What To Expect From Business Process Outsourcing - Philippines
Things of wonder always happen in a sudden. It becomes sudden because we missed some parts in the process. This has been the case with the Philippines and its growth as one of the major centers of business process outsourcing, not only in Asia, but also the world. Aside from getting the topmost spot in the availability of knowledge-based jobs and workers worldwide because of business process outsourcing, Philippines also ranks 4th among its Asian brothers in labor quality. With a workforce demonstrating an edge in IT and management, the country also boasts of a high-level of English proficiency, being the third largest English-speaking country in the world. With its higher education priority, the Philippines claims a 94.6 percent literacy rate, among the highest in the world.
These statistics is perhaps what encourages investors in the outsourcing market to come to the country. For many years now, language proficiency in Philippine schools has become a priority alongside numeracy and cultural consciousness. Every year, about 350,000 graduates are produced by Philippine colleges and universities, further enhancing the pool of the country's professionals, who are low-cost, but are nevertheless, equipped with Information Technology and English Language skills. The Filipino labor force is also noted for its adaptability to multicultural environments, loyalty, and efficiency. No wonder that in 2004, the Philippines was cited by the Center for Trade Expositions and Missions as one of the top 10 choices for the BPO industry.
Aside from its human resources, business process outsourcing companies have a host of reasons to invest in the Philippines. The first thing that comes to mind is its strategic location in the Asia-Pacific. Sandwiched between the crossroads of east and west, the country is at one of the world's fastest-growing regions. An important entry point to over 500 million people in Southeast Asia, it also is a major access point for air lanes and international shipping, which is a very appropriate environment for European and American businesses. Couple that with the Philippines culture and natural environment, which is not only suitable for tourists, but conducive for work. Filipinos are known fro being the warmest people in the region and maintain a culture that is open to other cultures.
Doing business in the Philippines is also at a low cost. While wages are not more a fifth compared to the United States, facilities such as local communication, housing, and electricity are likewise 50 percent lower than US rates. Because of this low cost of living, foreign companies are more than willing to invest in the country. What with a business cost savings of 30 to 40 percent, outsourcing programming and business processing companies, not ot mention, 15 to 30 percent business cost savings for call center services could BPOs ask for. There is so much economic activity going on in the Philippines today, as it becomes the favorite home of offshore outsourcing. Medical transcription, legal transcription, software development, animation, logistics, human resources, payroll, accounting services, among other things are also adding up with the call centers mushrooming in every major city in the country, other than Manila. Recent statistics even projects that the Philippines, especially its contact centers, will actually be earning an estimated 11 billion dollars and employ over 900,000 people come year 2010 because of business process outsourcing. Philippines has truly become a sudden thing of wonder.
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