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DTI’s trade mission to India produces $42 M investment pledges

Roy — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:59:24 +0000

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reported that their recent trade and investment mission in India have generated new investment pledges worth $42 million. Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said they were from three energy projects and a pharmaceutical packaging ventures.

The Philippine delegates, led by Domingo, attended the recent ASEAN-India Business Fair and Conclave held in New Delhi in its bid to penetrate India’s trillion dollar market. Other members of the Philippine mission were the Department of Agriculture, Department of Tourism, Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine India Business Council of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Domingo said he was able to convince Indian businessmen to invest in the Philippines during his first official trip, and the trade department’s first mission to India. “India is emerging as a source of foreign direct investments (FDIs) for the Philippines. Apart from BPO companies which are directed by their principals to open delivery centers in the Philippines, more Indian companies are continuing to realize the potential of the Philippines as a gateway to the lucrative ASEAN market,” he said.

The investment pledges acquired by DTI include two 20-megawatt stand-alone liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plants in Tawi-Tawi and in Cagayan as well as a 1.5-megawatt mini hydro electric power project in Abra.

According to Domingo, the trade department is working on several initiatives for Indian businessmen locating in the country which include the improved business registration procedures; and relaxed visa norms for senior executives of IT and BPO companies. Add to this, he also announced the recently inaugurated direct flights from Manila to New Delhi of the Philippine Airlines (PAL).

During their trip, Domingo also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOUs) between the Associated Chamber of Commerce in India (ASSOCHAM) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and between the Federation of Indian Mining Industries and the Philippine Chamber of Mining Industries represented by Philip Romualdez, to promote trade, investments, and economic relations between India and the Philippines.

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Ayala’s HRMall acquires US BPO firm

Roy — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:21:34 +0000

HRMall Inc., a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm backed by the Ayala group, has acquired IQ BackOffice LLC. Based in Los Angeles, California, IQ BackOffice provides backroom finance and accounting services to mid-sized companies in the United State. It delivers high quality, software-enabled and real-time finance and accounting BPO services to US companies.

HRMall is one of the investing companies of the Ayala group’s BPO holding firm LiveIt Investments Ltd. it provides IT-enabled human resource services out of Manila. The firm entered into a definitive agreement to acquire IQ BackOffice. The combined value of the two companies is estimated at $15 million.

IQ BackOffice employs over 200 people in the United States and India. Its clients are US firms with annual revenues of $50 million to $1 billion. Some of its clients generate revenues up to $10 billion. The company has more than 30 public and private company clients, including restaurants, manufactures and distributors, hotels, entertainment establishments, property and financial firms.

As part of the deal between IQ BackOffice and HRMall, founder and chief executive officer David Schnitt of IQ BackOffice will get a 17.5-percent ownership interest in HRMall. Schnitt will be appointed CEO of HRMall.

The 82.5-percent interest of HRMall will be owned by LiveIt which has vowed to support a strategy to fast-track growth in existing markets in the United States and Asia. With the said, HRMall will be in a better position to help enterprises slash costs by 30 to 50 percent a year.

All stockholders of both firms, HRMall and IQ BackOffice, have already approved and signed the sale and purchase documents. The transaction though is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be sealed by April 30.

As part of the deal, the company will operate as HRMall in Asia and IQ BackOffice in the United States. It will employ a total of over 300 workers out of centers in Manila, Chennai, Mumbai and Los Angeles.

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Sutherland is PEZA’s 2001 Employer of the Year

Roy — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 17:18:57 +0000

For the 3rd time, Sutherland Global Services Philippines is name Outstanding Employer of the Year by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA). The 2011 Outstanding Employer honor was given to Sutherland at the recent PEZA Investors’ Recognition Night, which reflects the value that the company gives its people.

From 150 employees in 2005, Sutherland today has more than 13,000 employees, a growth of over 86,000 percent. However, the secret of success of a business enterprise is not just the quantity of employees but also more importantly, the quality of employment.

