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Philippines : An Outsourcing Focal Point
By Michael S. Murillo
Outsourcing - an eleven-letter word that even Mr. Webster cannot define. How come that this
simple word become one of the brightest spots in Philippine economy.
Mr. Google (known as Mr. Know-it-all) defines it in a simple but an effective way. He states
that Outsourcing is the act of getting products or services from other countries for business
purposes.
Aside from their famous athletes in boxing and billards, breath-taking natural resources, and
beautiful women, Philippines is also known woldwide because of sending worldclass products
and services through out the planet. Being the second-largest english-speaking country, there is
no doubt that the Philippines become one of the most famous Outsourcing hub in the world.
Call center Outsourcing Competition is heating up internationally. But do you know that the
competition exists even within the country? As of now, Philippines is with 20 call centers which
offers outsourcing operations.
Among the Asian Nations, India and Philippines are rivals in terms of the business of
Outsourcing. India seems to be the biggest threat on the rising status of the Philippines in the
Outsourcing world. Talking about the popuplation of call center agents here and in India, agents
in RP may be compared to a snow ball (10,000 agents) while agents in India is an iceberg
(300,000 agents).
According to "A.T. Kearney 2005 Global Services Location Index," the republic of the
Philipines (5.78) ranked 4th. India (6.87), China (6.14) and Malaysia (6.07) are the top 3
Outsourcing countries. They based the study according to the countries' Financial Structure,
Business Environment, and People and Skills Availability.
If that is so, then why outsource in the Philippines?
Bear in mind that the population of call center agents is not the greatest factor to consider in
the world of Outsourcing; It is the quality of service.
Philippines, being an American colony for 50 golden years has a Western-influenced culture.
Pinoys have a very good demand of the Western Culture and English language. In addition, they
also have strong customer orientation, they possess the values of hospitability, and compared to
their other Asian neighbours, Philippines labour cost is considerably lower. Having the quality
and professionalism of Philippines labour force for a cheap price is really a jackpot.
Try it for yourself.
Sources:
http://free.hostdepartment.com/s/spopo_vich/2.htm
http://www.outsource.webfocus.ph/why_outsource.htm
http://216.109.125.130/search/cache?p=global+location+services+index&ei=UTF-8&fr=slv1-
msgr&x=wrt&u=investbg.government.bg/fce/001/0002/files/Top40OutsChart.pdf&w=global+locati
on+services+index&d=PebPHBbfMP-N&icp=1&.intl=us
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RP: A GOLIATH IN OUTSOURCING
by: Michael Murillo
Blowing numbers of mushroom-like call centers hit the Philippines. In fact, Romulo Neri, the
Secretary for Economic Planning mentioned that "For now, call centers are at the forefront of
outsourcing." "But we should diversify our outsourcing work beyond call centers," he added.
Talking about call center businesses, Republic of the Philippines is one of the best hub
because of large supply of graduates with computer engineering/science and business
communications as their courses.
Board of Investments, Business Process Association of the Philippines together with the
Commission on Information, Communication and Technology conducted a study that states that
investments for outsourcing in the Philippines on the present year is about P12 billion. Four years
from now, it is expected to have more than 1 million individuals who will be employed in the
industry compared to that of today which is only around 230,000.
Today, Outsourcing-related jobs is 44 percent higher than last year.
Aside from IT professionalism, the cost of outsourcing in the Philippines is definitely cheaper
compared to the cost of Outsourcing in India, the champion in the field of outsourcing. But even if
the cost of Philippine Outsourcing is getting cheaper and cheaper, it still gain more and more
revenues as the year pass by.
In 2001, the revenues brought by outsourcing market in the Philippines is more or less $1
billion dollars. Today it is almost four times higher.
According to Global consultancy Mckinsey, it is estimated that four years from now (2010),
the revenues coming from Philippine Outsourcing could reach an incredibly $10 billion dollars
from its 120 companies that outsource.
Outsourcing companies are scattered all over the Philippines such as Ambergris and Sykes.
The major outsourcing spot in the Philippines are Makati (country's main financial district),
Alabang, Angeles and Cebu.
When a foreigner hears the word "Philippines," he would probably think that this country are
decades late when it comes to modern technology. If it is so, let him visit the Philippines and
show him the gigantic offices of Siemens, HP, Ericsson, PLDT and other Goliaths in the field of
communication technology.
Looking for a world-class call center? Why not try the quality of call center in the Philippines?
Source:
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news04_april11_2006
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HOW MANY SALES HAVE SLIPPED AWAY?
How many sales have slipped away? Does your company suffers because of few number of
sales? What do you think is the problem ? Is it about the employees? Is there something wrong
with the technical aspects? Or maybe the problem is in you, the owner. Here are some tips for
you to improve the shrinking status of your call center.
A former agent and Manager named Mike Aoki, introduces a course (applicable for inbound
call centers) to help the call centers in improving their standing and to be more competitive in this
industry.
The course teaches the reader the aesthetics of "sales through service." Always remember that if
you show the so-called "customer care," the customers will become more comfortable talking
with you. Dont be afraid to have a small talk. Bear in mind that the way you communicate with
your customer reflects to the customers view on the quality of your product.
To determine the needs of your customer, good questioning and listening skills is a must.
Before having a conversation with your customer, think of some questions to ask. Listen carefully
and be attentive. Be sure that you will not repeat asking same questions, that may irritate your
customer.
You should make it a point that your customer will be satisfied (or even amazed) with the quality
of your product. Use your communication skills and convincing power to make it possible. Use
key "buying" phrases that maximize the likelihood of your customer to purchase your product.
When the customer question the quality of your product, try your best to show him the bright
side of having this product on his own hands. Objection-handling techniques will surely gain you
more sales.
If you envision that your customer is convince to buy your product, that does not mean you
have to be comfortable. This one of the most critical parts of the sale because once you did a
single mistake, the customer may change his mind and put down the phone. During this scene,
you need to maximize your convincing power to ensure that your customer will buy your product.
To close the sale, you should distinguish the buying signals of the customers.
Hope this tips could help you. Thank you for reading.
Source:
http://www.reflectivekeynotes.com/ccsalesagent.htm
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COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO SETUP A CALL CENTER
by Michael Murillo
Want to earn salary that ranges from $200-275 per month? Then apply in a call center in the
Philippines. What are you waiting for? You can enjoy high salary and gain applicable work
experience. But, having this amount of money each and every month is not that easy,
sometimes, you need to do your work even if it is in the middle of the night. When foreigner dials
a "1-800" number, they might think that they are talking to an individual of the same race as
them. Well, they were wrong because it is a Filipino talking on the other end.
Want to satisfy your outsourcing needs? Then let the Philippine call centers be the solution to
your problem. For half a millenium, United States colonized Republic of the Philippines that is
why Filipinos are familiar with American Culture and can speak Americanized English clearly, not
all the major outsourcing countries have that quality. Foreign customers will be more comfortable
if they believe that the person they talk to is from the same race. Well in fact, the person that they
are talking to has never set even his single foot on their countries soil. Because of the quality of
English the Filipinos exercise, you can fool foreign customers that they are not talking to a
person outside of their country.
When setting a call center in the Philippines, you may choose from the brightest spots of
outsourcing, Manila and Cebu. This two cities are also the biggest cities in the country.
Let's say that you intend to locate your call center in Makati, Metro Manila. It is a good choice
because Makati is known as the country's main financial district. The atmosphere inside the call
center should be relaxing and the agents should be provided with some amenities. For those who
work overnight, they need a place to cook their food because it is difficult to look for a convinient
store in the middle of the night. Find a place where there is a 24-hour convinience store where
your employees may hang-out during their breaktime.
After having the perfect place for your call center, next step is to setup the technical aspects.
All you need are workstations, broadband connection and of course, do not forget the server.
When technical aspects are all ready, next thing to do is to hire agents. This is not a difficult part
because most of the fresh graduates want an elite call center job.
All is ready.
You should also be ready to receive large amount of dollars because of choosing Philippines
as your call center's location.
Source:
http://www.yellohgirls.com/call-center-faq.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------
BEING AN OUTGENERAL IN OUTSOURCING
The Pearl of the Orient (Philippines) wins praise when the Department Of Labor and
Employment (DOLE) declares that one of the brightest spots of the Philippines today is its
outsourcing business. It is documented that the Philippines is a hub for outsorcing and gained the
trusts of the customers not only from within the country but worldwide.
GOODBYE OUTSOURCING, HELLO EXPORTING?
According to the Chairman and chief technology officer of Infoweapons Mr. Lawrence
Hughes, time will come that the outsourcing market in the Philippines will lost its momentum. Its
only temporary and will die down as years pass because of a very tough competition within its
fellow Asian Nations; specifically China and India, the top outsourcing giants.
On the other hand, he added that industry in an another form could give the same or even
brighter spot in the Orient's Pearl. He mentioned, why did not the Filipinos give attention to the
product-based companies which is more productive? There is a possibility that exporting Filipino-
made products would be a great or even better source of revenue rather than outsourcing
because of its tough competition today.
Giving an effective and convincing example is one way to win a debate or a simple
conversation. Why not set his own company as an example? Infoweapons and other firms such
as the Cebu IT firms gain praises both in and out of the country. As a matter of fact, Filipinos can
produce high caliber, world class products. The US Department of Defence prove that right.
Remember the Cebu Watershed? The Chairman of US Department of Defence once mentioned
that the Watershed in Cebu is years ahead than other products of the same kind in the world
market.
WISE OUTSOURCING: WHY NOT OUTSOURCE?
With the help of "Wise Outsourcing," could you believe that companies can save for upto fifty
percent on their operating costs? Yes it is possible, only, if you outsource wisely. Compared to
the leading outsourcing country which is India, Outsourcing in the Philippines is definitely and
evidently cheaper. Forget about high expenses on labor because outsourcing in Philippines (and
in China) offers the cheapest but the most efficient labor. Dont problem your labor training costs
because you will be assured to get professional human resources.
In order for the companies to survive in the competition at the corporate world, organizations
and companies prefer to outsource because outsourcing is proven to cut costs for the company to
stay alive and breathing. Thanks to Outsourcing.
Sources:
http://www.enterblog.com/200508160502.htmlhttp://www.cyfuture.com/pro-and-cons-of-
outsourcing.htm
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"ICMI" DID IT FIRST, NOT THE BARBARIANS
There are almost billions and billions of words you can read on the net regarding the topic
"Telesales," let me add another 400 words that topic. Very short compared to other articles but
surely an interesting one.
What if call centers already existed during the stone age?
The era when barbarian and uncivilized men ruled the world, the period when men and
women used leaf as body coverings, and the time when homo sapiens lived like squirrels on the
tree. Aside from their own language (if there's any), one way for them to communicate was
through smoke signals; "Guten Morgen Senior, you can have a pair of mammoths tooth if you
will give me an ivory"
Another smoke signal appear writing this words in the air: "Give me the whole mammoth and
in return, i will offer you the biggest elephant you had ever seen."
Being serious, Annapolis in Maryland gave birth to Incoming Calls Management Institute
(ICMI) because they realized that their call centers should be upgraded or developed. ICMI plays
a big role on the evolution of the industry of call centers. Because of ICMI, the world experienced
the first ever seminar on incoming call center management and the very first conference on call
center bacame possible. ICMI didnt stop researching until they found, learned, practiced, and
perfected performance improvement solutions that is now used by modern-day call centers.
1987, the year when ICMI made a mark in the blowing world of call centers. Founded on this
year is the industry's first ever publication focused on call center management, the "Service
Level Newsletter now known as the Call Center Management Review.
The year was 1989 when the ICMI together one of their partners, Angus Telemanagement,
Toronto witnessed the great great grandfather of the conferences on Incoming Call Center
Management. Seven years after, Gunter Greff let the Germans see and experience ICMI
seminars.
Again, Angus Telemangement and ICMI joined forces to deliver the first seminar that is based
on Internet-enabled call centers.
ICMI did not stop there, in partnership with the American Express they bring to existence the
the complete two-day call center management seminar. It is the first of its kind. Delivering this
seminar via live, interactive satelite, they got appreciations from different individuals in the
industry of call centers.
Aside from that, many other "firsts" in the history of call centers were made possible by ICMI.
Now that you finished reading this article and learning the activities that marked the beginning
of call centers... do you prefer to be a barbarian and use smoke signals?
sources:
http://www.incoming.com/about/history.aspx?SelectedNode=History
http://irish.typepad.com/irisheyes/2005/01/history_of_call.html
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Orient's Pearl; A Hub for Outsourcing
In our growing global economy, Human Resource Outsourcing and Business Process
Outsourcing are parts of an emerging trend of outsourcing business functions.
If you are not good on one thing, why not outsource it?
In HR Outsourcing, there is a so-called "a la carte," which means you can pick for yourself the human
resources you want. This gives the power to the customer on what kind of Human Resources they prefer.
There is also a term called "all-or-nothing" which literally means letting them handle all of your company's
HR functions, on the other hand, none at all. Customers can also choose from what country the human
resources will come from.
Philippines is known as one of the hubs of outsourcing through out the planet. "Offshore destination of
choice by global companies looking for their backroom," the trademark given by the Gartner Group to the
Pearl of the Orient, and according to the Philippine IT competitiveness review, the said country is one of
the most promising, rising and important offshore player.
India, China, and Malaysia should not be confident about their present status. Those countries are the 3
champions in outsourcing operations. Studies of BPO firm based in the US proved that BPO Philippines
would give India tough competition in offshore outsourcing operations in the coming years.
Avinash Vashita, the managing director of NeoIT mentioned in a seminar, "Scaling up BPO
Operations" at Kolkata (Infocom 2003) that BPO Philippines (and BPO China) can provide high quality of
outsourcing but with an affordably low cost.
Let us compare those countries. Talking about the proficiency and fluency in english of both countries,
Philippines is definitely better in English because for almost half a milenium, the U.S. colonized this said
country making them familiar and comfortable speaking english languge. In addition, there is no doubt that
Filipinos can be considered as high-caliber IT professionals. Philippines produces more and more IT
professionals (and computer science major) every year.
Being a part of DDC Group of Companies (a privately held portfolio of companies) and being a leader
in providing human capital BPO solutions, "DDC HRO" (www.ddchro.com) expects much to the
Philippines compared to their other Asian neighbors because of the blowing numbers business
opportunities for business process outsourcing (BPO) services in the Philippines.
After reading this article, there is no reason for you not to outsource at the Orient's Pearl?
Sources:
http://www.outsourcingsurvival.com/BPOPhilippines.html
http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/newsviewer.php?ppa=6prjo`ZmoiovqkSSge!6C)bfek\v
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------
OUTSOURCING COMPETITION: INDIA VERSUS RP
Some consider software outsourcing options for the reason of financial motives. But the
benefits reach well further than the financials. A report according to 2004 Forrester states that,
―offshore outsourcing remains an imperative in North American companies because of the cost
and quality benefits it makes possible.‖
Outsourcing is often made to lesser costs or focus on competencies. A related term that
means transferring work from one country to another, typically overseas is Offshoring. Offshoring
is similar to outsourcing when companies employ subcontractors in a foreign country, but differs
when companies shift work to the same company in another country. Outsourcing became a
popular exhortation in business and management during 1990s
Due to certain aspects such as cultural compatibility, proficiency in English, and neutral
accents, Philippines is chosen as the base for their offshore customer service facilities by most
foreign investors. In addition, racially, Filipinos are more westernized compared to their
Asian neighbors.
.
. Being a former American Colony, there is no difference between the
Philippine Mercantile Laws and the Commercial code of U.S. and has similar
requirements for Certified Public Accountants as well. These are concrete evidences
of cultural similarities between RP and U.S.
In the recent years, the RP has become the offshore target of choice for call
center outsourcing, specializing in customer support services.
Filipinos take pleasures in watching American shows, for that reason,
Filipinos are familiar with the nuances of American English. Customers usually think
that after dialing a 1-800 number, they are talking to a fellow American. Well, it is
a big mistake.
India is an IT giant in the third world and is ranked as one of the top choices of U.S.
companies for software outsourcing. But the Philippines - having the world‘s second-largest
English-speaking populations—is fast catching up to India and probably taking the crown out of
India in the near future.
The most up-to-date “mantra” of India in the present day is the Business
Process Outsourcing (BPO). Due to the fact that the current sources of revenue face
slower growth today, software companies try new or fresh ways to have a larger
amount of revenues.
Outsourcers choose call center facilities that are capable of handling calls not
just from English-speaking nations but from all over the world. Because of that
reason, The India should not be confident with their status today.
Source:
http://www.outsourcing.ph/outsource_call_center.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The "Magnitude" of Outsourcing : A Rational View
In the contemporary global bazaar, outsourcing is becoming increasingly popular as a
way to increase output cheaply and competently. ―Global sourcing is seen as necessary to be
competitive or even survive…and small midsize companies are now involved‖ (Gartner, June
2004)
Polls show that by a wide margin, Americans believe that outsourcing is not good for the
economy. Is that truthful? No. Moving service jobs overseas, as is happening now, brings actual,
concrete benefits to the economy, just as the country benefited when manufacturing jobs moved
overseas. When jobs go to countries like India or China, those countries become wealthier and
more developed, and in turn they demand more of our goods and services.
The best way to understand outsourcing is to learn and comprehend its meaning.
Contracting out or Outsourcing is defined as the entrustment of non-core operations or jobs from
internal production within a business to an external entity (e.g. subcontractor) that specializes in
that said operation.
OUTSOURCED WORKS
It is a must for each and every organization to generate data. Hidden in those data are
pieces information on how the organization performs. Data analysis is the crucial process to bring
out information out of the otherwise random reservoir of data. Analysis results are very significant
in any processes wether it is retail, pharmaceutical research or even banking operations. Varying
amounts of data and bits of information in quantity and quality are generated depends upon the
process.
IT operation is one of the fresh faces in the outsourcing arena. It involves the
management of IT assets of corporations from a specific location. It become possible when the
management of a computer network of a large corporation includes outage monitoring, alarms
monitoring, remote monitoring of data centers etc.
OUTSOURCING BENEFITS
The access to have skills and professional capabilities that you don‘t have within your
team will be possible with the help of outsourcing. Flexibility is one of the product of outsourcing.
With the help of outsourcing, the owner or manager of an organization can easily gain more staff
and / or add systems you do not have. On the other hand, when your business is shrinking, it's
hard to keep non-core activities when you're having trouble selling.
Not all businesses are aware of the benefits of outsourcing. It is a fact that outsourcing
can save money, but that is not the most important reason to perform it. During the Outsourcing
Mania of the early 1990s, it can be concluded that it is worse to outsource too much rather than
not outsourcing at all. Flat economy is the reason why many companies into huge layoffs and
subsequently outsourced functions that were better kept in-house. However, sensible
outsourcing can offer a number of long-term benefits.
Sources:
http://www.icaew.co.uk/library/index.cfm?AUB=tb2i_71110
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing#Types_of_outsourced_work
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
BY: ALEXIS HOJILLA
Outsourcing: The Rise of an Economic Tonic
As decades start to pave way for global transformation, today‘s generation has
witnessed countless technological advances and strategic economic approaches to suit the
complexities of the modern world. Truly, man has proved himself ingenious in adapting to the
difficulties he encounters in any field to which he engages himself with. And business is no
exception.
In the past few years, outsourcing has become a well-known buzz word in the business
industry. However, unless you are a business person or had some orientation in economics or
business administration, you probably have no idea what this word is.
Outsourcing is the handing over the tasks or jobs from internal production to an external
unit. In recent times, it has preferred the employment of staff overseas where salaries are
markedly lower. Nonetheless, buying services from a source provider can not be considered
outsourcing. Outsourcing always constitutes a significant degree of interpersonal information
exchange, organization and trust.
Outsourcing traces its origin way back 1940‘s, during the boom of the textile industry in
the United States. Yet, its name got the attention of large-scale business industries when Ross
Perot established the Electronic Data Systems in 1962. For years, designing, manufacturing and
retailing firms paid for their management competence in information technology to aid in reaching
their business objectives. Thus, outsourcing companies serve as a branching unit of these firms
responsible for managing a segment of business.
After over forty decades, outsourcing remains not only as a business stabilizer but also
as an economic stimulant. Aside from aiding in performing business tasks, it also provides
employment opportunities for countries with stiff job markets. At present, most international
outsourcing firms principally comprises trade in services. International companies use
outsourcing as a deliberate method which allows them to provide services to customers or other
manufacturers in their home markets while using overseas staff whose labor is priced lower.
As outsourcing becomes broader in scope, more and more benefits are brought about
such as enhanced specialization and more extensive markets. These advantages are evident to
both the developing countries providing labor services and the developed countries that
purchased them.
At present, outsourcing had escaped its stereotype purpose as an accounting support,
which was the trend before. It has now invaded wider extents, such as data analysis, IT
operations, engineering design, legal support services, art, animation and editorial work, and
software development.
Apparently, outsourcing brings clear and substantial benefits to the global economy.
Beyond doubt, outsourcing has been a fundamental component of the global value chain
schemes that have been made possible by technological advances and competitive markets.
Hence, man‘s conscientious efforts had once again succeeded in providing an economic tonic
which could save many country‘s dying economy--- outsourcing.
Sources:
http://www.bambooweb.com/articles/o/u/Outsource.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2005/mar/23/yehey/opinion/120050323opi2.html
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Hello, How Can I Help You? BY: ALEXIS HOJILLA
Rings a bell? Probably because you have heard these words before while making inquiries or
requests to different companies through a friendly call center agent. But do you know where the
other line is coming from? Yes, you may speak the same language but if you think that means
the person you are talking to is from your country, think again.
In this era where microchips and robots have come to existence and people are becoming
more and more oriented to the endless possibilities brought by technology, availing customer
support services while talking to a foreign call center agent at the same time has become
ordinary.
Truly, many people had learned long ago that outsourcing, the method of handing a segment
of business functions over a third party, was going to grow fast, due to its potential in putting the
global economy back in good shape. Yet, most of these people had not realized it would do at
such a rapid pace. With its speedy popularity, it had also its noticeable invasion in the business
sector that it had succeeded in covering areas such as the call center industry.
The term call center industry may be quite familiar to many but only a few knows what it is all
about. Basically, call center industry is characterized by handling customer inquiries regarding a
product, a service or the company itself. However, as labor cost rises, multinational companies
prefer employing overseas staff to complete a certain business function. Thus, this phenomenon
gives rise to offshore outsourcing. Offshore outsourcing represents an organizational practice
that involves the transfer of an organizational function to a third party located in another country.
Hence, a US-based customer who has found difficulties operating a new computer he
purchased from a multinational firm can call a toll-free number to ask for help. What the American
customer may not know is that the owner of the voice on the other line, talking with a confident
"foreign" accent, is actually on the other side of the globe.
Now, it has been cleared what call center industry really is. So the next time you talk to a
customer service representative, think twice whether the person on the other line is from the
same country or not. This article must have taught you a lot and as they say, thank you for
calling---ooops, for reading, I mean.
Sources:
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/apr/05/yehey/opinion/20060405opi2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing
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Philippines as a Haven for the Call Center Industry BY: ALEXIS HOJILLA
The Philippines is often reckoned as a global hotspot in terms of agriculture, with sheer
numbers of flora and fauna exported around different countries around the globe. However, as
the Information Age continues to evolve rapidly, the Philippines undergoes a transformation from
being an agriculture-oriented country to a cyberPhilippines. It is at this point in history that the
Philippines, aside from being a paradise blessed with exquisite landscapes, is building its own
name in the call center industry.
Among the growing markets of Asia, India and China have long utilized their labor forces in
the call center industry, thus providing the fuel for their economic growth. Since India had been
under the British colonial rule for decades, most of their citizens speak English, the so-called
lingua franca of the modern world, making India seem such a perfect location for outsourcing. On
the other hand, the Philippines had been struggling for the political, economic and social crises it
faces. Yet, albeit the different criticisms it receives, many international firms recognize the
Philippines, particularly its strong workforce of brown people with neutral American accent, as a
potential haven for call center industry.
A survey of multinational companies by a foreign consulting firm reveals that Philippines ranks
as one of the most favorable locations for call center operations. In fact, out of forty countries
regarded as propitious locations for offshoring, the Philippines ranked fourth, according to the
Global Services Location Index 2005 of AT Kearney, following India, China and Malaysia. It
jumped two places higher from its last year's ranking.
Southeast Asia dominates the list of the 2005 index, with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand,
Indonesia and Philippines filling up the top 15 positions. Additional reports by the survey states
that the Philippines awaits foreign investments for offshoring because of its English-proficient
workforce, despite its political fluidity and infrastracture frailty. The language skills of its natives
also provide endless opportunities for worldwide exposure.
Meanwhile, a Canadian market research company stated that Philippines is capable of
exceeding India in call center industry. XMG Inc. revealed that as early as 2008, the Philippines
could overtake the current market leader if it will converge on brood over administering higher
value services enforcing excellent English efficiency and frontline service support affairs. Cesar
Toletino, an XMG analyst, said that if headed in the right path, the Philippines could earn $3.46
billion in 2008 in call center industry, surpassing India's estimated income in the same year of
$2.87 billion.
With such definite and abundant advantages of Philippines over other countries, the
Philippines truly faces a bright future in call center industry. It is no exaggeration to assert that in
a matter of years, call center industry in the Philippines will be at its zenith in international
influence and prestige.
Sources:
1. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-22-
2005/0004221322&EDATE=
2.http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2005/feb/18/yehey/top_stories/20050218top7.html
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Industrial Revolution in the Philippines
BY: ALEXIS HOJILLA
Some two to three centuries ago, huge social and economic advances marked the worldwide
evolution from a conservative agricultural and commercial worldwide society to an experimental
industrial civilization. Manufacture of new mechanical innovations to ease the tasks of mankind
had replaced manual labor and conventional tools our ancestors had used long ago. Perhaps you
recall from history books how in just a few decades of this period, the global village competently
accepted the countless innovations made like the electricity, automobiles and telephones.
However, this phenomenal spread of knowledge called Industrial Revolution had not made a
rapid progress in the global market. But in 1830, it eventually developed gradually and quickly
reached every corner of the globe. Along with its worldwide expansion, it underwent a huge
regional expansion. Every area in the world enhanced their specialized fields in the industry. The
global economic power and technological superiority entailed by the Industrial Revolution had
eventually reached the Philippines.
Located in the heart of the Orient, it took time for technological innovations to penetrate the
Philippines. Until the 21st century, Philippines gradually developed at a remarkably slow pace.
Nonetheless, the 21st century marked the paramount of Philippines' own "Industrial Revolution",
as multinational companies become more and more interested to invest in the Philippines in the
field of offshore outsourcing, particularly in the call center industry.
Philippines' workforce has long been known worldwide for the efficiency it presents.
