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BPO to continue driving demand for office space

By Kris Crismundo, Philippine News Agency | Published on CanadianInquirer.net

MANILA - The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is seen to continue driving demand for office space this year, top executive of property consultancy firm Santos Knight Frank said Tuesday.

“The Philippine BPO sector will continue to thrive in the coming years,” Santos Knight Frank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Santos said in a media briefing.

“The country provides a conducive environment for foreign investors – an excellent pool of low-cost skilled labor, outstanding customer service, a quality destination, and one of the cheapest rental rates and highest yields in Asia,” Santos added.

He also said that with uncertainties in policies due to the tax reform program of the government, industry players would remain vigilant for changes that could impact negatively their business.

But he noted that nevertheless, BPO companies remained attracted to the Philippines as their investment destination with its young and competitive talents in the industry.

Santos Knight Frank Senior Director for Occupier Services and Commercial Agency Morgan McGilvray said that office take-up in 2017 increased by 25 percent to 675,000 square meters compared to net absorption in 2016.

On the supply side, McGilvray said about 1.4 million square meters of leasable space in the office market was expected to be added this year.

About 40 percent of these leasable office spaces will be in the Fort Bonifacio area.

He added that approvals of IT parks and centers by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) are also expected to pick-up this year.

On the other hand, lease rates in the office market have been increasing by an average of 5 to 6 percent annually since 2010.

McGilvray noted this trend as a sign of robust demand in office space.

With the continuous demand for office space this year, demand for retail space is also expected.

Retail take up last year was stable with most of the available spaces had been already pre-committed.

“Consumption expenditure is mainly driven by food and beverages and clothing try,” he added.

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The Ultimate List of Outsourcing Statistics

By Dianne Carillo | Published on Customer Think 

There are various reasons why businesses opt to outsource in the dynamic landscape of their respective industries.

According to Deloitte’s Global Outsourcing Survey in 2016, the most common reason companies outsource is because they see it as a cost-cutting tool. Other reasons for such move include improving service quality, managing the business environment, and gaining access to intellectual capital.

By bringing some of your functions to an outsourced team, you’ll be able to focus your efforts on your core tasks—allowing you to enhance the overall process and function of your business. In terms of industry, IT-BPO leads the way because of the need in the current times.

In the age of social media, mobile, analytics, and technology, the information and communication industry need the extra boost in manpower to be a business that listens to their customer’s wants and needs.

Moreover, outsourcing is a popular choice for various industries because it obviously brings in the revenue. In 2015, the global market value of outsourcing is at 88.9 billion—concretely doubling since its early days in 2000. However, the global market value experienced a tiny dip in 2016.

Outsourcing is also gearing up for the future. Topics like automation are being incorporated in the business trend to slowly adapt to this innovation. However, automation should still be observed that’s why new jobs that require human skills are being created.

Surely, outsourcing will continue to grow in the years to come. It still has expansions awaiting to be discovered soon by these industries. This is a guaranteed situation because of the current highly competitive outsourcing global market. New countries such as the Philippines, Canada, Chile, Brazil, and Israel also emerge as top outsourcing destinations.

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BPO tops active job vacancies at PhilJobNet

Published on Pia.gov.ph

MANILA, Jan. 18 – Employment opportunities in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry remains at the leading spot in the top vacancies at the PhilJobNet, the internet-based job and applicant matching portal of the Department of Labor and Employment.

With 6,120 active job vacancies posted for the week, a total of 1,029 available positions are for call center agents as reported by the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), the agency that maintains the centralized database of PhilJobNet.

The other vacancies in the online portal include cashier with 560; service crew with 525; janitor with 380; salesman with 358; customer service assistant with 354; heavy equipment operator with 303; food service dispatcher with 297; market salesperson with 218; and staff nurse with 214.

Other posted vacancies are cook with 201; credit/collection officer with 201; mason with 200; cash collector with 200; electromechanical technician with 198; finishing carpenter with 189; sales clerk with 178; administrative assistant with 168; and supervising management specialist with 160.

Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III encouraged the public to make full use of the PhilJobNet’s enhanced services as it fast tracks the jobseekers' search for jobs and the employer’s search for workers. (DOLE/ADeVega)

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BPO voice sector remains competitive

By Jennie P. Arado | Published on Sunstar Davao

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Davao said the business process outsourcing (BPO) will continue to be competitive in the voice services sector.

In an interview with ICT Davao president attorney Samuel Matunog, he said that they plan to further develop the services that the BPO in the Philippines is noted to be good at.

“Worldwide, we are leading with voice services. We are competing against China and India. We are competing against everyone else in the world. And we are hands down leading in that area…Our focus now is to always ensure that we will be competitive in voice. We will have to be competitive. But my suggestion is that we pay attention to where we are strong,” said Matunog.

