser noted that the massage industry is the number one source of employment for them. But he added that call centers are also good employment opportunities for the blind, particularly because the sense of sight is not a requirement for this kind of job. What are needed are just a computer and a phone, he added.

The goal, he added, is “to make ICT one of the sources of employment and the number source of employment. … The pathway to employment is using computers."

Weisser added that the blind can find better job opportunities with a college degree. Based on RBI’s experience, those who attended the Computer Eyes training were the ones most likely to go to college.

Velasquez said the computer training program is an indication of “how technology has been bridging the gap for the visually impaired and the digital divide in the Philippines."

IBM itself has opened its doors to PWDs.

Anna Roqueza, IBM Philippines country human resource manager, said IBM is currently employing more than 10 PWDs, including a blind employee working as a call center agent in Daksh, IBM’s call center subsidiary.

IBM Philippines also has an annual target of hiring five PWDs.

Aside from funding the Computer Eyes training program, IBM is also funding blind scholars in an ICT certificate program in the Asia Pacific College, a joint venture college of IBM Philippines and SM Foundation, Inc.

APC currently has among its students two blind students taking up a two-year course in Associate in Computer Technology.

Atriev, a computer school for the blind, is helping recruit and screen qualified applicants for the scholarship program.

Roqueza said employability is the next step to these ICT initiatives. - Veronica C. Silva, GMANews.TV

icarusrising

October 10th, 2008, 11:27 AM

High prices force IT workers to seek salary hikes, better-paying jo (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/126289/High-prices-force-IT-workers-to-seek-salary-hikes-better-paying-jobs#)bs

Article posted October 10, 2008 - 03:31 PM
MANILA, Philippines - Rising prices are prompting IT workers to seek salary hikes or look for other higher-paying jobs, a trend that may worsen attrition problems of the information and communication industry (ICT).

Nearly three-fourths—or 73 percent—of respondents in a poll of 100 IT workers said they need to an increase in compensation from their employers, a study undertaken by Canadian company XMG said.

Of these, 70 percent said they are looking at the job market to increase their compensation, either within the city where they are working or overseas.

Conducted in the third quarter of 2008, the survey polled a total pool of 100 ICT Metro Manila-based workers.

“Call center, IT and BPO (business process outsourcing) companies in Metro Manila should brace themselves for increasing sentiments from employees for a salary adjustment as a form of lifeline support to combat inflation," XMG said in a statement, citing results of its Exployment Lifestyle Index.

Seeking higher pay will be another hump to cross for the local ICT industry, particularly the BPO sector, which is already faced with many talent-related problems.

Besides experiencing a lack of qualified workers, the industry is having a difficult time retaining those already hired.

To address some of these issues, the industry has been aggressively recruiting more ICT workers, offering them a package of benefits including health insurance, meal allowance, night differentials and sometimes a signing bonus.

However, the recent XMG survey has revealed that these are not enough.

“Our numbers show there is a genuine trend for the constant clamor by employees to increase the cash component of their enumeration", XMG Research Statistician Emerson Fababaer said in the same statement.

Therefore, XMG said it expects human resource practitioners to be faced with the dilemma of addressing the immediate needs of employees to manage attrition.

ICT workers doing high value work, such as engineers, are looking at the international job market. Among these potential markets are Singapore, Australia, Canada, the United States and the Middle East.

“There are very few extrinsic options. Either provide a relief in the form of increased compensation, subsidy or allowance or position the current compensation package as being above industry," XMG Chief Analyst Lauro Vives added.

XMG suggested that ICT companies review their compensation packages regularly and study industry benchmarks. It would also help if they can independently monitor employee perception and behavior to accurately gauge employee sentiments towards the organization. - Veronica C. Silva, GMANews.TV

dessertfox

October 10th, 2008, 01:00 PM

Aside from Agriculture, BPO is one good prospect for Philippines Service industry that has the capacity to adsorbed other excess graduates like in Nursing, Lawyers, Teachers, Managements, and even in Engineering, Since only small amount of time is needed in training agents while our standard in engineering are mostly based on American which is the common norm in practice.

This industry is very much related to real-estate just like Eastwood and the likes. They projecting to double or triple as mentioned in the news the capacity. So we have that shortage of office space. Basicaly, Just imagine for every agents hired needs arround 10 square meters as a norm to calculate office requirements while for every 25 square meters of office space need at least one car or parking space. That's one the simple fall-out in contruction aspect when we create BPO's.

Those earners are the future buyers of properties and consumers just like what is happening in India where those agents became patrons of health clubs, bars and the likes.

Even here in the Middle East, some companies are being forced to source their jobs in engineering due to their program of limiting workers visas to force private companies to hire local with little success if not total failure.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Local BPO industry to triple by 2009, says BPAP exec

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

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/10/2008 12:52 PM

The local business process outsourcing industry could double or triple by next year as more US companies outsource jobs to take advantage of lower cost of labor in the Philippines, an official of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines said Friday.

Jonathan de Lezuriagga, BPAP executive director for industry affairs, said some experts are predicting the P30-billion call center industry to double or triple by 2009 because of the global economic crisis.

Lezuriagga also believes that with the US companies struggling to stay afloat, "the most logical action for them" is to turn to outsourcing and look for countries that offer cheaper services.

He said the 420,000 to 430,000 call center agents in the Philippines, may also increase even before the end of the year. "We don't see it (US economic crisis) as alarming for the local call center industry," he said.

Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago said the $500 a month salary of a call center agent in the Philippines is much cheaper than the salary being provided by BPO companies in the US.

"A call center agent's monthly salary in the Philippines is only equivalent to a three-day salary in the US," he said. "They (US-based companies) will be forced to close down or tighten their belts. They will go to the Philippines."

More call center agents to go to US?

Former budget secretary Benjamin Diokno, meanwhile, said the US government may implement a new policy to gain its losses.

"We (economists) think the US will use a new policy that will increase its exports and lessen its imports to cut its losses," Diokno said.

Diokno said one of the industries that may be affected by the new policy is the call center industry. He said the possible part of the new policy is bringing Filipino call center agents, employed by US-owned companies, to America.

"The US government may issue temporary visas to Filipino call center agents and bring them to the US," he said. He added that bringing more people to US is like recruiting more people to patronize US-made products.

"The workers will buy US goods. This is one way of making the economy lively again," Diokno said.

SOURCE: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/10/10/08/local-bpo-industry-triple-2009-says-bpap-exec

barukdok

October 10th, 2008, 05:54 PM

^^their loss is RP's gain :)

go Agri and BPO!

true blue ilonggo

October 10th, 2008, 08:46 PM

No slowdown for BPOs
The Daily Guardian october 11, 2008
By Jeehan V. Fernandez

THERE’S no slowing down for the booming Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector amid the US financial meltdown, an economic expert said.

Dr. Emilio Antonio of the University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP) highlighted the flourishing BPO industry in the country that local sectors could take advantage of in yesterday’s economic briefing themed “Challenging Times, Discovering Opportunities” at Hotel del Rio.

The BPO industry includes call centers, office works, medical and legal transcriptions, software development, architecture and animation using state-of-the-art computer technology.

Iloilo and Bacolod have been considered as “next wave cities” ideal to host BPO locators.

Iloilo City hosts giant firms Teletech, e-PLDT Ventus and Callbox and several small companies.

Bacolod City has three major call centers including Teleperformance, Teletech and Convergys.

“BPOs are the rising star of the economy. Its emergence is triggered by the lower cost and development of telecommunications infrastructure. This is just the initial phase of BPOs’ rapid growth even as only four percent of the industry has been exploited, thus the untapped market is still huge,” Antonio said.

He added the Philippine-based BPOs basically serve the US market and “there’s still a positive effect” despite the financial crisis there.

Antonio was also impressed that the close to 20,000 graduates in Iloilo is a “huge resources” that would translate to “increased income and higher food demand.”

The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole-6) has credited BPOs as top job provider in Western Visayas.

Mayor Jerry Treñas said the city’s strategic location, big and quality pool of human resources, low cost-of-living expenses, low real estate cost and average base pay and presence of major communication networks with fiber optics connection attract BPOs.

The soon-to-rise 54-hectare P1.5 billion Iloilo Business Park at old airport site in Mandurriao district courtesy of giant real estate developer Megaworld Corp. is seen to propel the BPO growth outside of “saturated” Manila and Cebu.
Please login or register to post comments.

dinabaw

October 11th, 2008, 05:21 AM

Davao City call centers are
not desperate, says exec
BY JUDY QUIROS

Business Process Outsourcing executives have exempted Davao City call centers from undergoing the so-called “desperation syndrome”.

Many call centers in Manila and Cebu City as reflected in print advertisements, are offering numerous incentives including a four-week vacation leave in a year, huge signing bonus and big hiring rates to call center agents out of desperation to keep them from quitting their jobs.

The Call Center Association of the Philippines has reported that the Philippines suffered a 60 to 80 percent turnover rate, the highest turnover among call centers worldwide. It said that the rate is more than the normal turnover rate of 30 to 40 percent.

Cyber City chief Nannete Del Mundo, however, said call centers in Davao City are not offering extraordinary incentives since the attrition rate of call agents is not fast.

She said the salary rate of call center agents in the city ranging from P8,000 to P14,000 monthly and more is sufficient to compensate their labor.

She also said that she is not aware of the CCAP report. She, however, expressed the belief that if there is such a report, maybe the call centers being surveyed are those from congested cities such as Manila and Cebu where there are huge increases in the number of call centers.

“Davao call centers are not desperate,” 611 Call Center of the JIB Career Center executive Arlene Ozoa for her part said, when asked to react on the issue.

She said it is the call of the human resource department of a call center to establish measures how to keep their call center agents from leaving their positions for other jobs due to many reasons among which are boredom, pressure and stress due to lack of sleep. Most call agents are on graveyard shift that starts from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m..

Ozoa said some call centers are providing relaxation packages to call agents during off hours such as spa or karaoke singing session to refresh themselves from hours of stressful work.

She confirmed that most call agents have to adjust their body cycle to the nature of their job where they have to stay until the wee hours dawn the following day in those narrow computer cubicles.

She also dismissed reports that call center operators prefer a fast turnover of call agents as a strategy to maintain enthusiastic and highly motivated customer service at low cost.

Mindanao Daily Mirror (http://www.dailymirror.ph/Oct/business10112008&01.html)

bongskie09

October 11th, 2008, 07:27 AM

-dp-

paulkrps

October 11th, 2008, 02:11 PM

bartstrife99

October 11th, 2008, 03:14 PM

BPO industry to benefit from JP Morgan’s rise as top US bank

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/11/2008 12:37 AM

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version | Send to friendSend to friend

A lawmaker supporting the country’s booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry predicted Thursday that emerging number one US bank JP Morgan Chase and Co. would soon aggressively offshore more back office jobs to the Philippines.

After acquiring Bear Stearns Companies Inc. in March and Washington Mutual Inc. (WaMu) in September, JP Morgan has emerged has the largest US bank in terms of market capitalization, surpassing Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc.

“Among US banks, JP Morgan is the most comfortable with the Philippines. The bank has been here for 47 years. It has become totally acclimatized to our political and economic conditions,” Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago said in a statement.

JP Morgan first outsourced customer support jobs to the Philippines in 2003 by putting up a 900-seat contact center in Makati City. The US bank recently launched a new 1,400-seat contact center in Taguig City.

The chairman of the House information and communications technology committee said that WaMu, now owned by JP Morgan, has been a key client of PeopleSupport Inc., which runs 3 contact centers that employ around 8,000 college-educated, fluent English-speaking Filipinos.

“Our sense is, now that it has become larger, JP Morgan would be inclined to build up in a way its contact centers and other back offices here,” Santiago said.

He added that he expects the American International Group (AIG) to sell its local outsourcing subsidiary, AIG Business Processing Services, Inc. (AIG-BPSI).

AIG-BPSI provides back office operations and contact support services for AIG businesses worldwide.

Information technology-enabled service industries have been a key driver of Philippine economic and employment growth.

Driven mainly by contact center and back office contractors, the industries are expected to fully engage 920,764 Filipinos and generate up to $12.2B in annual revenues by 2010, according to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P).

as of 10/11/2008 12:42 AM

Cebuski78

October 11th, 2008, 03:49 PM

Asia dominates global outsourcing list
By Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia
Tuesday, October 07, 2008 04:51 PM
Asian cities have bagged the first three spots in a study of top emerging destinations for global outsourcing.

Cebu City in the Philippines was ranked No. 1 on the Top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing Cities list, followed by the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Beijing at second and third places, respectively.

Of the top 50 destinations polled, more than half, or 19 cities, are from Asia, while the rest, comprising 13 cities, are from Central and Eastern Europe.

According to the survey released Monday by IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing (BPO) media company Global Services and investment advisory firm Tholons, choosing the right city has become "more important" than choosing the country when setting up an outsourcing center.

Considerations such as the availability of resources, in terms of the quality and type of workforce, cost and the availability of infrastructure, as well as the city’s "long-term potential in fulfilling demand for specific services determine its attractiveness as an outsourcing center".

"The concept of an individual location being a 'one-stop-shop' has given way to 'smart, multi, selective sourcing' models, wherein selected processes are outsourced only to the most appropriate destination," said Ed Nair, editor of Global Services.

The report noted that "increasing competition in the global outsourcing will make the cities more focused in identifying appropriate service lines and in developing their service-delivery capabilities".

China's rising stars
In addition to Shanghai and Beijing, the list featured four other Chinese cities (Shenzhen at 10th, Dalian at 16th, Guangzhou at 23rd and Chengdu at 37th), with three of the six cities making it to the top 10.

"Shanghai is already known as a mature destination for providing offerings such as F&A (finance and accounting), product development, R&D (research and development) and testing, and Guangzhou is known for engineering-services," the Global Services study noted. "Outsourcing services such as application development and maintenance and business analytics are now being offered from Shenzhen and Shanghai respectively."

According to the survey, Tianjin, a second tier city, has the "potential" of moving into the top 50 list.

China is "home to numerous IT and BPO services providers", including global companies such as Accenture, Infosys, IBM and Satyam, as well as globally-known local providers Augmentum, Bleum, Dextrys and Neusoft, the report noted.

Lynn Tan is a freelance IT writer based in Singapore.

barukdok

October 12th, 2008, 02:45 AM

this is great news for central visayas. the big cities are all moving forward and starting to accelerate:cheers:

tj_brewed

October 12th, 2008, 02:55 AM

i've read somewhere that call agents are leaving the industry in droves in india. they felt nga dead-end daw nga work. i dunno the philippine setting.

Same lang sa Pinas. That's one of the reasons why CSRs leave their jobs. However, most of these are those who failed to realize the career opportunities within the industry. Here, lemme show you what these are:

From an Agent (after few months) you can apply as a > Supervisor
> Trainer
> IT department
> HR
> Finance
Supervisors can apply for a higher position > Team Manager

Then Team Managers can apply as > Operations Manager

Operations Manager > Site Director
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Eto naman career path ng isang trainer sa call center set up:

Agent> Trainer > Trainer Sup > Trainer Manager (head ng Training Department)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Eto naman ang career path pag HR dep ang gustong pasukan

Agent > HR Recruitment Officer /HR Comp and Ben > HR Sup > HR Manager

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Eto naman ang career path pag ang agent pumasok sa IT Dep

Agent > IT Helpdesk > IT Manager / Network Admin

barukdok

October 12th, 2008, 03:37 AM

^^ there is hardly additional info about cebu city in that news. another poorly researched article. or the writer is just biased towards china.

icarusrising

October 12th, 2008, 04:48 AM

BPO sector to get major boost as JP Morgan mulls more back-office jobs (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=2008101112)
By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes
Sunday, October 12, 2008

The local business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is expected to get a major boost as JP Morgan Chase and Co., poised to become America’s largest bank, is anticipated to agressively offshore more back-office jobs to the Philippines.

“We do not see any significant fallout from the recent collapse of a number of a US banks, or their absorption by larger rivals,” according to Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, chairman of the House information and communications technology committee.

“When American firms slash costs due to mergers or an economic slowdown, the first to go tend to be high-paying US-based jobs. They hardly bother to reexamine toward scaling down their low-cost outsourcing activities here, at least not on the basis of cost,” he said.

US financial institutions, along with telecommunication, Internet, direct broadcast and cable TV providers, are among the biggest clients of Philippine BPO firms.

One of them is 119-year-old Washington Mutual Inc. (WaMu), the erstwhile largest American thrift and savings closed by the US government, whose banking assets were sold at a fire-sale price to JP Morgan.

WaMu has been a key client of PeopleSupport Inc., which runs three contact centers that employ around 8,000 college-educated, fluent English-speaking Filipinos.

“Among US banks, JP Morgan is the most comfortable with the Philippines. The bank has been here for 47 years. It has become totally acclimatized to our political and economic conditions,” Santiago said.

“Our sense is, now that it has become larger, JP Morgan would be inclined to build up in a big way its contact centers and other back-offices here,” he added.

JP Morgan first outsourced customer support jobs to the Philippines in 2003, by putting up a 900-seat contact center in Makati City. The US bank recently launched a new 1,400-seat contact center in Taguig City.

After acquiring Bear Stearns in March and then WaMu last month, JP Morgan has emerged as the largest US bank in terms of market capitalization, surpassing Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc.

Santiago, meanwhile, said he expects the American International Group Inc. (AIG) to sell its local outsourcing subsidiary, AIG Business Processing Services Inc. (AIG-BPSI).

AIG-BPSI provides back-office operations and contact support services for AIG businesses worldwide.

Information technology-enabled service industries have been a key driver of Philippine economic and employment growth.

Driven mainly by contact center and back-office contractors, the industries are expected to fully engage 920,764 Filipinos and generate up to $12.2 billion in annual revenues by 2010, according to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines.

bartstrife99

October 12th, 2008, 08:35 AM

^^ there is hardly additional info about cebu city in that news. another poorly researched article. or the writer is just biased towards china.

Para nga po! biruin mo top 2 and chinese city para naman binaboy niya yung India? di na ata na mention?

bongskie09

October 12th, 2008, 09:17 AM

You forgot to mention the QA department Jech.

Career path sa QA Dept. is as ff:

Agent> Quality Assurance Analyst > QA Sup > QA Manager (head ng QA Department)

For some companies (like mine) Training and Quality is just like one department because they have the same supervisor and manager.

So in all, there are 5 avenues or departments that an agent can go to depending on their liking or educational background.

> Quality Assurance
> Training
> HR
> IT
> Finance

Oh, there's the Workforce or Service Assurance department pa pala, so there's 6 in all! ^^

bongskie09

October 12th, 2008, 09:42 AM

i've read somewhere that call agents are leaving the industry in droves in india. they felt nga dead-end daw nga work. i dunno the philippine setting.

I had one agent who resigned 2 months ago because he was allegedly too bored with the kind of work he was doing in our account (no-brainer kasi as we'll just have to read messages from a hard of hearing person, then we type whatever the hearing person's response is who is on the other end of the line. The only challenge is you have to be a fast typist and everything has to be typed verbatim-word per word, even the voiced party's fillers and their background noises. And your listening, vocabulary and spelling skills has to be wide as well in order not miss accuracy in relaying messages).

Anyway, to make a long story short, he worked in another industry (as a supervisor in a world-renowned coffee shop) but in just a few weeks he was already texting me on how he would go about re-applying in our company! :bash: Na-realize na lang daw niya na mas okay ang challenge sa call center and not to mention the pay, halos kalahati daw and difference. He's re-hireable but it will be 5 months after he resigned. :lol:

timoga_lover

October 12th, 2008, 10:21 AM

amigo32

October 12th, 2008, 02:50 PM

Pinay ata nagsulat nyan:D tapos sa China naka base:D

east99

October 12th, 2008, 10:43 PM

I am Jones and I am a call center consultant, I am from Manila but located now here in Bacolod City. If you are interested in a call center business, do not hesitate to contact me at +63.929.450.0568 / jones.desamparado@yahoo.com.

Service Offered:
-Full call center set-up
-Client registration and acquisition (US & UK)
-Training
-Business Development
-Etc.

Looking forward to make business with the people of Bacolod City.

Thanks!

tj_brewed

October 13th, 2008, 02:30 AM

I had one agent who resigned 2 months ago because he was allegedly too bored with the kind of work he was doing in our account (no-brainer kasi as we'll just have to read messages from a hard of hearing person, then we type whatever the hearing person's response is who is on the other end of the line. The only challenge is you have to be a fast typist and everything has to be typed verbatim-word per word, even the voiced party's fillers and their background noises. And your listening, vocabulary and spelling skills has to be wide as well in order not miss accuracy in relaying messages).

Anyway, to make a long story short, he worked in another industry (as a supervisor in a world-renowned coffee shop) but in just a few weeks he was already texting me on how he would go about re-applying in our company! :bash: Na-realize na lang daw niya na mas okay ang challenge sa call center and not to mention the pay, halos kalahati daw and difference. He's re-hireable but it will be 5 months after he resigned. :lol:

^^ hahahahahaha nakakarelate ako! Ako rin, I left the industry nung June. I decided to focus sa real estate. Malaki ang kita sa real estate. I dont want to brag but i exceeded my quarter quota (which is 7.5 Million worth of sales) in a month's time. Nagustohan ko rin sa real estate - maraming parties, meet ng mga mayayaman often, nasa mga exhibits, i can manage my own time, travel dito at travel dun.

PERO, nabored ako :lol: During those months na I was away from this industry, dun ko narealize na the contact center industry is the industry tlga for me.

Narealize ko na kahit mas maliit kita ko sa call center, mas marami namang cute dun at benefits. ahahahahaha Here are some of the things na namiss ko sa call center industry:

- HMO/health benefits > sa previous job ko, half a million per year ang budget nila for me sa health care. Robinsons Land isnt providing that samin as their account managers.

- Life Insurance > sa previous contact center ko, automatically covered ako sa life insurance. Pero sa real estate, ako pa magbabayad nito :lol:

- Stock Options > although this isnt being offered sa lahat ng contact centers, but some companies do. Sa prev job ko, I have stocks sa company na pwede kong ibenta. Sa real estate, wala :D

- Performance Incentives > if perfect ako sa attendance or if nahit ko ang performance metrics, tiba tiba ako sa performance incentives. Sa real estate, wala :D

- Transpo Allowance > On top of my pay, may allowance pa. Non-taxable. :D

Anyway, here's what Ive learnt. OK na OK magkaroon ng sariling negosyo - which is in my case, real estate. However, mas OK if may corporate job ka and at the same time you have a negosyo.

Kc sa real estate, I'll earn if I'll be able to close a deal. At kahit I was able to close a deal, since commission based sya, my earnings will not be released in a 15th and 30th day set up.

Malakas ang kita sa real estate but I cant consider it as a career. Negosyo or business, that's how I look at it now. Pero career? Nope. For me, I believe isa ako sa mga people who found their career paths sa contact center industry. Now Im back sa industry where I truly belong - filled with young, dynamic, competitive, and mostly good looking individuals. :okay: But one thing that i'm so happy ngayon is that im shooting two birds in one stone. During night time - callboy ako :lol: (call center agent) during daytime naman, I'm your trusted and experienced condo specialist :okay:

tj_brewed

October 13th, 2008, 03:10 AM

Another building in Davao City that houses BPO operations and ITes services.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/tj_brewed/technotrade.jpg

c0kelitr0

October 13th, 2008, 08:25 AM

gladita

October 13th, 2008, 11:33 AM

LGUs can lure outsourcing business
Written by Jesus F. Llanto
Thursday, 09 October 2008

Local government units (LGUs) were urged to develop business-friendly environments to attract investments from the fast-growing business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

During the 2008 Local Government Code Anniversary Conference held Wednesday in Makati City, local officials were told that they should adopt policies that would make them attractive to BPO investments.

LGUs were also encouraged to follow the measures done by the Bacolod City government in supporting the BPO sector. Bacolod City passed an ordinance endorsing accreditation of Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) sites, and promoted Bacolod as ICT hub by participation in conferences and trade shows and by using website and brochures.

“LGUs sometime have to see themselves as business planner, catalyzer, and enabler instead of being just enforcer,” said Bacolod City councilor and Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for Information and Communications Technology chair Jacelle Batapa-Sigue.
Sunshine industry

Considered one of the sunshine industries—along with mining, agri-business and tourism—that can be tapped by local government units, the BPO industry has employed around 300,000 workers and has estimated revenue of US$ 4.9 billion in 2007.

Dan Reyes, president of Sitel and of the Business Process Association of the Philippines, said that among the advantages of the country in attracting BPO investments are the Filipinos’ English-speaking ability, their cultural affinity to the United States, competitive labor, real estate and telecommunication costs.

The Philippines was chosen by the United Kingdom National Offshoring Destination (NOA) as the outsourcing destination for 2007.

All sectors of the IT-BPO industry have shown double-digit average growth in the past three years. (See table below).Contact centers, which generated a total of US$3.6 billion in 2007, grew by an average of 52% during the past three years.
IT-BPO Industry Sector 2007 Revenues (in Million US$) Past 3 years average growth
Contact Center 3,600 52%
Back Office (non-voice BPO) 398 46%
Transcription (non-voice BPO) 197 24%
Animation 105 38%
Software 423 35%
Engineering Services 152 55%
Total 4.875 50%
Source: Joint BPAP/BOI/PEZA/CICT Task Force

The BPAP, which is the umbrella organization of outsourcing firms, estimates that the BPO industry will generate US$13 billion and employ a million full-time employees by 2010.

Reyes said that the economic slowdown in the United States could be an opportunity for the Philippines. “Companies will cut cost and will continue to outsource.”
Support from LGUs

Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), said although the BPO industry bloomed with very little help from the government, LGUs should support first movers by addressing the companies’ need for infrastructure, security and human resources.

Ibrahim cited the case of Baguio City when BPO firm Sitel moved in 2004. Ibrahim noted that the local government of Baguio adopted incentives to information and communication technology firms and installed police stations near the BPO site.

The presence of BPO firms in the provinces, Ibrahim said, allow LGUs to boost their local economies, give workers the opportunity to work even without leaving their home and develop other support businesses. He added that BPOs presence in the provinces allows the company to access abundant talent in the provinces, manage costs due to lower wage rates and rental rates and an opportunity to explore the Philippines.

Local policies that are supportive of the BPO industry, said Ibrahim, could spur the growth of BPO industry outside established hubs like Metro Manila and Cebu.

A BPAP inventory showed that around 80 percent of the workers in the BPO industry are based in the National Capital Region. (See table below)
Share of IT-BPO Employment, By Region
Cordillera Administrative Region 1.0%
Ilocos Region 0.0 %
Cagayan Valley 0.0 %
Central Luzon 5.3%
CALABARZON 3.5%
NCR 80.0%
MIMAROPA 0.0%
Bicol Region 0.5%
Western Visayas 1.6%
Central Visayas 6.1%
Eastern Visayas 0.5%
Zamboanga Peninsula 0.0%
Northern Mindannao 0.3%
Davao Region 1.0%
SOCCSKSARGEN 0.0%
Caraga Region 0.0%
ARMM 0.0%
Source: BPAP Inventory

The concentration of BPO firms in Metro Manila, says Teletech senior vice president Maulik Parekh, has resulted in high attrition and wage inflation that are “atrocious” to the companies.

“We are avoiding another Bangalore in the making,” said Parekh referring to too much concentration of BPO companies in one of India’s outsourcing hubs. Parekh noted that in Makati alone, there are around 50 BPO firms situated in five blocks.
Not secured

David Leechiu, country head of a global property consulting firm Jones Lang La Salle Leechiu (JLL), said some BPO companies are hesitant in establishing their presence outside outsourcing hubs because they want to make sure first that these provinces and cities have the needed infrastructure, talent pool and good business environment.

“BPOs want or need to expand outside Metro Manila but need to feel secure about their decision,” Leechiu said. LGUs, Leechiu said, should ensure that there are accessible services, 24/7, and secured transport, housing facilities, restaurants and commercial centers for workers and support services for the companies.

“In many provinces, workers have difficulty of access to the office because of the quality of roads,” he said. “Support infrastructure is important because lack of it results in vulnerability to damage.”
Recommendations for LGUs

Apart from ensuring the availability of infrastructure and support services, LGUs, said Leechiu, should also develop labor tracer program and database of graduates working in the industry so they can determine the actual number of qualified workers. He added that LGUs should also encourage growth of training programs for call centers, accounting, engineering and editing agents.

He added that LGUs should strive for continued education of the community and information dissemination about the industry. In previous interview with abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak, BPAP director for talent development Ma. Jamea Garcia said that some parents do not want their children to join the industry because of security and health concerns and the perception that “a call center job is just answering telephone calls.”

Leechiu added that LGUs should also allow the establishment of more IT parks and should not feel bad about the incentives granted to companies situated in PEZA sites. Companies that choose to locate on PEZA sites can avail themselves of incentives like income tax holidays.

source (http://newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5431&Itemid=88889053)

jaywalker

October 13th, 2008, 02:29 PM

^^This is very nice.Bacolod is always being cited as a model city that succeeded in BPO industry.

SUV111

October 14th, 2008, 06:42 AM

of course migs :) SOLID Bacolod. :)

Christendom

October 14th, 2008, 09:38 AM

^^you are both right bros,,,always cited from the news not only bacolod alone but the whole province... model of growth and a challenge of development progress for the other cities and provinces

bacolodchamp

October 14th, 2008, 09:40 AM

^^yup...i hope we'll be able to sustain this momentum para sa kaayuhan sang ciudad kag probinsya

tj_brewed

October 14th, 2008, 09:51 AM

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk97/tj_brewed2/DAVAO%20BLDGs/_k7dvo.jpg

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk97/tj_brewed2/DAVAO%20BLDGs/_K7-1.jpg
by tj_brewed
original photos by junax and reancorbz

dinabaw

October 14th, 2008, 10:01 AM

Another building in Davao City that houses BPO operations and ITes services.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/tj_brewed/technotrade.jpg

i never thought mahimong call center ni ! :lol:

tj_brewed

October 14th, 2008, 10:04 AM

^^ I believe walang contact center jan but just back office operations :okay:

icarusrising

October 14th, 2008, 10:57 AM

^^ It doesn't have to more than 50% to be the majority.

Local IT outsourcing firm expands in RP (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20081014-166337/Local-IT-outsourcing-firm-expands-in-RP)

By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:42:00 10/14/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- In its bid to cater to the growing demands in the global outsourcing industry, information technology services outsourcing firm Pointwest Technologies has opened a second delivery center in the Philippines, an executive said.

The new operations of the Filipino company Pointwest Technologies will be located at the UP-Ayala Techno Hub in Diliman, Quezon City.

The new center will have 480 seats in a 2,600-square-meter facility.

“Operating two sites will allow us the opportunity to enhance our processes and tools for more collaborative project development work across multi-sites,” said Pointwest Technologies president Beng Coronel.

The UP-Ayala Technohub in Diliman will also serve as mirror operation – as part of a disaster and business recovery plan -- of the company’s Makati office.

Renato Quizon, Pointwest Technologies executive director of business development said the company remains bullish, as it expects steady growth. The company expects a 40 percent year-on-year growth rate given the global demand, amid the US financial crisis.

Pointwest Technologies provides software solutions using Java, Microsoft.NET and mainframe legacy Cobol for its clients from various sectors, including transportation and logistics, insurance and banking, utilities and telecom industries.

Quizon said the company has no plans to diversify its business yet because the non-voice sector is big enough to drive the company’s business.

With the Philippines ranking second in the global outsourcing arena, Pointwest Technologies aims to step up the delivery of its services by tapping universities in Quezon City.

“We are excited being strategically located in Quezon City because there are a lot of opportunities in terms of collaboration between us in the industry and the academe,” said Quizon.

The company also plans to tap the academe for employee training programs.

Quizon said having two locations will also promote quality lifestyle among employees by allowing them to work closer to their home, thus cutting travel time to work and allowing them to spend more time with the family.

About 250 employees who reside near Quezon City will be moved from Pointwest Makati to the new facility.

From nine employees since in 2003, the Pointwest Technologies now employs 475 people, mostly software engineers.

Ic3

October 14th, 2008, 11:17 AM

^^ It used to house Hubport Interactive which later moved to Juna. I don't know what company is located there now.

nostalgicbabe

October 14th, 2008, 11:46 AM

Good thing that the BPO sector would still continue to grow despite the global economic slowdown and the US financial crisis.

BPO opportunities seen amid US financial crisis

MANILA, 19 SEPTEMBER 2008 - America's financial meltdown could be the Philippines' boom time, particularly for the business process outsourcing industry (BPO). As the world's central banks and financial institutions are still assessing the impact of what analysts have called as the 'Monday Meltdown' when big US investment banks Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch was taken over by Bank of America, the Philippine BPO sector is looking at opportunities to offer cost-effective solutions to foreign firms.more (http://mis-asia.com/news/articles/bpo-opportunities-seen-amid-us-financial-crisis)

junax

October 14th, 2008, 05:31 PM

Another building in Davao City that houses BPO operations and ITes services.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/tj_brewed/technotrade.jpg

here's a clearer version Teej...
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/naxju/techno.jpg

jaywalker

October 15th, 2008, 02:56 AM

Global IT potential
of city cited
BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

Bacolod has been identified as one of the tier-II cities in the world which has the potential of moving up into the top 50 global outsourcing cities, the CyberMedia Publications Group said in a report published Oct. 7, 2008.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said “This is going to inspire us all the more and we will see to it that we are going be able to sustain it now that we have started it.”

The report said Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyberadad, Mumbai and Pune, besides Dublin in Ireland and Makati City in the Philippines form the top eight global outsourcing cities.

It said the “Top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing Cities’ 2008” list has nine new entrants – Quezon City, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Jaipur, Singapore City, Chengdu, Guadalajara and Mandaluyong City.

Of the top 50 cities, 19 are from Asia and 13 from Central and Eastern Europe. Besides tier-1 Asian cities, outsourcing centers are being set up in many tier-2 and tier-3 cities, the report noted.

Leonardia said he has requested Councilor Greg Gasataya, as chairman of the Committee on Trade, Commerce and Industry, to tap more participation from the private sector with emphasis on the training of potential call center materials.