With their 3rd outstanding employer award, the company is assured the honor of being included in PEZA’s Hall of Fame in next year’s awarding. This is a distinct recognition given only for a handful of companies which have won the award three times.

The Outstanding Employer Award is sponsored by the PEZA in cooperation with Philippine Ecozones Association. It is given to organizations that generate the most number of jobs, hold high regard for the welfare of their workers, and maintain harmony between labor and management.

Sutherland Philippine’s management team, chairman and CEO Dilip Vellodi said, “To win this prestigious award year after year is a very strong testament to the dedication of our employees in the Philippines, who have all helped in making this happen.”

Vellodi added, “Since our launch in 2005, our operations in the Philippines have become a strategic component of our global service delivery model. The country’s favorable economic environment, business-friendly government policies and above all the technically skilled and committed workforce have been driving forces in our ability to rapidly scale our operations across several locations in the country.”

The business process outsourcing (BPO) company was also awarded the Philippine Quality Award (PQA) for Commitment to Quality Management during the 11th PQA awarding rites conducted annually by the Department of Trade and Industry. Sutherland holds the honor of being the first and only BPO company who has been given the award in the last 10 years.

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More employment opportunities in Clark this year

Roy — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:26:05 +0000

The Clark Development Corporation (CDC) said that it expects the employment at the Clark Freeport Zone to surge this year as operations of new investments starts. The CDC said as early as the end of January 2011, the number of workers in Clark had already grown by an annual 4.7% already. The Freeport Zone administrator said that workers inside Clark’s 453 locators reached 60,322 as of January 31 versus the 57,602 they have in the same period last year.

The CDC said that this workforce is composed mostly of employees in the electronics assembly industries, the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, and from other manufacturing industries. The state agency said at least 7,000 more jobs are expected to be generated in the near future because of several projects coming this year.

Some of these projects include the “multi-billion dollar” investment of Phoenix Semiconductor of the Philippines, the expansion of Yokohama Tire Philippines, Inc., and of course, more investments from the business process outsourcing sector.

The CDC broke down the figure as follows: 3,000 workers would be needed by Phoenix Semiconductor; Yokohama Tire would need 1,500; and BPO locators like Cyber City Teleservices, Inc., Sutherland Philippines, Inc. and Global Streaming, would hiring at least 2,500 more additional employees. “The improvement in employment in Clark is an indication that the Freeport Zone is becoming an investment haven for multi-national firms,” the Freeport zone administrator stated.

With the expected surge in employment, the CDC is projecting to reach a 15% increase in investment pledges to P30.508 billion this year after commitments had already grown by more than four-fold to P26.529 billion in 2010.

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Sitel offers more job for Filipinos

Roy — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:19:47 +0000

Because of securing a contract with new clients, and with their existing clients also expanding the services that they outsourced to them, business process outsourcing firm (BPO) Sitel will hiring 4,000 more new employees for its Manila and Baguio Sites.

Sitel recruitment director Joan Laquindanum said they have opened as many as 4,000 positions in one go, to support the new and existing clients’ requirements.

And because of the demand for BPO employees very high, thanks to the continuing development and growth of the outsourcing business in the Philippines, Sitel provided “attractive compensation and benefits packages” to its employees. Among those perks is their in-house pharmacies where employees can order medicine and supplements on a non-cash basis.

Laquindanum said that their employees are enjoying generous leave entitlements, as well as health, life, bereavement and retirement insurance plans. “Our bereavement benefits are extended to all family members of associates, considered the first in the industry. As we continue to grow, giving only the best to our associates is a welcome challenge for Sitel,” she added.

The hiring officer also said that the 4,000 hiring requirement is just the start, and it would be followed by even more job openings in the future as they also planned to expand its operation the Philippines further.