He said it would be a better direction to focus on something the country is good at and to better the services the sector can provide. In the coming years, Matunog said the direction of the BPO industry should steer towards maintaining the lead in the voice services sector.

When asked how this will affect the talents untapped for non-voice sector of the BPO industry, Matunog said the non-voice is currently growing and keeping up however it is more difficult to locate them compared to center-based BPO industries. He said there are more non-voice that are employed home-based or are freelancers.

“[Non-voice] is one of our fastest-growing segments in our districts [such as] our freelancers who are online workers and many of them are into content development. The only thing is it’s very hard to find them,” he said.

Matunog continued saying that the current trend in the BPO employment when it comes to human resources is the deployment of people to work for specific fields that they have studied for. Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) and Tourism graduates are now being hired to do BPO jobs relating to content and account management of BPO works that would involve knowledge of the said field. The same trend is also being observed now for engineering graduates as well.

He said the better way to train fresh graduates with communicating and interacting in a virtual environment is to have them work in a BPO setting.

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Calling the Philippines: Hub for call center jobs sees fast change from tech

By Wendy Lee | October 28, 2017 | Published on San Francisco Chronicle

Rolando Cuartero checks on messages from his home office on a Saturday evening. Being able to work from home allows him to spend more time with his family.

MANILA — When Rolando Cuartero III spoke to American credit card customers for his job at a call center, he found it stressful — especially when callers insulted his nationality.

“You’re Filipino, I don’t want to talk to you,” some customers would say. “You know what, transfer me to somebody who speaks English,” others demanded. Sometimes the pressure was so great that he blew off steam by putting the phone on mute and shouting at the skies.

“You can’t really hang up on them,” Cuartero said.

The Philippines, where English is one of the national languages, is the largest destination for jobs at U.S. call centers. Last year, the market for outsourced customer service and other business services generated $22.9 billion in revenue and 1.15 million jobs in the Philippines, according to a report by the Oxford Business Group. Such work will soon become “the single largest contributor” to the country’s economy, the report projected.

Technology, from the plummeting cost of routing calls overseas to the efficient distribution of tasks by computer, has made this possible. If a slight accent doesn’t give a worker like Cuartero away, a customer can’t tell where the person answering the phone is sitting.

Yet automation also looms as a long-term threat to the outsourcing industry, boosting the productivity of U.S. workers and allowing robots to handle many tasks.

And the rise in the number of call center jobs has come at a cost. Manila has become even more congested as workers travel long distances to get into work. Graveyard shifts, set for peak calling hours in the United States, take a toll on family life.

Far from shifting jobs permanently away from the U.S. to places like the Philippines, advances in hardware, software and networking continue to roil the system by which work gets distributed around the globe.

One example: Workers such as Cuartero are using the same technology that enabled them to serve customers across the sea to now work from home and get jobs on the fly rather than working for one employer.

Cuartero quit his job handling calls for the credit card business and now gets assignments through San Francisco’s Upwork, which has built a network of freelancers around the world. Upwork said it has 2 million registered freelancers in the Philippines, including customer service representatives such as Cuartero, who now answers calls from his dining room table.

Rolando Cuartero checks on work-related messages. He and his wife are among Filipinos who work at call centers and other customer service jobs for U.S. companies.

A college dropout, Cuartero worked as a grocery bagger until he joined a call center. He says he typically earns about $814 a month — almost double what the average household earned in 2015, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

“I love talking to people,” said Cuartero, who grew up speaking English. “I had the mind-set when I was in high school that having a sensible conversation with people will give you information that will help you grow.”

The movement of call center jobs to the Philippines began roughly four years ago, according to Chris Tang, a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. India competed for the jobs, but over time it became more expensive to employ Indian call center workers because of high turnover rates and the cost to train new workers.

In the U.S., call center workers may earn $20 to $30 an hour. In the Philippines, Tang said, they earn around $2 an hour. The Philippines was once a U.S. territory, so its citizens are familiar with U.S. geography and trends, making it easier to talk to American customers.

“The Philippines is much more Americanized,” Tang said. “They understand the slang and culture.”

But Jasher Sutton, a former director of online booking site Hotels.com, said calls handled by representatives in the U.S. received higher customer satisfaction scores than those done by workers in the Philippines.

“You are paying a premium for that,” Sutton said of U.S. workers. Hotels.com was “willing to trade a little overseas” because it was cheaper than the U.S., he added.

Cuartero enjoys a Saturday evening out with friends and fellow workers, below, in a bar in Quezon City.

Hotels.com, a subsidary of Expedia Inc. in Bellevue, Wash., said it works with suppliers in the Philippines but declined to comment further.

Union officials and some members of Congress have pointed to overseas call centers as part of the reason that U.S. workers are losing their jobs.

Gloria Mendoza, a customer service representative for AT&T in Cerritos (Los Angeles County), said she’s concerned about workers in the Philippines who earn a fraction of her $18.57 hourly wage.

