A 2016 report has confirmed that the Philippines has dislodged India as the frontrunner in terms of the voice business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
This was bared by Belinda C. Torres, president of JoBS eSolutions, Inc. who identified the survey conducted by consultancy firm Tholons dubbed, “Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations” which was published by Oxford Business Group in 2016 on their online platform.
“It is a survey conducted by a certain consultancy group wherein they will evaluate the outsourcing companies worldwide and Philippines in terms of voice remains number one, in terms of outsourcing destination, Manila is number 2, I think, number 8 or 7 ang Cebu, and Davao is number 66,” she said.
In the country, BPO industry consists of 80 percent voice and 20 percent non-voice.
Eric Manalastas, president of Next BPO Solutions, Inc. said in terms of first touch customer support, foreign clients “would rather want to talk to the Philippines”.
“They (India) used to be number one because of the volume that they have but at the moment, when somebody talks from the US or Europe, to pick up the phone and dial customer support, that would probably be routed in the Philippines,” he said.
Manalastas added, aside from India, Philippines has also surpassed other countries with BPO industries Russia, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, and some in Latin America.
Davao City as center of excellence
As Davao lands on the 66th spot of Tholons’ “Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations”, Torres said it means the city is now doing very well considering it stands third in the list after Manila and Cebu.
“We’re now a ‘center of excellence’. We’re no longer the ‘next wave city’ but we’re now a center of excellence,” she said.
In 2016, the Information-Communication Technology-Davao, a nongovernment organization turned over to the city government the Center for Excellence Award for Information Technology-Business Process Management operations.
The city now stands as excellence hub for information technology and business process outsourcing alongside Manila, Cebu, Clark, Iloilo, and Bacolod.
Prior to the excellence award, Davao was named one of the “Next Wave Cities” which were assessed based on big talent pool, presence of infrastructures, good business environment, and cost competitiveness.
According to Torres, with the city being declared as a center of excellence, ICT companies now enjoy the benefits offered by Bureau of Investments (BOI) and the city investment office in terms of tax incentives and PEZA accreditation.
Despite these developments, both Manalastas and Torres believe Davao City’s BPO industry must gear up towards responding to the demands of competent workers in the near future.
“Based on the BPO Roadmap 2022, the projection on the demand for talents will double,” she said.
As of 2016, there are 35,000 BPO workers in Davao City.