At present, Sitel has 11 sites in the country which provide services such as acquisition and sales, back office, collections, customer care and technical support. The company’s Philippine site serve customers in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. They support English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Spanish languages.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) said the outsourcing business could be a $20-billion industry by 2016 with continued concerted industry effort and strong government support. The organization said that in its “IT-BPO Road Map 2011-2016: Driving Global Leadership,” adding that by 2016, the industry could be employing as much as 900,000 call center workers.

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Cognizant announces expansion of operations in the Philippines

Roy — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:18:43 +0000

Cognizant, another world-leading company engaged in the technology, consulting and business process outsourcing (BPO) services is expanding its operations in the Philippines. From its present manpower of approximately 200 employees, the company said its planned expansion will accommodate as much as 600 more personnel.

R Chandrasekaran, president and managing director of Global Delivery, Cognizant said, “Within months of opening our Manila center in October 2009, we have steadily grown our presence and investment in the Philippine capital, and have moved into a larger facility.”

He also said that their Manila center will continue to strengthen their integrated global delivery capabilities. “We are committed to working closely with the academic community in the Philippines to develop talent across our full range of services,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), represented by its president and chief executive officer Oscar Sañez welcomed Cognizant’s expansion in the Philippines.

“We are pleased to see Cognizant expand its operations in the Philippines. As one of the world’s fastest growing consulting technology, and BPO/KPO companies, Cognizant’s deep insight into global best practices earned through its exposure to Global 2000 companies and footprint spanning five continents will help the IT and BPO/KPO industry in the Philippines increase its competitiveness and define newer benchmarks,” Sañez said.

He added, “We thank Cognizant for investing in the Philippines and providing an opportunity for experienced professionals as well as fresh graduates in the country to serve global customers.”

The Cognizant’s Manila office provides high-end operations and contact center business process services to its clients’ worldwide. It also runs on Cognizant 2.0, a Web 2.0-based platform that allows the company associates worldwide to collaborate and deliver important time-to-market, cost and transformational value to its clients.

Meanwhile, President Benigno Aquino III also commended the company for providing employment opportunities for Filipino professional. He said Cognizant’s expansion affirms the growing demand for global BPO services currently dominating the business arena.

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Energizer plans to put up its own BPO facility

Roy — Thu, 27 May 2010 05:41:47 +0000

One of the leading manufacturer of batteries in the Philippines is considering of putting up its own business process outsourcing facility in the Philippines. The Energizer Philippines Inc., maker of the Eveready and Energizer batteries, plans to put up a call center facilities because according to company president and managing direct Esteban Vorbeck, support for Energizer’s United States customer were currently being performed out of Manila through third-party service providers.

Vorbeck said, “We’re looking at the Philippine BPO sector. We’re thinking of possibly setting up our own facility. We have a number of roles here that are performed for the region. We’re looking at the Philippines as a support or back-office organization. We hope to align the growth of our business with something that’s already been proven.”

If plans push through, the call center facility could either be located in Metro Manila, because of the company’s local headquarters there, or in Cebu where it’s manufacturing facility is located. “The Philippines is a great learning center. You have ease of facility because of the language. It’s easy to communicate here,” Vorbeck said.

Next to its plan of putting up a BPO facility in the country, the company is also conducting research and development on new battery-powered devices that they could introduce in the market to push the sale of batteries in the country. Vorbeck admits that their industry has experienced decline in sales for the past years.

This was attributed to the higher levels of electrification, the onslaught of multi-function or converged devices, improved battery performance, and the introduction of energy-efficient gadgets. But Vorbeck said that they were the things that they need to adjust to. That is why they are taking a more proactive approach to it by introducing battery-powered devices. He did not disclose though as to what type of devices they would be introducing.

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O2P will be acquired by TeamAsia

Roy — Sun, 02 May 2010 03:26:11 +0000

Outsource2Philippines (O2P), a firm that provides advisory services to the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry was reported to be acquired by TeamAsia, an award-winning strategic marketing communications firm which is based in the Philippines.

