BPO Industry in Great Health in the Philippines The BPO industry is booming in the Philippines and has been the main contributor to the tremendous growth of the country’s services sector. The growth has particularly been experienced in voice operations. The big break came in 2011 when the Philippines surpassed India as the world’s largest call-center operator. In 2012 the country employed around 400,000 people in call centers while its South Asian counterpart employed only 350,000. What Fueled Philippine’s Growth in Voice BPO If we really need to pinpoint one major factor for this growth in the voice BPO sector, it is the accent. Most clients of these oriental BPO providers are American firms that have outsourced their customer care responsibilities. American customers or callers like to hear American or at least neutral accent as well as American language usage, idioms, etc. This is where Filipino BPO employees excel. India’s call center executives are also known to be efficient, but many are somehow just not able to shake off the Indian accents, in spite of the voice neutralization training they are being given. Customer complaints regarding the accent of the Indian call center executives has caused many Indian outsourcing firms to move call center operations to the Philippines, further contributing to its growth. Voice Services Boosting Philippine BPO Sector So great is the contribution of voice-related services to the country’s BPO sector, that it is expected to help the BPO industry add around 700,000 more jobs as 2016 comes by, which would then increase revenues to the tune of $25 billion. This would make up around a tenth of the Philippines’ GDP. However, the Philippines still has a long way to go if it has to be on par with India in overall BPO services. Outsourcing does not involve voice services alone but also comprehensive IT and legal services belonging to the knowledge process outsourcing
and legal process outsourcing fields. It is in these sophisticated fields of outsourcing that India is comfortably ahead. In terms of population too India is ahead substantially, meaning there is a vast repository of human resources available to be trained for the BPO services. Inflating Philippine Currency a Disadvantage The inflating local currency of the Philippines is also a cause for concern. There is around 30% difference in exchange rates between the peso and the rupee with the American dollar. Some believe this could be a significant question mark on whether the country can maintain its current rate of growth. With business process outsourcing, cost savings are everything and often the deciding factor. For now though, things are on a high for the Philippine BPO industry. According to a 2013 study by Tholons, Manila slots in No. 3 pushing New Delhi to No. 4 in the top 100 international outsourcing destinations rankings. Bangalore and Mumbai are still among the top three global outsourcing destinations though. The South-East Asia Japan Cable System (SJC) is a major infrastructural factor that has made the Philippines even more attractive as an outsourcing destination. The competition is certainly heating up between the two nations, and India is looking to regain foothold which is sure to happen. But the Philippines can still be proud to have taken the fight to, and gone one up on, one of the world’s major economies.