Call center industry in the Philippines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2007)

In 2004, the Philippines already captured 20 percent of the total world market share in contact center services. The Philippine government estimates the Philippines could capture 50 percent of the total world English-speaking market in 2008. This industry, aside from contributing 12 percent in to the Philippines gross national product, is also the fastest growing provider for Filipino college graduates. The Information and Communications Technology division of the BOI reported that the call center industry experienced a growth rate of 70 percent in 2005 making it the most dynamic of all sectors in the Philippine information technology industry. According to industry forecasts, more than a million Filipinos would be employed in the call center industry, with more than US$12 billion in revenues in the year 2010.

The Philippines is also considered as location of choice due to its less expensive operational and labor costs.

The country offers 24/7 multilingual and multimedia supported premium services for marketing, sales, customer care, crisis management, investor relations and other key business applications. The reasons cited for the bullish outlook towards the Philippines have been, among others, due to lower operating costs, English language proficiency and high ICT skills yet low-cost workforce.

The Philippines is considered a major player in the global BPO market. In 2005, the country ranked in the top 10 world wide for top BPO destinations, according to neoIT's 2005 Mapping Offshore Markets Update.

Contents

[edit] Profile

[edit] Call center duties and responsibilities

While call centers actually began in the Philippines as simple providers of e-mail response and handling services, these have developed capabilities for almost all types of customer interactions, ranging from travel services, financial services, technical support, education, customer care, online business to customer support, online business to business support.

The calls handled by various Philippine call centers can be classified into inbound and outbound calls. For outbound calls, the services cover telemarketing, advisories, sales verification. credit and collection, reactivation/reinstatement of accounts, loyalty program benefits, customer services and order entry. Inbound calls cover a broad range of services, from all types of inquiries, technical help, transcription, complaints, customer service, support, sales, marketing, and billing.

Call center agents are typically assigned in graveyard shifts, interacting with customers from all over the world, mostly from the United States and must adhere to strict performance metrics.

[edit] Common call center recruitment and training process

The recruitment process for new call center agents may include (but is not limited to) the following:

  • phone screening - this stage determines the voice quality over the phone and how the applicant responds to the call;
  • initial interview - conducted by the company human resource department or another outsource staffing firm to test the speaking skills, attitude and how confident the applicant responds to questions;
  • examination - this includes aptitude tests, computer-based call simulations and emotional quality (EQ)/ attitude tests; and
  • final interview - to assess customer service, technical, or sales skills.

[edit] Locations

According to 2005 industry estimates, there are over a hundred call centers in the Philippines, the bulk being in Metro Manila mainly in the business districts of Ortigas Center in Pasig City, the Makati Business District, Eastwood City Cyberpark in Quezon City, and Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City. However, both local and foreign-owned call centers have ventured to regions outside Metro Manila, setting up offices primarily in Metro Cebu and other key cities such as Baguio City, Bacolod City, Davao City, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo City, Zamboanga City, Angeles City, Dumaguete, Lipa City, Cainta in Rizal, Bacoor, a town in Cavite and Santa Rosa City, in Laguna.

[edit] Community

The call center community in the Philippines is rapidly growing because of the demand for call center related jobs. A significant number of working Filipinos have found themselves a new career in the call center industry.

[edit] See also

[edit] References