Contact center firms seek perks

The fast-growing local contact center industry will seek inclusion in the government’s list of preferred industries for investments, which will entitle players to tax and non-tax incentives and further boost the sector’s potential as a major dollar earner and job generator.

Jose Ferreros, president of a new organization called Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), said more contact centers – also known as call centers – will be enticed to operate if the Board of Investments (BOI) to include the industry in the Investment Priorities Plan (IPP), a listing of preferred businesses that will be eligible for a package of fiscal perks such as income tax holiday, tax credit and deductions.

"We will be lobbying for incentives from the BOI. The industry is unique in a way that you don‘t need to have a very large capital to establish the business compared to other businesses. The average cost per work station is about $10,000-$12,000," Ferreros said.

"But the good about this is it’s very labor intensive. About 80 percent of the total cost of a contact center company is labor-related. I think this is the primary point the BOI may consider," he added.

He said CCAP alone, which has 13 members at present, currently employs 30,000-40,000 people but is capable of expanding almost four-fold as their client base increases.

"In the IT plan of the BOI, they’ve now put a premium on the job generation and revenue potential of an industry, and not just the amount of initial investments," the CCAP chief said.

He added the revenue potential of a contact center is enormous since many businesses in the global market have set their sights on outsourcing some of their services, which is the bread and butter of contact centers.

Contact centers operating in the Philippines are looking at companies in Japan, touted to be the biggest outsourcing market outside of the United States, and some countries in Europe.

"Everybody’s looking at the US, but Japan is one big potential market," he said. "Of course, tapping this market would require further training of employees in the Japanese language. But one thing about Filipinos is that they can easily be trained."

The local contact center industry is expected to grow by as much as $864 million by 2004 with the expected influx of foreign clients in the next two years.

CCAP is composed of 13 corporate members, which include All Asia Customer Services Inc., Ambergris Solutions, C3 Customer Contact Center, Inc., Contact World, CQuadrant, Easycall Communications Philippines, Inc., eTelecare International, Experts Direct Communications, Immequire, People Support, Pilipinas Teleserv, Inc., Qinteraction Philippines, Inc. and Sykes.