TeamAsia managing director Michael Alan Hamlin said on their acquisition, “We’ve identified a number of exciting opportunities for O2P that we will describe more fully in the coming months.” And he continued, “The outsourcing industry is evolving rapidly, and as it does the kinds of support services it requires are likewise changing. The industry is learning to outsource business processes that are not within its core process expertise. That’s where we see tremendous opportunity for O2P.”

Frank Holz, a veteran in the outsourcing industry with his many years as a partner of Andersen Consulting (now known as Accenture), founded Outsource2Philippines in 2004. With the acquisition of TeamAsia, he will remain with O2_ as a consultant. With expertise and experience, he will be assisting BPO companies as they deal with issues associated with rapid growth.

O2P collaborated with the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) to conduct quarterly surveys of the BPO industry which resulted in highly-reputed periodic CEO briefings. Hamlin said that they will continue working with BPA/P to assess industry sentiments and provide a forum for regularly discussing industry developments. “Feedback from the industry as well as high level of participation in these activities indicates that industry executives appreciate the insights the CEO briefings provide,” he said.

The company also worked with the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSA) to develop an industry roadmap (“Fly High 2010”).

Meanwhile, BPA/P Executive Director for Research Gillian Joyce G. Virata commented, “We value the relationship with O2P and look forward to continuing our collaboration. Of course, we also work closely with TeamAsia on a number of key initiatives – such as the International Outsourcing Summit – and they have also sponsored and produced our quarterly briefings. We anticipate a seamless transition.”

The acquisition is expected to be complete in 30 to 60 days, said Hamlin of TeamAsia.

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Davao tops list of Next Wave Cities of BPO

Roy — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:41:23 +0000

Davao City is being considered to be the next big investment for the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, as well the information and technology sector.

According to Oscar R. Sañez, CEO of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), Davao was ranked number 1 in their list of Top 10 Next Wave Cities 2010 because of the city’s abundance of graduates and workers, and also the low cost of doing business there as well as in the outlying areas. Other factors that were considered by the BPAP were the city’s infrastructure and business environment.

Sañez said that in their selection of the next wave cities, they scored the quality of roads, access to international and domestic flights, presence of providers of fiber optic networks, reliability of power supply, availability of property sites, and cost of labor office space, among others.

The only thing going against Davao City is its proximity to areas of conflict in Mindanao. Many foreigners tend to associate the island with war and kidnappings. That is why in spite of being top in the BPAP list, it still ranked low in terms of risk management and travel advisories.

Joining Davao in the list of Top 10 Next Wave Cities 2010 were Sta. Rosa, Laguna; Bacolod-Iloilo; Metro Cavite; Lipa, Batangas; Cagayan de Oro; Malolos, Bulacan; Baguio and Dumaguete. These cities are expected to contribute $1.2 billion in additional revenue over the next two years, and at the same time, increase the employment of the BPO sector by 60 percent.

Sañez said that the Next Wave Cities would provide a “great avenue for local empowerment” as the cities are able to redefine themselves and create fresh business opportunities as those in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu.

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Ayala Land to develop a 2-hectare BPO hub in Iloilo

Roy — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:13:47 +0000

The property development of the Ayala group will be building a new call center area in the south. The Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is planning to transform a 2-hectare property in Iloilo City into a business process outsourcing (BPO) hub. The project would consist of 3 BPO facilities with a total of 19,000 square meters of gross leasable area.

The company said in its disclosure report to the Philippine Stock Exchange that it signed a 35-year lease agreement with Teodoro B. Pison, Josefina B. Pison-Ortiz, and Riverside Boardwalk Properties Inc. for the development of the 2-hectare property which is located at Riverside Boardwalk, Barangay San Rafael Madurriao in Iloilo City.

Initially, the project would involve the construction of the first building with approximately 9,500 square meters of GLA and an estimated project cost of P305 million. The construction will start on the second quarter of 2010 and it is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2011.

Iloilo City was included in the list of cities identified as “next wave cities” by the Business Process Association of the Philippines because it has an attractive power, telecommunications, commercial sea and airport infrastructure. The city also offers one of the lowest rental, power and average base pay rates in the Philippines.