Leonardia said the Country Manager of Convergys, Marife Zamora, validated during the visit of the Mayor’s League and the visit of the President, that Bacolod has the highest rate of passing percentage of applicants.

“I believe that is more than a good start for us in the Information Technology and with the findings by an international group that is focused on IT, this tells us that, indeed, our MassKara theme, ‘Bacolod, City of the World’ is a reality,” he said.

The IT program of Bacolod won the Best Public Sector Projects Award for 2006-2007 from the National Economic Development Authority for Region 6.*CGS

icarusrising

October 16th, 2008, 10:57 AM

RP call centers ‘further ahead’ than in India, China
Companies (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=458:rp-call-centers-further-ahead-than-in-india-china&catid=24:companies)
Written by Dennis D. Estopace / Reporter
Wednesday, 15 October 2008 22:02

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/images/stories/Daily_Images/10162008/comp-pic01.jpg

Photo from www.global-sky.com

THE Philippines is Asia-Pacific’s second-largest call center market, next to India, a June 2008 study released recently here by Oracle Corp. said.

The study also noted that while call centers in China and India cited generating profits as their main challenge, in the Philippines, business process outsourced (BPO) operations are now more focused on increasing revenue generation.

In the area of finance, whilst the main challenge for contact centers in China and India is moving from a cost center to a profit center, contact centers in the Philippines cite increasing revenue generation as the main challenge, the research report commissioned by Oracle said.“This suggests that contact centers in the Philippines are further ahead in transitioning from traditional reactive service units to re-venue-generating operations, when compared with contact centers in China and India,” the study said.
The 21-page study cites the challenges faced in the past 12 months by contact centers in the region’s top three contact center markets.

The research, copies of which were distributed Wednesday here, revealed that the main challenge for contact centers across China, India, and the Philippines over the last year ending June was customer service.

Managers of 44 contact center managers in the Philippines said the other challenges according to importance included: human resources, finance, operations and technology.

“Operations and technology are rated as ‘moderately low’ challenges,” the study explained.

“The results suggest that a stronger focus is now being placed by…Filipinos on improving the quality of service and also on staff recruitment and retention.”

The research that Oracle outsourced to Singapore-headquartered firm callcentres.net cited that despite an average 20-percent annual growth rate of the contact center industry in Asia as measured by seat size, “the industry experiences increasing operational challenges.”

India, which has about 500,000 seats, is regarded as the largest and one of the most mature markets in the region. The Philippines has about 129,000 seats in total and is a reasonably mature market but growing at an aggressive 23 percent per annum, the study said.

China, a developing market, has a growth rate of 20 percent per annum. “Really, watch out for China,” Oracle executive James Owens said in a press briefing.

Owens said employee turnover or attrition remains a low challenge in China, at 36 percent while 52 percent of those surveyed in the Philippines said this is a major issue after maintaining operational costs (which is at 59 percent).

The study said the operational pressures and challenges being experienced by these contact centers “will only escalate” despite an expected average 15-percent increase in seat size over the next 12 months.

The study points to “decentralization” of call center operations as an alternative.

It cited as an example that an organization’s head office may remain in a central location, while maintaining satellite offices.

“It’s sort of a hub and spoke concept,” Owens told the BusinessMirror after the press briefing.

“Agent attrition may also be reduced by moving call center operations nearer to population centers and away from the cities where the race for talent is more accurate,” the study said.

orville1ph

October 16th, 2008, 11:52 AM

BPO firm grooms Leyte as next BPO hub

By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:05:00 10/16/2008

MANILA, Philippines – Business process outsourcing firm APAC Customer Services Inc. is investing P100 million for a call center branch in Leyte, which will house up to 1,000 employees.

Located at the Leyte Academic Center (LAC) in Palo, the 35, 000-square-feet campus will be APAC’s fourth site in the country, and Leyte’s first call center.

“Leyte is our top choice for our provincial strategy due to its fiber optic backbone, talent pool and government support,” said Doug Almond, APAC vice president for international operations, in a briefing.

Initially, the branch will employ 140 professionals for its first client program slated to begin in January 2009. Hiring for the new facility will start in November.

According to Leyte Governor Carlos Petilla, “The province produces about 6,000 graduates per year from a dozen reputable universities, a talent pipeline that is enough to support large-scale BPO operations.”

Petilla said Leyte has an industry-academe forum which allows businesses to explicitly define their employee qualifications and work with the academe to meet this.

The academe, in turn can revise its curriculum offerings to fit these qualifications and help ensure their graduates get jobs based on their expertise. One segment of this forum is grooming graduates to become qualified BPO professionals.

Three other contract bidders applied to set up a call center at Leyte but Petilla said they chose APAC due to the company’s long-term commitment to tap the local talent pool for its operations, as evidenced by the number of seats it wants to operate in the center.

Based on the agreement between APAC and the Leyte provincial government, the BPO company would lease for three years an area at LAC.

Petilla said the renovated LAC campus is a PEZA zone so the government will not tax APAC for at least six years.

He said the province will benefit from the investment from the jobs it will generate and the increase in disposable income people will spend in the province.

At present, the Leyte government has no plans to increase the target of hiring 1,000 employees for its budding BPO industry.

Petilla said they want to make sure the province can provide enough graduates to meet the existing demand before increasing its targets.

Almond said that depending on how the Leyte campus will perform as support center to its U.S. offices, APAC is open for expansion in the region in which Leyte belongs.

Almond said APAC is bullish on its prospects in the Philippines, especially with its provincial strategy plan.

“We are in an aggressive growth phase in the Philippines. Under the provincial strategy program, we aim to achieve 80 percent of our growth over the next five years in the provinces,” the APAC executive said.

About 95 percent of APAC clients are from the U.S., which is now under a financial crisis.

Almond said this will not hinder APAC to continue growing in the Philippines because the company’s financial accounts only comprise 5 percent of its total portfolio.

APAC handles accounts in markets such as healthcare, business services and logistics, publishing, travel and telecommunications.

Currently employing over 8,000 contact center professionals, the NASDAQ-listed BPO firm already operates three sites in Manila, two in Alabang and one in Quezon City. It also operates nine contact centers in the U.S with over 4,000 employees.

orville1ph

October 16th, 2008, 11:55 AM

APAC JOB FAIRS:

October 24-26, 2008 for Senior Staff
Luxury Suites
3rd floor, Burgus St.
Tacloban City

November 21-23, 2008 for Customer Service Representatives
SMED Center, Capitol Grounds
Tacloban City

PINOYmeat

October 16th, 2008, 12:41 PM

ExcelAsia expands BPO services in Cebu
By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 11:33:00 10/15/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- ExcelAsia is expanding its operations in Cebu citing increased demand for its training services from call centers, such as Wipro.

ExcelAsia started in Cebu in 2005 with Convergys as its first client. It has since expanded into Metro Manila and has trained so-called "near-hires" or applicants that did not qualify on their first try, which received scholarships subsidized by the government.

On the average, the company's Cebu office trains 200 to 300 people every month.

Rita Trillo-Ugarte, ExcelAsia president, expects this to increase to at least 400 per month.

"We are expanding our services in Cebu by adding training and recruitment rooms. We also plan to expand our business development team there," she said. Aside from near-hires, ExcelAsia trains college graduates for free and gets paid whenever call centers hire from its talent pool.

One of its new clients is Wipro, one of the top outsourcing firms in India that established a facility in Cebu earlier this year. Other regular ExcelAsia clients include People Support and TeleTech, two of the biggest call centers in terms of workforce.

Cebu was ranked number one among this year's "Top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing Cities" announced earlier this month by industry analyst Tholons.

According to the Cebu Educational Foundation for Information Technology, call centers and BPO firms in Cebu now employ more than 20,000 workers.

HERE (http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20081015-166491/ExcelAsia-expands-BPO-services-in-Cebu)

icarusrising

October 16th, 2008, 01:34 PM

Work is wonderful at McKinley Hill’s Commerce & Industry Plaza (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business%20As%20Usual&p=49&type=2&sec=39&aid=2008101219)

Monday, October 13, 2008

Say goodbye to the standard grayness of office buildings and boxes of cubicles in sterile white spaces. Megaworld Corp., the country’s leading business process outsourcing (BPO) office buildings developer, changes your perceptions of how a workplace should be.

The new Commerce & Industry Plaza at Megaworld’s 50-hectare township project, McKinley Hill in Fort Bonifacio, challenges the way companies think of their workspace by integrating it on to an Italian-inspired township that takes drama into all accounts.

The 15-story Commerce & Industry Plaza is the only BPO building that is fully integrated with The Venetian Mall and adapts to the rapidly changing needs of today’s BPO offices.

Marvel at the cultural legacy of Italy’s artistic movements with tiers of columns, mosaics and delicate carvings while having every connectivity tool available to you at any time. Hark back to the great geniuses of the Renaissance while planning your own technological revolution and formulating cutting-edge ideas with ease.

The Commerce & Industry Plaza is the only BPO building that is fully integrated with the crowning glory of McKinley Hill Town Center, the distinctive Venetian Mall which features a grand canal with romantic gondolas that can take passengers through the famed Rialto bridge. Other Venetian landmarks such as the St. Mark’s Tower and Clock Tower have their own incarnations in this exquisite setting. Shopping promenades much like the ones that host high street fashion will be here as well. For live entertainment, the Piazza grande is where call center agents gather for after-office gaiety.

“Megaworld Corp. has always been about reinvention, and the new Commerce & Industry Plaza takes this concept to the hilt. Employees will actually look forward to going to work here everyday because it exceeds expectations as to what an ordinary office should be like. Anytime they need to rejuvenate, a gondola ride may just do the trick. As for the building itself, it offers highly sophisticated systems in tune with the demands of today,” Megaworld FVP for Business Development Jericho Go said.

“We are generating a lot of interest from highly reputable companies for this project because of its great location and the uniqueness of the project. Employees’ psyche will no doubt improve once they work here because it’s both a stimulating and a relaxing place to be in,” Go reiterated.

Completion of the Commerce & Industry Plaza is expected to be this coming first quarter while the much-awaited Venetian Mall is slated for opening late next year. BPO firms may forward lease inquiries by calling 912-0708 and checking out www.megaworldcorp.com.

icarusrising

October 16th, 2008, 01:58 PM

Australian software firm opens Philippine office (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/127492/Australian-software-firm-opens-Philippine-office)
10/16/2008 | 06:31 PM

MANILA, Philippines - An Australian company selling software on a usage basis—as opposed to a license basis—recently opened a local office, encouraged by the growth in the Philippines’ business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Call Design Pty. Ltd. (Philippines) is offering the local contact center industry solutions based on the business model of software-as-a-service (SaaS) where the software can be bought when it is needed and not as a license.

Call Design offers a range of contact center solutions, including workforce management, call recording, speech recognition and unified communications solutions.

In a press briefing in Makati City on Thursday, Call Design Philippines country manager Jaime Richard Sese emphasized the company’s business potential because of the presence of many call centers in the country.

Call or contact centers make up the bulk of the local BPO industry which is expecting to grow to a $12-billion industry by 2010.

To remain competitive, local industry groups are committed to deliver quality services, knowing that banking on cheap labor as a niche may be unsustainable in the long run.

Sese said Call Design's solutions will help the local call center industry deliver its promise.

He added that getting the right technology solutions will do well for the local call center industry as these will allow them to cut cost while trying to address another cost-related issue—the hiring and retaining of quality staff that will delivery the quality service to the clients.

“Manila offers a high caliber workforce with an emphasis on quality customer service, setting it apart as a regional center," said Sese in a statement.

“With staff recruitment and retention being the number one challenge facing local call centers today and the constant pressure to reduce cost, businesses need to start thinking how to better optimize their contact centers," Sese added.

One way to cut down cost while remaining efficient is to use the SaaS model. And with broadband services more available recently, it has made the SaaS more acceptable in the local setting.

Unlike paying for software license whether it is outrightly needed or not, which was the traditional business model, in SaaS, the company pays for the software only when it needs to use the software.

Sese added that local contact centers can remain competitive if they have the right technologies to support their call center agents. - GMANews.TV

icarusrising

October 17th, 2008, 12:42 PM

Business outsourcing firms see growth (http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20081017-166986/Business-outsourcing-firms-see-growth)

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 16:53:00 10/17/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Business outsourcing companies in the Philippines said Friday they expect continued growth, albeit at lower rates, despite the global financial turmoil.

"Admittedly, there will be a bit of cooling down on our growth numbers, but growth will definitely be there," the Business Processing Association of the Philippines said in a statement.

The group of call centers, software and animation producers and companies involved in offshore and outsourced services said it expected some clients to "reassess" their activities in the face of the crisis.

But the industry "will continue to present itself to major US companies as part of the solution while they undergo their own restructuring to save costs," the association said.

Its chairman Alfredo Ayala said the global outsourcing industry would follow the same patterns it has gone through in previous recessions -- a deceleration in growth rates in the short-term due to a slowdown in economic activities.

But this would be followed in the near and medium term by a surge as companies accelerated cost-cutting efforts.

"Given the anticipated steepness of this downturn, we anticipate healthy growth next year," Ayala said.

The group said it would continue to aggressively market its services worldwide as many companies still have not tapped the potential of outsourcing some of their functions.

The industry, one of the rising stars of the Philippine economy, previously said it was targeting annual revenues of $12-13 billion by 2010.

Last year, the industry saw revenues of $4.9 billion.

icarusrising

October 17th, 2008, 01:23 PM

BPAP SAYS
RP BPOs safe from US financial crunch (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20081016-166727/RP-BPOs-safe-from-US-financial-crunch)
By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 17:03:00 10/16/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines' business process outsourcing industry remains safe from the effects of the recent financial debacle in the United States, according to executives from private and government agencies.

The Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) said the industry will only suffer a "cooling down" effect as some US companies cancel their outsourcing contracts.

However, this will be offset by an influx of new contracts.

BPAP Chief Executive Officer Oscar Sañez told INQUIRER.net that the slowdown will vary in effect among companies in the Philippines, especially those who have US clients.

He said that the BPO business in the country is in better shape against other industries because of new clients coming in. Some of the industries, particularly the banking and financial sectors, would undergo changes that can affect BPO providers' clientele.

Sañez added that there is no indication as to when the US financial crisis will abate.

Nevertheless, there are investors also from the US, Europe, India, Singapore and Australia exploring possible investments in the Philippines. Some of these are companies that have not done offshore outsourcing projects.

"The Philippines should continue to benefit from what's happening around us given our industry's stronger popularity and proven pedigree of success. This explains why we are continuously strengthening our marketing programs to make the country 'top-of-mind' choice for outsourcing," Sañez said.

In a separate interview, Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim said the Philippines will have an "unfair" share of the global BPO business during this time as global firms move towards outsourcing their operations to the Philippines, instead of other countries.

"It is all the more imperative [for global firms] to streamline their operations. Outsourcing is the right thing to do and the Philippines is in the forefront," Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim said that if there is one thing that the BPO industry should worry about in the Philippines is getting more manpower to fill in jobs.

BPAP projects that the industry would need about 1 million employees for the industry by 2010.

Ibrahim said the government is encouraging industries to move their operators beyond the cities and to other provinces in the country where there are skilled workers who could fill in their human resource requirements.

Ibrahim said provincial areas are starting to be developed to create good environments for BPO investments.

henji

October 17th, 2008, 02:30 PM

^^ will this add to our existing contact center? anong nem and contact nos?

henji

October 17th, 2008, 03:27 PM

Davao’s contact centers, with nil turnover problem, expect brisk business from US financial slowdown

Regions
Written by Manuel T. Cayon, Reporter
Thursday, 16 October 2008 20:35

DAVAO CITY—The contact centers here may expect a more robust operation as the financial slowdown in the US may force many US companies to operate overseas or to contract their services to services firms such as the contact centers, executives of these centers here said.

Marineta del Monte, liaison of the Business Process Outsourcing Association of Davao City Inc. (BPO ADI), said she would expect the contact centers here to either expand their operation or to get more clients, even in the middle of a global slowdown, indicating the continued demand for outsourcing services of many foreign companies.

Arlene Ozoa, secretary of BPO ADI, said her group had yet to be informed if there were already inquiries or any intention by companies to move their operations here or elsewhere outside the US. But she said she would expect US companies to “outsource” their operations rather than hire new personnel.

She said inquiries would be likely coursed through the Department of Trade and Industry or through the Mindanao Business Council.

“Rather than transferring their physical operations outside, I would believe that these US companies would outsource their operations rather than hire new people there,” Ozoa said.

There are five medium-scale and 15 small contact centers here which hire about 20,000 agents. BPO ADI said that this city has become an attractive area to expand offshoring and outsourcing (O&O) operation due to the number of educational institutions offering quality English teaching, available source of human resource and the cheap cost of living.

“But it is the loyalty of the personnel to their job that has attracted foreign companies here,” del Monte said. “This is actually the strength of contact-center agents working in many contact centers in Manila and Cebu.”

“That is why,” said Ozoa, “many companies in Manila would always be here in every jobs fair that we are holding.”

The common view is that the O&O sector was likely to benefit from the financial slowdown in the US as its companies, reeling from high cost of operation in the mainland, would find it cheaper to transfer operation or to contract to outside agencies, such as the contact centers, some or major parts of their operations. Some experts, however, also advised caution, saying other factors might come into play affecting the decisions of US businesses; and that, at bottom, it would all be up to how either option—keeping the jobs there or outsourcing them—would play out in terms of cost.

The number of contact centers in Davao, meanwhile, should also be an indication of the fast growth of the O&O sector as companies in the First World unload their operation to these contact centers to cut cost on personnel, physical storage space and customer inquiries, BPO ADI said in a previous press conference here.

http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=523:davaos-contact-centers-with-nil-turnover-problem-expect-brisk-business-from-us-financial-slowdown&catid=45:regions

paulkrps

October 17th, 2008, 08:20 PM

^^ It used to house Hubport Interactive which later moved to Juna. I don't know what company is located there now.

somewhere in front of ateneo matina.

http://hubportinteractive.com/

dinabaw

October 18th, 2008, 05:13 AM

Saturday, October 18, 2008
Training, certifying exams set for Davao IT system engineers

A NEW opportunity for Davao computer systems engineers, software designers and programmers to be certified by foreign IT engineers and earn global recognition for their skills will be available during two big events to be conducted by the Philippine National Information Technology Standards or Philnits Davao Office.

This was announced in Davao City recently by Philnits president M. Corazon Akol who runs training centers in Manila, Cebu and Davao for information technology engineers and programmers to upgrade their skills to global IT standards.

The first event will be a Certification Examination for fundamental IT engineering and software designers and programmers to be held on October 19, 2008 at the University of Immaculate Concepcion annex building, Bonifacio Street this city from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The second event will be an intensive training program for trainers of IT engineering and software programming called PHFEIT Training to be held on November 17 to 28 at the Philnits training center at the 5th floor of DTI Mintrade building at Monteverde-Sales Streets, Davao City.

PhilNits was set up by a joint agreement between the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (Meti) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for the training, examinations and certifications of Filipino.

IT engineers and software designers and programmers nationwide with technical and financial support provided by the Japan External Trade Organization or Jetro which provided top Japanese IT engineers to supervise the training programs and certification exams.

Acting DTI regional director Marizon Loreto said this is a good opportunity for Davao IT engineers and software programmers to upgrade their IT skills to international standards.

"With a skilled IT workforce, Filipinos here will find it easier to find well-paying IT jobs abroad, thus helping us get more jobs for our people and boosting our region's economy," Loreto said.

Sun-Star (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2008/10/18/bus/training.certifying.exams.set.for.davao.it.system.engineers.html)

sandman.ink

October 18th, 2008, 06:53 AM

somewhere in front of ateneo matina.

http://hubportinteractive.com/

Hubport is located sa tass ng asian massage i believe

FrancisXavier

October 18th, 2008, 08:17 AM

do you guys have pics of the new CX facility? tnx.. :)

sandman.ink

October 18th, 2008, 08:25 AM

do you guys have pics of the new CX facility? tnx.. :)

sorry...ano ung CX? :dunno:
call center sya?

dinabaw

October 18th, 2008, 08:26 AM

do you guys have pics of the new CX facility? tnx.. :)

hi francis , you mean concentrix?

sandman.ink

October 18th, 2008, 08:27 AM

mukhang concentrix nya sir ambs...madami pix nun sa mga Damosa Gateway pix

dinabaw

October 18th, 2008, 08:40 AM

eto yung bldg. II

http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/1702/dsc04311fq4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

FrancisXavier

October 18th, 2008, 08:54 AM

yup, Concentrix.. thanks buddies.. :)

Fly2Bacolod

October 19th, 2008, 07:05 AM

^^
good!:)

Fly2Bacolod

October 19th, 2008, 07:06 AM

IN BACOLOD
TeleTech now employs 2,000

TeleTech, one of the major sponsors of the MassKara Festival, now employs 2,000 people in Bacolod City, a press release from the company said.

TeleTech senior vice president and general manager for Asia Maulik Parekh attributes the growth of TeleTech in Bacolod City to its hardworking and highly skilled workers.

The company is well on its way to achieving its next milestone in the Philippines – 25,000 employees by the end of 2009, he said, adding that he expects Bacolod to contribute significantly to that growth.

Parekh said “MassKara is a celebration of Bacolod’s people and we at TeleTech likewise consider it a celebration of our most important asset – our employees.”

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia lauded TeleTech for sponsoring the MassKara Festival for the second straight year. He said he is happy that TeleTech stayed after it opened in 2006 and has provided employment to 2,000 people.

Bacolod has the highest passing rate, as far as call center applicants is concerned, he added.

“I hope that next year TeleTech will again sponsor the MassKara Festival,” Leonardia said.

TeleTech in partnership with the Silver MassKara Festival Organization, is sponsoring the MassKara Village, a mask-making competition organized by ABS CBN-Bacolod and Robinson’s Place Bacolod, the release said. It also sponsored the streetdance competition Thursday participated in by 11 schools.

Adopting the theme “Bacolod, City of the World,” this year’s festival not only celebrates the city’s art and culture but more importantly its emergence as a world-class city that has been attracting foreign investors especially in the information and communications technology and business process outsourcing sectors, it said.

MassKara celebrates the warm and friendly spirit of the Negrenses, a trait which makes Bacolod an even more ideal and suitable location for call centers, the release added.*CGS

jaywalker

October 19th, 2008, 09:32 AM

boynegro$

October 19th, 2008, 04:21 PM

^^ 2200 to be exact and counting.:nuts:

SUV111

October 19th, 2008, 04:24 PM

MassKara celebrates the warm and friendly spirit of the Negrenses, a trait which makes Bacolod an even more ideal and suitable location for call centers

:banana::banana::banana::banana: i love it

pitikshooter

October 20th, 2008, 05:52 AM

I've been reading this thread for the last 2 or 3 months but I haven't read one real IT company (as opposed to BPO and customer service call centers) yet getting listed. Any of you guys has some rumors about it?

For an IT consultant like me, I've been dreaming and praying that there is one such company in Bacolod so I'd just have to stay here for work for good. :)

icarusrising

October 20th, 2008, 06:04 AM

Export of services serves as ‘buffer’ for RP (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=2008101931)
By Des Ferriols
Monday, October 20, 2008

Earnings from services export would boost the country’s balance of payments as an unintended consequence of global cost-cutting.

JP Morgan said the Philippines has significant exposure to a global recession but analysts said it has buffers to cushion the blow, mainly from labor export and business process outsourcing.

JP Morgan’s emerging markets research report said that a one percentage-point decline in US growth would lead a corresponding decline in the country’s growth by as much as half a point.

JP Morgan said remittances were directly exposed to the US, with over 30 percent of workers deployed there. But remittances have continued to rise, mainly because highly-skilled workers are earning more.

The report also noted that tourism receipts would also rise towards the peak season in the fourth quarter and inflows from business process outsourcing (BPO) would provide another boost to the country’s dollar reserves.

“Inflows from BPOs largely relocating from China and India are diversifying from just call centers to areas such as software development, medical and legal transcription,” JP Morgan said.

According to JP Morgan the industry is bringing in about $3-4 billion annually.

“As costs are cut in development markets in a global recession, BPO activities could actually rise,” JP Morgan said.

JP Morgan also said that in terms of external liquidity buffer, the Philippines has about $30 billion in foreign currency deposit units in the banking system and this could be used for the dollar needs of local corporations.

“Gross international reserves are expected to end the year higher at $37 million despite the current account surplus being significantly down,” JP Morgan said.

Moreover, the agency said inflation finally peaked in September and is starting to come down rapidly to hit single-digit levels by February or March next year.

“Inflation expectation indicators such as the yield curve term structure and BSP surveys pointed to contained expectations,” JP Morgan said.

The BSP’s policy stance was also considered well-positioned as it kept its rates steady at its last policy meeting, ending a string of rate hikes, pointing to uncertain times ahead.

JP Morgan said there had been minimal bond financing by corporations and prices in real estate and equity markets moved up but lagged many of the country’s regional peers so there were not thought to be at “bubble” type levels.

icarusrising

October 20th, 2008, 06:08 AM

Robinsons Land strengthens position as top BPO landlord (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Business&p=49&type=2&sec=27&aid=2008101937)
By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes
Monday, October 20, 2008

Gokongwei-owned Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) is strengthening its position as a leader in business process outsourcing (BPO) development in the country.

Company officials said through its office buildings and commercial centers divisions, RLC is presently developing and offering office spaces which are suited, designed and equipped for BPO and call center industry standards.

With RLC’s pioneering strategy of adapting the mixed-use format by incorporating office spaces in shopping mall developments, the company has now become the landlord of choice for the key BPO players in the country, they pointed out.

They also noted that towards the end of this decade, the global BPO industry is expected to continue its rapid expansions in Asia and the rest of the world, a drive that will push RLC to develop more responsive BPO-designed spaces available in both office buildings and mall developments in the country.

“Robinsons is hopeful that this bold move will also echo its growth in other industries in the localities wherein its development will rise. This is a vision which RLC share with the local government units that hosts its malls and office buildings,” a company official said.

RLC has successfully established major BPO sites in Metro Manila that have become thriving and dynamic BPO hubs in their vicinities. Regionally, RLC’s property locations extend to the key urban areas of Cebu, Davao, Northern Luzon and the Calabarzon.

RLC operates six buildings with full-service traditional offices as well as BPO spaces. These are Galleria Corporate Center (Ortigas Center), Robinsons Equitable Tower (Ortigas Center), Robinsons Summit Center (Makati), Robinsons Cybergate Center Towers 1 and 2 and the recently completed Robinsons Cybergate Center Tower 3 (Mandaluyong).

RLC is also planning to develop more buildings in the old Medical City site in Mandaluyong, along Ayala Avenue where RLC, Security Land and Taganito Mining Corp. entered a recent joint venture deal.

Robinsons Cybergate Plaza in Mandaluyong City is also under construction and will be ready for occupancy by next year.

Aside from these office buildings, RLC also has a growing portfolio of BPO spaces integrated into its commercial centers located in different regions in the country. The company has eight BPO spaces out of 24 malls nationwide. In Metro Manila, Robinsons has Forum Robinsons (Mandaluyong), Robinsons Nova Market and Robinsons Place Otis. In Rizal province, RLC has Robinsons Place Cainta. In Central and Southern Luzon, RLC has Robinsons Luisita (Tarlac) and Robinsons Place Sta. Rosa (Laguna), respectively. In Central and Western Visayas, Robinsons Cybergate Cebu and Robinsons Cybergate Bacolod are also ready for occupancy. Presently, RLC is developing two more mall projects with BPO spaces namely Robinsons Cybergate Davao and Robinsons Tacloban.

Officials pointed out that with the properties situated in highly strategic locations, it offers the absolute advantage of accessibility, security and safety. Furthermore, its proximity to major landmarks such as schools, public establishments and major thoroughfares gives valued clients the advantage of having strong visibility and therefore, ease in their recruitment, they said.

jpdm

October 20th, 2008, 08:32 AM

The booming BPO industry in our country is a sign of progress.

But I think in order to maximize our country's benefits from this industry, we must put some local value added..

It can be in terms of using more local materials or equipments and develop further our ICT industry (i.e. develop our capability in computer hardware and software manufacturing) ...

Call center agents should also be given more benefits in terms of bigger salaries, health benefits and skills development trainings...

boynegro$

October 20th, 2008, 01:22 PM

^^ I hope someday may ara man tana, such companies like Texas Instruments, Moog, Intel and Accenture. Hoping for the best migo.:)

federalist

October 20th, 2008, 07:56 PM

According to worldwide survey: Cebu is number 1 BPO destination

By Ehda M. Dagooc
Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Here’s good news for Cebu.

Cebu City is now the world’s number one emerging global outsourcing destination based on the latest survey made by Global Services-Tholons Study, a reputable magazine in the Information Technology or “IT” world.

Cebu bested other 50 emerging outsourcing cities in the world, that include Shanghai and Beijing in China; Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam; Krakow in Poland; Kolkata, India; and Cairo, Egypt.

“The world’s biggest outsourcing companies are now looking at Cebu. Now, we are a legitimate outsourcing destination. The world is now looking at Cebu,” said Cebu Investments and Promotions Center (CIPC) managing director Joel Mari S. Yu, in a press conference late yesterday afternoon.

In the study, Tholons considered six general categories, which include scale and quality of workforce (including education), business catalyst, cost, infrastructure, risk profile, and quality of life.

With the fast growing outsourcing and off-shoring industry in Cebu, Yu said there is no doubt the city could graduate from an emerging outsourcing destination to a fully-developed outsourcing hub as early as next year.

According to Tholons, top notch global service providers such as Accenture, ACS, Cognizant, HP, IBM, Infosys, Wipro, among others are continually increasing their global presence. In a way, the choice of the right city has become more important than the choice of the country.

It is rather the city [than the country], which represents a more accurate package of attributes that service providers seek.

“Thus Cebu City and Monterrey matter more than the Philippines and Mexico from a decision stand point,” said the Tholon survey result.

After seven years of working hard to put Cebu in the global spotlight as the most preferred outsourcing site, Yu said the work has “paid off.”

“Now, we want to aim for the best and be a fully developed outsourcing destination in the world,” he added.

While the outsourcing giants in the world are now focusing their eyes on Cebu, this will bring good news not only in terms of the economic performance of the City, but significantly to Cebuanos as this will mean more employment opportunities.

Cebu produces at least 23,000 fresh (college) graduates a year. Majority of these graduates are employable in any outsourcing company may it be voice (call center) or non-voice operation such as software development, medical transcription, accounting and legal outsourcing among others.

When Cebu City decided to shift into an IT destination back in 2001 instead of focusing on being a manufacturing investment destination, the IT industry here has continuously provided jobs. It now hires over 20,000 people.

Cebu is now the home of big IT firms and outsourcing giants in the world like Wipro, IBM, Accenture. Soon other industry giants like Tata Group of India, Hewlett Packard (HP), and Flour Daniels will make their presence here.

Last year, Cebu was ranked number three as in the world’s top emerging outsourcing destinations.

With this, Yu said Cebu easily attracted new outsourcing investors, not just call center companies, but outsourcing firms that require highly skilled professionals like in animation, software programmers, accountants, lawyers, medical transcribers, human resource experts, content providers, and others.

To date, there are a total of 36 foreign direct investors (FDIs) in IT and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operations, excluding the 23 call center firms. Combined, these companies employ over 20 thousand workers already.

According to Yu, with the continuous building of Cebuano developers to invest on Cyber Park and IT Building facilities, Cebu is on the best position to accommodate the world’s outsourcing companies that will locate here. — /NLQ

boynegro$

October 20th, 2008, 08:45 PM

^^ grabe talaga ang Cebu...:)

SUV111

October 21st, 2008, 04:10 AM

SineBuano

October 21st, 2008, 05:19 AM

Here's another article from Finance & Accounting Outsourcing website, http://www.faotoday.com/News.asp?id=1329

FAO Today News: October 7, 2008

The Global Top 50 Destinations of Outsourcing Are Revealed

A recent study published by Tholons and Global Services announced the top 50 emerging outsourcing cities of the world in 2008. China was leading with six cities on the list, followed by India and the Philippines with four cities each. The list reveals India losing its position in the outsourcing industry to competitors including China and the Philippines. As per 2007 rankings, India was leading with six cities in the top 50 list. Cebu has been recognized as the leading emerging destination for outsourcing in 2008 as compared to Chennai in 2007. The results will enable outsourcers to start outsourcing/offshoring beyond India.

The top 10 emerging global outsourcing cities include:

* Cebu
* Shanghai
* Beijing
* Ho Chi Minh City
* Krakow
* Kolkata
* Cairo
* Sao Paulo
* Buenos Aires, and
* Shenzhen

The study also stated that the key deciding factors for outsourcers in choosing an outsourcing location include the strengths of individual cities, available resources, and long-term potential in fulfilling demand for specific services. Meanwhile, India retained its leading position as six top global outsourcing cities were Indian; these included Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune.

Ic3

October 21st, 2008, 11:36 AM

October 21: DigitalFilipino.com Club and Bloggers Davao Networking Event

The DigitalFilipino.com Club is organizing a fellowship/networking event where e-commerce industry players and bloggers can catch up and exchange updates. This will be on October 21, Tuesday, 6 to 11 pm at the Pantawan Hall, Grand Regal Hotel, Lanang, Davao City.

This event is sponsored by our club member PAGCOR.

More (http://digitalfilipinoclub.blogspot.com/2008/09/october-21-digitalfilipinocom-club-and.html)

diehardbisdak

October 21st, 2008, 12:39 PM

^^ Who will Receive this Exclusive Report of Global Services-Tholons Study?

- Buyers of outsourcing services in North America
- Organizations planning to set up captive centers
- Venture capitalist, tech startups
- Buyers of services in Western Europe
- Attendees of OSW event in October
- Attendees of Frost & Sullivan event
- Attendees of Global Services events
- Service providers across the globe (partly planning/considering expansion)
- Providers with global operations
- Analysts/Advisory Firms/Research Firms
- Others

source: http://www.globalservicesmedia.com/teoc/index.html

:applause: :cheers: :applause: see, how important is the report/study!

