Australians to double BPO investments in RP

Australian firms are expected to double their investment in the country’s local business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

“Our internal target is to double the three percent market share of the Philippines,” Oscar Sanez, Business Process Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) president said in an interview.

According to Sanez, the offshoring industry in Australia is virtually untapped with only 12 percent of the companies involved in outsourcing.

Majority or eight percent is cornered by India while the Philippines enjoys only three percent.

“We can definitely increase our share by six percent within the year,” Sanez noted.

Aside from new companies entering the Philippine market, Sanez said two existing Australian firms will expand their presence here.

“Stellar and Admerex, both of which entered the country late last year, are planning to increase their call center and back office  operations here,” he reported.

Stellar operates 18 outsourcing centers around the world that collectively employ more than 6,000 staff and manage over 300 million customer interactions and 100 million transaction processes every year.

Admerex Limited’s principal activities are marketing, licensing, supporting, developing and investing in software solutions and receivables managenent centres for the banking and financial services, telecommunications and utilities industries and the provision of receivables and risk management consulting services.

Sanez, together with 20 Filipino companies, visited Sydney and Melbourne Australia where they met 35 companies interested in coming to the Philippines .

In fact, five companies have already scheduled their visits to the country. They are expected to come within the month.

Sanez described the firms as midsized which are interested in back office, finance and information technology.

Sanez said BPAP has forged a partnership with the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) for a joint exploration of investment opportunities.

The AIIA is the Australian counterpart of BPAP.

Sanez said the only concern of Australian firms in the country is the sustainability of labor.

 In Australia , there is a shortage of labor specifically in the IT industry. This has caused the increase in wages.

“This is why Australians are looking at outsourcing in order to cut their costs,” Sanez said.