BPO industry in Philippines seen benefitting as firms abroad cut costs due to pandemic

MANILA - The Philippines' business process outsourcing industry may stand to benefit from the "next wave" of outsourcing as companies around the world cut costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an industry expert said on Sunday. 

Derek Gallimore, CEO of Outsource Accelerator, said the Philippine BPO industry presents "incredible savings" to companies abroad who are looking to slash workforce expenses with uncertainties facing the global economy.

Gallimore said that while the average salary of a US worker is around $60,000 a year, a Filipino's salary would be just around $6,000 a year. 

Medium and small enterprises in English-speaking countries, which were badly affected by the pandemic, would likely look to outsourcing, Gallimore said. 

He also dismissed suggestions that technologies such as artificial intelligence are making outsourcing obsolete.

"Absolutely not, it is exactly the opposite," Gallimore said noting that the BPO industry in the Philippines is moving away from low-value repetitive tasks that are vulnerable to automation. 

High-value tasks like coding, design, marketing are replacing low-value outsourcing, he said. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Work from home offers fallback for AI-threatened jobs

MANILA -- Work from home schemes can be a fallback for call center agents who risk losing their jobs as their industry automates certain tasks, a jobs recruitment platform said Tuesday.

Up to 10,000 jobs daily are offered on Freelancer.com where 92,920 employers are looking for project-based workers for data entry, programming, graphic design, Excel and Photoshop, according to its vice president for sales, Sebastian Siseles

Finding a project-based job is easier since employers look for a skill instead of a college degree, Siseles told ABS-CBN News.

"We are looking for 1,000 different skills and abilities and you just need to know 1 thing, 1 skill for you to land a job," he said.

Freelancers are paid $196 or P10,000 per project on the average, "a lot bigger" compared to office work, he said.

The proposed Telecommuting Act, which seeks to provide equal pay and benefits for home-based workers compared to their office-based counterparts was passed by the Senate and the House in a bicameral conference last October.

Some 43,000 low-skilled workers could lose their jobs in the next 4 years when companies turn to artificial intelligence, instead of humans, to accomplish "repetitive" tasks, the IT and Business Process Outsourcing Association of the Philippines earlier said.

The freelancing industry can accommodate these workers as the network is "still growing," Siseles said.

The Philippines, with 1 million freelancers, leads Southeast Asia and is fourth in the world in terms of project-based work, he said.

India, United States and Pakistan are ahead of the Philippines only because of bigger populations and faster internet connections, he said.

English fluency is a "huge advantage" for Filipinos seeking freelance work, like in BPOs, he said.

Freelancing thrives because it removes "unnecessary intermediaries" that drive up costs, he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

BPOs need to keep English language edge: Teleperformance

MANILA -- The Philippines should maintain the English proficiency of its workforce to take advantage of growing demand for the skill among business process outsourcing companies, the head of Teleperformance said Thursday.

Teleperformance will hire 4,000 to 5,000 more people until the end of the year to cater to its retail and healthcare clients in the US, according to its managing director for the Philippines, Travis Coates.

Coates said Teleperformance clients prefer "near native" proficiency when it comes to English. The Philippines is competing with BPOs in India and Latin America, he said.

"It’s not the only place in the world to do English so it’s another reason why the country needs to continue to be competitive," Coates told reporters on the sidelines of the opening of Teleperformance's newest location in Quezon City, it's nineteenth nationwide.

"The requirement for English language skill set continues to increase so the abilities and capabilities continues to increase and I wouldn’t say necessarily that we’re seeing as much supply around that specific skillset as perhaps we have in the past," he added. 

At Teleperformance, a "quality team" is also tasked to monitor workers' English proficiency and retrain them if necessary, he said.

Graduates of the expanded basic education system or K-12 helped sharpen students' English language skills, he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Amazon.com opens first customer service office in Philippines

MANILA - Amazon.com said Tuesday it launched its first customer service office in the Philippines, creating 300 new jobs and up to 1,000 more by year-end at its base in Cebu City.

The world's largest online retailer is betting on customer service in the Philippines as government and industry officials prepared to shift over 1 million BPO workers to higher skilled roles that will not be replaced by artificial intelligence.

The site will provide support for Amazon customers in North America and the United Kingdom. It employs customer service associates, team managers and group managers, the internet giant said in a statement.

"We are excited to be investing in Cebu and working with such talented people, especially since Filipinos are known to bring high levels of experience and passion to their work,” said Amazon vice president for Worldwide Customer Service Tom Weiland.

The Philippines has hosted Amazon Web Services since 2016 and the country is "integral" to the growth of the cloud platform in Southeast Asia, the company said.

