Philippine Call Centers

Philippine Call Centers

The call center industry is an emerging industry in the Philippines. Business process outsourcing is regarded as one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Business process outsourcing in the Philippines became the latest trend in the services sector in the 2000s and is led by demand for offshore call centers.
The growth of call centers continue to be rapid, up from 72 registered in late 2003 when the Asian Call Center Review reported the Philippines as the first rank in the offshore call center industry for the Asian region, surpassing India at the second spot. From being an almost unexplored BPO territory in 2000, the call center industry has grown by leaps and bounds. The Philippines Board of Investments (BOI) estimates growth rate of this industry since 2001 to 100 percent annually. It is estimated that 200,000 people are working in 120 BPO (mostly Contact Centers) in the Philippines in 2006, and expected to bring in revenues of US$3.8 billion for the year - a sharp increase from 2000 when call centers employed 2400 people and earned US$24 million.
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 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
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.
Among the calls handled by various Philippine call centers could 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.
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.