Ayala officials said, “Ayala Land’s project will be the biggest BPO development in Iloilo to date and is consistent with the company’s goal of expanding into, developing and redeveloping strategic areas with attractive growth centers across the country in order to deliver on the expectations of its customers and shareholders.”

For 2010, the property giant has earmarked P27.2 billion for its capital expenditures. At present, it has lined up 32 projects which include shopping malls, residential condominiums, hotels and office buildings.

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Infosys BPO company plans opening more sites in the Philippines

Roy — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 03:00:40 +0000

Infosys BPO Ltd. is planning to put up 3 more call center facilities, expanding its presence in the country. The business process outsourcing firm chief operating officer Ritesh Idnani said, “We are very bullish about the Philippines and we will continue to invest in the next few years.”

Idnani said that while their Philippines operations only account for just five to six percent of the company’s entire revenue, they expect it increase to eight to 10 percent in the next 18 to 24 months. The company is also optimistic that it expects its revenues to grow by 100 percent by the end of its fiscal year ending March 2010.

Idnani noted that because of the availability of quality workforce and service areas in the country, the Philippines would remain to be an attractive BPO destination. He added that aside from the area of customer service, but the country is also emerging as a knowledge process outsourcing and legal process outsourcing services.

He is also quick to point out attrition in the country as one of the major challenges of BPO firms. He recommends that BPO agents be registered to monitor proper exits from previous employers. “The top 15 BPO firms must tie up to address attrition,” Idnani said.

Because of its planned expansion, Infosys delivery center head for the Philippines Madhusudan Menon said they would be creating an additional 2,000 jobs this as it eyes new site by the second half of 2010. Areas being considered for their next Philippine site are Quezon City and Clark, Pampanga

The company presently has a 1,100-seat call center facility at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig where it has 650 employees. This would be expanded to include 3,000 seats by next month.

Infosys is a BPO subsidiary of Infosys Technologies.

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Another BPO firm gears up for expansion

Roy — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:54:34 +0000

Another opportunity rises for job seekers as another business process outsourcing firm (BPO) gears up for expansion. The Stream Global Services Inc., a BPO company which is partly owned by the Ayala group is looking to fill up 1,500 seats in the 60 days and open one or two more new sites during the first half of the year.

Scott Murray, chairman and chief executive officer of Stream Global Services, said in a briefing last week that the company actually is seeking to reach as many as 50,000 employees here in the country. They have, at present, an employee base of around 11,000.

He said, “In the next 60 days, we will hire 1,500 new employees. We’ve never seen such significant demand for the Philippines as in the 45 days. We’ve had a lot of client visits. We want to grow to 50,000 within three to five years, and be the second biggest employer here, next to the Philippine government.”

The company’s operation in the Philippine soil, according to Murray, contributes to about 20 percent in their global revenues at present. He added that, depending the how much more new business the country would be able to generate for the company, how well its employees perform and how supportive the government would be in the coming months, the Philippines’ revenue contribution to the company could reach 30-4 percent.

Right now, Stream Global is doing site evaluations, as it prepares for its programmed expansion for the year. It wants to determine which areas would be the best locations for the company’s new facilities, Murray noted.

He said, “Our next site could be in central Manila or Cavite, or we can still expand in the buildings where we are already in. We really need to expand soon because we’re almost at full capacity now.”

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New Australian call center in the Philippines

Roy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:22:41 +0000

Salmat, an Australia-based business process outsourcing firm has been in the country since 1996, but company general manager of strategy Philip Hadcroft said they were doing mostly transactional services that served on the Philippine market.

Now, the Salmat has decided to put up an 800-seat facility at McKinley Hill in Taguig City, their first major investment outside its home country. This, according to Hadcroft, marked Salmat’s expansion into higher-value services. “We have moved from transactional services to true IT-driven services, which are also higher value,” he said.

