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Business-process outsourcing (BPO) companies are more
focused on managing people rather than the recurring
issues of fast peso appreciation and increasing wages
and real-estate cost in the country to sustain their
growth this year.
This was
how Judy Reinke, senior commercial officer of the US
Embassy, viewed the optimistic approach of many call
centers and IT (information technology)-enabled services
amid operational cost issues of doing business in the
Philippines.
Speaking
at the 2nd Annual Call-Center Training Convention held
Tuesday at the Renaissance Hotel in
Makati, Reinke said, “People retention is the long-term growth of
these companies [BPOs]. Human-capital development can
pour in investments.”
“I
believe this country will succeed because its people are
its success. Filipinos are hardworking, honest and fun.
That is why they are able to stay in this work
environment because they can easily satisfy clients,”
she added.
Reinke’s
statement was proven true by TeleDevelopment Services
president Jon Kaplan when he presented the 2007 growth
figures of global outsourcing in the same event.
“The
Philippines recorded a tremendous growth of 28 percent,
second to the US’ 40 percent and outpacing Latin
America’s 22 percent,” Kaplan said.
“The
growth was due to large projects announced by Accenture,
APAC, eTelecare, Teleperformance, Teletech and HSBC,” he
added.
Kaplan
is confident the figures will increase as Canada and
India are experiencing a significant drop on issues of
increasing currency valuation and poor English
proficiency, respectively.
To
sustain the growth, Reinke advised BPO companies to hold
continuous talent training to give people more room for
growth filled with knowledge, skills, value and right
attention.
The work
force in the BPO industry today is more than 400,000 and
is expected to climb to a million by 2010. Most
human-resources personnel and manpower-agencies
companies admit it is difficult to find the “right one,”
and accepting near-hires is the most logical
alternative.
According to Reinke, near-hires must not be treated as
the last option for “near-hires can be trained.”
“Take
the better and make them the best is the key,” she
suggested.
Meanwhile, Source 1 HTMT chief operating officer Bryan
Hayes discussed the importance of the next-level
call-center training anchored on business values and
goals.
“Training helps companies maintain people and avoid
poaching if there are no available resources,” Hayes
said.
Hayes
enumerated other obstacles of training. It includes
talent utilization, educating agents about verticals
they support and getting involved with the company’s
direction.
He
emphasized that the basics of effective training should
start in making relatable training methods such as
localizing foreign concepts, imparting employees with
greater understanding and appreciation of the culture
they work with and adopting and customizing multimedia
Internet-based computer tools.
Hayes,
furthermore, told trainers in the conference not to
compromise the duration of training over cost just to
key in savings, instead he said, “Even bright people
cannot survive in a world prepared for them;
compensate them by giving rewards they will appreciate
and make them part of something they represent.” |
