Contact center industry expects 20% annual growth over 3 years

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine contact center (call center) industry is expected to experience a 20 percent growth annually in terms of revenues in the next three years.

Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) president Benedict Hernandez also revealed that for this year, the industry is forecasting a 23 percent growth in revenues to $6.15 billion and total jobs of 344,000.

During the opening of the International Contact Center Conference, he pointed out that even during the peak of the global financial crisis, the industry was still experiencing an 18 percent revenue growth.

“We believe we will still have growth years. We will even be more bullish and aggressive in looking at locations that will provide us more cost savings,” he said.

Noting that this year seems to be a good recovery, Hernandez said the next three years will continue to be on a positive growth in the range of 20 percent if not more year-on-year. “We have proven to be resilient as an industry despite the crisis,” he added.

The industry, however, continues to face a number of challenges, foremost of which are the availability of qualified call center agents, the high attrition rate, increasing costs for salaries and utilities, among others.

“As in the last 10 years of the industry, talent will continue to be key. The availability of talent solves the challenges of recruiting, labor costs and attrition,” Hernandez noted.

Over the last decade, he said the Philippines was able to experience continued growth of around 20 percent annually, and expand its capabilities. “We have been able to expand our service offerings and do more complex work. We have also migrated to full service capabilities and have shown our ability to innovate in terms of breakthrough practices and new standards,” he explained.

He said that innovation requires stepping up on communication, critical thinking, building abilities innovation, thought leadership, leadership and management capability.

Since 2000, the call center industry has been rapidly growing in terms of both revenue and employment. Offshore call center outsourcing services has not only contributed 12 percent to the country’s gross national product (GNP) but has been one of the biggest sources of employment for Filipinos.

In 2000, the country had 2,400 call center professionals and by 2005, this number grew to about 112,000 with revenues exceeding $1 billion, up from the 2000 revenue of $24 million.