Manila: BPO roadmap seen to be crucial

At the opening Tuesday of the Call Center Conference and Expo 2007, industry experts agreed that the sector must strive for growth rates that would be greater than what could be observed so far.

To do this, members of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (B/PAP) and Contact Center Association of the Philippines--organiser and host of the forum cum exhibition--agreed to develop and push for an industry roadmap to achieve their goals over the next four years.

"The roadmap is meant to enable outsource and offshore service providers, not only to sustain their businesses, but also to [enhance] their growth potential," said B/PAP president Oscar Sañez.

"The industry also needs to create new locations, other than Quezon City, Alabang, Eastwood, Makati and McKinley," Sañez added. "We should develop further alternative sites for our facilities like Iloilo, Tacloban and Cagayan de Oro."

He also said that companies should work with the government to create the right business environment, especially one with tax incentives and similar come-ons.

Rainerio Borja, president of PeopleSupport Philippines and a director of the Contract Center Association of the Philippines, said the industry needed to focus on enhancing the available talent pool of agents, as well as the management skills being used to push the sector toward the roadmap goals.

However, Borja belied concerns that there was a skills "vacuum" or that the talent pool was "drying up", saying that such views were "panicky".

Benedict Hernandez, vice president of eTelecare Global Solutions' Philippine operations, agreed, saying the industry has had sustained growth in the past few years using the available workforce.

"The challenge is how to expand on the growth rate we have been able to achieve so far," Hernandez said.

B/PAP data show that, at current "as-is" potentials, the industry can grow to $6 billion in revenue by 2010.

But Sañez said that if it worked harder, the industry's current global market share of five percent could double in four years, at a compound annual growth rate of 40 percent.

This breakthrough growth means creation of 340,000 new jobs, on top of the current 200,000 in the industry, he said.

By Business Desk

Philippine Daily Inquirer, Asia News Network