“It affects our job security,” Mendoza said.

Paul Butalid, a country manager in the Philippines for Atos, a company that provides IT help and other services to global businesses, said none of his U.S. corporate clients has asked him to transfer services outsourced to the Philippines back home because of President Trump’s emphasis on creating American jobs.

“If I can get the same kind of service from someone I am paying $1,000 a week to, versus someone I am paying $100 a week to, doesn’t it make sense (to go with) somebody I pay $100 a week to?” Butalid said.

Companies that use call center workers in the Philippines said the savings in wages gives them more flexibility to adjust staffing levels based on clients’ needs.

“Just in terms of cost and getting a lot of people fast, it was the best option at the time,” said Kaytlin Louton, a business operations manager at Redwood City repair company iCracked Inc. The company uses outsourcing firm TaskUs of Santa Monica to employ eight people in the Philippines who provide support for iCracked technicians.

She’s looking for the best person to handle the job, taking into account wages, their abilities, accent and other factors.

“I’m going to look not just in U.S., but also look globally for the best person,” Louton said.

Besides handling calls, workers in the Philippines provide other types of services, including helping companies abroad with marketing, flagging offensive posts online and serving as a virtual concierge. San Francisco’s Magic, for example, provides an on-demand personal assistant service, and has staff in the Philippines.

Many Filipinos work night shifts to sync with U.S. working hours. Typically, call center employees are given set times for breaks and must stow their smartphones in lockers before starting work. The salary of an entry-level worker can range from $582 to $679 a month and may be significantly higher than other jobs, like a public school teacher or a fast-food worker, according to Felipe Medalla, a monetary board member of the country’s central bank.

Bars open early for workers like 24-year-old Reggie Marie Sugalan, who gets a buzz from a bucket of San Miguel beers and a mouthful of beef sisig after coming off her 11 p.m.-to-8 a.m. call center shift.

“This is our dinner,” Sugalan said. “We sleep during the day and work at night. My body clock is already used to it.”

Regular patrons and BPO employees enjoy a game of beer pong in Central BBQ in Quezon City.

While the number of call center jobs in the Philippines is expected to rise, economists said it will be hard to maintain rapid growth as the market matures and automation grows. Also, there could be more competition from countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, said Aekapol Chongvilaivan, a country economist for the Philippines at Asian Development Bank.

Turnover rates at call centers are high, according to Medalla.

“It’s hard for people to be awake at night and sleeping during (the) daytime,” he said. “Some of them eventually say, ‘I want to do something else.’”

For Cuartero, Upwork enables him to work from home — allowing him to stay close to his son, who has a developmental disorder. He sets his own wages, and if companies choose to hire him through Upwork, the San Francisco firm takes 5 percent for long-term jobs. He has done jobs for a range of companies, including Palo Alto gardening service Ezhome.

Sabina Alistar, Ezhome’s director of global operations, says the company uses a combination of people and technology to meet customers’ needs.

“As our technology can support more of the basic customer service needs, we empower our staff to learn new skills that enable them to handle more complex situations, or shift into higher responsibility roles,” Alistar said in an email.

Bryce Maddock, CEO of TaskUs, said he expects that automation will have a big impact on the industry. But he plans to retrain his workers for other tasks. For example, if responses to customer emails become automated, employees could be trained to analyze data about trends in customer requests, he said.

Cuartero, 36, says he’s not worried about his job being taken over by a machine in the next three decades because he thinks it can’t replicate empathy or satisfy customers the way a human can. One night in May, Cuartero sat barefoot at his dining room table around 1 a.m, wearing a pink T-shirt and red shorts and defusing a situation in which a San Ramon customer was upset that a gardener did not come at the time requested.

“A machine cannot read between the lines,” Cuartero said.

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IT-BPO group cites PH as outsourcing hub

By Philippine News Agency on September 28, 2017

MANILA — The Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) has cited enabling conditions in the country that makes it a competitive destination for outsourcing services.

In a press conference Wednesday, IBPAP Board of Trustees chairman Lito Tayag said the IT-BPO sector continues to thrive in the country with the enabling conditions here such as the availability of talents, infrastructure ecosystem, and stable regulation and statutory requirements.

Tayag said these enabling conditions should be sustained by the stakeholders — government, the private sector, and the academe — to maintain the country’s competitiveness as outsourcing hub and to continue attracting investments and create jobs.

“As we move along, regardless whatever happens along the way, it is imperative for us to maintain these enabling conditions and ensure that they are there,” he said.

“Therefore, it is also important for us to continue to collaborate with all the sector stakeholders and our government in particular, in order for us to maintain these, in order for us to achieve and realize these aspirations for growth in the next six years,” he added.

Moreover, IBPAP president Rey Untal mentioned that security concerns in the country, particularly in Mindanao, are contributing to the headwinds that the IT-BPO sector is currently dealing with.