Thousands of overseas Filipino workers are hired every year. This proves how foreigners feel
satisfied at the service of Philippine natives. In fact, a study has been conducted by the Swiss
International Institute for Management Development in 2004 which reveals that Philippines ranks
number one in Asia in terms of availability of skilled workforce. Aside from being naturally smart
and respectful, Filipino workers are also efficient in speaking English. Also, labor in the
Philippines is priced markedly low, compared to equally qualified employees from other
countries. These are the main reasons why the Philippines seems to be a potential location for
call centers.
Most call centers are used by international companies for interacting with their customers.
Such interactions may involve customer support for computer software and hardware and mail
order catalogue firms. Other companies are using call centers for their internal functions such as
help desks and internal support. Such tasks suit the positive disposition and patience of Asian
natives. Among the growing markets in the call center industry, India and the Philippines are the
two strongest industries in call centers.
Judging by its present role of expansion, call centers provide substantial benefits to the
Philippines. Likewise, those multinational firms continues to discover manifold advantages of
putting call centers in the Philippines. Once confined to agriculture, the Philippines is now
undergoing an Industrial Revolution, a significant transition from being an illiberal society to a
home of an industry continuously developing through the years---the call center industry.
Sources:
1. http://www.bartleby.com/65/in/IndustR.html
2. http://www.callcenter-guide.com/call-center.php
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The Rise of Outbound Call Centers in the 21st Century BY: ALEXIS HOJILLA
As the technology swims in a state of flux through generations, so is the necessity of mankind
for ready access to substantial and authoritative information. The invention of computers and
other cybernetic machines paved way for the rise of the Internet, which allowed us to instantly
gather information with just a few clicks.
The remarkable expansion of the computers and the Internet in the 21st century conquered
different fields--- in biochemistry, in nuclear physics, in psychology and in dozens of other fields.
Internet made what appears impossible, possible. Computers had successfully accomplished the
discovery of grand new areas in medicine, the exploration of outer space by manned flight, the
innovations in the field of robotics and countless other advancements.
Moreover, computers also provide assistance in many aspects of our daily life, including
purchasing products. Truly, computers have made it possible for companies to market their
products without the hassle of actual negotiations. However, as time goes by, most customers
prefer talking to someone to make sure every information about the product is clear and every
question he has in mind is instantly answered. This gives rise to telemarketing.
Perhaps you have experienced receiving a call from a stranger with perfect accent and formal
language offering a product at a reasonable price and explaining the benefits the product may
cause you. That scenario is what telemarketing exactly is. It increases and stabilizes customer
awareness about products which may be of great necessity to the customers. Telemarketing is
only one of the two major services offered by outbound call centers. Many companies are taking
this strategic method in business to increase the sales and popularity of the products.
Basically, outbound call center is a unit that uses high technology telecommunications
system. It serves as an outsourced provider facility that manages services for outgoing phone
calls and other technological means of communications such as e-mail, VoIP and live internet
chat. Telemarketing outbound call centers make use of sophisticated communications technology
such as PBX, IP and ASR.
Aside from telemarketing services, another major service offered by outbound call centers is
market research. Since marketing firms only have limited time to survey, most firms pass on this
task to a third party which is an expert on market research. The main function of market
reasearch is to know more about what the customers want and how they evaluate certain
products.
The present rate of outbound telemarketing expansion in the global market has increased over
the years. Evidently, it is likely to continue its vigorous growth in the next years to come. At this
generation where competition is stiff and consumer demands are high, telemarketing and market
research through outbound call centers would remain in promoting public awareness about what
they need and what they want.
Sources:
1. http://www.callcenter-guide.com/outbound-call-center.php
2. http://www.callcenter-guide.com/call-center.php
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Call Center Industry as Catalyst for Employment BY: ALEXIS HOJILLA
About a decade ago, the International Labor Organization predicted that world unemployment
would continue to rise for years. During that time, about 1 billion people, or 30 percent of the
global workforce, are either underemployed or unemployed. The ILO report also stated that most
of them could never find a job which would suit their skills over the years.
However, while offshoring continues to dominate the business sector in haste in the present,
many economic analysts conceive a little spark of hope that would oppose to what the ILO
reported a decade ago. With a high employment demand in call centers, the outsourcing
industry, principally the call center market, could serve as the remedy for the worldwide problem
of unemployment.
By 2015, the industry is estimated to increase to 3.4 million US service jobs overseas.
Fortunately, these high employment demand reaches third world countries with high
unemployment rates. India and Philippines, for example, which have 8.8% and 10.2%
unemployment rates respectively, are the two competing countries in terms of call center
performance, where low cost employees are performing a variety of American tasks. These tasks
range from chasing debtors to calling prospective customers to offer them new products and
services.
With English proficiency, good listening and problem-solving skills as requirements, many
natives of third world countries are easily employed. However, as time passes by and
competition for jobs becomes more stiff, the demand for those with higher qualifications arise.
Many call center firms demand for expertise in information technology for some of its positions.
Still, for countries with high technological skills like the Philippines, such high prerequisites do
not hamper them from getting employed.
Siemens Inc., for example, added in their requirements for call center agents the familiarity of
IT terms and concepts which are of great need since they are about to offer IT support to
customers worldwide. With these strict requirements, Siemens concluded that the Philippines
tops all other countries when it comes to customer service orientation, ability to adapt to a
western cultural framework and English communications.
For 2005, the call center industry created 103 000 jobs in the Philippines alone. Thus, this
industry is considered by many analysts as the "sunshine sector" of the global economy and
upholds great potential as the catalyst for employment.
Beyond doubt, this so-called "sunshine sector" enhances not only the productivity of the
multinational companies but also provides income for many who used to be unemployed.
Contrary to what critics say, call center jobs are capable of offering long-term employment where
employees can take root and grow. Hence, this budding industry is likely to give a permanent
and dependable basis for long-term innovations in the economy, particularly in employment.
Sources:
1. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/26/209.html
2. http://www.bartleby.com/151/fields/72.html
3. http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2005/oct/09/yehey/career/20051009car2.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philippines in BPO Global Leadership: Why Not? BY: ALEXIS HOJILLA
Who would ever thought that such a country which boasts of its wonderful natural resources
would become a global leader in the current business trend today?
Yes, it is true. Despite of its economic instability, the Philippines has opened its market for
business process outsourcing and is now regarded as one of the two global leaders in this
industry, alongside India. In outsourcing industry, it joins four other Southeast Asian countries in
the top 15, according to the Global Location Services Index of 2005.
But what is business process outsourcing anyway? Business process outsourcing, known as
BPO, was regarded as one of the fastest growing industries in the world. It is the ascendancy of
technology or expert process providers to supply and regulate a segment of business processes
and functions. It means that part of business tasks of the outsourcer is transferred to a third party.
BPOs exist in different forms such as accounting and payroll outsourcing, medical transcription
industry, call centers, animation and human resources.
In 2002, the BPO industry employed about 2400 Filipinos, bringing in revenues of US$24
million. Just three years after, the industry grew rapidly and its revenues increased to US$1.12
billion, providing jobs for about 112 000 employees.
At present, the Philippines is regarded as the most competitive adversary of India in the
global call center market. A Michigan-based company, Kelly Services, Inc. stated that US
companies now prefer Philippines than India in offshore backroom operations. This is largely
because aside from being a former US colony, the Philippines and the American education
system are so much alike which includes comprehensive English language studies, giving
Filipinos a neutral American accent. On the other hand, India currently faces criticisms due to
their British accent, a barrier in dealing with American customers.
Likewise, in other BPO industries, the country still excels. This is mainly because of Filipinos'
proficiency in English and Spanish. Also, among all Asian countries, the Philippines has the
greatest number of accredited accountants which are acclaimed for their adaptability in multiple
accounting standards.
Many studies showed that Philippines have great potential in global leadership when it comes
to BPO. The neoIT's 2005 Mapping Offshore Markets Update ranked Philippines as the third in
the world for top BPO destinations. In 2004, the country was cited by the Philippines' Center for
International Trade Expositions and Missions as among the 10 global leaders in offshore
operations. AOL, Chevron, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel and Motorola are among the multinational
companies that already operate offshore operations in the Philippines.
These substantial developments in the BPO industry prove that the country has not made a
mistake in opening their market for global outsourcing. As the Philippines exhibits a world-class,
powerful workforce, this "established success story", as stated by the Kearney 2004
Attractiveness Index , is likely to continue in years to come.
Sources:
1. http://www.offshoring-digest.com/outsourcing/24.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_outsourcing_in_the_Philippines
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_outsourcing
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can Philippines Defeat Other BPO Global Leaders? BY: ALEXIS HOJILLA
This is the question lingering in the minds of many business professionals, especially those
engaged in the latest global business prevalence. In the 2005 neoIT's Mapping Offshore Markets
Update, Philippines exchange places with other countries which had long before engaged in the
business process outsourcing industry.
Philippines is included as one of the BPO destinations with the largest industry size in
outsourcing in 2004, along with Canada, China, India, Mexico and European countries such as
Poland and Ireland. The countries were selected based on the present and future potential sizes
of their offshore industry. In the Offshore Attractiveness Index focusing on BPO, the Philippines
ranked second, following India. Completing the top ten are Poland, Ireland, Canada, Mexico,
Czech Republic, Malaysia, China and Hungary, respectively.
In the BPO Evolution of Offshore Markets providing a perceptible manifestation of the current
and the predicted future attractiveness, the country retains its position as the second. The study
asserted the the BPO market growth in the country has something to do with its colonial past and
strong cultural ties with the US. These result to the country's high rate of proficiency in the
English language, thereby becoming more productive service providers.
On the other hand, though India constitutes a huge skilled labor pool, superior service
maturity, strong governmental support and cost competitiveness, it faces future threats resulting
from its poor infrastructure and bureaucracy. Canada and European countries encounter
problems of high wage rates despite the excellent business environment they have. While China
boasts of its cost-competitiveness and large labor pool, it receives criticisms of low service
maturity, difficulty in English language and negative perception of geopolitical risk. Meanwhile,
Malaysia is also threatened by problems like the unpopularity of BPO jobs.
Mexico is another country growing as a strong competitor but some companioes hesitate to
consider it since its workforce specializes only in low-end jobs. Though Russia emerges as
another rival, its poor infrastructure and linguistic capabilities in languages like English and
Spanish hamper the BPO industry.
Philippines, however, also affronts barriers like the unfavorable geopolitical situation.
However, the country is currently undergoing political changes to resolve this issue and
developments are presently evident. Still, Philippines takes pride in its good telecom
infrastructure, cost competitiveness and excellent English language proficiency. Also, another
advantage of the Philippines over all the other competitors is its familiarity with American cultural
framework and Spanish language.
At present, India still excels most in the BPO market, but as criticisms arise, it is about to
lose its position. What exists today may not be true in the future. Having the second position in
the global BPO market, the Philippines has more to offer. Perhaps the answer to the question
above is crystal clear. Can Philippines defeat other BPO global leaders? The answer is probably.
As they say, the best has yet to come.
Sources:
1. http://www.indobase.com/bpo/competitors-of-india.html
2. http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&fr=slv1-
msgr&p=neoIT%27s+2005+Mapping+Offshore+Markets+Update&u=www.neoit.com/pdfs/whitepa
pers/OIv3i08_0905_Mapping-Offshore-
Markets.pdf&w=neoit%27s+2005+mapping+offshore+markets+update&d=VGWXERbfMSWl&icp
=1&.intl=us
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------
Why Outsource?
BY: ALEXIS HOJILLA
In this fast-paced era of technology and globalization, more and more complexities are
encountered by the business sector of the global society. Demands continue to increase and
competition becomes more of a rat race. Business tasks are getting complicated and intensified
as technological advances require companies to handle multiple responsibilities.
However, they found an essential way of dealing with the convolutions brought by
modernization. For years, lots of companies of varied fields have accepted the concept of
outsourcing. Fundamentally, outsourcing is a strategic method of handling responsibilities
without completely depending on the original company's resources. It all started in the 1940's
when American textile firm owners decided to use a third party to manage a part of their business
functions. Later in the 60's, a company offered service to furniture manufacturers and designers
using their expertise in information technology.
Years after, outsourcing has branched into different varieties performing aggregate functions.
These include engineering design, data analysis, software development, call centers,
information technology operations and animation. As outsourcing becomes more and more
popular in business and management, it has showcased manifold benefits to both the outsourcer
and the service provider. The mere fact that multinational companies that rely on outsourcing
increase conveys that outsourcing has proven its success. Microsoft and Oracle, for instance,
have aggravated outsourcing and utilized the savings for investment and domestic payrolls.
Aside from developing product quality, outsourcing costs lower substantially. This is evident
specially if a company outsources from an overseas firm where labor costs are more economical
than the labor costs in their home markets. Since outsourcing allows for cost-competitiveness,
productivity is increased. In effect, the global economy in aggregate benefits.
Moreover, advantages are perceived not only in outsourcer markets but in outsourced
countries as well. Though labor costs in these countries are rationally lower than in developed
countries, outsourcing jobs are considered high paying and worthwhile, with respect to their cost
of living. Hence, outsourcing fuels outsourced countries toward economic growth. Also,
advantages on the political aspect are seen out of outsourcing. According to Thomas Friendman,
countries that are focused in their economic growth are much less likely to tolerate war. It is
impossible for these countries to go to war with nations that contribute to their economies.
Likewise, outsourcing focuses companies on their major business goals, since the difficult
segments if their business functions are handled by a third party. Outsourcer companies also get
to share risks with the outsourced firms. Furthermore, outsourcing helps promote globalization
because it enable companies to gain access to world-class capabilities.
By the virtue of the countless opportunities and advantages outsourcing boasts of, it is no
surprise that it is recognized as one of the fastest growing industries in the world, particularly
business process outsourcing. No one knows what more benefits it may present in the future.
Almost every company who considered outsourcing asked the question "why outsource?". Yet, in
the end, they all found the answer. Simply put, the answer lies in the question itself. Why
outsource? Why not.
Sources:
1. http://www.outsourceit2philippines.com/index.htm
2. http://www.bambooweb.com/articles/o/u/Outsourcing.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing#Benefits_of_Outsourcing
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What Philippines Has to Offer in Outsourcing BY: ALEXIS HOJILLA
Among all the cities in the world, Manila was cited as the best city for outsourcing by the
Global Offshoring Index 2004 of a property consultancy company. Jones Lang Lasalle asserted
that this is due to the country's well-educated, English-speaking and IT-skilled workforce.
Following Manila are cities from Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. As a small third-world country,
many business professionals become sceptic on how Philippines has attained this position. Yet,
its numerous assets speaks for itself.
Once constrained to agriculture and overseas domestic labor, the Philippines has become a
favorite destinations for multinational companies in offshore outsourcing. Aside from the high
level of literacy and English language proficiency, the country also boasts of an intellectual, c
ustomer-service-oriented labor pool and low-cost labor. Specializing in call centers, business
process outsourcing, application development and animation, the Philippines takes pride in its
cultural compatibility with the United States.
Being a former colony of Spain and the United States, Philippines has turned out as a
culturally open society, an advantage over its rivals in the outsourcing market. The democracy it
possesses makes it possible for the people's openness to influences from different cultures.
Hence, it produces a workforce capable of adapting easily to foreign customs. Since most
Filipinos are bilingual, Philippines is conspicuously at the paramount of telecommunications
offshoring market.
On the other hand, the critics' aspersion on the potential of Philippines in outsourcing includes
migration of workers to different countries and the country's low awareness as an offshore top
market. However, since the country produces a huge amount of graduates every year, migration
of a small percentage of its labor force is not a big deal. In fact, the country has more students in
their tertiary education than most of the nations in Europe.
Producing 15 000 graduates from technical universities, the country has a high literacy rate of
above 94%, with English as the principal medium of instruction. 99% of the college graduates
have a competent adeptness in English language. This is primarily the reason why Philippines
overtakes many countries in fields like customer support operations.
In its intent for economic growth, the Philippines has opened its market for foreign
investments, specially in offshore outsourcing. The government encourages multinational
companies to develop the emerging industry in the business trend today. In fact, it offers
attractive incentives to foreign investors. Local business industries cooperate with the
government in developing the country's infrastructure. For the past few years, the country's
economy has relied in foreign investments as a huge contributing factor for its economic growth.
As more and more outsourcers decide to select Philippines, the country is expected by many
business analysts to take the prime global leadership in outsourcing. With its skilled, skilled
workforce and convenient environment, the Philippines represents a paradise for outsourcers
around the globe. Thus, what Philippines has to offer should not be a question of doubt and
debate, but an inquest full of anticipations of more benefits the country has to exhibit.
Sources:
1. http://www.outsourceit2philippines.com/articles-outsource/investing-outsource-philippines.htm
2. http://www.outsourceit2philippines.com/articles-outsource/outsource-advantages.htm
By Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Outsourcing in the Philippines: Is your privacy
protected?
By Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Does Philippines have laws which guard the
confidentiality of private information that is
held regarding a person in the course of private
conversations on the phone or on-line for
business or any legal purposes for instance, in
the outsourcing industry?
Most businessmen are being anxious whether or not
to avail call center services or more
specifically customer care services because at
stake is the confidentiality of their business
documents or whatever it is that needs privacy.
It is their lack of knowledge that there are
certain laws in the Philippine Constitution that
protect their rights for privacy which hinders
them from making their other business processes
done by more skilled specialists outside their
company, which might make it more efficiently
done and added the advantage of cutting the
high-priced expenditures of the company when the
business processes were done in-house.
Among these laws that can give confidentiality
and safeguard of data to the businessmen include
the Republic Act No. 8792 which is also known as
the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000. In this law,
it lawfully recognizes electronic credentials
and transactions, and defines what is legal for
commercial and non-commercial purposes. The law
states that: 1. Only persons with the lawful
right to the data should have the access to it
(Section31-Lawful Access); 2. People with the
lawful right to the data should keep it
confidential (Section32-Obligation of
Confidentiality); and 3. Illegal access to the
data is punishable by law (Section 33-Penalties).
Another law that is stated is the Presidential
Decree No. 1718 which puts restrictions on the
transfer of documents and information outside the
Philippines.
On the other hand, the Philippine Constitution
and Civil Law states that the privacy, including
the privacy of data, is a constitutional right
and is recognized in the Philippine Civil Law.
Since bank documents are extremely confidential,
there is the law which is the Bank Secrecy Act of
1995 which sets out the rules for keeping bank
records confidential.
And since communicating over the phone or on any
forms of technology can be recorded, the
Republic Act No. 4200 also known as the
Anti-Wire Tapping Act, states that it is illegal
to intercept or record private communications.
Another important law which is known as the
Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998 states the
prohibition of the utilization of unauthorized
‗access devices‘ which includes account numbers,
credit cards and electronic serial numbers.
Source: http://www.ukarc.com/faq.php#FAQ2
That is Why They are Offshoring . . .
By Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Once again, the call center industry is being
criticized as a tool for exploiting Filipinos,
offering them extremely much drop down wages
compared to their counterparts in the US call
center industry.
A local broadsheet reported that a local labor
group is attacking the call center industry for
providing lower wages to Filipino workers than
their counter part agents in the United States.
In a report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer,
KMU spokesperson Prestoline Suyat noted that
entry-level workers have an average salary of
15,000 Philippine pesos while their counterparts
in the United States earn as much as 40,000
Philippine pesos per month when converted to
Philippine pesos. Moreover, the Filipino call
center agents‘ salary as well fall short of
19,950 pesos monthly living cost.
That is the logic! It is because it is cheaper to
outsource offshore because they can benefit from
the lower salary costs of Filipino contact center
agents than in their own original destination. If
we would demand for equal salary as that of our
counterparts in the United States, do you think
those huge companies would still be interested to
invest here? Considering that they would just
spend the same expenditure as much as what they
spend in their country or even spend much more
because of the destination leasing and the
advancement of the infrastructure if ever we
demand for it.
For starters, there is an average of 15,000
Philippine pesos a month for contact center
agents, and isn‘t it a good start compared to
other jobs being offered in the Philippines? In
fact, when you say you are working as a call
center agent, you probably are being envied by
your mates who were working in other companies
that offer not even half of your salary in the
call center industry.
Yeah it‘s true that we should know our worth as
well-educated country with a literacy rate of 94
percent. But do you think, in reality that our
country‘s economy is much deteriorating, compared
to other third world countries, isn‘t it a very
good opportunity to grab it now instead of
thinking that it is a tool for exploitation of
our workers?
Imagine how big help it has been on the
Philippine economy, and how it brought a lot of
revenues as much as billion pesos, isn‘t it
enough to be called a great alternative job? The
Philippine call centers‘ rage nowadays is a
strong alternative now, that should be taken with
well-handled care.
Source:
http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=71320
Outsourcing in the Philippines: Is your privacy
protected?
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Does Philippines have laws which guard the
confidentiality of private information that is
held regarding a person in the course of private
conversations on the phone or on-line for
business or any legal purposes for instance, in
the outsourcing industry?
Most businessmen are being anxious whether or not
to avail call center services or more
specifically customer care services because at
stake is the confidentiality of their business
documents or whatever it is that needs privacy.
It is their lack of knowledge that there are
certain laws in the Philippine Constitution that
protect their rights for privacy which hinders
them from making their other business processes
done by more skilled specialists outside their
company, which might make it more efficiently
done and added the advantage of cutting the
high-priced expenditures of the company when the
business processes were done in-house.
Among these laws that can give confidentiality
and safeguard of data to the businessmen include
the Republic Act No. 8792 which is also known as
the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000. In this law,
it lawfully recognizes electronic credentials
and transactions, and defines what is legal for
commercial and non-commercial purposes. The law
states that: 1. Only persons with the lawful
right to the data should have the access to it
(Section31-Lawful Access); 2. People with the
lawful right to the data should keep it
confidential (Section32-Obligation of
Confidentiality); and 3. Illegal access to the
data is punishable by law (Section 33-Penalties).
Another law that is stated is the Presidential
Decree No. 1718 which puts restrictions on the
transfer of documents and information outside the
Philippines.
On the other hand, the Philippine Constitution
and Civil Law states that the privacy, including
the privacy of data, is a constitutional right
and is recognized in the Philippine Civil Law.
Since bank documents are extremely confidential,
there is the law which is the Bank Secrecy Act of
1995 which sets out the rules for keeping bank
records confidential.
And since communicating over the phone or on any
forms of technology can be recorded, the
Republic Act No. 4200 also known as the
Anti-Wire Tapping Act, states that it is illegal
to intercept or record private communications.
Another important law which is known as the
Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998 states the
prohibition of the utilization of unauthorized
‗access devices‘ which includes account numbers,
credit cards and electronic serial numbers.
Source: http://www.ukarc.com/faq.php#FAQ2
Outsourcing 101
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
For quite a long time now, ‗OUTSOURCING‘ has
become a buzzword in both the international and
local economy because of its business application
in both the corporations and for the small
businesses and because of its political
applications as well. And here are some of the
new words you might encounter that may hinder you
from comprehending with matters concerning
outsourcing when you encounter these if ever. In
addition, here is also included some details
regarding outsourcing including its roots, its
current relation with the politics.
First, let‘s define ‗Outsourcing‘…
Outsourcing is the act of obtaining services from
an external firm. It is a service commonly
offered by outsourcing companies which has
expertise in certain fields such as
telemarketing, accounting and business process
outsourcing. It is beneficial for companies who
seek to break down or lessen their expenses and
to use their resources to focus on the field of
their expertise.
Now, let‘s trace how outsourcing began…
The concept of outsourcing was popularized by
Ross Perot when they founded Electronic Data
System (EDS) back in 1962. . EDS would say to a
potential client, "You are good at designing and
manufacturing widgets, but we are skilled with
managing information technology. We will sell you
the IT services that you require, and you can pay
us periodically with a minimum commitment of two
years.‖ Today, EDS is a multi-billion dollar
company with over 70,000 employees and is only
one of many global BPO firms.
Offshore outsourcing…
Offshore outsourcing, or ―offshoring‖, refers to
outsourcing to firms in foreign countries, often
to take advantage of labor arbitrage. In the past
10 years, business process outsourcing contracts
have increasingly been given to firms in
developing countries. Typically educated workers
in developing countries, such as India or China,
work for a much lower wage than do similarly
educated workers in developed countries, such as
Japan. Savings from the lower wage rate must
exceed the increased costs of management and risk
associated with offshore outsourcing for it to be
economically viable.
Offshoring and the Politics…
Offshore outsourcing has recently become a
hotly-debated issue in the national media. When
the American economy began to pull out of
recession in 2001, unemployment did not decrease
as expected. Offshore outsourcing was blamed as a
contributing factor to this ―jobless recovery‖.
Information Technology was a particularly soft
sector, and many American programmers lost their
jobs to lower-paid foreign counterparts. Many
economists however have recently conjectured that
the higher-than-expected unemployment numbers
were not the result of offshore outsourcing, and
that offshore outsourcing has actually had a
positive impact on the American economy.
Undoubtedly the debate will continue into the
presidential campaign.
Source:
http://www.blogsource.org/2004/06/outsourcing_101.html
by the Outsourcing Times
Philippine Outsourcing: Half-empty, Half-full?
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Even the most successful business ever turned its
spotlight brighter than it used to be still has a
thing or two to improve.
The Philippine call center boom has been tagged
as one of Philippines‘ key to economic growth,
and it has been proven by the apparent
generation of 100,000 jobs in the call center
industry today. Known to be the most proficient
in the English language in Asia, having the
closest affinity with the western culture,
having workers with perseverance toward work and
having the ability to deal with different
nationalities in a convincing way, and being on
the verge of being the best among all the
offshore destinations in the world, do you
believe that the Philippines, still, has a lot
to build up and improve when it comes to all
areas of the outsourcing industry?
Offshoring has been a big part of Philippines‘
business industry. In the past years,
Philippines has generated $1.7 billion worth of
offshore services to the Philippine economy as
well as to the world economy. Low employment cost
is the primary factor why Philippines became one
of the offshore destinations here in Asia.
According to surveys conducted by different
researchers, Philippines has the second-lowest
hourly salary for offshoring companies which is
only 13 percent of the wages being given in the
United States, while India ranked with the lowest
salary with 12 percent.
Despite the small population of 88 million of the
Philippines, it has comparatively a bigger
number of bands of workers suitable for
transnational companies that the population would
suggest. In the statistics rendered by the
researchers, for every 100 fresh college
graduates with economics and finance degrees from
the offshore destinations, executives of the
transnational companies said they would hire 30
in the Philippines versus with just 15 from
India; the equivalent statistics from other
researchers, correspondingly, were 25 of the
Philippines over just 10 of India and 20 over 15
on the other researches. The Philippines as well
compares satisfactorily on the suitability of its
graduates of engineering for employment with the
multinationals – a precise strength for India.
However, a bigger percentage of the Philippines
population has earned a degree in college than of
India‘s.