AITP - pic from The Freeman
http://www.philstar.com/newphilstar/www/image/20081021/freemanpic.jpg

east99

October 21st, 2008, 02:49 PM

Kindly visit our site, www.telequestbpo.com, TeleQuest BPO Center is a Lone Star Global IT Solutions Company locate at 3/F Lopues East Annex Bldg. Villamonte, Bacolod City, Philippines 6100.

Careers: Send your resume to hrd@lonestar-bacolod.com
Inquiries & Client Support: support@lonestar-bacolod.com

le Reine

October 21st, 2008, 04:06 PM

Bacolod City BPO thread was merged with the Visayas' BPO thread.

They are just redundant. I hope you would understand. The topic is just one and the same. The reality now does not call for an immediate creation of city-specific threads about BPO's.

Thank you.

boynegro$

October 21st, 2008, 04:18 PM

^^ no problem your Majesty.:)

SUV111

October 21st, 2008, 05:15 PM

Fly2Bacolod

October 22nd, 2008, 04:21 AM

http://www.tquestinc.com/tquest%20logo.png

TeleQuest BPO Center is an international voice-enabled and non-voice business process outsourcing partner and risk management consultancy business provider, located at Houston, TX and Bacolod City, Philippines.

http://www.telequestbpo.com/

nayki

October 22nd, 2008, 06:58 AM

CEBU CITY — More big-ticket business process outsourcing (BPO) investments are expected to locate in Cebu following the recent release of investment advisory firm Tholons’ list of top global outsourcing destinations.

Cebu, which placed fourth last year after three cities from India, moved to the top position this year to beat the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Beijing, which placed second and third, respectively. This feat was achieved just seven years after local officials launched the bid for Cebu to become an information technology (IT) hub.

"Despite all the problems you hear about our capability to support the BPO sector, we’re still number one. We are proud of this," said Joel Mari S. Yu, managing director of the Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC). Mr. Yu, a former Trade assistant secretary and Central Visayas regional director who has spearheaded moves to attract foreign direct investors to Cebu since 2000, was also instrumental in charting Cebu’s transformation into an IT hub.

Metro Cebu now hosts 22 call centers employing over 20,000 employees. Some of the big names are Accenture, ACS, Convergys, eTelecare, Teletech, People-Support and Wipro. A total of 36 other BPOs, focusing on the non-voice business, also operate here. Non-voice operations refer to engineering design, content development, graphics/animation, software development, medical transcription,

Tata Communications, India’s largest telecommunication company, has reportedly decided to locate in Cebu, Mr. Yu said. Representatives of HCL Enterprise, another big technology company from India, were here about a month ago to conduct due diligence. Hewlett Packard is also looking at Cebu, alongside Makati and Davao, as possible sites for its planned logistics hub. Mr. Yu added.

He was confident that Cebu would be able to meet the increasing manpower and office space requirements of the BPO sector. By next year, Mr. Yu said the call center industry would employ up to 50,000 people.

"We’re very confident that we will have the people to support these investors. We graduate 23,000 college students a year. There’s very little choice for these graduates but to be in the IT industry," Mr. Yu said.

Around a fifth of these graduates hold engineering and computer-related degrees, he said.

More IT buildings, such as the Robinland Business Center and Qimonda IT Center, are being constructed in Cebu. To date, there are 25 IT parks and buildings in Cebu, according to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

The Tholons list of the top 50 emerging global outsourcing cities was drawn up based on six general categories, namely, scale and quality of workforce (including education), "business catalysts," costs, infrastructure availability, risk profile, and quality of life. Other cities in the top 10 were Ho Chi Minh, Krakow, Kolkata, Cairo, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Shenzhen.

Three other Philippine cities made it to the list this year. Pasig, which ranked 23rd last year, moved up to 15th place while new entrants Quezon and Mandaluyong ranked 21st and 45th, respectively.

Makati, meanwhile, joined seven other destinations that are considered full-fledged global outsourcing destinations. The seven others are the Indian cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune as well as Dublin, Ireland. — Marites S. Villamor

http://www.bworld.com.ph/BW102208/content.php?id=043

east99

October 23rd, 2008, 04:47 AM

Hey fly2bacolod, that is not our logo, do not mislead people, we are TeleQuest BPO Center and not telequest communication technologies inc. Guys, just browse our site for more information, http://www.telequestbpo.com.

orville1ph

October 23rd, 2008, 05:23 AM

:ohno: carefull. . .

bacolodchamp

October 23rd, 2008, 05:36 AM

@east99, i know @ fly has noble intention on his mind...he's just too eager to promote bacolod along with your company. i know if he reads this, he'll make the necessary correction. :)

orville1ph

October 23rd, 2008, 06:41 AM

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4492/apacaddyr2.jpg

urban Iegend

October 23rd, 2008, 07:36 AM

thanks orville.. teletech naman! :banana:

habagatcentral1

October 23rd, 2008, 12:12 PM

Iloilo City Hits 80% on BPOs’ Rating (http://news.balita.ph/2008/10/23/iloilo-city-hits-80-on-bpos-rating/)
October 23, 2008 12:45 pm by pna

ILOILO CITY, Oct. 23 - This city is faring a high 80 percent in the standards of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) locators.

This was the assessment of Iloilo Business Club (IBC) executive director Lea Lara referring to BPO prospects presented by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) during the National Competitive Council forum at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Manila recently.

Lara, said that BPAP prescribed the standard criteria for cities to ideally host prospective BPOs.

The BPO industry includes call centers, office works, medical and legal transcriptions, software development, architecture and animation using state-of-the-art computer technology.

Of the 100 percent benchmark, Lara explained that BPAP cited the main requirements including rich human resources, 50 percent; infrastructure, 30 percent, business-friendliness, 15 percent and cost of doing business, five percent.

Mayor Jerry Treñas, said the c ity’s strategic location, big and quality pool of human resources, low cost-of-living expenses, low real estate cost and average base pay and presence of major communication networks with fiber optics connection attract BPOs.

Lara, said that BPOs are “very excited” with the future opening of Megaworld’s P1.5 billion Iloilo Business Park at the 54-hectare old airport site in Mandurriao district.

Iloilo and neighboring Bacolod have been considered as “next wave cities” ideal to host BPO locators.

Iloilo City hosts giant firms like Teletech, e-PLDT Ventus and Callbox and several small companies hiring some 3,000 employees.

Bacolod City has three major call centers including Teleperformance, Teletech and Convergys, among others hiring some 4,000 workers.

Lara said Iloilo may have an advantage in producing close to 20,000 graduates while Bacolod has only some 6,000 graduates.

Iloilo needs to establish more IT parks, which is a magnet for investors due to Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PESA) accreditation, so it offers several tax holidays and incentives to businesses.

Treñas, said giant property developer Ayala Group of Companies has set eyes on two-hectare site in Barangay San Rafael in Mandurriao to put up a four-storey IT park. (PNA)

icarusrising

October 23rd, 2008, 12:32 PM

BPOs seen to save property sector (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=881:bpos-seen-to-save-property-sector-&catid=23:topnews)
Top News
Written by Rizal Raoul Reyes / Correspondent
Thursday, 23 October 2008 00:54

WHAT had been earlier stated in several economic forecasts is now confirmed by a foreign property firm operating in the Philippines—that business-process outsourcing (BPO) will continue to boost the Philippine property sector during the current global financial crisis, because companies in developed countries will start looking for cheaper choices outside of their countries.

According to CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Philippines chairman Rick Santos, “Multinational companies will continue to outsource for both survival and preservation of profitability. They need to outsource to survive and thrive especially during these critical times.”

Santos, who held a press briefing on Wednesday in Makati, added that demand remains strong and the speculative supply is moving forward. He said a drop in BPO does not necessarily mean there is a slowdown in the sense that most BPO projects are scalable. Any “slowdown” in demand can be remedied by deferment of actual construction.

Santos said BPO office buildings have stronger flexibility over traditional buildings during a crisis, in
that BPO offices can be completed faster and have the flexibility to respond to surges in demand for additional office space within 16 to 18 months.

BPO locators also have the option to construct on “off locations” such as the provincial cities to achieve lower cost and effective returns at the same time, he added.

Despite the looming recession, Santos said American companies still consider outsourcing and offshoring as a business growth driver. For ailing US companies, Santos said the Philippines will continue to provide cost-effective and high-value alternative because they need to survive this short- term weakness in their economy.

Another advantage to BPOs in the Philippines is that more Indian companies are setting up BPO operations here to expand their businesses, he said.

He said major developers have exercised caution by securing precommitments of lease before construction; and that only credible and reputable property companies were able to get prelease contracts, making the market in that sense stable. So for the whole of 2008, CBRE is tracking roughly about 501,925 square meters of leasable office space, mainly for BPO companies.

Trent Frankum, CBRE Philippine general manager, said while the demand for office space will mainly come from BPO companies, developers could get business from lower than Makati Grade A lease rates of residential projects by making them market-specific such as addressing the demand of end-users like Filipino migrant workers and their families.

Although some OFW buyers are facing some problems servicing their mortgage, Frankum said they continue to prioritize payment of their residential property over luxury items. This is supported by the surge in dollar remittances in August amounting to $1.3 billion to cover for any inflationary movement related to their purchase of residential property.

The US financial meltdown, Santos said, is showing the Philippines will have to decouple itself from the US market and move to grow its domestic market and to tap new markets in other parts of the globe.

urban Iegend

October 25th, 2008, 08:10 PM

Robinsons Land to develop 7 BPO sites in 2008
Business World

MANILA, Philippines - Robinsons Land Corp. is developing seven business process outsourcing (BPO) and call center sites this year, as it takes advantage of call centers’ expansion into the provinces.

BPO and call center firms are rapidly expanding into the regions due to lower operational costs, a larger manpower pool and lower employee turnover rates.

Most firms and locators want to undertake pioneering efforts in their region of choice.

The relatively lower cost of operations here have also encouraged many firms in the US and Western Europe to outsource their operations to the Philippines, making these sites even more desirable and lucrative, Robinsons said in a statement.

“We are also giving these BPOs an opportunity to undertake pioneering efforts in our sites, a move that is very much encouraged and supported by the local government units that host our malls and office buildings," it added.

Robinsons Land business unit General Manager Henry Yap said they are incorporating office spaces intended for BPOs and call center operators in their shopping mall developments, specifically Robinsons Luisita in Tarlac City, Robinsons Cybergate Cebu between Cebu’s Chong Hua Hospital and Fuente Osmeña.

Robinsons Cybergate Davao, along J. P. Laurel in the Bajada District, and Robinsons Cybergate Plaza in Mandaluyong City are also under construction and will be ready for occupancy by next year.

These projects are in addition to two recently completed projects in Robinsons Otis in Manila and Cybergate Tower 3 in Mandaluyong City — both now ready for occupancy.

Robinsons Land expects BPO and call center locators to gear their expansion plans towards key regional urban centers. “These areas — Cebu, Davao, Northern Luzon and the Calabarzon areas offer highly skilled human resources from prestigious schools that are highly proficient in English," Mr. Yap said.

Robinsons Land has built BPOs and call centers in Bacolod in Negros Occidental, Lipa in Batangas, Sta. Rosa in Laguna and Cainta in Rizal. In Metro Manila, it has built Robinsons Novaliches and two Cybergate Towers within the Forum Robinsons Complex in Mandaluyong City.

Today, many of the top BPO and call centers firms in the Philippines are located in a Robinsons Land property, the company said.

“Given the limited free time of the agents, having the mall nearby address their needs like hot meals, coffee, wellness and entertainment courtesy of spas, salons and the cinemas, all offering a relaxing alternative after an eight-hour straight shift," Mr. Yap said.

Robinsons Land is planning more buildings in the old Medical City site in Mandaluyong; along Ayala Avenue where a recent joint venture deal was entered into by the company, Security Land and Taganito Mining Corp.; and in Tacloban where a mall is now under construction.

lightning099

October 26th, 2008, 04:19 AM

Here's is the link to the Global Services website that lists the Top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing Cities. A good source, very informative.

http://www.globalservicesmedia.com/Dgmag/oct2008/digimag.html

jaywalker

October 26th, 2008, 01:52 PM

In Bacolod City.....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/2966358463_60ae150d5e.jpg?v=0
SUV111 photo

bartstrife99

October 26th, 2008, 02:08 PM

Business
Outsourcing remains a major growth driver for RP
By Mary Ann Ll. Reyes
Sunday, October 26, 2008

Even with the lingering global financial crisis and a looming recession in the US, outsourcing and offshoring remains a major economic and property industry driver for the Philippines, leading property consultant CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Philippines said.

CBRE chairman Rick Santos noted that outsourcing and offshoring will continue to provide cost-effective and high-value alternative to ailing US companies who need to survive the current weakness in their economy. Moreover, more Indian companies are setting up BPO operations in the Philippines to expand their businesses, he said.

He pointed out that the local property sector is in a position to ride the storm and avail of numerous “opportunities amidst chaos”. “Once again, the market is shifting from a sellers/ landlord market to a buyers/ tenant market. Transactions still abound, but prices are discounted,” Santos said.

The strong take-up of office space by business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in the last three years has revived the Philippine property sector. Multinational companies (MNCs) continue to outsource and/or offshore for both survival and preservation of profitability. MNCs need to outsource to continue their operations and thrive especially during these critical times, the CBRE official added.

He said major developers have exercised caution by securing pre-commitments of lease before constructing new office facilities for incoming companies that are expanding outsourcing and offshore activities. Only credible and reputable property companies were able to get pre-lease contracts while new entrants still need to “put their money where their mouths are” and build before prospective locators consider signing leases with them six months into completion.

Thus, CBRE is tracking about 501,925 square meters of leasable office space mainly for BPO companies in 2008. This is significantly higher than last year’s monitored take-up of about 330,000 square meters.

Furthermore, BPO companies are branching out of Metro Manila, going regional into emerging cities such as Cebu, Clark and Davao.

“The demand for office space remains strong; however, the speculative supply is moving ahead of it. Moreover, it should be noted that most BPO office projects are scalable, meaning to say, any ‘slowdown’ in demand can be remedied by deferment of actual construction,” Santos explained.

The primary difference between massive traditional office buildings and BPO office buildings is the speed of completion. BPO projects have the flexibility to respond to surges in demand for additional office space within 16 to 18 months.

Location of new office buildings remains a major consideration for occupiers/ tenants. Therefore, stubborn and first time developers who insist to construct on “off locations” will be second consideration s for new tenants, CBRE noted.

Apart from the BPO industry, CBRE expects overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the tourism industry to drive the Philippine economy and the property industry forward.

The demand for office space will mainly come from BPO companies but for lower than Makati Grade A lease rates. It said residential projects must be market specific, addressing the demand of end-users such as OFWs.

Meanwhile, buying their own residential property remains a top priority for OFWs.

“While it is true that some OFW buyers are having problems servicing their mortgage, they continue to prioritize payment of their residential property over luxury items. This is supported by the surge in dollar remittances in August amounting to $1.3 billion to cover for any inflationary considerations related to their purchase of residential property,” CBRE added.

CBRE added that the increase in office space occupied by BPO companies in the last three years and the rise in foreign visitors now supports the construction of new hotel projects not only in business districts but in top tourist destinations across the country. Local and international demand for tourism facilities all over the country continues to grow.

Meanwhile, it pointed out that as the US economy absorbs the consequences of the subprime crisis and financial meltdown, they also need to deleverage to regain fiscal stability. Meantime, the Philippines will have to decouple itself from the US and move to grow its domestic market and to tap new markets in other parts of the globe.

According to CBRE, the Philippine property “boom” is shifting and adapting to demand. “Hence, there is a need to be sensitive to the needs of the market across all the segments of the property sector. In the last three years, the focus was in office and residential projects. It is time to revisit other segments of the property industry and identify the opportunities waiting to be discovered,” it said.

lightsaber46

October 28th, 2008, 04:38 AM

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/oct/28/yehey/business/20081028bus3.html

BPO firms upbeat amid crisis

By Ben Arnold O. De Vera, Researcher

EXECUTIVES from the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry expect the global financial crisis to have a positive effect or none at all on their Philippine operations, results of a recent survey showed.

In an online survey conducted from October 21 to 25, Outsource2Philippines.com (O2P) and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) said 79 percent of respondents were optimistic they could weather the economic slowdown.

Forty-one percent of respondents foresee that the financial crisis would increase demand for local BPO services, while 38 percent said the crisis would have a positive impact on their Philippine operations.

“While the global financial crisis provides both opportunities and challenges for the Philippine BPO industry, industry players are indicating that overall, the outlook remains positive and at least in some sectors, will become more so,” said Oscar Sañez, BPAP head.

“The results of the survey suggest that indeed there is opportunity in crisis,” Frank Holz, O2P chief executive, said. “The challenge is to identify those opportunities, quickly determine how to capitalize on them, and then act aggressively.”

Furthermore, 30 percent of survey respondents said the crisis would have no impact on their present operations.

However, the survey also indicated that smaller BPO firms are wary of the economic meltdown. For instance, around 40 percent of executives of companies employing less than 100 believes that the crisis would have a negative impact on their operations.

Amid the crisis, many local BPO firms plan to expand their workforce in the next 12 months, the survey showed.

Forty-two percent of respondents said their companies would hire between 6 percent and 25 percent more in the next 12 months, while 16 percent would expand their workforce between 26 percent and 50 percent.

Another 11 percent would expand between 51 percent and 100 percent, while 7 percent would increase between 101 percent and 200 percent.

Executives in engineering BPO firms were the most optimistic. None of the respondents engaged in outsourced engineering services said the global financial crisis would have a negative impact on their local operations.

However, software developers were the most pessimistic among respondents. Almost 54 percent said the global financial crisis would have a negative impact on their Philippine operations while only about 8 percent said the impact would be positive.

dinabaw

October 28th, 2008, 06:41 AM

Business Article
City continues to position as ICT hub of the South

DAVAO City has the key parameters in positioning itself as the ICT hub of the South. Lizabel “Wit” Holganza, president of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Davao, Inc., said the synergy among the stakeholders is one vital factor that will further boost the region’s ICT industry. Holganza, who also sits as the chairperson of the ICT Industry Cluster of Davao Region, added that with this solid tie between public and private sectors, the strengths of the region as a business hub will be strengthened further. “We can’t deny the fact that the isolated conflicts in Mindanao are a threat to our competitiveness. We are now faced with a challenge, the challenge to convince investors that indeed Davao is the best potential business location,” she said. Holganza said that with the help of the trainings conducted by the Davao Industry Cluster Capacity Enhancement Project (DICCEP), the strengths of the city as well as the other potential ICT destinations in the region are being harped on. “In this particular training (conducted last September 12 at the Apo View Hotel), for instance, different government agencies and private organizations are gathered together. I think this is a positive sign that the stakeholders are keen on responding to the requirements set by the locators,” she said. The ICT Cluster planning session, Holganza added, was actually a “move towards creating a sound and doable plan especially that all sectors are represented, from the academe to government agencies to business organizations.” Holganza cited the world class facilities and highly-competent workforce of Davao as its competitive advantages in order to lure ICT locators. “We are proud to say that we are making our manpower employment-ready,” she said. She stressed on the important attributes of the city as it bids to become the ‘ICT Hub of the South’, such as: it was declared as an IT Hub in the Philippines by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) per Memorandum No. 05-05-200; it gained high marks (82 out of 90 points) from the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) being an attractive ICT investment location; and it was proclaimed ‘Most Competitive City in the Philippines for 2007 (Urban Category), with the lowest cost of doing business based on the competitiveness survey conducted by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). “These are just few of the many reasons why Davao is the best investment destination, not just for ICT but also for other investments,” Holganza emphasized.

Mindanao Times (http://www.mindanaotimes.com.ph/story.php?id=22433)

icarusrising

October 28th, 2008, 10:57 AM

BPO sector still upbeat despite global downturn (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/129779/BPO-sector-still-upbeat-despite-global-downturn)
10/28/2008 | 07:06 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The local business process outsourcing (BPO) expects to benefit from a recession in the United States as companies there seek to cut costs by transferring functions overseas.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), in a briefing, said revenues could surpass targets next year because of this development.

This year’s goal of 35-40% growth in revenues to $7 billion remains on track, officials said, even as a global crisis rages.

"We are part of the solution, not part of the problem," BPAP Chief Executive Officer Oscar R. Sañez said in an interview.

The group’s Roadmap 2010, which it launched late last year, targets annual growth of 40% with revenues hitting $12 billion in 2010 and a workforce of close to a million people, from less than $5 billion in revenues and 300,000 employees last year.

Revenues for 2009 were projected to grow to around $9.6 billion "but we may pass it," Mr. Sañez said.

By 2010, outsourcing is expected to grow to a $130-billion global industry. The BPAP expects to service around 10% of this market by that time, with the Philippines as the world’s second largest outsourcing destination next to India.

"This is an industry that is bringing good news to the Philippines as a destination for [foreign] investments," Mr. Sañez said.

Canadian research firm XMG, Inc. recently slashed its growth outlook for the global outsourcing sector to 24.2% from 34.7% annually until 2010 as a result of the global economic slowdown. The growth projection for the Philippines’ BPO industry was also downsized to 25.6% from 31.2% .

"[However], there is still room for growth on the offshoring and outsourcing industry in the Philippines especially that the demand for English-speaking talents still remains strong and with the technology services sector focusing on improved service delivery quality despite its reduction in spending as a result of the financial crunch," XMG analyst Diana B. Cortes said in an e-mail.

Mr. Sañez, meanwhile, said that while added contracts for high-end research and development services from US companies could slow as a result of the crisis, this would be made up for by firms outsourcing more operational services like accounting and back-office tasks.

"A lot of our operations here are, well, operational ... we cannot stop this," he said, saying that most services outsourced to the Philippines are services companies cannot do without.

The BPAP is also intensifying efforts to market the Philippines to "alternative markets" outside of the US. As much as 90% of BPO clients in the country are based in the States.

In a statement, the group said "BPAP will head a Philippine delegation next month to the National Outsourcing Association summit ... in London" to market the Philippines to Europe, which the group said could be a market the same size as the US. - BusinessWorld

icarusrising

October 28th, 2008, 02:44 PM

Call centers draw science, technical graduates (http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Nation&p=49&type=2&sec=28)
By Rudy A. Fernandez
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – Call centers have become big employers even for graduates in science or technical courses.

For want of employment, these graduates find work in these support service entities. However, they move on when the jobs suited to their fields of specialization come along.

This was attested by a study titled “The Theory of Expectancy in the Analysis of Placement of 2000 and 2005 BSA Graduates of UP Los Baños” done by Haydee Lasco, who earned her doctorate in Agricultural Education from the University of the Philippines Los Baños in school year 2007-2008.

Lasco’s respondents were 219 Bachelor of Science in Agriculture graduates at UPLB from 2000 to 2005.

The study is aimed primarily to determine the trend of manpower placement of 2000 to 2005 UPLB-BSA graduates. The latest study on BSA placements was conducted in 1986.

“Findings from this study can be the basis for the formulation of policies and changes that will make the agriculture sector more responsive to the social and economic challenges in the country,” the researcher said.

Of Lasco’s respondents, 45 percent were employed in agricultural jobs, 41 percent in non-agricultural jobs, and 14 percent were unemployed.

The graduates’ major employers were the private sector (77 percent), while only 10 percent were working for the government. The average waiting time for a BSA graduate to get employed was 9.2 months.

In terms of employers, 28 percent of the graduates were employed in manufacturing and production companies, 18 percent in support services (particularly call centers), 17 percent in research and development, 10 percent each in government offices and local government units (LGUs) and marketing and sales offices, nine percent in educational institutions, and four percent in both technical services. Others have become self-employed.

Lasco averred that with the number of graduates that landed in managerial, sales, and call center jobs, it can be inferred that UPLB has provided its graduates with excellent communication skills. Nonetheless, the findings underscore the necessity of strengthening communication skills in the BSA curriculum.

Asked why they pursued non-agricultural jobs, some of the respondents cited good compensation as the primary reason, followed by the need to have a job.

As one respondent stated: “There are very few jobs in agriculture and even if there are, they would require experience which I, as a new graduate, certainly don’t have.”

Lasco noted that 38 percent of the respondents were highly satisfied in their current jobs. “Nonetheless, the study also indicated that 67 percent would like to leave their present jobs” for career advancement, desire to have agriculture-related jobs, and to work abroad.

pomperadz@yahoo.com

October 29th, 2008, 09:48 AM

In Bacolod City.....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/2966358463_60ae150d5e.jpg?v=0
SUV111 photo

:dance2::dance2::dance2::dance2::dance2::dance2::dance2::tiasd:

hay..convergys gd..nagabarakang gid.

Christendom

October 29th, 2008, 02:02 PM

Bacolod/Negros Occidental IT's / BPO's Center:

• Call Centers
1) Teletech – Robinson’s Cybergate Center, Araneta St, Bacolod
2) TelePerformance – Luxur Place Hotel, Magsaysay St, Bacolod
3) Convergys – One Sanparq Square IT Park, Lacson St, Bacolod
4) Focus Communication – Monfort Building, Lacson St, Bacolod
5) Alliance Call Center – Metropolis Towers, Lacson St, Bacolod
6) F.I.D.M.I. – East Block IT Park, Circumferential Rd, Bacolod
7) Call Out Solutions – Bacolod
8) First Call Resources – Bacolod
9) Intervoice Technology – East Block IT Park, Circumferential Rd, Bacolod
10) Excel Asia – Lopue’s Mandalagan Annex, Lacson St, Bacolod
11) Lone Star Global IT Solutions – Lopue’s East Center, Burgos St, Bacolod
12) BizTalk - Bacolod
13) Elektronz Call Centre – Talisay City
14) H.U.B. – Kabankalan City

- (Coming Soon)
1) PeopleSupport - Triangle Island Mall, Shopping Center, Bacolod
2) Masterpiece Group Inc - Silay City
3) Eventus-PLDT - Bacolod
4) Unknown Ayala owned PBO - Bacolod
5) Unknown BPO in San Carlos City

• IT Parks & Buildings:
1) East Block IT Park – East Commercial Center, Villamonte, Bacolod
2) Bacolod IT Park – Estefania, Bacolod
3) Robinsons Cybergate Center – Araneta St, Singcang, Bacolod
4) Luxor Place IT Building – Magsaysay St, Bacolod
5) Monfort IT Building – STI College, Lacson St, Bacolod
6) Lopue’s East Center IT Building – East Commercial Center, Villamonte, Bacolod

- (Coming Soon)
1) Sanparq IT Park – Lacson St, Bacolod
2) Lopue’s San Sebastian IT Building – Cor. Araneta-San Sebastian Sts, Bacolod
3) De La Rama Center – Luzurriaga St, Bacolod

*kindly update guys

^^ang sa Silay City pa proposed by the Japanese investors

Oh yeah!!! zyanz missed it :) hehehhehehe

Masterpiece is not for Silay? just edit lang and roll it if you some corrections...thanks

dinabaw

October 30th, 2008, 05:10 AM

Labor supply woes could stall Davao’s tech rise

DAVAO CITY — Excitement in this city’s information and communications technology sector could wane within the next five years due to brain drain.

Edwin V. Maranon, internal vice-president of the Information and Communications Technology Davao Inc., said the city has been losing its professionals to companies based in Manila and Cebu, and even abroad.

Only two out of 10 graduates of city-based schools who find employment stay in the city, said Mr. Maranon who is also head of the Ateneo de Davao University Computer Studies Division. This is because investments in the industry were not directed at core services like software development, but only on industry-related activities such as call centers and other outsourcing investments.

Most business process outsourcing companies setting up in the city require only a few professionals to run their computer systems as the bulk of their human resources requirements fill up vacancies that do not require technological skills but English proficiency.

Although some companies offer core services, these companies can only absorb a limited number of graduates.

"Sadly, we have a very thin information and communications technology industry at present," he said, although he hastened to add that the latest developments in the industry seem to have indicated a better future.

Mr. Maranon said that based on studies, the city would be the next hub for information technology businesses.

Industry consultant Erriberto P. Barriga, Jr., president of Gibbex Outsourcing Solutions Inc., said several companies have started considering locating in the city after noting that property developers addressed their needs.

At present, Mr. Barriga said, several companies, including foreign ones, have asked him to find areas where they could operate. Although most of the companies are into contact center operations, he said some offer core services to clients abroad. — Carmelito Q. Francisco

Business World (http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=102808f)

Wadaboy

October 30th, 2008, 06:16 AM

dinabaw

October 30th, 2008, 07:51 AM

Business Article
City continues to position as ICT hub of the South
Published : 2008-10-28

DAVAO City has the key parameters in positioning itself as the ICT hub of the South. Lizabel “Wit” Holganza, president of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Davao, Inc., said the synergy among the stakeholders is one vital factor that will further boost the region’s ICT industry. Holganza, who also sits as the chairperson of the ICT Industry Cluster of Davao Region, added that with this solid tie between public and private sectors, the strengths of the region as a business hub will be strengthened further. “We can’t deny the fact that the isolated conflicts in Mindanao are a threat to our competitiveness. We are now faced with a challenge, the challenge to convince investors that indeed Davao is the best potential business location,” she said. Holganza said that with the help of the trainings conducted by the Davao Industry Cluster Capacity Enhancement Project (DICCEP), the strengths of the city as well as the other potential ICT destinations in the region are being harped on. “In this particular training (conducted last September 12 at the Apo View Hotel), for instance, different government agencies and private organizations are gathered together. I think this is a positive sign that the stakeholders are keen on responding to the requirements set by the locators,” she said. The ICT Cluster planning session, Holganza added, was actually a “move towards creating a sound and doable plan especially that all sectors are represented, from the academe to government agencies to business organizations.” Holganza cited the world class facilities and highly-competent workforce of Davao as its competitive advantages in order to lure ICT locators. “We are proud to say that we are making our manpower employment-ready,” she said. She stressed on the important attributes of the city as it bids to become the ‘ICT Hub of the South’, such as: it was declared as an IT Hub in the Philippines by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) per Memorandum No. 05-05-200; it gained high marks (82 out of 90 points) from the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) being an attractive ICT investment location; and it was proclaimed ‘Most Competitive City in the Philippines for 2007 (Urban Category), with the lowest cost of doing business based on the competitiveness survey conducted by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM). “These are just few of the many reasons why Davao is the best investment destination, not just for ICT but also for other investments,” Holganza emphasized.

Mindanao Times (http://www.mindanaotimes.com.ph/story.php?id=22433)

icarusrising

October 30th, 2008, 11:12 AM

Davao university churns out own IT software, saves dollars (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1232:davao-university-churns-out-own-it-software-saves-dollars&catid=33:economy)
Economy
Written by Manuel T. Cayon / Reporter
WEDNESDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2008 23:50
DAVAO CITY—A religious-ran university here has been saving dollars and improving its operations through the ingenuity of its Filipino information-technology (IT) experts who developed their own software and saved thousands of dollars for the institution.

The University (UIC) of the Immaculate Concepcion has been reaping dividends on the talents of its IT’s Management Information Systems (MIS) department, whose director himself, Rolly Tayabas, has developed two of the university’s systems software of the three separate campus of the UIC.

He was also set to develop another software to replace the existing software used to manage the records of the UIC human resource and the payroll.

“All the operations of the university have been computerized, from cashiering and finance-recording to issuing bar-coded identification cards and library stockpiling, facilitating transactions and “allowing even parents to check on whether their children really paid the money they gave for tuition,” Tayabas said.

Tayabas said the university formerly depended on the Blackboard software, an electronic learning (e-learning) tool that allows students to access online books and journals, engage in discussion forum in the class and link all computers and offices of the Bankerohan campus, the Bonifacio and JP Laurel Avenue campus.

The Blackboard software was acquired at $7,000 until 2006 when Tayabas developed his own e-Learning management system, which remained in use today extensively by the departments of the IT, pharmacy and the graduate school.

The e-Learning tool was being used to supplement the classroom instruction—for researches and online teaching—and not to replace the subjects in their classroom or in-campus milieu.

Tayabas has also developed another software, the LW3, for less work, less walk, less worry, and was intended for student registration and cashiering of student accounts.

These software were all Internet-based and thus, would allow students and faculty of the university, including the parents of the students to check on the accounts, grades and tuition of their children.

The computerization of UIC started in 1993 as a computer center and by year 2000, it has occupied the second floor of the left wing of the main building at the Bankerohan campus and was renamed later as the MIS. This main campus was the nerve center of the online connection for the three campuses with a population of 5,000 students.

Tayabas said his department has already requested, and got a favorable reply, a P2-million groundlaying installation of a fiber-optics system to make faster connection and save further on its interconnection charges with one of the major telecommunication companies.

The UIC was paying the telecommunications company P150,000 every month in connection and Internet charges.

He could not ascertain if the UIC was ahead of the rest of the other universities on computerizing its operations but he said its e-Learning tool was the first among the universities in the city.

It also boasts of an electronically linked library, with half-a-million-peso subscription to more than 37,000 titles, aside from electronic operations inside the library. “A student only has to go to an electronic machine to read the bar code of his ID and the bar code of the books he would borrow.”

Biometrics was also being used in the daily time records of the teachers and the nonteaching personnel but students use their IDs to be allowed entry. “The ID is good for the entire duration of the student’s stay in the campus until he or she graduates.”

kronology

October 30th, 2008, 01:30 PM

boynegro$

October 30th, 2008, 04:14 PM

^^ abi ko Japanese nga call center na ang sa Silay?

dinabaw

October 30th, 2008, 04:25 PM

PIA Press Release
2008/10/30

Feature: IT tools aid schools, students and parents

by Prix D Banzon

Davao City (30 October) -- With the information technology applied in schools, students are guided on their academic requirements and parents too have ways to validate the progress of their children in school.

Management Information System director Rolly L. Tayabas of the University of the Immaculate Conception said both students and parents are provided with access to check them online.

He said for the library requirements of students they can make use of the eLibrary where the school pays an annual fee of P500, 000 to eBooks/ProQuest where the students can access 37,000 titles of books and can also view the whole book and print them as well.

