There are some negative things being said about the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry such as those juicy sex scandals that crop up every now and the health impact on call center workers manning the graveyard shifts. But truly there’s no denying the gigantic contribution this industry has to the Philippine economy. Same reason why the Philippines now ranks higher than Singapore and Thailand in terms of investment prospects (source: The Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2015 report).
The BPO industry employs 1.2 million Filipinos of legal age at present and the $18.4 billion in annual revenues it brings to the economy is already considered a major driving force to this country’s sustenance. Records show BPO income is closely catching up with the personal remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers, pegged at $26.93 billion in 2014.
What’s good about the BPO industry is the positive domino effect it brings to the towns and cities where BPO HQs are located. Jobs are generated for the construction of new call center buidings. Related businesses experience a boom in income – be it fastfood joints, Aling Nene’s carinderia, sari-sari store, laundry shop, apartment for rent, karaoke bar and many more.
Just look at this video by Call Center Philippines and you’ll know what we mean –
Interior & Local Governments Secretary Mar Roxas, who is known as the Father of the Call Center and BPO industries in the Philippines, is himself amazed at the phenomenal transformation, but it was just all a matter of tapping the country’s greatest asset,the predominantly young labor force, and maximizing what they were good at – having excellent communication skills.
” In the year 2000, there were only 5,000 people in the Philippines’ call center business. Countless long nights were spent formulating the right business strategy and a plethora of business missions were launched to convince the multinationals to do business here. Glad to say there’s no looking back since,” Secretary Roxas notes.
These days, call center courses are slowly being integrated into the curriculum of some schools. There’s certainly more to the industry than answering phones. Healthcare, gaming and mobile applications development are also a growing segment.
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