British experts have a “very positive” outlook of the Philippines’ business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

The DFA said British-Philippines Outsourcing Council (BPOC) Board Members Ian McGowan and Richard Patterson disclosed this to Philippine Ambassador Enrique Manalo early this month.

“(They said) that while most BPO clients served from the Philippines were American, there has been a ‘noticeable increase in interest’ from British, Australian and Asian firms wanting ‘extraordinarily high skill sets and competitive pricing,’” the DFA said.

McGowan and Patterson had paid a courtesy call on Manalo at the Philippine Embassy on Feb. 2.

During the call, the two said outsourcing was “not bad” for developed economies, such as the United Kingdom, emphasizing that companies outsource to the Philippines “to compete globally and be successful.”

Also, they said their extensive experience with various British companies with BPO services in the Philippines showed that “for every job created in the Philippines several more jobs are created in Britain.”

For his part, Manalo expressed support for BPOC’s efforts to promote the Philippines as an investment destination.

“The Embassy, as part of its economic diplomacy program, will continue to work with organizations such as BPOC to actively showcase the Philippines as a prime, value-for-money business location. The BPO industry is one of the country’s leading lights, especially here in Britain where the Philippines has been regularly adjudged Best Offshoring Destination thrice over the past few years. BPOC will be an important partner in developing a bigger market in this country,” he said.

BPOC is a non-profit, independent organization based in London. It was established in 2009 to promote the Philippines as a BPO destination to British businesses.

Its membership is open to all companies with a base in the United Kingdom who either operate outsourcing services in the Philippines, outsource work to the Philippines or provide advisory services to the outsourcing or buyer communities.

Estimates by the Business Process Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) show the BPO industry grew by 22 percent to US$10.9 billion in 2011, employing 640,000 people.

Source:http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/247507/economy/business/british-experts-say-phl-bpo-industry-outlook-very-positive

Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry visualizes their proximity to their goals after the Senate passed the third and final reading of the Cybercrime Protection Act 2012 or Senate Bill No. 2796, which is aimed to safeguard the confidentiality and integrity of the digital space from abuse or illegal access.

Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry visualizes their proximity to their goals after the Senate passed the third and final reading of the Cybercrime Protection Act 2012 or Senate Bill No. 2796, which is aimed to safeguard the confidentiality and integrity of the digital space from abuse or illegal access.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) believes the bill will be a big boost to the industry’s goals as they aim to provide 4 million jobs to Filipinos and $25 billion in export revenues by 2016. “It will be one of the keys in providing our investors and customers with a sound business environment,” shares Benedict Hernandez, CEO, BPAP.

Meanwhile Alfredo Ayala, Chairman of BPAP, expressed his gratitude to the senators, led by the Chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology Sen. Edgardo Angara, in attaining this goal. “For an industry which is platformed on IT and the Internet, the bill will be a great help in securing the operations and transactions of our companies as they serve global clients,” denotes Ayala.

With 268 members, BPAP and its partner associations, Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA), Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (HIMOAP), Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI) and the game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) represent all sectors in the industry.

The House version of the bill is now at the committee level and can be scheduled for bi-cameral deliberations after the House of Representatives passes the bill on final reading.

“We are confident that the bill will be passed into law before the present Congress adjourns as we believe that the President and law makers from both houses of Congress see the urgent need to update our constitution, in order to protect not only our industry but [also] the Filipino people from cyber criminals and terrorists,” underscores Martin Crisostomo, Legislative Committee Head, BPAP.

The Cybercrime Prevention Act is one of the triad of ICT measures authored by Angara for the IT-BPO industry in the country.

Other ICT-related measures pending in the Senate are the Data Privacy Act and the undertaking to create a Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Source:http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=BD4F7A2A-0330-1EA8-BAEE1AC1F58A1571

Sunrise industry investors will provide revenue and job opportunities to Balangueños. Although, Sunrise industries are new in the province, they are growing fast. Through the partnership of Public Employment Services Office (PESO) and the Software Ventures International (SVI) and a business process outsourcing (BPO) company, 150 residents are given job and they started their data encoding training. Eventually, they will be hired by a client of SVI.

In a statement of Mayor Garcia, this initial start of BPO industry in the City of Balanga has the possibility to reach 1,000 to 2,000 qualified workers. SVI is known as one of the premier global companies in the field of information technology (IT) consulting and business solutions development.

They provide software services and business services capitalizing in a team of more than 2,000 highly skilled employees. The firm also pioneered in the Philippine IT offshore outsourcing industry.

Garcia further explained that BPO is a subset of outsourcing which entails the outsourcing the operations and responsibilities of a specific business to what we call third-party service provider. For instance, real estate like Camella Homes had poured almost P700 million investment to generate employment here. The city government had also business ventures with the big names in the real-estate industry such as Ayala Land, Megaworld, Sta. Lucia, and Robinsons Land.

Source:http://www.mybataan.com/content/view/593/96/

If you are a professional in India’s information technology – business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, brace for a lower pay hike this year. Come April, wage increases will be in the 8 to 10% range on an average, against the 10 to 12% hikes effected last year, with slower growth expected in the wake of a shaky recovery in the US and a lingering economic crisis in Europe, industry officials said on Wednesday.

“We are currently looking at growth of 11 to 14%,” Rajendra Pawar, chairman of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), speaking of IT and BPO export revenues in the fiscal year 2012-13, after the industry association announced a 16.3% growth estimate for the current year.