However, Philippiner crashes behind other competent offshore
destinations on five other criteria that
transnational companies look for when choosing an
offshore site. And an all the countries that has
been surveyed, the Philippines landed as the
nation with the weakest risk profile which
includes threats in security, unpredictable
natural calamities and stealing of data plus the
very few number of third-party salesmen. In
addition, the Philippines only allure just a
fraction of the interests India generates as a
competent domestic market for services.
The Philippines not very balanced business
surroundings experience and suffer meticulous
labor laws, continuous corruption of national
budget by sinister in the government, and a
surfeit system of government. It takes as much as
double the time in Malaysia and India consumed in
obtaining an approval to open a contact center in
the Philippines. Another disadvantage is a
scarcity of direct flights from the Philippines
to the far markets like the United States.
Another drawback is the scarcity of management
talent in the Philippines partially due to the
fact that the Philippines is still in the early
level of enhancing and developing the industry
and potential managers are still on the process
of being trained constantly. Moreover, it is
apparent that the Philippine economy is mostly
owned and managed by either small or medium-sized
companies that are often owned by well-known
families and don‘t produce that much talent in
management. Actually, the Philippines has a huge
number of diaspora that could be competent
managers, but these emigrants tend to take
nonmanagerial jobs like contract workers or
nurses abroad, so they go back home without
suitable experience.
Although transnational companies see Philippines
as an ideal offshore destination, it will still
depend on the way they weigh and consider the
Philippines‘ risk against its other advantages.
Indeed, Philippines though tagged as an
eye-catching destination for offshore
outsourcing, still has a lot to improve and
enhance to be more competent in the field of
outsourcing not just with how well the agents
speak, deal with the clients and persuade but
also by means of advanced infrastructure,
well-established labor law and peace stability
that will make the foreign companies comfortable
to build an offshore destination here.
Source:
http://www.usacan.org/naianews/letter_02112005.htm
Call Center Services
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Call Centers have various functions depending on the kind of company you are
in to. The two kinds of this are Inbound call center or Outbound call
center.
Call centers makes (outbound) or receives (inbound) large number of calls on
a company‘s behalf. Apparently, this service can be a cost-effective
alternative to building an in-house telemarketing organization.
Outbound call centers are contact centers that make the calls to the phone
users mainly to sell products. It is a common tool utilized by companies to
create telemarketing calls. It makes customers well informed about a certain
product that can be availed. It makes advertising more effective due to the
presence of live interaction with the agent and the target customer. It will
be more understandable for customers if they can ask queries over the phone
than just seeing an advertisement. It is an effective tool for persuading
potential clients to realize that a product is worth availing.
Outbound call centers can also be called telemarketing because it is a form
of advertising a product or services in a more different way than we usually
see advertisements because it uses live interaction over the phone between
the agent and the potential customer. This is usually a very complicated
conversation from the very start since people don‘t usually want to be
called at home just to be offered with products because they think it would
just be a waste of time listening to the agent discuss what the call is all
about. That is why agents should be long-tempered and has the ability to
deal with different kinds of people.
On the other hand, Inbound call centers are contact centers that receive
calls from clients mainly. Chiefly, these phone calls are made by customers
who usually deal with dilemma or queries that he or she is facing at the
moment about a product or services that he or she have just availed. As all
contact centers agents should expect, sometimes clients tend to be
hot-tempered maybe because of the inefficient product availed or an
ineffective service been rendered.
Inbound call centers are also considered as customer care service since it
deals with the problems involving the customers on the other line of the
phone. It may also be complicated to have a well-organized conversation with
the customers since many customers who call in customer service centers are
person who complains about a certain product they bought or sometimes about
an inefficient service that made them ill tempered.
Mostly, these calls made and received are recorded by the company for
evaluation purposes to ensure the efficiency of workers and to maintain high
standards.
Source: http://www.callcentertalk.com/index.php
Filipino call center agents' edge:
Attitude...a small word that makes a big difference
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Filipinos are more devoted in satisfying customers - this was a statement
made by Jon Kaplan, who is an American information technology specialist who
also stressed that Philippines is a big option for an outsourcing
destination of transnational companies engaged in the contact center
business.
Philippines has once again been tagged as one of the favorite offshore
destinations of foreign investors in the outsourcing business because of the
workers' positive working habits which include being hard working and
hospitable. it was an edge over other asian countries notably India.
Though India is said to have the lowest among all asian nations in terms of
employment cost, the Philippines is stil being chosen because of the fact
that Filipinos are better in satisfying customer needs aside from having the
highest English proficiency rate in Asia and needless to say, having a close
affinity with the western language.
According to some experts, it is really not just the cost that matters but
also communication expertise and attitude towards work of the agents as
well. In the States, call center agents there treat their job as more than
it while here in the Philippines, it is treated with more time annd effort.
With this, it is predicted that the call center industry will generatte as
much as 75 to 100 percent growth every year which would outdo India's 50
percent inflation every year.
However, The Philippine call center industry still have to be close
acquainted with the American laws regulating the function af contact centers
to be able to constantly practice quality in serving the customers and
observe high standards and to advance programs guide the agents efficiently
on career paths to boost the growth of the company.
With these, more jobseekers especially college graduates will be benefitted
by this inflation for the necessity for more contact center agents in the
Philippines. It was cited by president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that the
extraordinary growth of the industry of the contact center and also the
business process outsourcing is a huge factor in achieving the goal of the
government to provide thousands or millions of jobs to throng of unemployed
Filipinos.
Though, the president cited as well that these prospective job seeekers in
the call center industry must strongly possess such abilities and attitude a
call center agent must have including: the capability to speak the English
language very well and the ability to communicate or deal with different
kinds of people especially foreigners considering transnational culture
while in the business process outsourcing must be efficient in accounting
and short-hand for transcription purposes.
In the past, there were only about 2,000 workers in the call center and
business process outsourcing. But with the advancements made from the
infrastructure, the call center and business process outsourcing grew to an
escalating 50,000 agents and being doubled every year.
The president also noted that there is a powerful confidence of
transnational investors in the local business climate because her
administration has strong pact with the other nations particularly the
United States.
With this, it is evident that hardwork and admirable attitude is a key to
opening the gate for success and Filipinos do possess good working ATTITUDE-
a small word, that makes a big difference.
Source: http://www.news.ops.gov.ph/archives2004/apr12.htm
Call Centers Prefer Women as Agents?Why?
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Does this signal women empowerment or gender versatility in the modern day
business?
Men are known to be the dominant ones when it comes to the working industry
especially when it comes to working over night.But recent statistics show
that 95 percent of workers or employees in particular companies are women.
Yes, women who happens to be the ones doing most of the household chores. It
is practically a way of showing gender versatility that men are not the only
ones who can do the opposite responsibility but women as well are capable of
doing heavy tasks like sitting while talking over night over the phone
dealing with different kinds of people for sales purposes or for help or
assistance services. As well, women dominated over men when it comes to the
top manager level, 6 to 4.
A certain company's job market advertisement for customer servive
representatives caught the attention of a number of applicants everyday. The
advertisement's seems so simple: Female, 20-35 years old, graduate of any
four-year course, proficient in English and a good communicator with a
promising broadcast voice, literate in computer and has positive attitude.
It also announces that the training which is for one month has allowances
and six months of paid probationary employment prior to hiring.
According to the customer care director of the company, the company responds
to all kinds of customer questions that would eventually clinch the sale of
products that are being marketed by the company's customers.
Because of the strong demands for the job, Filipinos, and particularly
Filipino women, have made a career in the contact center industry,
especially in offshore outsourcing.
In the United States, the call center industry is somewhat morbid. It is a
career that is only done by people on summer because they do not want to
engage themselves with with many kinds of attitudes and troubles. But
naturally, Filipinos are affectionate and easy to deal with and that is
three-fourths of the combat in the United States. You do not have to tell a
Filipino call center representative because they cant keep hanging up on a
customer because they never do that.
Women are preferred more over men in the customer service representative
task in almost all the call centers in the Philippines.
Scientifically proven, women are generally possessing a high tolerance to
stress and a soothing quality of voice although married women show more
seriousness at work than single women.
Is the Luster of Outsourcing Already Rusting?
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
We have witnessed its luster and its continuous
gleam over years, but is it really rusting now?
Offshore outsourcing has been prevailing in the
business world for years. It has also been one of
the best contributors of great economic revenues
for the deteriorating Philippine economy. And as
predicted by a number of economists, it will
continue and will grow further on the next years
to come.
But this is not a sure thing as circumstances can
be changed by fate. And now here we go.
As the number of benefits it brings to the
business industry grew day by day, so as its
negative outcomes which somewhat hinder the
industry for continuously growing. But according
to an informal website survey conducted by
Computer Economics, these negative impacts of
outsourcing are not having any negative effects
in the use of outsourcing by business. In the
survey‘s results, 33 percent of the respondents
are already outsourcing offshore and intend to do
more in the coming years. On the other hand, 50
percent of the respondents have no plans yet of
doing it at this time. Moreover, 11 percent of
them are not doing so but are preparing and
planning to in the future, while the remaining 6
percent of the respondents are planning to do
less outsourcing. As the sponsoring website
indicates, business will follow further offshore
outsourcing in the future.
On the other hand, the outsourcing opponents
should look at the 2005 Deloitte study, ― Calling
a Change in the Outsourcing Market‖, which
discloses that a number of enterprises are taking
a closer look at outsourcing after experiencing
less than stellar outcomes. As the study shows,
70 percent of the respondents surveyed testified
off-putting experiences with outsourcing
projects; 25 percent say they brought outsourced
functions back in-house, while 44 percent did not
get the expected costs savings from their
outsourcing projects.
Why does this happen? While 70 percent of the
respondents who have been surveyed said cost
savings as a propeller for grasping outsourcing,
38 percent of these respondents said they paid
additional, hidden costs for services which are
not include in their contracts. The 57 percent of
the respondents who told the necessity to put
into practice the standard, quality and
advancement when building outsourcing
relationships responded at a 31 percent clip that
once a contract was signed, outsourcing salesmen
become contented.
There are also other problems cited which include
too much inflexibility from binding contracts
that prevent flexibility when amendments are
needed and the findings that salesmen have not
gotten the capacity to give the level of costs
savings and quality expected by the clients
availing the outsourcing services.
It is clear from the fact that the quality of the
standard that the outsourcing services are
showing right now is gradually deteriorating.
Therefore, the industry should take appropriate
measures to improve the nearly stinking,
once-quality-approved service provider available
at hand.
Let us not let the once-gleaming outsourcing
industry take its way to the junk, instead,
repaint it with sure hopes by doing what it is
proper to be done.
Source:
http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/P2743/30p43/30p43.asp&guid=
Finding Better Ways of Doing Business? Outsource!
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Does your internal business process seem so sluggish? Does your workers lack expertise with
the tasks they are asked to perform? This might be the time for you to outsource! But do you
know what that means?
It is evident in the present day living that technology is becoming more and more highly advanced
and the economy as well, is becoming exceptionally globalized as seen with the great occupation
of transnational firms on our local market.
Economic globalization. Technology Advancement. Highly exceptional cuastomer care services.
We have named it all. These are the raw factors that have significantly boosted competition in
nearly all markets locally and internationally. This of course has been the catalyst for basic
change on how businesses view their sourcing tactics and has pushed them to seek for better
ways to be more competitive with their undertakings.
Outsourcing gives opportunity by helping companies to set eyes to the value chain for high
leverage areas and helps them to better use their resources to engage with these areas.
Outsourcing helps achieve combative benefit by focusing on core competencies. Outsourcing
non-core tasks, which internal employees have less knowledge with it than outourcers who
possess expertise with certain fields, gives opportunity to the companies to: better utilize internal
resources, expand responsiveness to client needs, diminish fiscal risks by capital investments
reduction and boil down product cycle times.
Like any other businesses where we can't control it, Outsourcing has risks as well. Companies
could lose skills and expertise; they could also lose control of the tasks being performed by the
outsourcing companies; lacking of confidentiality since many important and sometimes confidntial
accounts are being passed to the outsourcing companies for some purposes; and companies are
unable to monitor costs.
Not all these risks are preventable but some can be minimized. Among these include: selecting
partners carefully, clarifying goals and expectations from the outset, securing a confidentiality
agreement, developing strong partnership with supplier, simplifying the interface between the two
organizations, and focusing communications.
The impact of outsourcing can extend beyond cost reduction to include enhanced quality and
service based on partnerships with best-in-class suppliers.
source: http://www.cosiworld.com/sa/outsourcing.htm
Call Centers: Hyping RP thru its independence from OFW dollars
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
For many years or so, overseas working has been the main contributor of large revenues to our
economy. Due to the strong demand for domestic helpers, industrial workers such as architects
and engineers, and more recently the need of other nations for nurses and educators, it was
workers which became Philippines' chief export products to other nations.
But the recent break through of call centers and the large growth in the number of companies that
avail business process outsourcing have made a large impact in the Philippine economy in a
quite ameliorating manner. The Philippine economy finds the upsurging industry of call centers
and the business process outsourcing a very viable force to help wean it from its dependence on
the income that workers overseas produce and to make an inflation in its potential for the growth
of the economy.
The Philippine government have also endorsed the Philippines to foreign investors for more
outsourcers since Philippines is a well-competitive offshore destination for outsourcing due to its
strong production of workers with high proficiency in the english language and stong affinity with
the western culture.
To allure more investors to outsource here, the government also gave budget heavily for the
advancement of infrastructure since it may turn off investors because of the shortcomings these
infrstructures may cause.
President Arroyo stressed that the business process outsourcing and call center business which
have been the major generator of huge revenues to the economy will be the main factor in
achieving the government's goal of achieving 5.5 to 6.2 percent growth in gross domestic product
this year alone.
The telecommunications business would remain aggressive because of the exitence of Voice
Over Internnet Protocol (VOIP), which enables agents and customers to make long distance calls
with the use of the internet.
As predicted, the business process outsourcing sector would become more aggressive, enabling
the country earn more foreign exchange without many Filipinos going overseas to work as care
givers, industrial workers or teachers.
source: http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=72045
Culture Affinity: Is it necessary in offshoring?
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Yes, culture affinity is a strong factor considered by transnational companies in choosing a
destination that would best upsurge their capability on achieving the same or better quality of
workforce they have in their own country, only that they have better income generation here
because of low employment cost.
India and the Philippines are the two leading offshore destinations in Asia as of now due to the
strong workforce the two nations produce and the quality of staff they have.
Also important to note, Cultural affinity is another vital factor to the offshoring transnational
companies to be able to hire workers with well-grasped alignment with the customs their hiring
companies have.
Good examples of this are the cultural alignment of Philippines and India with their respective
offshoring companies. As what was carved on the pages of the Philippine history, Philippines has
been under the ruling of the Americans for quite a long period. With this, Filipinos have learned
and acquired the way western people live, think, work and talk. Because of these clear facts,
American companies are comfortable that the Philippines is the best choice among all the Asian
countries in terms of English proficiency, attitude towards work and of course, close cultural
affinity. They believe that with these characteristics, Filipinos could confidently deal with the
transnational clients which mostly are Americans.
Another good example is the Indians‘ close cultural affinity with the British people. During the long
existence of British occupation in their land, they were exposed to Britain‘s culture and
infrastructure that is why Indians have a very well-built and strong infrastructure.
In the outsourcing jargon, it is referred to as ―virtual collocation‖ or crucially having teams from
several areas working for a common goal.
Working with several teams from numerous countries means communication does not only takes
place on an individual level but on a CULTURAL level as well.
In the outsourcing industry, culture upholds implications more intricate than simple difference in
verbal communication or time zone. And culture is a vast and critical factor to be taken into
account by transnational outsourcers because culture is something no software can absolutely
address.
Source: http://www.enterblog.com/200402090530.html
Outsourcing and Offshoring. . . do they mean the same?
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Words are so multifaceted that they seem to have a variety of definitions that may somewhat
mean the same or nearly-similar for some circumstances. It shows how versatile the modern
language is, that it could give us a hard time figuring out what a multifariously-defined word really
meant in a certain communication process.
And in the business industry where words are often being modified, it will probably be hard to
understand the more appropriate sense of a certain business jargon if there is just a little
understanding about it. Plus the fact that the wordbook is not that reliable when it comes to the
most recent business buzzwords.
In the outsourcing industry, the terms ‗outsourcing‘ and ‗offshoring‘ are most commonly
interchanged due to people‘s lack of good understanding about it. In light of this, a study
conducted by foreign research organizations provided viable and more appropriate definitions of
the two words.
According to the study, OFFSHORING is the act of relocation of a company when it opts to do its
operation overseas or in other country chiefly to hire workers from the third world countries like
Philippines and India because of low employment cost. A customer service function may be
offshored from the original site, which is where the business really is located, to a foreign country,
but it is still done or operated by agents who work for the business, though located in a foreign
land.
On the other hand, OUTSOURCING is a make-or-buy decision where a business opts to avail a
product or service that was previously done internally. For instance, when a firm outsources its
customer service function, it chooses to purchase that service from a third-party provider that has
expertise in a certain field.
Now it‘s clear. I hope it will finally be unmistakable to the readers and I hope you finally have
grasped on the most appropriate definition of these two outsourcing-essential terms.
Source:
http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/P2743/30p43/30p43.asp&guid=
Outsourcing: In the Deepest Sense of
its Being
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
I have been searching for the most
profound definition of the term
‘outsourcing’ on the net. Yet, all of
them seem to be well appropriate for
its being. But going through a lot of
browsing, skimming and collecting
these meanings from different
sources helped me a lot in breaking
down these definitions with a fine-
toothed comb.
In searching the web, we find such
statements which do not thoroughly
define the things we wanted to know
like the term ‘Outsourcing’ for
instance. Some information in the net
gives us inaccurate or unsuitable
ideas which may hinder us from
acquiring the exact meaning of a
certain word.
After a week of writing just about one
topic which is ‘outsourcing’, I guess I
have found the most appropriately-
explained definition of the word that
the web has offered.
According to it, OUTSOURCING is
the passing on of tasks from an
internal production to an external
body such as a subcontractor. In
recent times, it was also defined as
the elimination of domestic staff to
hire workers out of the country where
the employment cost is extremely
lower than 50 percent or so from their
own native land.
Outsourcing is also the concept of taking the internal functions of
a certain company and paying an external organization or firm to
do the tasks for them. The purpose of outsourcing is primarily to
save money that is why transnational firms do offshore
outsourcing. It serves to perk up quality and free internal
resources of a certain company from other activities for them to
focus on other more significant functions as well.
Outsourcing was first done in the data processing industry and
later on evolved in the areas of telemarketing and contact centers.
Outsourcing has indeed been a huge upsurge in the present day
business allowing a great opportunity especially for the third world
countries to diminish their unemployment rate and therefore
generate a great amount of revenue for their sluggish-escalating
economy.
With these, I hope readers will finally have a clear insight or idea of what outsourcing is all about.
Before going on to the more complex details of outsourcing, it is important to know the basics
including its accurate definition and its areas.
Source: http://www.businesstransformationoutsourcing.com/what-is- outsourcing.html
Where is the Competent English-speaking Juan dela Cruz?
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
It is proven right? That Filipinos are better than any other Asian nations in terms of fluency in the
American language and adeptness with the western way of life. And with the literacy rate of 94
percent, it would probably build up such expectations from the transnational companies that might
be hard to meet.
Recent reports dealing with the lack of competent Filipino call center agents have been prevalent
nowadays particularly in the urban area like the Metro where there are a great number of English-
speakers.
The demand for qualified call center agents doesn‘t meet the necessity for it. This might be an
acceptable reason why Philippines lack competent agents since there is a great inflation of
offshore outsourcing companies that may be the root of shortness of agents since the supply of
great number of contact center agents are being outnumbered by the escalating number of
incoming transnational outsourcing companies.
Due to this, many outsourcing companies were opened in provinces such as Cebu and some
parts of Mindanao which produce competent agents as well since there is a need for more of
contact center agents that the Metro can‘t supply.
The lack of eligible contact center staff has driven the operators in the Philippines to opt in
offering employing bonuses and to poaching contact center workers from their rival outsourcing
companies. Some huge contact center operators have started to offer employing bonuses of
US$92 or 5,000 Philippine pesos or better to the competent applicants if the applicants have had
some constant training before or an experience in other contact centers.
So it is evident that the quality of English proficiency of Filipinos is not deteriorating, rather, just
being outnumbered by the continuous penetration of transnational outsourcing companies. In light
of this, it is a wake up call to Filipinos to increase and improve the education system especially
the English course to increase the outcome of competent English-speakers from the universities.
Source: http://www.callcentres.net/CALLCENTRES/LIVE/me.get?site.home&CALL1406
Is offshore outsourcing only just about low employment cost?
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
The chief reason for offshore outsourcing, as what has always been cited in many articles and
studies conducted by professionals and globally-known economists, is the extremely low
employment cost in Asian countries such as the Philippines and India.
But offshore outsourcing has various factors to consider in choosing what destination would be
the best, or if not, the better choice. And all aspects count no matter how little they seem for as
long as they can contribute to the success of the company.
But there are factors that are strongly observed by the outsourcing companies. And many
economists believe that this factor is the second best aspect to be considered in choosing the
best destination for offshore outsourcing – the skills match.
Filipinos are said to be the most closely-aligned people to Americans in terms of customs.
Filipinos are hired by American companies due to their American-influenced culture that is why
Filipinos are dubbed as the most Americanized nation in Asia since the Philippines has been
under the American rule in the time of the Spanish-American war in the later years of 1890s.
Filipinos deal with Americans in the most natural way that is why they can carry instructions and
troubles in such a good manner.
On the other hand, Mexico has been chosen by a transaction processing-company which is
known for its expertise in healthcare and publishing global content outsourcing because it has
similar time zone with the other American states and the destination is very near to be visited for
other company processes.
China, as least expected, has a great advantage too though they are not that proficient with the
English language and not very familiar with he western culture. As economists say, it is China
that is the best destination for sending routine data entry work. The main reason is that most of
China‘s workers don‘t speak English. By this fact, they can type quicker because they don‘t take
time to read the English words they encode. They just have to recognize the letters and
punctuation marks then encode. But the disadvantage is that the computer sometimes also
commits mistakes which only people can correct. Since Chinese don‘t understand English that
well, it might be a big hindrance to them.
To top it all, it can be inferred that it is also an important factor to have a close tie with the skills,
culture and the people of the employing transnational company to be chosen as one of their
offshore destinations and to be able to create a good communication and working relationship
with them.
Source: http://www.outsourcing-journal.com/oct2004-cost.html
The difference of talking and communicating . . . in the context of outsourcing
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Often times, we use the term ‗talking‘ as a synonym for the word ‗communicating‘. But in the
outsourcing perspective, both terms are far different from each other except for the utilization of
language.
Webster defines talking as the act of delivering or expressing in speech. While communicating is
defined as to transmit information, thought, or feeling so that it is satisfactorily received or
understood. As the statements imply, talking is merely to utter words regardless of the substance
it has while communicating indicates that it is not merely uttering words but it has the objective to
be understood.
Communication is a skill needed to be a good outsourcer of course. Since dealing with different
classes of people can be very complicated, outsourcers should acquire good communication
skills. Communication is a skill that involves a great deal of regulation and uphill struggle. But in
the outsourcing world, it can be more meaningful if you utilize some of the following rules:
Be attentive. As a great scribbler wrote, ―it is easier to understand than to be understood.‖ Clear
yourself from own filters, suppositions, reasoning and viewpoints that color what you hear and the
how you hear it. Focus completely to what the other people say physically, vocally and
emotionally.
Rummage around for the same ground. One of communication‘s goals is to have good
association with other persons. In order to do this, you must go through the process of uncertainty
reduction by means of knowing the person well. Like where the person lives, and the most basic
things you should know. Talk to the person based on the person‘s level in order for the
conversation to be effective.
Prevent interruption. Always bear in mind that other people don't care how much you have in
mind until they know how much you care. It takes discipline to actually pick up what others tell.
Don‘t interrupt someone while that person is talking. Let them finish first and be patient and give
respect to them.
Retain credibility. You should be genuine with the things you say. Tell what you imply and mean
what you tell. If you promise to do something, then do it. The actions you do justifies the kind of
words you say.
Refine what you say. There are various ways how to considerately keep conversations flowing on
its normal way. Clarify what you have dealt before to ensure you understood each other. Ask
queries that make it to the foot of the person‘s agenda.
Be positive. Don‘t talk behind backs. You will lose the respect and trust of others or you will have
a status for this kind of behavior if you do so. Don‘t say insulting words, ethnic humor or anything
that might offend someone else. In short, know you are dealing with.
Stay cool. Don't take such attacks personally. The other person's disposition or reaction is more
likely about fear than it is about you as an individual.
In the outsourcing biz, like what a good communicator explained, talking is cheap but
communicating is beyond price.
Source: http://www.callcentres.net/CALLCENTRES/LIVE/me.get?site.home&CALL1406
The Birth of Call Centers in the Modern-day Technology
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Indeed, the up-to-date technological phenomenon worldwide has helped in the advancement of
business function services in the Philippines as proven by the state-of-the-art break through
service provider called call center outsourcing.
In the business world, everything, as much as possible, should be in fast pace. And as the
technology progress rapidly, businessmen take advantage of this to enhance quicker business
functions and to provide expertise in a certain field that an ordinary internal employee of a certain
company can‘t do proficiently – and there, call center outsourcing was born to provide customer
service and product sales.
Call center industry is divided into two main types- the inbound where calls are received for help
services and the outbound where calls are made by agents mainly to sell products.
In the present day, call centers are extremely popular. Call centers hire many agents in customer
care service and sales functions and it has centralized function on it.
Call centers have a lot of benefits to companies. Call centers can almost be established
wherever; Call centers can be located almost anywhere, letting companies to have benefit to time
zone and of lower labor rates to offshore locations. Call centers can easily adjust staffing to
match volumes of call by centralizing telephone-based service in just one location. Call centers,
as well, centralize the technological needs of companies, letting major telecommunications
systems to be established in a small handful of call centers instead of many smaller offices,
making advancement and training easier to accomplish.
Most of the call centers use various technologies to help improve functioning and client
experience. Often times, automatic call distribution is used on inbound call centers, where
incoming calls are designated to agents on the sequence they are received. Other contact
centers use call monitoring where calls from the clients are randomly monitored by quality
guarantee staff to assure that agents achieve client necessities.
As outsourcing business continuously inflates, call centers become extremely dominant in
generating great revenues for the Philippine economy therefore cutting off unemployment rate in
great number.
Source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-call-center.htm
Call center standards in the Philippines . . . is it deteriorating?
