By Alexander Villafania
MAKATI CITY, METRO MAHILA – Fueled by continued growth in the past decade, the contact center industry in the Philippines is expected to achieve around $15 billion in revenues by 2016, according to an industry group.
The Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) predicts the industry to grow by at least 15 percent annually, or about $14.7 billion or nearly double to the $6.2 billion revenues posted in 2010.
CCAP also sees contact centers hiring more than 800,000 workers in the next five years, or nearly double the number employed by the end of 2011.
The Philippines should also be able to continue dominating the global contact center services business with a global share of about 24 percent as of 2010. Only India would be the other voice service provider that has a major hold on this industry.
The double-digit growth of the contact center industry should stem from new, higher level voice and none-voice services, diversification to other vertical industries, and expansion to countries other than the US.
CCAP President Benedict Hernandez cited data from a study by research firm Everest. He noted that the growth of the contact center industry globally has been continuous largely due to new businesses looking to outsource their internal processes and support operations to other locations.
“Outsourcing is a business decision that many companies are making because the value is that they can focus on strengthening their business and less on their day-to-day operations. This is where our expertise in the voice services comes in,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez noted that other than technical and help desk support, the contact center business in the Philippines has begun providing higher level services, such as financial advisory, healthcare management, legal help desk, among others. These services have higher yields both in terms of revenues as well as the skills training that could further improve the scalability of Philippine-based contact center companies.
Higher level services are also largely provided to major industries, such as banking, information technology, telecommunications, power, airline, and even government services.
Hernandez also noted that more local contact center firms are targeting other countries, both predominantly English and non-English. For instance, other English-speaking markets are Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand.
Bong Borja, CCAP external affairs committee head, said targeting these markets also has other benefits; normal contact center operations happen at night in Philippine time, to accommodate the US time zone. This means daytime operations are almost empty.
However, the time zone in Australia and New Zealand are closer to the Philippines. This would allow contact center firms to maximize their facilities for both day and night operations.
In addition, the Philippines will also be able to accommodate none-English speaking markets in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia. Borja said the CCAP is looking to partner with educational institutions to establish training programs for potential hires who could be part in offering services to these countries.
Some of these plans will be presented during the upcoming International Contact Center Conference and Expo at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.
