Edsa Central predicts business boom with entry of 3 us it firms

Three call center firms, including a Fortune 500 company, are scheduled to operate within the EDSA Central Pavilion in Greenfield District, Mandaluyong City this year.

EDSA Central is poised to take a huge chunk of the business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology (IT) markets in terms of providing office space within the development and build-to-suit structures in its Mayflower Complex.

PC Mall subsidiary OSRP Inc., a publicly listed US company, recently started office operations on the second level of EDSA Central Pavilion. The firm is a technology provider that markets various IT brands to individuals, small companies, medium-size corporations, or anyone with an interest in putting up a business and needs to be technology-enabled, according to Jericho Go, Greenfield Development Corp vice-president for Business Development and Leasing.

Another two tenants — "one of the largest contact center outsourcers in the US market", and a Fortune 500 global computer giant — will be housed in the EDSA Central Pavilion before the end of the year. Go shares that the computer company’s initial plan is broken up into three phases: around 400 to 500 seats for fourth quarter 2005, about 400-800 in the second phase, and the third exploratory stage will have a total capacity of 800-1000 seats.

The other company, which is a colossal teleservices agency, will provide employment to some 300-500 people before 2005 ends. Greenfield hopes to continue attracting big players in the BPO and IT sectors.

Approximately 24 hectares of untapped land lies within Greenfield District in the heart of Mandaluyong, which is right in the middle of Metro Manila, accessible from Makati, Ortigas, San Juan, Quezon City and Manila. Go said, "accessibility to the manpower pool is the greatest advantage of EDSA Central" which serves as a transport hub for jeepneys, buses, FX, taxis and tricycles, and is directly linked to MRT 3.

The designation of EDSA Central as an IT hub does not downplay its retail advantage but is in fact a step towards becoming a complete IT center where people and businesses converge. "We do have a lot of retail and commercial shops and we want the people to patronize that as well. As an IT center, we need the trade outlets to complement the call center offices; we also have a health clinic and we are close to schools. To be a full-fledged cyber zone or IT park, Greenfield will have to put in the residential component as well, which we are already doing with SOHO Central that will be operational in three to four years’ time. The developers are not ruling out the possibility of having a hotel here as well. In addition to all that, we are putting up several more IT buildings to cater to the growing demands of the IT and BPO sectors," Go said.

"American and European companies have observed how professional and customer-oriented Filipinos are. We are willing to go an extra mile, a trait that is sometimes not present in other host countries. I think we are already there. We have reached a certain level of critical mass because several years back, it was only India that was really grabbing the limelight in so far as American companies are concerned for IT outsourcing. But now the Philippines is already on the world IT map," Go explained.

Slowly but surely, the country is inching up from call center operations where employees used to answer customer complaints to doing finance, human resource and accounting work for big multinational companies. He hopes that our employees will be granted more technical jobs in software development, engineering consultancy, research and development, and similar areas.

For Go, it all starts with promoting the Philippines and not just Greenfield District; since the government has very limited resources, these ventures will have to be undertaken by the private sector hand-in-hand with government. He acknowledges that although the nation is already recognized as a player in the call center business, it still somehow lacks the marketing savvy to really go out there and touch base with foreign companies to promote the country’s potential in programming or software development. India still corners that market, having early on established an institute that would train geniuses in their country for very focused, very high-end work like nuclear physics, Go explained.

Again in the case of India, Go said, the ones who are really contributing a lot to the local economy, to the IT sector are those who started work and became successful in the US or UK. "But definitely we can do it," he stressed. "It’s a matter of encouraging our Filipino brothers and sisters to come back and share their technology and do business here in the Philippines."

Go has every reason to be optimistic since Greenfield District EDSA Central has been exceeding forecasts: "We will continue to work on being acknowledged in the Philippines and internationally as the premier IT destination in the country. There are a lot of things to look forward to."