Their new facility in McKinley Hill has been operating with 100 employees. Hadcroft said they plan to grow to it to more than 800 in the next three years.

Salmat country manager Meg Ramoso added that their new facility would be serving mainly their accounts from Australia and New Zealand over the next three years. They will be providing both voice and non-voice services. They will also be extending existing statement processing services to call center, computer programming, Web content management, data entry and a range of IT-enabled services.

Hadcroft said, “The new facility represents a strong commitment by Salmat to the BPO industry, and to the Philippines in particular as a central hub for the BPO operations in the Asia-Pacific region.”

The company, which is listed in the Australian Stock Exchange, presently has over 7,000 employees in its roster across Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

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US BPO firm opens office in the Philippines

Roy — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:54:31 +0000

A new business process outsourcing (BPO) firm has chosen the Philippines as the location of its latest service center. US-based Cybernet-Slash Support (CSS) recently opened its 1,000-seat facility in Taguig, its first Philippine site and currently has 400 employees. CSS said the new facility will be used for the company’s outbound sales, technology and other integrated BPO services for clients in North America. It plans to increase the number of employees in Philippines to around 2,000 people by the end of 2010. The company said it is in line with the company’s aspiration to emerge as a strong player in the country’s BPO space.

CSS’s chief executive Nick Sharma said they choose the Philippines as the site of its newest facility because of the “highly conducive” business atmosphere and talent pool of experienced BPO professionals. “The Philippines has emerged as one of the key global hubs for the BPO industry,” Sharma said. And thus, they felt that now is the most opportune time to expand their capabilities in the Philippines and extend their “portfolio of superior, effective support services to customers.”

Sharma said that CSS have committed $15 million in its budget to develop their business in the Philippines, and see it as their biggest facility in three to four years time.

They would be planning to hire mostly computer-related or engineering graduates who will be expected to provide their clients with both technical and customer support. Most of their clients are in the information technology, retail and healthcare sectors.

With its based located in San Jose, California, the company employs around 4,000 people working out of its global operations centers in India, the US, Poland and now, the Philippines. American telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent and tech firm Sun Microsystems & Blackboard Inc. are just two of the big-ticket clients of CSS.

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More jobs from UST Global

Roy — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:43:24 +0000

UST Global inaugurated recently its new offshore development center in McKinley Hills, Taguig City. The new center is part of the company’s aggressive expansion plans in Asia, and is targeting to haul in $32 million revenues in its first year and catering to 2,000 clients in North America and Europe.

California-based UST Global is one of the world leader in information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO). Recognizing that the Philippines is an emerging destination for IT outsourcing, the company is hiring around 1,000 IT Filipino professionals at their new office in the next 12 months. That is just the first part of their expansion. The company plans to increase its local workforce to more than 5,000 IT professional in the next few years.

President Arroyo, who was there to grace the inauguration said in her speech, “We believe that we need to focus on three areas to develop IT in Philippines; connectivity infrastructure, policies and good business environment, and human resource development. We have half a million jobs created in the BPO space and it our time to move to the next level of value-added services, that’s IT. We thank UST Global for investing in the Philippines and providing opportunities for Filipino nationals both experiences as well as fresh graduates thereby increasing our competitiveness.”

UST Global president Joe Nalkara said, “We zeroed in on the Philippines because of the highly skilled and refined work culture we’ve observed here. This is a perfect match with the style of functioning we follow elsewhere in our centers.” Nalkara predicts that the Philippines center will be a strategically significant geographical and business locations for the growing Asian presence of UST Global.

UST Global is part of the $6-billion Comcraft group. The company, who’s now 10 years old, employs 7,000 employees in Asia, Europe and North America. It focuses on the Fortune 500/Global 1000 market, specifically catering to Healthcare, Retail and Consumer Goods, Utilities, Entertainment and Media, Manufacturing, Banking and Financial Services, and transportation and logistics.