IT-BPO exports for the current year are expected at $69 billion (R3,38,100 cr), up from $59 billion (R2,89,100in the year to March 2011.

India’s infotech industry kisses $100 billion

The industry is estimated to have added 230,000 employees in the current fiscal year, taking the number of direct employees in the IT-BPO sector to 2.8 million.

Pawar said uncertainties linked to political changes in France, China, Russia and the euro zone economies weighed heavily on Nasscom as it toned down expectations but the association expected to revisit the scenario around October and may tweak up its growth outlook at that time.

A rebounding US economy could yield a stronger expectations once presidential elections are over, he said. Currency volatility was also a factor influencing expectations, he added.

The industry expects its medium term outlook to turn favourable, aided by emerging opportunities in cloud computing (services over the Internet), mobility, social media and advanced data analytics.

“With strong fundamentals and need for technology adoption across the globe, we are confident on the continued growth prospects for the sector,” Pawar said.

Source:http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/SectorsInfotech/IT-BPO-pay-hikes-to-fall-outlook-down/Article1-808671.aspx

European firms engaged in business process outsourcing (BPO) are expected to expand their operations in the Philippines this year as the sector continues to be strong in the country, European Union Ambassador to the Philippines Guy Ledoux said.

“This (BPO sector) is a way for European companies to increase their competitiveness…so European companies in the BPO sector will also expand their operations in 2012,” he said.

The BPO sector, considered as a sunshine industry in the Philippines, is forecast to grow 20 percent in 2012. By 2011, the Philippines has overtaken India as the the top BPO destination in the world. More than 500,000 Filipinos are currently employed in BPO firms.

Ledoux said 10 percent of BPO companies currently operating in the Philippines are European companies.

Aside from BPO, Ledoux said that this year, European firms are also eyeing investments in renewable energy, noting that as of last year, 70 percent of new power generation capacity in Europe are renewable energy sources.

“The EU is very strong in renewable energy… European investors are waiting for a decision on feed in tariffs,” he said.

EU firms also eye expansion in electronics, a sector that continues to post high growth because of strong demand for mobile phones and tablet computers.

Ledoux said that as far as foreign investment and trade between the Philippines and EU are concerned, the flow of European investments into the Philippines will depend on the investment climate in the Philippines more than on the economic situation in Europe.

“At this stage it is difficult to predict the level of trade and investment between the EU and the Philippines in 2012. There is clearly a strong willingness by both the government of the Philippies and the European Union to further expand our economic links. Efforts are being made by both side to create a conducive climate that will attract European investor to the Philippines and expand two way trade,” he said.

Source:http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/02/08/12/european-bpos-expand-philippines

Through experience and in-depth analysis of various change processes succeed the LAS GmbH, improve the quality of customer data is critical. An automated system assisted Plausibilisierungsverfahren provides excellent data quality and ultimately creates the conditions for accelerated change processes and a success rate of up to 95%.

Regardless of whether it is for customers to utilities with a strong market experience, training or start-ups is: A schedule-live with assured data quality and the optimization of processes apply to all equally.

The LAS GmbH takes over the running process, the end customer care and billing, including all upstream and downstream suppliers change processes based on a cost-effective SAP IT and process landscape. When communicating with customers and channel partners are robust and flexible white-label solutions, IT (e-Store and Affiliate Directory) is used to allow the contractor a complete brand consistency.

Additional advantages of modular design provides the architecture of LAS BPOenergy. Especially when it comes to the processing of individual sub-processes, the advantages of the system to combine individual services flexible, clear. Experience has shown that regardless of the extent of the outsourced processes of scale are realized, which ultimately lead to cost reduction.

Industry experts have recognized: For the long-term success is the professional business process outsourcing in the energy market-specific development processes inevitable.

The LAS GmbH is a Germany-wide service company in the utilities and real estate industry. The product portfolio includes the LAS GmbH for both industries equally billing and collection services, consulting and solution development

Source:http://www.artikel-presse.de/?p=475329

The Philippine Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) Industry is aiming to become one of the world leaders in four more fast growing offshoring and outsourcing services, namely: Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing, Finance and Accounting Outsourcing, HR Outsourcing and Animation and Game Development, as well as solidifying its lead in call centers in the coming years.

This was revealed in a joint press conference held by the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) on ICTO and BPAP’s new programs targeted to develop several key BPO market segments.

The Philippines recently overtook India as the call center capital of the world, and in 2011 the IT-BPO industry contributed approximately $11B in export revenues, about 640,000 direct jobs and approximately 1.5 million indirect jobs (e.g. construction and service jobs generated to serve the sector’s growth) to the Philippine Economy.

According to ICTO Deputy Executive Director Alejandro Melchor, “We are the world’s number one call center provider and we intend to attain market leadership in the UK and Australia as well. With our new development programs for the IT-BPO Industry we also intend to position the Philippines as a world leader in Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing, Finance and Accounting Outsourcing, HR Outsourcing, and Animation and Game Development. Our third goal is to double our market share by 2016 in Information Technology Outsourcing, Engineering Services Outsourcing and Multilingual BPO.”

The BPO industry is estimated to have contributed 5.4% of the country’s GDP in 2011, and government executives expect this to reach 8.6% by 2016. ICTO Executive Director Louis Casambre said, “We are expecting BPO not only to contribute significantly to the GDP in the next five years, its most significant impact would be on employment. ICTO is on the frontline of DOST’s BPO initiatives, our programs are not limited to that of industry but also improving the quality of our graduates and improve their chances of landing jobs not only in the BPO sector but in other industries as well.”