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
―The difference between good, better and best is justified by the unlike quality and worthiness of
the work done.‖
Philippines is known globally as one of the second largest-speaking nations in the world. Yes,
you‘ve heard it right, not the ‗only‘ but ‗one of‘. There is the strong contender for the title which is
India who is currently leading the race in terms of the number of workforce it produces in the
outsourcing biz. The only difference we possess, I guess, is that we are more proficient with the
English language. We also have the closest alignment with the western culture since we have
been under the American ruling for quite a long time in the past years. We have also acquired the
accent of various nations as proven by Filipinos‘ great passion in impersonation and practice of
imitation that is why we don‘t need accent neutralization as it is being practiced by Indians.
During the call center industry‘s break through several years back, the agents that are being hired
were college graduates and were among the finest speakers in the country. But sad to tell, the
industry has been saturated with less-competent and under graduates which have no as much
experiences in the field as the pioneers have.
It is proven that Filipinos speak the western language well, but the supply of prospective excellent
call center agents is lesser than the demand‘s necessity. Due to the saturation of less-competitive
agents in the industry, the transnational companies are now beginning to open up their centers in
various provinces in the country. It is apparent in the present day situation that the pioneers of the
industry are frustrated in giving their best to upraise the benchmark and to assure agents‘
persistent training in the field of outsourcing.
The scarcity of enthusiasm and well-understanding of the call center industry and the slow
development of ramps have been a great hindrance to maintain and meet customer expectations.
With this realization, it should be a call up to call center managers to create a strong edifice for all
the accounts being raised, make continuous trainings to the agents for them to be the best they
can be and most importantly, employ better English speakers not just because they can speak
good English but because they are a good conversationalist as well which means they can deal
with clients in a very pleasing manner.
The best way to succeed in this industry is not just to fill the tiers completely but to engage with
workers who have met the standard of an excellent call center agent.
Source: http://www.callcenterscript.com/2006/03/a_saturated_market_whats_next.html#more
The communicators: The people in the call center world
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
The world of call centers may be compared to a one whole, yet, smaller world where there are
divisions of tasks for the workers and where there are different classes of people inhabiting on it.
And in the world of communicators, every company that builds and enhances their quality of work
is like a world where different countries struggle for national progress.
In the call center world, there are two basic types of call – it is divided into inbound and outbound.
The type of call where the customer is the one who initiated the call to get information, report an
error or ask for assistance, is called inbound. On the other hand, outbound is the type of call
initiated by the call center agent, mostly with the intention to persuade the client to buy a product
or a service.
The staff of the call center is categorized in tiers. The first tier is the unskilled agents who are
instructed to settle issues using a simple script. In circumstances when the first tier can‘t resolve
an issue, the matter is passed to a more proficient second tier. And in some companies, there are
second and third tiers to support the less skilled agents.
Like in the real world, call centers also have the so-called critics. In call centers, some critics
bicker that the working atmosphere in the environment is not pleasant. Some also point out the
low down wage rate and restrictive working practices of some managers. Moreover, contact
centers have been the matter of grievances by callers who observe the agents of the call center
frequently do not possess good ability and authority to settle the problems.
Call centers are highly technological and up to date. That is why arguments arise in such an
inflating manner whether it is beneficial or not. Due to the extremely hi-tech sort of processes in
such workplace, the firm supervising of staff actions is easy and extensive. This can be argued to
be advantageous, to enable the company to better arrange the time and load of work of its
workers. But some people have argued that such extensive checking violates civil rights to
privacy. Yet a different argument is that close monitoring and gauging by quantitative metrics can
be counterproductive in that it can direct to feeble customer care service and a poor impression of
the company.
In light of this, there are several specialized groups around the world developing and advancing
call center best system management and function to defeat the off-putting sides of a call centre.
Source: http://www.bambooweb.com/articles/c/a/Call_center.html
Outsourcing: the hottest business jargon on the block
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
OUTSOURCING, for most of the business people, is a new-born business jargon. But if you are
not a business-oriented person or either a netizen (someone who has a vast know-what in the
computer-generated world), the term would probably be an alien to your vocabulary.
Outsourcing refers to a service a contact center offers to companies to contract with another
companies to offer services that might otherwise be done by internal staffs. Various companies
now, transnational or local, now outsource tasks like e-mail and call center services, payrolls,
animation, medical transcription, software development and business process outsourcing. But
these tasks are operated by separate organizations that focus and specialize in each service.
Numerous companies outsource tasks for various reasons. But the major benefit seems to be the
actuality that it saves capital. It is evident that many of the companies that provide outsourcing
services are able to work for less money due to the fact that they have fewer operating expenses
to worry about and they are not obliged to give benefits to their employees.
The proficient company that carries the outsourced tasks is often efficient and has first-rate
competence and access to modern-day technology that a certain company could not avail on
their own. Adding up to this, outsourcing is a cost-efficient strategy to begin creating foundations
globally. Outsourcing, as well, allows companies to concentrate on their core business agenda
while having the details taken care by outbound specialists. With this, the attention and resources
which supposedly been allocated for the already-outsourced tasks of the management
professionals, could be given instead to more significant, more extensive matters in the company.
But like any other businesses, there are as well a number of shortcomings in the outsourcing
industry. As outsourcing may land to deferred project execution and communications, there is a
great peril of not being able to control some aspects of the company. Any sensitive details are
more susceptible, and a company may become so much reliant upon its outsourcers, which may
direct to troubles should the outsource provider back out on their agreement suddenly. Another is
that outsourcing frequently eradicates direct communication between a company and its
customers. This may prevent a company from creating and enhancing constant relationships with
their clients and often lands to both side‘s displeasure.
From the fact that outsourcing has proven favorably advantageous for many companies world-
wide, it has as well many downsides. It is therefore a very vital factor that individual company
correctly gauges their needs to determine if outsourcing is a feasible choice.
Source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-
outsourcing.htm?referrer=adwords_campaign=outsourcing_ad=010282&_content_kw=human%2
0resources%20outsourcing
Top ten reasons why companies outsource
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
We have been hearing all about these outsourcing things in the business world over and over
again. As cited in many articles, there are various reasons why companies outsource. In light of
this, studies are directed to generate the best and most common reasons why companies do
outsourcing.
Here is the annual survey of outsourcing end users conducted by the Outsourcing Institute which
shows the top ten reasons why companies outsource:
1. Reduce operating costs
the reason why most companies pass some of the things they should accomplish to outsourcing
centers is that they always encounter immensely higher research, advancement, marketing and
deployment expenses when they try to do everything by themselves. An external provider‘s
cheaper cost structure, which may be the result of a better economy of scale or other benefit
based on specialization, diminishes a company‘s processing costs and boosts its competitive
advantage.
2. Improve company focus
having the liberty from dedicating vigor to the fields that are not in its capability, the company can
concentrate its resources on achieving its customers‘ needs. Outsourcing gives the company a
chance to focus on its principal business by having operational purposes assumed by an outside
specialist.
3. Access to world class capabilities
globally-known providers create far-reaching investments in methodologies, technology and
people. They obtain specialty by working with much clients who are on the same circumstance.
This joint expertise provides clients a competitive benefit and helps them avoid the high cost of
chasing technology and preparation.
4. Free resources for other purposes
outsourcing allows a company to readdress its resources, most often human resources, from
non-principal activities toward customer service activities because every company has restrictions
on the resources available to it. The company can forward these workers onto better value-
adding activities. Workers whose energies are presently focused inbound can now be focused
outbound which is on the customers.
5. Resources not available internally
outsourcing is a feasible option to creating the required competence from the ground. Companies
outsource because they have no access to the necessary resources within the organization. New
companies, spin-offs or organizations growing into new geography or new technology should
consider the advantages of outsourcing from the very start.
6. Accelerate reengineering benefits
Reengineering aims for developments in vital measures of performance such as cost, quality,
service and speed. But the need to boost competence can come into straight conflict with the
need to invest in main business. As non-core internal purposes are continually put on the back
burner, systems become less proficient and less beneficial. By outsourcing a non-core function to
a world class provider, the company can begin to see the benefits of reengineering.
7. Function difficult to manage or out of control
Outsourcing is certainly one option for addressing this problem. It is critical to remember that
outsourcing doesn't mean abdication of management responsibility nor does it work well as a
knee jerk reaction by a company in trouble.
When a function is viewed as difficult to manage or out of control, the organization needs to
examine the underlying causes. If the requirements expectations or needed resources are not
clearly understood, then outsourcing won't improve the situation; it may in fact exacerbate it. If the
organization doesn't understand its own requirements, it won't be able to communicate them to
an outside provider.
8. Make capital funds available
There is tremendous competition within most organizations for capital funds. Deciding where to
invest these funds is one of the most important decisions that senior management makes. It is
often hard to justify non-core capital investments when areas more directly related to producing a
product or providing a service compete for the same money.
Outsourcing can reduce the need to invest capital funds in non-core business functions. Instead
of acquiring the resources through capital expenditures, they are contracted for on an "as used"
operational expense basis. Outsourcing can also improve certain financial measurements of the
firm by eliminating the need to show return on equity from capital investments in non core areas.
9. Reduce risk
Tremendous risks are associated with the investments an organization makes. Markets,
competition, government regulations, financial conditions and technologies all change extremely
quickly. Keeping up with these changes, especially those in which the next generation requires a
significant investment, is very risky.
Outsourcing providers make investments on behalf of many clients, not just one. Shared
investment spreads risk, and significantly reduces the risk born by a single company.
10. Cash infusion
Outsourcing often involves the transfer of assets from the customer to the provider. Equipment,
facilities, vehicles and licenses used in the current operations have value and are sold to the
vendor. The vendor then uses these assets to provide services back to the client. Depending on
the value of the assets involved, this sale may result in a significant cash payment to the
customer.
When these assets are sold to the vendor, they are typically sold at book value. The book value
can be higher than the market value. In these cases, the difference between the two actually
represents a loan from the vendor to the client which is repaid in the price of the services over the
life of the contract.
Source: Survey of Current and Potential Outsourcing End-Users
The Outsourcing Institute Membership, 1998
Source:
http://www.outsourcing.com/content.asp?page=01i/articles/intelligence/oi_top_ten_survey.html&n
onav=true
Business process outsourcing comes to light Philippines
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry arises in the local business scene as shown
by the growing demand for local workers to work for call centers. The industry itself was regarded
as the fastest, or if not, one of the fastest growing industry in the world. The business process
outsourcing boom is brought about by the demand for offshore contact centers. In 2005, as
estimated, 112,000 people were working in contact centers in the philippines, bringing in
revenues of US$1.2 billion for the year. This is a brusque increase from 2000 when contact
centers employed 2400 people and earned US$24 million.
The business process outsourcing industry is invigorated by finance or accounting, human
resources, customer care and information technology services. Customer care call centers
contribute the biggest part of the business process outsourcing boom locally, but then, the local
language proficient information technology, human resource and finance/accounting
professionals are an important contributing factors too. In the Philippines, the chief aspects in the
progress of business process outsourcing were filipinos‘ competency in english and spanish
language.
With the statistics rising annually, the Philippines has the biggest count of accredited accountants
in Asia. Local accountants are also prominent for their flexibility in working with numerous
accounting standards.
Due to the strong demand for more contact centers, various areas are being developed for
offshore operations such as Baguio city, Dumaguete city and Iloilo city.
In 2004, the Philippine‘s Center for International Trade Exposition and Missions (CITEM) cited
that the Philippines is one of the top ten choices of transnational companies for offshore
operations. Topmost companies that have already operated in the Philippines include AOL, AIG,
Trend Micro, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, JPMorgan Chase, HP, Dell, Intel, IBM, Citigroup,
Chevron, and Barnes 7 Noble. Distinguished business process outsourcing vendors include
Accenture, Convergys and Unisys.
With world class qualities possessed by Filipino contact center workers, a survey revealed that
transnational companies are eyeing the Philippines as a better site than any other countries who
offer their nation for such services. The study also uncovered that Philippines is the new first
choice of US companies looking to setup their offshore backroom operations.
With these up-to-the-minute details uncovered by foreign investors, we could expect inflation of
revenues and deflation of unemployment rate for the next years to come, if and only if the
investors would not back out with pursuing their plans with the local business process outsourcing
industry.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_outsourcing_in_the_Phils.
Philippine call center industry soars high
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
In the present day, the call center industry is considered as the fastest escalating employment
provider for Filipino college graduates who seek jobs that have better income generation.
Different surveys and studies by transnational call center executives show that Filipinos topped
the statistics in terms of proficiency and career trainability for contact centers. That is why more
foreign companies are allured to choose Philippines as their prime choice for offshore outsourcing
destination aside from being affordable in terms of employment salary.
In the 2005 record of the Board of Investments (BOI), it shows that the call center industry has
experienced an undisputed growth rate of 70 percent compared to the previous years of contact
centers‘ existence. This contributes to the diminishing rate of unemployment that the Philippine
economy is facing currently.
In the recent subsistence of call centers, it shows that that industry has positive effects on almost
all areas of the country, especially the National Capital Region, Baguio, Davao, Cebu and many
other urbanized areas in the Philippines where there is a great demand for call center agents that
are globally competitive and highly efficient in the contact industry.
During the second quarter of 2005, call center seats totaled around 69,000 with about 75,000
employed industry-wide. The Board of Investments estimates as many as 112,000 could be
employed today. With this, the local industry could expect higher employment rate in the end of
2006 as many transnational outsourcing companies are urged by the local government to invest
here.
In the recent reports made by call center executives world-wide, Philippines is catching up with
the dominant contender which is India who ranked first, only in terms of workforce since Filipinos
seem to be more trained, competitive, skilled, hardworking and most importantly, hospitable that
make them better workers than Indians.
And in time, Filipinos, as foreign investors envision, could make it to the top as number one not
just in Asia but also in the whole world as proven by the quality of work Filipinos show in the call
center industry.
Source: http://www.bakit.com/outsourcing/
Global Sky: Quality Outsourcing with Certainty
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Outsourcing is the action taken by an organization to move a part of its internal processes to an
outside entity or group to improve efficiency, quality, or reduce time to deliver services or
products…
…and that is what Global Sky Inc. does.
Global Sky was established in the later part of 2004. It has been in the outsourcing business for
over 30 years now in terms of the combined experiences of the customer service transition team.
Here, we guarantee clients with an ―outsource with certainty‖ operation at its best.
Quality Services:
Chiefly, Global Sky provides inbound customer service but we do outbound services as well, only
that we are very selective about the outbound accounts we carry on. Mostly, we offer hybrid
models such as a ―base hourly plus performance‖ for outbound.
Quality Line and Equipments:
Global Sky uses VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol). It has changed the world of outsourcing
promptly though it has been unheard of in its recent years. With the up-to-date advancement in
the technology, VOIP is essentially better than some of the IPLC lines we have used before. Toll-
quality lines (the calls you make from a traditional phone) transmit at less than 200 ms, and VOIP,
likely, transmits at less than 200 ms as well- so there is no noticeable delay.
Global Sky uses top of the line equipments based mainly on VOIP technologies. US, Australia
and UK voice termination is setup for the most direct routing of calls to those receiving points.
Quintum Gateways to convert digital signal into analog. Cisco switches to ensure optimum
network performance.
Global Sky uses a $2 million state of the art PBX and a fully-loaded predictive dialer that only
costs $2,000 per seat.
Billing:
Global Sky is incorporated in Delaware and it has a US bank account for easy payments by wire
transfer. It has US representatives as well for handling payments in the beginning. As soon as
possible, it will have bank accounts and representatives set up in Australia and UK in order for
these countries to make payments more conveniently.
Attrition Rates:
If it‘s inbound, attrition rates at Global Sky are extremely low. But if it‘s outbound, it‘s not. If your
program is very demanding with high expectations, still expect high attrition rates. Another thing
to note, attrition rates are not nearly as high as they are in US, Canada, Australia and UK. # by
Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Call Center Outsourcing: A Boon for Transnational Companies and Philippine Economy
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
Call center outsourcing and the rising unemployment rate in the Philippines may have something
mutual in relation. That is – to help out each other in their quest for generating better income for
themselves in a wiser manner.
Call center outsourcing has indeed proven to be one of the most flourishing ways through which
most of the companies upsurge their respective cost effectiveness. Many large transnational
companies have managed to enrich their cost efficiency through call center outsourcing. Chiefly,
companies, after outsourcing their call center work to lower cost locations especially here in the
Philippines, majority of them have managed to build up their cost effectiveness by up to 50
percent and have as well enhanced their customer support and fulfillment.
In a short period of time, many well-built companies followed in the call center outsourcing
industry after observing what these companies have achieved. A huge number of the global
multinationals are shifting large portion of their business processes to offshore locations since the
costs incurred under such a system are relatively much lower. In fact, excellent results have been
observed by the companies which chose to outsource.
Some of the major reasons for these lower outsourcing costs here in the Philippines are lower
labor cost, highly-skilled workforce and increasing offshore capabilities by service providers in
countries like the Philippines.
On the other hand, Philippines, as one of the third world countries has been opened to a new
opportunity to diminish huge unemployment rate through call center outsourcing.
As a country whose one of its prime ―lingua franca‖ is the English language, transnational
companies are urged to outsource here since Philippines has a very strong working force and
more important to note, has more efficient and hard-working people compared to other English-
speaking nations that is why large multinational companies choose to outsource here.
It is a good idea to outsource in the Philippines because there is a higher potency of fluent
English-speaking, western culture associated agents here.
In a survey by the Michigan-based global staffing firm Kelly Services Inc. and the Singaporean
market research outfit ACA Research Inc., proved that Filipino call center employees worked
harder, were easier to instruct, had better language skills and were more committed than their
counterparts in India.
It is mutual process, transnational companies generate more income as they hire workers here
cheaply, thus, generating more jobs for unemployed yet skilled Filipinos to generate income for
Philippine economic growth.
By Roy Jonathan R. del Rosario
#
Why Filipinos Make Good Outsourcing Agents
by Roy Jonathan del Rosario
English adeptness. Culture compatibility. Neutral accents. These are the raw distinctions that
make Filipinos the best call center agents available at hand.
Outsourcing has become an appealing investment in recent years. Among the services offered in
Philippine-based outsourcing companies are copyediting and indexing; web design and
maintenance; data conversion, data warehousing, data capture and data entry; OCR and
scanning services; proofreading; encoding and keyboarding; imaging services and graphics
design; call center and customer service; abstracting and document conversion; typesetting; and
tagging.
Philippines, is one of the cheapest place to acquire proficient, erudite, and of course, English-
proficient outsourcing or call center agents, where the wages of customer service representatives
can be as much as 80 percent lower than those of their American counterparts.
The Philippine customer service industry, where rates range from $6 to $10 per hour per seat, is
flourishing. The world‘s second largest-speaking nation has become the idyllic destination for
outsourced call center operations of transnational companies. In 2002, the Philippine call center
industry achieved $10.5 million and is fast catching up with leading player India, which raked in
$12 million.
Moreover, more foreign investors are choosing the Philippines as a base for their offshore
customer service facilities because Filipinos are more westernized than their Asian neighbors in
terms of cultural alignment.
Tracing back the history, Philippines has been colonized by the Americans for almost 50 years
and western business has been practiced by Americans with the Filipinos. The Philippine
Mercantile Laws are ways the same as the Commercial Code of the US. As well, the Philippines
and US share the same requirements for certified public accountants.
Filipinos watch American programs and are thus more accustomed with the nuances of American
English. They also have neutral accents, compared with Indians that is why when customers
phone up a 1-800 number, they think they are still dealing with an American, when in fact it is a
Filipino on the other end of the line.
In addition, Filipinos are more customer-oriented and more patient in handling calls, aside from
being accommodating and forthcoming.
India promotes itself as ―cheap but good.‖ To make business, the Philippines does not need to
sell itself cheap but capitalize on its innate advantages in the transnational market. Quality more
than quantity should be the cutting edge in this business.By Roy Jonathan R. del Rosario
________________________________________________________________________
Outsourcing, Here It Comes!
by Chiena Bondoc
Business owners aim to increase their product quality, want to lower their costs and definitely
focus on competencies. But how are these possible if there are a lot of business fuctions to do?
Outsourcing – that‘s the answer – but what actually is outsourcing?
Outsourcing has been a popular term in the business and management world. According to
Wikipedia, it was often defined as the delegation of non-core operations or jobs from internal
production within a business to an external entity (such as a subcontractor) that specializes in
that operation. Outsourcing and offshore outsourcing have been interchangeably used but
according to Wikipedia, ―outsourcing,‖ in corporate context, represents an organizational practice
that involves the transfer of an organizational function to a third party. When this third party is
located in another country the term ―offshore outsourcing‖ makes more sense. It was also defined
by WhatIs?.com as an arrangement in which one company provides services for another
company that could also be or usually have been provided in-house.
Outsourcing, in a simpler explanation, is the act of letting another company do activities that
your company cannot manage to prioritize. Basically, that company that will do the outsourcing
job has more knowledge in handling it. According to Wikipedia, modern business theories
suggest that most activities that are not part of a company's core competency should be
outsourced.
In the 1990s, it has been a popular term used and became more known. According to
Wikipedia, this was primarily because of the growth in the number of high-tech companies that
were often not large enough to be able to easily maintain large service companies of their own. In
some cases these companies hired technical writers to simplify the usage instructions of their
products, index the key points of information and contracted with temporary employment
agencies to find, train and hire generally low-skilled workers to answer their telephone technical
support and customer service calls. These agents generally worked in call centers where the
information needed to assist the calling customer was indexed in a computer system. The agents
were often not able to tell the customer they did not actually directly work for the original
manufacturer. In some cases, the agents are not allowed to even give out their real name.
There have been a lot of criticisms raised about outsourcing. Like that of the loyalty of
outsourced workers and their work ethics, the quality of outsourced services versus the in-house
one, outsourcing being a threat to other jobs and work as well as the security of sensitive
customer information.
However, outsourcing has its benefits that should be acknowledged. The fact that they aid in
the increase in product quality, decreases the company‘s costs, help the company to focus more
on its competencies and basically hire more workers that could be a big help for those people in
that way.
Philippines’ Call Center Outsourcing: What Makes It Better Than the Rest?
by Chiena Bondoc
What makes the Philippine call center outsourcing service better than the rest? This is the
question that is clinging in the mind of most people who want an outsource service. And we will
definitely help them out for them to answer their own question.
Based on Wikipedia, being a former American colony, the Philippines‘ education system is
patterned after the American education system and this includes American-style diction and
pronunciation of the English language. This gives the Filipino people a neutral or an almost
American accent. Having this ability is an assurance of a better understanding with mostly
American clients and as well as an advantage in dealing with them.
Beside the fact that these people are good English speakers, most of them as well are college
graduates.
In the global BPO market, the country is considered to be the most intense rival of India. But
since India is a former British colony, Indians are educated in British-style English that is
compounded by the heavy Indian accent, resulting to a language barrier.
According to Wikipedia, Filipinos are said to be the best outsourcing site outside North
America since the accent is nearer to that of American consumers.
In line with that, there has been a research conducted by the Michigan-based global staffing
firm Kelly Services Inc. and the Singaporean market research outfit ACA Research Inc. which
shows that Filipino call center employees worked harder, were easier to train, had better
language skills and were more devoted than their counterparts in India."
Truly, Filipino workers attach importance to and love their works so much. They are truly
hard-working people who are ready to exert great endeavor in whatever they love doing. Also,
they as well are very dedicated when it comes to work they have to do.
Besides being dedicated and devoted in their jobs, Filipinos are totally fast-learners. Being
naturally intelligent people, they also know how to listen and that‘s the best thing about it. They
know how to follow instructions and are very willing to learn no matter how hard the task is.
Last year, 2005, the country ranked 3rd in the world for top BPO destinations, according to
neoIT's 2005 Mapping Offshore Markets Update(Wikipedia).
With all the information mentioned above, surely, people who doubt are now able to answer
the question that has been in their minds. Why outsource to the Philippines? Surely, you know it
by now!
Global Sky: Yes, Your Call Matters and Counts!
by Chiena Bondoc
Having an ―outsource with certainty‖ operation based on team experience, Global Sky, is one
of the fastest growing call centers based in the Philippines.
Global Sky is an American owned and supervised call center that is based in the Philippines.
But with so many great places to outsource, why was it based in the Philippines? This is mainly
because of the many fluent English speakers here who mostly are college graduates and for
having a westernized culture, which aid in a better understanding with American clients.
Having Filipino agents is one great thing about this company. Besides the ability to speak
fluent English, they additionally are well-trained and hard working ones.
It has started in the later year of 2004. Too young, it seems but definitely the outsourcing
industry is comparatively young and so you‘ll naturally find other call centers that are of the same
rank. However, the combined experience of the costumer service transition team is more than 30
great years.
The line they are using is the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). This one is actually better
than IPLC lines the company has used in the past. It has been said that it is changing the world of
outsourcing rapidly. It has the ability of transmitting at less than 200 ms.
When it comes to the question in line quality, theirs should not be doubted for they won‘t be in
the business of call centers if they are not offering anything less than a quality line connection.
With the ability of their VOIP, there‘s surely no perceptible delay.
They offer inbound customer service as well as outbound customer service. But they do more
primarily in the inbound customer service.
Furthermore, the company has experienced and skilled professionals who are on the look out
to assist their clients on site and fulfill best practices in their offshore offices in the Philippines.
Two of these people who lead the team are James Rick and James Powell.
James Rick is the CEO of Global Sky. He worked for five years as CEO for IT firm
outsourcing development work to India and two years as CEO of Philippines Call Center
outsourcing company.
James Powell has eight years of experience in call center outsourcing from vendor and client
side, five years in Call Center management from US to the Middle East, two years as Call Center
Consultant for centers outsourcing to Egypt.
This is the team of Global Sky. With all these things, they had proven to be really one of the
best and fastest growing call centers in the country.
Two Different Worlds of Call Center Outsourcing
by Chiena Bondoc
Outsourcing emerged as an ubiquitous term in the business world which is actually referring
to the act of commissioning another company to do non-core activities of your company. One of
the most recognized type of outsourced work is the call center. Call center industry became an
emerging industry in countries like India and Philippines. These two countries are the rivals in
terms of call center outsourcing services.
The two countries are known to be the best in the world of call center outsourcing. Being two
of the best English-speaking countries respectively, this had helped them to be acknowledged
and advantageous in the business. Moreover, both countries possessed skilled IT workers.
With this great competition these countries have, there have always been comparisons made
with what these two can offer. It has been said that being a former American colony, the
Philippines is way ahead than its best competitor. This is for the reason that the country's
education system is patterned after the American education system and this includes American-
style diction and pronunciation of the English language. This gives Filipino-English a neutral or an
almost American accent, an advantage in dealing with the mostly American clientele.
Contrary to this, the call center industry of India is criticize for having a language barrier
primarily because Indians, being a former British colony, are educated in British-style English
compounded by the heavy Indian accent.
Not just the fact that the people here can speak good and fluent English, the Philippines is as
well found to have a great availability of skilled labor. A study conducted by the Swiss
International Institute for Management Development in 2004 found that among Asian countries,
the Philippines was number one in the availability of skilled labor.
