You’d be forgiven for thinking that India was the leading destination for offshore call center outsourcing. However, over the past two decades, the call center industry in the Philippines has grown exponentially, taking the throne away from India as the world’s contact center outsourcing capital and creating a booming economy for itself.
There are many reasons for the exponential growth of the contact center outsourcing industry in the Philippines. “The country possesses a few key competitive advantages as an offshore outsourcing destination over India – especially for US-based companies,” says Ralf Ellspermann, CEO of PITON-Global, one of the leading mid-sized call centers in the Philippines. This is key to understanding the Philippines’ relative success, as the US is the world’s single largest service buyer’s market.
The Philippines is the world’s third largest English-speaking country and has the second highest literacy rate in Southeast Asia. “A Filipino’s spoken English comes with a highly desired accent neutrality. This is of course a huge pull for US companies looking for quality customer support that can provide seamless communication to clients,” says Ellspermann.
US-based companies prefer to outsource their call center requirements to the Philippines because of its alignment and affinity with the western culture. There is an especially close relationship between the US and the Philippines. This helps with a smooth transition when a company decides to migrate their call center services to the Philippines. Filipino agents are customer-centric and easy to talk to and their exposure to popular western culture through TV, Internet and music helps them relate to customers easily.
The success of call centers in the Philippines is backed by the Philippine government who has introduced skill-development programs through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) which helps people to develop the necessary skills required to succeed in a call center environment. This government support has allowed many to upskill and contribute to the huge skilled labor force offering call center services in the Philippines.
According to government data, nearly a third of the Philippines’ population is under the age of 24. This means there is a huge volume of people ready to fill entry-level call center roles to serve the increasing demand of Western companies looking for contact centers in the Philippines.
Of course, the key reason for global companies looking to outsource their call center is cost. The Philippine labor market is advantageous because of its vast pool of highly qualified workers at a comparably low cost. The country offers first class voice-enabled services at a fraction of what vendors other countries, such as the US and Australia, would charge.BPOs in the Philippines have certainly proven their worth over the past two decades, and this growth trajectory shows no sign of slowing down. In a time where US labor comes at a hefty price tag, the Philippines has proven itself as a high quality and reliable business process outsourcing hub at a price that is hard to argue with. It’s therefore no wonder that call centers in the Philippines have managed to position themselves as world leaders in BPO
Image credits: PITON-Global