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PLDT president Napoleon Nazareno said the addition of SPI into ePLDT will broaden the group’s participation in BPO, which analysts forecast to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 9.2 % until 2010.
PLDT said SPI will give it excellent opportunities to enhance its North American customer base, broaden its revenue streams, as well as derive potential cost synergies in the marketing and selling of voice-based services in the countries where SPI operates.
ePLDT’s Ventus call-center group consists of Parlance Systems Inc., Vocativ Systems Inc. and ePLDT Ventus Inc. The ePLDT Ventus Group operates six call-center facilities located in the cities of Makati, Taguig, Pasig, Mandaluyong, Quezon and Iloilo, rendering primarily voice-based services to large US-based clients and outsourcers.
BPO firm Sykes, although better known as one of the pioneer call centers, said Filipinos are a great asset. It describes Filipinos as intelligent and hard working and fit nicely within Sykes’ culture of “People Serving People.” Sykes enjoys and are proud of its partnership with Filipinos.
Sykes came to the Philippines in 1997 with just a small number of employees providing technical support through e-mail. It now has more then 10,000 employees across six sites providing customer care through multiple communication channels including chat, e-mail and voice.
Sykes is a family of global businesses delivering BPO services. Sykes is entrusted with the customer care of global brands primarily in Consumer Products & Services, Communications, Financial Services, Technology and Travel & Leisure.
Philippine BPO offerings
Business Processing (Back Office Operations) is one of the hottest job sectors in BPO. In 2006, there were 62 Business Processing firms employing some 36,000 persons. These firms generated revenues of $288 million.
The Philippines now provides some 40 Business Processing Services. Among these services are accounting and bookkeeping; payroll processing; asset management; financial analysis and auditing; inventory control and purchasing; human resources administration; customer management; credit card administration; factoring and stock brokering; revenue management; database management; supply chain management; legal transcription; litigation support; content development; publishing; loan processing; health insurance; sales and marketing; tax reporting; transaction management; sourcing and procurement; logistics; disaster recovery; business intelligence; network management and warehouse and inventory.
Counted among the leading third party providers of Business Processing Services are Accenture, American Data Exchange, SVI Corp, SPI Technologies, DAKSH eServices, The Environments Collaborative, Eximius BPO, Summersault, Inc., Infinit-O BPO, BPO International and BayanTrade Dotcom.
“Captive” or companies with in-house services include AOL, AIG BPSI, Chevron Texaco,HP, HSBC, Procter & Gamble, Flour Daniel, Deutsche Bank, Citibank Crescent Services, Shell Shared Services, Manulife, Alitalia, Watson Wyatt, Emerson, McKinsey & Co., Safeway and Thomson.
Medical transcription (MT), which next to contact centers is the best known BPO sector, remains a prime growth sector and a source of hot jobs for Filipinos. Filipino MT firms are noted internationally for their accuracy (98-99% accuracy rate) and have a swift job turnaround time of 12 to 24 hours.
There are some 100 MT firms employing 7,000 persons. There are also 15 MT schools. MT firms posted revenues of $98 million in 2006.
Key MT firms are eData Services, SPI Technologies, SVI Corporation, Medscribe Asia,
Transkripsyo, Inc., Total Transcription Solutions, Inc., Dictation Source and Pilipinas Data Contracts Corporation.
Legal transcription (LT), although new, offers bright promise since the Philippines’ legal system is patterned after that of the United States, the source of most legal transcription jobs.
There are nine operational LT firms employing 675 lawyers and legal personnel. The sector, which generated $9 million revenues in 2006, has among its key players Quisumbing Torres, SPI Technologies, SVI Corporation, CD Asia, Inc. and Medscribe Asia.
The Philippines had 100 software development companies in 2006 that booked $272 million revenues in 2006.
Among the firms providing software development services are Accenture, Headstrong, Microsoft, IBM Solutions, Jupiter Systems, Oracle, ADTX Solutions, TrendMicro, Gurango, Sun Microsystems, Intel Microelectronics, NEC and RCG Philippines.
Filipino animation continues to be a source of strength in BPO and is the oldest BPO sector (20 years in existence). The country’s 70 animation studios employ 6,500 persons and created revenues of $97 million in 2006.
Local studios consist of Holy Cow! Animation, Artfarm Asia, Digital Exchange, Top Draw Animation, Toei Animation, Top Peg Animation and Creative Studio, Creative Asia, Geebo Digital and Toon City, among others.
The relatively new Engineering Design Industry now consists of 24 companies employing 4,400 full time engineers. These firms reported revenues of $68 million in 2006.
Among these firms are JGC Phils., Fluor Daniel, Bechtel, Tsuneishi, Kajima Corp, Parsons, C & E Corp, EEI Corp, Eichleay Pacific, Inc., Hyundai Engineering, Foster Wheeler, Kellog, Brown & Root and Bouygues Construction,
The Philippines graduates 40,000 engineers every year and there are now some 100,000 licensed engineering professionals. Filipino engineers are prized for their high level of technical expertise in engineering design and practice internationally accepted engineering standards.
Helping hands
Through the efforts of BPA/P and supportive associations such as the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) and its subsidiary, the European IT Service Center (EITSC), the Philippines is now leveraging its large pool of creative design talent, lawyers and professionals in accounting and finance.
EITSC is an initiative of ECCP, the German Development Cooperation (GTZ) and the Asia-Europe Foundation of the Philippines to bridge the needs of Europe with the IT/BPO capabilities in the Philippines .
EITSC is currently in a partnership with Hanns Seidel Foundation and the European Union on human capacity building. EITSC and Hanns Seidel Foundation with co-funding from the European Union initiated a five-year program that takes a progressive approach to answering the call for more qualified workers in the IT/BPO sector.
The Philippine government also recognizes the strategic importance of BPO as generators of revenues and employment. President Gloria Arroyo has set aside $10 million in government money to train people for employment in the outsourcing industry. Students and other persons interested in outsourcing jobs are given vouchers that can be used for tuition at vocational schools.
But of greater import to the industry is its five-year roadmap being drawn up in assistance with international consulting firm McKinsey.
BPA/P president Dan Reyes said the roadmap will identify niche areas in the global marketplace in which the Philippines can be competitive against India and other outsourcing destinations such as China, Malaysia and eastern European countries.
He noted that while BPO is still predominantly call center-driven, both government and the private sector recognize the need to deliver higher-value BPO services such as HR and finance and accounting.
A glimpse of the BPA/P Roadmap 2010 was recently presented by BPA/P CEO Oscar Sañez during the Call Center Conference Exposition 2007. As it is still in its second phase, Sañez said the roadmap will be officially released later this year.
Sañez said the strategy involves not just the BPAP members but also the local communities, education institutions and local government units to ensure its success.
For the location component, BPAP will develop a set of products that identify and evaluate areas considered as "next wave" cities where startups and expanding BPOs can build new locations.
The reporting of next wave cities will contain the number of companies already operating in specific cities, telecommunications readiness, physical landscape, available expertise and possible challenges.
For the business environment component, BPAP intends to enhance perceptions regarding the Philippines as an ideal location for operators. To do so, BPA/P intends to conduct risk perception survey of locators, build success case studies and launch industry-wide campaigns to address intellectual property and Internet security, among
other issues.
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