He said that ICTO intends to provide strong support for BPAP-ICTO partnership initiatives such as the Global Competitiveness Assessment Tool (GCAT), recruitment marketing, workforce core skills development, and roadmapping.

Industry leaders are equally optimistic about the general outlook for the IT-BPO industry and have expressed appreciation for the support that they are getting from the government through DOST-ICTO.

BPAP Chairman Alfredo Ayala said that DOST-ICTO has been “very supportive of our industry and we are confident that these new initiatives will help us to achieve our objectives. We believe that we can generate $25 billion in export revenue, 1.3 million in direct jobs and over 3 million indirect jobs by 2016, but only if industry can further step up its partnership with government. The initiatives announced by DOST-ICTO today are a major step in that direction.”

The Government assured the public, particularly call center and IT-BPO workers, that the Government and the IT-BPO industry maintain their optimism about the prospects of the Industry.

Meanwhile, DOST Secretary Mario Montejo assured that DOST remains bullish about the prospects for IT-BPO. “We believe in the talent and resilience of the Filipino. They have proven themselves time and time again, weathering the Asian economic crisis and recent global economic downturn,” he said. “They didn’t just survive, they thrived, as can be proven in the consistent growth of the industry.”

Secretary Montejo said after after ICTO presented its ICT Industry Development programs at the DOST Strategic Planning Workshop in Bataan last December, his senior DOST leaders and heads of DOST’s Regional Offices spontaneously volunteered to coordinate their existing programs to strengthen ICTO’s programs.

He said that DOST’s S&T Scholarship Program, its Technology Business Incubator Program, Filipinnovation, entrepreneurship training and support to MSMEs will help ensure countryside development through ICT and S&T, and provide the manpower the IT-BPO Industry requires.

Source:http://www.zamboangatoday.ph/index.php/inside-stories/8445-after-dominating-call-centers-philippine-it-bpo-seeks-world-leadership-in-four-more-fast-growing-services-.html

Private equity (PE) players in the business process outsourcing (BPO) companies might have hit on a trend of selling a part of their holdings in the public market. This, experts say, is due to a paucity of strategic exits i.e to other companies or to financial investors.

So far, the BPO sector saw two such exit announcements. US-based PE major Warburg Pincus, which has investments in WNS, has chosen to sell its stake to public investors. PE player Oak Hill Capital Partners also took the open market route to exit from Nasdaq-listed BPO firm ExlService.

WNS, in a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, said Warburg Pincus would sell 5.25 million American depository shares (ADS) with an option to sell another 1.57 million shares in case of over-allotment. This accounts for 15 per cent of Warburg’s stake in the company.

Warburg Pincus holds 21.3 million shares or 48 per cent holding in the company. At the current price of $9 per share of WNS, the 5.25 million shares would fetch Warburg $47.25 million. Warburg’s entire stake would be valued at $192.4 million (around Rs 942 crore). The company is yet to decide on the price at which the issue would be sold.

Warburg had invested in WNS in 2002 by acquiring a majority stake in the firm from British Airways. While the amount invested by the PE players is not disclosed, in 2006 when the firm was listed on New York Stock Exchange, Warburg had sold part of its stake at $20 per share.

In recent times, PE players in the domestic market, too, chose the public route for exit. Some of these happened as the companies saw a rally of stock prices in domestic markets, allowing these exits.

For instance, in the latest round, Warburg Pincus sold its stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank for Rs 857 crore (around 2.3 -2.4 per cent stake). In total, Warburg has sold stake worth Rs 2,000 crore in the bank over several transactions.

ExlService, too, announced last December it was making a public offering of two million shares of common stock by certain stockholders affiliated with Oak Hill Capital Partners.

On December 6, 2011, the company through a press statement announced the closing of the previously announced public offering. According to the SEC filings, Oak Hill Capital Partners have sold two million shares at $25 per share in the open market gaining $50 million.

According to the company’s Nasdaq filings, it seems Oak Hill Capital Partners too has exited. In three separate transactions on December 6 it sold two million shares.

“In both cases, the investors have been with the company for 9 to 10 years. They would have evaluated all offers in the market and only then opted for the current route. Perhaps, they think that rolling out their stake in the market is a better option,” said the head of a private equity firm on condition of anonymity.

Separately, WNS has also proposed to sell newly issued 5.25 million ADS to raise funds of $50 million (around Rs 245 crore).

The fund raised would be used for general corporate purposes, which may include capital expenditures, acquisitions, refinancing of indebtedness and working capital. At present, the company management is conducting road shows in the US for both the sales.

Source:http://business-standard.com/india/news/pe-firms-exit-bpos-via-us-public-floats/463710/

The Philippine Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) Industry is aiming to become one of the world leaders in four more fast growing offshoring and outsourcing services, namely: Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing, Finance and Accounting Outsourcing, HR Outsourcing and Animation and Game Development, as well as solidifying its lead in call centers in the coming years.

This was revealed in a joint press conference held by the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) on ICTO and BPAP’s new programs targeted to develop several key BPO market segments.

The Philippines recently overtook India as the call center capital of the world, and in 2011 the IT-BPO industry contributed approximately $11B in export revenues, about 640,000 direct jobs and approximately 1.5 million indirect jobs (e.g. construction and service jobs generated to serve the sector’s growth) to the Philippine Economy.