The company said job opportunities for its customer service operations in Cebu are posted on its website.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

BPOs feared to take hit if tax breaks removed

MANILA – Removing tax incentives for foreign companies seeking to outsource operations in the Philippines can discourage investments, an industry official said.

The business process outsourcing industry employs roughly 1 million Filipinos and is a key source of dollars that help stabilize the local currency.

“China is offering a lot of the incentives, here we are trying to take some things out. It’s like are we pushing the investors out,” said Contact Center Association of the Philippines president Jojo Uligan.

“Mahihirapan tayo (We’ll have a hard time). We can no longer compete,” he said.

The tax regime, however, is not the only consideration of investors, said finance undersecretary Antonette Tiokno. – from a report by Jekki Pascual ABS-CBN News.

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BPO automation may displace 40,000, add 700,000 jobs

MANILA - The shift to automation can displace 40,000 low-skilled workers in the business process outsourcing industry, but will open up job opportunities for nearly 700,000 higher-skilled counterparts, an industry official said Tuesday.

Low-skilled workers include receptionists and clerks. Job demand will shift to medium and high-skilled jobs that offer higher compensation, said Alex Tined, program director of the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines.

"We need to teach them the new jobs. The challenge now is to make sure that we have people to do the mid and high skill jobs," Tined said.

Tined said some 388,000 jobs would be added to the middle level and another 309,000 to the high skill level, bringing the industry workforce to 1.8 million by 2022 from the current 1.14 million.

The BPO industry is a key job generator and source of dollar earnings that help strengthen the peso.

Tined said the Philippines had fallen to third place among the world's top BPO destinations, as India and China lure companies with more advanced technologies.

China is a relative newcomer to the race, previously dominated by India and the Philippines.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Lawmakers urged to retain fiscal incentives for BPOs

A month before the Senate deliberates on government's proposed tax reform program, industry players want lawmakers to keep the fiscal incentives enjoyed by business process outsourcing firms. - Business Nightly, ANC, June 29, 2017

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PH BPO industry taking steps to comply with data-privacy rules

The business process outsourcing industry has been one of the country's major economic drivers. Now, the fast-growing sector is urged to implement stricter data-privacy measures amid the prevalence of cybersecurity threats. - Business Nightly, ANC, June 27, 2017

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Switzerland's Partners Group to acquire SPi Global

MANILA – Partners Group, a global investment management firm, will acquire SPi Global in a transaction that values the Philippines-based outsourcing company at $330 million, PLDT Inc. said Monday.

PLDT Inc has an 18.32-percent economic interest in SPi Global through its indirect subsidiary, PLDT Global Investments Corp.

Aside from PLDT Global Investments Corp, SPi Global is also controlled by CVC Capital Partners Asia III.

SPi Global provides outsourced services to education, science, technical and medical research publishers.

“As the publishing world transforms and expands at a rapid pace, SPi has a very exciting opportunity to support its customers,” said Cyrus Driver, managing director of Partners Group, which has headquarters in Switzerland.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Accenture's net revenue rises 4.7 percent

BENGALURU - Consulting and outsourcing services provider Accenture Plc reported a 4.7 percent increase in quarterly net revenue, helped by strong demand for its digital and cloud services.

Net income attributable to Accenture fell to $838.8 million or $1.33 per share in the second quarter ended Feb. 28, from $1.33 billion or $2.08 per share, a year earlier.

Net revenue rose to $8.32 billion from $7.95 billion.

Accenture's digital, cloud and security-related services make up more than 40 percent of total revenue.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

BPOs cautious on expansion due to Trump

MANILA - Some American companies have delayed expansion plans in the Philippines due to caution over the economic policies of US President Donald Trump, the head of a recruitment website said Wednesday.

Expansion projects in Dumaguete, Cebu and Davao have been pushed back to the middle of the year, from the first quarter, said Philip Gioca, country manager of Jobstreet.com.

"They have a wait and see attitude. They are very cautious and still awaiting directions in the American government," Gioca said.

Trump, who assumed office in January, has signalled a more protectionist US, threatening the outsourcing industry, though his recent moves have largely centered on bringing manufacturing jobs back home.

Despite uncertainty over Trump, Jobstreet.com data showed a 20-percent increase in job demand from the BPO sector.

BPO and small and medium enterprises, both expanding in the provinces, have fueled job demand, data showed.

Nearly half, or 44 percent of postings on Jobstreet.com in 2016 are in the provinces, up 16 percent over two years. These are mostly in Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod, Pampanga and Batangas.

The government's infrastructure push is helping transform sleepy towns into investment hubs, Gioca said.

"Employees' preference is also always working within their locale," he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

BPOs unlikely to leave PH due to Trump: Megaworld

MANILA – US President Donald Trump’s tough rhetoric is unlikely to drive American companies to shut their outsourced operations in the Philippines, a property developer said Tuesday.