In addition to that, there has been a survey administered by the Michigan-based global
staffing firm Kelly Services Inc. and the Singaporean market research outfit ACA Research Inc.
that shows that "Filipino call center employees worked harder, were easier to train, had better
language skills and were more devoted than their counterparts in India".
Call centers had emerged faster than a blink of an eye. And the uncertainty of which does it best
is not a so-easy thing to think about. However, many have already taken their sides in matters
like this. And their opinions are good enough to turn those uncertainties into certainty.
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call-center_industry_in_the_Philippines
http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=7&story_id=58777
http://www.outsource2india.com/why_india/articles/call_centers_india.asp
Call Center Outsourcing: A Big Help to the Philippine Economy
by Chiena Bondoc
One of the fastest growing industries in the world is the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO),
a rising industry in the Philippines.
The sudden growth of BPO is led by the demand of offshore call centers. It is estimated that
112,000 people were working in call centers in the Philippines in 2005, bringing in revenues of
US$1.12 billion for the year. This is a sharp increase from 2000 when call centers employed 2400
people and earned US$24 million.
The progression of call centers keep on to be rapid, up from 72 registered in late 2003 when
the Asian Call Center Review reported the Philippines as the first rank in the offshore call center
industry for the Asian region, outdoing India at the second position. From being an almost
unexplored BPO territory in 2000, the call center industry has grown leaps and bounds. The
Philippines Board of Investments (BOI) estimates growth rate of this industry since 2001 to 100
percent annually with less than 1000 seats in 2000 to more than 69,000 at the end of 2004.
In the year 2004, the Philippines already took over 20 percent of the total world market share
in contact center services. It was estimated that the country could capture 50 percent of the total
world English-speaking market in 2008. This industry, apart from contributing 12 percent in to the
Philippines‘ gross national product, is also the fastest growing provider for Filipino college
graduates. The Information and Communications Technology division of the BOI reported that the
call center industry experienced a growth rate of 70 percent in 2005 making it the most dynamic
of all sectors in the Philippine information technology industry. It has been calculated
approximately that as many as 130,000 could be working in all call centers in the Philippines by
February 2006. According to industry forcasts, in excess of a million Filipinos would be employed
in the call center industry, with more than US$12 billion in revenues in the year 2010.
With the revenues being brought up by the call center industry in the country, surely, it is a big
help to the economy. The benefits this industry is offering is truly something to be acknowledged
and be given importance.
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_outsourcing_in_the_Philippines
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call-center_industry_in_the_Philippines
Outsourcing: The Criticisms against It and Its Fight Back
by Chiena Bondoc
Outsourcing has been a very helpful tool in many businesses as well as to the economy and
to a lot of people. But not all appreciate the role this industry is playing. There have been
criticisms being in thrown to it. Some of these are its quality of service, its effects on other works,
labor and economy and the question of security.
Some critics say that since ―outsourced‖ workers are not paid employees of the company,
there is lesser incentive for them to show loyalty and work ethics. Also, it has been argued that
quality levels of customer service and technical support of outsourced jobs are lower than where
they have remained 'in-house'.
In terms of security, there are also security issues concerning companies giving outside
access to sensitive customer information. There has been a case reported in April of 2005
involving the theft of $350,000 from four Citibank customers that occurred when Indian call center
workers in Pune, India, acquired the passwords to customer accounts and moved the money to
their own accounts opened under assumed names. Citibank did not find out about the problem
until the American customers noticed discrepancies with their accounts and notified the bank.
But basically, there are answers to these criticisms. Here‘s what others have to say contrary
to the criticisms being tossed to outsourcing.
Talking about quality of service, some believe that the decision to outsource is like any other
business investment decision in that there is risk. It is like the decision to expand a business
overseas, to encompass computer technology, or to hire new workers. If the company does it
correctly, it benefits from higher profits. It is just a matter failing and succeeding. The important
thing is you give your best to obtain what you want to get.
When it comes to security, advocates of outsourcing also claim that outsourcing-related fraud
is insignificant, asserting that such malpractices can take place in any country. For example, 40
million credit card numbers were stolen in June 2005 at CardSystems Solutions in Tucson,
Arizona. In December 2005, nearly 50 people were accused in connection with a scheme that
bilked at least $200,000 from Katrina relief fund at Red Cross claim center in Bakersfield, Calif.,
which handled calls from storm victims.
Whether others accept it or not, the outsourcing industry is here to stay. There might be
condemnations raised against it but the truth still remains that it is a big help in the economy and
to a lot of people.
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing#Criticisms_of_Outsourcing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing#Responses_to_Criticism
Business Process Outsourcing in the Philippines
by Chiena Bondoc
In the Philippines, an industry is rapidly emerging. This is the Business Process Outsourcing
(BPO). The industry itself was regarded as one of the fastest growing industry in the world. Its
sudden increase was led by the claim for offshore call centers.
BPO as an industry has become a great benefit in the economy of the country. It was
calculated approximately that 112,000 people who were working in call centers in the Philippines
in the year 2005, bringing in profits of US$1.12 billion for the year. This is a sharp increase from
2000 when call centers employed 2400 people and earned US$24 million.
When outsourcing is being talked about, the first thing that comes in people‘s mind is call
center outsourcing. Primarily because there are a lot of call center companies here due to the
proficiency of Filipinos in English ans Spanish. As a result, the call centers form the largest part of
the BPO in the country. But besides call center, there are still others that are being outsourced.
Some of these are data analysis, research process, IT operations, engineering design, medicare,
legal support services, art,animation,editorial and DTP work, software development and
environmental services.
Here are some information about few outsourced works:
IT Operations
In the field of outsourcing, this is considered to be one of the newest. The activity basically
includes the management of IT assets of corporations from a remote location.
Medicare
This is often advertized as the most promising yet debatable area of outsourcing. The
services that can be outsourced in Medicare could be anything from the trivial keying in of the
physicians transcript (in audio) of the treatment records into a structured documents to physically
sending the patients to another country for treatment. Other services include utilizing the service
of radiologists at a remote but competitive country to interpret scan images such as CT or MRI.
Art,animation,editorial and DTP work
This is where the creative business finds its overseas partners at a competitive country.
Anything from apparel design to cartoon animation in the creative business is outsourced.
Software Development
This must have been the most talked about subject in the outsourcing field. Most likely
because of the very nature of the software, outsourcing in software development has quickly
evolved as compared to other fields of outsourcing.
In the country, areas such as Baguio City, Bacolod City, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu City, Clark,
Davao City, Dumaguete City, and Iloilo City are being improved for offshore operations. This just
simply shows that truly BPO is emerging. And not just that, we are really doing good. The
Philippines' Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) report for 2004
cited the Philippines as among the top 10 choices for offshore operations. Besides that, a survey
by Kelly Services, Inc. based in Michigan, showed that India is no longer the first pick of U.S.
companies looking to setup their offshore backroom operations. The study also mentioned
companies eyeing the country as the better location due to quality.
SOURCE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing
Why Outsource?...Why Not?
by Chiena Bondoc
One of the most common initial inquiries regarding outsourcing is ―Why Outsource?‖ The
answer to that is simple. ―Why not outsource?‖ This is for the reason that outsourcing can and will
benefit a lot especially to you.
Way before, outsourcing was considered a not so significant business option. But as years go
by, businesses get bigger in number and better in quality, the more clients to serve, the more
non-core activities they had.
These occurrences resulted to outsourcing now playing a big role in the world of business.
But what actually are the benefits of outsourcing? Three of the major gains of business
owners when they outsource are (1) they will be able to increase the quality of their products,
lessen their costs and focus on their competencies.
To give you more on ―Why Outsource?‖ stuff, here are some others to give you certainty on
outsourcing:
There has been a survey conducted regarding the grounds why companies outsource. And
according to the survey which is The Outsourcing Institute, Survey of Current and Potential
Outsourcing End-Users, the top ten reasons why companies outsource are:
Diminish and control operating costs
Enhance company focus
Obtain access to world-class capabilities
Free internal resources for other purposes
Gain access to resources that are not available internally
Accelerate reengineering benefits
Deal with functions that are difficult to manage or are out of control
For the availability of capital funds
Share risks
Earn a cash infusion
Still in doubt whether to outsource or not? Then, look for these reasons:
you intend to lessen operating expenses;
you aim to maintain your staff levels to a minimum;
an external service provider can do the work more cost efficiently than you can in-house;
you do not have knowledge in this area;
you want to keep this function confidential;
you have uneven workloads throughout the year and want a variable cost structure;
you operate in a shift work situation;
you are expanding rapidly but the growth may not be stable;
you would like to ease up your management time and concentrate on your core
competencies
Surely, you now have an idea. Why outsource? The answer is in you.
SOURCE:
http://www.outsourcingsurvival.com/WhyOutsource.html
Call Center: A Deeper Glimpse to It
by Chiena Bondoc
In the business of outsourcing, call center is the one mostly credited. Primarily, it is because it
makes up the largest part of outsourcing services.
But what actually is a call center? A call center is an office where a company's inbound calls
are received, or outbound calls are made. They are progressively more popular in the society
today, where many corporations have unified customer service and support functions. Call
centers provide work for many staff in customer service, sales and support functions.
Commonly, call centers are large offices staffed with representatives. These representatives
are those who either make or receive phone calls. A single office could be operated anywhere
with a few dozen to hundreds of telephone staff depending on the size of the call center.
Depending on what the company needs, call centers can make either incoming or outgoing calls.
Some call centers gives focus on answering inbound calls. While other call centers focus on
outbound calls.
A number of advantages to companies can be provided by call centers. By means of unifying
telephone-based service and support in one location, companies can easily adjust staffing to fit
call volume. Call centers can be situated almost anywhere, allowing companies to take
advantage of time zones and more low-cost labor rates in different states and countries. Also, call
centers consolidate the technology needs of companies, allocating major telecommunications
setups to be installed in a small handful of call centers instead of a number of smaller offices,
thus making upgrades and training easier to achieve.
Numerous call centers make use of a number of various technologies to alleviate
performance and customer service. There are types of calls which are usually subdivided into
inbound and outbound calls. Automatic call distribution is often used by inbound call centers. In
this kind of technology, incoming calls are appointed to representatives on the order they are
received. Other call centers use call monitoring, wherein customer calls are randomly monitored
by quality assurance staff to ensure that phone representatives meet customer needs. Call center
technology evolves constantly, helping call center staff assist customers more competently and
successfully.
As outsourcing grows, call centers become more recognized and appreciated. As a result,
many companies will be benefited for they will be able to lower their costs and be able to focus on
their competencies.
SOURCE:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-call-center.htm
Filipinos’ English-Speaking Ability: Deteriorating?
by Chiena Bondoc
The Philippines is tagged as one of largest English-speaking country in the world. Primarily,
this is because as a former US colony, their education system is patterned after the American
education system. This also includes American-style diction and pronunciation of the English
language.
This serves as an advantage for the country which at the present helps them to be one the
best outsourcing destinations in the world. This also made them to be considered as the most
intense competitor of India in the global BPO market.
In addition to that, it was said that the Philippines is far better than India in terms of call center
outsourcing services. This is since the Filipino-English has a neutral or an almost American
accent, giving them the advantage in understanding and dealing with mostly American clients.
Also, the country, being a former American colony, has a better understanding of the American
culture.
But there are concerns over the industry‘s unsurpassed competitiveness. Many critics have
cautioned that the English proficiency of Filipino graduates has been descending for years.
There has been a report by McKinsey and Co., a research arm of the McKinsey Global
Institute, released last September 2005, said the country got average or below average in such
areas as non-labor costs like power, political and security risks, a less hospitable business
environment and bureaucracy.
It warned that the Philippines must develop a clear strategy to attract foreign investment in
this sector, improve its infrastructure and boost the quality of its labor force, particularly in the
area of English language.
Some even mentioned that one of the biggest problems here in the country is the declining
supply of English speaking students.‖
But definitely, the government has made actions regarding the matter. To resolve this, the
National Government launched a program in 2003 where colleges will integrate special English
courses ―for international business,‖ in their curricula precisely to address the call centers‘
concerns.
The new drive of the government is to increase BPO operations to other major cities in the
country, such as Cebu and Davao, where salaries and costs are lower and where unemployment
is more serious.
To promote this trend, the government wants to ensure that potential host cities can meet the
requirements on power supply, telecommunications infrastructure and fiber optic facilities.
They are also expanding the industry to higher-level information technology sectors like software
development, engineering design, computer graphics and animation.
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_outsourcing_in_the_Philippines
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2005/12/05/bus/rp.labor.force.attracts.bpo.firms.but.pinoys.
deteriorating.english.a.turnoff.html
A Response to the Criticism: No, Filipinos’ English Is Not Deteriorating!
by Chiena Bondoc
There have been issues brought up that Filipinos‘ English is now deteriorating. And the
reaction: No, it‘s not! Definitely, not! Real violent reactions as they may seem. But who can tell?
Nobody else but them, the Filipinos, given that they know themselves better. And they know their
English better than anybody in this globe.
An article was published in the net which says that Filipinos‘ English is little by little
deteriorating. In line with this, there has been a reaction from a Filipino. Here‘s what he has to
say:
I don‘t think our English is deteriorating. There is no point of comparing since BPOs came to
st
our country in the 21 century and they were never around earlier. It would have been different if
the BPO labor force decreased from a peak in the past decades to where it is now. But the BPO
workforce is mounting yearly. If our English truly has deteriorated, the BPO workforce would not
be at its level now.
We seem to forget some facts on the Philippines' status as the 3rd largest English-speaking
nation in the world: (1) this does not mean we are innate speakers of the language (2) this merely
means that we use English widely (3) the English we learned from school is formal English; the
conversational, idiomatic English, the type that is necessary in contact centers, we only get from
media.
We are not educated how to get an American accent in school. Why should we? Are we
learning English just so we can work as call center agents later? Let us always bear in mind that
flawless English is not enough. In working at a call center, having an American accent is very
important.
One American CEO of a call center here say that the problem for a low hiring rate in call
centers is not a deteriorated English but our tendency to speak Taglish (Tagalog-English).
Don't you find it strange that only Filipinos are saying that our English has deteriorated?
Americans know that we are not natural speakers of English, in spite of our familiarity with
American English and culture.
My wish is that media will discontinue saying that our English has deteriorated. The call
centers will still screen applicants and put to the test their English skills anyway.
And that‘s what a concern Filipino would have to say. And regarding this matter, surely, many
other Filipinos would say the same thing. I myself also believe that Filipinos‘ English is not
deteriorating and has deteriorated.
SOURCE:
http://www.kalakalan.info/philippines-outsourcing/102.html
Philippines: A Third World Country But First In the Outsourcing Industry
by Chiena Bondoc
Being a third world country is never a hindrance for the Philippines especially in the
outsourcing industry. Being the leading player in the business of outsourcing, India, is now
competing with this third world nation.
A better highly skilled English-speaking labor force. A much dependable telecommunications
infrastructure. Low cost of qualified personnel. These are the major significant grounds for
choosing Philippines over India for outsourcing service.
A Quick Look: What Makes The Philippines A Better Outsourcing Destination?
The Philippines being one of the world‘s second-largest English-speaking countries in the
globe is not just something one can ignore. This is considered to be the major reason why the
country is a better outsourcing destination than India.
Having a literacy rate of 94%, the Philippines also has a large pool of IT professionals and a
cost-competitive telecoms infrastructure. In the 2002 Global Technology Index research done by
the META Group, the country ranks third in Knowledge and Information-based jobs. Every year,
three million college graduates join the workforce, bringing in an immense source of talent.
Being a US colony for almost 50 years, the Philippines has a Western-influenced culture, an
inimitable quality that visibly sets apart the country from other offshore destinations. Even though
Asian in orientation, Filipinos are very appreciative in welcoming different cultures, one is the
American culture and are very capable to communicate effectively in American English.
Philippines: A Call Center Hub
The Philippines has become the offshore destination of choice for call center outsourcing,
specializing in customer support services in the past years. Many leading multinationals have
used the Philippines as a global center for customer service basically because of the Filipinos‘
high level of English proficiency and strong customer orientation. One of the largest U.S. Internet
service providers maintains a staff of 600 at its call center in Clark, Pampanga. Companies such
as Caltex, Procter & Gamble, Barnes and Noble, among others, have built large-scale service
centers in the Philippines.
The medical transcription business is one very promising industry that has sought outsourcing
support in the Philippines. The country comprises a big number of medical professionals,
including doctors, nurses, and medical technologists. As U.S. hospitals are now required by
federal regulations to convert medical records into data format, the demand for medical
transcription has increased. There are now seventeen medical transcription companies in
operation providing work for 1,200 Filipinos.
One Healthy Competition with India
Though the Philippines may not be a huge offshore provider of web and software services
compared to India, it keeps great promise in the customer service industry. Although India does
charge lower than the Philippines—for data encoding work, India charges around $4 (U.S.)
versus $6 in the Philippines—more multinationals are choosing the Philippines because of the
high quality of work. Furthermore, Filipinos make good customer service agents not only because
of their ability to speak fluent English but also because of their helpful and friendly nature.
Asia: Home of the Best Outsourcing Destinations
by Chiena Bondoc
Asia is one of the homes of the outsourcing destinations. It is still the cheapest place to acquire
skilled, knowledgeable, and English-proficient call center agents, where the wages of customer
service representatives can be as much as 80 percent lower than those of their American
counterparts.
Philippines - the world‘s second-largest English-speaking country has become the ideal
destination for outsourced call center operations of multinational companies. Here, the rates
range from $6 to $10 per hour per seat and the customer service industry is prospering. The
Philippine call center industry reached a whopping $10.5 million in year 2002, and is fast catching
up with chief player India, which gained $12 million.
Although most major call center outsourcers would rather not publicize that they are outsourcing
their requirements to the Philippines, there are about 30 to 40 call centers in the Philippines.
Filipinos are better call center agents
Proficiency in English. Having neutral accents. Compatibility in culture. Because culturally,
Filipinos are more Westernized than their Asian neighbors, more foreign investors are choosing
the Philippines as a base for their offshore customer service facilities.
Filipinos are more familiar with the nuances of American English for they watch American TV.
Also, they have neutral accents, compared with Indians. When 1-800 number is dialed by clients,
they think they are still talking to an American, when in fact it is a Filipino on the other line.
Aside from being helpful and friendly, Filipinos are more customer-oriented and more patient in
handling calls,
Also, the Philippines invests heavily in keeping the quality of customer service as shown in a
1999 regional study conducted by the Australia-based Call Center Research. Philippines was
ranked second to Australia by the CRC.
Heating Competition
Filipinos being better in English than Indians is not enough for them to be confident. In the near
future, the Philippines faces greater competition from Singapore, Hong Kong, and even China. It
is not just about being an English-speaking nation, outsourcers prefer call center facilities that
could handle calls from all over the world.
A Little More Improvement to Be Number One
by Chiena Bondoc
Being one of the best call center destinations in the globe, the Philippines consistently proves to
be a good place with low cost call center outsourcing as it has received more recognition,
subsequently following close behind India in the competition.
However, the Philippines has to make a lot of improvements in order to really tie up with India and
be ahead of China, who is as well catching up in the outsourcing industry. The Philippines has to
train more manpower in order to prepare the country for further advancement and strengthening
of the call center industry. It has maintained its place as one of the best countries in IT and
English proficiency for the past years. So, it should be able to maintain this standing. It should
come up with other value-added services or market strategies, instead of focusing on how it can
outsmart other countries in terms of low labor cost. It should as well try to aim new specialized
services.
Though many infrastructures are already set up, the country needs to further heighten and uphold
this in order to aid more business functions, especially in the prime areas of the business. In
order to maintain this kind of stability in the industry, companies in the Philippines should open
doors with each other. Instead of contending with one another, the country should widen its site
for the world wide market. Just like what exactly one of their country‘s senator proposed, they
should clear up the incentives to further stimulate outsourcing companies who set their hopes in
entering the call center industry.
Since some foreign companies still doesn‘t see the Philippines as an attractive location, the
country also has to promote itself more. The government also should stretch out its support in
order to improve the economy and be less political in terms of helping not just the call center
industry but other subsets of outsourcing within.
Finally, the Philippines should build more affinity with other countries. This is for them to score
more clients. And primarily, they must work hard to keep the relationships it has already
established before. With everything said here, all it has to maintain is the drive to bring the
country to more advancement. And the important thing is that there is always a room for
improvement.
Hail to the Outsourcing Industry!
by Chiena Bondoc
In the recent years, the outsourcing industry is visibly seen to be a growing business. And
with this growth gives a big progress in the economy of many countries.
It can not be denied that this industry benefits a lot. First thing is that it helped a lot of
business owners in many ways. And the most important thing here is it helps the boost of the
economy of the countries where such industry is rising.
In the Philippines, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is acclaimed by the
Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE). This is because of it being one of the Philippines‘
current biggest employer-sector, placing the country firmly in a top position as a prime
outsourcing site in the world.
Just during the first half of 2005 alone, DoLE records stated that BPO industry employed
some 132,000 workers. These included 69,000 in customer care, 25,000 in legal transcription,
5,000 in medical transcription, 5,000 in animation and 28,000 in software development.
And at the end of 2005, it is calculated approximately that 112,000 people were working in
call centers in the country, bringing in revenues of US$ 1.12 billion for the year. This is a really
quick increase from 2000 when call centers employed 2,400 people and earned US$ 24 million.
DoLE Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas mentioned that with these developments, the
employment in the industry seems to grow five years ahead to more or less than 800,000 by the
year 2010.
The government agency is putting into action policies aimed to ensure most favorable, safe
and healthy, and non-discriminatory working conditions in the vital industry.
Despite the fact that there are a lot of criticisms thrown to the outsourcing industry, beyond
doubt, it has great advantages offered for people who are and will engage in the industry. These
are irrefutable.
Open-mindedness and forestalling of being one-sided are the best thing to have for one can
appreciate outsourcing. Always seeing both sides of the matter does matter. Outsourcing has
given enormous deals. And whether one accept it or not – outsourcing and the industry are here
to stay – for the better.
SOURCE:
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2005/10/02/bus/outsourcing.industry.wins.praise.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_outsourcing_in_the_Philippines
To Outsource in the Philippines: Why So?
by Chiena Bondoc
Call center industry has made a big part in the picture of Outsourcing. Actually, here in the
Philippines, when we speak of outsourcing, the first thing that will come to your mind is the
industry of call center. But as a matter of fact, Medical Transcription, Animation, Shared Financial
and Accounting Services and Software Development Services are as well part of the outsourcing
industry in the Philippines.
When a company goes for a consultant or application service provider to manage components of
its internal IT structure, staff, processes and applications, there enters the process called
outsourcing. Through this, the company is given the convenience in remaining focused on its core
competency.
The customer contact center or more commonly known as call center has the largest share in the
Philippines outsourcing industry. They has definitely proven their ability in this field and are in stiff
competence with India. High service ethic, low labor cost and turnover as well as fluency in the
English language are the reasons behind why the Philippines are being noted because of its call
center industry is due to its.
The Philippines too has proved its ability in the field of animation outsourcing. This kind of work
has been relatively known which had made them competent of those in other countries like Hong
Kong.
Furthermore, in Medical Transcription, the Philippines also plays a good role in the area since
they offer a service highly familiar with US medical standards, terminology and practices.
In terms of outsourcing Shared Financial and Accounting Services, the Philippines has a lot to
offer as well. They produce a remarkable large number of accountants in the world, and the best
of them. Plus, they provide companies of their standard service at a lower cost.
Moreover, the Philippines has been able to make a great impact regarding Software Development
Services. The country can brag of its local IT service providers that can accomodate offshore
back-office processing systems with US-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications;
and availability of low-cost facilities in Metro Manila and in cyberparks.
With everything laid here, the Philippines is proven to be one of the outsourcing spot in the globe.
Spanish-Speaking Call Center: Nearing to Emerge in the Philippines?
by Chiena Bondoc
One of the major factors why the Philippines is chosen to be one of the best outsourcing spot in
the world is their fluency in English. But beside the universal language, Filipinos are as well good
in Spanish language. The question is: Is the possibility of putting Spanish-speaking call centers in
the country nearing?
For over 300 years, the Philippines was a Spanish colony and Hispanic influence permeates its
culture. And though the language is not widely used and spoken, the language is taught in many
universities. Moreover, in the Visayan regions of the country, a great number of fluent Spanish
speakers can be found.
With this advantage, the Philippines can outdo India in the business processing outsourcing
market by offering Spanish language services. They can target the large Spanish-speaking
population of the United States.
The President of National Association of Software and Services Companies of India Kiran Karnik
said "India has zero capability to provide services in Spanish but the Philippines could perhaps
take advantage of its skill in Spanish".
As far as the Hispanic market is concerned, the Los Angeles, California area has among the
biggest Mexican populations in the US that have stable consumer purchasing power. This doesn't
include the Cuban and Puerto Rican groups in the eastern side of the US. And we are talking of
several millions of Spanish-speaking people.
In the world this day, Spanish is the third most widely spoken language. And among the lower-
cost Latin American countries that possess the potential to become Spanish-speaking BPO hubs
is Chile. Now, is the chance of the Philippines of being Chile's Asian part about to become a
reality?
And with this hanging possibilty, many would surely be holding on. And if this will truly turn out
into reality, it would be another great help not just to the country but to many people that fits the
job.
SOURCE:
http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=41544
http://www.kalakalan.info/philippines-outsourcing/32.html
Benefits of Outsourcing
by Chiena Bondoc
Outsourcing has become a growing industry in the world today. The www.wikipedia.org says
that it is often defined as the delegation of non-core operations or jobs from internal production
within a business to an external entity that specializes in that operation. It became a popular
buzzword in business and management in the 1990s.
There are a lot of types of work that can be outsourced. There are data analysis, research
process, IT operations, engineering design, medicare, legal support services, animation, software
development, environmental services just to name some.
Many are now engage in it. But still, there are those who have the question ―Why
Outsourcing?‖ running on their minds. Primarily, many continue to outsource for the reason that it
has aided them loads of benefits.
And what are these benefits, major benefits? Here is some of it for one may know what he
can get from outsourcing.
Concentrate on core activities: As the world gets older, the more we become technologically
advanced. In the business industry, businesses become bigger in number, their works as well as
their works plus the clients they have to serve. With all these activities in their business, the fact
still remains that they have to give focus on their core competencies. With outsourcing being just
around the corner, focusing on their core activities is very much possible.
Cost effective: Through outsourcing, manpower and other related costs are lessened notably.
Costs in the process of salary, advertisement, recruitment and various types of employer
contributions can be eradicated or decreased. In the same way, cost involved in bringing in the
infrastructure facilities that includes purchase, maintenance and upgrading of required software
are as well to a large extent diminished.
