Globally recognised as the ‘call center capital’, the Philippines continuously impress business people from all around the world. According to some potential clients, the Filipinos are highly admired for their remarkable talents, personality, and character.
On the other hand, it is no secret that the Philippines offer a lower cost of living compared to other countries. But even with the lower cost, productivity remains outstanding. Also, talents such as proficiency in English, cultural affinity to Western countries, low labour costs, hard work, and kindness, impress several businessmen to engage in building more call centers in the country. These are a few reasons why the Philippines remains to be the ideal outsourcing destination for businesses around the world.
A brief history of the Philippine call center industry
In 1992, the first contact center in the Philippines was built by Frank Holz. Seeing the industry’s potential, the country’s Congress decided to pass the Special Economic Zone Act in 1995. It paved the way to the creation of Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) which offered incentives and attracted foreign investors in the process too.
During the early 2000s, the BPO industry accumulated 0.075% of the country’s GDP. It was also in the same year that a US-based outsourcing center moved its operations to the Philippines. This offered at least 8,400 vacant jobs for the unemployed Filipinos. In 2013, the industry recorded 900,000 full-time Filipino employees which helped lessen the country’s unemployment rate.
For the next years, the Philippines continually gained a huge percentage on the global BPO market. As a result of this, the country was then declared as the world’s BPO capital.
The call center industry in 2020
Industry experts estimated a projected total revenue of $50 billion by 2020 which is more than half of the total revenue in 2016. With the growth of call center hubs in the metro, a lot of ‘Next Wave Cities’ outside the metropolis opened. Attractive factors such as cost competitiveness and dynamic talents have continually been the key ingredient in attracting more businesses.
In addition to the incessant growth of the BPO industry, emerging trends has become a huge ordeal. Some of which includes the following:
- Robotic process automation.
With the continued resurgence of advanced technologies and innovation, tedious business processes are expected to be automated in 2020. However, making sure that the nonrepeatable roles were strategically placed on the hands of humans. - Social media as customer service channel.
As people become more inclined to using different social media channels, reaching the target audience has been easier. Popular social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter are proven to be a quicker way to answer queries from customers. - Cloud computing.
With cloud computing, you can rent a professional IT infrastructure to accommodate your server, storage, or networking needs. This would allow you to store and back up your customer files rather than spending tons of money to own the technology in-house. - Upskilling.
To be able to provide better services to customers, most BPO companies encourage upskilling for high-performing employees. Provided with intensive training sessions to upgrade their skill sets, the staff are then expected to be able to handle more responsibilities.
Call centers are part of the ever-changing BPO industry where technological advancements are inevitable. Changes in this industry are quite usual and following it is the only way to keep up with the trends.
Why huge foreign companies outsource their call centers in the Philippines
To be called the ‘call center capital of the world’, a country should at least be swarmed by hundreds of companies worldwide. And that is exactly why the Philippines has been dubbed as one.
Over 800 BPO companies from all over the world have currently been outsourcing their call centers in the country for years. Most of them are from Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, United States, and so much more. What prompts them to outsource their call centers are determinants such as value services for a very low cost. But more than that, the Philippines is highly regarded for providing one of the best customer services from around the world.
Huge Australian-based companies such as Telstra, Optus, and Jetstar have experienced outsourcing their call centers in the Philippines. Doing so have helped them seized on the savings and allocating it to further expand their businesses.
Other American corporations such as Citibank, Safeway, Chevron and Aetna also outsource their call center services in the Philippines. Even businesses like Georgia medical collection agency and more have experienced outsourcing their customer concerns in the country.
These foreign companies believe that Filipinos are customer-centric and are easy to talk to. As English is the second language used in the country, well-trained agents are undoubtedly fluent compared to other countries.
Conclusion
As the fastest growing industry in the Philippines for over a decade, call centers in and out of the metropolis are continuously emerging. Ranging from startup companies with hundreds of staff, up to businesses with 1,000+ employees.
Nevertheless, the Philippines still holds the title of being the ‘call center capital of the world’. Up to this day, the developing call center industry in the country is not seen to be slowing down any time soon.
So if you’ve been contemplating about outsourcing your customer services, then better get a professional insight. Contact DBOS today and get a free consultation from our very own CEO/Founder!