Labor costs in the Philippines are equivalent to about a fifth of wages in the US. Filipino call center agents are also more adept at handling irate customers, said Megaworld Corp. senior vice president Kevin Tan.

Trump’s most recent pronouncements were geared towards manufacturing, Tan told ANC.

“On the BPO side, I have to say first and foremost, it is going to be a quite a challenge for them to actually bring it back,” Tan said, referring to jobs outsourced by US firms.

Tan said Trump would risk driving inflation and making American companies less competitive if he insists on bringing jobs back to the US.

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Trump warns US firms outsourcing jobs abroad

INDIANAPOLIS - President-elect Donald Trump warned on Thursday that US companies would face "consequences" for outsourcing jobs abroad, as he touted his early success in persuading an air conditioner maker to keep about 1,000 jobs in the United States rather than move them to Mexico.

"Companies are not going to leave the United States anymore without consequences. Not going to happen," the Republican said on a visit to a Carrier Corp. plant in Indianapolis.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, did not say what the consequences would be, but he frequently threatened during the election campaign that his administration would put a 35 percent import tariff on goods made by American manufacturers that moved jobs offshore.

It is unclear what steps would have to be taken by federal authorities before Trump could retaliate against individual companies shifting jobs abroad.

Trump also did not address whether Carrier's parent company, United Technologies, would face any consequences for continuing with plans to move 1,300 other Indiana jobs to Mexico.

Trump made keeping jobs in the United States one of the main issues of his campaign and frequently pilloried Carrier for planning to move production to Mexico as he appealed to blue-collar voters in the Midwest.

Apparently under pressure from Trump, Carrier announced this week it had agreed to keep more than 1,000 jobs at the plant and at its headquarters, while still planning to move more than 1,000 other US jobs to Mexico.

Trump said his negotiations with the maker of air conditioning units were a model for how he would approach other US businesses that are tempted to move jobs overseas to save money.

He pledged to create a healthy environment for business through lower taxes and fewer regulations.

"I just want to let all of the other companies know that we're going to do great things for business. There's no reason for them to leave anymore," Trump said.

If that approach did not work, there would be penalties, Trump warned.

TAX INCENTIVES

The deal marked a quick win for Trump, who has spent most of his time in New York since the Nov. 8 election building his team ahead of January's inauguration, when he will succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.

Media outlets reported on Thursday that retired Marine General James Mattis would be named defense secretary, but a Trump spokesman said no decision had been made.

Trump toured the plant in Indianapolis and shook hands with workers on an assembly line. Some workers yelled: "Thank you Mr. Trump" and "Thanks Donald" as he greeted them.

Carrier confirmed that Indiana agreed to give the company $7 million in tax incentives. A source briefed on the matter said the tax incentives were over 10 years and the company had agreed to invest $16 million in the state, where Trump's vice president-elect, Mike Pence, is governor.

Carrier still plans to move 600 jobs from the plant to Mexico, the Wall Street Journal said. Reuters reported earlier this week that Carrier also still intended to close a factory in Huntington, Indiana, that employs 700 people making controls for heating, cooling and refrigeration and move the jobs to Mexico by 2018.

SANDERS CRITICISM
US Senator Bernie Sanders, who lost the Democratic nominating race to Hillary Clinton, said the Carrier deal was incomplete and left the incoming Trump administration open to threats from companies.

"Trump has endangered the jobs of workers who were previously safe in the United States. Why? Because he has signaled to every corporation in America that they can threaten to offshore jobs in exchange for business-friendly tax benefits and incentives," Sanders wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece on Thursday.

He noted that Trump had originally said he would save 2,100 jobs that Carrier planned to move to Mexico.

"Let's be clear: It is not good enough to save some of these jobs," Sanders said.

Despite Trump's deal, employers elsewhere in Indiana are laying off five times that many workers because of foreign competition.

Trump was due to hold a rally in Cincinnati later on Thursday and address supporters who helped him win the swing state of Ohio in his upset victory over Clinton.

The Indiana and Ohio stops are Trump's first public events since he won the presidency.

At the Cincinnati event, Trump and Pence will talk about what is ahead and the "positive change" Trump will bring to the country, spokesman Jason Miller said.

On Wednesday, Trump said he would nominate former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin to lead the Treasury Department. Trump named Wilbur Ross, a billionaire known for his investments in distressed industries, as his nominee for commerce secretary.

The Cincinnati rally follows a car and knife attack this week by a Somali immigrant and Muslim student, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, at Ohio State University in Columbus that injured 11 people. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility.

