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The Remarkable Boom of BPO Firms in the Philippines
The Philippines has experienced a remarkable development in the field of Business Process Outsourcing or BPO. The sudden explosion of BPO firms in the country was induced by the sudden increase in demand for offshore call centers by the turn of the century. Currently, BPO firms are generating at least $1.12 billion worth of revenues, which is an astonishing increase from $24 million back in the year 2000. Experts predict that by the year 2010, present figures would further boom to about $13 billion due to the constantly growing demand for the services of BPO firms in the Philippines.
The Philippines BPO Landscape
BPO activities in the Philippines primarily involve firms that offer call center services, animation, software development and medical transcription plus other shared services. The BPO industry in the country is primarily occupied by call center service providing firms which contribute the largest bulk of the Philippine’s BPO economy. But this does not to underestimate the growing activity of firms providing finance, accounting, human resource, and information technology services.
BPO firms have not only established their operations in Manila, the capital city, but they have spread all over the nation as well in cities like Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Bacolod, Cebu, Dumaguete, Dagupan, and Baguio. The Philippines is currently among the top-10 choices as a BPO offshore site according to them Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions or CITEM. The Philippines also prides in housing the most accredited accountants in Asia.
According to recent surveys, the Philippines has already bumped India off its number spot as a choice for BPO operations by American companies. According to the study, BPO firms operating in the Philippines have a great advantage over those in the US mainly due to the cheap labor costs. The minimum wage in the Philippines is just about $7 a day, which is practically what a typical American worker earns every hour. Filipino workers are also better educated as they are mostly college graduates. Many companies also prefer workers in Philippine BPO firms over those in Indian companies, especially with customer care and interaction because of the greater Familiarity of Filipinos to American culture combined with their inherently compassionate personalities.
Major Services Provided by BPO Firms in the Philippines:
1. Call Center Services – The Philippines is India’s strongest competitor when it comes to the call center industry of BPO. Being a former colony of the USA, the Philippines education system is quite similar to that of the American education where English is the primary mode of instruction and the diction and pronunciation is based on the American style. As a result, the Philippine English is quite neutral and clear-sounding, if not American sounding, which is often the preference of US clients. On the other hand, English in India is quite heavily accented as it combines the British accent and the very tough-sounding Indian inflection. So while the technical expertise in India is relatively higher than in the Philippines, many international companies prefer to avail the services of BPO firms employing Filipinos.
2. Medical Transcription Services – recent developments in American healthcare have created the need for highly modernized medical reports, chart notes, operative reports, discharge summaries, and rehabilitation notes. This instigated the need to outsource the medical community’s transcription requirements. Instead of devoting valued time and resources doing paperwork, American hospitals and health care providers have delegated transcription jobs to offshore BPO firms, such as those in the Philippines.
3. Accounting and Finance Services – The Philippines has also become highly recognized as a global center for outsourced corporate backroom operations particularly for bookkeeping, accounting, payroll processing, financial analysis, account maintenance, tax reporting, inventory control, and other related functions. Once more, the great advantage in the Philippines is the good English proficiency combined with cheap labor costs, making it one of the leading choices for financial BPO operations of many multinational firms.
4. Animation – being known to have a highly artistic culture, the animation industry in the Philippines has also been recognized by many of the leading players in the entertainment, advertising and computer gaming industries. Renowned animation giants have already delegated a great bulk of their animation projects to BPO firms in the Philippines in their production of many animated motion pictures, 2D and 3D computer games, and animated TV shows.
The great surge of BPO firms in the Philippines is indeed a very astonishing occurrence that has affected not only the local economy but the global scene as well. With the ongoing developments in BPO operations in the country, there is not telling how far the industry would go in the future.
