How Pinoys helped Convergys become a global leader

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino call center worker in Cebu managed to impress Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer so much that he sent a commendation letter to the company.

The call center agent is just one of nearly 36,000 Filipinos, who make up 44% of Convergys' global workforce.

Convergys president and CEO Andrea Ayers has nothing but praise for its Filipino employees, who have helped the BPO company flourish since it set up shop in Manila ten years ago.

"We have grown in double digits (in employee headcount), each of those years, year-on-year, a testament to the good work and strong talent here.We now have 35,900 employees in the Philippines and still growing," she said in a press briefing in Makati City on Thursday.

Convergys, the number one provider in US customer management services BPO market, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its operations in the Philippines, where it currently has 21 sites.

Ayers is proud that Convergys is the Philippines' largest private employer, and has received the BPO Employer of the Year award three times. The Philippines is also where Convergys has the largest operations or 44% of its 80,000 global workforce.

Ayers attributed Convergys' successful operations in the Philippines to the deep talent pool.

"The most important thing for us is access to talent, people. Not only agents but the leaders that surround our agents and make decisions... We (also) look for infrastructure, technology, a focus on education is important for us," she said. "We want to be in places where we can sustain a business for years and years. I want another decade here and another decade after that."

Convergys managing director Marife B. Zamora agreed, noting that the Philippines is still a top-notch destination for customer management services to Convergys clients from North America, UK and Australia.

"The biggest advantage continues to be availability and high quality of potential employee pool found in the Philippines," she said. "Another cornerstone of our success is the support of the government because they know this is the second largest revenue generating industry here."

Ayers sees more growth in the industry, but noted there will be a shift to more complex, knowledge-based transactions.

"(Call centers) won't be obsolete.It will just evolve... You need more agents. We see the 10-year trend for growth in our industry, and it shows growth in agent headcount positions," she said

First facility in Mindanao

Convergys is set to open its 22nd facility in Abreeza Technohub, Davao City in September, the company's first in Mindanao.

Ivic Mueco, country manager for Convergys Philippines, noted there were 750 applicants who lined up on the first day of recruitment in Davao.

"We're in the process of hiring our first 400. We are very proud to be in that region, to a certain extent that's a region that needs help," Mueco said.

As for future facilities in other cities in Mindanao, Mueco said the company will still have to assess the performance of the Davao facility before making a decision.

While most of Convergys' contact center facilities are in Luzon, it also has facilities in Cebu and Bacolod.

"We will end with 22 centers this 2013, second to the US which has 30+. We support almost all of the industries under Convergys' array: financial services, technology, cable, satellite, telecommunications, automotive, retail and healthcare," Mueco said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

New Dell head honcho to focus on SMB, BPO sectors in PH

MANILA, Philippines — The newly installed country manager for Dell Philippines vowed to build on the stepping stones prepared by his predecessors as he kicks into high gear the local unit’s foray into the small and medium businesses (SMB) and business process outsourcing (BPO) markets.

Christopher Papa, erstwhile Dell country manager for its consumer business, has been promoted to the overall country manager post following the departure of Ricky Lopez, the country manager for Dell’s commercial business.

InterAksyon.com learned on Tuesday that Lopez had assumed his new role as the Channels Group Director at Microsoft Philippines on February 6.

In an interview at the sidelines of the Dell 12th-generation servers launch on Wednesday, Papa said two of his key growth areas for the Philippines are the SMB and BPO sectors.

“Based on IDC’s outlook, we still have a lot of legroom on the [SMB sector],” Papa said. “Our growth targets are going to be a combination of various sectors, but SMB will definitely be part of our expansion.”

The Dell executive, meanwhile, deferred to the growth prospects of the local BPO industry from the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), which is seeing a steep 20 percent growth rate this year.

“BPO has always been a major market for Dell, so with that, we are going to see growth in that area,” Papa added.

On the consumer side, Papa said they would continue to focus on delivering on the medium- and high-price band ranges, which in recent months saw the launching of the Dell XPS 14z and XPS 15z, two high-end units that the company is eyeing for profit.

The executive, however, refused to divulge the specific revenue shares of each of its business units, although he pointed out that the enterprise business comprises 30 percent of its global business.

Just recently, Dell announced a global shift away from merely providing desktop and laptop units to businesses and end-users, suggesting a strategic move toward providing IT services to customers.

Before assuming his current post, Papa oversaw the local unit’s consumer business in the country, bringing a host of notebook releases to the Philippines as well as Dell’s initial foray into consumer-grade tablets and smartphones.

Papa was part of Dell Philippines’ segmentation strategy in 2010, which saw three core business units–the commercial, SMB and consumer segments–being handled by three different top executives. He initially handled the SMB segment for that year.

This year, however, saw the consolidation of those three management roles back into a single leadership position, which Papa has recently been appointed to.

Papa was promoted to the overall country manager position at the end of January.

source: interaksyon.com