Untal added the group hopes that these concerns will be addressed by government and that martial law in Mindanao be lifted soon.

Meanwhile, the IBPAP and the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) will be holding the 9th International IT-BPM Summit on Nov. 7 at the Makati Shangri-La.

With the theme “PH DNA: Human Tech”, the conference aims to give insights on the future of jobs in the IT-BPO sector as the industry moves toward artificial intelligence.

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Digital innovations and Philippine outsourcing

By Wilma C. Inventor-Miranda | Published on Business Mirror

IN the recent Tholons Services Globalization Index 2017 released June 28, the top 100 cities and top 50 nations in terms of service globalization have a digital transformation, innovation, and start-up ecosystems as key components.

The Philippines is among the biggest leaders together with India, East Europe, China and Latin America. However, there are new entrants, like Canada, Chile, and  Ireland, with Poland and Vietnam, threatening to become leaders. In fact, Manila, rated as among the top 5 super cities, has moved down from second to the fourth position. Cebu City is no longer in the top 10, having been eased out by São Paulo and Buenos Aires. This shows the aggressiveness of Latin American cities in terms of digital innovation, which is the prime gauge of Tholons, the leader in global outsourcing location rankings.

What are these digital innovations and transformations? I wrote in an earlier article about robotics and artificial intelligence gaining popularity. Aside from these, other digital forces adopted globally include social media, mobility, big data analytics, digital supply chains and digital trust, which are all the mounting great pressure on established industry players.

The Philippines and China, for instance, are facing big threats from Canada and Israel, while Latin American countries, like Chile and Brazil, are the innovators looking to grab the top positions.

In the Philippines, if we are not careful, we might not see ourselves among the top 5 super cities anymore. Countries like those in Latin America and Israel are investing a great deal in digital innovation. As digital innovation move with lightning speed, businesses cope up in various ways to deliver service to their customers and manage the workplace to meet client expectations. This is where the outsourcing service providers can come in. Philippine providers should move out from the goal of cost arbitrage (although it is important) to business transformation through digital innovation in offering service to clients.

There are businesses not capable of chasing technology but they have to keep up in order to meet clients expectations. So they look for third-party outsourcing providers to support them with technology enablers. Examples of enablers are cloud platform offerings enabling clients to offer cloud-based service delivery to their customers, the use of data analytics as an effective tool in formulating business decisions and strategies, offering end-to-end solutions with managed mobility services for expense management and order to delivery models.

According to an article, “Digital Innovation and Outsourcing”, written by Kevin Parikh many organizations lag behind due to the lack of in-house capabilities to take advantage of new technologies as the new technology tools and platforms go mainstream. As they move away from stopgap technology fixes to enterprise level transformation in their business processes, they will likely be looking more for third-party providers to support them in their goal of implementing digital innovation in their office.

Service providers in the Philippines should strengthen their capacity to meet the demands of the digital challenge. As clients cope with the challenge of the digital explosion of new technologies to serve their customers, service providers are also facing stiff competition in the market to keep their clients and attract more by enhancing their offerings with a clear focus on providing support for digital innovation.

According to the Tholons 2017 Service Globalization Index, there is an opportunity for growth from $2.4 trillion to $3.8 trillion by the accelerated transition of legacy businesses to digital that service providers should be aware of. A focus on digital innovation at enterprise level will give the new players an edge since they are not saddled with legacy and big transformational effort and cost. Manila, in order to regain its former rank or go notches higher as a super city, needs government support in order for providers to cope with the costs of digital transformation.

Furthermore, the Philippines should pave the way for new entrants who have the potential to engage in digital innovation, without being saddled with legacy and the cost of transformation compared to the existing players that already invested heavily in legacy or outdated computer systems. Development programs should be provided to enhance the skills of Filipino workers, to design or redesign processes, implement them, and are capable of running an automated environment.

The digital challenge that the global outsourcing is facing right now is overwhelming but presents a great opportunity enabling the country to retain its status as one of the top global destinations or move up the rankings even. It depends on how the Philippines handles it. By ably meeting the challenge, the outsourcing industry rises higher in the rankings, otherwise, we will see our ranking falling further down the list.

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Search on for 1st Mr. and Ms. BPO

By Robert Requintina | Published on Manila Bulletin

The country’s call center agents take centerstage as the inaugural search for Mr. and Ms. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) kicked off in Makati City on Monday.

“The first Mr. and Ms. BPO aims to promote excellence, leadership and camaraderie in the workplace. It will also empower the candidates to impart the right attitude at work and the drive to help in nation-building,” said Norman Tinio, one of the spokespersons for the contest, during a press conference held at a hotel in the city.

Tinio said the inaugural search is now accepting applicants. Interested parties must be 18 to 26 years old, single, Filipino citizen or with Filipino ancestry, at least 5’4” tall for female and 5’6” tall for male.