Professionalism: As the organization will have contact to a bigger more experienced and skilled
team of people who are always on the standby to support, the quality of outsourced services will
be enhanced.
Uninterrupted functioning: With outsourcing, factors such as staff turnover, staff sickness and
holidays will never affect the operation of your organization.
Accuracy: Outsourcing firms focus fully on the outsourced activities, allowing them to provide
clients with exact and timely information.
Growth in business: Right service at the right time, for the right price is what outsourcing can
offer you. There is a sure positive difference in your growing business.
These are the benefits of outsourcing one can get from outsourcing. Surely, you know it by
now why a lot are engage and supporting this industry.
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing
http://www.outsourzing.com/why_outsourcing.htm
The World of Philippine Call Centers
by Chiena Bondoc
The Philippines, as the third largest English speaking nation in the globe, and with a high
literacy rate, is regarded as one of the best call center destinations in the world. Thus, making
them the most serious and stiff rival of India. This is also since the call center outsourcing industry
chiefly caters to markets from countries like United States, United Kingdom and Australia, call
center agents are obligated to obtain the foreign accent, study the geography and cultural
backgrounds of these countries and work on a graveyard shift.
Furthermore, the low-cost class A office spaces, better power and telecommunications
infrastructure, good quality yet economical labor force and the cooperation the government is all
too willing to hold out to these foreign investors are other reasons which make the country
attractive to foreign companies.
Trainings undergone by call center agents
Call center trainees as agents, graduates and even undergraduates, who qualified the
preliminary examination go through a six-day English skills training and product training for three
weeks. After these, agent trainees will be placed on the floor to mock calls for assessment. These
agents are assumed to type at least 25 words per minute.
Salary and other incentives
Call center agents receive the basic pay which ranges from P11, 000 (US$200.98 at
US$1=PhP54.73) to P13, 000 monthly. Some call center companies give their agents P2, 500
food and transportation allowance a month and a performance appraisal bonus summing to P4,
000. Often, they are also offered spiffs like appliances, cellular phone loads and gift checks to
enhance the sales per hour capacity of the employees. For instance, whoever first gets five sales
per hour for the night earns a prize. And an additional P11, 500 commissions plus a 30-50
percent night differential is granted to an agent who hits the target quota sales. Generally
speaking, a good-working agent acquires a gross monthly income of more than P31, 000.
And that‘s not all. Benefits like SSS, health insurance, Pag-ibig and salary loans are received
by call center agents. Plus, some call centers offer freebies like free shuttle rides, free meals and
coffee and sleeping rooms to rest and even karaoke rooms to wind down.
Most people find the job simple and beneficial. But call center is not just about the easy stuff
and being laid-back. It is as well a stressful job just like others. Same as others, it is a job that
deals with great effort. This is the world of call center. Rapidly running, easy to some, very helpful
and often times, stressful. Are you ready to enter it and live by it?
SOURCE:
http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/call_centers.html
2005: A Great Year for the Outsourcing Industry
by Chiena Bondoc
Outsourcing has become a big aid to many who engaged in this industry. The clients, the
servers, economies of countries that serve as outsourcing destinations – all of them have been
benefited by outsourcing. But on the contrary, to some, it was such a pain. Workers despise it.
Politicians condemn it. And even one TV newsman speak ill of it almost every night.
But in spite of these mutilations done against outsourcing, the year 2005 has turned out to be
one excellent year for the Outsourcing Industry. And according to a new data released,
companies are outsourcing work at record levels.
As indicated by the consulting firm Technology Partners International, which issued the data,
the number of outsourcing contracts boosted up 9% in 2005 to 293. It also says that it‘s the most
deals perceived in a single year.
Businesses are actually spending less on outsourcing though the number of deals is rising.
That is for the reason that a mounting amount of the work is performed in chosen outsourcing
destinations where labor is low-cost.
Meanwhile, big U.S. outsourcers like IBM and EDS are setting off their own facilities offshore
to stay competitive. Additionally, cutting down contract values is the growing propensity among
businesses to dish out work in smaller amounts and for a shorter period. According to TPI, the
total value of contracts given access to in 2005 dropped 5% to $75 billion.
Outsourcing is contentious for critics say American workers pay the price for businesses‘ want
to employ labor in countries with dubious employment practices. Democratic presidential
challenger John Kerry famously called executives who outsource ―Benedict Arnold CEOs‖. CNN
anchor Lou Dobbs frequently allocate entire programs to the issue under the banner ―Exporting
America‖. So far, nevertheless, most legislative efforts aimed at holding back offshore
outsourcing have not succeeded to pass Congress or state legislators.
Still, not all work that is outsourced is bound for foreign shores. The cosmic majority is still
performed locally, despite popular insights. Actually, outsourcers are giving a boost to their labor
forces in the United States. As said by the Labor Department, payrolls among IT services firms
grew in 2005 by almost 32, 000 workers, a 2.7 % profit for the year.
SOURCE:
http://bakit.com/outsourcing/report-2005-a-record-year-for-outsourcing/
In-region Outsourcing: Behind the Rise of Asia Pacific Contact
Centers
by Chiena Bondoc
The Asia Pacific region has turned out to be a great
outsourcing destination. According to a new research from
Frost and Sullivan, a business consulting firm, in-region
outsourcing and offshoring is becoming progressively more
widespread in Asia Pacific and increasing growth in the contact
center market.
It has been found by the analysts that many companies in
Japan and South Korea are looking towards China to offshore
their contact center operations. While contact centers in
Singapore are taking into consideration neighboring Malaysia as
an outstanding option for greater cost benefits, at the same time
as some Australian companies are transferring their contact
centers within the region to India and the Philippines.
The number of contact centers in Asia Pacific amounted to over 21,360 in 2004, and is
assumed to grow at a healthy CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 9.1 percent to arrive at
some 39,247 contact centers by end 2011, a new analysis from Frost & Sullivan reveals.
Even though cost is even now the topmost reason for companies to offshore and outsource in
Asia Pacific, the quality of service offered is the essential cause that will make any country the
foremost preference for contact center outsourcing.
Frost and Sullivan research analyst Shivanu Shukla mentions that, ―Contact centers are fast
assuming increased importance in the business process as customer service becomes the key
differentiator for product or service preference‖. ―Thus, scalability of operations, flexibility, and
increased focus on business processes - rather than the management of the technology
infrastructure and staffing issues - are likely to drive outsourcing in the contact center segment.‖
On the other hand, the contact center industry is challenged by high labor attrition rate,
averaging at 19.8 percent at Asia Pacific level in 2004. In growth markets such as India and the
Philippines, attrition rates are even higher owing to the increase in demand for contact center
agents.
―With agents rapidly shifting to contact centers that either remunerate better or offer better
incentives, recruiting, managing and retaining staff has become one of the biggest issues that
contact centers across Asia Pacific need to deal with,‖ says Shukla.
Over the years, industrial markets such as Australia and Hong Kong have instituted ways to
sustain or even lessen attrition. The introduction of a structured agent career path, flexible and
conducive environment, and provision of high incentives will further aid employee retention. In
addition, training and motivation schemes need to be devised to maintain quality agents.
Right now, banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) companies followed by
telecommunications and IT companies remain to be the chief contributors to total contact center
seats in Asia Pacific. However, the government, education, retail and utilities sectors are
increasingly choosing for contact centers to enhance their customer service.
In addition, domestic demand for contact centers is expected to heap on, as governments
across Asia Pacific start on their e-government initiatives to make available channels for greater
interaction with their general public. Such factors merged with the inherent benefits of contact
center outsourcing will increase demand for this market in Asia Pacific, thus guaranteeing its
continual growth.
SOURCE: http://bakit.com/outsourcing/asia-pacific-contact-center-market-spurred-by-in-
region-outsourcing/
Outsourcing 101
by Chiena Bondoc
In the 1990s, the term outsourcing has become a widely held buzzword in the world of
business and management. But this word can never be found in the dictionary. Outsourcing, in
terms of what it has done in the business world, has benefited a lot but at the same time, many
still despise it. Here is an open door in the world of outsourcing.
Outsourcing Defined
As once said by www.wikipedia.org, Outsourcing (or contracting out) is often defined as the
delegation of non-core operations or jobs from internal production within a business to an external
entity (such as a subcontractor) that specializes in that operation. Outsourcing is a business
decision that is often made to lower costs or focus on competencies. Also, an article from
www.blogsource.org says, Outsourcing is the act of obtaining services from an external firm.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
In the business world, the word ―outsourcing‖ frequently refers to a specific kind of
outsourcing, business process outsourcing (BPO). When an organization turns over the running
of a particular business process (like accounting or payroll) to a third party that specializes in that
process is when BPO come about. With this, the BPO firm can finish the process more
professionally, allowing the original firm free to give focus on its core competency.
Outsourcing: Its Origins
It was Ross Perot who first made popular the idea of outsourcing when they founded
Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in year 1962. These days, EDS is a multi-billion dollar company,
employing over 70, 000 people and is only one of numerous global BPO firms.
Offshore Outsourcing: What is it?
The terms ―outsourcing‖ and ―offshoring‖ are often used interchangeably in public
conversation in spite of the importance of their specialized distinctions. For consistency, offshore
outsourcing, more known as ―offshoring‖, refers to the process of relocating an organizational
function overseas, but not necessarily an alteration of internal organizational control. For the past
ten years, contracts of business process outsourcing have increasingly been given to firms in
developing countries such as Philippines, India and many others.
Offshoring to Critics
In recent times, offshore outsourcing has become a very talk about issue. It has been said
that this industry is such a threat to many U.S. jobs.
The Fight Back
However, many economists have recently inferred that offshore outsourcing did not cause the
higher-than-expected unemployment numbers. Also, that offshore outsourcing has actually had a
positive bearing on the economy of United States.
SOURCES:
http://www.blogsource.org/blog/2004/06/outsourcing_101.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing#Outsourcing.2C_Offshoring.2C_and_Offshore_Outsourci
ng
Global Gaming Industry Is Eyeing Filipino Animators
by Chiena Bondoc
Outsourcing is truly an emerging industry today. And whenever outsourcing is mentioned,
what mostly comes to people‘s minds is the call center outsourcing industry. However, there are
lots of types of works that can be outsourced. One of these is Animation.
Today, animation is one of the fastest growing types of outsourced work. The process
includes anything from the apparel design to cartoon animation. Another one called DTP work
falls under this. The DTP work refers to the taking place of designing such as typeset, artwork,
illustrations, cover design and others.
Now, with the rapid growth in the global gaming industry, Filipinos are being eyed to get into
it.
As indicated by Pricewaterhouse Coopers 2005-2009 Global Entertainment Media Outlook,
the global video game market is conjectured to grow at 16.5 percent yearly.
The market in the United States, Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA), Asia and the Pacific,
Latin America and Canada is anticipated more jump from US $ 25.4 billion in 2004 to US $ 54.6
billion in 2009.
In the next few years, the global game development industry is likewise seen to grow. The US
game development market is projected to reach roughly US $ 15 billion in 2009 while Canada‘s
market is seen to increase to US $ 1.3 billion and Latin America, US $ 832 million in the same
period.
With this expected growth, companies wanting to outsource their work offshore are seeing
Philippines as a desirable location. With the country‘s lower cost development compared to that
of North America and Europe, surely it is a better outsourcing spot. As said by the President of
LadyLuck Digital, a local game development firm, Luis Mañalac, the cost of game development
here in the Philippines is only one-eight of that in the USA.
He mentioned that here in the Philippines, a team of 10 people working full time for two years
only costs US $ 262, 000 as against to US $ 1.7 million in the United States.
So far, skilled Filipino animators are in demand in post-production facilities or animation
studios locally and abroad.
Game developers contract out the rendering to the industry‘s best talent, such as Holy Cow
Animation, as well as to Filipino musical scorers, like Jessie Lucas. In every game, sub-
contractors are given credit and paid in advance on royalties.
To fill the increasing demand in the animation outsourcing market, the Philippine gaming
industry looks forward to draw at least six percent of the 25,000 animation graduates every year.
With this, it can really be reflected that the Philippines if not the best, is one of the best
outsourcing destinations in the world. Moreover, they can not just boast their call center
outsourcing services but as well as their animation services.
SOURCES:
http://www.selectphilippines.com/gaming-industry.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing#Art.2C_animation.2C_editorial_and_DTP_work
http://news.inq7.net/top/index.php?index=1&story_id=52593
Call Centers: What You Know and Didn't Know
by Chiena Bondoc
High pay. Easy job. No age limit. No need to be a college graduate. The only requirement is to
have a good voice and have an efficient communication skills. You're "in" if you work here. These
is what most people know about call centers - but is this what their world really is?
Call center is one of the emerging industry in the Philippines. With the Filipinos proficiency to
speak English, there is no doubt of why they are considered to be best call center agents in the
planet. With this ability, many are urged to be in this industry. But most of these thousand of
inquirers find the work to be an ideal one, primarily because of its high pay and it being an easy
job, as to what they know.
But they made a real misconception. For all they know, there is no such thing as easy job.
Working in a call center is never a child's play, this is a serious work. Call center agents are
frontliners of some of the biggest companies in the world. Customer Service - is the first line of
defense of companies for their businesses - and this what call center agents handle. These
Filipinos who work in call centers represent these companies to their consumers and they can
spell the success or downfall of these business just on how they deal with their consumers 24/7.
Is this an easy task? Definitely not.
The only requirement is to have a good voice and have an efficient communication skills. There is
no way that these are the only stuff required. Are they applying to be DJs? Yes, for DJs, these
must be required. But no, they are not working for a radio station. This job also requires high IQ
and intelligence.
There is no need for one to be a college graduate. Applicants are very much adviced to finish
college first before applying. Also, if they want to continue studying while still employed, they may
be assisted through schedule requests.
Talking about being "in" working here. Why will they be "in"? This isn't a fad, this is work. A task
to fulfill for them to be able to bring home money for food. People who work here are very much
working hard to the extent of sacrificing their health.
Call centers do well in the Philippines because Filipinos, besides the fact that they have good
customer service skills, but also because they are hard-working and productive people. And this
is something to be really proud of for the world is very much moved with what Filipinos can do
and offer.
SOURCE:
http://forums.abs-
cbn.com/index.php?s=9055d4563ad10486cbe724da42863e82&showtopic=27048&pid=1733328
&st=0&
BY: LUCKY SANTIAGO
Articles by: Sherwin Lucky C. Santiago
Contemporizing Call Center Techniques
Call center outsourcing is not a new phenomenon, but then it has emerged and come a long
way from its roots�and is, in a sense, introducing itself into a modernized, more collaborative era,
which accounts the call center as a very valuable competitive weapon. As call center outsourcing
has become more popular and more important to customer relationships, companies and vendors
have learned a number of lessons in terms of how to best undertake the practice. These include:
Constituting rigorous governance techniques. Arrangements should be made detailed enough
so that both parties could have an absolutely understandable idea about their duties and
responsibilities, as well as working with the same expectations regarding performance and
results. But at the same time, nevertheless, such agreements should help providing the flexibility
needed to cope with unexpected changes and new challenges and chances that are more than
likely to come out over the life of the arrangement.
Balancing cost-control with the customer's experience requirements. Usually call center
outsourcing has concentrated on cost savings. But at most companies, about 70% or more of the
customers will likely contact the company through the call center, making the center a strategic
means in the effort to set up customer relationships.
Approaching offshoring with caution. Locating call centers to overseas facilities can clearly
discount per-call costs. But then when it comes to inbound cutomer care centers, offshoring has
the capacity to generate problems because of some differences in language, culture, training, and
escalation processes.
Thinking long term. Business is marked with planned and unplanned transitions, and it is
important to make sure that the call center infrastructure supplies the needed flexibility to meet
business needs over time. Companies demand time to think about whether how their call center-
related needs are likely to emerge in the months and years to come and be ready for that.
Focusing on employees as well as the customers. The interrelation between satisfied
customers and employees should be well established, and that the connection is especially string
when it comes to call center operations. Unhappy reps, after all, will find it challenging to produce
a positive customer experience.
These are some general guidelines, and in practice has no single definite right answer for each
and every outsourcing arrangement. But companies though can accessorize these guidelines
with an own understanding of their objectives and strategies, by patterning other companies'
outsorced call centers, and by discovering other possibilities with potential outsourcing dealers.
Outsourcing and Logistics: Early Beginnings
Outsourcing is a term oftenly used but often misconcepted. The article focuses on the main idea
of outsourcing and its interrelation to logistics given the following "offical" definition:
Outsourcing is the transfer of an action priorily performed in-house to an outside service provider.
Outsourced providers are often called to as contractors or "third parties." When "outsourced"
work is contracted out, the outsourcing business or agency still provides the corresponding
oversight.
The disorientation emerges when the term ―privatization‖ is put into a confabulation of contracted
out government functions. Privatization is a subdivision of outsourcing and includes the transfer
or sale of government assets to the private sectors.
Privatization is marked by a sudden shift from public to private capital for long-term investment in
the privatized activity. When an activity is privatized, the government abnegates investment and
control.
Such distinctions may seem of no importance. However, the suggestions of giving up control over
assets, especially those belonging to the military services and important to wartime readiness,
keep back the idea of privatization. In such instances, the objective of outsourcing might still be
allowed for.
Roots. Contracting out logistics activities is by far, not new, though the thing is there is a
developing trend in both private and public sectors to identify and elaborate functions that are
important but not "core capabilities" as outsourcing possibilities.
In 1919, the General Sales Manager and then eventually later CEO of Proctor and Gamble,
Richard "Red" Dupree identified the need for a "fast, rapid response to inventory replenishment."
This need, controlled by the manufacturers and retailers of that era produced contract logistics.
Much earlier, the federal government outsourced very important projects. From the Revolutionary
War to Desert Storm, private establishments produced significant logistics support.
Companies such as Brown and Root of Houston and Dynacorp of Reston, Virginia, provided
military bases for U.S. forces in Vietnam. Brown and Root also made large-scale logistics
services in Somalia and Bosnia.
In the past few years, nevertheless, outsourcing has made its way in the private sector and then
in some state and local governments. This trend has incited the federal government to readdress
outsourcing and to start its own pilot programs.
Logistics outsourcing must be cautiously planned for a long-term relationship with the service
provider. Functions that are difficult to execute or "out of control" should be carefully examined for
fundamental causes. Outsourcing will not necessarily improve the situation.
BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCING: TOO GOOD TO IGNORE
OUTSOURCING-- the practice of using external firms to handle work normally performed within a
company -- is an everyday concept to many entrepreneurs. Small companies accustomedly
outsource their payroll processing, accounting, distribution and some other essential functions --
oftentimes because they have no other choice rather than that. Most large companies go to
outsourcing to cut costs. In return, entire industries have emerged to serve companies'
outsourcing needs.
Researchers are now coming up with forecasts that the outsourcing trend will more likely grow
substantially in the years to come. They also said that a share of companies that outsource will
emerge as a big business.
The said reason for the climactic advancement is quite simple. Cost savings from outsourcing are
way too much to put into disregard. The more convincing a company's outsourcing strategy, the
more profit it can save. Though risks might increase along with savings.
The appeal of offshore outsourcing is said to be particularly enticing, having so much money that
can be saved. Also, the dynamics of offshore outsourcing are advancing rapidly. With the aid of
some more improved technology, some companies are finding offshore operations just years ago
can frequently be brought about relatively painlessly.
Network cutting edge devlopments in security, leased lines, and storage all help make offshore
outsourcing painless for the IT manager who may have a tight budget.
Much earlier, networks seem to be not so sophisticated � with the result that usually only the
largest multinational companies could bear to promote offshore outsourcing in a very big manner.
One of the notable changes is that companies with inadequate budget can now afford offshore
outsourcing because its technology is much more thrifty and reliable.
Most of the IT managers have poor processes when itcomes to thier internal installations that
enable to perform well even though the IT people may be operating in an unconventional manner.
But this kind of situation ican be a recipe for disaster when operations are moved offshore.
The applications that will most likely to be most successful in offshore outsourcing are indefinitely
the easiest computing tasks--for instance, payroll, human resources, and benefits. Contrarily,
more complex work are more obviously to function much better when kept in house. Apparently
the strategically important IT tasks should remain in house.
When an IT installation seizes advantage of the repertoire of outsourcing available, many IT
budgets can be cut partially. It won't always be easy, but then it will be worth it in the long run.
The Philippines: a silent outsourcing star?
WHAT images do the Philippines are usually known for? More likely images of domestic helpers,
palm and coconut trees, mail-order brides and most probably Imelda Marcos' shoe collection.
Other than these, the Philippines means unimportant to much of the rest of the world. That is
what you can say a pity, the country having almost 90 million citizens.
Most of it has to deal with its economy, mostly affected by its detrimentally-lead government
which is suffering from a chronic inability to multitask.
Name it all. Corruption. Foreign firms disliking to invest. Murder of its messengers. The President
having to face some vote-digging scandal as well as claims saying that her family profits from
illegal gambling. Then recently last month, declaring a state of emergency, in response to alleged
plots of destabilization.
What about outsourcing? Outsourcing is a very important earner for the Philippines. The United
States accounts for at least half of the world's potential outsourcing and the Philippines, known as
a former US colony, is said to be well placed to benefit. It has a cooperative commercial code and
about 95 per cent of its population speaks and understands English.
Having a high literacy rate, a large pool of IT professionals to draw from, and spotty, but cheap
telecommunications infrastructure, makes the Philippines a competitive place for US outsourcing,
stated in the fact the US companies account for about 90 per cent of outsourcing deals in the
country.
Procter & Gamble, Delta Airlines, AIG, and Citibank have all outsourced some of their work to the
Philippines. US engineering tycoon Fluor Daniel has much of its technical work to be done there
by an almost a thousand-strong team of local engineers, architects and draughtsmen. And AIG's
Philippines business processing unit has now more or less than 4000 staff.
Medical transcription has eventually gone into a large business for outsourcing companies.
Almost 7000 US hospitals are now required to convert their medical records into data format, a
whopping $US15 billion market in the US. Some work has gone down to the Philippines, now a
home to about 40 or more medical transcription companies, up from only nine in 2001.
The efforts of its government in attracting such work has now paid off. Local outsourcing firms
report revenues of nearly $US4 billion, up from $US350 million in 2001, employing 230,000.
India, outspokenly known as the world's outsourcing giant, has employees of up to five times as
many, but has 12 times the population, which clearly suggests the Philippines might be some kind
of a silent star on the outsourcing business.
To most of the world, the Philippines is just a basket case. But mixing a metaphor, even this
basket has a silver lining. The Philippines might deserve a second look.
Mainstream Contact Center Outsourcing: India. How about the Philippines?
Today outsourcing, particularly contact center outsourcing, is being intermediately adopted mainly
by two deveoping countries �India and the Philippines � which aids the said countries in their
campaign for economic growth, as they account for most of the world's outsourcing services.
Though still dominating the scene, India is now being threatened by the Philippines, chipping in
some work to benefit its own market which is fast growing.
Outsourcing was developed and it turned out to be a very good alternate for some in-house
services for companies around the world, not to mention third world countries such as India and
the Philippines, which are considered the main hubs in the outsourcing world.
It is very important for the investors how to choose a location for their �to-be-outsourced� work.
So as prolonging cost pressures force these companies to do more with less, the focus is now
turning towards supply management, causing firms to concentrate more on their core business
and then finding the best destination for such services requirements.
The USA is considered to be the forerunners of outsourcing and also is the main investor in the
business. The Philippines, however, being an American colony for a long 50 years, and is still
sharing cultural, business and legal practices with the US, had installed English in their
curriculum, making children study the language for all of their school life. Meaning to say Filipinos
are more fluent in speaking the language than its fellow outsourcing tycoon India.
Filipinos are also more culture compatible, as Filipinos are much more Westernized than any
other neighboring countries here in Asia. This allows easy comprehension and adjustment.
Though India claims they offer � cheap but good�markets, the Philippines are proud to have
competitive rates of about $6 to $10 per hour per seat, about one-fifth of US rates, making the
country having the lowest labor cost for outsourcing employees in the world, thus, it is now being
chosen by most foreign investors. Not only this, telecommunications infrastructure have been
bettered in order to serve extensive outsourcing operations.
Convenient time zones were also a key consideration as Filipino customer care centers have very
much worked intimately with its investors.
The competition is now getting neck-to-neck. Will India continue its reign as the �Outsourcing
Capital of the World or will the Philippines finally take the spotlight away?
------------------------
Taken from:
>http://www.outsourcing.ph/outsource_call_center.htm
>THE PHILIPPINES: A LEADING DESTINATION
FOR OFFSHORE PROCUREMENT SERVICES
By: JOHN YUVA
Senior Writer
Institute for Supply Management�
Tempe, Arizona
The Oncoming Fall of Outsourcing?
Outsourcing has been around for a very long amount of time, long enough to inspire that � we've-
been-here-before-am-I-right?�feeling. The recent upbringing in outsourcing projects, starting off
with the 2001 recession, looks a lot like the original upsurge of outsourcing contracts in the late
1980s and early 1990s. Bankruptcy and debt were among the main reasons which inspired
corporations to bring out data center operations and, incidentally, network operations and
application development services.
Trouble then began to get in it. Deals were renegotiated or nullified absolutely. Today's
outsourcing phase may be heading to the same direction.
A couple of major and minor problems build up in outsourcing deals. Researchers identified a set
of issues involving higher than usual contract administration costs and flexibility loss. As for the
latter, the researchers cited outsourcing customers know outsourcing as an enticing tool in a
recessionary world. But as economic growth is revitalized, the expense of outsourcing contract
depicts them as researchers quoted it, "arthritic in the marketplace,"
Then what will happen to outsourcing?
If it is history's will to be used as a guide, the trend might likely to continue. Outsourcing, afterall,
sustained the previous course of corporate dissatisfaction. Moreover, outsourcing is able to
produce the intended value. Recently, some segments of outsourcing, including human resources
business process outsourcing, are booming service levels and alleviating cost for clients, says
market analysts.
Vendors as well found a way of redirecting services if their consumers refuse. In around 1992,
service providers then began to establish service lines to make outsourcing more appealing. For
instance, client/server arrangements started to heat up, a couple of companies actualized
proposed transitional outsourcing. The plan: locate your data center temporarily together with an
outsourcer while you are figuring out ways on how to move business applications to the
client/server.
Throughout the same era, co-sourcing and gain-sharing deals began to develop. The goal was to
have established vendors and customers more like partners and less like adversaries.
Can some differences on these approaches appeal in the forthcoming months? One thing most
likely to happen: Vendors shall reply to these cues from their valued customers. Studies already
point to shorter agreements as a developing arrangement. A bit more than about half of the
survey respondents agreed jumping from long-term, six-to-10-year deals to much shorter
contracts of up to five years.
What will outsource service providers do now? Learn from history or repeat it?