According to ICTO Deputy Executive Director Alejandro Melchor, “We are the world’s number one call center provider and we intend to attain market leadership in the UK and Australia as well. With our new development programs for the IT-BPO Industry we also intend to position the Philippines as a world leader in Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing, Finance and Accounting Outsourcing, HR Outsourcing, and Animation and Game Development. Our third goal is to double our market share by 2016 in Information Technology Outsourcing, Engineering Services Outsourcing and Multilingual BPO.”

The BPO industry is estimated to have contributed 5.4% of the country’s GDP in 2011, and government executives expect this to reach 8.6% by 2016. ICTO Executive Director Louis Casambre said, “We are expecting BPO not only to contribute significantly to the GDP in the next five years, its most significant impact would be on employment. ICTO is on the frontline of DOST’s BPO initiatives, our programs are not limited to that of industry but also improving the quality of our graduates and improve their chances of landing jobs not only in the BPO sector but in other industries as well.”

He said that ICTO intends to provide strong support for BPAP-ICTO partnership initiatives such as the Global Competitiveness Assessment Tool (GCAT), recruitment marketing, workforce core skills development, and roadmapping.

Industry leaders are equally optimistic about the general outlook for the IT-BPO industry and have expressed appreciation for the support that they are getting from the government through DOST-ICTO.

BPAP Chairman Alfredo Ayala said that DOST-ICTO has been “very supportive of our industry and we are confident that these new initiatives will help us to achieve our objectives. We believe that we can generate $25 billion in export revenue, 1.3 million in direct jobs and over 3 million indirect jobs by 2016, but only if industry can further step up its partnership with government. The initiatives announced by DOST-ICTO today are a major step in that direction.”

The Government assured the public, particularly call center and IT-BPO workers, that the Government and the IT-BPO industry maintain their optimism about the prospects of the Industry.

Meanwhile, DOST Secretary Mario Montejo assured that DOST remains bullish about the prospects for IT-BPO. “We believe in the talent and resilience of the Filipino. They have proven themselves time and time again, weathering the Asian economic crisis and recent global economic downturn,” he said. “They didn’t just survive, they thrived, as can be proven in the consistent growth of the industry.”

Secretary Montejo said after after ICTO presented its ICT Industry Development programs at the DOST Strategic Planning Workshop in Bataan last December, his senior DOST leaders and heads of DOST’s Regional Offices spontaneously volunteered to coordinate their existing programs to strengthen ICTO’s programs.

He said that DOST’s S&T Scholarship Program, its Technology Business Incubator Program, Filipinnovation, entrepreneurship training and support to MSMEs will help ensure countryside development through ICT and S&T, and provide the manpower the IT-BPO Industry requires.

Source:http://www.zamboangatoday.ph/index.php/inside-stories/8445-after-dominating-call-centers-philippine-it-bpo-seeks-world-leadership-in-four-more-fast-growing-services-.html

Even as private equity majors continue to make the best of the rally in the Indian stock markets, they have lined two outsourcing companies for share sales. The two sales together could rake in over $200 million for the PE-backers of these companies, according to VCCircle’s analysis of the current share prices of these companies.
Business process outsourcing firm WNS (Holdings) Ltd has moved ahead with its offering and plans to sell 10.5 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) in an equal mix of primary and secondary offerings by Warburg Pincus. Private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners is also looking to completely exit ExlService Holdings, Inc., after halving its stake last year.
WNS had filed for a shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in October last year in which Warburg Pincus was allowed to sell its entire 47.9 per cent stake over a period of time. In the current offering, Warburg Pincus is selling 5.25 million ADS, with an option to sell another 1.575 million shares in case of over-allotment. This accounts for nearly one-third of Warburg Pincus’ current stake or over 15 per cent stake in WNS.
The share price of WNS closed at $9.65 a unit on Wednesday, down 1.03 per cent on the New York Stock Exchange. At this price, Warburg Pincus could get nearly $66 million for its shares (including over-allotment). WNS is also raising primary capital through issue of 5.25 million ADS for general corporate purposes, which may include capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt refinancing and working capital.
In another development, NASDAQ-listed business processing outsourcing firm ExlService Holdings has made a shelf registration in which it will raise $180 million. These funds can be raised through common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, depositary shares, etc.
The shelf registration also allows Oak Hill Capital to sell its remaining 17.3 per cent stake in the firm. VCCircle reported in December that Oak Hill sold 17-18 per cent stake in the firm since September 2011, realising $120 million in the process. ExlService co-founders, former Bank of America executive Vikram Talwar and the current CEO Rohit Kapoor, are also selling part of their shares in this offering.
The share price of ExlService closed at $24.96 on Wednesday, up 3.4 per cent. At this rate, Oak Hill Capital could realise $138.34 million for its stake.
Oak Hill Capital, along with Financial Technology Ventures and ExlService management team, had acquired 100 per cent stake in the company from insurance firm Conseco, Inc. (now called CNO Financial Group) in 2002.