They must also have proportionate physique, possess pleasing personalities, and with good moral character, he added.

To register and join Mr. and Ms. BPO, check out the official website (www.mrandmsbpo.com) and download the application form. For more details, follow the event’s social media accounts on Facebook (MrandMsBPOofficial), Instagram (mrandmsbpoofficial), Twitter (MrandMsBPO) and Youtube (MrandMsBPO).

The first contact center was established in the Philippines in 1992.

After almost two decades, the Philippines was declared the world’s BPO capital. Last year, it was projected to have generated 1.3 million new jobs with a 17 percent growth.

The grand finals of the Mr. and Ms. BPO will be held at a mall in Pasay on November 21.

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BPO tops job vacancy list at PhilJobNet - DOLE

Published on PIA (Philippine Information Agency)

MANILA, August 24 (PIA) – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported that business process outsourcing (BPO) was listed on the Top 20 Job Vacancies at PhilJobNet, an Internet-based job applicant matching portal.

According to the Bureau of Local Employment of DOLE, the BPO service posted a total of 8,588 vacant jobs wherein more than half or 4,487 vacant positions are for call center agents.

Other jobs posted online are Staff Nurse with 545 vacant positions; Specialized Nurse – 400; Line Installer – 400; Customer Service Assistant – 321; Food Server – 300; Cashier – 281; Waitress – 250; Sales Clerk – 215; and Stall Salesperson with 200 vacant jobs listed.

Other vacant positions include Private Housekeeper with 170; Building Construction Engineer with 140; Accounting Staff – 133; Bagger – 120; Financial/Accounts Specialists with 111; Domestic Helper – 110; Food Attendant – 105; Sales Manager with 100; Secondary Technical Education Teacher – 100; and Building Caretaker with 100 vacant jobs listed.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III encouraged the public to use the services of PhilJobNet.

Meanwhile, some 2,014 accredited employers recently registered or listed their vacant jobs at PhilJobNet while a total of 30,936 were registered as job seekers.

PhilJobNet is an internet-based job and applicant matching system which aims to fast track job seekers search for jobs and employers search for manpower.  

For more information, visit PhilJobNet website at http://philjobnet.gov.ph/. (DOLE/RJB/JEG/PIA-NCR)

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NEXT BPO SOLUTIONS Announces Global Partnership With CAROLINA WHOLESALE GROUP

Davao City, Philippines, March 2017 – Next BPO Solutions, Inc has combined forces with Carolina Wholesale Group (CWG) to grow its BPO Solutions Network. This new alliance will allow Next BPO Solutions, Inc to tap, not only into the financial resources of CWG but also the wide network of relationships in the USA and other parts of the world. This new affiliation also makes available another 2 facilities: Manila and Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. These additional facilities enable Next BPO to hire and deploy personnel in the National Capital Region as well as on the east coast of the USA.

Carolina Wholesale Group is the parent company of Arlington Industries, Carolina Wholesale, Digitek Imaging Products, Monroe Systems for Business, Smoltz Distributing, and most recently, Eiger Support Systems (Manila, Philippines). Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, CWG has been providing products and service to customers since 1972.

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Growth in BPO jobs ‘shows no sign of slowing down’

Published in the SunStar Cebu newspaper on August 14, 2017.

BUSINESS process outsourcing (BPO) continued to generate the most number of new jobs in Cebu and the sector shows no sign of slowing down in the next quarter, according to online jobs board JobStreet Philippines.

Of the 3,000 Cebu-based jobs listed in JobStreet from January to March this year, BPO-related jobs accounted for 35 percent, equivalent to at least 1,000 jobs.

“The outlook is very positive. We expect this to continue in the next quarters,” said JobStreet Philippines marketing manager Eileen Camarillo-Go, amid speculations the BPO industry would slow down while US-based investors await details on the outsourcing policies of the Trump administration.

In terms of job listings in JobStreet for the entire country, BPO jobs also continued to dominate. US President Donald Trump’s anti-outsourcing pronouncements “didn’t reflect on the BPO jobs and we haven’t felt any effect yet. When we talked to our partners in the BPO industry, we saw that it’s not going to happen soon,” said Go.

Based on the JobStreet Cebu Jobs and Salary Report, 47 percent of the jobs for fresh graduates belonged to the BPO sector, primarily in customer service, IT/software, and education specialist positions. Retail jobs, at seven percent, accounted for the second largest group in Cebu, followed by manufacturing (six percent) and food and beverage (three percent).

In terms of pay for fresh graduates or those with less than one year’s experience, education specialists, largely hired by outsourcing firms, were paid the highest, averaging P24,375. This was followed by training and development with P22,859; journalism with P21,095; health care with P20,307; and advertising and media planning with P19,069. In the junior executive level or those with one to four years’ experience, specializes in Information Technology (IT) were said to be the best-paid employees, with P31,262 as the average monthly pay. Bankers came in second with P30,415; training and development, with P27,197; public relations and communications, with P27,125; and journalists/editors, with P24,600.

