Local call center operators seek gov’t aid

Local call center operators are asking government to support the industry, not by inviting bigger foreign call centers to come in, but by actively and aggressively promoting and marketing the sector to the world.

Considered as the most attractive niche in the Philippine information technology sector, the government has said that the country can become the call center capital of Asia, given its advantages in terms of an English-speaking labor force that is also highly skilled, and competitive.

The Philippines has become an emerging hub for call centers as more and more multinational companies are realizing the advantage of setting up and outsourcing their call center needs to the Philippines.

Already, companies such as FedEx, Sun Microsystems, Epson, IBM, Nokia, Microsoft, Fujitsu, Pfizer, Motorola, Levi’s and Hewlett-Packard have turned to the Philippines for their call center requirements.

And the call center industry is a big industry. "Our market is the whole world," according to Jose Ferroros of All Asia Customer Service, one of the leading call center companies in the country.

For instance, it is estimated that the United States spends as much as $42 million when its companies outsource their customer interaction or customer service requirements. "If we can only get 10 percent of that amount," Ferreros said.

The US is also the Philippine call center industry’s biggest market, followed by Europe. A call by a customer in the United States to a US-based company via a 1-800 number goes to a Philippine-based call center without the customer noticing it because the customer service representative is trained to have an American accent.

And this is where the Philippines has an edge. Filipinos are easy to train and are adept at using English as a second language. Filipinos also normally do not have an accent.

But the newly organized Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), which groups 14 of the biggest call center companies in the country, said that despite government’s avowal of support for the industry and the huge promise that the sector holds, some actions of government may yet threaten the growing industry.

Ferreros, who is also CCAP president, noted that the Philippine government’s presentations in the United States for instance were slanted towards inviting the bigger American call centers to come to the Philippines and invest.

"We would rather that government first help the existing call centers with their excess capacity by way of aggressively marketing and promoting the sector abroad," he said.

Right now, among the top four call center companies in the Philippines are Sykes, E Telecare, People Support and ACS in terms of call center seats that are actually filled. Sykes is the biggest with more than 30 call centers worldwide.

According to Ferreros, call centers that were put up by PLDT (Contact World) and Customer Contact Center (C3) of the Lopez group service mostly companies within their group.