Philippine Call Center Stable
The Call focuses industry in the Philippines is stable according to the State of the Nation Address (Sona) of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last July 2007. Mrs. Arroyo, dressed in a red terno expressed the significant on how call center industry is assisting the nation in regards to offering jobs to the Filipino individuals specifically to the fresh graduates.
This market is unique from infotech (IT) outsourcing, which concentrates on employing a third-party business or provider to do IT-related activities, such as application management and application development, information center operations, or screening and quality control.
Mrs. Arroyo is taking cognizance of the value of call center market because of the ability of the Filipinos to speak fluently in English. She even said in her speech: “The Philippines ranks amongst top off-shoring centers in the world because of expense competitiveness and more significantly our extremely trainable, English competent, IT-enabled management and manpower”
It just reveals that call center market in the Philippines has been called the “New India” as the nation provides an abundance of economical, English speaking labor. This was according to the 2003 Philippines Call Centre Industry Benchmark Study performed by call centres net. Our nation is very practical alternative to other locations in the Asia Pacific and hence numerous local and multinational companies have established contact centers. This pattern is set to continue as various business gradually look for an Asian presence to service consumers both regionally and internationally.
“Infotech will certainly assist the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) bring in more taxes in the coming months,” she stressed.
It implies to state that more investments are most likely to occur in the following years due to the fact that of the presence of this market. The nation has roughly 200 call centers and 20,000 seats. It is approximated that 80 % of these seats are run by call center contracting out bureaus.
She further said: “While our strength in contact centers is reputable, we are now focused on growing the greater value-added services, consisting of accounting, legal, personnels and administrative services.”
She stressed: “The business services sector has become the fastest growing in the economy providing 400,000 jobs as compared to 8,000 in 2000. By 2010 the forecast is one million tasks earning $ 12 billion, the same amount remitted by our overseas Filipinos today.”
If the government will certainly unify and remain to promote the country as an investor-friendly in Asia many international multinational companies will choose Philippines to set up their contact centers right here. The political bickering will not help the nation in supporting the economy. If political noise continue to exist specifically the majority of the freshly elect senators and solons are from the opposition celebrations. Let’s hope and pray that the last election needs to function as lesson to the entire nation.
Lots of aspects ought to be focused on if the government is serious in keeping this market. Initially, is to focus on education. Knowledge is the biggest developer of wealth. Without knowledge we can not move on and do things we want. With this advancement, the President stated that the country is investing more for education: PhP150 billion, PhP29 billion more than in 2013. In 2006, the government and private sector developed 15,000 classrooms instead of the usual 6,000. Given that call center industry wants their workers to be computer literate. The government reported that one third of the public high schools now have Internet access, with personal sector support.
The President quoted in her speech: “We have a scarcity of public high schools however a surplus of private high schools. So instead of building more high schools, we provide more high school scholarships – 600,000 historians this year.”
Aside from education, terrorism needs to be the top concern due to the fact that it will frighten the financiers on putting their companies in the country. The President herself understands the presence of the terrorists, which threatens the sovereign, democratic, compassionate and good way of life. “For that reason, in the battle versus lawless violence, we must maintain these values. It is never ever best and always wrong to combat horror with terro.”
I welcome the advancement that Human Security Act, a brand-new anti-terror law that took impact last July 15, highlighted the willpower to deal with terrorism and add to local security. Due to the constant dispute in between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the More Islamic Freedom Front (MILF) in Mindanao, it is an advantage that she asked the Congress to enact laws to change state response to political violence: First, laws to safeguard witnesses from hooligans and law enforcers. Second, laws to guarantee swift justice from more empowered special courts. Third, laws to impose harsher fines for political killings. 4th, laws reserving the harshest penalties for the rogue elements in the uniformed services who betray public trust and bring shame to the greater number of their associates who are patriotic.
“It is my ardent wish that most of the vision I have laid out will certainly be totally accomplished when I step down. It is my unshakeable willpower that the basics of this vision will certainly already be completely rooted, its progress well advanced and its direction securely fixed with our reforms currently bearing fruit. All that will certainly remain for my successor is to gather the harvest. She or he will have a simpler time of it than I did.”
No matter what take place, the Philippine call centers will certainly remain to be part of Mrs. Arroyo’s strong republic project. The Sona lasted 56 minutes to deliver and was interrupted by 102 rounds of applause, including the standing ovation at the end. *
Roberto L. Bacasong, 27, works as Consumer Interaction Associate in a biggest contact center in the Philippines.