Sitel to open first BPO center in Poro Point

MANILA, Philippines - Sitel Philippines Corp. will open its first business process outsourcing (BPO) center in Poro Point and will be hiring an additional 500 workers.

In addition to the 500 workers, Sitel is also looking at hiring an additional 500 employees for its Baguio operations.

In an interview, Sitel vice president for operations in the North Luzon Region Michael Oliver dela Peña said that they will be opening the company’s eighth BPO center in the Philippines in the fourth quarter.

This is the fourth site in North Luzon. The first three are in Baguio. In Metro Manila, Sitel is in Eastwood, Pioneer, Pasig and One Julia Vargas.

According to dela Peña, the new center in Poro Point will be in front of Thunderbird Resort in the Tourism Eco Zone.

Aside from this, dela Peña said Sitel would also want to expand in Manila. “We are considering one or two more.” Or else, he said they might put up one mega site and consolidate all Metro Manila operations.

Dela Peña said they are looking at expanding their Baguio operations. Currently, he said they are servicing only the United States market. “There are opportunities in the morning,” he said. He noted that they could tap clients from Australia and New Zealand in order to maximize the capacity in the morning.

Dela Peña said that 35 percent to 40 percent of the Philippine revenues come from Baguio. He explained that this is because all the Baguio accounts are growing.

Sitel, dela Peña said, has one of the lowest attrition rates in the industry. Sitel’s attrition rate is between 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent while the industry is at 10 to 11 percent. He explained that the Sitel Academy has been a big help in keeping the attrition down.

Academy graduates tend to stay longer and perform better. The Sitel Academy is located in San Fernando La Union.

Sitel Philippines has clients from the United States, United Kingdom and the Asia Pacific. A big chunk of the clients are from the telecommunications industry representing 30.84 percent. This is followed by financial services with 28.49 percent, information technology with 12.39 percent. The others are media and data services, retail, travel, mail and document management and insurance.

Dela Peña said 40 percent of the operations are for technical support and help desk. Other services include Customer care, Collections and Receivables, Acquisitions and Back Office.