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Convergys gears up for expansion this year

Roy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:55:25 +0000

Convergys Corp., one of the leading business process outsourcing (BPO) company in the Philippines is gearing up for expansion this year, one of the main reason is that more clients are requesting that their accounts be handled by Philippines sites.

The company is looking to hire about 6,000 more employees this year , nationwide, in order to serve the growing “relationship management” requirements of their clients who specifically ask for Philippine sites to handle their accounts, said Maribe B. Zamora, Convergys vice-president and country manager for the Philippines.

Convergys, which operates 12 sites in the country and employing some 20,000 call center workers, recently had their recruitment fair in Cebu. Convergys vice-president for operations Stephen Daoust said that there was a strong interest in Cebu sites, especially after storms devastated Metro Manila and disrupted operations there last year. “Some clients are looking to come into Cebu because it’s outside the typhoon belt,” he said.

For their Cebu operations, the company will be adding 377 more seats at the i3 building in Asiatown IT Park, this year. The i3 site, which is Convergys’ third in Cebu, opened early last year and it has over 600 workstation spread across three floor. This year, they will be occupying three more floors. The building also houses their recruitment center.

The other centers by Convergys in Cebu are the i2 building which started operations April 2007 and Banawa, which was their first in Cebu and opened on November 2004.

During their recent recruitment fair in Cebu, Convergys tied up with Bench. The event featured a fashion show and concert, to attract potential employees in the 21-26 age range. The company intended to fill around 640 new position that were made available as a result of additional workload going to Cebu.

“This is a new approach that allows us to stay one step ahead of the competition in terms of recruitment efforts. The good thing about Cebu is that it’s attracting employees from other parts of the Visayas and Mindanao as well,” Zamora said.

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BPO sector prepares for the challenge of the new decade

Roy — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:40:37 +0000

In the year 2010, the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, is seen to continue growing as it marks its 10th year in the Philippines. For this year, BPO is expected to earn at least $11 billion and continue employing over one million people in the country. But while the sector is optimistic, it also needs to keep itself updated to meet fresh challenges in the onset of a new decade.

Jon Kaplan, President of TeleDevelopment Services (TDS), acknowledges the challenge and said, “This is a big year for the BPO industry as it signifies the 10th year anniversary of call centers in the country.” He added, “As we approach this milestone, it is necessary to evaluate and carefully map our plans for our continued development. We need to resolve training challenges for a more specialized workforce to addressing the increasing demand for high-value and value-added services.”

In the past, voice services helped spurred the growth of the call center industry in the country, however in the years to come, complex services like the knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), are expected to be the sector’s next revenue earners. Kaplan said that all allied sectors of BPO should be prepared and develop the talent, technology, and the infrastructure to meet the new challenges.

Kaplan noted that the upcoming Annual Call Center and BPO Training Convention will be a good venue to discuss all these challenges and help all industry players to prepare for it. His company, TDS, will be organizing this year’s convention, in cooperation with marketing communication firm TeamAsia. The convention, which is now on its 4th year, will have “The Vision of the Next Decade: Conquering Uncharted Ground” for its theme. It will be held in March 11 to 12, at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

The convention will be attended by players from the BPO sectors as well as those from their allied sectors.

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Indian BPO firm plans to expand Philippines operation

Roy — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:58:37 +0000

A business process outsourcing (BPO) company who has open a service center here in country is very happy with the industry’s performance this year that it is looking forward to a brighter prospects next year.

The Aegis People Support, an Indian-owned BPO company is planning to expand in Cebu. Company representatives made the announcement when they attended the unveiling of the street sign of India Street in the Asiatown I.T. Park recently.

Company operations officer Rajiv Ahuja speaks in behalf of the company and said, “We are happy with what we are seeing in the Philippines especially in Cebu and we are bullish here in Cebu.”

The Aegis People Support has already started building their Phase 1 two-storey building in Asiatown I.T. Park. Ahuja said the company expects to finish construction by December 2010. They will be hiring around 5,000 to 6,000 employees to occupy the building.

