Philippines ‘is call centre capital of world’

Business processing outsourcing (BPO) company Transcom Philippines recently declared the Philippines as the “Call Centre Capital of the World.”

In a press briefing, Transcom country manager Siva Subramaniam said the Philippines has overtaken India as the top destination hub for call centre companies.

According to a statement from the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India, the Philippines has a good supply of workers to fill job vacancies in call centre companies.

The group, as well as the IT-Business Processing Association of the Philippines through Genny Marcial, external affairs executive director, have said that the Filipinos have “excellent communication skills and possess a good command of English that draw very good BPO investments.”

Subramaniam said the added factor to the recognition is that the Philippines has training facilities, good support from the government and efforts to improve infrastructure programmes to “better provide investors with viable reasons to do business in the country and expand whenever necessary.”

According to Marcial, the Philippines is now the No 1 in the world when it comes to providing voice services, which make up most of the BPO industry.

However, she said that although the Philippines is No1 in the voice sector, the top provider of technical support is still India because labour is cheaper there.

But Transcom remains optimistic that with the country being the new call centre capital of the world, Filipino workers will continue to be hardworking and globally competitive.

Last year, the Philippines had a total of 777,000 additional entrants into the BPO industry, making it one of the top employers in the country. –Kristyn Nika M Lazo/Manila Times