Source:http://www.vccircle.com/500/news/pe-owned-bpo-firms-wns-exlservice-announce-share-sales

Business process outsourcing (BPO) firms in the country remain unfazed by the recent call of US President Barack Obama to stop the outsourcing of American jobs to other countries like the Philippines.
The Business Processing Association of the Philippines even projected to generate an additional 3.3 million jobs by the end of 2016 and to attain leadership in four areas touted to be “fast-growing services” like healthcare information management, finance and accounting, human resources and creative process.
“Based on our experience, we believe outsourcing actually makes US businesses competitive. It, in fact, allows them to increase the employment in their areas of core competence,” BPAP chairman Alfredo Ayala told reporters Monday at a press conference organized by BPAP and the Department of Science and Technology (DoST).
In his State of the Union Address, Obama announced his support to the pending bill in the US Congress, which would remove the government incentives for companies, which continued to outsource jobs to countries like the Philippines.
Some government officials had expressed fears that the “anti-BPO” call of Obama would severely affect the BPO industry in the country.
Ayala said the passage of the bill would be “unlikely,” believing that US companies would not be able to survive if they stopped outsourcing to the Philippines.
Alejandro Melchor, executive director of the Information and Communications Technology Office of the DoST, said the BPO firms were not bothered by Obama’s statement.
“If it was really a cause for concern, I would be getting calls from my colleagues by now. But they were not at all worried,” Melchor said.
He said the bill, even if passed by the US congress, would not change the behavior of the companies because the benefits they have been getting from outsourcing have been far higher than the incentives that the US government has been providing or would provide them.
He said the cost of hiring a Filipino call center worker would only be one-fifth of the cost of hiring an American call center worker.
“The US will continue to do what is best for its companies,” Ayala said.
But Ayala said they have laid down contingency plans like pursuing markets in other countries like Australia and United Kingdom if the BPOs in the country were affected by US policies.
With their optimism, Melchor and Ayala projected that the BPO’s contribution to the country’s gross domestic product would increase from 5.4 percent in 2011 to 8.6 percent.
“We believe we can generate $25 billion in export revenue, 1.3 million in direct jobs and over 3 million indirect jobs by 2016,” Ayala said.
Melchor said the BPO’s expansion to other services would also require the creation of new technical courses for high school graduates.
In his response, Joel Villanueva, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) director general, said since new skills and competencies of the workforce would be needed in the BPO’s expansion, the agency would develop new training programs for call center agents, trainers and those engaged in non-voice-based skills.
Non-voice-based skills include software development, animation, medical transcription, game development and legal transcription.
To strengthen its partnership with BPOs, Tesda recently released a P500-million stimulus fund to BPAP for training aimed at creating 65,000 new jobs.
“We will review our product mix to focus on other BPO-related skills that have equally high demand such as software development and other skills as may be defined by the industry,” Villanueva said.
“This way, we can diversify and develop more skills and spread out opportunity for employment in other emerging areas,” he added.

Source:http://business.inquirer.net/42313/bpos-unfazed-by-pending-us-bill-vs-job-outsourcing

THE BUSINESS process outsourcing sector is expected to have reached its $11-billion revenue target last year based on initial figures that showed growth for the voice, health care and back-office subsectors, an official said yesterday.

“We’re optimistic that we will reach our target [for 2011]. Based on indications, it has been a growth year except for smaller sectors,” Gillian Joyce G. Virata, senior executive director of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), said during a Department of Science and Technology (DoST) briefing.
The target represents a 22% growth over the previous year’s $9-billion revenue.

“The call center industry has already reported growth, while the back-office sector reported a high growth rate. The health care information management [outsourcing], on the other hand, also reported a respectable growth,” Ms. Virata said.

Consolidated figures will be completed next month, she added.

Based on expected revenues in 2011, the sector is seen to grow by at least 20% this year. Revenue is projected at $25 billion by 2016.

The upbeat outlook comes amid a pending bill in the US Congress that seeks to discourage outsourcing.

“We are not worried at all… We are confident that the majority [of US companies] will recognize that outsourcing makes them competent as this allows them to focus on their core operations,” Alfredo I. Ayala, BPAP chairman, said during the same briefing.

For his part, Technology Secretary Mario G. Montejo said the government is extending full support for the development of the IT (information technology)-BPO sector.
“We’re pushing for our programs that will identify the skill requirements, test the work force, and develop modules to address the lack of work force for the industry,” Mr. Montejo said.

Alejandro P. Melchor III, deputy executive director for the DoST’s Information and Communication Technology Office, said that aside from the BPO voice sector, the government is aiming to boost the following: health care information management outsourcing; finance and accounting outsourcing; human resources outsourcing; and animation and game development.

Source:http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Economy&title=Outsourcing-sector-upbeat-on-revenue&id=45913

The Philippine government should not pin too much hope on call centers and other business process outsourcing (BPO) companies as a means of boosting local employment and the economy, warned the independent think tank Ibon Foundation.

Ibon, which advocates nationalist industrialization, said United States President Barack Obama’s recent statements calling outsourced jobs back to the US highlighted the risk of relying on BPOs.

Ibon warned of this and other adverse trends facing the BPO sector, adding that the money that the government intends to spend to promote it would be better used to support Filipino industry and science and technology.

The Philippines is a popular location for call centers and other outsourced services, and has edged out India as the world’s leading BPO center. Some government leaders have even gone so far as to suggest that education be geared toward providing the manpower for BPOs.

In a statement, Ibon Foundation noted the government had set aside P575 million in subsidies for private foreign BPO investors, with the money going to training, curriculum and teacher development, career marketing and scholarships.

It could think of better ways to spend the money, Ibon said.

“These funds are more productively spent supporting Filipino industry, science and technology than for a sector that is such a small part of the economy and by its nature will never give much added value,” it said.

“The BPO sector is barely integrated into the local economy outside of its relatively few jobs and so does not stimulate or encourage domestic production,” it added.

According to Ibon, Obama’s move to bring outsourced jobs back to the US underscores the dangers of relying on BPOs and foreign economies for jobs for Filipinos.