>http://www.thechannelinsider.com/article2/0,1759,1789170,00.asp?kc=CZNKT03119TX1K0000
596
The Modern Day Advancements of Outsourcing
It has once again emerged as a direction for management of information services organizations -
outsourcing. Some reasons that account for outsourcing can be simply reviewed, but still the path
of the individuals' careers and responsibilities also demand extensive review. Careers are able to
change for the better in an outsourced world for computer performance management (CPM)
individuals, and growth opportunities are made.
Outsourcing, or more definitely sending out (customer services, for example) to an outside
provider or manufacturer in order to cut costs, is an old practice in the business world believed to
have originated as early as the commercial computing era. Since then, many large sites acquired
an approximately large amount of computing capacity in order to sell any excess to outside users.
A number of sites only sold computer resources, while others proposed accesorized � service
bureau�features together with the hardware and software resources. Small-time business firms
required computing resources, but not afford such resources, while the the large ones were very
anxious to take such financial recovery.
In presumably due time, service offerings widened and eventually expanded to other specialized
areas. In the 1970s we saw payroll applications being outsourced, one common thread which did
not change from company to company, as they all had the same issues that has to deal with
benefit deductions, government reporting, withholding taxes, and tie-ins with general ledger
systems. Confidentiality and privacy were the other considered factors which encouraged most
companies to park out the payroll process. Then in the Information Technology age, many
companies had uncomfortable swings having all of the information distributed in electronic format
in their data centers.
As time advances, these kinds of outsourcing eventually changed. Oftentimes some companies
would build up some data centers into one or maybe two, productively outsourcing and
contracting out data processing requirements. And last 2002, another idea yet again made itself
to a much mature state as most of the companies now attempt to send almost all of the
requirements outside of their corporations.
Outsourcing is by far considered common nowadays. Comapanies not having decided yet to do
so gradually weigh in the benefits and disadvantages of choosing the outsourcing way. Some
corporations opt to test outsourcing grounds on just a limited basis by cultivating out one or more
activities or proposals, as they can also choose many outsourcing choices for various projects
Philippine Competitiveness in Outsourcing
Metro Manila is well-known for being the Philippines' gateway to the world. Also known as the
National Capital Region (NCR), it also houses the base of the Philippine national government and
most of the country's major commercial, educational, and financial establishments.
Also being the most prominent area in outsourcing in the country in Information Technology (IT)
and Business Processes (BP), notably having more than 80 voiced-based call centers, Metro
Manila is indeed impelled by a need for broad-based growth, however, the government has found
ways of identifying alternative, smaller cities around the country – making them ―ousource-ready‖.
The current advantages of Metro Manila include very talented employees with fluent English
speakers, a much Westernized culture, a large pool of suppliers with identical process maturity,
cutting edge physical and telecommunications infrastructure and having a very attractive cost
structure, which is very much important, promising a big amount of savings for outsourcing firms.
These advantages are due to the government's efforts and commitment, which fuel the steady
development of infrastructure, existing support industries, the rising competitiveness among the
suppliers, resource management, and the region having clear positioning in today's global
market.
But though Metro Manila is still considered the best destination for companies wanting to
outsource here in the country, they also have to consider developing cities such as Cebu, Clark,
and Davao. These cities have also the potential to emerge as big business centers. Having low
service maturity, however, studies believe that there are still some factors that shall help smaller
cities to be centers excelling in the future. These are:
organizations needing to hold on to less competitive, circulated labor pool to help working
abilities to gradually develop;
companies wanting to organize disaster recovery centers with competent suppliers and
known resources;
seeking actively the growth of their outsourcing activites;
and they also have lower operational costs compared to Metro Manila.
Still there are addittional strategies needed to be developed to further improve firm-level and city-
level competitiveness. Entrepreneurship and management capability must also be improved.
Opportunities should also be created by local governments to access capital.
The outsourcing industry developments of other cities here in the Philippines will be crucial for
rising Filipino competitiveness. The government having shown support in the said cities' drive for
excellence, shall attract some – or maybe even many – outsourcing investments, can be said a
step further to globalization.
>http://www.sourcingmag.com/outsource_by_region/philippines.html
Modernized Outsourcing
The outsourcing of manufacturing jobs has long been existing in the world. But the fact that some
overseas outsourcing of white-collar and knowledge-based jobs symbolize a more modernized
phase in the world of economics, and especially in the politics, of globalization. For the first time,
most of American employees are now being driven to engage with outsourcing as a threat to their
own livelihood and the future of their children.
Reports as to how many white-collar jobs in the US are at dangerous levels to outsourcing extend
from 3.3 million jobs to about 14 million jobs over the coming decade. Some analysts discuss that
the number of jobs at risk is high considering the fact that it is relatively not difficult to outsource
such service jobs that need little more thanskillful workers and high-speed communication.
If there were loads of acceptable jobs, outsourcing wouldn't be considered a major issue. Though
there is said a major shortage of jobs all over the world. The US is now experiencing the longest
period of continous job shortage beginning the end of the Great Depression.
Outsourcing must be interpreted in relations to the global job shortage. Some corporations and
investors impose this jobs deficit to make work wherever they think labor is cheapest � and
where the governments are most downcasted and therefore will supply the highest subsidies with
the lowest environmental and social protections.
This basic feature of globalization will not eventually cure itself. The global jobs deficit must be
straightforwardly addressed by people throughout the world at the local, national, and global
level. It cannot be closed by attempting to assure the jobs of their workers in a country at the risk
of workers in other countries.
The danger of outsourcing is having a psychological effect far beyond expected of those directly
affected. Conservative economist Paul Craig Roberts found out that that when he talks to high
school and college students, � They spend a great deal of time searching for an occupation that
t 20
can� be wiped out underneath them.� Says o a new Gallup Poll, 41 percent of Americans are
found out to be � very concerned�and about another 20 percent says they are � somewhat
concerned�that they or a friend or relative �might lose a job because the employer is moving
that job to a foreign country.�
Philippine - British Outsourcing
During these past few years, the Philippines has now surpassed India in terms of being the top
choice of destination for most offshore call centers serving the American market and with a very
acceptable reason. The Philippines, still having the highest level of English proficiency compared
to any neighboring country in Asia, are also by far the "easiest-to-understand" accent for most of
those people whose first spoken language is English.
Still, many British establishments have still opted to choose India instead of the Philippines. Most
Philippine-based call center companies are now gradually concentrating on the given
opportunities coming from the United Kingdom. This is most especially true, the pound has
strengthening to about 1.9 from 1.4 against the dollar, addressing British-based work more than a
third much more effective. There is now what you can call a small but expanding number of
British companies outsourcing their activities to the Philippines.
Thus, the competition no longer just comes from India. There has been a large number of other
developing countries shifting on the outsourcing environment. However, in most of these
countries, such as those located in Central and Eastern Europe, is seen to have English a weak
third language and are oftentimes lacking in quality communication skills. As the real competition
will eventually originate from Africa, most especially South Africa.
For as enduring as the Philippines maintains its competitive edge in English proficiency, the
country is definitely a strong contender to reckon with, where British companies can establish
their call centers. Since 2000, the peso has been devaluating from about 70 to approximately 100
to the pound, making it much more competitive. Just like most offshore locations, there are
challenges to cope with.
Kinds of Outsourcing
Outsourcing is usually called the feeding or delegation of information to an external service
provider and day-to-day supervision of a business process. The customer then acquires a service
which performs a distinct business operation that suits customer's overall business operations.
It has two principal types:
"Traditional" outsourcing. Employees of an enterprise discontinue to perform the same tasks over
again to their company. Much better, operations are distinguished that need to be performed, and
the workers are usually employed by the service provider. For instance, information technology
outsourcing may comprehend a movement of duties and responsibilities for management of data
centers and networks, including LAN, WAN, and telecommunications. Meanwhile in the
department of facilities management, people working as property managers might become
workers of a facilities management firm.
-Traditional outsourcing concentrated directly on the strategical privileges accumulated by
changing a corresponding operation or process to a 3rd party provider that leveraged markets of
such scale, technology, and/or labor arbitrage, reducing the costs of the operation or process.
The goal was to do the things a little better, a little faster, and a little cheaper.
"Greenfield" outsourcing. The company transforms its business activities without such
employment of personnel by its service provider. For instance, the enterprise might employ a
startup company to supply new services, including wireless remote computing, that was not
recently managed within the enterprise.
Outsourcing went to spearhead as a management tool about more than a decade ago in
compliance to a driving need to make organizations achieve productivity, competitiveness and
profit. Definitely it has become an efficient tool to reestablish the strategies and benefits of
business in a financially possible and a much active manner.
>http://www.outsourcing-law.com/what_is_outsourcing.htm
Outsourcing in Asia
Asia is now considered to be the high-growth location for call center activities for years to come
by most accounts, enterprises still does offshore operations in India and the Philippines and then
draw to China to attend to the local market.
A recent report says that the number of call centers to be establised in the Asia-Pacific region will
increase at a combined annual growth rate of 14.3 percent, surmounting 17,000 by 2008. The
said report assumes call center dynamics in the region will still be influenced by labor costs in
India and the Philippines and rapidly in Malaysia and China. While China does not possess a
massive number of English proficient speakers, that will change by 2008, the report believes.
The top reasons for a company to site call center operations in Asia are to: stretch out operations;
lower costs; follow customers; compete in the global marketplace; and apprehend around-the-
clock business support.
China is getting more attention these times as a result of the nation being awashed with
infrastructure advancements and construction in preparation for the upcoming 2008 Olympics.
China has an unbelivably large and increasing number of middle class men and the service
market is getting more competitive.
In the following 10 to 15 years, more than about 50 percent of U.S. inhabitants will be over 55. In
India, more than 500 million today are under 25, so if it is to be based on demographics, it will be
considered as the start of a major change in global economies. China is now where India began
nine years ago. People are considerably learning English in China now than there in the U.S.
India and the Philippines are said to be good candidates for back office/front office supporting call
center operations out of the U.S. China is considered to be much more of multinational country.
Among the other choices in the region includes Australia, which has about 146,000 call center
seats. Australia is one of the best options for firms looking forward to serve North America.
Moreover, more than 100 different languages are spoken in the country, offering much more
flexibility.
Malaysia has said to have the same labor-costs to China. It can provide service to China as well
as having English-speaking populations and also a high literacy rate.
Offshoring is now getting much more recognition to companies in debt and some that is in need
to lower their cost structures, technology making this viable.
The phenomenon called globalization is indeed beginning to be recognized. With expected
greater bandwidth and the lowering of its costs, the capacity to send information and voice calls
to areas that were unreachable 10 years ago is now attainable.
A call to Asia now costs nothing.
Strictly Outsourcing
What is outsourcing?
A quick little surf on the Internet sets up a variety of definitions:
"acquiring a product or service rather than producing it yours"
"the contracting out of a company's non core, non revenue-producing activities to specialists"
"transfer or delegation to an external service provider the operation and day-to-day management
of a business process".
Outsourcing, if based in literal means, is sourcing from outside. The term is used increasingly to
identify the sub-contracting of a set of functions or processes by one enterprise to another, or to a
group of people. The latter organization is frequently in another physical location, or another
country altogether.
Outsourcing is being chased as a very good business strategy in the current economic
bandwagon, since it allows a firm to concentrate more on core-competency areas. It also
unrestrains the firm from resource and labour intensive operations, which are now worked by
well-trained personnel at unsurprisingly lower costs.
These processes or functions that are being outsourced may range from customer service and
telemarketing, to IT management, software development, market research and maybe even
financial portfolio management.
Why outsource?
The following are some of the key considerations on why to outsource;
Lower costs due to economies of scale
The capability to focus on core operations
More flexibility and capacity to identify the required service more quickly
Particular supplier benefits. Examples of these are better security, continuity, etc.
Higher quality service due to concentration of the supplier
Better internal management disciplines because of the exercise itself
Less dependency among internal resources
Control of budget
Faster set up of the function or service
Lower continous investment required in internal infrastructure
Greater ability to deal with delivery dates (e.g.: via penalty clauses)
Inadequate internal expertise
Almost all of the outsourcing companies base their main operations in the USA, while some in the
Australia and others still in Europe notably UK, while most of the outsourced workforce is done in
Asian countries such as India and the Philippines. Protests have been made against outsourcing
in countries such as the USA, and just recently in Australia, as some of the professionals are in
danger of being dislocated. It is said that when certain operations are shifted, jobs are usually
shifted too. Regardless of this, this kind of dislocation is commonly impermanent and there are
very few talented and skillful professionals who are definitely losing jobs due to outsourcing.
http://www.theoutsourcerzone.com
Outsourcing in Times of Uncertainty
is said to be one of the best tools dealing with change in uncertain periods of time. Outsourcing
enables companies to be more nimble when it seems the business scenario shifts. Eventually,
economic hard, difficult times oftentimes stresses firms with "stranded costs� .
Outsourcing also lowers costs, a key consideration throughout economic declines when
businesses are getting anxious to systematize their operations to save money. Outsourcing
makes fixed costs into variable costs. The concern of the head count or the facilities is relocated
to the vendor's balance sheet. Then the consumer can now move its cost base into investments
that are circumscribed, determinable and reliable.
This shift improves the buyer's corporate balance sheet. When in bad times, the switch enables
the company's overall financial ranks to look much better. In good times, however, the step to
variable costs puts the company's financial picture in better condition, making the company more
appealing to its capital investors who must supply them the needed capital for growth.
Outsourcing also offers high-priced expertise those companies that are not able to afford when
sales are quite held back. Outsourcing picks up the supervision of such functions that are non-
core and hands it out to the pool of experts.
Process expertise gets crucial when the time of business constriction or expansion comes.
Throughout the unproductive stage of the business cycle, firms are driven to be strapped for cash
and therefore must invest in their own core operations to maintain its competitiveness. During a
development, establishments will not be able to win the so-called talent war. The insufficiency of
seasoned workers bannered the headlines some years ago.
Outsourcing enables you to access other people's money to go on investing in such non-core
functions to accomplish the desired extent of economies. The outsourcing salesman will then go
on to spend in that kind of process even when your internal cash to do so gets limited. Advanced
use of modernized technology enables outsourcing consumers to gain an advantage when it
comes to unit price efficiencies as a result of the vendor having consolidated other customers'
capacity with yours.
At last, outsourcing hands out some risk from the consumer to the vendor. On the personnel
front, consumers need not have to invest valuable capital hiring and training employees only to
have to let them fired when it turns bad.
When uncertainty comes, companies need to make their risk, need to cut their costs, resystemize
their balance sheets and should still have flexibility. Outsourcing makes all those things possible.
FLYING HIGH
Offshore advisory firm claims Philippines an emerging outsource center
Now you can definitely consider the Philippines a candidate to the list of offshore outsourcing
destinations in the world.
Neo IT, a known offshore advisory firm, reports that the Philippines now ranks second to India as
a global sourcing provider in BPO (business process outsourcing) and the call center industry.
Neo IT on Monday released a white paper entitled, "Outsourcing to the Philippines: Metro Manila
and Beyond," a paper which eventually explains the degree of maturity of Manila and other
developing Filipino cities becoming known as BPO and information technology outsourcing
centers.
Labor costs here in the Philippines levels about 10 to 15 percent above the rates in India, notes
Eugene Kublanov, Vice President of corporate development at Neo IT.
Despite this, the total cost of having business, in some cases, may have to be lower in the
Philippines, he added. For example, the employee attrition rate in the Philippines is relatively
lower than India's, stated Kublanov..
"Constantly having to recruit and hire and train �that whole process gets very expensive," he
said.
IBM is among the top ranked outsourcing vendors with operations in the Philippines. The
company has made the metropolis of Manila a center for their business process outsourcing
operations.
Accenture and Electronic Data Systems Corp. also have occupancies in the Philippines,
Kublanov said.
In addition to this, most India-based outsource firms�particularly BPO and call center
outsourcers� now have established shops here in the Philippines as a modification play,
Kublanov said.
Those vendors are desiring to get hold of the Philippine resources amidst a very much
toughening labor market in India.
But though human resources are accessible, physical infrastructure may not be.
While the Manila metropolitan area is fairly mature in that field, other small developing cities are
eventually in the race and are catching up as they nearly build state-of-the-art facilities with the
suitable IT and telecommunications resources, Kublanov said.
http://www.thechannelinsider.com/article2/0,1895,1880707,00.asp
Outsourcing: To Research or not to Research? part1
A barrage of research analyses on almost every form of outsourcing has been conveyed these
past few years, since it started to be well-known as a very strategic business tool to boost
competitive advantages and eventually became one of the major controversies for survival in the
90s. This is of no doubt. A large number of academics and practitioners alike have researched
and analyzed such issues on how to manage the supplier's performance, how to have these
suppliers incentivized, advantages against liabilities, whether you are to have a long-term or
short-term contract, and then single vs. multi-vendor approaches.
Though these findings can get inaccurate, we need to have in mind that the findings of these
research studies are enabled to be intertwined by the self-serving establishments investing for the
research. Having them not aiming at the same targets, those organizations' perceptions normally
paint the results. Oftentimes, the results coming from these studies and analysis contradict on the
complicated issues in outsourcing. Now the question is, can we be convinced of the significance
of a study as compared to something else? How are we to comprehend with the importance of
outsourcing research? Should we not focus on producing research studies that suggest a much
broader overview?
Evolution Models
A study suggests that the research be done in two stages.
The first stage. It cites the client view. The research throughout this stage identified outsourcing
as a systematical relationship and a win-lose strategy. Most of the research conducted at this
time was overstatedly expectant due to the fact that it took place during the what you call
"honeymoon phase" of relationships quickly after the contracts were agreed upon. Outsourcing
did not always achieve the preferred results. About a few organizations though, prefered to reveal
their outsourcing losses to the people, so many controversies throughout this stage were not
defined matter-of-factly.
The second stage. It cited outsourcing issues coming from both the customer and vendor views.
It promoted the foundation of a leveled relationship and a win-win strategy. It started with the
attempt to account for the difficulties in making and managing gainful relationships. Buyers
demanded long-term, collaborative relationships with their sellers. They opted for partnership
alliances, over strict customer-vendor relationships. As the extent of the deals broaden, the
service providers were eager to have much more responsibility.
Outsourcing: To Research or not to Research? part1
Points of Perspective
Partnership motivation will still considered to be a significant concept regarding outsourcing
research for the years to come, ac to the study; however, it has to be handed over from mixed
views - the buyer and seller perspectives, together with the practitioner and academic views.
*This study is derived from the researcher's combined background as a practitioner and also as
an academic.
Moreover, the study classifies recent outsourcing research into three general perspectives. These
are: strategy management, economic perspective and social perspective.
Strategy management. It deals with ways on how to formulate and implement a strategy to
accomplish an intended goal. However, the concerned perspective does not assent to how to
manage the relationship or the external scenario.
The economic perspective. It eventually defines each sourcing judgement as an unconstrained
event. This theory was said to be seen as unseasonal as a result of not considering the parties'
responsibilities for future arrangements with each other.
The social perspective. It believes that the buyer and the seller will be notably working together
over time. They need to show their trustworthiness and accept that their relationship is a
changing process.
Approaching Mixed Research
The studies promote a model for future research, which is then derived from combining
outsourcing research with some other essential topics. For example, it states that it would be
good to combine outsourcing research and knowledge management research. It states
researchers in IS outsourcing should not concentrate primarily on outsourcing research but
should try to pair it with other essential IS topics. Not only that, they could also mix ERP system
research with outsourcing research.
Global outsourcing has gained tremendous popularity for most companies. But then when there
are many places to locate, we need to have some group support systems and negotiation
systems. This can help supply much more comprehension for the situation of the provider and the
business process. So definitely we could conduct studies combining outsourcing research and
group support system research.
OUTSOURCE DESTINATION: THE PHILIPPINES
The Philipppines has notably the world‘s second-largest English-speaking population. And is said
to be fast catching up to India.
Having an outstanding literacy rate of nearly 94%, the Philippines has considerably a large talent
pool of information technology(IT) eligible professionals and a very cost-competitive
telecommunications infrastructure. The island nation also ranks third when it comes to Knowledge
and Information-based jobs in the 2002 Global Technology Index research recently conducted by
the META Group. And about three million college graduates affiliate with the workforce each and
every year, providing a large source of talent.
Being an American colony for a long period of time, (approximately up to 50 years), the
Philippines possesses a Westernized culture, an exceptional noteworthy trait that simply
determines the nation from other offshore locations. Although the country is Asian in orientation,
Filipinos definitely watch American TV and hence, are able to communicate efficiently in
American English.
These past few years, the Philippines has dramatically become of choice for call center
outsourcing, and is specializing in customer support services. Most leading multinationals have
chosen the Philippines as their global center for customer service due to the Filipinos‘ very high
level of English proficiency and a strong customer familiarization. American OnLine, the largest
U.S. Internet service provider, manages to have a staff of nearly 600 at its local based call center
located Clark, Pampanga. Caltex, Procter & Gamble, Barnes and Noble, among others, have now
established large-scale service contact centers here in the Philippines.
Indeed another very promising industry that has acquired big outsourcing support here in the
Philippines is the medical transcription business. The Philippines prides a large pool of medical
professionals, such as doctors, nurses, and medical technologists. The call for medical
transcription has increased as U.S. hospitals are now needed by federal regulations to transfer
the medical records into data format. Increasingly seventeen medical transcription companies are
operatong right now, and has employed 1,200 Filipinos.
Considering the fact that the Philippines does not have the capacity to be a huge offshore
provider of web and software services compared to India, it still bids itself promising in the
customer service industry. Although India does charge lower than the Philippines. Beacuse for
some data encoding work, India charges around a small $4 (U.S.) compared to $10 in the
Philippines. Still, more multinationals choose the Philippines over everybody else due to its high
quality of work. Furthermore, Filipinos can be good customer service agents not just because
they are proficient in speaking in American English but also having a helpful and friendly nature.
Also, increasingly more and more investors choose the Philippines for offshore support. Among
the services provided in Philippine-based outsourcing companies include copyediting and
indexing; web design and maintenance; data conversion, data warehousing, data capture and
data entry; OCR and scanning services; proofreading; encoding and keyboarding; imaging
services and graphics design; call center and customer service; abstracting and document
conversion; typesetting; and tagging, among others.
http://www.website-promotion-ranking-services.com/online-biz/article_310.shtml
A Glance at Call Center Outsourcing
Call center outsourcing now happens to be one of the most successful and effective ways
corporations can boost their cost effectiveness. By outsourcing most of their call center
opeartions to much lower cost destinations, GE, American Express, Sprint, AOL, and Amazon
and many other Fortune 500 companies have increased cost effectiveness dramatically by up to
about 50 percent! Moreover, the quality of their support to their customers and contentedness has
been increased as well. After witnessing the success of these businesses, many other
corporations have been inspireed to follow.
The reasons behind their success? Lower labor costs, a bountiful and highly talented work force,
and advancing offshore abilities by service providers in offshore destinations.
In call centers serving in North Amercia and Europe, labor costs are said to be holding the largest
portion of expenses concerning operations. While in offshore locations, labor costs are much
lower, nearly 10- 20 percent of what it is found chiefly in the US. Thus, operating expenses are
much more evenly circulated to labor, systems and telecommunications, and real estate and
utilities. For some of these companies, the savings have been phenomenally increasing by up to
as much as $250 million every year.
Still in North America and Europe, most call centers employ just high school graduates. Thus,
these employees often lack commitment and motivation, as you can see in the high attrition rates,
nearly 40 percent or higher. In offshore, however, call centers hire no other than university
graduates from the large pools of highly skilled labor. For these people, being a call center
professional is not only a temporary job, but also a career they look up to.
Services. The variety of services being provided by these offshore call centers are going up. Back
then, there was no complicated transaction oriented work such as back-office processing. Now,
however, the multinationals have seen the overwhelming potential of offshore service providers
as they have observed tremendous success and this confidence has become a greater number of
services being provided and an improving complexity in interaction.
The Offshore Advantage. Companies in North America and Europe now understand that it is
definitely much cheaper outsourcing call center business to offshore destinations, especially on
their cheaper labor and IT skills. And exposure to competition is getting more and more
companies and industries to allocate customer service in the limelight.
Some of the most popular offshoring segments include Insurance, HR, And Finance and
Accounting services. Insurance is reportedly estimated to have a $23-30 billion market in 2007.
HR, by 2008, will be nearly a $44 billion market and F&A almost $17 billion.
Now the thing is, offshore agents can manage the same situations compared to their counterparts
in other nations. They are said to have the skills, the motivation, and is highly qualified, and so
the success of these multinationals over the past decade is clearly evident.
http://www.practicaloutsourcing.com/HTML/Knowledge.html
Outsourcing: Focus on the Philippines
The Philippines prides a flourishing infrastructure, exceptional connectivity, superfluous power, a
very strong cultural affinity with the US, and a large pool of talented workers.
Call Centers. Nearly 35,000 employees are working in an astounding 40 call centers all over the
island nation. Approximately 80 percent of the labor is presently being outsourced from the US.
Many of the world‘s top corporations have built their own local operation, quoted as "captive
centers". However, they can also choose from many third-party service providers. Outbound calls
usually include telemarketing, advisory services, credit collections and loyalty programs, while
inbound calls are associated with requests, complaints, sales, billing, transcriptions and technical
helpdesk.
Medical Data Transcription. Medical data transcription is gaining popularity as an opportunity in
the Philippines having more than 22 medical transcription companies hiring 1,500, not to be
surprised in a country that generates 30,000 medical professionals annually. It is reportedly
supposed that the medical transcription industry will eventually go up from US$3 billion at present
to US$12 billion over the following five to six years. Typical transcription services involve office
visits, pathology reports, clinical notes, and consultations.
Software. There are approximately 300 software development houses located in the country that
provide a wide variety of services that covers system design and analysis; application,
middleware, and firmware development; testing and quality assurance; software maintenance;
and software project management. The said IT companies supply software solutions to North
America, Europe, Japan and Asia Pacific particularly Australia in a wide array of industries and
sectors that include telecom, banks, manufacturing, government and retail.
Animation. The animation industry has been present in the Philippines for more or less 20 years,
and is getting more and more popularity being a high quality producer for numerous top
entertainment companies. The animation BPO industry in the Philippines still maintains its cost
competitiveness, with prices as low as 15-30 percent of those in the US. Offering processes
cover digital scanning and character design to layout and storyboard. Moreover, there are 24
animation companies that are composed of direct export service providers, indirect export service
providers and domestic service providers that is now working for clients located in the US,
Australia, Korea, Canada and Japan..