ProQuest has agreements with more than 9,000 publishers worldwide where it provides access to information from periodicals, newspapers, multimedia and image collections, out-of-print books, dissertations, and scholarly collections in various formats. Its ever-changing archives include more than 5.5 billion pages of information, spanning 500 years of scholarship, in formats that range from print to microform to digital.

The library he said is equipped with 65 computer units and are connected online. The students are given 10 hours free use of the internet which they pay upon enrollment for P280 even as he said that they can extend usage for a certain fee.

He said with the automation in school the UIC three campuses have about 600 units for the use both for the offices and the students in classrooms, laboratories and libraries.

With the eLearning Software that they had developed he said the teacher and student can interact online through a discussion forum.

The instructors he said upload their course material as guide to students. He said these are online supplements for further discussion online.

Prior to their development of the software, Tayabas said they pay subscription of the software through a US company of $7,000 annually.

The eLearning are focused on courses like Pharmacy, Information Technology, Computer Science and Graduate School.

But he said all these services can only be accessed by the students in campus.

Meanwhile he said parents can also check the progress of students because grades can be checked online.

He also said that they can check the balance of their financial record because these are all posted online.

"The school automation services are not only for the school authorities and students but the parents as well," he said. (PIA) [top]

PIA News (http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p081030.htm&no=88&r=R11&y=08&mo=10)

Ic3

October 30th, 2008, 05:34 PM

If there are investments pouring in why would there be a brain drain?
When jobs are just within you there wont be any reason to go somewhere.

i think its because of the salary. salary here is lower compard to cebu and manila.

...

Only two out of 10 graduates of city-based schools who find employment stay in the city, said Mr. Maranon who is also head of the Ateneo de Davao University Computer Studies Division. This is because investments in the industry were not directed at core services like software development, but only on industry-related activities such as call centers and other outsourcing investments.

Most business process outsourcing companies setting up in the city require only a few professionals to run their computer systems as the bulk of their human resources requirements fill up vacancies that do not require technological skills but English proficiency.
...

This is really the problem. If you are a graduate of an IT course and you wish to find work related to this field, you'll have difficulties looking for one because of the limited number of job openings from companies that are into software development here. There are only a few slots to fill in for these technical people. So the option for most of these graduates is to look for opportunities outside the city, like in Manila, Cebu or abroad.

Ic3

October 30th, 2008, 05:44 PM

junax

October 30th, 2008, 05:54 PM

This is really the problem. If you are a graduate of an IT course and you wish to find work related to this field, you'll have difficulties looking for one because of the limited number of job openings from companies that are into software development here. There are only a few slots to fill in for these technical people. So the option for most of these graduates is to look for opportunities outside the city, like in Manila, Cebu or abroad.

if these grads really got talent and skills, they should try freelancing rather than getting employed. davao's market is huge. so many talented IT peeps but only few were entrepreneurs. many were exploited and confined in offices developing office applications and getting meager salaries. little they know that those simple applications they created cost much more in the freelance market.

Ic3

October 30th, 2008, 06:27 PM

You've got a point bai Junax. That is why schools like UIC have subjects in technopreneurship. If these graduates are really up to it, they could also start their businesses with the help of IT the incubator in Brokenshire, or just do it by themselves.

bartstrife99

October 31st, 2008, 05:04 PM

RP's BPOs optimistic about US elections

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:45:00 10/31/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- With less than four days before the next US elections the Philippines' business process outsourcing (BPO) companies are preparing to welcome the next US president.

The multi-billion dollar industry is also expecting a stable transition from the administration of George W. Bush, with nary a change in direction for US firms that are being served by the country's BPO providers.

"We don't foresee any major changes or outcome from the US elections. In fact, we're confident that the US will continue to do offshore outsourcing especially with the recent economic crisis," according to Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) Chief Executive Officer Oscar Sañez.

Speaking to INQUIRER.net, Sañez said there could only be "minor" policy changes regarding offshore outsourcing from the US if Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama wins.

Sañez noted that Obama made a promise that he will provide tax incentives to US firms who will keep jobs within the country.

Nevertheless, Sañez said increasing operational requirements of US firms, especially those that are already being served by outsource providers, will ensure continued business for the providers.

"For the short term there could be effects but we believe that the next US president will want to make sure that US industry to be strong and he will support any decision to make it so, whether to offshore or not. Even if he is going to give tax breaks for firms to keep jobs in the US, it won't be too big to offset operations for offshoring," Sañez said.

Meanwhile, Sañez said Republican candidate John McCain "is more liberal" and supports trade liberalization, which appeals to a status quo in company operations.

But Sañez is quick to point out the BPO industy is not putting all their support on neither candidate. The analysis comes from the statements made by both Obama and McCain during their campaigns.

The Philippines' BPO industry has an average yearly growth rate of 45 percent. It is already worth US$4.9 billion in revenues in 2007 and is expected to grow to US$6.8 billion dollars by the end of the year.

About 82 percent of services provided by BPOs here are delivered to US firms.

The industry has also among the highest recruitments for Filipino workers. So far, there are 300,000 employed workers in BPOs and call centers. It recruits nearly 150,000 per
year.

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

Headstrong eyes 2,000 workers in RP

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 09:48:00 10/31/2008

MANILA, Philippines – Information technology services firm Headstrong is expanding its workforce in the country despite the ongoing crisis in the US financial markets.

The Washington, D.C.-based company provides specialized services from out of the Philippines catering to the financial services industries.

Nora Terrado, Headstrong Philippines country manager, said the company plans to hire at least 150 fresh graduates in the next six months. Headstrong currently employs more than 600 workers in its Makati City office.

In an earlier interview, Terrado announced a company plan, dubbed Headstrong 2.0, meant to boost its capabilities against bigger competitors like Accenture and IBM, which also have delivery sites in the Philippines.

Headstrong still plans to ramp up its global workforce to 10,000 by 2011.

Locally, Terrado said the goal is to reach 2,000 workers

"We want to give employment opportunities to fresh graduates who are well-equipped to meet demands of this industry," Terrado said.

Nearly 400,000 people graduate college and join the employment pool every year, and ten percent of these finish IT-related courses. .

The software services sector, under the umbrella business process outsourcing or BPO industry, employs around 30,000 IT professionals, according to Headstrong.

ritche

November 3rd, 2008, 03:20 PM

http://img489.imageshack.us/img489/2537/picture0047ru.jpg

iloilocitykid

November 3rd, 2008, 03:23 PM

diehardbisdak

November 3rd, 2008, 06:35 PM

pic by @rau
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3222/2991250715_d545528eb1.jpg?v=0

RLC ushers in Cybergate for growing BPO market
The Freeman Online
Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Taking advantage of the rapidly expanding BPO and call center firms in the region, Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC), the real estate development arm of the Gokongwei Group is scheduled to deliver its Robinsons Cybergate here in Cebu on the third quarter of next year.

Due to lower operational costs, larger manpower pool and lower employee turnover rates, most firms and locators are encouraged to undertake pioneering efforts in the regions, which include Cebu.

And Robinsons Cybergate is one of the answers of RLC to this growing demand of office spaces and IT-related facilities here in the city.

Hermosilla Irizari, Group Property Manager for Cebu of the Robinsons Land Corp.’s Commercial Centers Division said that the concept of the Robinsons Cybergate is an IT building cum retail facility.

It will be a seven story modern building that will house IT-related office spaces and a commercial area that will offer a different concept of retail from the Robinsons Place Cebu nearby.

Irizari said that despite its proximity to the existing mall, the Robinsons Cybergate will not directly compete with their mall as it will offer a different concept as it will be another mixed-use BPO project inside a mall.

The first two levels of the building will offer an upscale retail experience with 2,000 square meters of leasable spaces eyed for a combination of both local and Manila-based tenants.

These tenants are also eyed to support the needs of BPO personnel working in the five floors of the building who will be working late at night or early in the morning.

“Robinsons Cybergate will definitely target a different market than our existing mall because it is intended for the higher end market segments,” she said.

Among commercial tenants that they are eyeing for Robinsons Cybergate include a coffee shop, convenient store, gadgets and cell phone peripheral outlet, fitness center, beauty saloon and spa, sports shops and hobby shops and a pharmacy.

Currently, RLC is receiving letter of intents for their available retail spaces but have not yet awarded to any tenant yet as they are still sorting these proposals out.

Irizari said that around January next year they will already award the spaces to its respective tenants both for their IT facility and commercial leasable spaces.

The construction of the project started April of this year and as of the moment construction is already around 40 percent.

The project is scheduled to be completed by August of next year and will be opened by November (2009).

Irizari said that in terms of potential, the Robinsons Cybergate has a lot to offer because the area is located nearby hospitals, banks, and other office spaces so there is a huge market.

“The Robinsons Cybergate will become a hub for business and lifestyle and since we are surrounded by hospitals we can easily attract doctors and other high income markets. There will be no duplication of tenants from the mall because it will have its own niche market,” she said.

The Robinsons Cybergate sits on a 4, 772 square meters of lot in front of Chong Hua Hospital near the Fuente Osmeña Rotunda and RLC has allocated around P536 million for this particular project.

“Our location is very good and it will surely draw people because it’s very accessible and nearby one of Cebu’s distinct landmarks,” she added further.— Rhia de Pablo

jhunix

November 3rd, 2008, 08:48 PM

Davao, Cagayan de Oro among best BPO locations (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/11/03/08/davao-cagayan-de-oro-among-best-bpo-locations)

By Jesus F. Llanto, abs-cbnNEWS.com, Newsbreak | 11/03/2008 5:58 PM

Despite the negative perception of Mindanao, two of its major cities are cited as among the best business process outsourcing (BPO) locations outside Metro Manila and Cebu.

Davao City and Cagayan de Oro City were cited as among the 10 next-wave cities for outsourcing by the BPO scorecard of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Davao was at the fourth place—with a score of 80 percent out of 100—behind Metro Laguna (88%), Metro Cavite (85%) and Iloilo (81%).but ahead of Bacolod City (78%), Angeles-Clark-Mabalacat cluster in Pampanga (77%) and Baliuag-Marilao-Meycauayan cluster in Bulacan (74%).

Cagayan de Oro landed on the 8th spot with a score of 73%. Its score is the same as the scores of Malolos-Calumpit cluster in Bulacan and Lipa City in Batangas.

The BPO scorecard was computed using the following criteria: availability of talent (50%), infrastructure (30%), cost (5%) and business environment (15%).

Oscar Sanez said that they were happy that the two cities in Mindanao made it to the list. “Mindanao cities have a lot more to overcome than other cities in the country.”

CICT Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III said that the negative perception of Mindanao region and the travel advisories issued by embassies have affected the ranking of Davao, “Mindanao has been fairly affected by the perception.”

“It is a challenge to build awareness and to get people to the region,” Chua said.

Davao got a score of 60% for the business environment criterion, which took into account risk factors. Cagayan de Oro, meanwhile, received a 68%.

Davao, however, got higher scores in other criteria: 78% for talent, 95% for infrastructure, and 80% for cost while Cagayan de Oro received 63% for talent, 91% for infrastructure, and 87% for cost.

Meanwhile, CICT Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim said that local chief executives in Mindanao knew that the negative perception is a challenge and they are active in promoting their locations to investors.

An inventory of the BPAP showed that Mindanao only accounts for 1.2 percent of the workers in the BPO industry—0.9 percent from the Davao Region and 0.3 percent in Northern Mindanao.

“Davao City and Cagayan de Oro are the main BPO hubs in Mindanao,” said Gigi Virata, BPAP executive director for information and research, in a previous interview. She added that General Santos City is also an emerging BPO location in the Mindanao.

Local chief executives of other Mindanao cities like Dipolog and Zamboanga are also hoping that they can attract investments from the BPO sector but the volatile peace situation in some areas of the island has scared away potential investors.

The BPO industry is considered as one of the sunshine industries of the country. As of last year, the BPO sector employed around 300,000 workers and generated US$4.8 billion revenue.

:):):)

SUV111

November 4th, 2008, 06:44 AM

hello Bacolod

good news!!

‘Next wave’ outsourcing centers cited

POTENTIAL PLAYERS in the local business process outsourcing (BPO) industry are advised to consider investing in Laguna and Cavite, two of the top 10 "next wave" BPO destinations that offer the most potential to support the growing industry
In a briefing, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) and the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) announced the latest top 10 "next wave cities" for BPO development.

"These are high potential areas with hardly any BPO presence at all," BPA/P Chief Executive Officer Oscar R. Sañez told reporters in a briefing yesterday.

So-called "next wave cities" are areas around the country outside Metro Manila and Metro Cebu which offer the best potential to support the growing BPO sector. The 30 cities considered for the list were scored on talent (50%), infrastructure (30%) business environment (15%) and cost of doing business (5%).

Topping the list was the Metro Laguna, which includes Santa Rosa and Calamba areas. This was followed by Metro Cavite area, which included Bacoor, Imus and Dasmariñas areas. Both areas were in the list primarily due to their large talent pools as a result of the presence of several colleges and universities within the area. Completing the list in the order they were ranked are Iloilo, Davao, Bacolod, Angeles-Clark-Mabalacat, Baliuag-Marilao-Meycauayan, Cagayan de Oro, Malolos-Calumpit and Lipa.

Only the top two, Cavite and Laguna, scored high in the "talent" criteria, while Bacolod scored highest in the "business environment" criteria. The rest scored highest in terms of infrastructure. Both Laguna and Cavite produce around 10,000 college graduates — all potential BPO employees — every year. Graduates from the other cities were just around half this number.

"These cities are an important ingredient in the Roadmap 2010 initiative," Mr. Sañez said.

Late last year, the industry group launched its Roadmap 2010, which projects the industry to grow to 900,000 to a million employees by 2010, from 300,000 in 2007. Export revenues are also expected to grow to $12 billion by 2010 from under $7 billion by yearend.

However, he said 80% of the country’s outsourcing industry is still in Metro Manila. "There is tremendous pressure on Metro Manilain terms of manpower supply," Bureau of Investments Executive Director of Investment Promotions Celeste B. Ilagan said.

She said expanding the industry in Metro Manila further may result in higher salaries and rent that will turn off investors.

"It is the quality of talent that drives [companies] to explore investment opportunities in the Philippines," she said.

However, if the cost of outsourcing services get too high, it may defeat the purpose of outsourcing in the first place, she said.

BPA/P said it would rank the next wave cities every year, as well as come out with a list of the cities that have the potential to specialize in certain kinds of outsourced services like engineering and software design tasks, as opposed to the normal call center and customer service operations.

The local outsourcing industry is targeting to grow its market share to 10% of the global outsourcing market, which is expected to grow to be worth $130 billion by 2010. The Philippines currently corners 9% of the global outsourcing market — a far second to the worldwide leader India, which has around half of the global market.
^^

dinabaw

November 4th, 2008, 04:41 PM

Five BPO operators to locate in Davao City

by Prix D Banzon

Davao City (5 November) -- Five Business Process Outsourcing operators are expected to locate in Davao City by the first quarter of 2009.

Bert Barriga, vice president of the ICT Davao during the Davao Business Forum held at SM's MediSpa said these five prospective locators are undergoing negotiations and one of them, the Admerex of Australia is expected to come within this week to assess the shortlisted properties that they are eyeing to locate for their operation.

"It has two properties to choose from and hopefully they would come up with a decision from among the shortlisted areas," he said.

He said top officials of Admerex are flying in anytime.

Admerex already has located in Manila and it will be their first expansion in the Philippines if they pursue their Davao project with an initial 200 seats, he said.

The HCL of India, he said is also doing some negotiations here but is also considering locating in Cebu City and they want to come in when there are already lots of locators.

Barriga said negotiations of these two BPOs are ongoing but they are optimistic they would locate here.

The other three BPOs comprises two call centers from the US and India and an animation school from Canada, Barriga said.

Once these five BPOs push through next year, Davao City will have a total of 10 big call centers and one animation school.

Barriga meanwhile said that Davao City has 12 available properties ideal for BPO operations.

With the cheaper cost of doing business here they are hopeful that more BPOs are coming in. Rental of spaces would range from P200 to P300 per sq. m compared to Manila where the rate is at P600 per sq. m. or even higher.

He said they consider the current financial crisis as an opportunity considering that standard of living here is good and yet affordable and BPO would come in if there are existing support services. (PIA)

tj_brewed

November 4th, 2008, 06:07 PM

Davao City to convert old airport terminal into a BPO facility
Business World Online (http://www.bworldonline.com/BW110508/content.php?id=055)
Wednesday, November 5, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

DAVAO CITY — Local officials here have agreed to develop and promote the old Davao City airport terminal in Sasa district, 10 kilometers from downtown, into a business process outsourcing (BPO) facility.

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/3316/old20davao20airport20byes8.jpg

Councilor Peter T. Lavina, chairman of the committee on commerce and trade, said the original proposal to develop the old airport terminal into a cargo hub was dropped since it would require additional investment from the Civil Aviation Authority, which owns the property, and since existing cargo facilities at the new Davao International Airport remain underutilized.

"What remained of the old airport was just a shell and that’s all the BPO locators need; they will just refurbish the structure," he said. "The old airport has been idle for the past four years now and is deteriorating."

There were originally six to seven proposals for the old Davao airport, including a BPO center, an aviation school, a cargo logistics and trade center.

During the 8th Davao City Business Conference last July, the Davao business chamber presented Vice-Mayor Sara Z. Duterte a resolution to convince national officials to develop the old airport into a cargo and trade center. In the presentation of its resolution, Davao chamber president Simeon P. Marfori II had said the facility will remain an unused asset unless the government will set aside funding to develop it.

Bert P. Barriga, Jr., vice-president of the Davao ICT Council, projected a potential income of P70 million in five years once a call center locates at the old airport terminal with rent of just P250 per square meter, or about 40% of a regular rent in Manila. He said the whole property could reach about 60,000 square meters.

"The area is near residential subdivisions and our initial assessment is the area could provide an opportunity for local businesses to thrive because BPO requires support services like food stalls and entertainment," he said. — Joel B. Escovilla

Christendom

November 5th, 2008, 11:06 AM

November 05, 2008
ICT exhibition in Bacolod next month (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/bac/2008/11/05/life/ict.exhibition.in.bacolod.next.month.html)

THE Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for ICT (Bnefit) Inc. will be staging a province-wide ICT exposition featuring competitions in web page Olympics, Power Point presentations, inter-collegiate technology quiz, and software development competitions on December 16-18, 2008 at Robinsons Place Bacolod.

During the event, stakeholders will once again gather to renew their commitment aim to establish and institutionalize a strong network and various linkages with all academic, formal and non-formal, technical and vocational training institutions in Bacolod and Negros Occidental in order to formulate, consolidate and implements strategies and programs that will address the challenges and gaps identified in the ICT sector.

Bnefit also aims to develop a comprehensive plan on a provincial basis in order to yield a more accurate picture of the workforce and a rationalized program of infrastructure and human resource build-up based on strengths; encourage synergy among the sectors involved in developing government support, business environment and talent development, in order to avoid duplication of efforts; minimize competition among local government units, and maximize resources to better prepare the province and the region to become competitive globally.

Meanwhile, Bacolod City Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chairman of the committee on communications and energy, has been invited to talk about the experiences of Bacolod's information and communications technology (ICT) investment promotion during the 1st ICT councils/foundations/organizations summit on November 25-26 in Iligan City.

The Iligan City government, in coordination with the Iligan Information and Communications Technology Council, is organizing the summit to bring together the organized ICT councils, foundations and organizations and all ICT stakeholders and players who are concerned in the development of ICT in the country.

Individual or group that has big impact in their respective local ICT industry envisions this event to serve as an opportunity to share various ICT initiatives. Sigue is also the chairman of Bnefit.

The summit's theme will be "Advancing Philippine BPO-IT Competitiveness: Networking of Local ICT Players for the National Effort.''

The organizers believed that the action plans to be formulated during the conference will contribute directly to the unified vision of the government in providing investment and employment for the people.

"Bacolod and Bnefit are proud to be part of a nationwide movement in promoting this vision which will redound to the development of our country in general," Sigue said.

"Bnefit, as part of its objectives, aims to assist local government units and the national government especially in designing programs that will complement the educational system and integrate ICT therein to produce a more competent and job-ready workforce," he added.

For inquiries regarding the ICT exposition, please call 433-9011 local 220 and look for Jude Guisihan or Elvin Apuhin.

SUV111

November 5th, 2008, 11:15 AM

^^ this is cool

dinabaw

November 6th, 2008, 04:38 AM

^^

Thursday, November 06, 2008
BPO site to earn P70 million

A PROJECTION of P70 million is expected to be generated within five years should the old Sasa Airport will be converted to a BPO site, an officer of the ICT Davao Inc. revealed.

Bert Barriga, vice-president of the ICT Davao Inc., told business reporters during Tuesday's edition of the Business Forum at the Medispa at SM City Davao, that the projected revenue to be generated was based on the leasable areas of the old Sasa Airport.

What's your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers

"The floor area of the old airport is almost 60,000 square meters, it does not yet include the whole compound," Barriga said.

Barriga was the one who proposed to the City Council that a BPO site will also be potential for the utilization of the old Sasa Airport.

"The place is indeed far, but it is private," he said.

Barriga further said that if the proposal will pass the assessment and the evaluation by the Civil Aviation Board (CAB), the existing infrastructures inside the airport really need to be refurbished.

"We should not only develop the human resources for the BPO industry, but we should also work for the infrastructures," he said.

Earlier, Barriga claimed that the development of the BPO industry in Davao City relies on the availability of supply and quality graduates that the city will produce.

"The kind of graduates the schools and universities are producing should be monitored through accreditation and certification. With this, students are assessed effectively," he said.

Barriga also claimed that there's still a mismatch on the quality of graduates and on the kind of human resources the industry requires.

But Barriga was quick to add that the academe is slowly realizing the need of the industry today, saying that some universities in the city have already adopted the Technopreneurship Program of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (DCCCII), which aims to develop students' productivity. (JGRS)

Sun-Star (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2008/11/06/bus/bpo.site.to.earn.p70.million.html)

dinabaw

November 6th, 2008, 04:39 AM

Thursday, November 06, 2008
BPO info network available soon

A NETWORK, which will provide all the necessary information about the BPO industry in Davao Region, will soon be available to everyone.

This was bared by Bert Barriga, vice-president of the ICT Davao Inc., saying the network will be dubbed as the Davao Region Geographic Information Network. Its Phase 1 is targeted to be completed when the year ends.

"We're evaluating the people who will be initiating the works for the Phase 1; it will just involve a flat data, a simple website which anyone can log on. The Phase 2 is quite difficult, it will involve geographic references," Barriga said.

He added that they will be requesting some consultants to assist people for the initial works for the Phase 1 of the system.

Barriga also claimed that there are different sources to fund for the completion of the program.

The program was proposed during the Regional Development Council's (RDC) Meeting, which was recently held in Compostela Valley.

Barriga, who has attended the meeting, said the initial funds will be coming from the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) in Southern Mindanao.

The ICT industry is included as one of the private sector representatives to the RDC-Southern Mindanao.

Barriga added that some politicians in the region have also expressed willingness to provide funds for the completion of the program's Phase 2.

He, however, failed to reveal as to how much is needed for the completion of the two phases of the program. (JGRS)

Sun-Star (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2008/11/06/bus/bpo.info.network.available.soon.html)

lightsaber46

November 7th, 2008, 02:53 AM

http://positivenewsmedia.net/am2/publish/Business_19/New_foreign_BPO_operators_to_locate_in_Davao_City_in_2009.shtml

New foreign BPO operators to locate in Davao City in 2009

DAVAO CITY, Nov. 7 (PNA) -– About five foreign Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operators are expected to locate in Davao City by the first quarter of 2009.

Bert Barriga, vice president of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Davao said five prospective locators are finalizing negotiations with the city government.

“In fact, one of them, the Admerex of Australia is expected to come within this week to assess the shortlisted properties that they are eyeing. It has two properties to choose from and hopefully they would come up with a decision from among the shortlisted areas," he said.

He said top officials of Admerex are flying in anytime, including its Chief Executive Officer and some Senior Officials.

Admerex already has located in Manila and it will be their first expansion in the Philippines if they pursue their Davao project with an initial 200 seats, he said.

The HCL of India, he said, is also doing some negotiations here but is also considers locating in Cebu City and they want to come in when there are already lots of locators.

Barriga said negotiations of these two BPOs are ongoing but they are optimistic they would locate here.

The other three BPOs comprise two call centers from the US and India and an animation school from Canada, Barriga said.

Once these five BPOs push through next year, Davao City will have a total of 10 big call centers and one animation school.

Meanwhile, Barriga said Davao City has 12 available properties ideal for BPO operations.

“With the cheaper cost of doing business here we are hopeful that more BPOs are coming in. Rental of spaces range from P200 to P300 per sq. m compared to Manila where the rate is at P600 per sq. m. or even higher,” he said.
He said they consider the current financial crisis as an opportunity considering that standard of living here is good and yet affordable and BPO would come in if there are existing support services. (PNA)

lightsaber46

November 7th, 2008, 02:54 AM

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1651:obama-not-seen-to-hurt-bpos-here&catid=23:topnews
Obama not seen to hurt BPOs here

Written by Max V. de Leon / Reporter
Friday, 07 November 2008 00:54

THE local outsourcing and offshoring sector is not panicking over the victory of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, even though he declared to American voters he was going to make sure jobs remained at home, in reference to the offshore sourcing of many jobs that many believe kept many Americans jobless.

Dan Reyes, president of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, said there is no reason to fear because the global financial tsunami has already made it a must for companies—American or otherwise, in the developed countries—to outsource jobs to locations like the Philippines, where they could get lower costs.

“I believe the BPOs [business-process outsourcing companies] will continue to thrive. In today’s global economy, companies’ interdependence on the global supply chain to produce economically viable products and services will continue. It’s the same with the BPOs,” said Reyes.

Jojo Uligan, executive director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines, said although it is still too early to tell if Obama will really try to bring outsourced jobs back to America, he believes the Philippine outsourcing industry will not be affected because for one, “the jobs we are getting are the jobs that the Americans don’t want to do.”

The Philippine BPO firms are actually helping the American companies survive the current global financial crunch because of the savings in operational costs that they are getting for outsourcing some operations here, he added.

“We are giving them benefits with our high-quality service and the high customer satisfaction. I don’t think there will be an effect in our industry as long as we continue to deliver the best quality service and performance our clients require from us,” said Uligan.

But definitely, he said the country needs to prepare and watch out for every move that the new administration will make, either to be prepared if they are disadvantageous for us, or to be ready to take the opportunity for expanded economic advantage.

Sergio Ortiz-Luis, president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation, cited two main things the Philippines must watch out for under the Obama presidency: his actions that might penalize the US firms that are outsourcing abroad, and the new administration’s policy on the preferential access of some products being exported by developing countries under the US Generalized System of Preference (GSP).

“We are hoping that he will not go to that extent [penalize outsourcing US firms], because if he does, that will have a negative impact on us,” he said, adding that on the GSP, the Republicans have been consistent in renewing the duty-free privileges of some Philippine exports to the US every two years, but now it is uncertain if the Democrats will do the same.

“With the Republicans, we already know how they go. Now with the Democrats, we still have to wait and see,” he said.

Also, Ortiz-Luis said the country will have to wait for signals from the new US leadership on what would be the fate of the RP-US bilateral free-trade agreement that several Philippine sectors, especially the garments makers, have been advocating for a long time now.

lancetrn

November 7th, 2008, 03:08 AM

Singaporean to build Laguna BPO campus

A SINGAPOREAN property developer is planning to build a residential and commercial complex in Laguna that will include a business process outsourcing (BPO) campus in a 40-hectare property.

In a telephone interview, Ong Beng Kheong, chief executive officer for Southeast Asian operations of Ascendas Pte. Ltd., told BusinessWorld a new company called Ascendas Business Park Corp. had been set up to handle the project, which straddles Sta. Rosa and Cabuyao.

He declined to provide a timetable and estimated cost of the project, saying it was still at the planning stage.

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved Ascendas Business Park’s incorporation last week.

The new company will have a capital stock of P400 million divided into four hundred million shares.

Only a quarter of the shares have been bought, almost all by Business Facilities Development Corp., which is also a unit of Ascendas.

Documents filed with the corporate regulator showed that the company intends to acquire land to build and manage business, science and information technology (IT) parks. It also plans to build high-tech facilities and towers, retail and commercial spaces and residential communities.

Mr. Kheong noted that aside from the Laguna project, Ascendas, which co-developed the 145-hectrare Carmelray Industrial Park II in Laguna, also plans to build two towers in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig next year.

Last year, Ascendas announced the creation of its Ascendas ASEAN Business Space Fund worth $200 million, which it plans to primarily invest in the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.

The property developer said it hopes to grow the fund to $400 million with assets worth $1 billion.

It said it would invest on the development of central business district and suburban office spaces, technology-related facilities, as well as science, biotechnology and IT-related assets.

Ascendas, which also operates in Singapore, China and India, said it was investing in these emerging markets to take advantage of the growing demand for high-quality business space given the growing industrial, IT and BPO sectors.

Last year, the company said it would add 30,000 square meters of office space in a six-hectare area at the Carmelray Industrial Park II. — Don Gil K. Carreon
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW110708/content.php?id=041

bongskie09

November 7th, 2008, 04:32 AM

lewdsaint

November 7th, 2008, 05:18 AM

Bacolod one of top 10 RP outsourcing cities
BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

Bacolod City is in the league of the top 10 Business Process Outsourcing cities in the whole Philippines.

It topped in the criterion of business environment with a score of 96 percent among the “Ten Next New Wave Cities Scorecard Ranking” for outsourcing in the Philippines outside of Metro Manila and Cebu, Bacolod Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chairperson of the Bacolod Negros Occidental Federation Information and Communications Inc., said.

Sigue said the Business Process Association of the Philippines, Commission on Information and Communication Technology, and the Department of Trade and Industry computed the scores using the following criteria: availability of talent - 50 percent, infrastructure – 30 percent, cost 5 percent and business environment – 15 percent.

Oscar Sanez, chief executive officer of BPAP said that Bacolod topped the business environment category because of the presence of sites accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and proclaimed by the Office of the President, and the existence of the Bacolod ICT Focus Team, which eventually led to the creation of BNEFIT.

He said the business environment criterion took into account incentives from the local government units, peace and order situation, vulnerability to natural disturbances, travel advisories and crime rates.

Iloilo ranked second in this criterion with a score of 92 percent. Over-all, Bacolod ranked fifth with 78 percent, while Iloilo ranked third with 80.9 percent, Sigue said.

Bacolod ranked second in terms of cost (80 percent), which includes median base pay, real estate rentals and power rates, Sigue said.

It ranked fifth (81.33 percent) in terms of infrastructure which considers airport standards, flight frequency and international flights, availability of real estate, hotel accommodations, road quality, telecommunications and power infrastructure, she said.

The Metro Laguna cluster composed of Santa Rosa City, Calamba City, Los Baños, Cabuyao and San Pablo City topped the over-all list in the Ten Next New Wave Cities scorecard ranking with 88.3 percent, while the Metro Cavite cluster composed of Dasmariñas, Bacoor, Imus and Cavite City placed second with 85.4 percent.

Davao ranked fourth with a score of 80 percent, Angeles-Clark-Mabalacat ranked sixth – 77 percent, Baliuag-Marilao-Meycauyan seventh – 74 percent, Cagayan de Oro eight – 73 percent, Malolos-Calumpit ninth – 73 percent and Lipa City tenth – 73 percent.*CGS

Link : http://www.visayandailystar.com/2008/November/07/topstory4.htm

dinabaw

November 7th, 2008, 09:09 AM

Davao Roadshow: e-Services Phils. 2009

by Blogie • 6 November 2008

e-Services Philippines In a nutshell, the e-Services Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition is an annual event that attracts potential buyers from all over the world to interface with Philippine IT companies and IT-enabled services. It’s an all-out showcase of what Filipino technopreneurs can bring to the global marketplace.

For the first time since its inception, the organizers of e-Services Philippines (as it is more commonly known) are on a roadshow all over the country, kicking off with the Davao leg today. We were at the offices of the Department of Trade & Industry - Region XI (which is a long-time, staunch supporter of all Philippine IT initiatives), where we were apprised of the latest developments in the preparations for this event. e-Services Philippines is organized each year by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM).

CITEM CITEM is an agency of the DTI that’s involved in promoting the country’s exports. To quote: "Its thrust is to promote the Philippines as a reliable source of high-quality products and services through trade fairs, special exhibits, in-store promotions, trade missions, and other promotional activities here and abroad."

The event features plenary sessions, seminars, business-matching opportunities, and an exhibit of IT products and services. Since 2008, it has been held at the SMX Convention Center (beside the Mall of Asia) in Pasay City. It used to be held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Ortigas.

Who can participate and/or exhibit? Why?

It is the annual meeting place in the Asia-Pacific where global thought leaders, decision makers, and centers of excellence in global ICT and business process outsourcing (BPO) converge and COLLABORATE with one another to discuss trends, issues, and emerging business models in the IT business.

It gives you the right platform to CONNECT with CEOs and international companies and organizations from the ICT spectrum including animation, back office operations, contact centers, game development, software development, healthy information management, and engineering and design services.

It is an excellent exhibition venue to meet and do business with global ICT and BPO companies who can CREATE sophisticated ICT solutions, products and services tailor-fit any client’s needs [sic].

Since e-Services Philippines is being packaged as the e-services forum in the Asia-Pacific region, companies who take part in it have a great opportunity to touch base and hopefully close business transactions with IT buyers. According to CITEM, they expect to host foreign trade missions from the US, Europe, Japan; as well as delegations from Wachovia, Accenture, Google, Deutsche Knowledge Services, American Data Exchange Corporation, and many other big-ticket firms.

Davao City has been participating in e-Services Philippines since 2003, with the support of the local government and the initiative of the private sector. Those of us who’ve been part of the effort to institutionalize the city’s participation have long held the conviction that our local IT industry can directly benefit from our continued presence at the conference and exhibits.