“Even if it is still unclear if President Obama’s proposed ‘insourcing’ legislation will pass, the vulnerability of the sector and the government’s misplaced attention to this is increasingly apparent,” it said.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) said, however, that it was not alarmed and noted that outsourcing had allowed US companies to survive and grow amid the global financial crisis.

Ibon countered that even if Obama’s “insourcing” plan —which some dismiss as an election ploy—does not come to pass, the BPO industry is nevertheless facing setbacks.

“(Obama’s) initiative is just another example of adverse trends facing the sector and more of this are likely to emerge as the crisis in the US and the rest of the world worsens in the coming years,” it said.

The BPO sector has been growing, but the group said this had slowed slightly. It said the 21.9-percent growth in BPAP-related jobs in 2011 was slightly slower than the 24.1-percent growth in 2010. The 22.5-percent growth in revenues was also slower than the 25.3-percent growth in 2010.

It also said that government and industry estimates for the BPO industry at 1.3 million jobs and $25 billion in revenues in 2016 was too optimistic. It noted that an earlier plan to generate one million jobs and $12 billion in revenue in 2010 fell short of the target. Only 525,000 jobs and $8.9 billion in revenue materialized, it said.

Ibon further said that the slowing global and US economy appeared to have affected the BPO industry, despite reports that the Philippines had overtaken India as the world’s leading BPO center.

“Developments in the US economy are particularly relevant because the latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data notes that the US accounts for 72 percent of foreign investment and 80 percent of BPO service exports,” it said.

It also noted that the deployment trend of Filipino nurses in the US dropped between 2008 and 2010, and Obama had campaigned for prioritizing American nurses over migrants. The US congress has already approved a bill that would reduce the number of visas allowed for temporary registered nurses.

Source:http://business.inquirer.net/41981/ph-should-not-pin-hopes-on-bpo-says-think-tank

The recent pronouncement by US President Barack Obama to bring outsourcing jobs back to the US highlights the dangers of relying on business process outsourcing (BPO), and on foreign economies in general, for Filipino jobs. Even if it is still unclear if Obama’s proposed “insourcing” legislation will pass, the vulnerability of the sector and the government’s misplaced attention to this is increasingly apparent.

The “insourcing” initiative has been dismissed either as mere election-related rhetoric or in any case as unlikely to prosper against corporate lobbying, such as by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP). But the initiative is just another example of adverse trends facing the sector and more of this are likely to emerge as the crisis in the US and the rest of the world worsens in the coming years.

Government and industry estimates for the BPO are of 1.3 million jobs and US$25 billion in revenues in 2016. These are unlikely and it will be recalled that the original BPO “Roadmap to 2010” target was for 1.0 million jobs and US$12 billion in revenues in 2010 – of which only 525,000 jobs and US$8.9 billion materialized.

As it is, the growth of the BPO sector is already slowing slightly in terms of jobs and revenues. The 21.9 percent growth in BPAP-reported jobs in the sector in 2011, to an estimated 640,000, was slightly slower than the 24.1 percent growth in 2010. Similarly the 22.5 percent reported growth in revenues, to some US$10.9 billion, was slightly slower than the 25.3 percent growth in 2010.

The slowing global and, in particular, US economy appears to have affected the sector’s performance despite the country reportedly having nudged India out as the world’s leading BPO center. The World Bank has previously estimated global economic growth to have fallen to 2.7 percent in 2011 from 4.1 percent in 2010 and US economic growth from to 1.7 percent (2011) from 3.0 percent (2010). Developments in the US economy are particularly relevant because the latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data notes that the US accounts for 72 percent of foreign investment and 80 percent of BPO service exports.

It can for instance be noted that the trend in the deployment of Filipino nurses to the US dropped from 649 in 2008 to just 85 in 2010. In his campaign for the US presidency, President Obama campaigned for prioritizing American nurses over migrants declaring: ““The notion that we would have to import nurses makes absolutely no sense.” Recently, the Democrats’ House Bill 1933 reviving temporary visas for registered nurses was approved by Congress. Among others the bill limits the number of H1-C temporary registered nurse visas to 300 per year from a previous quota of 500 annually.

The government has so far budgeted at least P575 million in subsidies for private foreign BPO investors consisting of trainings, curriculum and teacher development, career marketing and scholarships through TESDA and CHED. These funds are more productively spent supporting Filipino industry, science and technology than for a sector that is such a small part of the economy and by its nature will never give much value-added. The BPO sector is barely integrated into the local economy outside of its relatively few jobs and so does not stimulate or encourage domestic production.

IBON Foundation, Inc. is an independent development institution established in 1978 that provides research, education, publications, information work and advocacy support on socioeconomic issues.

Source:http://globalnation.inquirer.net/24291/obamas-insourcing-highlights-risks-of-relying-on-bpos

The Department of Trade and Industry remained confident that the recent declaration of President Barack Obama to withdraw support for “businesses that ship jobs overseas” will not make a dent in the booming business outsourcing process (BPO) industry in the Philippines.

At the sidelines of the Philippine Business Registry launching Friday, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo noted that the passage of the pending US bill – the US Call Center and Consumer Protection Act – that seeks to withdraw incentives from US firms that will outsource jobs, was unlikely.
“We are monitoring the developments … but we are not concerned. The rally for this bill may be election related,” Domingo said, adding that this was a scenario seen in previous election years, 2004 and 2008.

