Media
Publication: SME News
Philippines
As A Destination of Choice
By
media journalist
Filipino
graduates’ knowledge on liberal arts, or studies that provide general
knowledge and intellectual skills, rather than more specialized occupational
skills, gives the Philippines an advantage over other offshore destinations
like India which are well-known for their technical skills.
“Filipinos
speak better English, have a better customer services mindset and the
cultural gap between the Philippines and Western countries is less. India is
reported to have better technical universities but the Philippines is better
in liberal arts, which is more appropriate for back-office processing,”
according to Richard Mills, an expert on outsourcing in the Asia Pacific.
For
the past years, outsourcing has expanded beyond call centers and IT into
almost every conceivable business processes. The new batch of outsourcing
locators are involving themselves in a myriad of activities including:
accounting, HR, financial analysis, design engineering, animation, medical
services, legal services, insurance processes, banking processes, map
making, publishing, content creation, and research.
According
to Mills, early leaders of outsourcing like India are being pushed by
extreme competitive pressure to quickly move up the value chain to more
sophisticated processes. “Remarkably, sophisticated work is now starting
to appear. As one example, Deutsche Bank has recently set up an operation
that will perform financial analysis work for the company’s CFO’s
located throughout the world. The company is hiring very senior financial
professionals for these functions,” he noted.
Companies,
Mills said, initially outsource low value functions offshore but soon start
moving higher value processes when they are comfortable. “This movement up
the value chain makes for good long-term opportunities for Philippines.”
Mills
is one of the featured speakers at the Business Venture Track of e-Services
Philippines Outsourcing Conference and Exhibition (16-17 February) and will
discuss the Philippine BPO capability addressing the concerns of IT
entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.
Also,
Mills said that the involvement of mid-sized and small companies and
individual entrepreneurs in outsourcing also augurs well for the
Philippines. “Smaller companies, you may not have heard about yet but soon
will are also sending work offshore. YellowAsp creates layout designs for
printed circuit boards; XMG Global IT Research and Advisory Inc. prepares
high-end IT research; Forssman Pacific creates construction design drawings;
Key-In Data Solutions does claims processing; Primesoft develops advanced
Web applications; VinciWorks designs online training programs, and Pulse
DesignTech offers electronics design services. The list goes on.”
The
Philippines graduates approximately 385,000 young professionals a year, with
English as the primary mode of instruction. The Filipino workforce is
consistently ranked as among the very best in Asia by such international
authorities as the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Swiss International
Institute for Management Development (IIMD).
The
Philippines also has more than 100,000 accountants and business-related
college graduates, the biggest pool in the region. About 3, 000 accounting
graduates become certified public accountants (CPAs) every year. In the
first quarter of 2005 alone, the country had about 113,300 licensed
accountants.
The
US’ Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) cited Filipino
accountants as “among the best in the world.” Filipino accountants are
well versed with GAAP and International Accounting Standards (IAS) for
financial reporting, standards employed in the US, Japan and most of Europe.
The
Philippines is also included in the APEC Engineer Registry citing the
academic and professional qualifications of Filipino engineering graduates.
“We
hope to strengthen the Philippine advantage by promoting our BPO
capabilities
at e-Services Philippines (16-17 February 2006) conference and exhibition.
Companies contemplating to outsource critical business processes will have
the chance to meet, network and build relationships with some of the
Philippines’ premier IT providers,” said Trade Assistant Secretary Fe
Agoncillo-Reyes, also executive director of the Center for International
Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the trade promotions arm of the
Department of Trade and Industry.
The
Philippine outsourcing sector has been steadily picking up momentum over the
past few years. Direct employment seems to have surpassed 100,000 people and
hiring growth is maintaining very high levels.
Mills
noted, “Most estimates put growth rates for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
at 40% to 50% annually, while many of the contact center organizations are
blistering ahead at rates approaching 100%. When one considers the
dramatically slowing growth in India and other more mature offshore
outsource destinations, the situation in Philippines is positive to say the
least.”
Based
on the forecast jointly developed by the Commission on Information and
Communications Technology (CICT), the Board of Investments (BOI), and the
Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), Philippine BPO
industry is expected to grow to 12.4 billion dollars and is expected to
generate 303, 000 jobs in 2010.
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