In a Twitter message, Trump said: "ISIS is taking credit for the terrible stabbing attack at Ohio State University by a Somali refugee who should not have been in our country."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations accused Trump of seeking to exploit the "tragic situation in Ohio."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

BPO sector to hire 100,000 workers yearly until 2022

The country's business process outsourcing sector is expected to grow further in the coming years despite political uncertainties here and abroad.

Industry leaders said the country's education system needs to level up to provide Filipinos with the skills needed to get hired. Jekki Pascual reports. -- ANC Market Edge, November 30, 2016

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BPO sector to gain from Clinton victory: analyst

MANILA - Local property companies that lease out to Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies could benefit from a victory by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, an analyst said Tuesday.

April Lee Tan, head of research at COL Financial, said there are a few reasons why investors favor Clinton over Republican Donald Trump.

“I think one of the reasons why people believe that Asia will not benefit from a possible Trump victory is his talk against trade between other countries and the US, like he would impose tariffs,” she told ANC's "Market Edge with Cathy Yang."

"Aside from that, he also has plans to impose tariffs on the BPO sector," she added.

Philippine shares are in the green in step with a big jump in US shares overnight.

The Philippine Stock Exchange is playing catch up to a region-wide rally that started when the Federal Bureau of Investigation decided to end its probe into an email scandal involving Clinton. -- With Warren de Guzman, ABS-CBN News

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Some BPO workers worried over Duterte's 'separation' comment

MANILA - Some business process outsourcing (BPO) employees are worried of losing their jobs following President Rodrigo Duterte's announcement of his "separation" from the United States.

"Medyo may pangamba na baka ma-apektuhan ang trabaho namin, kasi siyempre if in case mag-pull out ang mga call centers dito," said call center employee Rachelle Ann Fuentes.

("We're worried that our jobs may be affected in case call centers pull out from the Philippines.")

Around 80 to 85 percent of BPO firms in the Philippines are US-based companies.

Some foreign investors may already have doubts in investing in the Philippines, but this doesn't mean that the country's call center industry will crash, a financial analyst said.

"A lot of these call centers cater to the American market...For the meantime, I think we are probably going to see the BPO industry stay with us for some time," said Smith Chua, a chief investment officer and SVP at BPI.

The Philippines' BPO sector is a $25 billion a year industry with about 1.2 million workers.

Malacañang assured the industry that the President's "separation" statement does not mean severing ties with the US after the IT-BPO Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) "formally reached out to the Office of the President to secure an audience with him and directly discuss our industry’s asks from government."

The President's rhetoric has caused some "jitters" among the outsourcing industry's clients, IBPAP Executive Director Genny Inocencio-Marcial said earlier. -- Report from Jekki Pascual, ABS-CBN News

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

BPO industry raises concern over Duterte's statements

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is raising concerns about the president's strong statements, saying they're afraid Duterte's tough talk might scare off clients. - The World Tonight, ANC, October 13, 2016

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Industry group pushes 1M new jobs in IT, BPO

MANILA - The country’s information technology and outsourcing sector is bullish on its target to generate one million jobs until the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term in 2022, an industry leader said Wednesday.

The new job openings will likely be in contact centers, software development, health care and analytics, IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines chairman Dan Reyes told ANC’s “Market Edge with Cathy Yang.”

Reyes said improving internet infrastructure in the countryside was important to meeting the job generation goal.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

BPO revenues may surpass OFW remittances

Posibleng mahigitan ng kita sa sektor ng business process outsourcing o BPO ang remittances na ipinapadala ng mga OFW sa mga susunod na taon. Ngayong taon pa lang kasi, bumaba ang remittance ng mga OFW habang tumataas ang kita mula sa BPO. - Bandila, October 19, 2015, Lunes

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

How Obamacare helps boost BPO employment in PH

MANILA – More and more Filipino nurses are finding jobs in Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) firms following the US Supreme Court verdict upholding Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act.

According to Pasig City Representative Roman Romulo, chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, the Philippine units of Dublin-based Accenture plc and New York-based EXL Service Holdings Inc. have increased their hiring of Filipino nurses, mainly for deployment to their global delivery centers in Cebu City.

"Both firms are signing up Filipino nurses with US licenses as well as those who have passed the NCLEX but still without US licenses," said Romulo.

Romulo said both firms provide a wide range of outsourced business support services to American health insurers. Accenture has 16 delivery centers in the Philippines, while EXL has three.

"There's no question Obamacare is driving US health insurers to transfer additional contact center, insurance claims processing, clinical support analysis, medical coding, and other non-core, business support jobs to the Philippines, either through independent BPO providers, or through in-house back offices,'' Romulo said.

Meanwhile, Romulo said UnitedHealth Group Inc. is also enlisting Filipino nurses and other fresh college graduates for training and employment opportunities as transition managers, assistant managers, team leaders, specialists handling health care accounts, customer service representatives and medical coders, whether certified or not.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com