Philippine Call Center Proficiency

In the last few years, the Philippine economy has seen the proliferation of quite a number of call centers or contact centers providing thousands of high-paying jobs to Filipinos. Philippine call center industry, Call Centers are fast spreading in the country. Recent estimates that the Philippines has replaced India and other countries as the preferred destination for many offshore contact centers that provide services to American and other western markets. This phenomenon has made the Philippines the country of choice for western companies who wish to set up call center operations. Call center services in the Philippines covers both inbound (inquiries,help desk, technical support, payment authorization, order taking,complaints handling, directory assistance, among others) and outbound (telemarketing, telesurvey, telecollection, sales verification, sales dispatch, reactivation of lapsed accounts, among others) services.

One of the major reasons for this advantage is that the Philippines has one of the highest levels of English proficiency than any country in Asia. Filipinos are also considered to have one of the easiest to understand accents, easily understood by natural English speakers. In addition to this, Filipinos learn an American or a British accent in a short period of time. More importantly, the history of the country and its ties to the West, specifically to America, has made it easier for Filipinos to communicate with foreigners, as they are familiar with the western culture. Another important reason why companies prefer to go to the Philippines is the work ethic and the adaptability of Filipinos. This has led to a lot of foreign investors to conclude that the Philippine call center provides one of best quality workforces available. Another advantage that the country has is that American or British companies can expect to pay fairly competitive labor costs that makes doing business in the country more lucrative than other Asian countries.

The Philippines has proven that it has a competitive advantage with regard to call-center operations because the country provides a quality English-speaking workforce that can easily communicate with people from the west. However, there are also other reasons why the Philippines has become the preferred destination for contact centers including competitive labor costs and the high adaptability of Filipinos. The head research firm that recently conducted a study on the business process outsourcing industry in the Philippines said that, Empathy sets the Filipino apart from other cultures in Asia Pacific. It is a Southeast Asian trait that we believe is becoming an advantage for Filipinos who are hired to man the growing BPO industry.

More than just speaking the English language, it's really about the Filipinos understanding of the US market that attracts them. Many US-based firms outsource back-office, customer care and other offshore work to the country because of the Filipinos' closer affinity with the Americans.

The growth of the local outsourcing industry is accelerating. Almost all segments of the Philippine call center are growing, except the medical transcription industry, which is hurting from the currency fluctuation. Also the need to address supply issues and enhancing the quality of workers that would eventually be focusing on more niche markets like knowledge process outsourcing.

About 15 percent of the global offshore outsourcing industry, mainly those coming from the business process outsourcing and the information technology outsourcing segments, is now being exported. This business is worth $1.067 trillion, the IDEA study said, citing industry sources. It said that the Philippines has only captured about 2 percent of that market. BPAP aims to increase the industry workforce to one million this year.