Transactional Processing. The Philippines is also said to be one of the leading destinations for
transactional processing having considerable key corporations offering services including finance,
payroll processing, corporate accounting, HR, IT and internal audit, inventory processing,
programming work and card balance inquiries.
http://was4.hewitt.com/hewitt/ap/resource/rptspubs/hewittquart/HQ_12/articles/globe_source_asia
.html
OFFSHORE - "THERE"
Having extracted out all the necessary potential productivity improvements in their call centers
located in North America and Europe, GE, American Express, Sprint, Dell, AOL and Amazon
resorted to go "offshore" to have their their cost-effectiveness further improved. Following the
movement of a number of their call center to lower cost destinations such as India, the Philippines
and Malaysia, these and many other Fortune 500 companies had their cost-effectiveness go up
by up to 50% together with an improved quality and increased overall customer satisfaction.
Astounding offshore results
Given the "proof of concept" by several other players across multiple verticals and advances in
technology, business groups are now gradually moving volumes of their work to outlying
locations, thus, creating more and more opportunities.
The benefits of launching software-writing centers have been seen by these companies in lower
cost countries. For example, in India, learned workers are competent and may be employed for
about one-fourth of the cost in North America and Europe and there are also much lower
infrastructure expenses.
Moreover, greater opportunities are now being opened up to transfer many parts of a company's
system. This includes front-end customer-facing functions, usually to lower cost locations having
increased bandwidth capacity and as universal networking standards emerge.
These offshore call centers will persist making dramatic results as we've seen with IT offshoring.
A few corporations have by then concluded about a reduction of fifty to sixty percent in costs,
right after adjusting for higher telecommunications and management expenses. These results are
because of lower labor costs, a large pool of highly talented workforce, and increasing offshore
capabilities across global majors and Indian providers.
Lower labor costs: Labor comprises a big part (about 60-70%) of operating expenses in North
American and European call center, compared to India and the Philippines, with a much lower
rate of 10-20% of those in the U.S. As said, distribution of operating expenses are more evenly
towards labor, systems and telecom, and real estate and utilities. And savings due to these cost
advantages could accumulate to up to an outstanding $250 million every year.
If offshore facilities will increase so will the risk of demand exceeding supply. It will then affect the
cost advantage's sustainablity. In significant plentiful offshore locations such as Ireland and the
Netherlands, it took about 10 years for the increase in wages from 50 to 75% of those in the U.S.
Still, it will take about 25-30 years (in the most aggressive circumstances) for destinations which
includes India, as a result of having much lower initial wages and a large highly skilled workforce
that is gradually growing.
Bountiful and highly skilled workforce: Lower cost labor does not necessarily mean lower
skilled, lower quality workers. Furthermore, in most offshore cases, the opposite is true.
Call centers in North America eventually hire high school graduates. And they appear to be low in
commitment to the job and the company, an attrition rate of 40% or higher being clearly evident.
Contrary to this, the call centers in India and Philippines hire university graduates from their large
pools of skilled labor. Thus, they have more commited workers.
Increasing offshore capabilities: The functions and types of services that are being provided by
offshore call centers are expanding rapidly, despite the fact that outsourcing just started with a
simple, transaction-oriented, non-customer-facing work such as back-office processing. Next are
e-mail and live inbound and outbound calls. These much more complex interactions were earlier
just relatively simple. For instance, GE and others manage most of their volumes collected
through their Indian partners. And it is considered to be a task in the U.S. that usually
necessitates a higher cost skill level.
The coming of the training wheels have begun. As long as their is maintenance involving
commitment and investment in people, offshore agents will be able to manage the same
situations similar to their American counterparts.
-- http://www.summitcircuit.com/archive/is-0902.html
Call Center Asia
Asia has spent the last year bothered with a currency crisis, bank problems and the end of
assured, yearly, continued economic expansion. Yet, we have seen the region grow in size. It
then demonstrates a shift by management to the more cost-effective call center channel.
Technology investment. Despite the growth, about 60% of the call centers surveyed, depending
on the country addresses experiencing the economic decline's impact. The main concern was
not having the ability to employ new people and invest more modernized technology due to the
lower value of their currency and that most technology needs to be purchased in US dollars. This
crisis is said to be not universal, however research shows that only some 4% of call centers in
Australia and about 15% of call centers in New Zealand reported feeling the effects of the
currency crisis.
However, that technological gap looks like it is to be closed, eventhough the difficulties in making
purchases from US suppliers with devalued currencies. The study reports that "...the vast majority
of Asia-Pacific call centers indicated that they would be spending on technology, not only to leap
up the technology generation path, but also because of Y2K issues...." The taunting of voice
activated technology and Internet connectivity from the Web page to the call center now starting
to be heard.
An good example to cite would be the Keppel Bank, one of the top Singaporean banks. Recently,
the bank has completed an imposition of integrated Internet banking and a call center solution
that eventually permits their customers to talk downright to agents utilizing Internet telephony
technology.
Meaning?: About two or three years ago, business outlooks located in the Asia-Pacific region
were certainly acceptable. Today, the prospects differ from country to country and from industry
to industry. The region, concluded as a whole, is carefully hopeful for the imposition and growth of
call centers.
It is said to be about two thirds of all customer contact is now through a call center, in other
words, increasing their value as a cost effective customer care channel and also a cheaper cost
of contact. Undoubtedly the customer care archetype has changed. The Internet is now becoming
more important as technologies focalize and new and exciting technologies are actualized.
Nevertheless, this positive view is balanced by hesitant economic truths that copes with much of
the region. Again, prudence must be implicated when investing in call centers in these developing
nations. Serious consideration should be demonstrated in location selection in light of the effects
of the currency crisis and telecommunications infrastructure, skill and language availability,
access to people that want to be employed in the call center scenario and, lastly, the business
and regulatory environment.
-- http://www.summitcircuit.com/archive/is-0499a.html
Statistics: Call Centers
According to a survey of 369 contact centers internationally, done by South Africa's Dimension
Data, North American contact centers failed to keep pace with the rest of the world regarding
security and disaster recovery preparedness, and were also noted as the slowest contact centers
in answering inbound calls.
Listed here are some of the (preliminary) results:
* Only 29% of North American contact centers surveyed have adapted disaster recovery plans,
contrary with Asia-Pacific and Africa/Middle East ones at nearly 45% and 49% respectively, with
Europe having 31%.
* Security is found to be practiced the most in developing contact center markets with about 50%
of contact centers in Africa/Middle East and Asia-Pacific certifying consumers on their calls, in
contrsat to only 37% of respondents in North America and 39% in Europe.
* Inbound calls comprise about 70% of all interactions.
* The quickest answer for a call is found in Africa/Middle East (average 19 seconds) with North
America. It recorded the slowest time-to-answer at 32 seconds, Europe/UK having an acceptable
22 seconds and Asia-Pacific at 28 seconds.
* The lowest salaries are in Africa/Middle East at $34,486. Asia-Pacific centers the highest at a
maximum $85,058. North American contact center manager salary levels normally varies
between $48,075 to $72,114.
* Even in multi-channel contact centers most interactions are still voice communications. The
naturalization of other technologies to deal with customer queries is rather small in comparison:
SMS/text messages account for only a mere 0.5% of interactions and Internet inquiries 4%,
though there are differences across regions most probably accounted for by regional adoption
rates of the linked technologies.
* About one in 10 contact center interactions are comrpised by email communications, the second
highest volume channel right after agent-assisted telephone. North American centers admit 150%
more email interactions than in any other region, which is not surprising given that Internet
saturation is 68.2% of the population, with Africa having just 2.7% of the entire population using
the Internet.
--http://www.commweb.com/trends/53700310
Guidelines - Call centers
We can come up with call centers to handle many types of calls. These includes taking orders,
customer service, tech support, qualifying inbound leads and eventually answering
service/messages.
Guidelines are still not set up concerning when will a business should eventually resort to
outsource their incoming call handling. Rather, there are many situations on whether it is the right
time for your business to seek outsourcing to a call center, which will mostly involve resource
planning.
Meaningful growth - A current product launch and similar major events can transfer a large
number of calls to even a small business. The outsourced incoming calls to a service provider will
be able to wipe out the problems of trying to elevate a number of newly hired employees or
resorting in major equipment improvements.
Save money - When businesses arrive at call volumes needing a suggestive capital investment, it
is either new phone systems, customer relationship management (CRM) software, dedicated call
center space, or a number of new employees, it can be a no decision to resort to outsourcing.
The call center service providers can maintain in much ower costs just by expanding the costs of
the workers and technoogy among consumers.
Testing and learning - A few small corporations having few experiences that deals with buyers
can send off some of its call operations as an outsourced work. Having learned what it takes to
manage a call center and established enough capital, the operations can now be brought in
house. Some may find it cheaper to test in a call center than retrain its in house empoyees.
Variable volume - Some call volumes which grow at a constant pace are significantly not difficult
to plan for and manage. Corporations that forecast relative occasionality or changes not predicted
might avail from the excesive capacity of an outsourced contact center. What could be included
are spot overflow, the service provider using to stash sudden billows in such calls, or seasonal
assistance.
Business model shifts - The choice on whether to outsource incoming call operations can be
caused by a major decison, including switching to 24/7 tech support. Making the leap to a two- or
three shift course might be a big difficulty - not to mention, going to a service provider. Another
cause can be the need in offering support in a number of languages.
Call center outsourcing is very much suitable for reasonably candid sales, service, and support.
But certain products that have complex sales cycles and customer support lines and that also
require in-depth troubleshooting are not suited to outsourcing.
Outsourcing and its Advantages
Outsourcing is predicted to grow more for the years to come, as more and more companies resort
to this very useful strategy to send low end and high end jobs to differnt offshore destinations. It is
the the huge advantages that drives corporations in developing regions to go outsourcing big
time.
More and more companies now outsource to developing countries such as the Philippines, India,
China etc. They can now capitalize what they offer such as cheap labor and infrastructure and cut
down on man power costs, control operational costs and capital expenditure.
*A company's back office operations are awefully dull and should have distinctive attention.
Almost all of them is considered essential for progress. Focusing more on core competencies
while their back office operations businesses can be more efficient because of outsourcing.
*Outsourcing also allows a company the opportunity to access highly skilled and talented workers
at affordable, lower rates that will eventually make them much more productive and save money.
*Also many cutting edge developed offshore destinations offer companies much more developed
technolgies at surprisingly lower rates. This can benefit their progress rapidly.
*Companies can also cut down on their taxes by choosing the right BPO destination company.
*Hiring highly trained and skilled employees at lower rates can eventually increase a corporation's
productivity, then comes customer satisfactiom and more profits.
The economy today is very fast paced. It then drives businesses to give the best service possible
to be able to maintain its customers. But then they have to keep the rates low and affordable.
Outsourcing really helps businesses to be able to hang on to the growing competition. The said
advantages are all indications that outsourcing has a future ahead of it.
http://www.bizbrim.com/outsourcing/outsourcing-advantages.htm
Outsourcing - Lowering Costs
Nowadays business groups choose to outsource not because of using it as a strategy, but to
lower costs, a short-lived tactical measure.
According to a survey recently held by Gartner, which was conducted among 945 individuals in
regions such as America, Europe and Asia. It reported that, while strategies involving IT
Outsourcing can be included in a corporation's lasting success in the business, a number of
corporations around the world are still concentrating on tactical outsourcing as a very useful
means of cost reduction.
Still according to the survey, "controlling/reducing operating costs or improving efficiencies" was
described by over half of the respondents from each region as the principal advantage they
anticipated to get from IT outsourcing. Deals involving efficiency are centralizing on cost control
and, through time , cost reduction having the objective of consistency maintenance in service
delivery. It also said that only few organizations used IT outsourcing as a means on improving
business competitiveness.
Allie Young, research vice president for Gartner‘s sourcing research group, stated that "One of
the great clashes in the market today is driven by the dominant use of outsourcing to cut costs,
along with requirements for customised services."
"Only by foregoing customisation and moving to standardised services can the market effectively
and reliably deliver the cost efficiency goals," she adds.
"Achieve cost take-out" was said to be the main driver of outsourcing IT, having big time
companies more usually recognizing this driver than any other one. Others rated "achieve speed,
agility, flexibility" and "gain access to technical expertise and skills" as the top drivers accordingly.
This survey revealed various differences in some regions and vertical markets. Financial
services, government, process manufacturing, services, transportation and wholesale/retail
organisations all clasified cost take-out as the top driver of IT outsourcing.
Respondents in North America identified "improve IT service to end-users" as their leading driver.
Data security and privacy issues were the top two inhibitors to IT outsourcing while concerns
around the potentially high costs of outsourcing follows in.
Young also said that companies are now burdened with a growing concern regarding losing
control of their intellectual capital and their key employees' business knowledge having duties
threatened by outsourcing, especially the occurance of downsizing. These companies must check
out cautiously the objectives they are trying to attain from outsourcing. This can also help in
educating corporations regarding realistic outcomes.
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/0/1B6F41DD0F99B7DBCC2571450010B1C3?OpenDocume
nt
All About BPO
Today, a new word in the business world, called "BPO" is currently making a buzz. But what is
BPO anyway?
BPO, or business process outsourcing, is a process that occurs when a company turns over
some of its business processes (mostly back office operations) such as payable or purchasing
accounts to a third party that takes control of the activity.
BPO includes IT mangament and business operations such as Call centers, transaction
processing, back office operations, customer relationship services, payroll, accounting, billing etc.
BPO is considered the greatest contributor in the ourtsourcing world.
Outsourcing their back office work can allow companies to cut huge costs and focus more on
their core operations. They can also better the satisfaction they can give to their customers that
eventually may lead to assimilation of cutsomers, as productivity also increases. In short, more
profits.
Companies also cut nearly half of their operational expenses to countries in Asia such as India
and the Philippines, thus, resulting to larger profits. Undoubtedly outsourcing has gained
popularity, as a large number of companies have followed on because of the benefits outsourcing
has to offer.
For companies planning to take a major dive into BPO, you should construct plans which are
effective and this could be achieved by understanding your vision together with long term goals.
Choosing the appropriate BPO destination and of course the BPO vendor is considered essential
for running operations more smoothly and shall have good returns. Today, countries such as
India and the Philippines offer great deals as they are tagged as the top BPO destinations in the
world.
However, these are a few things that you need to consider in choosing your BPO destination.
These include: capacity of work; rates fixed of the service; term, conditions and termination rules;
performance guarantees; training costs; security, privacy, and continuity terms; and
indemnification and insurance.
If you consider having these things, it will ensure you that you get the most of outsourcing.
http://www.bizbrim.com/outsourcing/what-is-bpo.htm
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/outsourcing/story/0,10801,55557,00.html
http://www.bizbrim.com/outsourcing/bpo-companies.htm
Why Outsource?
Outsourcing, or in other terms, out-tasking, include delegating a probable amount of management
control to the corresponding supplier. Buying from another entity is not considered a form of
outsourcing or out-tasking, but rather a vendor relationship. Of course there are a lot of different
reasons why companies resort to outsourcing some of their operations nowadays.
The term "outsourcing" became more popular probably due to the increasing growth in the
number of highly developed technological companies based in the early 1990s that were said to
be often not that large enough to be able to easily carry on large customer service departments of
their own. In some cases these companies employed technical writers to break down the
handling instructions of their products, arrange the key points of information and contracted with
temporary employment agencies to find, train and then hire generally low-skilled workers to
answer their telephone technical support and customer service calls.
For some, outsourcing cuts or controls costs. This is because it is said to be the most important
strategic reason for outsourcing work. The access to a third party service provider's much lower
costs is one of the driving benefits of outsourcing work.
A survey once said that companies observed a 40% reduction of costs through outsourcing.
It is also said that a number of firms resort to outsourcing due to the fact that it increases the
quality of the product.
Some economists also claim that outsourcing somewhat innovates technology, like machines on
a car's assembly line. While outsourcing enables lower costs, the corporation benefits.
To meet the customer's needs, outsourcing firms must provide capacious excellent resources.
Pairing up with a corporation with excellent capabilities as well enables the firm access to new
technology, tools and techniques that it may not obtain; more methodologies; processes and
documentation;and competing benefits through extensive work.
http://www.intozone.com/why_whyout.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsourcing
Offshoring: Still Booming
The meaning of offshoring, or in other words, "Offshore Outsourcing", is quite simple. It can be
basically defined as the relocation of business processes (including production/manufacturing)
usually overseas, to a lower cost location. It involves companies contracting out their work with
other firms located in other countries, to perform a specific work that is normally performed in the
United States.
But what could be the driving force behind offshoring? Money. A firm contracts out with another
firm overseas, then comes a deluge of benefits. From producing and distributing their products,
the service provider gets these benefits. They can even provide the service for as low as $1 a
day. In addition to this, studies show that the outsourcing practice is gradually increasing. The
said practice is contrary to American workers, as it happens to decrease the United States'
employment rates, having those jobs held by foreign workers that would have been done by
American workers.
The internet is considered to be of big help, as it adds convenience in outsourcing. Indeed
technology has become more sophisticated and yet less expensive in most countries all over the
world, thus, resulting to globalization which then enables US firms to offshore jobs at lower rates,
rather than employing domestic workers. A part of this is also said to be a reason why offshoring
is having controversies all the time. A number of CEOs and employees foresee offshoring as
basically the next step in the world of IT(Information Technology). Others though, perceive
offshoring as a probable cause of unemployment. A number of them argues about whether those
jobs must be done overseas or not, just because it is a lot cheaper to do so.
Whether you are a pro or a con, offshoring still is undoubtedly gaining popularity. In order to
appreciate the phenomenon which offshoring has on jobs in America and the worldwide
economy, a good way is to get help from an outsourcing professional to eventually have more
information regarding the practice.
http://www.outsourcingconcerns.com/index.shtml http://www.outsourcingconcerns.com/offshore-
what.shtml http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Offshoring
CALL CENTERS TODAY: NEXT TO INDIA - CANADA or the PHILIPPINES?
Here are some key points involving the competitiveness of two great outsourcing nations
(probably just next to India) when it comes to Call Centers - Canada and the Philippines.
-In terms of rates, the Philippines has it over Canada. Because the nation has definitely low
money value, while the Canadian dollar is much closer to that of the US dollar.
-Culturewise, Canada has the edge, though Filipinos are also into Westernized culture. Though
we know that it is a bit uncertain because it depends on the client's location.
-Having an educational degree (probably 3-4 years) is definitely a prerequisite in the Philippines.
Canada, on the other hand, doesn't have those rules of earning such a degree, as they hire
workers in a call center right away.
-Flexibilty is a sure thing, as any offshore client can provide any company 24/7 services.
-Innovatively speaking, the word mainly relies on the growing complexity and the job description.
For example, a voice-natured process needs much more convincing talking.
Filipinos in call centers are now being backed up by adventurous Americans that establish
companies in the country. In Canada, however, it isn't much of a problem, as Canadians are
comparably equals with Americans, being veterans as well in the BPO business.
-When it comes to handling client communication, Canada has a gradually increasing posiiblity
compared to Filipinos, which are still in need of management from American people.
Generally speaking, it definitely depends on the client on whether they really provide good
services and what location they are comfortable to work with. It should be quality versus quantity.
http://www.sourcingmag.com/forum/showmessage.asp?messageID=118
OUTSOURCING IS BAD - MYTH or TRUTH?
Outsourcing, as seen nowadays, has been taken into consideration as a part of globalism's
blueprint; it has stayed in the business for a number of decades now.
As of now, economists are extensively and continously debating on the effects of outsourcing,
particularly in the US which the most powerful nation consider of major concern. Some claim that
it only benefits multinational corporations, which exports living wage employment.
The growing desire for cheap labor rates compels almost every possible job abroad. We also see
a decrease in power of the reality of wage purchasing. These are some of the reasons anti-
outsourcing groups continue to claim. Generally speaking, in the United States, quality is being
claimed to be more important than quantity.
Though, very contrary to those of the offshore locations are these claims. Others, especially
outsourcing firms, inevitably promotes the pratice, for further improvement of their operations as
well as better profit, not only theirs, but of their clients as well.
The trend is definitely being accepted by most business groups, as they had a handful of
success, outsourcing things from payrolls and so on.
Today is the era in which you are bountiful of IT resources. Each company is given the
oppoprtunity to get there and grab some ITs. And IT is a part of outsourcing, and vice versa. As
for business firms who do not join the outsourcing bandwagon, it would be inevitably costly less
jobs for offshore nations such as India, China and the Philippines. The practice of what should be
called "equal competitiveness" in the world could not be of concern for the most powerful and
most developed country in the world - the United States of America.
http://www.batr.org/reactionary/040306.html
http://americandaily.com/article/12798
IS OFFSHORING LIMITED? pt.1
The past decade was sought to have a technology development that was seen upon industries
and forged a lot of claims and some unexpected realizations for some Info Tech groups.
Professionals in the business were confronted with these demands for them to be able to work
effectively, improving and making products cheaper.
Having the opportunity to use technology nowadays is not considered to be an advantage
anymore for many, but rather a necessity for competitiveness. Today in the verge of this new
trend, cost cutting was an initiative.
And then comes the great idea known today as offshore outsourcing. Setting up work from the
US to uninterested workers other than working is now becoming more and more attainable.
However, this idea of going offshore is said to be not new. Business groups were going overseas
to supply workforce for projects, particularly large ones. But these days offshoring is being used
as a strategic plan, getting more and more accepted and is seen by many as a remedy to be able
to service with favorably low rates.
For years the United States has always been searching locations overseas, looking for much
lower labor rates, pioneering offshoring. With the threat ot IT advancing, the business is made to
be reluctant than ever. Offshoring work to different countries such as India, China or the
Philippines is not new. It does have foreseen advantages, cheaper labor being one. But,
however, the chances are not to be considered unimportant.
Here are some simple but not to be unconsidered issues regarding offshiore outsourcing:
-One thing is, offshore firms are located at the other side of the world. In other terms, the
offshorer and its clients have different locations. While their US counterparts are having
operations between 7am to 6pm, the offshorers are asleep. On the other hand, when the tech
manager is fast asleep, the offshorers are awake. It then results to problems in management
challenges.
-Another one would be communication. It has been a long time problem in order to be successful
in best times, having evreyone on an outsourcing team the same language spoken and culture.
This results to miscommunication, ideas are missed easily and so are the issues. Language
barriers casts additional risks.
-Resources in offshoring can be 75% much cheaper than stateside resources. However, offshore
work include costs found above and beyond houry rates discountedly.
Pt.2
-Teaming up makes work more efficient. Professionals have kwown this, definitely not making
producing more resources the answer. Though, when resources are not expensive, it may seem
that it is a logical solution. Thing is, offshorers are not that effective unlike the local teams which
are enabled to access to the whole staff.
-Almost all PC vendors nowadays have help desks when you drop them a call. And certainly you
wil get connected as soon as possible with a very pleasing and polite agent on the other side,
always willing to help solve your compains and problems. They are very much committed to get
all information regarding your claim, spending a handful of time talking to you on the phone, while
scanning through a script filled with the 50 most common issues for that concern or product. The
same applies with development, as it is for help desks. All aspects are different. Thus, offshoring
would be much more of an issue.
-If however, the said issues are put into proper management, all of those said reasons would be
non-issues. Realizationally speaking, the above mentioned creates mangament challenge. It is
challengig enough to be in the project management in the room next to it, mindless of what is
found all throughout the world.
Those business groups that went all over the world and particularly overseas to eventually go for
better, more effective technological standards later found out that it was more risky to do so, and
these risks define what the above mentioned, while having a much better means for managers in
improving their already developed stress levels.
The Reasons Behind.. Outsourcing
With the ongrowth of information technology emerges a very huge business trend which is
reportedly earning about a trillion dollars. And it is called OUTSOURCING.
The concept started to gain popularity back in the mid 1990's, as it was incorporated by business
groups as a very essential strategy in planning their operations. Outsourcing mainly involves
transferring or delegating of some of its non-core operations to an external third party service
provider which specializes in those operations.
The main reasons why business groups outsource? The very tactical reason of it all is to
reduce/cut costs, which eventually enables companies to concentrate on core competencies,
unrestraining some other activities. When companies outsource work they transfer access to its
service provider, thus, saving money.
As mentioned earlier, companies can now focus more on other activities, particularly voluminous
business issues. Outsourcing somewhat resurfaces the company's management over its
organization, helping the company to meet the needs of its customers, which results to the
company's accelerated growth.
These third service provider companies also can now share the same world class capabilities.
Another thing would also be sharing risks between the provider and the client. Companies who
outsource work tend to be more flexible and more productive, thus it makes work more easier. It
draws the company to be able to cope with the remodeling opportunties. We all know that the
environment surrounding outsourcing changes through time. And these changes make things far
more difficult. And they all owe it to outsourcing.
Every company has limited resources it can avail. What outsourcing does is that it expands these
resources (in the most important areas of the business) and then the client earns more.
Capital funds are also enabled by outsourcing for inside operations. And this improves the client's
capacity in financing.
We should also consider those companies expanding operations to other countries. With
outsourcing they get access
to the outside world.
This new market trend has indeed taken the world by storm. A great way to find money in the
bank.
Outsourcing: Who Should Outsource?
OUTSOURCING, as we all know today, is a very popular business trend, as this trend has taken
businesses into another level.
Outsourcing gradually involves delegation of some non core functions such as marketing and
sales, human resources, strategic planning etc. that can be done in house to an outside service
firm.
Outsourcing has been staying in the business world for a very long time now, even in small
business sectors such as law firms, security firms, payroll and employee oriented companies,
amd machine shops.
But now, especially these past few years, outsourcing has become a very strategic and viable
tool for businesses of all sorts and sizes, as large companies nowadays are looking forward to
outsource whenever possible, considering the fact that the worldwide economy continues to grow
more and more competitive.
Companies have done well using a variety of strategies coming from their array of intelligent staff.
Still, all of these strategies do not have sufficient capability in boosting the company's earnings.
Because of this, they resorted to outsourcing as they witnessed a large number of companies
earning a lot through outsourcing.
Outsourcing fills the gap for some of the company's weaknesses. It Outsource providers relieves
its clients of some other standard procedures, eventually cutting operating costs, letting them to
concentrate more on its core advantages that is essential for gaining success. By adding flexibility
to the company, outsourcing benefits businesses by altering or controlling the number of
resources used by a variable. These are only some of the reasons why companies outsource.
But then what are these companies which are likely to outsource? These includes:
-Companies who are poised for growth, but with insufficient knowledge in in-house operations to
make it far
- Entrepreneurial groups that are still small, but bears a huge presence in the world market
- Business executives seeking help for advice
- Firms who are currently having problems involving shortages in material, excessive resources or
those experiencing difficulty in meeting customer deliveries
-Corporations coming out of financial disasters or emrging from bankruptcy
-Business leaders wanting to know the reason why they are not earning or making profit or who
has insufficient funds
-Those entrepreneurs who are not thoroughly decided what product line suits them
-Companies who only manage to grow in a slow manner, and is having problems regarding
operations
When used effectively, outsourcing, as said earlier, can really be a very useful tool in running a
business and earning more faster and easier.
http://www.strategicsource.com/Outsourcing.htm
