ARTICLES

Why the Philippines as an Offshore Call Center location?

Now that the compelling benefits of outsourcing call centers and other services have been outlined and made clear, the next question to ask is "Who/where do I outsource to?"

While India and China are considered the forerunners in the outsourcing trend, the Philippines boasts of several advantages that provide unique leverage for the offshore call center outsourcing industry.

According to BusinessWeek, the Philippines earned $2.1 billion in revenue from offshore services in 2005, placing her third behind India and China. This is 62% more than the $1.3 billion it garnered in 2004, and over 87 times more than the $24 million in revenues earned during the earlier years of the offshore call center services boom.

Perhaps one of the most important advantages the Philippines has is the nation's grasp of the English language. English has always been an essential part of the educational curriculum for Filipinos. As such, the country boasts of a very high English literacy rate of 93.5%.

Another advantage of choosing the Philippines is the country's ability to tackle specialized outsourcing services, such as legal services, web design, software development, medical transcription, and animation. This is made possible through the quality and talent of the Philippines' white collar work force. Talent and creativity are a trump card for the tasks enumerated above since it engages right-brain skills. The Philippine call center work force also benefits from the government's focus on training for the outsourcing sector. This year, National Budget Secretary Anaya committed an additional $320 million of funds for the Department of Education to further this cause and pave the way for the establishment of more call center training schools.

The fact that the Philippines shares the same legal system as the US, and that majority of Filipinos are familiar with the US culture forms the springboard for the growth of the Philippine offshore industry. This is largely due to the historical artifact of its being a former American colony.

The Philippines continues to offer competitive rates in labor, while India has increased its costs by 15% - another compelling reason to choose the Philippines. President Arroyo hopes for two million additional Filipinos to be employed in the offshore call center serices sector by the year 2010. Possibilities and opportunities abound.

Sources:
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/sep2006/gb20060919_639997.htm?chan=search
http://www.foobooonline.com/Content_Common/pg-The-Outsourcer-Sept-2006-The-Philippines-Competitive-Advantage.seo