And even if this bill will be passed, its impact on the Philippine BPO industry will only be minimal, according to the trade chief, as the bill will cover companies that serve federal offices or those that receive federal funding.

“Outsourcing will be here to stay no matter what legislation will be passed,” Domingo further stressed, noting that at the end of the day, competitiveness will play a huge role on the companies’ decision to outsource jobs to lower operating costs.

He also pointed out that the country’s BPO industry is already “very diversified” as it has since progressed from being “telephone operators” to those that offer varied services whether for IT, accounting or other services. The country is currently regarded as the world’s top call center destination as more companies from markets like the United States turn to the Philippines due to the local workforce’s good English communication skills and strong cultural affinity to the US – reportedly an edge that would be hard to replicate anywhere else in the world.

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines said in its 2011 report that the BPO industry was now the second biggest contributor to the local economy next to remittance inflows from overseas Filipinos.

The report further stated that the BPO sector contributed close to $9 billion in export revenues last year, representing a 4.8-percent share of the country’s GDP. The target for 2012 was set at $11 billion.

By 2016, the industry group expects the country’s BPO revenue to hit the $25-billion mark, or a 10-percent share in the global market and at the same level as OFW remittances.

Source:http://business.inquirer.net/41765/dti-us-bill-on-outsourcing-unlikely-to-hurt-ph-industry

Australian insurance major, Suncorp is said to have given out the country’s largest BPO contract worth over Rs 1500 crore to India based BPO firms – WNS, Genpact. CNBC-TV18’s Kritika Saxena reports.
This is the largest BPO deal from Australia in nearly eight years. WNS has bagged majority portion of the order. It will get the Rs 1,000 crore insurance outsourcing part of the deal while Genpact will work for the F&A outsourcing worth Rs 500 crore.
IT majors Infosys, EXL and Accenture were all in the race for the order, which will see up to 2,000 jobs outsourced.
WNS refused to comment on the story, while Genpact has not yet replied to a CNBC-TV18 query and Suncrop was unavailable for comment.

Source:http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/cnbc-tv18-comments/wns-genpact-bag-bpo-ordersuncorp-sources_658016.html

Philippine officials in New Zealand made a strong pitch with software companies there on the opportunities for information technology in the Philippines.

Ambassador to New Zealand Virginia Benavidez and Consul General Marcos Punsalang made the pitch at a meeting with representatives of the IT sector this month.

“In her presentation, Benavidez highlighted the Philippine (information technology and business processing outsourcing) industry’s strengths, achievements and opportunities as well as the emerging trends of diversification of services from voice to higher value non-voice services (such as KPO, IT programming, game development). She also discussed the incentives being offered by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) for investors,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

Benavidez and Punsalang met with the representatives of software development company Cortexo Ltd. and the New Zealand Software Association last January 12 and 13, respectively.

These business meetings were held parallel with the Embassy’s first ever mobile consular mission to Christchurch last January 12 to 14.

They met with Cortexo Ltd. Director Terry Paddy, past President of the New Zealand Software Association, who gave a briefing on his company.

Cortexo Ltd. develops software for electric companies and has applications for regulating electrical use in the energy industries, commercial establishments and domestic households.

Benavidez updated Paddy on the Philippine IT/BPO industry, a $9-billion industry that surpassed India in voice services and is expected to attain its goal of $11 billion in 2011.

The industry is anticipated to earn $25 billion in revenues by 2016.

She also said the Philippine IT/BPO industry is diversifying with higher value services like knowledge processing outsourcing (KPO) and IT software programming, which are growing faster than voice services.

Benavidez also met officers of the New Zealand Software Association (NZSA) led by Chairman Ben Reid at the New Zealand Institute of Information Communication Technology (NZICT) – a state of the art “green” building featuring the latest in energy-saving technology.

Reid informed Benavidez the focus of the NZSA and the Canterbury Software Chapter is on linking with overseas clients to market their software.

Reid is also the Chairman of the Canterbury Software Chapter and the Director of Memia Consulting, an IT consulting firm.

For her part, Benavidez said the Philippines is keen to build more business partnerships with New Zealand given the fact that in Christchurch, there is a Center for Information Technology.

The Philippines is a three time winner of the United Kingdom’s National Outsourcing Association’s Award for Best Outsourcing Destination.

Meanwhile, the DFA said the New Zealand traders acknowledged the good business potentials and complementarity between the New Zealand ICT industry and the Philippine IT/BPO industry.

Source:http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/245955/economy/business/phl-makes-it-pitch-to-nz-traders?ref=subsection_item

Mitos Magsaysay has urged the government to be prepared in case the Business Processing and Outsourcing industry is affected by the United States measure restricting the outsourcing to Americans.

Magsaysay said that Aquino government should have fallback or alternative job opportunities for Filipinos who will most likely lose their jobs should American companies stop their operations in the Philippines.

US President Barrack Obama is more aggressive about bringing back outsourcing firms to the United States and jobs to Americans.

“The government must be proactive in its stance to ensure that the jobs of 800,000 call center agents in the Philippines remain secure and that outsourcing firms remain happy in their stay here in the Philippines,” Magsaysay said.

The lady solon lamented that the government has not been very effective in promoting a strong business environment, letting slip the high cost of electricity and transport which affects their businesses and make them rethink reinvesting in the Philippines.

Magsaysay said that the government should brace for the impact of Obama’s move as it will definitely impact the status of employment and affect the livelihood of millions of families who depend on the sector to earn their income.

She asked where are the promised Public Private Partnership programs of Aquino government as these could possibly provide jobs to Filipinos.