At the supervisory level or those with five to 10 years’ experience, IT topped the rank in terms of salary, with an average of P51,621. The highest paid managers were those in corporate strategy, paid P139,163 on average per month. Those in the property and real estate sector receive, on average, P81,625 in monthly take-home pay. IT managers were paid P68,255 per month, on average.

The report also showed that majority of the new hires in Cebu graduated from the University of Cebu, Cebu Institute of Technology University, and the University of San Carlos. (JOG)

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Web-based recruitment in PHL grew 6% in June

By Roderick Abad | Published on Business Mirror

HIRING activities on the web grew in the Philippines by 6 percent in June 2017 from the same period last year on the back of the strength of growth industries that continue to propel the country’s economy.

The results showed the sixth positive annual growth for the country since January of this year. Compared to a total of 97 job listings in June 2016, last month had 103.

“The Philippines has been on an upward economic trend for some time now, and this doesn’t look likely to slow down. In fact, Moody’s Investor rating has suggested a positive economic performance in the months ahead, thanks to the nation’s robust private consumption, as well as the healthy BPO [business-process outsourcing] sector,” said Sanjay Modi, managing director of Monster.com–Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

“Manufacturing, BPO and agricultural sectors are likely to be the key driving forces behind the Philippines’s booming economy, in line with the country’s national reform plans,” he added.

Based on the latest report of Monster Employment Index (MEI), there’s no stopping the BPO and information technology-enabled services (BPO/ITES) sector as the top employment provider for the month of June this year, with 132 job placements online, or 18 percent higher than 112 in the same period in 2016.

This is 12 percent lower, however, than the 30 percent YOY increase in this sector reported in May.

There are currently 1.2 million people employed in the BPO sector. As per the Information Technology-Business Process Association of the Philippines (IT-BPAP) Roadmap 2022 report, their number is expected to grow further to 1.8 million in the next five years.

Still in the second slot for the top growth industries, logistics, courier, freight, transportation, import, export, and shipping rose by 15 percent, from 111 to 128.

This was followed by retail, up 13 percent, from 120 to 135; banking, financial services, and insurance, or BFSI, up 8 percent, from 113 to 122. Hospitality came in at the fifth spot, with a hike of 5 percent, from 103 to 108.

Consumer goods/fast-moving consumer goods, food and packaged food, home appliance, garments/textiles/leather, gems and jewelry continued to belong to the sectors with snail-paced growth at 2 percent only, from 84 to 86; and production/manufacturing, automotive and ancillary, up 1 percent, from 88 to 89.

Registering negative 1-percent growth were advertising, market research, public relations, media, and entertainment, from 110 to 109; as well as health care, from 96 to 95. The engineering, construction and real-estate sector recorded the sharpest fall at -9 percent, from 89 to 81.

As regards the occupational groups monitored by the index, customer service talents continued to be in-demand as they led in online hiring, from 115 to 145, or 26-percent YOY growth.

While posting only a slight growth of 1 percent, sales and business developments (from 100 to 101), as well as software, hardware and telecom (from 113 to 114) remained on the lookout for new recruits.

Less in-demand jobs were health care, -2 percent, from 95 to 93; hospitality and travel, -2 percent, from 84 to 82; marketing and communications, -3 percent, from 118 to 115; engineering, production and real estate, -6 percent, from 87 to 82; and human resources and admin, -13 percent, from 111 to 97.

The MEI is a monthly gauge of online job-posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career web sites and online job listings across the nation.

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Defending the PHL outsourcing industry

By BusinessMirror Editorial

The Philippines started attracting business-process outsourcing (BPO) companies more than two decades ago. With our cost-competitive work force and infrastructure, a positive business environment that supports 24/7 operations, a large pool of English-speaking, college-educated workers, effective government incentives and a service-focused culture, the country managed to become a preferred investment destination for global BPO firms. Since then, the BPO industry’s growth has been unstoppable.

Lately, however, industry analysts warned that the country’s outsourcing empire is facing mounting risks. They said China is rising quickly as a competitor. With the government’s intention to cut incentives, it is important to look back and see how our BPO industry managed to attain rapid growth. Before the Philippines became a global player, Indian outsourcing reigned supreme. However, with our English proficiency, accent neutrality, comparable costs and government backing, our BPO industry gained significant ground at India’s expense.

Last year the industry generated $23 billion in revenues and provided direct employment to 1.15 million Filipinos. Amid the jitters caused by US President Donald J. Trump’s “America First” policy, particularly his avowed intention to bring BPO jobs back to America, major American players didn’t blink and stayed on our shores. Analysts said they do not expect a large number of BPO jobs to leave the Philippines given the significant wage differential between the two countries. In a recent report, Glassdoor, a jobs and recruiting site based in the US, said the hourly wage for a call-center agent in the Philippines is around $2, while the hourly wage of a call-center agent in the US is at $10.50.