By March 2011, the company also hopes to finish the construction of their Phase 2 building.

Ahuja admits that the global economic crisis also affected them and they experienced difficulties since 2008. But he quickly adds, “We have, however, survived and we’re less affected because we established local clients and we found ways to provide service and satisfy local demands in every area we are in.”

Cebu is the company’s focus in their expansion plans for 2010, but Ahuja said they are also considering areas outside Cebu in 2011 and 2012.

Bong Borja, president of Aegis People Support, said, “We will be looking at other emerging cities or what we new wave cities based in BPAP studies. We have already proven that areas outside Manila, like Cebu, are also fit to open offices but then again it will be demand-driven.”

Aegis People Support presently operates in 38 different countries all over the world. It has two offices in the Philippines which are located in Manila and Cebu.

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Demand for bluetooth headsets growing

Roy — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:46:39 +0000

Because of the continuous growth of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines, so are the related businesses and products that go along with them. One of them is the headset, particularly the blue-tooth headset.

GN Netcom, Denmark-based and the world’s largest manufacturer of hearing aids and headsets, is very much aware of this and have in fact capitalized on the growing demands for their product. The company has already dominated the domestic market and is supplying 60% of the headsets used in the BPO sector.

The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the Ayala Group, are just some of the GN clients. Woldtext Systems Inc., GN’s local distributors said, “we want every executive and every middle manager to use Jabra headsets.”

GN Netcom Regional Managing Director for South Asia Ralph Ede explained, “Jabra’s high quality wireless headsets are targeted towards executives and personnel who need to answer landline calls away from their desks toggle calls from mobile phones and softphones using only a single handset.”

Jabra now has 30% market share worldwide on contact center and office headsets, and 20% of the market in headsets for the mobile market. Per GN’s forecast, the global market of headsets in 2009 is to be worth around $2.5 billion. It further followed that this is growing rapidly at 17% every year.

This is attributed mainly for the continuous demand for Bluetooth-enabled and wireless products, particularly in the office markets. Because 95% of office workers spend part of their time on the go, and majority miss important calls because there are away from their desk.

GN also noted that 86% of enterprises have personnel who spend over one day per week out of the office. These would all benefit from headsets that could increase their mobility and merge multiple devices for easier communication management.

The company is optimistic that the demand for Bluetooth headset will continue to grow because of increased mobility, as well as the adoption of unified communication solutions and increase in home office workers.

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JP Morgan to open call center in Cebu

Roy — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:18:12 +0000

JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPMC), an America-based outsourcing firm will opening a call center facility in Asiatown IT Park in Cebu. The company will be putting up a 420-seat center which was said to provide employment to at least 2,520 people in a two-shift cycle.

A five-year lease contract has been recently signed by the JPMC to occupy four and a half floors or a total of 12,404 square meters of office space at the newly completed eBlog Tower, for the company’s Philippine Customer Care Center facililty.

One of the largest banks in the United States and one of the oldest financial firms in the world, JPMC offers a well-balanced mix of mergers and acquisition advice, financial advisory and capital raising solutions. In its more than 40 years of existence, the company has built a strong presence in Asia and has a large network of offices in South Asia including Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

The company’s JP Morgan Securities Philippines Inc. conduct equities business. Its services include sales, research and trading. While the JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. – Philippine Customer Care currently handles inbound and outbound call for the firm’s US based retail businesses – retail loans and card services.

According to Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corporation (CPVDC), the developer of AsiaTown IT Park, JP Morgan will start operations of its call center in March of next year.

Because of the positive turn-out of investors’ interest to locate at the eBloc Tower, CPVDC president Francis O. Monera said that they are already planning to build the second eBloc Tower in the next few months.

Joel Mari S. Yu, Cebu Investments and Promotions Center (CIPC) managing director, acknowledges that the existence of big names in the BPO sector in Cebu further strengthen the province’s name as the preferred BPO destination in the world.