RP: Fastest growing site for TeleTech operations

The Philippines may become the largest call center site for TeleTech Holdings Inc., worldwide operations in the next few years, as the company foresees to employ a total of 25,000 people by the end of 2009.

This was announced by TeleTech vice president and general manager for Asia Maulik Parekh, during the formal inauguration of its Cebu facility, which was graced by no less than President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

At present, TeleTech’s largest site for voice service operations or call center service is in North America, but as the Philippines is now developing into a fast growing site, it may overtake North America as the biggest call center site for the company.

“The Philippines is the fastest growing site compared to any other countries where TeleTech is operating,” he said.

Parekh mentioned the Filipinos’ English skill and good customer service nature, as two top good points that contributed to the robust growth of the company’s investments in the country.

TeleTech-Cebu is its 8th call center facility in the Philippines. Although it has been in operation here for over a year, the formal inauguration was just held recently.

“The Cebu facility is the 4th facility of TeleTech and the formal inauguration is being graced by President Arroyo herself,” Parekh said.

To date, TeleTech has 10 Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centers all over the country, employing a total of 13,000. Parekh said five to eight additional facilities will be added in the next two years.

President Arroyo has acknowledged TeleTech’s contribution not only in helping boost the country’s BPO industry, but also providing skills development opportunities for Filipinos, especially those from the provinces.

TeleTech supports close to 1,000 employees in its Mandaue City center, with 90 percent of them coming from the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

On the BPO industry’s concern that the Philippines has depleting supply of good English speaking workers due to the rapid growth of call center investments in country, Parekh said this problem could be rescued as early as now, as long as the government will continuously provide programs that would offer support for the growing BPO investments.

He specifically mentioned that improvement of the country’s platform in making English as the primary language medium in any program of the government, especially in the educational system.

The Philippine BPO industry is complaining of the very low quality of graduates with only two percent qualifying rate of landing a job in a BPO company. Parekh however said TeleTech on the other hand, is registering a 12 percent average hiring rate.

This means, that in every 100 applicants, TeleTech can only hire at least 12 of them. But the entire industry is suffering from the two percent hiring rate.

TeleTech is one of the largest and most geographically diverse global providers of business process outsourcing solutions. It services outsourcing requirements for Global 1000 companies in different industries.