The BPO industry is expected to remain as the country’s biggest source of private jobs. And we can’t overemphasize the industry’s importance for the country’s dollar supply, especially now that pundits are saying the Philippines might slip into a current-account deficit this year—the first in 15 years. Thus, the risks of a slowdown in our BPO industry, coupled with faltering remittances and higher trade deficits, may exacerbate the weakness in the peso, which is being dubbed Asia’s worst-performing currency this year.

We have to defend our BPO industry by putting our act together. As the head of the Philippine association of outsourcing companies said, other countries know how big this business process outsourcing pie is globally, and they want to increase their share. Government support would help ensure the health of our BPO industry. Instead of setting up infrastructure and operational roadblocks, the government must provide support for expansion, training and technological upgrade.

In a recent report, advisory firm Tholons warned that our reign as top BPO destination is now under threat, with China ranked ahead of the Philippines in terms of competitiveness. This should serve as a wake-up call for us. We have to remember that the countries that compete with us in this industry are enhancing all the parameters that make them competitive—talent, infrastructure, and incentives.

Bloomberg recently reported: “In recent years, China has built state-of-the-art technology parks and funded universities to offer courses specifically on outsourcing. China is targeting $100 billion of outsourcing revenue by 2020, focusing on digital, high-technology services, according to a plan by the Ministry of Commerce.” This, indeed, is an alarming report, which should jolt us to our senses. We need to defend our BPO industry from emerging global competitors. We do not want to wake up one day to discover that a neighboring country is eating all our BPO pie.

[bpoguy-blog]

Engaging the BPO Industry

By Raymund E. Liboro (Chairman, National Privacy Commission) Published on Manila Bulletin (August 3, 2017)

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending Data Privacy Asia 2017 at the Makati Shangri-LA. Hosted by the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), it is the first large-scale global event on data privacy to be held in the Philippines, gathering experts from across the globe to talk about data privacy and security, particularly as it relates to the business process outsourcing industry.

The BPO industry makes data Privacy in the Philippines quite unique. Not only do we have 105 million Filipinos to protect; we have an entire industry that has been a pillar of our emerging economy, and that needs our protection and support as well. As the BPO industry maintains its contributions to the economy and gains greater momentum, so do the risks to the personal information they process increase, and so does the potential for loss in consumer confidence and trust grow. In other words, the stakes are higher now because the potential for harm is exponentially greater.

This is among the reasons why the Data Protection Act is so important: The existence of a law clearly defines the responsibilities of entities such as BPOs in ensuring the protection of personal data. This is clearly beneficial, as it minimizes the potential for finger-pointing in the case of a data breach, and it allows industry players to plan and institute processes, assured that there is a clear structure that must be followed in the form of a law.

I reminded our BPO partners of what I see as one of the primary roles of the National Privacy Commission: To empower them so they may fully comply with the law. Of course, it goes without saying—and I believe that I was able to emphasize this during the gathering—that BPO’s are not exempt from the law. As I said then: While we at the NPC are always eager to build consensus with our partners from the private sector, the law will always be the bedrock of our engagement. Persisting in finding ways to skirt compliance will only open the potential for liabilities. Even if, for some reason, you find yourself discovering some loophole or technicality, no business entity will ever be exempt from the justice meted out by consumers. Every company, after all, is in the business of trust. Lose the trust of the public, and you lose business.

I was also glad for the opportunity to update the industry on the efforts of the NPC over the past year or so since our inception. Adhering to our goal of building a culture of privacy in the country, the NPC has built policy foundations, forged partnerships, and created platforms for greater awareness.

Our efforts to engage the public have borne promising, initial fruit. Data privacy consciousness—particularly about the rights of data subjects, and data protection do’s and don’ts, for example—is steadily entering the mainstream consciousness of the public.

People are now engaging in discourse, especially when they believe their rights are being violated. In a loudly democratic, social-media crazy country such as ours, this is a sight to behold for us in the NPC, who have worked long and hard to get people knowledgeable, and talking, about data privacy.

[bpoguy-blog]

BPO sector steps up efforts to attract more investments, improve performance

By Roy Stephen C. Canivel | Published on Inquirer.net

The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) plans to do mid-year reviews of the industry starting next year, evaluating industry players’ performance in terms of revenue and head count.

This is expected to allow the industry a chance to “self-correct” if needed, IBPAP president and CEO Rey Untal said.

Untal told reporters that this would be a departure from the current practice of conducting a review at the end of the year.

He said there was a need “to become smart and practical” amid unpredictable developments.

