Winsource stays strong in BPO industry

MANILA, Philippines - As the Philippines approaches the status of being the business process outsourcing (BPO) capital of the world, multinational call center companies set up camp in the country and engage in what can be perceived as the battle of the call centers.

Their weapons and tactics include building or leasing offices in expensive real estate locations, installing state-of-the art dialing systems and technologies, and to lure the crème de la crème among the now discriminating platoon of Filipino call center agents, companies use bedazzling and inevitably pricey advertisement campaigns that position themselves as the best, the number one, the largest, the most stable, and the most generous call center company.

Meanwhile, away from the buzz and fanfare, a “little giant” is feeling upbeat, confident, and assured. Winsource Business Solutions Inc. (Winsource), a Filipino-owned and operated BPO, quietly clinched the deal with two new United States and Australian accounts on Oct. 2, adding these to its existing 30 to 50 campaigns and 15 year-round corporate clientele.

In the past four years since it operated under the wing of Winace Philippines Holdings Inc., a holdings company chaired by prominent businessman Teodorico Haresco Jr., Winsource has demonstrated indomitable force.

Employee attrition being a key challenge in the call center industry, Winsource’s voluntary attrition rate is at five percent, a double-edged feat indeed, as it is unique to Winsource, and constantly elusive to other multinationals.

Winsource president and CEO, Dr. Patrick Azanza, Ph.D., beams with pride. While other local call centers have been doomed to oblivion, Winsource shows great promise of staying on foot. “We will stay, we will remain. We are even expanding,” Azanza says. 

So just how is Winsource winning the war? Azanza lets out the secret: people management with a Filipino heart, and putting the company’s money where it’s worth.

“We are in the business relating to people, thus we recognize that our people are our number one resource. We value them. They are inspired and motivated to deliver,” says Azanza, a Harvard-trained human resource executive. 

Winsource agents, he says, are treated as family, with access to the top management, even to the president himself. “I talk to each one of them. Our performance scores rose from 65 to 85 percent. That mark-up was achieved because it was, in the first place, targeted not just by the company, but also by the agents themselves,” he says.

“We get their commitment on what they can deliver as professionals, size it up against industry standards, and then incorporate the company’s own goals. Putting all these three together into a balance, we map out an achievable target that fulfills the agents and the company’s interests,” he adds. 

Azanza has 25 years of human resource management and experience, once as technical consultant to the Asian Development Bank. Thus, with Winsource, he shifts investments from fancy media advertisements and lofty office spaces to people.

When he stepped in as Winsource president and CEO last July, Azanza veered away from hiring business development officers and took up the cudgels himself. He tapped his well-established business networks as agents to refer him to potential clients. In so doing, he dramatically cut overhead costs.

For office location, Winsource chose strategically to hold office at a Philippine economic zone, thus enjoying certain tax exemptions from the government that equated to lower operating costs.

This has, in turn, Azanza says, given elbowroom for Winsource to lower the pass-on rate of its services to principals. 

Winsource has been enjoying a steady stream of business from the biggest telecoms and directory assistance companies in the US, among others. Its facility in Robinson’s Cybergate Tower 1 is state-of-the-art, spacious, and evidently employee-friendly.