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Philippine BPO Providers – Can It Satisfy Your Outsourcing Needs?
In almost all surveys, the Philippines is still ranked second or somewhere below India due to lower labor costs in the latter. The opposite however may become true in the future if attrition and wage inflation rates continue to go up in India.
If you’re a company intent on outsourcing some of your services to offshore BPO providers, you shouldn’t focus on finding an Indian BPO partner right away just because other companies are doing it. Instead of simply following the tide blindly, why not make an effort to seriously weigh other alternatives like the Philippines for instance?
TELECOMMUNICATION, INTERNET, AND ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
It is not uncommon in India to experience blackouts, communication and other electrical failures and malfunction even in the best parts of the city. The frequency of such incidents can ultimately become a huge burden for companies who have contracted Indian BPO providers to handle their outsourcing needs. If this happens all the time, efficiency and quality of customer response provided by the company will certainly be negatively affected.
Thankfully, however, this is not a problem in the Philippines. In Manila, it’s quite rare for companies to encounter telecommunication, Internet, and electrical trouble. And in the event that it does suffer from such problems, generators and company service teams are able to provide immediate solutions.
QUALITY OF THE LABOR POOL
Quality of labor pool depends on the following characteristics: education, fluency and proficiency in speaking English, and essential skills and abilities dependent on the type of job they’re handling.
In the English front, Filipinos rarely have problems as the English language is used by side with Filipino, their other official language. English, in fact, plays a huge role in society. People who are able to speak English well are generally held in high regard so most Filipinos personally strive to be fluent in English. The ability to speak English is also associated with better job opportunities.
In terms of education, having a college degree is an aspiration shared by Filipinos in general. As such, BPO providers would encounter little trouble in finding applicants who can match their educational requirements. In recent years, more and more Filipinos are also opting to obtain advanced or second degrees to improve their career standing.
A TALENT FOR PROVIDING CUSTOMER SERVICE
Any and all descriptions of the Filipino race in general will always include the adjective “hospitable”. Indeed, Filipinos are proud of their ability and to make guests and visitors feel welcome and comfortable even if it’s at their expense. This innate willingness to become hospitable will prove to be the underlying factor that makes Filipino BPO providers ideal for handling outsourced customer service and support functions of US companies.
Secondly, Filipinos are naturally averse to altercations, verbal or otherwise. The Philippines, for instance, is the only country that’s able to topple off a dictatorial regime through a revolution empowered by flowers and rosaries. Their natural dislike for disharmony is another trait that makes them ideal to handle customer service responsibilities. BPO providers employing Filipinos will consequently be able to handle outsourced customer service functions more effectively and efficiently than BPO providers situated in other countries.
Thirdly, the lifestyle of Filipinos is largely influenced by their Catholic beliefs. The Philippines is the only nation in Asia that’s predominantly Catholic and this can be observed in various aspects of Philippine culture. Their Catholic beliefs inevitably influence their work ethics but in a positive way of course. Because of it, Philippine BPO providers are more in a position to offer a promise of fair and just treatment of all clients and customers.
LOWER BUSINESS RISKS
Although the Philippines always ends up with low rankings in surveys that rank countries according to their level of business risk, a deeper study of the overall business environment of the Philippines will ultimately show that it’s not as worse off as the whole world believes.
A survey conducted by AT Kearney revealed that the Philippines has the second highest country risk together with Russia and Indonesia. And yet, upon review of past events that has haunted the Philippines, nothing had happened in recent times that could match the tragedy in terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq, the nightclub horror in Indonesia, or the hostage crisis in Russia. In fact, all the Philippines need is a serious image makeover to get rid of its negative impressions.
As such, general rumors about the risks of doing business in the Philippines should be discounted. Combined with the superior quality of its labor pool, attractively low wage requirements, excellent telecommunication, Internet, and electrical infrastructure, minimal real estate location costs, isn’t it obvious that the Philippines can be the ideal BPO provider?
