The local business-process management (BPM) sector’s largest customer is the United States, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
In 2015 PSA data showed the BPM industries generated a total income of P461.4 billion. Nearly half of this amount is generated from foreign transactions.
“Across the globe, [the] United States of America contributed the largest part of income, sharing P126.5 billion, or more than three-fifths [61.6 percent] of the total income from transactions outside the country,” the PSA said.
This was followed by the Netherlands, contributing P17.2 billion, or 8.4 percent of the total, and Australia, 5.8 percent or P11.99 billion.
Other countries that completed the top 5 clients of the BPM sector were the United Kingdom and Canada, which accounted for P9.76 billion and P7.48 billion, respectively.
Meanwhile, in terms of total income, customer relationship management activities earned the highest, comprising more than half or 57.3 percent of the total income of the sector, or about P264.4 billion.
Computer programming activities came far next with a total income of P62.7 billion, or 13.6 percent, followed by sales and marketing activities with P51.3 billion or 11.1 percent.
The data also showed that the government granted a total of P136.7 million worth of subsidies to the BPM industries in 2015.
“Subsidies are special grants received from the government in the form of financial assistance or tax exemption or tax privilege to aid and develop an industry,” the PSA said.
Sales and marketing activities, including telemarketing, received subsidies worth P106.5 million and customer relationship management activities, P14.3 million.
Data also showed that other information technology and computer service activities were granted subsidies worth P8.4 million, while other back-office operations activities received P7.6 million in tax perks.
The data was obtained from the Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI) which surveyed some 1,781 firms.
Around 88.88 percent or 1,583 firms responded to the survey and 72 or 4.04 percent responded online.