Philippines Targets U.S. for Higher Value-Added Business Processing Jobs
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Added: 10/19/2005
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Philippines Targets U.S. for Higher Value-Added Business Processing Jobs
The Philippines is targeting the United States for higher value-added business processing jobs in a bid to strengthen its market presence in the global outsourcing market, according to the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM).
“We would like to attract higher value added business processes to the Philippines. If the Philippines can capture just a tiny percentage of the US BPO market, it will create many good jobs in the country,” said Trade Assistant Secretary and CITEM executive director Felicitas Agoncillo-Reyes.
This October, the Philippines will be bringing in 17 cutting-edge BPO companies to OutsourceWorld New York, the largest outsourcing event in the United States. The delegation is composed of ADEC Solutions, Inc., Advanced Contact Solutions, Inc., Ambergris Solutions, Inc., Berthaphil Business Park, Business Process Outsourcing International, Inc. (BPOi), Comfac Global Group, Diversified Technology Solutions International, Inc. (DTSI), Eximius BPO Services Inc., Exist Software, Pointwest Technologies Corporation, Quisumbing Torres, SENCOR, Teledata Philippines, Inc., Transprocure Corporation and Virtual Assistants. Telco giants Innove Communications and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) are supporting the project as sponsors.
The Philippine participation is also seen as a platform to attract foreign visitors and IT stakeholders to the country’s most comprehensive IT outsourcing conference and exhibition, e-Services Philippines (16-17 February 2005).
The Philippines’ BPO market share amounted to 600 million dollars, according to the country’s investment agencies.
Last year, the United States was the second top destination of Philippine exports amounting to US$6.7 billion next to Japan and number one as a source of imports amounting to US$8.2 billion. Major Philippine exports to the United States include semi-conductor devices (e.g., transistors), portable digital automatic data processing machines and storage units among others. While, top imports include parts of electronic integrated circuits, dice of any material for the manufacture of semi-conductor devices and computer parts and accessories.
The Philippine participation in OutsourceWorld New York and ICT Business Mission to the US is organized by the Department of Trade and Industry through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), Board of Investments (BOI) and Foreign Trade Service Corps, in coordination with the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P).
The United States accounts for 60 percent of the BPO spending in the world. Commonly outsourced processes in the United States include internal auditing, payroll, human resources, benefits management, contact centers/customer care, payments/ claims processing, real estate management, and supply chain management.
Meanwhile, the Philippines likewise recently joined OutsourceWorld London and attracting over a dozen European firms to pour in several IT investments here. Some of the potential business leads gathered from the mission were business processing deals with Logica CMG, Express Gifts and the Emirates Group.
The London Chamber of Commerce and the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) will also hold a pre-event activity on 15 and 16 November 2005, respectively, to encourage attendance to e-Services Philippines. Meanwhile, Nigel Roxburgh, founding director of the National Outsourcing Association in the United Kingdom. – Bitin ata?
The Philippine BPO potential
Some of the American BPO companies present in the Philippines are Accenture, Amex, AIG, Barnes & Nobel Online, Caltex, Citibank, Procter & Gamble, Head Strong Corp. Foreign companies locate in the Philippines for its very high service standards, English-speaking workforce, technology infrastructure, and abundant affordable Class A office spaces.
In the 2004 Kearney Index, the Philippines was identified as among the top ten choices for offshore operations, scoring high in the financial structure and human resources indexes.
The Philippines is the third largest English-speaking nation in the world outside the United Kingdom and the US. The Philippines has over 300 software development companies, the biggest segment in the Philippine e-services industry in terms of players.
Aside from proficiency in the English language and close affinity with the West, the over 10, 000 Filipino IT professionals are also highly trainable with a learning curve of six to eight weeks.
Cost savings in the Philippines are 30 to 50% over the US operations and labor rates the most cost-competitive among 32 countries surveyed for the same IT skills, based on data from an international human resource consultancy firm. Its employment turnover rate is less than 1 percent compared to other countries like India.
The Philippines has the largest pool of quality accountants in Asia, with 105,000 graduates of finance, accounting and management every year, increasing by about 3, 000 yearly. In the first quarter of 2005, there were about 113, 300 licensed accountants in the country. The US’ Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) rank Filipino accountants as “among the best in the world.”
Also, during the recent Software Development Expo & Conference (SODEC) in Japan, a business seminar highlighted the IT offerings of the Philippines. Six Philippine-based IT companies joined Japan’s SODEC 2005 generating US$8 million in total sales, further leveraging the Philippines’ strength in project management software solutions,
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