BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING
BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING
Dear Mr. President: It is ironic that the Philippines
is known to be the “BPO capital of the world” (or the call center capital of
the world), and yet the Philippine government is not doing enough to support
and patronize the local BPO industry. One of the fastest growing and best
performing segments in the local BPO industry is the Customer Relations
Management (CRM) field, more popularly known as the call center industry. Perhaps
we could only count with a few fingers how many government agencies have engaged
the services of call centers.
According to Microsoft Copilot, “as of 2022, there are
more than 700 contact centers (formerly known as call centers) operating in the
Philippines”. Copilot added that “these centers employ approximately 1.4 million
individuals and generate significant revenue”. Copilot also concluded that that
is the reason why the Philippines has achieved the status of being the “Call Center
Capital of the World”.
Some management experts have said that the best way to
mature an export product is to grow it first in the country of origin. There are
many reasons for doing done. The first reason is to achieve the economies of
scale. The second reason is to deal with all bugs and defects locally before bringing
out the product internationally. The third reason is to have a proof concept
that the product is viable. The fourth reason is to prove that the product is
sustainable, in terms of materials, logistics and manpower.
In the case of the BPO industry however, their services
“bloomed” in the global market before these were even able to “grow” in the
Philippines, and even without government support, and even without government
patronage. It is not too late however, it is not too late for the Philippine
government to start discovering and patronizing the BPO industry, even if it would
only take baby steps by starting the companies that are offering CRM services.
In the Accenture model for example, that company
provides Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services by “embedding”
their own ICT staff within the premises of their clients, as if these staff
members are employed by the clients. And since these staff members would bring
their own computers, the clients also save on the costs of hardware. That is
not the only approach, because the other alternative is for the staff to work off
premise, sometimes doing their work at home.
Mr. President, I strongly believe that this “work at home”
(WAH) phenomenon holds the promise of replacing the “OFW phenomenon”. By
comparison, the WAH phenomenon would be better for our country because our workers
need not go abroad, and therefore we need not break up our families. And yet,
we can still earn revenues from the remittances of the foreign employers.
This is already happening now, Mr. President, not only
through the WAH workers who are connected with the BPO companies that have
their own clients, but with individual workers that are directly hired by their
foreign employers. I think the opportunity Mr. President to train more of these
workers, so that they could be more equipped to do better in their jobs. I
think that this opportunity is so important Mr. President, such that it would be
advisable for you to form a task force to work on this, perhaps with DOLE, DMW,
DFA, CHED, TESDA and DTI as members. IKE SENERES/10-19-2024
Comments
Post a Comment