Next year, under the leadership of ICT Davao Inc., we hope to make a much bigger splash in the national scene. That is, if we can get more solid support from both the local government and the industry. When the Davao contingent participates in this prestigious event, it must be a concerted effort by the entire local IT industry — IT companies, IT associations, big industries, perhaps the Davao Chamber, and the city government. This way, we can make a huge impact and ensure ourselves a greater chance of attracting business and investment into Davao City.

e-Services Philippines will be held on 9 & 10 February 2009. That gives us a few short months to prepare. CITEM considers Davao one of the "next wave" cities. We believe this as well. Now it’s time to make the rest of the country see what we mean.

click here

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/533/logoesvcphilsbo1.png (http://www.e-servicesphils.com/esp2009/)

JudeD

November 7th, 2008, 09:30 AM

Photo emergency! We need a photo of any BPO building or facility (interior or exterior, preferably with workers) in Cebu. To be published in Expat newspaper. Photographer will get photo credit. Photo needed by 5:30pm today. Please email photo to expatmag@gmail.com

Christendom

November 7th, 2008, 10:05 AM

November 7, 2008
Bacolod one of top 10 RP outsourcing cities (http://www.visayandailystar.com/2008/November/07/topstory4.htm)

Bacolod City is in the league of the top 10 Business Process Outsourcing cities in the whole Philippines.

It topped in the criterion of business environment with a score of 96 percent among the “Ten Next New Wave Cities Scorecard Ranking” for outsourcing in the Philippines outside of Metro Manila and Cebu, Bacolod Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chairperson of the Bacolod Negros Occidental Federation Information and Communications Inc., said.

Sigue said the Business Process Association of the Philippines, Commission on Information and Communication Technology, and the Department of Trade and Industry computed the scores using the following criteria: availability of talent - 50 percent, infrastructure – 30 percent, cost 5 percent and business environment – 15 percent.

Oscar Sanez, chief executive officer of BPAP said that Bacolod topped the business environment category because of the presence of sites accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and proclaimed by the Office of the President, and the existence of the Bacolod ICT Focus Team, which eventually led to the creation of BNEFIT.

He said the business environment criterion took into account incentives from the local government units, peace and order situation, vulnerability to natural disturbances, travel advisories and crime rates.

Iloilo ranked second in this criterion with a score of 92 percent. Over-all, Bacolod ranked fifth with 78 percent, while Iloilo ranked third with 80.9 percent, Sigue said.

Bacolod ranked second in terms of cost (80 percent), which includes median base pay, real estate rentals and power rates, Sigue said.

It ranked fifth (81.33 percent) in terms of infrastructure which considers airport standards, flight frequency and international flights, availability of real estate, hotel accommodations, road quality, telecommunications and power infrastructure, she said.

The Metro Laguna cluster composed of Santa Rosa City, Calamba City, Los Baños, Cabuyao and San Pablo City topped the over-all list in the Ten Next New Wave Cities scorecard ranking with 88.3 percent, while the Metro Cavite cluster composed of Dasmariñas, Bacoor, Imus and Cavite City placed second with 85.4 percent.

Davao ranked fourth with a score of 80 percent, Angeles-Clark-Mabalacat ranked sixth – 77 percent, Baliuag-Marilao-Meycauyan seventh – 74 percent, Cagayan de Oro eight – 73 percent, Malolos-Calumpit ninth – 73 percent and Lipa City tenth – 73 percent.*CGS

dinabaw

November 7th, 2008, 10:46 AM

Business Article
‘Virtual library’ for ICT to be set up in Davao Region

The information and communications technology sector of the Davao Region is finalizing a geographic information network project that will serve as “virtual library” for those who want to access data about the region. Erriberto P. Barriga Jr., Information and Communications Technology Association of Davao external vice president, said this is important because this will allow would-be investors to easily access data whenever they come up with their investment feasibility studies. “We are building a team (that will develop the project),” said Barriga who is also a software developer. He said the team will be the backbone of the project as aside from creating the software and implementing the project, it will be the one to sustain it. The plan, he added, is to make the platform and let it become self sustaining by collecting fees when someone downloads its data. However, he added this will take a while because the project is set to be finished in two years. The first phase of the project is the creation of a software for “flat data” or data which will just be texts, while the second phase is the data that will include other necessary information like graphs and pictures. The third phase of the project will be the part where necessary mechanisms will be put in place to make it sustain on its own. Barriga said, the National Economic Development Authority has already agreed to shoulder the initial P3 million funding for the project and that local government units within the region have also promised to help fund it. “Hopefully we would be able to set up something that will benefit everyone,” he said, adding that his group will also present the project to the telecommunications and other companies willing to place advertisements on its website so that the project will slowly generate incomes. Industry leaders like Barriga have been complaining about the absence of a databank necessary not only for investors to use in analyzing he potentials of the region but also the public. Right now, he said, there is data on how many graduates universities in the Davao Region churn out who are qualified to work in the industry. He said this is necessary because some investors want to know whether there is enough human resources in the city where they will set up their investments. Lizabel G. Holganza, president of the organization, has already proposed that a study be conducted to look into the depth of the human resources bench of the Davao Region. Holganza, also the president of the Transcription Alliance of Davao Inc., earlier lamented that while there seemed to be a good human resources pool in the region, companies found it hard to recruit because most of these workers preferred to work outside the city. A reliable data source, she added, will also become one promotional tool for the industry to lure investors.

Mindanao Times (http://www.mindanaotimes.com.ph/story.php?id=22575)

icarusrising

November 7th, 2008, 12:47 PM

Obama not seen to hurt BPOs here (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1651:obama-not-seen-to-hurt-bpos-here&catid=23:topnews)
Top News
Written by Max V. de Leon / Reporter
Friday, 07 November 2008 00:54

THE local outsourcing and offshoring sector is not panicking over the victory of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, even though he declared to American voters he was going to make sure jobs remained at home, in reference to the offshore sourcing of many jobs that many believe kept many Americans jobless.

Dan Reyes, president of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, said there is no reason to fear because the global financial tsunami has already made it a must for companies—American or otherwise, in the developed countries—to outsource jobs to locations like the Philippines, where they could get lower costs.

“I believe the BPOs [business-process outsourcing companies] will continue to thrive. In today’s global economy, companies’ interdependence on the global supply chain to produce economically viable products and services will continue. It’s the same with the BPOs,” said Reyes.

Jojo Uligan, executive director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines, said although it is still too early to tell if Obama will really try to bring outsourced jobs back to America, he believes the Philippine outsourcing industry will not be affected because for one, “the jobs we are getting are the jobs that the Americans don’t want to do.”

The Philippine BPO firms are actually helping the American companies survive the current global financial crunch because of the savings in operational costs that they are getting for outsourcing some operations here, he added.

“We are giving them benefits with our high-quality service and the high customer satisfaction. I don’t think there will be an effect in our industry as long as we continue to deliver the best quality service and performance our clients require from us,” said Uligan.

But definitely, he said the country needs to prepare and watch out for every move that the new administration will make, either to be prepared if they are disadvantageous for us, or to be ready to take the opportunity for expanded economic advantage.

Sergio Ortiz-Luis, president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation, cited two main things the Philippines must watch out for under the Obama presidency: his actions that might penalize the US firms that are outsourcing abroad, and the new administration’s policy on the preferential access of some products being exported by developing countries under the US Generalized System of Preference (GSP).

“We are hoping that he will not go to that extent [penalize outsourcing US firms], because if he does, that will have a negative impact on us,” he said, adding that on the GSP, the Republicans have been consistent in renewing the duty-free privileges of some Philippine exports to the US every two years, but now it is uncertain if the Democrats will do the same.

“With the Republicans, we already know how they go. Now with the Democrats, we still have to wait and see,” he said.

Also, Ortiz-Luis said the country will have to wait for signals from the new US leadership on what would be the fate of the RP-US bilateral free-trade agreement that several Philippine sectors, especially the garments makers, have been advocating for a long time now.

icarusrising

November 7th, 2008, 12:48 PM

Sitel first large-scale call center to locate in La Union Economy (http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1634:sitel-first-large-scale-call-center-to-locate-in-la-union&catid=33:economy)
Written by Max V. de Leon / Reporter
Friday, 07 November 2008 00:27

SAN FERNANDO, La Union—Global call-center firm Sitel is likely to become the first large-scale outsourcing firm to locate in La Union province as the company expressed strong interest in setting up operation inside the Poro Point Free-port Zone here.

Cristina Rodrigo, vice president for corporate planning of Poro Point Management Corp. (PPMC) that oversees Poro Point, said PPMC has been in constant talks with Sitel executives on the plan of the company to lease at least 3,000 square meters in the free port’s 3.9-hectare IT zone.

Rodrigo said Sitel is looking at setting up an initial 600-seat contact- center facility in the area that will run on three shifts.

Although there is no concrete decision yet, Rodrigo said the company has demonstrated its strong desire to proceed with the project by putting up the “Sitel Academy” here, where it is now training prospective agents that will make up the initial 1,800 agents for the site.

“So it looks like the decision is going to be positive because they already put up their school here,” she told reporters.

Right now, however, Rodrigo said Sitel is still assessing the impact of the financial crisis in the US on the company’s global operations.

Rodrigo said there is still no structure yet in Poro Point’s IT zone.

However, PPMC was informed by Sitel that it can easily build its facility there as the company will just be bringing in prefabricated structures for quick establishment of its building once it decides to proceed with the project.

Rodrigo said Poro Point is already equipped with the necessary telecommunications infrastructure to meet the requirements of call centers.

dashfury

November 7th, 2008, 02:01 PM

from other thread

http://positivenewsmedia.net/am2/publish/Business_19/New_foreign_BPO_operators_to_locate_in_Davao_City_in_2009.shtml

New foreign BPO operators to locate in Davao City in 2009

DAVAO CITY, Nov. 7 (PNA) -– About five foreign Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operators are expected to locate in Davao City by the first quarter of 2009.

Bert Barriga, vice president of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Davao said five prospective locators are finalizing negotiations with the city government.

“In fact, one of them, the Admerex of Australia is expected to come within this week to assess the shortlisted properties that they are eyeing. It has two properties to choose from and hopefully they would come up with a decision from among the shortlisted areas," he said.

He said top officials of Admerex are flying in anytime, including its Chief Executive Officer and some Senior Officials.

Admerex already has located in Manila and it will be their first expansion in the Philippines if they pursue their Davao project with an initial 200 seats, he said.

The HCL of India, he said, is also doing some negotiations here but is also considers locating in Cebu City and they want to come in when there are already lots of locators.

Barriga said negotiations of these two BPOs are ongoing but they are optimistic they would locate here.

The other three BPOs comprise two call centers from the US and India and an animation school from Canada, Barriga said.

Once these five BPOs push through next year, Davao City will have a total of 10 big call centers and one animation school.

Meanwhile, Barriga said Davao City has 12 available properties ideal for BPO operations.

“With the cheaper cost of doing business here we are hopeful that more BPOs are coming in. Rental of spaces range from P200 to P300 per sq. m compared to Manila where the rate is at P600 per sq. m. or even higher,” he said.
He said they consider the current financial crisis as an opportunity considering that standard of living here is good and yet affordable and BPO would come in if there are existing support services. (PNA)

bacolodchamp

November 7th, 2008, 06:50 PM

repost...

Iloilo, Bacolod cities in the league of top BPO sites
By Serge C. Santillan

BACOLOD CITY – Iloilo and Bacolod cities were among the three cities in the Visayas excluding Cebu that are included in the list of "Top 10 Next Wave of Locations for Outsourcing in the Philippines."

The list was released by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) under the Office of the President, Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Iloilo City ranked third with the score of 80.93% while Bacolod City ranked fifth with the score of 78%.

Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, chairperson of Sangguniang Panglungsod Committee on Communications and Technology and the prime mover of IT Industry in the city, welcomed the positive development. She said that in 2004, it was just a dream to be included in next wave cities for outsourcing in the country but now, records showed that the city shines in this field with the help of various sectors.

The CICT-BPAP-DTI scorecard computed the scores using the following criteria: Availability of Talent - 50%; Infrastructure – 30%; Business Environment – 15% and Cost – 5%.

Bacolod topped the business environment category with the score of 96% while Iloilo got the second place with 92% score. The category includes availability of PEZA accredited sites, peace and order, absence of travel advisory, crime rate, out from calamity area and presence of IT council/organization.

"Bacolod is very conducive to outsourcing with its very business-friendly environment," Sigue said.

Out of 11 PEZA accredited sites in the city, 7 has presidential proclamation while another one will enter Bacolod soon situated in 15-hectare property with a big mall.

"I thanked the real estate developer for converting their property into IT economic zones," Sigue added.

The Metro Laguna comprising the cities of Sta. Rosa City, Calamba, Los Baños and San Pablo City was cited as the best outsourcing location in the Philippines outside Metro Manila and Cebu with the score of 88.35% while Metro Cavite composed of Damariñas, Bacoor, Imus and Cavite City was ranked second with 85.47% score.

Ranked fourth is Davao with 80.40%, while cities of Angeles-Clark-Mabalacat – 77.10% ranked sixth followed by Baliuag-Marilao-Meycauayan – 73.53%; Cagayan de Oro – 73.13%; Malolos-Calumpit – 72.93% and Lipa – 72.53%.

Iloilo topped Bacolod in 'Availability of Talent' scoring 72% viz-a-viz Bacolod's 70.40%, because of the number of schools generating graduates for human resource in the area.

'Infrastructure' on the hand includes hotels, domestic/international flights, availability of real estates, power infra, telecommunications and availability of internet connections and fiber optics. 'Cost' composed of labor – the minimum wage, power rate and real estate rate.

"With facts presented, we can say that Bacolod City is now in the league of top BPOs in the Philippines and better if we will not only venture in call centers but others in the IT industry like animation, medical transcription, non-voice and back-office outsourcing for accountants, etc.," Sigue stressed.

^^^^^^WAKE UP BACOLOD!!! does the clearing of rob have something to do with this? hmmm... your guess is as good as mine...:banana::banana::banana:

SUV111

November 7th, 2008, 06:58 PM

^^ ooops!!!! 15 hectares? wow!!!! where is that? i need to get my sniper ready :)

icarusrising

November 8th, 2008, 05:42 AM

Cops raid 'call center' marketing porno Website (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/metro-manila/10/06/08/cops-raid-call-center-marketing-porno-website)

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/06/2008 6:46 PM

Police on Monday raided a call center in Biñan, Laguna that allegedly markets a pornographic Website by inviting chatters to disclose their credit card's personal identification numbers to "marketing agents".

The raid at Givalink International in Barangay San Antonio by members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) also resulted in the arrests of dozens of the call center's employees led by owner Lor Angeli Rabaja.

Around 100 computers and accessories were also confiscated.

Rabaja said she was not aware the her business was considered illegal since it has been in operation for more than a year.

"We sell membership for the site. We're unaware that it's considered illegal," she said.

Her staff, on the other hand, said that they were aware of the nature of the business but continued to work there since they needed employment.

"We can't find any other work," said employee Frederick Rubio.

On Monday, CIDG members armed with an arrest warrant posed as sales representatives and caught the marketing agents in the act of making transactions by getting the clients' credit card accounts.

"Those who were willing to have chats get nude pictures and videos published in the Internet," said CIDG intelligence and operations chief Superintendent Romano Cardino.

Police found out that each agent gets P300 in commission for every successful transaction closed.

Authorities said that after a transaction is closed, the agent opens the chatbox that shows an image of a naked woman in the chatbox, thus enticing the client even more.

"Video clips show various sexual acts ordered by a client," Cardino said.

Charges of publishing indecent and pornographic materials will be filed against Rabaja, financier Kim Sun Taek and Givalink’s more than 70 employees.

CIDG said that Givalink has branches at Crossing and Parian in Calamba City, also in Laguna. -- With a report from Wheng Hidalgo, ABS-CBN News

as of 10/06/2008 6:46 PM

Christendom

November 8th, 2008, 08:19 AM

^^and another signal that there is a possibility of upcoming new BPO to locate there

SUV111

November 8th, 2008, 01:43 PM

^^and another signal that there is a possibility of upcoming new BPO to locate there

not a possibility zyanz....there will really be a BPO company that will soon locate on that area.

dinabaw

November 9th, 2008, 01:57 PM

PhilNits Davao now offers review course

THE Philippine National Information Technology Standards Foundation Inc. (PhilNits) will be hosting a Fundamental Exam (FE) Review Course for all IT professionals, teachers, and students to be conducted by the PhilNits Society in its offices in Manila, Cebu City, and Davao City.

In Davao City, this will be handled by a veteran trainer/lecturer of the PhilNits Society, Aloysius L. Torres.

The review courses are designed for beginners and/or experienced IT professionals who want to pass the PhilNits FE exam, which will be held on October 19 this year at the University of Immaculate Conception (UIC), Bonifacio St., Davao City.

Passers of the PhilNits FE examination will have bigger chances of working in Japan and get the same benefits being enjoyed by the Japanese employees.

The Review Course will be in two sessions, to wit: Option A -- afternoon sessions every Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.; and Option B -- evening sessions every Monday and Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m.

Classes will start on July 5 for the afternoon sessions and August 4 for the evening sessions.

For more information, please feel free to contact Joy Alferez of PhilNits-Davao at telephone number (082) 227-9448 or email at philnits.davao@gmail.com.

Interested parties may also visit the PhilNits-Davao Office at 5th Floor Mintrade Building, corner Monteverde Avenue and Sales Street, Davao City.

Sun-Star (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/business/philnits-davao-now-offers-review-course)

lightsaber46

November 10th, 2008, 09:39 AM

No Free Lunch
An Obama presidency bad for our economy?
http://business.inquirer.net/money/columns/view/20081109-171191/An-Obama-presidency-bad-for-our-economy
By Cielito Habito
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:01:00 11/09/2008

AMID ALL the jubilation that has widely greeted the historic election of America's first African-American President, not a few in the developing world are worried or at the very least, temper their celebration with some apprehension. The fear stems from President-elect Barack Obama's many campaign statements that vowed to "bring the jobs back home" for American workers.

Many in India, in particular, had closely watched his campaign and examined every statement he had made on the issue. What particularly struck Indians was Obama's reported lament on how American jobs have been "Bangalored," presumably alluding to that Indian city's prominence in India's outsourcing industry, particularly in information technology. If the Indians, whose outsourcing industry depends on the United States for 60 percent of the business, are fearful, shouldn't we in the Philippines, where our own outsourcing industry has an even higher 85-90-percent dependence on the United States, worry even more?

Senator from Punjab
Sen. Hillary Clinton, by the way, was much more acceptable to the Indians worried about their outsourcing industry because of her explicit support for outsourcing. In a visit to India in 2005, she declared in a speech before Indian industrialists: "There is no way to legislate against reality. Outsourcing will continue." In a March 2006 fundraiser in Maryland, Clinton was effusively introduced by Dr. Rajwant Singh, a prominent Indian-American leader in the area, as the senator not only from New York, but also from Punjab. Playing along, she had answered then, "I can certainly run for the Senate seat in Punjab and win easily."

The Obama campaign subsequently circulated an "off-the-record" memorandum to journalists entitled "Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)'s Personal Financial and Political Ties," with the off-color "Democrat-Punjab" joke later publicly disowned and apologized for by Obama. Still, the incident underlined what appeared to be a major policy difference between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, with the latter appearing as "anti-outsourcing." Notwithstanding this, the Democratic Party is said to be broadly committed to outsourcing, but with a caveat: It does not "believe in tax giveaways that reward companies for moving American jobs overseas."

Carrots, not sticks
This "safe" stance is, in fact, reflected in the many statements Obama has made on the issue throughout his campaign. Typical of Obama's statements on the issue was what he said in a campaign speech in Dublin, Ohio: "We're going to take away tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. We will give them to companies that invest right here." In Colorado, he said: "I've proposed a new American jobs tax credit for each new employee that companies hire here in the United States over the next two years."

Actually, US economists and legal advisers point out that there are no tax breaks enjoyed specifically by firms that outsource. They believe that Obama may be alluding to broader tax avoidance strategies, such as the ability of multinational firms to legally avoid taxes on profits by moving money overseas. Thus, his position really boils down to offering "carrots" in the form of tax incentives for US firms to keep jobs at home.

Some analysts believe that such tax instruments would have little real impact. "Any plans for a tax code change are like trying to plug a hole in a leaky dam with your finger--to believe (that) the US government tax code promotes outsourcing is a major misconception...," according to Joe Greco, director of California State University-Fullerton's Center for the Study of Emerging Markets. And tax incentives to keep jobs in the United States may not do it; Nielsen Co. recently chose to give up local tax breaks it was already receiving in Florida, when it decided to outsource to an India-based firm.

Manufacturing, not IT
He may have mentioned Bangalore, but does Obama really have the IT and business process outsourcing industry in mind when he talks about curbing outsourcing? His Ohio speech mentioned above was prefaced as follows: "You are working harder and harder just to get by. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs have left." He was, in that instance, talking about manufacturing jobs lost as American firms relocate production operations abroad. Similarly, in Iowa, he said: "We may not be able to stop a company from moving, but we can stop providing it incentives to move." He was talking of companies moving, i.e., transplanting their core production operations abroad, not those who simply outsource their accounting, or transcription of records, or other backroom business processes to BPO firms in India or the Philippines. In that case there is nothing for us to fear, then, as there is little of American manufacturing activity in the country that we stand to lose at this point.

The media have asserted that Barack Obama won the US Presidency because the American people believed he would be the one who could fix the US economy, which 60 percent of Americans identified to be the foremost challenge facing them today. With that faith, the current euphoria over his victory, and the Americans' cooperation, chances are he will eventually succeed. In the end, a reinvigorated US economy will be good for the Philippine economy, too, just as it would be for everyone else. It's in that way that an Obama presidency would, in fact, be good for our economy.

orville1ph

November 11th, 2008, 04:32 AM

APAC Customer Services, Inc. will be conducting a Job Fair for Customer Service Representatives (Call Center agents) on Nov. 14-16, 2008 at SMED Center, Capitol Grounds, Tacloban City. Interested applicants may call LTIPC (located at Leyte ICT Park, Pawing, Palo, Leyte) at tel. nos. 321-6484; 523-9635 for more details.

Sleepwalker

November 11th, 2008, 04:36 AM

lightsaber46

November 12th, 2008, 03:20 AM

BPO firm expands, to hire 10,000
http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20081112140600.html

By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT

Philippine-based Aegis PeopleSupport, now owned by a leading global BPO firm under India’s conglomerate Essar Group, is shifting gear as it put emphasis on tapping the growing domestic market to beef up its largely American clientele base and hiring of 5,000 to 10,000 agents that would talk to clients in the local vernacular language.

Aegis managing director and global CEO Aparup Sengupta, who is also a member of the Essar Group management committee, yesterday announced that tapping the local market is the same strategy that made its India BPO operation more successful after clinching the international market.

"We are going big in our domestic market in the Philippines," said Sengupta as he noted the growing market for telecommunications, banking, financial services and health care and soon retail.

Sengupta, however, defended its strategy saying it is not a reversal of a supposedly outbound business saying no market in which they operate would be cannivalized for the other.

"This would be added acceleration to our business given the fact that the Philippines GDP is on the uptrend, a growing incomes of the young people and their increased spending and the reduced shelf life of consumer goods," Sengupta added.

This domestic business strategy is done in tandem with its growing international business, Sengupta stressed.

He said that in the past three months, business from the U.S. market has grown 75 percent as the need to outsource offshore becomes necessary to save on cost, India improved by 54 percent and the Philippines 25 percent.

This means hiring more workers to support a local clientele that is mostly speaking in the vernacular. Sengupta mentioned the possibility of hiring between 5,000 to 10,000 agents in the near term to beef up its team that is mostly handling English-speaking clients from the U.S. market.

Sengupta said that the current manpower of the local firm is just enough to handle the existing clients so they would have to hire new agents to handle the vernacular speaking market.

"I won’t be surprised if we are going to hire between 5,000 to 10,000 people here because this is a very economically rewarding value proposition for us," he added. Aegis PeopleSupport has about 8,000 manpower in its three sites in the country in Makati, Cebu and Baguio.

Bong Borja, president of Aegis PeopleSupport, also cited factors that would make sense its strategy of pursuing the domestic business. He also admitted to be the first major international call center that is signaling to go big time in the domestic market.

Borja noted that since its operations cater to the U.S. market, its facilities are largely empty during the daytime so it would be more productive if the unused seats would be utilized during the daytime.

Local firms, who are still used to hosting their own customer service support, would be encouraged to outsource this non-core business because of the world-class infrastructure that Aegis PeopleSupport offers at lower variable cost rather than a fixed cost.

Thirdly, generating revenues in the local currency provides a natural a natural hedging form for the company from a strong peso against the dollar.

"The local business makes us immune to the rise and fall of the U.S. dollar," Borja said.

"The Philippine market will be ready to outsource their non-core business," Sengupta said.

Already, some government service agencies such as the Department of Foreign Affairs for the releasing of passports and the National Statistics Office for birth certificates have already outsource some of their operations.

In addition, the company is also on the lookout for local acquisitions noting that Aegis in India was able to acquire 11 local BPO firms in less then three years.

"But we don’t a company with only international arbitrage but also those that can provide us with a naturally hedge operation," Sengupta added.

He said they are already in talks with possible local firms, which are on the sellout mode.

With all its plans, Sengupta said no market in which they operate would be cannivalized for the other.

With these plans, the company eyes at least 35 percent growth in revenues this year.

After the buyout, PeopleSupport Philippines now becomes part of the Aegis BPO, the fastest growing BPO in India with annual revenues of over $ 450 million with over 20,000 seats and 29,000 people.

Sengupta further noted that Aegis BPO is backed by the solid balance sheet of its parent firm, the Essar Group, a globally diversified conglomerate with huge business interests in steel, energy, power, communications, shipping and logistics and construction.

The Essar Group has an estimated enterprise value of over $ 50 billion and employs over 38,000 people worldwide. (BCM)

IslandSon.PH

November 12th, 2008, 03:52 AM

UK firm to double RP workforce

Open new office
By Riza T. Olchondra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:38:00 11/11/2008

OFFICIALS of Global Solutions provider Logica said Tuesday outsourcing opportunities for the Philippines would grow in Europe despite the global financial crisis and more Filipino professionals would be needed to serve demand.

Logica CEO Andy Green, a veteran of British Telecom, visited the Philippines to check out prospects for a new office and discuss hiring requirements with Manila-based officials.

"The economic downturn in the US and the political overtones regarding outsourcing may affect expansion plans in that part of the world, but in Europe we face a different environment," he told reporters.

"Falling labor numbers, partly because there is not much immigration going there and because of low birth rates, will drive more companies toward outsourcing. The main area for Logica is human resource solutions, SAP and enterprise content management," he said.

Neil Elias, CEO of Logica's Philippine delivery center, added that talent in the Philippines offers a good cultural fit with the West, with strong language skills not limited to English.

But the officials declined to provide more details, saying they would make an announcement when plans have been finalized.

The company had 36 employees in 2007. It grew this talent pool to 200 in January 2008, prompting it to occupy another floor in its facility at the Trafalgar Building in Makati City. It presently has 400 employees.

The company started out by providing human resource and SAP solutions but recently added network maintenance and customer service to its portfolio. To this end, Logica acquired French IT services group Unilog and Swedish IT services and BPO provider WM-data.

Referring to the Philippines as the "best-secret" in Europe, Martin Blackburn, head of LogicaCMG's Global Service Delivery, said recently that the company chose the Philippines as its second offshore site, rather than opening a second site in India, because the former was ideal as a disaster recovery site. "More and more high-value work will be delivered from the Philippines," Blackburn said.

Logica has innovation centers in Portugal and Bangalore. It is a leading global IT and management consultancy company, employing 39,000 people across 36 countries.

IslandSon.PH

November 12th, 2008, 04:00 AM

PGMA leads TeleTech Pampanga center opening

MEXICO CITY, Pampanga – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo led the inauguration of the 12th delivery center of TeleTech, the country’s fastest growing BPO company.

Top executives of TeleTech in the country were on hand to witness the ribbon-cutting ceremony, led by no less than President Arroyo herself.

Located on the ground floor of SM City Pampanga in Lagundi, Mexico, the Pampanga delivery center currently has 1,720 seats and 1,446 employees.

Maulik Parekh, senior vice president and general manager for Asia, said that with the opening of the Pampanga facility, TeleTech continues to pursue its mission of providing more jobs in more cities nationwide.

Also joining the formal opening of Tele- Tech’s largest and most sophisticated delivery center were Pampanga representative Aurelio Gonzaleas Jr., San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez and Mexico Mayor Teddy Tumang.

"Pampanga’s pool of highly competent talents, coupled with a good business environment, made it the logical choice for the location of our newest, and so far biggest, delivery center in the country," he said. "Aside from being efficient workers, Pampangueños’ are also known for their warm and hospitable nature. Despite the fast pace at which its economy is growing, Pampanga has not lost its trademark friendliness and charm."

Since it began operating in the Philippines in 2002, TeleTech has consistently increased its investments in the country. Unlike other BPO companies that flock to mega Manila, TeleTech has chosen to invest in the countryside, in second-tier cities such as Bacoor in Cavite, Lipa in Batangas, Bacolod in Negros Occidental and Cainta in Rizal.

Contributing to TeleTech’s tremendous growth in the last five years is the excellent support that the company has received from all levels of government.

TeleTech currently has close to 20,000 employees in the country, and aims to have 25,000 by end of 2009.

Globally, TeleTech operates more than 80 customer management centers in 17 countries. According to Parekh, the Philippine operation is one of the fastest growing in the TeleTech network.
source (http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20081112140431.html)

Christendom

November 12th, 2008, 11:17 AM

not a possibility zyanz....there will really be a BPO company that will soon locate on that area.

that's good suv,,,absolutely true it will add more numbers of BPO centers and eco-zones in bacolod...to date, we have 6 special economic zones proclaimed as ICT parks and buildings

bartstrife99

November 12th, 2008, 04:12 PM

UK-based Logica seeks RP expansion

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 14:30:00 11/12/2008

MAKATI CITY, Philippines -- London-based outsourcing firm Logica is looking at expanding its services in the Philippines and doubling its workers by year-end, a top executive said.

The company began its business process outsourcing business in the country in 2007 and currently employs more than 400 workers in a local office, which provides software support services for SAP customers.

"We are studying the recruitment market here. We are looking at opening new offices and expanding our services further," said Andy Green, Logica's chief executive officer, in a briefing here.

Green said he was in the Philippines on a "fact finding mission" to look at specific information technology skills that will fit Logica's "blended" global delivery model.

"We are building our enterprise content management portfolio with various applications," Green later said in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

This translates to added support services that can be migrated to the Philippines.

Logica serves the European outsourcing market which, according to Green, is catching up with the United States in terms of demand.

Formerly called LogicaCMG, the company acquired French company Unilog and Sweden-based WM-data, resulting in the name change and integration of different units under the single European brand.

Earlier this year, Green announced a restructuring program aimed at generating 80 million euros in cost-savings by 2010. Part of that plan is to migrate some of the company's operations offshore.

bartstrife99

November 12th, 2008, 04:14 PM

sorry double post

bartstrife99

November 12th, 2008, 04:29 PM

BPO firm expands, to hire 10,000
spacer

Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat

Philippine-based Aegis PeopleSupport, now owned by a leading global BPO firm under India’s conglomerate Essar Group, is shifting gear as it put emphasis on tapping the growing domestic market to beef up its largely American clientele base and hiring of 5,000 to 10,000 agents that would talk to clients in the local vernacular language.

Aegis managing director and global CEO Aparup Sengupta, who is also a member of the Essar Group management committee, yesterday announced that tapping the local market is the same strategy that made its India BPO operation more successful after clinching the international market.

"We are going big in our domestic market in the Philippines," said Sengupta as he noted the growing market for telecommunications, banking, financial services and health care and soon retail.

Sengupta, however, defended its strategy saying it is not a reversal of a supposedly outbound business saying no market in which they operate would be cannivalized for the other.

"This would be added acceleration to our business given the fact that the Philippines GDP is on the uptrend, a growing incomes of the young people and their increased spending and the reduced shelf life of consumer goods," Sengupta added.

This domestic business strategy is done in tandem with its growing international business, Sengupta stressed.

He said that in the past three months, business from the U.S. market has grown 75 percent as the need to outsource offshore becomes necessary to save on cost, India improved by 54 percent and the Philippines 25 percent.

This means hiring more workers to support a local clientele that is mostly speaking in the vernacular. Sengupta mentioned the possibility of hiring between 5,000 to 10,000 agents in the near term to beef up its team that is mostly handling English-speaking clients from the U.S. market.

Sengupta said that the current manpower of the local firm is just enough to handle the existing clients so they would have to hire new agents to handle the vernacular speaking market.

"I won’t be surprised if we are going to hire between 5,000 to 10,000 people here because this is a very economically rewarding value proposition for us," he added. Aegis PeopleSupport has about 8,000 manpower in its three sites in the country in Makati, Cebu and Baguio.

Bong Borja, president of Aegis PeopleSupport, also cited factors that would make sense its strategy of pursuing the domestic business. He also admitted to be the first major international call center that is signaling to go big time in the domestic market.

Borja noted that since its operations cater to the U.S. market, its facilities are largely empty during the daytime so it would be more productive if the unused seats would be utilized during the daytime.

Local firms, who are still used to hosting their own customer service support, would be encouraged to outsource this non-core business because of the world-class infrastructure that Aegis PeopleSupport offers at lower variable cost rather than a fixed cost.

Thirdly, generating revenues in the local currency provides a natural a natural hedging form for the company from a strong peso against the dollar.

"The local business makes us immune to the rise and fall of the U.S. dollar," Borja said.

"The Philippine market will be ready to outsource their non-core business," Sengupta said.

Already, some government service agencies such as the Department of Foreign Affairs for the releasing of passports and the National Statistics Office for birth certificates have already outsource some of their operations.

In addition, the company is also on the lookout for local acquisitions noting that Aegis in India was able to acquire 11 local BPO firms in less then three years.

"But we don’t a company with only international arbitrage but also those that can provide us with a naturally hedge operation," Sengupta added.