“Where are the PPPs that the President has promised in his SONA? Where are the investments that he was trumpeting following his trips overseas? So far, it has all been lip service and he cannot use transition as an excuse now because he has been in office for almost two years already. What has his administration managed to accomplish in terms of economic growth? And what has it done in the years since this administration assumed office? So far, nothing, except prosecute those who oppose his administration,” Magsaysay said.

She added that whether or not BPOs will leave because of the current state of employment in the United States, the government needs to institute a back up plan for the possible displacement of BPO workers.

“The President’s handling of negative news is atrocious. He seems to be wearing blinders and earmuffs when it comes to receiving unfavorable information. He goes on the defense and dismisses these and does nothing rather than taking action and becoming more proactive. When the threat becomes a reality, we are left ill equipped to deal with its consequences and it is the Filipino people who suffer,” she added.

Source:http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/news/national/22602-govt-should-have-fallback-for-pinoys-in-bpo-industry

TeleTech Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEC), one of the largest global providers of transformational customer experience strategy, technology and business process outsourcing solutions, today announced it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant of the Gartner Magic Quadrant: Customer Management Contact Center BPO, Worldwide, 2011.

“We’ve reached a tipping point in the customer revolution. Disruptive technologies have shifted the power to define a company’s brand to the customer, therefore placing unprecedented urgency on the need for companies to update their outdated customer management strategy and technology,” said Ken Tuchman, chairman and CEO of TeleTech. “We believe being positioned in the ‘Leaders’ quadrant by Gartner confirms TeleTech’s leadership in helping clients achieve competitive differentiation through superior customer experiences.”

As a customer experience management technology and services company, TeleTech has an innovative and robust integrated product roadmap designed to deliver experiences that increase customer lifetime value. Combining data-driven strategy, state of the art technology and experienced associates, TeleTech’s proven approach has driven consistent revenue growth, increases in profitability and improvements in customer loyalty for Global 1000 clients all over the world.

Gartner’s 2011 report notes the four customer management industry trends that further reinforce TeleTech’s leadership position:

Socioeconomic and demographic evolution of large customer management contact center BPO buying hubs or markets, such as North America, Western Europe and Japan, and the emergence of new markets — developing countries and non-English-speaking markets.
The “mobility evolution” — Increasing numbers of mobile devices, such as the iPhone, iPad, smartphones and so forth, and richer content and interaction on such devices, are driving demand for CM contact center BPO, not only in the matured markets, but more so in emerging markets.
Growth in nonvoice (multichannel), automated and cloud-enabled CM contact center BPO services — The growth of nonvoice and automated services, such as self-service, analytics and multichannel services, which are driven by technological changes, innovation, and a focus on service efficiency and effectiveness.
Continued service provider consolidation — The service provider landscape will continue to consolidate during the next three years as excess capacity is absorbed and service providers drive revenue growth and market share through mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

According to Gartner, “Leaders demonstrate market-defining vision and the ability to execute against that vision through CM contact center BPO services, a superior market share (among the top 10 providers in regions where they compete), and solid references for CM contact center BPO service, worldwide, including a cross section of vertical industries. Leaders also have superior investments in innovative CM contact center BPO service offerings, business/pricing models and service delivery models. They have a superior understanding of client needs and of current market conditions and they are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the CM contact center BPO market across multiple regions, worldwide. The CM contact center BPO service providers in this quadrant generally also have strong global and regional service delivery operations and deep technology to leverage, and they deliver above-average customer experience.”

*Gartner, Inc., Magic Quadrant: Customer Management Contact Center BPO, Worldwide, 2010, TJ Singh, Johan Jacobs, Stephanie Breneman, December 20, 2010.

Source:http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20120126005454/en/Gartner/Magic-Quadrant/Customer-Management

The focus efforts of this city’s current administration to make Legazpi an attractive investment area for potential Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) investors is finally paying off when it tied in the 10th place with cities of Dumaguete and Dagupan City the next waves cities outsourcing industry.
The selection was done by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) recently.
Currently, Legazpi is considered as a feeder city.
It provides qualified manpower to other cities with existing outsourcing industries who conducts recruitment activities in the city.
This is an indication that the city has more than enough qualified manpower to supply the needs of existing outsourcing industry.
Many college graduates from the city usually end up working in call centers in Metro Manila for those who cannot find available jobs here according to the city employment office and according to reports they are doing very well.
This city produces more than 4,000 college graduates every year and is also a center of higher educational institutions of the region.
The accessibility of the city from land air and sea transport from Manila and Cebu plus having reliable and dependable telecommunications providers like Smart, Globe, Bayantel and lately the PLDT that provides reliable Internet and bandwidth connectivity is an important factor for potential BPO investors to locate in the city.
Legazpi City Mayor Geraldine Rosal said that the city scored high in the cost of doing business and availability of needed physical information and technology (IT) infrastructures to support an outsourcing industry according to the BPAP ranking.
Rosal added that currently, Legazpi has two proposed IT park – the Embarcadero de Legazpi and the Legazpi Information and Communication Technology ( ICT) Park which could be used by outsourcing companies when they decided to transfer here plus the donated building by Bicol Hair in Barangay Bonot in this city.
Rosal said that this year they will be aggressively pursuing promotions of Legazpi as the next wave city for BPOs to consider investing.
Rosal is very optimistic that the city will be able to attract investors to locate their expansion in the city, thereby providing job opportunities to constituents.

Source:http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=73999