Call Centers

NEW YORK AND LONDON (April 10, 2013) – The outsourcing industry is failing to invest in the skills needed to capture the full value from outsourcing engagements, an HfS Research study, sponsored by Accenture, reveals. The report, entitled ” Is Good Enough Really Good Enough? The Great Talent Paradox in Outsourcing ,” confirms that in…

As the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines continues to grow, more and more Filipinos are finding themselves working at odd hours, risking mostly their health.

MANILA – After last year’s faster than expected growth, the call center sector has revised upward its targets for 2016 to $15 billion in revenues and 876,000 jobs, a Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) report obtained by InterAksyon.com showed.

Southern hospitality, cost of living and central location luring call centers to DFW Customer service call center jobs, long outsourced to workers overseas, are coming back to the United States and bringing employment opportunities to the Metroplex.

Everyone wants their contact center to be customer-centric. However, many aren’t, because they are stuck with outdated operational strategies that no longer work in today’s customer care landscape. With the rapid evolution of communication channels and technologies, organizations have to change their approach to engaging and retaining customers, to stay relevant and competitive.

Seven trends you can’t ignore. In today’s economy, many believe customer service will be the next competitive battleground in the enterprise. Disgruntled customers are increasingly voicing their dissatisfaction and frustration through social media, enabling their complaints to go viral in minutes. The challenge for contact center managers will be finding a way to offer the…

The symptoms are painful: low performance, high turnover, passive-aggressive behaviors, and general lack of focus on what’s important to your business. Is the source of the pain a problem with employees’ morale? Or is it a problem with motivation? And, more importantly, what can you do about it?

There are numerous factors that play into achieving successful call center operations, many of which feed into one another. For example, what your agents offer your customers sets the stage for customer loyalty, satisfaction and overall business continuity. If your agents sound fake, fabricated or uninterested, well then guess what, your customers will avoid you…

If you phone your bank or internet provider these days, you’re just as likely to be talking to someone in Manila as Melbourne. PINKEY Barrozo says she has come to know Australians, even though she sits in front of a computer thousands of kilometres away in a glitzy building towering above Manila. ”I have developed…

Global Industry Analysts Inc. (GIA) in its new report on the global call center business has quoted that the industry is poised to reach a whopping $337.8 billion by 2018. The key factors that would drive this industry growth are the increased focus on customer service as a means for business development as well as…

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported Sunday that call center firms remain to be the sector looking for the most number of qualified job seekers. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said this was reflected in the latest report of the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), which hosts the online facility Phil-JobNet.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines said the voice segment of the industry is showing no signs of slowing down and is expected to sustain its growth next year. BPAP president and chief executive Benedict Hernandez said Tuesday employment in the call center sector or the voice segment would increase to 567,000 in 2013…

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Oct 4 (PIA) — Information communication technology (ICT) workers fear possible setbacks in the country’s global ICT sector when the school system adopted the use of the “mother tongue” in education.

Voice call centers continue to drive the outsourcing boom in the Philippines. The industry noted that there has been a growing demand for voice call services for banking, finance and insurance. Healthcare and gaming are slowly emerging new industries served by local call centers.

The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in the Philippines, particularly the voice-based call center services, are sustaining their phenomenal performance. The government cites the 24% year-on-year growth rate in 2011, when the original target was only 15%. The industry will become a key employer with target of about 1.3 million direct jobs by 2016. At the…

THE PHILIPPINE contact center industry is projected to grow by nearly a fifth by the end of the year, driven by the over-all growth in the global market and the country’s reputation in the voice outsourcing services sector, an official said on Tuesday.

Long Island Press Releases — With Right Political & Corporate Leadership (Washington, DC) This week, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) released a video featuring American call center workers sharing their personal stories and experiences with off-shoring – a practice that has devastated the domestic call center industry to the tune of 500,000 jobs lost…

Proficiency in oral and written English and flexibility in dealing with foreign cultures remain the key advantages of Filipino contact center agents over those of other countries in Asia – including China, the Contact Center Association of the Philippines said Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines – Despite the appreciation of the peso against the US dollar that could cut their profit margins, call centers are not sounding the alarm bells and say that they remain confident of doing brisk business in the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) — The Philippine call center industry is confident that business will remain brisk even if the stronger peso threatens to cut its profit margin.

CALL CENTERS may hike prices of their services if the peso continues to strengthen, industry officials yesterday said. “When the peso is strong, the industry is being hurt because our billing rate is in US dollars,” said Jojo J. Uligan, executive director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) at the sidelines of…

MANILA – Half-a-million Filipinos will work as call center agents this year, the Contact Center Association of the Philippines said on Tuesday. Benedict Hernandez, CCAP president, said the call center industry’s workforce will hit 500,000 this year, adding that it is on track to meet its $8.4 billion revenue contribution to the Philippine economy for…

An Indian outsourcing company is bringing 1,000 call center jobs to Texas. Matthew Zeitlin looks at why insourcing is replacing outsourcing. There is perhaps no better symbol of the globalization of the service economy than a customer service call from the United States that gets answered in India or the Philippines. NBC even managed to…

The Department of Labor and Employment on Saturday welcomed the defeat of an anti-outsourcing bill in the United States, saying it would benefit the Philippine business processing outsourcing (BPO) industry.

CALL CENTER operations were barely disrupted last week even as floods in Metro Manila caused by torrential rain paralyzed many workers in the capital. “Operations were normal as of Wednesday. Although it was not 100% normal, operations were still ongoing,” Jojo J. Uligan, president of Contact Centers Association of the Philippines (CCAP) told BusinessWorld in…

Despite the telephone being the most popular channel for support, it also has the reputation for being the most frustrating method. Repeating information to agents, waiting on hold, and navigating phone menus are the main reasons customers dread the call center. Negative caller experiences drive customers to the competition, and to share these experiences with…

CEBU, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment-7 noted several violations committed by Direct Access Corporation and its officials during their inspection conducted last week. In a press conference yesterday, representatives of the company’s 664 terminated workers revealed the said violations.

Credit-card company’s outsourcing leaves a lot to be desired at point of (attempted) purchase Where Is Baltimore? I did something so unusual last week as to trigger the “fraud” section at my credit-card company to freeze my account. No, I didn’t walk into a Tiffany’s somewhere and try to buy a bauble for thousands of…

Contact centers struggle with retention in Egypt. CAIRO: The Contact Center industry in Egypt is booming. With the onset of the social media revolution and the ever-changing profile of today’s customer, contact centers have gone to great lengths in recent years to keep their service levels in line with escalating expectations. Whilst technical upgrades and…

“I need money for school expenses. Good thing there are call centers,” said Maria Christina Bactol, 22, an industrial engineering student from the University of the Philippines Diliman.