He said they are already in talks with possible local firms, which are on the sellout mode.

With all its plans, Sengupta said no market in which they operate would be cannivalized for the other.

With these plans, the company eyes at least 35 percent growth in revenues this year.

After the buyout, PeopleSupport Philippines now becomes part of the Aegis BPO, the fastest growing BPO in India with annual revenues of over $ 450 million with over 20,000 seats and 29,000 people.

Sengupta further noted that Aegis BPO is backed by the solid balance sheet of its parent firm, the Essar Group, a globally diversified conglomerate with huge business interests in steel, energy, power, communications, shipping and logistics and construction.

The Essar Group has an estimated enterprise value of over $ 50 billion and employs over 38,000 people worldwide. (BCM)

diehardbisdak

November 12th, 2008, 07:29 PM

U/C: Cybergate Center Cebu (BPO Site with Retail Area) - pic by @positive_aura

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g231/cyrus_f78/perspectivejpg.jpg

[dx]

November 13th, 2008, 06:17 AM

Manpower ready for Albay BPO locators (http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/thegoodnews/view.php?db=1&article=20081109-171206)

LEGAZPI CITY--When Alexander Osias, 25, graduated here with a degree in computer engineering, one of his first considerations was to move to Metro Manila to look for work. The knee-jerk reaction for most fresh graduates in the province is to migrate to urban centers for higher-paying jobs or more specialized employment.

But not wanting to leave his wife and his child, Osias opted instead to settle in Legazpi City, eventually landing a job as a webpage developer and content writer for United States-based business process outsourcing (BPO) firms tied with the Southern Luzon Technological College Foundation Inc. (SLTCFI) here. Unfortunately, these firms centralized operations in Metro Manila. But all hope was not lost for Osias. Recently, SLTCFI had also been facilitating manpower for the Embarcadero Information Technology Park currently being constructed at the city port.

SLTCFI president Rosemarie Rey said the school will be one of the locators in Albay's very own IT park, possibly along with around three other BPO firms still under negotiation. Rey said SLTCFI will be posting three accounts in Embarcadero: One for outsourced web development, another a financial account for an Australian company, and another a call center for a foreign telecoms firm servicing US and Australian clients.

Osias and 30 others have already finished training for an online marketing account currently being hosted by SLTCFI. Another class has been groomed for call center operations. Excited with the Embarcadero prospect, Osias said: "Legazpi City is starting to come alive. We no longer need to try our luck in Metro Manila to earn enough. Now, what we can earn in the province is enough for our family's daily needs, without having to leave them behind."

Embarcadero

Accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority as an economic tourism zone with IT component, the P1.8-million bay front commercial and IT complex being developed by the Sunwest Group of Companies here is expected to span more than 2.5 hectares, with around nine buildings to be utilized for shopping and leisure activities.

But due to the increasing interest being shown by BPO firms, what was once an "IT-component" in the original plan has been expanded into its own park, with about 15,477 square meters of the shoreline reclaimed for three more buildings with four to seven floors, said Annie Sumanga, president of Sunwest subsidiary Misibis Land Inc. Sunwest IT manager Albert Dionela expects the IT park will draw in data centers and BPO firms offering services ranging from the standard call centers, to web content writing and web development, to legal and medical transcription, to backroom services such as accounting.

When the park is fully operational, hopefully by summer next year, the call center facilities alone can house 8,000 seats or 24,000 agents on three shifts. "This would translate to approximately P240 million to P480 million in monthly salaries at P10,000 to P20,000 monthly wage for call center employees," Mayor Noel E. Rosal said. Tourism Secretary Joseph "Ace" Durano, during the blessing ceremonies on Aug. 8, estimated that 90-percent of Embarcadero employees will be the city locals themselves.

Currently, around five buildings are being built, one of which will house the initial 100-seat call center and training classrooms committed to by SLTCFI. Aside from the accounts they will host in Embarcadero, SLTCFI is also already hosting accounts dealing with online marketing, copywriting and web programming, in their school. Rey urged interested applicants to train for them. Perhaps unbeknown to most locals, the Department of Trade and Industry has pegged Legazpi City's One-Town-One-Product (Otop) as Information and Communications Technology (ICT)-enabled services.

Legazpi will soon fully embody that tag, with the local government and institutions like SLTCFI already hard at work equipping the available manpower with specialized, high-end training. "What we want is when the locators come, we will already have a trained pool of manpower. And we're not limiting ourselves to call centers. We're also familiar with backroom operations and other technical needs of the e-commerce industry," Rey said.

She cited their scholarship trainings ranging from online programming, to strategies for optimizing online marketing, to computer-aided design. "Currently, we have trained around a thousand, some of which are employed, some undergoing additional training for other specializations. Our ongoing pool for training is around 200," Rey said.

It is not only the manpower that is already groomed for interested BPO firms. Dionela boasted of fast and stable telecoms connection at the Embarcadero, owing to the fiber-optic technology in place, and direct connections to five giant carriers, namely, PLDT, Globe, Bayantel, PT&T and Digitel.

As for electricity, Dionela expects "zero downtime." Embarcadero will be connected directly to Transco, with two back-up generators and two megawatts of reserve power, and a direct connection to the hybrid renewable energy power plant in Cagraray Island when it is finished. With these opportunities being unlocked in Albay, and with more reasons for the talent pool to stay put, the province may now hope for less "brain drain" and faster progress.

For instance, hearing of the Embarcadero IT Park has only given Sandra Balderama, 19, a firmer resolve to establish her future career in Legazpi City. A graduating Computer Science major at SLTCFI, Balderama is an accomplished student, having qualified for a slew of training programs ranging from call center competency to online marketing to web development.

She has even been offered a teaching position upon graduation. Instead of uncertainty, she now expresses excitement for the future ahead of her: "There are already a lot of opportunities offered to me, as a student here. What more when I have graduated?" she said.

d_jeb

November 13th, 2008, 09:16 AM

U/C: Cybergate Center Cebu (BPO Site with Retail Area) - pic by @positive_aura

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g231/cyrus_f78/perspectivejpg.jpg

mao na on going construction sa fuente rotonda?

diehardbisdak

November 13th, 2008, 09:27 AM

^^ yes bai! ...but not sa rotunda...kilid sa Chonghua...heheh!

d_jeb

November 13th, 2008, 10:05 AM

hehe... very nice new opportunities nsad

dinabaw

November 13th, 2008, 12:22 PM

Davao Bizmen see bright BPO prospects amidst Obama's succession

by RG Alama

Davao City (13 November) -- Contrary to fears that a Barrack Obama presidency would result to protectionist policies that could kill the Business Processing Outsourcing sector in the country, Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Simeon Marfori said the effect would be otherwise.

Marfori cited the ongoing economic slowdown of the United States economy as a major reasons for the optimism of the BPO sector, where majority of the clients are United States companies. He said that cost-cutting is very essential in light of the major economic slowdown, and these Americans companies will outsource more of their non-core activities to other countries particularly the Philippines.

He said that American firms would likely focus on their core businesses back home and have those lower level jobs outsourced abroad. According to Marfori, it is not good business sense to employ over-qualified highly-paid personnel to do lower-level non-core jobs. Among these outsourced jobs are call center agents, transcriptionists, graphic designers, animators and content developers.

Obama during his campaign has said that he will end tax breaks for American companies who are outsourcing jobs overseas. As a Senator he was among those who legislated the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 that aims to reward American firms that provide jobs to many Americans by providing tax breaks. The act aims to stem the tide of outsourcing which is believed to have has rendered many Americans jobless.

Obama's ascension to the Presidency has been a source of concern among many Filipinos particularly those in the BPO sector which is considered as the country's sunshine industry, about 80% of the country's BPO clients are coming from the United States.

Davao City which is positioning itself as one of the Philippines IT hub and is considered as one of the top emerging BPO locations with a large pool of competent and highly-educated manpower and well-developed IT infrastructure. (PIA) [top]

Mindanao Times (http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&sec=reader&rp=1&fi=p081113.htm&no=5&date=)

SUV111

November 13th, 2008, 01:23 PM

U/C: Cybergate Center Cebu (BPO Site with Retail Area) - pic by @positive_aura

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g231/cyrus_f78/perspectivejpg.jpg

wow, ang ganda...sinong may sabi mukhang hospital to? medyo lang pero class ang dating :) ito ba yung malapit sa chong hua?

sandman.ink

November 13th, 2008, 02:26 PM

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/2954/cimg4583mj5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

federalist

November 13th, 2008, 06:27 PM

yes bai. thats the u/c in front of the old Chong Hua building.

ritche

November 15th, 2008, 01:36 PM

http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7513/logotz2.jpg
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/6316/17774857yg6.jpg

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3350/94938250mv4.jpg

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/1340/32706438sh2.jpg

SUV111

November 15th, 2008, 01:40 PM

yes bai. thats the u/c in front of the old Chong Hua building.

wow!!! maganda talaga siya :) another one for fuente :) hehehehe

Animo

November 16th, 2008, 12:16 AM

By MALOU M. MOZO (http://www.mb.com.ph/PROV20081116140994.html)

CEBU CITY — Industry leaders are luring investors from Spain to put in substantial investments in Cebu’s growing industries, particularly in the business process outsourcing (BPO), energy and other lucrative sectors.

CIPC Managing Director Joel Mari Yu presented Cebu as an Information Technology (IT) hub in Asia to the 24-man Spanish delegation during the recently concluded 4th Tribuna España, an event spearheaded by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry that aims to promote and develop trade links between the Philippines and Spain.

"Cebu has proven and demonstrated its potential as a BPO hub. It is now considered the top destination of BPO companies around the world," Yu said, citing the study by global services and investment advisory firm Tholons that ranked this city first in the list of 50 emerging outsourcing destinations for global companies this year.

Apart from IT, Yu also mentioned light engineering and manufacturing as other major industries in Cebu that Spanish investors could tap into.

Sebastian Lacson, vice president of the Visayan Electric Company VECO, said Spanish investors can also look into opportunities in energy since the country is projected to have huge a demand for power as industries expand over the next few years.

"Eighty percent of the market remains untapped by both local and foreign investors," he told the delegation, adding that by 2012, the country will need more power and new generators all over Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

There are two ways to enter the Philippine energy market, Lacson said: through privatization of government facilities or by putting up renewable energy facilities that will produce products such as ethanol and biofuel demanded by the Renewable Energy Bill.

Representatives from other Philippine companies and organizations also informed Spanish businessmen that government infrastructure development is another area of opportunity.

Rolando Dy from the Center for Food and Agribusiness also cited agri-business as another market given that the Philippines is a major food exporter, producing agricultural crops that can be marketed for Spain.

He said the country exports moringga, virgin coconut oil, marine aquaculture, food supplements and organic products.

Also during the event, A Twin City Agreement with Barcelona, Spain was signed by Cebu City to strengthen its ties with the Spanish government and spur more economic activities between both cities.

bacolodchamp

November 16th, 2008, 09:06 AM

^^i thought yong girl above ang maganda. ang building pa pala. :lol::lol::lol: i hope ganyan din kaganda ang itayo ng rob bacolod.

Christendom

November 18th, 2008, 09:11 AM

edit

dinabaw

November 19th, 2008, 06:34 AM

IDX WEBDESIGNS.COM: the Website Specialists

IDX Webdesigns.com was established by Grace
Avelino-Cooper and her Husband Curtis Lee Cooper
in 2005. From the very beginning, IDX Webdesigns.com has been driven to provide quality web design and development services at reasonable prices for clients around the world.

Last year, the owners of IDX Webdesigns.com decided to focus more time and attention on the local market. The shift in strategy was prompted by Davao clients who said that the cost of website construction by IDX Webdedsigns.com was nearly half of what other local companies proposed for the same projects. The IDX people deal with clients face to face and enjoy sitting down with customers to discuss the benefits of having a website. The outsourcing work that IDX is also into, on the other hand, is quite different since nearly all transactions with clients are done over the phone, by email or using instant messenger.
“Working with local clients, we have a chance to know them on more of a personal level, which is much more rewarding to us and the entire team at IDX Webdesigns.com. Our employees can be proud to tell their friends that we built the Crocodile Park website, the Davao City Police website, the Rubberland website, the Eastern Mindanao Command website, the DavaoAds.com (Free Online Advertizing) and many more,” enthused the Coopers.
“Our employees are highly skilled, well trained and enjoy their work. In the office, we have a pretty casual, friendly environment. We laugh, joke, listen to music, have a good time, all while focusing on the tasks that need to be completed,” Grace and Curtis said.
“We see that there are lots of local companies who would like to have a website but don’t want to pay the same price that clients in the USA are paying. IDX Webdesigns.com provides local companies affordable websites, using employees who are highly skilled and trained in the latest technologies,” they added.
IDX Webdesigns.com is located at 27A Nato Street, in Nova Tierra Village. For more information, visit the website www.idxwebdesigns.com or call them at 300-7741.

Mindanao Times (http://www.mindanaotimes.com.ph/story.php?id=22767)

Ic3

November 19th, 2008, 01:49 PM

dinabaw

November 20th, 2008, 04:48 AM

DOLE 11 seeks IT
Opportunities for PWD

The Department of Labor and Employment in Region 11 is looking to seek more employment opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in the field of Information Technology or I.T..

Speaking during the commencement exercises of the Rotary Foundation Computer Skills Training Center for Persons with Disabilities, held yesterday at Lispher Inn in Matina this city. DOLE 11 Regional Director Jalilo dela Torre bared that DOLE under its Grow Micro Program has released P500-thousand to the Technology Resources for the Employment and Advancement of the Davao Youth (Tech-Ready).

The program teaches and provides skills to unemployment youth in identifying self-employment (outsourcing) opportunities in the internet. Dela Torre said that he is proposing a program that will provide outsourcing skills training for PWDs as he said that he is inviting other PWD youth to join Tech Ready, which will be launched this coming December 8 in time for DOLE’s 75th anniversary.

“Outsourcing and off-sourcing particularly the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) sector is a $145-bn market world-wide-dela Torre said.

During the commence-ment, dela Torre commended the Rotary Club of Matina for pursuing the Computer skills training center for the PWDs, he also urged the Club to partner with the Department in pushing for the engagement of the PWDs in the labor sector. He also challenge the Club to come up with a business proposal for a small enterprise that would be entirely run by PWDs.

The Regional Director reiterated his support saying that DOLE is ready to provide up to P500-thousand in loan for businesses run by PWDs. He said that DOLE is looking forward to support more projects that will help benefit the PWDs. PIA/RG Alama

Mindanao Daily Mirror (http://www.dailymirror.ph/Nov/business11202008&03.html)

Igsuonnimo

November 20th, 2008, 08:45 AM

Trade union urges govt help for displaced BPO workers
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/19/2008 4:17 PM

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) should look after the 900 workers recently laid off by a business process outsourcing (BPO) company, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said Wednesday.

TUCP secretary-general and former senator Ernesto Herrera said that with the help of industry groups, the DOLE should find ways to redeploy the displaced employees of Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) to other BPO providers.

"The DOLE should ensure that the retrenched staff are absorbed right away by other firms, so as to lessen the potential severance of family income," Herrera said, adding that many BPO employees effectively support at least one household, and in some cases, up to two," he said.

ACS recently dismissed 889 employees, or one-fifth of its work force. From January to September this year, the company had a net loss of P100 million on revenues of P1.48 billion.

ACS blamed the loss on "declining business volumes due to the ongoing US sub-prime financial crisis as well as customer concerns regarding a major US client which recently emerged from bankruptcy."

As a former chairman of the Senate's labor, employment, and human resources development committee, Herrera stressed that the massive lay-off was not necessarily indicative of more turbulent times ahead for the local BPO industry.

"Other BPO providers here continue to grow their operations and recruit more workers, although at a much slower pace," he said.

Nonetheless, Herrera said that he is counting on the stronger US dollar and the weaker peso to help BPO providers cope with the more challenging global economic conditions.

"Local BPO providers generate service revenues in dollars, but pay for their cost of operations here in pesos. Thus, the resurgent dollar makes it cheaper for them to cover operating expenses as well as capital spending here," he said.

ACS operates six contact centers with 7,118 seats located in Makati City, Quezon City, Lipa City and Cabuyao, Laguna. The centers handle inbound calls and electronic mail from customers and provide outbound telemarketing services.

as of 11/19/2008 4:21 PM

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/11/19/08/trade-union-congress-urges-dole-attend-displaced-bpo-workers

TUCP says 900 call center workers laid off
by Mayen Jaymalin Updated November 19, 2008 03:26 PM

In what could be a start of a looming mass displacement of workers due to financial crisis, about 900 workers from a business process outsourcing (BPO) company were laid off from their jobs.

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the country’s largest labor group, reported that Advanced Contact Solutions Inc. (ACS) retrenched one-fifth of its total workforce after losing a major US-based client that filed for bankruptcy.

TUCP secretary general and former senator Ernesto Herrera called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to immediately provide alternative sources of livelihood for the 900 displaced call center agents.

"The DOLE should ensure that the retrenched staff is absorbed right away by other firms to lessen the potential severance of family income," Herrera said in a statement.

Despite the displacement of call center agents, Herrera expressed optimism that such a case was isolated and not indicative of more turbulent times ahead for the local BPO industry.

"This is an extreme and exceptional case involving the loss of a key client that became insolvent. Other BPO providers here continue to grow their operations and recruit more workers, although at a much slower pace," Herrera explained.

Igsuonnimo

November 20th, 2008, 08:48 AM

Manpower head sees big layoffs globally

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 10:27:00 11/20/2008

NEW DELHI -- Employee numbers will be cut sharply in many Western nations as companies pare costs to survive the global financial crisis, according to an international recruitment company boss.

Layoff plans are expected to gain momentum over the next six weeks as companies finish their budget-making exercises for the coming year, Jeffrey Joerres, chief executive of US-based Manpower, said in the Indian capital.

"Some of the companies will be acting pre-emptively (in reducing their payrolls). Even if they haven't yet been hard hit by the downturn, they'll feel they must act conservatively," Joerres told AFP in an interview.

"They'll feel they have to be responsible because they feel they can see trouble coming for their revenues and bottom lines," he said on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting, which wound up earlier this week.

"We expect the (job) situation will get much worse," he said.

The 53,000 layoffs announced by US banking giant Citigroup this week as it tightened its belt to cope with steep losses were a sign of the times, he added.

He said unemployment could hit 7.5 percent or even eight percent in the United States -- it's now at a four-year peak of 6.5 percent, already slightly higher than in the last US recession in 2003.

In Western Europe, jobless rates will also rise, he said.

French unemployment could hit 9.0 percent, up from 7.2 percent, said Joerres, who heads the world's second biggest staffing company behind Swiss-based Adecco, recruiting five million people annually in 80 countries.

Manpower, which is also feeling the impact of the crisis, reported last month it had swung to a third-quarter net loss of $43 million from a profit of $132 million in the same period a year earlier.

India, whose growth is slowing from scorching 9.0 percent levels, is beginning to feel the "pain" of the downturn, he said.

Manpower's Indian operations, which represent less than 1.0 percent of its global $21-billion business, have witnessed a 15 to 20 percent decline due to the "current meltdown," Joerres said.

India's economic growth is expected to slow to around 7.0 percent this year, and to as low as 5.5 percent the following year.

"The speed with which this downturn has happened has taken us by surprise," Joerres added.

The financial crisis has shown there is no "decoupling," he said, referring to the widespread notion that the economies of big emerging nations would be insulated from any US downturn.

"The US first felt a series of shocks but it was slower, then Europe dropped faster, now it is Japan" which has slipped into recession, he said.

"The Middle East is also facing challenges -- in Dubai, in construction for instance," he said.

"It’s all showing that no one is immune," Joerres said.

http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20081120-173318/Manpower-head-sees-big-layoffs-globally

RonnieR

November 20th, 2008, 09:01 AM

TUCP says 900 call center workers laid off
by Mayen Jaymalin Updated November 19, 2008 03:26 PM

In what could be a start of a looming mass displacement of workers due to financial crisis, about 900 workers from a business process outsourcing (BPO) company were laid off from their jobs.

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the country’s largest labor group, reported that Advanced Contact Solutions Inc. (ACS) retrenched one-fifth of its total workforce after losing a major US-based client that filed for bankruptcy.

TUCP secretary general and former senator Ernesto Herrera called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to immediately provide alternative sources of livelihood for the 900 displaced call center agents.

"The DOLE should ensure that the retrenched staff is absorbed right away by other firms to lessen the potential severance of family income," Herrera said in a statement.

Despite the displacement of call center agents, Herrera expressed optimism that such a case was isolated and not indicative of more turbulent times ahead for the local BPO industry.

"This is an extreme and exceptional case involving the loss of a key client that became insolvent. Other BPO providers here continue to grow their operations and recruit more workers, although at a much slower pace," Herrera explained.

According to HR Manager of ACS, the above story is not true. The truth is: they lost a major client in the US due to the crisis, their client filed for bankruptcy. They will not terminate their workers, just re-assignment of jobs.

Have you noticed that the article focused only the side of TUCP? There is no checking from the said company whether it is true or not. Poor journalism.

true blue ilonggo

November 20th, 2008, 02:51 PM

Iloilo ranks first among RPs ‘next wave cities’ in terms of local policies for ICT investors

November 20, 2008 4:44 pm by pna

ILOILO CITY, Nov. 20 — Iloilo ranks first among ‘next wave cities’ in the country in terms of local policies that affect investors from the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.

Iloilo Federation for Information Technology (IFIT), Inc chairman and at the same time University of the Philippines in the Visayas chancellor Glenn D. Aguilar disclosed this during the year-end assessment and planning workshop Thursday.

He was referring to the recent result of the scorecard for the Business Process Outsourcing industry undertaken by the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) among ‘next wave cities’ in the country.

The policy of the local government unit was one of the areas identified in the scorecard.

Aguilar said both the provincial and city governments of Iloilo are supportive of the initiatives of the I-FIT in making this part of the country the place of choice for ICT investors.

He cited in particular the incentives extended by both local government units (LGUs) to investors depending on the amount of investments that they will make.

The two LGUs made commitments of taking a ‘lead role in the formulation of ICT support policies, sharing government resources within its rules and regulations in the implementation of programs and projects of I-FIT and take bold initiatives to improve governance in public sector beneficial to business and industry.’

Aguilar though stressed that Iloilo has ‘more challenged in terms of producing suitable graduates for the industry’ as it ranked second to Davao in terms of talents and to Bacolod in terms of business environment.

The over-all result of the scorecard identified Iloilo as the number one ‘next wave city’ outside of Luzon.

“We are the top destination outside of Luzon so most of the companies that plan to expand to Visayas and Mindanao already know that Iloilo has a very good position when it comes to relocation of call centers,” he said. (PNA)

bitoy

November 20th, 2008, 10:09 PM

Jobs for displaced BPO workers in ACS (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20081120-173395/Jobs-for-displaced-BPO-workers-in-ACS)

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 17:46:00 11/20/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) assured jobs will be forthcoming for nearly 900 ex-workers of call center firm Advanced Contact Solutions (ACS).

In an earlier statement, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) chief Ernesto Herrera urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to address these displaced workers who were reportedly retrenched after its client PRC, a teleservices firm, declared bankruptcy.

CICT commissioner Monchito Ibrahim, however, clarified that not all of these workers were laid off.

"I've talked to the president of ACS myself and he indicated that this falls within the normal 20 percent attrition rate call centers experience every year," Ibrahim told INQUIRER.net.

The company employs around 4,000 workers spread throughout six facilities, including those located in Laguna and Batangas.

According to the TUCP, employees who lost their jobs represent one-fifth of ACS' workforce.

But Ibrahim said some of these workers have resigned voluntarily as part of the normal attrition routine in call centers.

"Our message to these people is that they should not worry because the industry still needs thousands of workers. They should be absorbed by other companies so long as they are competent," Ibrahim said.

Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) chief Oscar Sañez, meanwhile, said such "changes in our client line up" is expected because of the current global economic crisis.

"Some US companies are being acquired by other companies, some are absorbing other companies and some are undergoing major restructuring or closing," he said in an e-mail response to INQUIRER.net.

"This means some of our clients will expand rapidly as they acquire more companies, outsource more and some clients are also downsizing or even closing. The client mix will change and we are anticipating that," he said.

But companies abroad will become more pressured to outsource to cut costs and improve efficiency during the crisis, the industry executive said.

"This is a good opportunity for the Philippine government to organize a more aggressive marketing campaign and more trade missions abroad," he said.

RonnieR

November 21st, 2008, 08:21 AM

Non-voice service providers expect to prosper next year
11/21/2008 | 04:10 AM

MOST business process outsourcing (BPO) firms offering non-voice services expect 2009 to be a good year, despite a recession weighing on the industry’s biggest client, the United States.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) and Outsource2Philippines (O2P) said in a statement Thursday that their survey showed that 95% of non-voice BPO operators expect prospects next year to be at least "good."

"The survey results confirm that despite the impact of the global financial crisis on business activity in major markets, providers of non-voice outsourced business process services are optimistic that their businesses will continue to grow next year," the industry groups said.

Almost 65% of respondents said 2009 prospects are excellent to outstanding, and 30% said prospects are good.

Only 5% of respondents said 2009 business prospects are only fair, and none responded that prospects would be poor.

A total of 188 respondents participated in the survey, whose questionnaires were sent to 583 BPO executives, providing a 32% response rate. Eighty-four percent of the respondents provide non-voice outsourced services.

Sub-contracted work to the Philippines under this field include animation and graphics; back-office services like human resource administration, technology support and accounting; customer care; engineering services; financial services; and software development.
BPA/P officials declined to give more details regarding the survey, saying that details of the survey will be discussed in a presentation this December 3.

Industry groups have said that more than half of BPO services in the country are still voice services. The industry is expected to grow revenues to $9.6 billion by the end of next year, from under $7 billion by the end of 2008. - P. L. G. Montecillo, BusinessWorld

Animo

November 21st, 2008, 09:51 AM

By Veronica Uy (http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20081119-173154/Demand-for-Spanish-speakers-growing)
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 17:17:00 11/19/2008

MANILA, Philippines—There is a growing demand for bilingual Spanish and English speakers from call center and business process outsourcing (BPO) sectors in the country, the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines said Wednesday.

At the trade fair of the Joint Foreign Chambers, Emmanuel Gamboa, executive director of the Spanish chamber here, said companies like Intra Soluciones and accenture "have too many Spanish clients they do not know what to do with."

The Instituto De Cervantes, the Spanish cultural center in Manila, is constantly being requested to provide translators not just for call center jobs, but for translation of transcript of records, and medical and legal documents, said institute director Jose Rodriguez.

"Almost every day...we receive a request in writing for professionals (in the medical, engineering, and information technology sectors) who are bilingual (in Spanish and English)," he said.

Rodriguez said the demand is persistent enough to prompt the institute to create a special syllabus for the call centers and BPOs.

He said the demand has been growing, proof from the institute's end is that around 7,000 students are enrolled in its Spanish language classes for school year, 2007-2008.

Aside from Spain, Rodriguez pointed out that the US is also a market for Spanish-speaking call center agents.

Right now, he said, there are 45 million to 50 million Spanish speakers in the US, more than the 40 million population of Spain. He said it is foreseen that the US would be bilingual by 2015.

"The reality is there is a big market for Spanish speakers," he said.

Rodriguez said Portuguese-speaking Brazil has also shifted to Spanish, requiring 200,000 Spanish teachers.

"Brazil is another dimension altogether," he said.

"So learn Spanish or be left out," he added.

Jose Primo Santos, commercial and economic analyst at the Spanish embassy, said call centers and BPOs are likely to experience a boost with the global financial crisis as companies try to reduce overall cost without sacrificing efficiency.

Santos and Gamboa said that aside from call center agents, "talented" Filipino accountants, engineers, and other professionals will have a better chance at finding jobs in BPOs and consulting companies serving Spanish-speaking clients.

Recently, Gamboa said the Spanish Banco Santander acquired three banks from the US and the United Kingdom. This, he said, would require people who are fluent in both English and Spanish.

"The infrastructure (of the acquired banks) are in English and would need translation into the Spanish platform...Between the Philippines and India, which have created the infrastructure for call centers and BPOs, who do you think would (Banco Santander) prefer?" Gamboa said.

Gamboa pointed out the close cultural and historical links between the Philippines and Spain, and the many Spanish words in the Filipino language, "especially in Zamboanga where Chabacano is spoken."

Animo

November 21st, 2008, 09:52 AM

Web posted at: 11/20/2008 4:52:2
Source ::: FINANCIAL TIMES

By Roel Landingin (http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Business_News&subsection=market+news&month=November2008&file=Business_News200811204522.xml)

They might be weary from overwork but there is no rest for recruiters for call centres and outsourcing providers in the Philippines, in spite of the global economic slowdown. Unlike their counterparts in financial services or manufacturing, who can slow down as factories and banks cut jobs or freeze hiring, recruiters for offshoring companies are struggling to hire staff to serve a growing overseas client base.

“The demand for talent remains great. The industry’s growth depends on how many people we can get into it,” says Gigi Virata, research chief at the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), the outsourcing industry lobby. Outsourcing industry recruiters are not just hard at work looking for potential hires, but are busy rolling out pilot programmes to improve the quality of tertiary education and boost the number of graduates suitable for the industry.

Only 30 percent of college graduates or students are considered good enough. The industry association wants to raise this to 35-45 percent, and is helping universities include call centre and transcription training in college courses. BPAP is even planning to produce a “tele-novella” on YouTube, the internet video site, with a plot revolving around the life of call centre agents to encourage more young people to look at outsourcing jobs, according to Virata.

Though the industry pays entry-level wages that are least 50 percent higher than others, recruiting has proven harder than expected. Only a fifth of suitable candidates are willing to join, says BPAP. The industry suffers from the impression that call centre jobs are stressful and offer few chances for advancement. About 18 percent of employees leave outsourcing jobs each year.

The government is keen to promote outsourcing, where the Philippines has a competitive advantage because of its English-speaking graduates and affinity to Western legal and business culture. Last year, the gross revenue of call centres and back office support services surged by 50 percent to $4.9bn, which, along with the $14.4bn remitted by Filipinos working overseas, helped keep the country’s current account in surplus in spite of a wider trade deficit brought about by rising crude oil prices.

Gross revenues in the industry are expected to reach $6.8bn this year. BPAP has embarked on an ambitious plan to double gross revenues to $12.2bn, about a 10th of the projected global market, by 2010. But rapid growth in staffing — which soared from 100,500 in 2004 to 299,168 last year and possibly 400,000 by end-2008 — is straining traditional talent pools such as Manila’s universities. To hire and retain staff, employers are offering higher wages and perks. Poaching staff has also become more common.

About 400,000 students leave university every year, but the uneven quality of education means that call centres turn away 90-95 percent of applicants. McKinsey & Co, the consultancy, estimates that without intervention by the industry or the government, call centres and outsourcing providers will be able to hire only a third of the staff needed to double gross revenues between 2007 and 2010.

Apart from helping improve the number and quality of college graduates, the BPAP is also tapping so-called “alternative talent pools” such as mature employees and retirees. It is helping cities outside Manila build the capability to host call centres and other outsourcing facilities. It remains to be seen how the Wall Street crisis will affect US demand for outsourcing services. But human resources experts in Manila say they are seeing signs that job cuts are driving American companies to outsource back office functions or customer services to places such as the Philippines or India. “Because of the crisis, some US companies with call centre operations in the Philippines are seriously considering moving some of their finance and accounting functions too,” says Jamea Garcia, a former human resources manager at a Manila-based information technology company who now works as director for talent development at BPAP.

Staffing requirements are expected to become tougher. “Some of the services we’re seeing now are more complex than they used to be. There’s more financial analysis instead of simply bookkeeping, for example,” says Garcia. The growing demand for outsourcing staff is a boon for Marilen Kahn, a 61-year old grandmother long retired from corporate employment, who has been hired by a call centre to handle questions and complaints about telephone bills from Hispanics in the US.

Kahn says the Spanish-language unit at her call centre company — which she declines to name — has been expanding, and recently began hiring people who have learned to speak Spanish at university or cultural institutes. It used to hire only those who spoke Spanish as a second language. Neither the night work — she works from midnight to nine in the morning — nor the pressure from irate callers faze Kahn, who belongs to a dwindling number of Filipinos who are fluent in Spanish. “It helps I’m older than most of my callers. It’s easy to put them in their place,” she says with a laugh.

pomperadz@yahoo.com

November 21st, 2008, 09:58 AM

Iloilo also among RP’s
top ‘next wave cities’

Like Bacolod, Iloilo is the other city in Western Visayas that also ranks first among the Philippines’ “next wave cities” in terms of local policies that affect investors from the Information and Communications Technology sector.

University of the Philippines-Visayas Chancellor Glenn Aguilar, chairman of the Iloilo Federation for Information Technology. Inc., Aguilar said both the provincial and city governments of Iloilo are supportive of the initiatives of the I-FIT in attracting locators.

Both local government units offer incentives to investors, he said.

Aguilar announced Iloilo City’s status in the “Ten Next New Wave Cities Scorecard Ranking” for outsourcing undertaken by the Commission on Information and Communication Technology, Business Process Association of the Philippines and the Department of Trade and Industry at the year-end assessment and planning workshop of I-FIT in Iloilo City yesterday.

Earlier, Bacolod City was identified as the top city in the criterion of business environment.

Moreover, Aguilar said both the city and province of Iloilo pledged to take a lead role in the formulation of ICT support policies, sharing government resources within its rules and regulations in the implementation of programs and projects of I-FIT and take bold initiatives to improve governance in public sector beneficial to business and industry.

He said that Iloilo is more challenged in terms of producing suitable graduates for the industry as it ranked second only to Davao in terms of talents, and to Bacolod in terms of business environment.

Other criteria are infrastructure and cost of doing business.

