Why You Should Invest Your BPO In the Philippines?

The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry here in the Philippines is like a Hollywood blockbuster film. The “sunshine industry” it is called because of the influx of BPO companies investing in the Philippines, which grew over the last couple of years and will look to increase further in the coming years makes it one of the fastest rising sectors of our economy. Most of these investments came from call center giants, which makes up 70% of the whole BPO industry in the country. At present, the BPO industry in the country is estimated to be worth more than $200 billion and will only look to expand in the coming years with bigger companies staking their claim. The Philippines has become a hotbed not only for call center companies but also for a slew of other BPO companies all over the world.

In a recent study, the Philippines have overtaken India as the leading BPO provider in the world. Currently, figures say that there are 1164 call center and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) companies spread over 24 key locations around the country. This translates into a strong workforce of over 600,000, a big percentage belongs to the call center industry. In 2010 alone, call centers in the Philippines posted revenue of more than $6 billion. By 2015, the BPO industry would have made a staggering $15 billion worth of revenue and increased it’s workforce to 1.3 million.

BPO companies around the world give the Philippines an edge over other countries are of the following reasons:

Cheap operational and labor costs are one of the key reasons why BPO companies choose to operate their business in the Philippines as supposed to other countries such as India. BPO companies are given tax holidays on top of the tax incentive given to them by the Philippine government if they choose to invest their respective companies here in the Philippines. The Philippines is also home to a wide range of skilled workers, ready to cater the BPO industry. Taking up English in grade school until college, Filipinos have become proficient speakers. This is ideal for BPO companies as Filipinos could relay messages with the so-called American accent, which the callers are accustomed to and thus would give them a great experience. Moreover, expect an increase in the number of English speakers due to training and seminars organized by government agencies to minimize unemployment and give them jobs in the BPO industry. Labor wise, when compared to Indian BPO Practitioners, Filipino agents get only half compared to their Indian counterparts, which would mean to a huge savings for the BPO companies.

Second, the Philippines is a westernized country, stemming from the years Philippines had been a colony of America. We learned to like any “stateside” and it wouldn’t be problem handling callers coming from the states as Filipinos are not foreign to customs and beliefs, and would easily create a bond with the callers. The availability of western resources is key in forging a prosperous and harmonious relationship with both callers and clients.

In totality, the Philippines is your one stop shop when it comes to the BPO industry. You won’t regret it I promise you

aurawind is a human resource manager from an emerging call center company