UK body declares RP world's best BPO destination for second time

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has won the 2009 Offshoring Destination of the Year category at the 4th National Outsourcing Association (NOA) Awards held last Oct. 15 at Park Plaza Riverbank in London.

The Philippines bested Egypt, Malaysia, Russia and Sri Lanka, among others. This is the second time that the country topped the prestigious award category; the first time was in 2007.

The NOA is the United Kingdom’s only outsourcing trade association. Advocating best practice, it represents outsourcing end-users, vendors and other companies, which support outsourcing such as legal firms, consultancies and HR. It is also involved in research, events, education and public affairs.

In the past four years, the NOA has set high standards in the recognition of outsourcing as a legitimate business practice.

The awards also give recognition to companies or people worldwide who exhibit excellence in the field of outsourcing.

“This is a most welcome and fitting recognition to our local outsourcing industry,” said Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III.

“The award just shows that our outsourcing sector is world-class and has the capacity to compete among the best. We give our heartfelt congratulations to everyone who has made this possible,” he said.       

“Time and again, the Philippines has validated its status as a world BPO market leader. We at the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) will continue to give our efforts in making the industry achieve bigger and greater milestones,” said BPAP chief executive officer Oscar Sanez.

The Philippine BPO industry generated $6.1 billion in export revenues in 2008 and employs close to 400,000 workers, making the Philippines the world’s second biggest BPO player next only to India.

The BPAP is the umbrella trade association of the Philippine BPO industry representing the entire spectrum of BPO and IT-enabled services, including customer service, back-office outsourcing, software development, engineering design, digital animation, and game development.

The CICT is the lead government agency tasked to oversee the development of ICT in the Philippines, including ensuring the growth of the IT-BPO industry.

On Nov. 16-17, a 15-member business delegation led by BPAP and CICT will hold a Philippine BPO Networking Forum in London.

After the event, the group will participate at NOA’s 7th Annual Sourcing Summit on Nov. 18-19 at the Guoman Tower Hotel.

Both Roxas-Chua and Sanez will speak before the plenary on the second day of the UK conference.

The BPAP submitted the Philippine entry for the NOA category nomination with the help of the Philippine commercial attaché’s office in London.