But the over-all result of the scorecard identified Iloilo as the number one “next wave city” outside of Luzon, Aguilar said.*NLG
@VISAYAN DAILY STAR

dinabaw

November 21st, 2008, 12:11 PM

Microsoft Southern Philippines recently hosted a Microsoft Developer event in Davao. The speaker was one of the Microsoft MVPs in Davao, Mr. Rodney Jao of Lane Systems Inc.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1091/msdndavaola8.png

^^

Microsoft in support of local business

by Blogie • 20 November 2008

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/7426/mslsiseminar20081119rw1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Yesterday, Microsoft’s Development & Platform Evangelism (DPE) group, in partnership with Lane Systems Inc. (LSI), held a long-overdue educational event in Davao City for the benefit of local software developers. According to Rodney Jao, president of LSI, the last time that Microsoft held an official event in the city was almost two years ago.

The seminar, held at the Grand Men Seng Hotel from 1:30 to 4:30 PM, focused on developing business applications for Windows Mobile, presented by Jao, who is a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) for Device Applications Development. In attendance were representatives of corporate IT departments and independent software companies, as well as freelance programmers and students.
Rodney Jao on MS Windows Mobile

Judging by their positive reactions, participants of the seminar appreciated not only the expert delivery of the seminar’s content, but the content itself. Key points of Jao’s presentation were: new features of Microsoft’s development platforms, trends in mobile applications, the business aspect of developing and deploying mobile applications.

‘Mobile application’ refers to software programs built for portable devices such as mobile phones and other handheld gadgets. Jao also announced the availability of the new Internet Explorer Mobile 6, which is now ready for download.

Representing Microsoft Philippines were Ma. Angelica Radan, who heads product and audience marketing, and George Parrilla, who is a partner account manager based out of Cebu.

Radan announced that Davao City would be the venue of a Developer Days event early next year. “DevDays” is a uniquely Microsoft brand of getting IT professionals together in high-tech and interactive educational sessions, and where this software giant’s new and emerging technologies are unveiled. More details of this major undertaking will be announced here in the near future.

Another welcome development is Microsoft’s stance in supporting local companies through the provision of affordable business software. Yes, that’s right: affordable Microsoft products. These are not stripped-down versions of Microsoft Office or SequelServer or any such ploy. Radan explains that MS Philippines is offering their industry-strength development applications at ridiculously low rates in order to help startups grow their business.

Radan expounded further that the real objective is to help improve local economies by strengthening the IT industry, particularly the software development sector. By encouraging the development of local talent, she explained, this sector will be able to gainfully contribute to the strengthening of the Philippine economy. As can be seen in their educational thrusts, MS Philippines “is becoming very aggressive in evangelizing new technologies that can help the economy by developing technical skills,” Radan said.

This “local software economy initiative” is called BizSpark. For only US$100, SMITEs (small and medium IT enterprises) will be able to avail of licenses for Microsoft’s development tools, operating systems, even MS Office®. Eligible to apply for this offering are startup IT companies (i.e., less than 3 years in existence) with an operating capitalization of not more than Php1.5 million. Also, interested companies must be nominated and sponsored by a Microsoft network partner.

In Davao City, the Association of Solution Integrators in Davao (ASID) is in talks with MS Philippines to become the local network partner here. ASID shares Microsoft’s conviction in developing the local economy through information technology, and is committed to buttressing the software sector.

BizSpark will be launched on 11 December 2008. ASID will be entertaining applications to this initiative soon after. More details on this as we finalize arrangements with MS Philippines. Yours truly is the executive director of ASID, and will be making sure that Davao IT companies benefit from this program.
* * *

Speaking of marketing, here’s something that might be of interest: Ned and Ardy Roberto releases marketing business solutions book.

IT Talks (http://www.ittalks.net/2008/11/20/microsoft-in-support-of-local-business/)

true blue ilonggo

November 22nd, 2008, 05:34 PM

ICT industry brings P30M monthly cash inflow to Iloilo city

November 21, 2008 3:44 pm by pna

ILOILO CITY, Nov. 21 - Investment from the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry in Iloilo have boosted business activities here with some P30 million worth of cash inflow projected to be circulating in the city.

This was disclosed by Trade and Industry provincial director Wilhelm Malones as he cited that various business process outsourcing companies and software developers operating here have already provided jobs to some 3,000 people.

This means also, according to Malones, that the sunshine industry has been benefiting some 12,000 individuals every month should each of the employee happen to support four members of their family.

"These are just some of the initial figures that we have as far as the benefits provided by this sector are concerned," he said.

Malones also lauded members of the Iloilo Federation for Information Technology (IFTI), Inc. for helping in making Iloilo as one of the most sought after relocation sites among business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in the country. (PNA)

-TC-

November 23rd, 2008, 04:48 PM

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20081123-173922/BPOs-shifting-to-high-value-services

BPOs shifting to high-value services
By Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
11/23/2008

THE LOCAL business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is set to shift its resources toward higher-value services next year as the global financial crisis takes its toll on traditional markets.

According to the results of a recent survey, the BPO sector sees "good to outstanding" prospects for so-called "non-voice" services.

The survey was conducted by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) and Outsource2Philippines (O2P) and managed by strategic marketing communications firm TeamAsia.

The results showed that 65 percent of respondents felt that the prospects for 2009 were "excellent to outstanding." Another 30 percent said prospects for next year were good, while only 5 percent said the business outlook would only be "fair."

None of the respondents--all officials of BPA/P member-firms--responded that prospects would be "poor."

The survey results come amid fears of a sharp downturn in the industry on which the government is banking to keep the unemployment rate at manageable levels.

BPO industry officials estimate that as many as 400,000 will be employed by the sector by the end of 2008, although many concede that the government goal of having a million call center workers nationwide by 2010 will be difficult to achieve.

The combined gross revenues of Philippine-based BPO firms are expected to hit $6.8 billion this year, up from $4.9 billion in 2007.

Together with an estimated $14 billion in remittances from expatriate Filipinos, the industry is a vital source of foreign exchange for the country.

According to BPA/P, the survey results confirm that "despite the impact of the global financial crisis on business activity in major markets, providers of non-voice outsourced business process services are optimistic that their businesses will continue to grow next year."

A total of 188 respondents participated in the survey, which was sent to 583 BPO executives, providing a 32-percent response rate.

Eighty-four percent of respondents provide non-voice outsourced business process services.

Non-voice business process services include animation and graphics, back-office services such as HR administration and accounting, customer care, engineering services, financial services, software development and other services and tech support.

Most respondents (91 percent) said the value added of their services was moderate, high, or very high, indicating that most non-voice BPO services provided in the Philippines are at least reasonably sophisticated.

-TC-

November 23rd, 2008, 04:50 PM

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20081123-173921/Citigroup-to-expand-workforce-in-RP

Citigroup to expand workforce in RP
Outsourcing expansion seen creating 1,000 new jobs
By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
11/23/2008

WHILE AMERICAN financial giant Citigroup is streamlining across the globe, it expects to create about 1,000 new jobs and triple its workforce in the Philippines next year, picking the country as a regional hub for business process outsourcing (BPO).

"Citi is repositioning in Asia-Pacific but we remain focused on growth. As we review our operations and where we can be more efficient, something which we have been doing even before the downtrend in the global financial markets, we in the Philippines are optimistic that instead of reducing head count, we will be growing," Citibank country business manager Mark Jones said.

Jones said Citibank had a staff of about 500 in the country and would likely hire an additional 1,000 in the coming year as part of plans to build processing centers and expand its domestic banking business.

"We expect the Philippines to be a preferred location for regional hubs or center of excellence because of superior skilled workers and attractive labor costs," Jones said.

"From call centers to financial reporting and service centers, there's a whole lot of activity moving to the Philippines," he said.

Citigroup announced in New York last week plans to cut more than 50,000 jobs or about 14 percent of its workforce to weather the lingering global financial market turbulence.

Jones said the bank obviously could not keep all of its existing staff in the Philippines, where the bank was investing heavily in systems and processes to make operations more efficient.

"Inevitably, if you go through change as we upgrade our systems, as systems get automated, that happens," he said when asked about potential lay-offs.

But overall, he said the bank would hire more people in the Philippines as Citigroup's global restructuring would require the expansion of regional BPO hubs.

"We are repositioning globally, doing what we have to do now that the markets are not functioning normally," Jones said.

Asked about the bank's outlook for next year, he said: "It's going to be a tough year globally. In the Philippines, it doesn't feel it's safe yet but we're certainly preparing for it."

"We haven't really seen it impact the consumer but we're preparing for it," he added.

Wall Street was filled with speculation on Friday that the New York-based Citigroup may now consider selling part or all of its shares to hurdle the global financial turmoil.

Igsuonnimo

November 24th, 2008, 08:56 AM

BPOs shifting to high-value services

By Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer (http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20081123-173922/BPOs-shifting-to-high-value-services)
First Posted 18:33:00 11/23/2008

THE LOCAL business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is set to shift its resources toward higher-value services next year as the global financial crisis takes its toll on traditional markets.

According to the results of a recent survey, the BPO sector sees "good to outstanding" prospects for so-called "non-voice" services.

The survey was conducted by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and Outsource2Philippines (O2P) and managed by strategic marketing communications firm TeamAsia.

The results showed that 65 percent of respondents felt that the prospects for 2009 were "excellent to outstanding." Another 30 percent said prospects for next year were good, while only 5 percent said the business outlook would only be "fair."

None of the respondents--all officials of BPA/P member-firms--responded that prospects would be "poor."

The survey results come amid fears of a sharp downturn in the industry on which the government is banking to keep the unemployment rate at manageable levels.

BPO industry officials estimate that as many as 400,000 will be employed by the sector by the end of 2008, although many concede that the government goal of having a million call center workers nationwide by 2010 will be difficult to achieve.

The combined gross revenues of Philippine-based BPO firms are expected to hit $6.8 billion this year, up from $4.9 billion in 2007.

Together with an estimated $14 billion in remittances from expatriate Filipinos, the industry is a vital source of foreign exchange for the country.

According to BPA/P, the survey results confirm that "despite the impact of the global financial crisis on business activity in major markets, providers of non-voice outsourced business process services are optimistic that their businesses will continue to grow next year."

A total of 188 respondents participated in the survey, which was sent to 583 BPO executives, providing a 32-percent response rate.

Eighty-four percent of respondents provide non-voice outsourced business process services.

Non-voice business process services include animation and graphics, back-office services such as HR administration and accounting, customer care, engineering services, financial services, software development and other services and tech support.

Most respondents (91 percent) said the value added of their services was moderate, high, or very high, indicating that most non-voice BPO services provided in the Philippines are at least reasonably sophisticated.

RonnieR

November 24th, 2008, 09:22 AM

keith1127

November 24th, 2008, 05:20 PM

^probably those 50,000 jobs aren't related to BPO.

Juan Pilgrim

November 24th, 2008, 07:02 PM

g0Rs

November 24th, 2008, 07:29 PM

http://www.iligan.gov.ph/images/stories/banners/ictsummit.gif
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h117/Alingatong/SSC/ict1.jpg

National ICT summit to focus on local ICTs’ competitiveness enhancement
Written by Bong Garcia Jr. / Correspondent
Monday, 24 November 2008 20:51

The scheduled two-day first national summit of information and communication technology (ICT) councils will focus on the local ICT councils and foundations’ competitiveness enhancement in the business-processing outsourcing (BPO) industry.

The summit is scheduled to be held today and Wednesday, November 25 and 26, at the Maria Cristina Hotel in Iligan City, and which was organized by the Iligan Information and Communications Technology Council (IICTC, or Iligan eCouncil), Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) and the Iligan City Chamber of Commerce with support from the United States Agency for International Development’s Growth with Equity in Mindanao Program.

IICTC chairman Dr. Emmanuel Lagare said the two-day event is expected to lead to the formation of a National ICT Council to serve as an umbrella for networking and coordinating the activities of local organizations.

“These councils have sprung up outside Metro Manila and Cebu, in areas which seek to attract BPO investment as the industry expands,” Lagare added.

He noted that local ICT councils and foundations have proliferated in cities and municipalities across the country in response to the rapid development of the BPO sector.

He said successful public-private partnerships in ICT development in different regions of the Philippines, as well as labor requirements for BPO operations, will be presented in the plenary sessions.

He said there will also be in-depth analyses of the “next wave cities” of Cebu, Iloilo, Bicol and Davao, which have been identified by the Business- Process Outsourcing Association (BPAP) of the Philippines as “attractive locations around the country that have the potential to host an ICT ecosystem by leveraging on local talent and infrastructure.”

He added that urban centers with promising labor pools and expanding infrastructure, such as the cities of General Santos, Zamboanga and Iligan, are already gearing up for inclusion in the succeeding tier of “next wave cities.”

Iligan City houses one of the country’s top technical schools, the Iligan Institute of Technology, on its Mindanao State University (MSU) campus.

After the two-day summit, the participants will also visit the MSU campus and popular tourist spots in Iligan City, such as Tinago Falls, Ma. Cristina Nature Park and the Timoga Spring Pools.

businessmirror.com.ph (http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2402:national-ict-summit-to-focus-on-local-icts-competitiveness-enhancement&catid=33:economy&Itemid=60)

RonnieR

November 25th, 2008, 06:26 AM

Outsourcing: The wave of the future
TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS By Babe Romualdez Updated November 25, 2008 12:00 AM

Citing urgent and extraordinary steps they have taken to strengthen economic growth, leaders who attended the two-day APEC Summit in Peru believe the global crisis will be over in 18 months. The simmering resentment between China and the US showed, however, with Bush pleading for world leaders to sustain free and open market policies, which was in stark contrast to Hu Jintao’s cutting remark that “a new international order” called for “fair and just” – meaning better – regulations to prevent a repeat of the financial meltdown. Nevertheless, the overall sentiment was positive particularly with most everyone agreeing this is not the time for countries to adopt “over protectionist” measures.

This should offer some measure of hope for the Philippines considering that substantial cut-downs are expected on its number one export – our overseas Filipino workers or OFWs. OFWs have been almost single-handedly keeping the economy afloat with their billion dollar remittances. Despite the crisis, the Bangko Sentral disclosed that a monthly inflow of around $1 billion is still sustainable for the rest of 2008 until 2009. Remittances from January to September this year reached $12.3 billion, or an increase of 17.1 percent over the same period last year.

The Department of Labor and Employment had earlier predicted a worst-case scenario where up to 50,000 OFWs could lose their jobs due to the US financial crisis, but recent reports from DOLE and NEDA show a bleaker picture with the prospect of hundreds of thousands of OFWs losing their jobs.

Surprisingly, a bright spot comes from the business process outsourcing industry with news that Citigroup has chosen the Philippines as a regional BPO hub and will be employing an additional 1,000 employees by next year. A Citibank executive confirmed there will be a lot of employment opportunities for the Philippines from call centers to financial reporting and service centers, among others.

The local BPO sector is apparently optimistic that prospects will continue to be good for the industry particularly for “non-voice” services such as animation and graphics, accounting and other back-office services, software development and other technical support services. By the end of 2008, an estimated 400,000 will be employed by the BPO industry, whose gross revenues are expected to reach $6.8 billion this year, or an increase of $1.9 billion over 2007 revenues.While the local outsourcing industry may not hit its projected target of employing one million workers by 2010, this is still an upside considering that India, the world’s biggest outsourcing center, is reportedly headed for a “flat to negative growth” and may even cut down as many as 50,000 jobs. Countries with a substantial number of call center workers have become jittery with US President-elect Barack Obama’s statements that tax breaks will not be given to US companies shipping jobs overseas.

Analysts, however, believe the statement was mere “rhetoric” and that it was more in the context of manufacturing jobs, and will not likely affect the offshore business. Analysts say the US will soon come to realize that it will need to cut costs to effect a quick economic recovery – and outsourcing is a major factor in cost-cutting.

In 2006, India’s revenue from the outsourcing industry was estimated at $11 billion, with projections that it could reach $30 billion by 2012. The Philippines is acknowledged to be the second biggest off-shoring center after India. Government and the private sector must work together to strengthen the great potential of the local BPO industry, since this will bring in billions of dollar revenues without Filipinos needing to leave the country. While OFW remittances have continued to shore up our economy, more often than not the billions of dollars they send home come at great cost to their families.

One astute businessman told me that for every business turmoil, there is always an opportunity. When the BPO sector was just starting, it was hailed as the Philippines’ sunshine industry, and with good reason. Today, it is shaping up not only as the proverbial silver lining behind dark economic clouds – but more importantly, it is turning up to be the wave of the future.

***

Email: babe_tcb@yahoo.com

urban Iegend

November 25th, 2008, 06:48 AM

Teletech Co. soon to open branch office in Tacloban city
http://leytesamardaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5195&Itemid=233
TACLOBAN CITY - City Mayor Alfred Romualdez revealed that one of the biggest call center companies of United States is set to establish its branch in the city.

The Teletech Company is to put up its offices near the soon to open Robinson’s Mall with an initial work force of 700, Romualdez said.

“The coming of the Teletech in the city could well provide employment for our people. They will initially hire 700 people for their first operations,” the city mayor added.

Romualdez, however, could not say as to how much investments the company would be bringing in to the city for its business operations here.

The Teletech is said to build its own offices after the construction of the Robinsons Mall is completed. The Robinsons Mall, which is located along Marasbaras area, is projected to open for business early next year.

The opening of one of the country’s biggest mall operators in the city is also expected to generate employment.

If this would materialized, the Teletech, one of the leading global business processing outsources, would be the second to relocate in the region. Earlier, the APAC Customer Services is also set to start its operations at the Palo- based Leyte Academic Center with an initial work force of about 700.

Based on its website, the Teletech Company offers its services to complex customer management; direct sales and marketing; recruitment, staffing and workforce management and loan processing, among others.

It has been in operations in the country for years now with branches in Metro Manila, Cebu, Bacolod and Davao cities. It also operates in 16 other countries aside from the United States.

Mayor Romualdez said that during his initial talks with the officials of the Teletech, he made it a point to give priority applicants from the city.

“In fact, I am coordinating with our council members to draw an ordinance wherein establishments doing business in the city will hire or give priority those coming from the city,” he said.

The city mayor said that companies like the Teletech would not find any problem in hiring people for their operations. “We have the right people here. In fact, I was informed by the Teletech (officials) that many of their personnel came from here,” Romualdez said.

Meantime, Mayor Romualdez said that he expects more and more investors would be relocating in the city in the next few years.

“I can see that the growth of Tacloban will be tremendous in the next 10 to 15 years,” he said.
Thus, he said, this early, his administration is laying the necessary plans to make Tacloban more competitive. (JOEY A. GABIETA)

RonnieR

November 25th, 2008, 11:41 AM

MANILA, Philippines - StarTek, a US-based business process outsourcing (BPO) company, will be hiring an estimated 1,000 employees for its newly-opened Makati City facility.

The company, which began its local operations last month, said it is looking for approximately 400 workers, after hiring 200 people. New hires will be trained under a development program which will help workers build lasting relationships with customers.

Besides recruiting top coaches and team leaders, the company has also hired operations managers, ensuring its start-up and current operations, Susan Padley, StarTek Philippines general manager, said in a statement.

“We initially started recruiting in a small, temporary development office but still fulfilled our goal of hiring our entire pioneer management team," Padley said.

The company’s culture—open-door policies for employees, among others—makes it successful in recruiting agents, Padley said.

“We bring to the Philippines the people-first culture that has enabled us to build a strong, loyal workforce over 21 years and it is just as appreciated here as it has been in North America," said Padley.

To provide a work-life balance, StarTek offers employees opportunities to participate in fitness programs, sports tournaments, and personal interest focused clubs.

StarTek “treats everyone with respect, and if someone has something to say, we definitely want to hear it," Padley added.

The company runs 21 facilities in the United States and the Philippines. - GMANews.TV

-TC-

November 25th, 2008, 02:50 PM

bacolodchamp

November 26th, 2008, 01:52 AM

^^^^^^good morning, maayong aga sa tanan... :banana::banana::banana:

Corporate News
JPMorgan Chase eyes ’next wave’ cities for outsourcing arm

THE BUSINESS process outsourcing (BPO) unit of global banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. is looking at expanding outside Metro Manila and tapping so-called next wave cities for its subcontracting business.

The company said it was considering Bacolod, Baguio, Cebu and Iloilo, which will complement existing sites in Makati City.

"We are exploring second city options," JPMorgan Chase Vice-President Barry E. Marshall told a forum yesterday. "Just like any other [BPO] company in the Philippines, we’re looking at the next wave cities," he added.

Last year, the government and Business Processing Association of the Philippines released a list of cities outside the metropolis that can best support the growth of the BPO sector.

Mr. Marshall said outsourcing offices outside Metro Manila would provide "contingency coverage" during an emergency.

He said having sites far from each other would allow the company transfer vital parts of its operations to different areas and ensure business continuity.

JPMorgan earlier said it would continue expanding here despite mounting concerns about a recession in the US. It said it would expand its card service operations to 2,400 employees by yearend. The company’s Manila branch now has 2,700 employees. It’s recently opened call center in Taguig has 1,400 seats.

JPMorgan is one of several global financial giants that have started to subcontract more work to the Philippines.

Last month, the American Insurance Group’s outsourcing arm, AIG Business Processing Services, Inc., said it would more than double its employee base to about 3,000 with the opening of its new Alabang site in December, from 1,200 employees today.

Other banks that plan to expand their BPO operations are Citigroup and the German Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd.

"We know how significant the BPO industry in the Philippines is, and we are very bullish [about] it," Mr. Marshall said.

Aside from the Philippines, the company also has BPO operations in India, where it employs more than 10,000.

The company’s Manila office focuses on customer services for its credit card, home and auto financing businesses.

Also yesterday, executives from other BPOs attending the same forum shared JPMorgan’s optimism for the industry.

Ma. Christina G. Coronel, president of information technology BPO company Pointwest Technologies Corp., said the company had not experienced a significant slowdown in business activity. "The outlook is still quite positive."

Last month, the company opened a P70-million, 2,600-square meter site, its second in the country. Like its older site in Makati, the new Quezon City office will employ 500 workers.

Pointwest is seeking to increase revenues by around a third this year to $14.5 million.

Like Pointwest, Accenture Philippines has yet to be affected by the slowing global economy, senior executive Mike Masterson said.

"We haven’t noticed any significant slowdown [as a result of the crisis]," he said. Accenture has more than 1,000 employees nationwide, serving clients primarily from the US.

The Philippines wants to corner a 10% share of the projected $130-billion BPO market by 2010. BPO was a $3.3-billion industry as of 2007, with 120 companies employing at least 200,000 workers. — Paolo Luis G. Montecillo

http://www.bworldonline.com/BW112608/content.php?id=042

^^^^

Ic3

November 26th, 2008, 07:26 AM

Thanks dinabaw :okay:

Here's another good news:

Software Freedom Day 2008 - competition results! (http://sf-day.org/Competition2008)

Following a highly successful SFD 2008 - with 50% more teams registered than in 2007 - we are pleased to announce the winners of the competition for the best event:

* FOSS Nepal Community (team leader Subir Pradhanang) - team report PDF 7.4MB
* SFD Nicaragua (team leader Leandro Gomez) - team report 1.6MB
* DabaweGNU (team leader Holden Hao) - team report

Congratulations to these teams, and many thanks to Subir, Leandro and Holden for leading their events and telling the world about their how it went!

Each team will be receiving a prize of a pair of OLPC laptops.

The winning entries were selected for the scope of their SFD activities, the number of people reached (particularly from the wider, non-technical community) and the quality of the reporting. However we received many high quality entries - a total of almost fifty submissions - and special mention also goes to:

* Guyana (team leader Vidyaratha Kissoon) - team report
* Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (Dev Anand Teelucksingh) - team report
* freeIT (team leader Mylene Sereno) - team report

Thank you to all teams (over 500 teams in almost 90 countries) for their efforts in making SFD 2008 such a great success, and don't forget to put Saturday 19 Septermber 2009 in your calendars! To make sure you don't miss out on registration, make sure that you are subscribed to the SFD-announce mailing list.

=======

Here's a link of the SFD2008 activities here in Davao: http://www.dabawegnu.org/Members/holden/software-freedom-day-2008

kiretoce

November 30th, 2008, 01:04 AM

Post away folks! :colgate:

bartstrife99

November 30th, 2008, 08:15 AM

Ok Let me post 1st New's

RP's top 25 contact centers post P68.5B revenue for 2007

The country's 25 leading operators reported P68.5 billion, or $1.67 billion, in aggregate revenues last year, House information and communications technology committee chair Joseph Santiago said Sunday.

The P68.5 billion in combined revenues translated to $1.67 billion at the end of the 2007 exchange rate of $1: P41.14.

"This gives us a better sense as to how large the contact center sector, which is driving the broader business process outsourcing industry, has become," he said in a statement.

According to Santiago, this was the first time that they have managed to put together reported revenues from the largest players in the contact center sector.

He pointed out, however, that the amount does not cover the entire contact sector. Because their 2007 revenues were not readily available, other companies were not included in the list.

The following are the top 25 contact center operators and their corresponding revenues for 2007:

1.eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. (P7.1 billion);
2. Sykes Asia Inc. (P6.4 billion);
3. PeopleSupport Philippines Inc. (P6.1 billion);
4. Convergys Philippines Services Corp. (P6 billion);
5. HSBC Electronic Data Processing Philippines Inc. (P3.6 billion);
6. ICT Marketing Services Inc. (P3.6 billion);
7. Telus International Philippines Inc. (P3.3 billion);
8. IBM Business Services Inc. (P2.7 billion);
9. Advanced Contact Solutions Inc. (P2.6 billion);
10. Telephilippines Inc. (P2.5 billion);
11. ClientLogic Corp. (P2.5 billion);
12. Dell International Services Philippines Inc. (P2.4 billion);
13. INFONXX Philippines Inc. (P2.3 billion);
14. Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd. (P2 billion);
15. Cyber City Teleservices Philippines Inc. (P1.9 billion);
16. APAC Customer Services Inc. (P1.8 billion);
17. Parlance Systems Inc. (P1.6 billion);
18. JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. Philippine Customer Care Center (P1.5 billion);
19. ePerformax Contact Centers Corp. (P1.5 billion);
20. Sitel Customer Care Philippines Inc. (P1.4 billion);
21. West Contact Services Inc. (P1.3 billion);
22. Hinduja TMT Ltd. (P1.2 billion);
23. Sutherland Global Services Philippines Inc. (P1.1 billion);
24. Synnex-Concentrix Corp. (P1.1 billion);
25. Vocativ Systems Inc. (P1 billion).

as of 11/30/2008 1:21 PM

teresa1

December 1st, 2008, 04:25 AM

wag na tayung umasa diyan sa call center na yan..e ang daming pilipinong may sakit..ang dami rin nating nurse..bakit di tayo mag create ng employment sa health sector..magtayo ang gobyerno ng marami pang ospital at gamutin yung may sakit na pilipino

nag trabaho na ko diyan sa mga call centre,puro kabobohan lang yan..yung isa kung company, Marcus Evans sa Makati, trato samin parang slave labor, may oras lahat ng bagay, kala ng iba porket naka kurbata sila di na sila alipin. Yung boss naming Indian Malaysian dyinudyugdyug yung mga team leader na babae pati yung big boss. Puro kababuyan lang.

amigo32

December 1st, 2008, 04:37 AM

hehehehe, masama ang karanasan ni Ate sa call center:D hindi ka puede maging callgirl pala:D

ang dami kayang callboy dito na mukhang nag eenjoy namn sa pagbababoy sa kanila, este sa pagpapatrabaho sa kanila:D

Ang pambababoy ibang kaso na yan, isumbong mo kay tulfo:D

c0kelitr0

December 1st, 2008, 05:28 AM

kiretoce

December 1st, 2008, 06:39 AM

wag na tayung umasa diyan sa call center na yan..e ang daming pilipinong may sakit..ang dami rin nating nurse..bakit di tayo mag create ng employment sa health sector..magtayo ang gobyerno ng marami pang ospital at gamutin yung may sakit na pilipino

It's better than nothing at all, think about that before you mouth off your ill feelings about the industry. And not everyone's experience is the same as yours. You probably just aren't as lucky as the people that had their careers and income brackets advance compared to the stagnation you were in. Also, it takes a certain person with a certain type of personality to be able to work in jobs like that, have you ever thought that you weren't the right fit for it?

Now about our nation's healthcare industry; yes, there is much left to be desired and they are tackling the problems head-on. It's just people like you that complains a lot and criticize people in power but aren't lifting a finger to help the situation. So here's a piece of advise; put up, or shut up!

hehehehe, masama ang karanasan ni Ate sa call center:D hindi ka puede maging callgirl pala:D

Now that really cracked me up! :rofl:

But then, who knows, she might be really good at it and may very well excell in "the world's oldest profession." ;)

bartstrife99

December 1st, 2008, 01:46 PM

wag na tayung umasa diyan sa call center na yan..e ang daming pilipinong may sakit..ang dami rin nating nurse..bakit di tayo mag create ng employment sa health sector..magtayo ang gobyerno ng marami pang ospital at gamutin yung may sakit na pilipino

nag trabaho na ko diyan sa mga call centre,puro kabobohan lang yan..yung isa kung company, Marcus Evans sa Makati, trato samin parang slave labor, may oras lahat ng bagay, kala ng iba porket naka kurbata sila di na sila alipin. Yung boss naming Indian Malaysian dyinudyugdyug yung mga team leader na babae pati yung big boss. Puro kababuyan lang.

Ang lupit naman nung Indiano na yun mahilig bumayo baka naman gusto.. siguro si ate isa na duon ooopsss sorry just joking

le Reine

December 1st, 2008, 05:11 PM

wag na tayung umasa diyan sa call center na yan..e ang daming pilipinong may sakit..ang dami rin nating nurse..bakit di tayo mag create ng employment sa health sector..magtayo ang gobyerno ng marami pang ospital at gamutin yung may sakit na pilipino

nag trabaho na ko diyan sa mga call centre,puro kabobohan lang yan..yung isa kung company, Marcus Evans sa Makati, trato samin parang slave labor, may oras lahat ng bagay, kala ng iba porket naka kurbata sila di na sila alipin. Yung boss naming Indian Malaysian dyinudyugdyug yung mga team leader na babae pati yung big boss. Puro kababuyan lang.What on Earth?!?! Ang masasabi ko lang as if mga pinoy hindi rin ganito. Talk about hasty generalization and stereotyping. :lol:

dancethingy

December 1st, 2008, 06:31 PM

C'mon Teresa, tell me how you REALLY feel.

wag na tayung umasa diyan sa call center na yan..e ang daming pilipinong may sakit..ang dami rin nating nurse..bakit di tayo mag create ng employment sa health sector..magtayo ang gobyerno ng marami pang ospital at gamutin yung may sakit na pilipino

nag trabaho na ko diyan sa mga call centre,puro kabobohan lang yan..yung isa kung company, Marcus Evans sa Makati, trato samin parang slave labor, may oras lahat ng bagay, kala ng iba porket naka kurbata sila di na sila alipin. Yung boss naming Indian Malaysian dyinudyugdyug yung mga team leader na babae pati yung big boss. Puro kababuyan lang.

leechtat

December 1st, 2008, 06:57 PM

haha... @teresa1, let's be realistic here... the bpo (call center's are not the only services under the bpo industry)

bpo jobs provide a steady stream of income to many filipino families. so why shun them? we should help educate more filipinos to access these jobs.

also, do you believe that the country has the poorest health-care system? surely not, but it does need improvement. now, even if they create health care jobs, how much do you think the government can pay these people let alone the generation of funds to construct such hospitals? unless, these hospitals will be under a bto contract and shall be handled by a foreign firm. but it will result on escalating medical fees for such firms to recoup their costs....

seriously, are you serious?!

kevinb

December 1st, 2008, 07:22 PM

teresa1

December 2nd, 2008, 07:41 AM

It's better than nothing at all, think about that before you mouth off your ill feelings about the industry. And not everyone's experience is the same as yours. You probably just aren't as lucky as the people that had their careers and income brackets advance compared to the stagnation you were in. Also, it takes a certain person with a certain type of personality to be able to work in jobs like that, have you ever thought that you weren't the right fit for it?

Now about our nation's healthcare industry; yes, there is much left to be desired and they are tackling the problems head-on. It's just people like you that complains a lot and criticize people in power but aren't lifting a finger to help the situation. So here's a piece of advise; put up, or shut up!

Now that really cracked me up! :rofl:

But then, who knows, she might be really good at it and may very well excell in "the world's oldest profession." ;)

ang bastos mo naman magsalita, kalalaki mong tao pinepersonal mo yung opinyon na hindi ka sangayon..teka baka di ka naman talaga lalaki

better than nothing???

yan ang takbo ng utak ng mga taong halos walang utak... kung lahat ganyan ang takbo ng isip, papano natin lalabanan yung exploitation ???

sigurado kung buhay ka nung panahun ng hapon, sasabihin mo it's better na mag collaborate tayo sa hapon kesa labanan sila !!

mga pilipinong walang yagballs na katulad mo ang dahilan kaya di umuunlad yung bansa natin...

:lol:

teresa1

December 2nd, 2008, 07:47 AM

aww, wawa ka naman kung ganun. still, having them is better than nothing.

yes, madaming pilipinong may sakit, most of them can't even afford magpahospital.

heto, ive dated a nurse who has been working in a private hospital for almost a year now. WALANG SWELDO while under probation. sa sobrang daming nurse, desperate lahat ng nurse magka-experience lang ng work, kahit walang sweldo, papatulan.

i asked him bakit di sya magreklamo? wala man lang allowance? sabi nya, madaming nurses naka-pending ang application. kung magrereklamo lang sya, di sya paghihinayangang tanggalin ng hospital na yun. :bash:

e panu yung child labor??? better than nothing rin???

kala ko sasabihin mo dun sa na date mo na yung may trabaho na walang sweldo is better than nothing (walang trabaho)

wawa naman yung mga taong mababaw ang pagiisip

teresa1

December 2nd, 2008, 07:52 AM

^^^^

ang dami na talagang makapili dito sa bansa na to!!! nagiba lang sila ng anyo!! pati kababayan nila na nagsusumbong babastusin mapagtangol lang nila yung paniniwala nila na pera lang ng dayuhan ang makakapagsalba sa kanila

hay naku, mahirap makipagtalo sa mga taong walang sariling pagiisip, kala nila yung mga nababasa nila sa mga Time magazine yun na

:lol::lol::lol:

puro mga bobing

:lol:

kiretoce

December 2nd, 2008, 07:53 AM

^^ And what makes you oh so high and mighty to belittle people that makes an honest living by working in callcenters? If I don't know any better you're just one pathetic lowlife that isn't even worth a damn, and trying to bring others down to the pond scum level that you're at because you can't stomach the progress and advancement of other people that succeeded in the industry. So before you say something bad against a whole workforce that is providing a vital service to the global economy, take a look at yourself because success comes from within, apparently you're severely lacking in that.