“What we have right now is a yearly reckoning. That’s one of the things I’m trying to work out. Let’s have a middle of the year assessment. We shouldn’t learn about how we did revenue-wise and headcount-wise when the year is almost over,” he said.

This initiative comes as new investment infusions into the IT-BPM industry have been slow, with investment pledges registered in seven investment promotion agencies in the first quarter, dropping 34 percent to P4.18 billion from P6.34 billion in the same period last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Untal has attributed this decline “to a certain extent to not what’s happening now but what’s happened before,” citing President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-western rhetoric last year as an example.

“In our job, there is a performance evaluation. You need a performance evaluation that is more frequent. We need to understand that the industry is very big. To gather these numbers takes some effort,” he added.

A more frequent review would help show if the industry is on track to reach its targets, especially amid proposals in the administration’s comprehensive tax reform program which would remove some of the perks that make the local industry competitive in terms of costs.

The IT-BPM industry, seen as one of the pillars of the modern economy, targets to hit $38.9 billion in revenue in 2022 after reaching $22.9 billion last year. It is also considered the largest private sector employer, currently with 1.15 million direct employees. The workforce is expected to reach 1.8 million in 2022.

Moreover, Untal said IBPAP was in the middle of a “country branding exercise” in a bid to attract more investments into the Philippines, which is currently the third most attractive business process outsourcing destination in the world, although it previously ranked second to India.

He said IBPAP did a trade mission in Australia and Japan in May. There would be another trade mission, he said, in Canada in the latter part of the year.

[bpoguy-blog]

Davao Inter-BPO volleyfest set

By Adam B. Morrell | Published on Sunstar.com.ph

PREPARATIONS shift to high gear for the staging of the Davao Inter-BPO League (DIBL) Volleyball Competition slated in September at the Almendras Gym Davao City Recreation Center.

DIBL commissioner Mark de Guzman, in an interview with Sun.Star Davao, said the volleyfest sanctioned by the Balibolista de Dabaw will feature 10 Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) teams including Alorica, Sutherland, Conectys, Next BPO Solutions, Convergys, Teleperformance, Ibex Global, Offsourcing Philippines Iqor and VXI. Categories entered are men's volleyball and women's volleyball. De Guzman, however, said that there are 10 teams that will compete in the men's competition while four teams will be seeing action in the women's event.

"We are working at it (league). Okay naman, so far. Slowly but surely, Inaayos nalang ang rules and regulations," said De Gumzan who also sought for sponsors to fuel the event.

Last July 9, DIBL successfully concluded a basketball competition wherein Teleperformance got its third straight title.

DIBL aims to provide a venue to play sports and promote health and fitness in the BPO community in conducting the games. League organizers also want it to be at par with the prestigious BPO Classics in Manila.

DIBL also hopes to extend its network around Mindanao and create a selection of promising players in volleyball and basketball.

[bpoguy-blog]

BPO sector steps up efforts to attract more investments, improve performance

By: Roy Stephen C. Canivel | Inquirer.net

The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) plans to do mid-year reviews of the industry starting next year, evaluating industry players’ performance in terms of revenue and head count.

This is expected to allow the industry a chance to “self-correct” if needed, IBPAP president and CEO Rey Untal said.

Untal told reporters that this would be a departure from the current practice of conducting a review at the end of the year.

He said there was a need “to become smart and practical” amid unpredictable developments.

“What we have right now is a yearly reckoning. That’s one of the things I’m trying to work out. Let’s have a middle of the year assessment. We shouldn’t learn about how we did revenue-wise and headcount-wise when the year is almost over,” he said.

This initiative comes as new investment infusions into the IT-BPM industry have been slow, with investment pledges registered in seven investment promotion agencies in the first quarter, dropping 34 percent to P4.18 billion from P6.34 billion in the same period last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Untal has attributed this decline “to a certain extent to not what’s happening now but what’s happened before,” citing President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-western rhetoric last year as an example.

“In our job, there is a performance evaluation. You need a performance evaluation that is more frequent. We need to understand that the industry is very big. To gather these numbers takes some effort,” he added.

A more frequent review would help show if the industry is on track to reach its targets, especially amid proposals in the administration’s comprehensive tax reform program which would remove some of the perks that make the local industry competitive in terms of costs.

The IT-BPM industry, seen as one of the pillars of the modern economy, targets to hit $38.9 billion in revenue in 2022 after reaching $22.9 billion last year. It is also considered the largest private sector employer, currently with 1.15 million direct employees. The workforce is expected to reach 1.8 million in 2022.

Moreover, Untal said IBPAP was in the middle of a “country branding exercise” in a bid to attract more investments into the Philippines, which is currently the third most attractive business process outsourcing destination in the world, although it previously ranked second to India.

He said IBPAP did a trade mission in Australia and Japan in May. There would be another trade mission, he said, in Canada in the latter part of the year.