CEBU CITY - Now that Cebu is fast capitalizing on being among the world's destinations for global outsourcing and off-shoring (O&O) business, industry stakeholders here are encouraged to continue to taking advantage of the vast European market.
While the list for services that can be outsourced from Europe is "endless," Cebu and the rest of the Philippines is still unable to fully maximize said market, which is currently being enjoyed by India, according to European Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Philippines (ECCP) Executive Vice President Henry Schumacher.
"India is doing well in marketing itself as a growth location for European investors. But the Philippines has a huge potential to even grab a bigger share," he said.
Schumacher urged, "Since Europe is also aggressively looking at opportunities from emerging countries in the East, now is the time for the entire Philippines to explore Europe since it is also the largest business process outsourcing market."
Among the industries in Europe that can be outsourced to the Philippines are graphic and web design, information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services, global outsourcing like procurement, human resource (HR) administration, and back-office services like accounting and financial services.
Schumacher said that while several European companies have already come to invest in the Philippines, the latter's lack of knowledge in understanding the European culture requires need for waging a more aggressive campaign when penetrating the foreign market.
"The European culture is not hard to grasp and the ECCP is willing to assist stakeholders here in that aspect," he said. "If you have a business like a call center which caters to the European market then we can do initial training for employees."
In order to jumpstart the country's aim to explore untapped opportunities in Europe, Schumacher advised more visibility in the market including the need for a European "champion," or someone with influence speaking for the Philippines and the business environment in the country.
Branding, he stressed, is also necessary when capitalizing on the "highly elusive" European market.
"The brand should professionalize Filipinos. We believe that everybody in the world has in one way or another been touched by a Filipino. The Filipinos' individuality is important to market the Philippines to Europe, we just have to focus on the Filipinos' capabilities," said Schumacher.
He bared that the ECCP is currently conducting talks with the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) to pioneer a committee called "Team Europe" to spearhead an aggressive marketing campaign for the country's O&O industry. The team will also involve other institutions like the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), CITEM and a number of individual companies.