You've stated your opinion. Now I'm stating mine. If you can't handle it then take your sorry ass and shove it!

teresa1

December 2nd, 2008, 07:55 AM

^^^^

ows, sige na, relak ka lang, baka nagwawala ka na diyan, iniiba mo yung usapan, nilalabanan nga namin yung exploitation ng mga call center employees...e ikaw na makapili ang nagsasabing it's better than nothing

kiretoce

December 2nd, 2008, 07:57 AM

^^ You're not even worth it to go balistic on.

Maxxclip

December 2nd, 2008, 08:21 AM

nakakagulat naman ang mga balitaktakan dito..:lol: masyadong hot as in hotzzzzzzzzzzzz....

@teresa, tama ka, madami talagang pagkukulang ang gobyerno pagdating sa mga programang pangkalusugan:D lalo na kung pupunta ka sa mga isla o nayon na hindi gaanong naaabot ng transportasyon.

pero Mali ang sinabi mong Huwag na tayong umasa sa BPO dahil ako man ay dyan nagsimula pagkatapos ko'ng makapagtapos ng kolehiyo;) -btw...thanks to citigroup:D

ang callcenter ang nagsisilbing mirror o salamin ng mga bagong graduates... ito ang magsasabi sayo kung gaano o haggang saan ang inunlad ng iyong kaalaman sa lingguaheng ingles;) kaya yung mga hindi natanggap..kadalasang/kalimitang pumupunta sila sa mga training center na affiliated sa mga bigating call center para muling hasain ang ingles/ English comprehension nila.

without these outsourcing companies... baka madami lalo ang naka-standby sa kalye:D

kung may positive side ang call center,, syempre may negative side din ito...isa na din siguro yung sinabi mo pero may solusyon pa rin dyan -ipwede mo naman silang i-reklamo.

ang pagtatrabaho sa gabi ay naghahatid ng mga kumplekasyon/ complication sa ating kalusugan.

prone sa disgrasya lalo na sa mga "nigh shifter".

pero very minimal.

Askal82

December 2nd, 2008, 08:23 AM

wag na tayung umasa diyan sa call center na yan..e ang daming pilipinong may sakit..ang dami rin nating nurse..bakit di tayo mag create ng employment sa health sector..magtayo ang gobyerno ng marami pang ospital at gamutin yung may sakit na pilipino

nag trabaho na ko diyan sa mga call centre,puro kabobohan lang yan..yung isa kung company, Marcus Evans sa Makati, trato samin parang slave labor, may oras lahat ng bagay, kala ng iba porket naka kurbata sila di na sila alipin. Yung boss naming Indian Malaysian dyinudyugdyug yung mga team leader na babae pati yung big boss. Puro kababuyan lang.

Seriously, where is the government going to get all the funding to build your hospitals, maintain its daily operations and provide salaries to the health workers?

habagatcentral1

December 2nd, 2008, 08:54 AM

Ganito kasimple.

If kaya mo....go for the job.
If di mo kayang mag-call center at may choice ka...get out and leave.
If di mo kaya mag-call center pero kinakailangan...kelangang magtiis.
If inaabuso ka...magreklamo ka...if magreklamo ka, dapat di lamang sa salita kundi pati na rin sa gagawin.

If mawawala ang call center, anong alternatibo ang ipagkakaloob natin sa ating mga kababayan? Eh kung meron sanang alternatibo kaagad sa BPO, walang problema...kaso di pa ito nakalatag o wala pang nakikita...(o masyado pang kampante ang gobyerno sa BPO at remittances ng mga OFWs?)

Kaya mas mabuti na himukin ang gobyerno na mag-diversify tayo sa ngalan ng industriya...at kung hindi...matutulad ang Pilipinas sa sugar industry nito dati.

Call center agent din ako dati at di ko nakayanan ang trabaho...minabuti ko na lang na umalis.

Maxxclip

December 2nd, 2008, 09:02 AM

^^tama ka...hanggat maaga pa...dapat ma-diversify ng gobyerno ang natural at human resources nito. hindi lang BPO at pagnu-nurse ang pwedeng pagkakaperahan:D maghanap ng alternatibo:okay:

Askal82

December 2nd, 2008, 09:09 AM

^^ Instead of building BPO's they should build real R&D facilities in the country to utilize the talents of the college graduates in harnessing knowledge and apply them to their fullest potential.

Maxxclip

December 2nd, 2008, 09:17 AM

^^i agree. our government should focus on research & development:okay: like renewable energy..we can use the sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat to produce cheap and affordable energy - and the best part is...it's free, all we have to do is convert these energy to a usable and renewable energy:D

teresa1

December 2nd, 2008, 09:21 AM

^^i agree. we can use the sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat - and the best part...it's all free:D

buti pa tung si maxxclip cool lang.. nakakarelax...yan ganyan dapat ang usapan, kita mo kamit hindi kami 100% nag aagree, we look at the sides that we agree.. yung iba kasi dito ang babastos, lalo na yung isang makapili ang pangalan

:lol:

hay naku ang hirap humanap ng pinoy na magaling ang people skills

Maxxclip

December 2nd, 2008, 09:29 AM

^^:lol: thanks...minsan hindi rin ako cool...kapag hindi ko mabalanse;)

Askal82

December 2nd, 2008, 09:39 AM

buti pa tung si maxxclip cool lang.. nakakarelax...yan ganyan dapat ang usapan, kita mo kamit hindi kami 100% nag aagree, we look at the sides that we agree.. yung iba kasi dito ang babastos, lalo na yung isang makapili ang pangalan

:lol:

hay naku ang hirap humanap ng pinoy na magaling ang people skills

You haven't responded yet. :D

wag na tayung umasa diyan sa call center na yan..e ang daming pilipinong may sakit..ang dami rin nating nurse..bakit di tayo mag create ng employment sa health sector..magtayo ang gobyerno ng marami pang ospital at gamutin yung may sakit na pilipino

nag trabaho na ko diyan sa mga call centre,puro kabobohan lang yan..yung isa kung company, Marcus Evans sa Makati, trato samin parang slave labor, may oras lahat ng bagay, kala ng iba porket naka kurbata sila di na sila alipin. Yung boss naming Indian Malaysian dyinudyugdyug yung mga team leader na babae pati yung big boss. Puro kababuyan lang.

Seriously, where is the government going to get all the funding to build your hospitals, maintain its daily operations and provide salaries to the health workers?

teresa1

December 2nd, 2008, 09:51 AM

^^

well, it is a rhetorical question, saan pa e di sa pondo? labanan ang korapsyon para may pera pa tayo..kahit ngayon may pera naman e kaya lang napupunta sa iba

hindi ko naman sinabing isara ang call centers. ang sabi ko wag tayong umasa diyan at meg create ang gobyerno ng trabaho by building more hospitals, etc.

kung may call centers na magbubukas at ok ang pa sweldo, conditions then good pero wag yun ang tuunan nang pansin

para kasing na tanggap na natin na private sector lang ang pwedeng gumawa ng trabaho e anong ginagawa ng gobyerno???

masayado naman silang pabigat na, taga kolekta ng buwis pero wala namang matinong serbisyo

seven07

December 2nd, 2008, 10:28 AM

IMO both sides have a point.. Sa ngayon, ok lang lang na suportahan natin yung BPO industry habang wala pa tayong maibibigay na alternative work sa mga kababayan natin, mas ok na siguro ito sa ngayon kaysa naman mas dumami ang mga nagugutom sa atin.. pero hindi dapat maging stagnant ang government natin sa pagbibigay at paghahanap ng mga angkop na trabaho para sa mga kababayan natin, dapat makapagbigay ang gobyerno ng mga trabaho na kung saan hindi na kailangan ng mga Pilipino na umalis pa papuntang ibang bansa para lang mabigyan ng maayos na buhay ang kanilang pamilya.

richard24

December 2nd, 2008, 11:01 AM

leechtat

December 2nd, 2008, 03:00 PM

^^ Instead of building BPO's they should build real R&D facilities in the country to utilize the talents of the college graduates in harnessing knowledge and apply them to their fullest potential.

^^ isn't it what some technohubs are doing right now? they can offer as much leasable spaces for R&D companies to put up an office, but would those companies invest in our r&D?

what type of r&d exactly? if it would be high-tech, then we are at a loss to our comrades abroad like singapore, india, etc... our brain-drain here is so immense that a pool of willing professionals may not want to spend their days here proliferating their skills to trainees while having a poor man's salary.

after all, its is all about the money.

so, why not we give such r&d companies incentives? to invest here any thoughts? though this topic is beyond this thread..

buti pa tung si maxxclip cool lang.. nakakarelax...yan ganyan dapat ang usapan, kita mo kamit hindi kami 100% nag aagree, we look at the sides that we agree.. yung iba kasi dito ang babastos, lalo na yung isang makapili ang pangalan

:lol:

hay naku ang hirap humanap ng pinoy na magaling ang people skills

^^ people here do post without gripe, i for one do. since you are only reading posts here, then you may misread how the information was supposed to be delivered. do not judge..

well, it is a rhetorical question, saan pa e di sa pondo? labanan ang korapsyon para may pera pa tayo..kahit ngayon may pera naman e kaya lang napupunta sa iba

^^ funds? exactly how can you improve collections? any thoughts?

i for one think that the government must not be provided with their own funds i.e. pork barrel. all government transactions and funding must be publicized, requested and approved online for all to see.

hindi ko naman sinabing isara ang call centers. ang sabi ko wag tayong umasa diyan at meg create ang gobyerno ng trabaho by building more hospitals, etc.

^^ they actually do build hospitals. but what they can do better is to raise the salaries of medical professionals. let's have a socialized healthcare system. bill the rich more and the poor less. though you may only avail of this health care if you have a job. if you don't, then your only option is to die.. joke..

kung may call centers na magbubukas at ok ang pa sweldo, conditions then good pero wag yun ang tuunan nang pansin

para kasing na tanggap na natin na private sector lang ang pwedeng gumawa ng trabaho e anong ginagawa ng gobyerno???

masayado naman silang pabigat na, taga kolekta ng buwis pero wala namang matinong serbisyo

^^ ano ka ba? wala pa nga silang pera or yung pera napupunta sa kaninumang bulsa.. progress takes time, and let's deal with the fact that this progress may not be seen in our lifetime.. unless we become a socialized country and abandon our capitalist ideals... but that will not happen...

the bottomline, miss teresa, the bpo industry is here to stay since labor in our country is cheaper. no one can shun these companies away since they provide jobs for many undergrad and post-grad people.

let's wait for things to unfold.. aayos din ang lahat, wag tayo reklamo ng reklamo at mag-trabaho na lang... mag-reklamo ka lang kung na-harass ka talaga, pero pag-hindi wag tayong mapili at maarte sa trabaho... work like drones if you do not have brains to put up you own company...

manila_eye

December 2nd, 2008, 04:56 PM

bpo is good but we need to diversify our economy. get more manufacturing companies, improve our agri etc.

if these bpo can leave their own countrymen jobless how much we are?

IslandSon.PH

December 2nd, 2008, 06:25 PM

RP outsourcers: ‘Cautious optimism’

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MANDALUYONG CITY, Philippines – Philippine-based outsourcing giants are now feeling effects of the US recession with some companies seeing a slowdown in demand for services, particularly on medical transcription and animation, industry executives said.

But some are reporting a surge in demand in contact center services, back office operations, software development and gaming.

Nevertheless, the local outsourcing firms are approaching 2009 with "cautious optimism," according to Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) President Beng Coronel.

Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI) President Grace Dimaranan said some of their projects, which are mostly animation series, were postponed or on hold amid the US recession.

Similarly, Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines (MTIAPI) President Myla Reyes said some of their services, mostly serving the US market, have slowed down.

The Philippine outsourcing industry is composed of contact center operators, business process outsourcing, animation, game development and transcription.

The Philippine outsourcing industry is expecting a 35 percent overall growth that is worth $12 billion to $13 billion by 2010.

But given the US recession, Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) CEO Oscar Sañez said they might adjust these targets but assured that growth would remain in the double digits.

"We are not distracted by the US recession. Indeed there will be some effects but the recession situation is also an opportunity. With companies trying to streamline their operations outsourcing is a viable and cost effective solution," Sañez said.

There are, however, concerns on US President-elect Barack Obama's pronouncement to provide tax cuts for companies who will keep operations in the US.

Still, Philippine outsourcers are not threatened by Obama's statements, saying there are no details yet as to how these tax cuts will be implemented.

Philippine contact centers, who are servicing mostly US clients, are still optimistic.

Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) Benedict Hernandez said tax cuts will not deter US companies from outsourcing if the need arises. Some companies would have to look into the viability of keeping operations in the US or having it outsourced to other countries.

"We're at the forefront of providing the best solutions and we're not afraid that US policies would affect services here," Hernandez said.

Another concern of Philippine outsourcers is human resource or the lack of skilled workers ready for hiring. The rate of hiring is still low due to the specific requirements of the outsourcing industries.

The software industry reported that it is in need for 75,000 workers by 2010 but has only 21,000 so far. The transcription industry is in need of 32,000 but it only has 10,000 people hired. Animation, on the other end, is in need of 25,000 people but has 10,000 hired.

The contact center business, the biggest outsourcing industry, has 220,000 employees but is still in need of 350,000 people. The relatively new industry, game development, has about 300 to 500 people but also hopes to grow to 1,000 employees.

MTIAPI’s Reyes said English speaking skills remain a problem among applicants in the outsourcing business. Thus she said that fundamental education should be further developed if human resource demand is to be met.

The PSIA, CCAP and the MTIAPI are now working with the Technical Education and Skills Development Administration (TESDA) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to integrate specific curriculums in colleges and universities.

Meanwhile, the Game Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP) and ACPI has been conducting school tours to promote creative and artistic development among students.

Sañez said that while the US is still the main target of the local outsourcing industry, the potential of providing services in Europe and some Asian countries is enticing some companies to build new clienteles outside the US.

The PSIA is already looking at Japan. GDAP has clients from Australia, Germany and France. MTIAPI is expanding to Canada and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, ACPI has clients in Italy France, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Sañez said that the outsourcing industry has to expand its product portfolio and its clientele beyond the US to partly augment the possible effects of the US recession.

"There will be challenges and requirements could be slightly different. This is an industry that is working very hard to achieve its goals," Sañez said.

Juan Pilgrim

December 2nd, 2008, 11:17 PM

..bakit di tayo mag create ng employment sa health sector..magtayo ang gobyerno ng marami pang ospital at gamutin yung may sakit na pilipino...

Magdilang anghel ka sana. Sana nga magtuloy tuloy pa ang pag-unlad ng
ating inang bayan para ang mga tulad ko ay hindi na pumunta sa ibang bayan
upang duon makipagsapalaran. Mas nanaisin ko pang manirahan at manilbihan
sa Pilipinas kung bibigyan ng pagkakataong magkaruong ng mabuting hanap
buhay at kinabukasan para sa aking mga anak.

Sa akin pananaw kaya ng mga Pilipino na askiasuhin at gamutin ang kanilang
mga mamayang may karamdaman at gawing centro ng gamutan ang Pilipinas
para sa lahat sa buong mundo.

Sa ngayon kailangan natin ang mga BPOs at call centers para punan ang
kakulangan ng ating pamahalaan at ng pribadong sektor sa pagggawa ng trabaho.
Dapat ay pag-inggatan ng ating pamahalaan na hindi abusuhin ang
ating mga mamamayan na naninilbi sa mga dayuhang kumpanya.

:horse:

JP

Jake_noypi

December 3rd, 2008, 01:44 AM

^^ sa ospital? sana gamutin lang yung mga nag babayad ng buwis yung mga hindi nag babayad ng tungkulin nila sa bayan hayaan na lang sana sila, mga pabigat na lang kasi.. :)

Askal82

December 3rd, 2008, 02:08 AM

^^ isn't it what some technohubs are doing right now? they can offer as much leasable spaces for R&D companies to put up an office, but would those companies invest in our r&D?

what type of r&d exactly? if it would be high-tech, then we are at a loss to our comrades abroad like singapore, india, etc... our brain-drain here is so immense that a pool of willing professionals may not want to spend their days here proliferating their skills to trainees while having a poor man's salary.

after all, its is all about the money.

so, why not we give such r&d companies incentives? to invest here any thoughts? though this topic is beyond this thread..

What comes to our mind in terms of R&D's are computer-related technologies that were developed in Silicon Valley. There are many fields of study where R&D's are needed to create industries that are not necessarily related to information technology.

How about R&D in agriculture? renewable resource technology? metallurgy? biotechnology? engineering and other fields of study where the human societies depend to carry out its own growth and development.

Out of all possible fields where R&D's can be applied, I think Philippines should aim itself to be the world's pioneer in developing technologies that reduces carbon footprints and make our environment a cleaner and healthier place to live. Philippines was already featured in Washington Post's headline about its geothermal plants in use which accounts for almost 33% of the country's energy production. On top of that, a technology also exists whereas this type of plant can generate cleaner gasoline and diesel from recycling plastics.

crappypants

December 3rd, 2008, 04:48 AM

bpo pumps billions of dollars in the economy, that's no small change ,that money circulates. It shouldn't be our only industry but it's a good augment. Our govt. has a record of being lax and relying only on what's comfortable like the ofw business.
Just train all the unemployed to speak English ,it's better than nothing.

Askal82

December 3rd, 2008, 04:54 AM

^^ The OFW business. Well, in a sense it is. :lol:

kiretoce

December 3rd, 2008, 05:26 AM

hay naku ang hirap humanap ng pinoy na magaling ang people skills

As if yours is.

teresa1

December 3rd, 2008, 05:47 AM

^^
^^ ano ka ba? wala pa nga silang pera or yung pera napupunta sa kaninumang bulsa.. progress takes time, and let's deal with the fact that this progress may not be seen in our lifetime.. unless we become a socialized country and abandon our capitalist ideals... but that will not happen...

the bottomline, miss teresa, the bpo industry is here to stay since labor in our country is cheaper. no one can shun these companies away since they provide jobs for many undergrad and post-grad people.

let's wait for things to unfold.. aayos din ang lahat, wag tayo reklamo ng reklamo at mag-trabaho na lang... mag-reklamo ka lang kung na-harass ka talaga, pero pag-hindi wag tayong mapili at maarte sa trabaho... work like drones if you do not have brains to put up you own company...

kaya nga, napupunta nga sa bulsa nila kaya nga hindi tama yun, e alam mo pala..bakit hindi tayo magrereklamo kung araw araw yung mga may sakit na dapat nagagamot e namamatay dahil sabi mo nga, napupunta lang sa bulsa ng mga magnanakaw yung pera na dapat pinaggagamot sa kanila..madaling magsabing huwag magreklamo kung kasama ka dun sa hindi apektado

kung lahat ng pilipino nung panahon ng kastila, hapon, amerkano e nagsabing huwag magreklamo at magtrabaho na lang..di hanggan ngayon dinidilaan pa rin natin yung mga pwet ng mga dayuhan

kawawa naman yung mga bayani natin, nagsakripisyo ng buhay para sa mga future generations na pilipino na karamihan ay mga walang yag balls...

teresa1

December 3rd, 2008, 05:54 AM

Magdilang anghel ka sana. Sana nga magtuloy tuloy pa ang pag-unlad ng
ating inang bayan para ang mga tulad ko ay hindi na pumunta sa ibang bayan
upang duon makipagsapalaran. Mas nanaisin ko pang manirahan at manilbihan
sa Pilipinas kung bibigyan ng pagkakataong magkaruong ng mabuting hanap
buhay at kinabukasan para sa aking mga anak.

Sa akin pananaw kaya ng mga Pilipino na askiasuhin at gamutin ang kanilang
mga mamayang may karamdaman at gawing centro ng gamutan ang Pilipinas
para sa lahat sa buong mundo.

Sa ngayon kailangan natin ang mga BPOs at call centers para punan ang
kakulangan ng ating pamahalaan at ng pribadong sektor sa pagggawa ng trabaho.
Dapat ay pag-inggatan ng ating pamahalaan na hindi abusuhin ang
ating mga mamamayan na naninilbi sa mga dayuhang kumpanya.

:horse:

JP

tama, pwede nating gawin na sentro ng gamutan ang pinas sa dami ng doktor, nurse sa atin..ang problema kasi sa gobyerno natin, pag hindi nila pagkakaperahan e ayaw asikasuhin..kung ano ano kasing kabalbalan yung iniisip..puro politika..yung mga kababayan nating ang daming ginastos para maging nurse, walang trabaho ngayon

orion.phiaos

December 3rd, 2008, 06:04 AM

^^^^^^
i am with you ate. this country has so much politicking that we, people, don't know who's telling the truth anymore. i also agree that we have to diversify our industry and not focusing on bpo alone. but i know that the government is doing that. with r&d's and engineering. all of these cannot be done in short term, considering that other countries too are diversifying theirs also. but with our talent and skills, there will be no doubt that we can be diversified. let's just give it time.

Askal82

December 3rd, 2008, 06:16 AM

tama, pwede nating gawin na sentro ng gamutan ang pinas sa dami ng doktor, nurse sa atin..ang problema kasi sa gobyerno natin, pag hindi nila pagkakaperahan e ayaw asikasuhin..kung ano ano kasing kabalbalan yung iniisip..puro politika..yung mga kababayan nating ang daming ginastos para maging nurse, walang trabaho ngayon

We have medical tourism thread for that. If you're into that kind of thing, just search that thread around here.

kevinb

December 3rd, 2008, 06:09 PM

^^

well, it is a rhetorical question, saan pa e di sa pondo? labanan ang korapsyon para may pera pa tayo..kahit ngayon may pera naman e kaya lang napupunta sa iba

How can we fight corruption? It's easier said than done. But I'm not saying that it can't be done. It's just that it will take time.

this isnt exactly the situation in most call centers. have you tried to complain about the harassment in your office? you said you were being treated like "slaves" right? then, you have the right to go to DOLE and complain.

in most, if not all, call centers, employees are well compensated, and they are even well taken care of. free food, sleeping quarters, gym, entertainment centers, etc.

yes, you have a point about not relying to much on the BPO industry, but our capability in this industry is our edge against others. we cant let the opportunity pass by. Filipinos are in demand in this industry. :)

Agree.:)

^^ they actually do build hospitals. but what they can do better is to raise the salaries of medical professionals. let's have a socialized healthcare system. bill the rich more and the poor less. though you may only avail of this health care if you have a job. if you don't, then your only option is to die.. joke..

Natawa naman ako dito. :lol: But I agree. All state-run hospitals should have a standard socialized billing system

let's wait for things to unfold.. aayos din ang lahat, wag tayo reklamo ng reklamo at mag-trabaho na lang... mag-reklamo ka lang kung na-harass ka talaga, pero pag-hindi wag tayong mapili at maarte sa trabaho... work like drones if you do not have brains to put up you own company...

I agree. Wag magreklamo kung wala din naman tayong 'concrete suggestion' para makakita ng malaking pagbabago sa kung anumang sistema ang gusto nating mabago.

kung lahat ng pilipino nung panahon ng kastila, hapon, amerkano e nagsabing huwag magreklamo at magtrabaho na lang..di hanggan ngayon dinidilaan pa rin natin yung mga pwet ng mga dayuhan

kawawa naman yung mga bayani natin, nagsakripisyo ng buhay para sa mga future generations na pilipino na karamihan ay mga walang yag balls...

I though you were an educated person. I'm thinking oherwise now.:ohno:

kyle@1008

December 3rd, 2008, 06:36 PM

^^ I've seen people cry like crazy after just one call, first week alone attrition rates go up like crazy,..working in call centers can do things to people, some people are just not cut out for it...some I think go away psychologically scarred

lightsaber46

December 4th, 2008, 02:37 AM

BPO firms may lower ’10 growth projection
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business3_dec3_2008

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines wants to scale down its 2010 growth forecast because of the expected slowdown in demand brought out by the global financial crisis.

Oscar Sañez, BPAP chief executive officer, told reporters yesterday that the industry was reviewing its growth targets for 2010 as the industry started to feel the impact of the global economic slowdown.

“If growth of the industry this year falls below 30 percent, we might be forced to scale down our growth targets for 2010. So far, growth up to the middle of the year ranges from 30 to 35 percent,” said Sañez in a press conference for the two-day BPO Summit Philippines 2008, which started yesterday.

The industry has projected a growth of at least 35 percent this year from 45 percent in 2007.

The industry aims to generate $13 billion to $14 billion in revenues from offshore outsourcing services by 2010. Revenues in 2007 reached $5 billion and are expected to hit $7.5 billion this year.

It also hopes to create one million jobs by 2010 from 400,000 jobs in 2007.

Sañez said the industry had been looking at new markets as well as expanding the suite of services offered to customers to counter the possible weakness in the industry.

“As we try to go into a higher level of growth, the challenge is having to penetrate new sectors. There is also the challenge on the competitive makeup as we face increased competition from emerging markets and traditional markets,” said Sañez.

He said there was also a need to migrate to knowledge-based services or higher value services to be able to corner a bigger share of the global market. Voice services, he said, comprised just a small chunk of the global requirement for outsourced services. Elaine Ramos Alanguilan

leechtat

December 4th, 2008, 11:17 AM

kaya nga, napupunta nga sa bulsa nila kaya nga hindi tama yun, e alam mo pala..bakit hindi tayo magrereklamo kung araw araw yung mga may sakit na dapat nagagamot e namamatay dahil sabi mo nga, napupunta lang sa bulsa ng mga magnanakaw yung pera na dapat pinaggagamot sa kanila..madaling magsabing huwag magreklamo kung kasama ka dun sa hindi apektado

kung lahat ng pilipino nung panahon ng kastila, hapon, amerkano e nagsabing huwag magreklamo at magtrabaho na lang..di hanggan ngayon dinidilaan pa rin natin yung mga pwet ng mga dayuhan

kawawa naman yung mga bayani natin, nagsakripisyo ng buhay para sa mga future generations na pilipino na karamihan ay mga walang yag balls...

^^ kaya nga sabi ko, if there is really something to rant about, then rant all you want. if there is none, and everything seems to be in order, then work, work, work. no reason to stir chaos in a peaceful cup.

eonynx

December 4th, 2008, 01:22 PM

^^ Instead of building BPO's they should build real R&D facilities in the country to utilize the talents of the college graduates in harnessing knowledge and apply them to their fullest potential.

right! r&d is actually what makes a modern economy continue to be productive. productivity is the building block of economic growth. but the thing is, there are little political incentives if politicians/leaders would divert large portions of the fiscal budget to R&D. it won't win them votes which is unfortunate indeed for our country's development.

on the flip side, we should be thankful that the philippines is the number 1 destination of these multinational BPOs. there are many english speaking countries who would love to be in our place. to continue maintaining our advantage and protecting our strengths in this sector is not a bad fiscal policy of the government.

strengthening the BPO industry must not come at the expense of R&D. rather, R&D must be strenghthened to compliment our already existing comparative economic advantages (such as the present BPO industry) and help make productive our more "traditional" ones particularly agriculture.

-TC-

December 4th, 2008, 05:33 PM

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2825:jp-morgan-bullish-on-bpo-prospects-in-rp&catid=24:companies&Itemid=59

JP Morgan bullish on BPO prospects in RP
Written by Miguel R. Camus
Business Mirror
03 December 2008

The financial industry may be facing its greatest challenge but an executive of the local office of JP Morgan Chase & Co., a global financial institution, said despite current conditions, their growth outlook in the country is expected to remain robust.

“It think [the financial meltdown] is a concern, but it hasn’t affected our growth. There are other parts of the world where are struggling, but in the Philippines, we are strong.” said Barry E. Marshall, vice president and senior country operations officer of JP Morgan’s Philippine office.

He spoke to the BusinessMirror during the BPO (business process outsourcing) Summit Philippines on Tuesday. He noted that it is because of this optimistic outlook that they are still on track in achieving their growth targets for 2009, which involves doubling the capacity of their BPO operations in the country.

According to Marshall, this will increase JP Morgan’s capacity to over 7,000 seats by 2009, and will involve a mix of their call center and financial services operations among other internal backdoor processes.

“We’re confident in the Philippines’ capability to deliver strategic output for us,” he said as he cited the country’s strengths in JP Morgan’s local operations owing to the high level of English proficiency and ready pool of finance and accounting personnel.

The bank executive added that their expansion plans have already been taken into account by the parent company’s recent acquisition of troubled Washington Mutual Bank, then the largest savings and loan in the US, in late September. This gives JP Morgan access to that bank’s strong deposit base and control of an additional 2,200 branches.

JP Morgan is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.3 trillion and has operations in over 60 countries that include Asian offices in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Askal82

December 5th, 2008, 02:04 AM

right! r&d is actually what makes a modern economy continue to be productive. productivity is the building block of economic growth. but the thing is, there are little political incentives if politicians/leaders would divert large portions of the fiscal budget to R&D. it won't win them votes which is unfortunate indeed for our country's development.

on the flip side, we should be thankful that the philippines is the number 1 destination of these multinational BPOs. there are many english speaking countries who would love to be in our place. to continue maintaining our advantage and protecting our strengths in this sector is not a bad fiscal policy of the government.

strengthening the BPO industry must not come at the expense of R&D. rather, R&D must be strenghthened to compliment our already existing comparative economic advantages (such as the present BPO industry) and help make productive our more "traditional" ones particularly agriculture.

Yeupz, that's politics for us. :bash:

Philippines is focused on remanufacturing English from diploma mills rather than products representing intellectual achievement.

Maxxclip

December 5th, 2008, 03:06 AM

right! r&d is actually what makes a modern economy continue to be productive. productivity is the building block of economic growth. but the thing is, there are little political incentives if politicians/leaders would divert large portions of the fiscal budget to R&D. it won't win them votes which is unfortunate indeed for our country's development.

on the flip side, we should be thankful that the philippines is the number 1 destination of these multinational BPOs. there are many english speaking countries who would love to be in our place. to continue maintaining our advantage and protecting our strengths in this sector is not a bad fiscal policy of the government.

strengthening the BPO industry must not come at the expense of R&D. rather, R&D must be strenghthened to compliment our already existing comparative economic advantages (such as the present BPO industry) and help make productive our more "traditional" ones particularly agriculture.

:colgate:na-pukol mo kapatid:okay:
pasalamat pa rin tayo sa kung anong meron tayo...sabi nga nila...kung anong nakaha-in, sya munang kainin.

and yes, kung saan tayo kilala at kung anong meron tayo, dapat natin pa lalong pagbutihin...and r&d is the answer to this.

tulad sa Mindanao...hindi ito prone/ o madalas daanan ng bagyo so dapat doon natin pinagbubuti ang agrikultura kase hindi masisira ang mga pananim natin. tungkulin ng DOST na suportahan ang R&D ng bansa.

-TC-

December 10th, 2008, 04:26 AM

http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20081210-177103/HSBC-to-open-up-1000-jobs-at-BPO-unit

HSBC to open up 1,000 jobs at BPO unit

By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
12/10/2008

British banking giant HSBC said it planned to open up 1,000 new jobs in its business process outsourcing (BPO) facility to bring to full operating capacity its second global services hub in Quezon City in the next 12-18 months.

HSBC country manager Mark Watkinson also said the bank was “quietly optimistic” on the Philippines, seeing the economy could churn out a growth rate of three to four percent in 2009 despite the global economic downturn.

“While it’s not as exciting as seven percent”—a growth rate that the Philippines exceeded last year for the first time in three decades—“when you’re looking at a huge global recession and you’re looking at a range of three to four percent, I think that’s a great achievement,” Watkinson said.

“I think the Philippines is in pretty good position to weather the storm and it’s a storm that we haven’t seen in our lifetime,” he said.

He said there were robust growth opportunities in the BPO sector, a fast-growing foreign exchange-generating industry in the country, but not within the next three to six months.

“Many companies are trying to put out the fire. Many companies are under a lot of stress and you need a lot of stability when you’re taking on an outsourcing project because you need to have your processes cleaned up and you need to move the processes to another site such as the Philippines, and that takes time,” he said.

He said the opportunity for growth in the sector would likely be evident in the second half of next year.

HSBC now has two BPO hubs in the country with about 5,500 people. The first site in suburban Alabang town employs 3,500 and is now operating at full capacity. The second site, near the University of the Philippines (UP) campus, employs close to 2,000.

“So, we’ll probably have additional 1,000 in the UP side. Over the next 12 to 18 months, we’re looking to fill that up, which would then take us to full capacity,” he said.

The two BPO hubs both serve the US and UK markets.

HSBC is also looking at other BPO opportunities apart from voice or call centers, where the Philippines is known to be very good at, Watkinson said.

He cited HSBC’s success in outsourcing some publishing operations, such as the preparation of presentations globally, at the Alabang site.

“From a tax perspective it’s becoming more attractive to invest in the Philippines than other markets,” he said.

On the economic front, he said global markets would continue to face extraordinary stress next year particularly in the first two quarters. During that period, he said corporate refinancing may be tight.

“After the first half I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things will improve.

I don’t expect a big improvement in the first half. My sense is that a lot of markets are talking about a 2010 recovery, so 2009 is a case of ... doing the best you can to get through very tough markets,” he said.

In the case of the Philippines, he said overseas Filipinos would likely pump in more money although the growth rate of remittances may not be as fast as this year.

For instance, he said overseas Mexicans were concentrated in the US market and in the construction sector.

“So if the US takes a downturn, construction takes a downturn, so Mexicans are hit. But when you look at the Philippines’ eight to nine million OFWs [overseas Filipino workers], they are much more geographically spread and there are a significant number of OFWs in fairly resilient sectors such as healthcare,” he said.