PHILIPPINES, THE NEW OUTSOURCING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

The Philippines has been tagged with several superlatives and titles – with its magnificent beaches, picture-perfect landscapes, rare and exotic wildlife and gastronomic offerings.  But there is more to discover in the Pearl of the Orient.

RP’s BPO Industry 

The introduction of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in the country has provided numerous work opportunities to Filipinos.  In less than a decade, the BPO sector has laid upon thousands of employment breaks to numerous Filipinos.  Foreign investors have even labeled the country as the nex “Asian dragon”, primarily because of the 25% annual growth rate of RP’s Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO).  Just recently, Antal Global Recruitment Survey revealed that the Asia-Pacific has the highest hiring activity with 67% absorption of managerial and professional staff.  This major leap should be credited to the Philippines – whose hiring rate reached a whopping 98%.  Thus, RP must be considered as the major agent of the current high stature of the BPO industry in the region.

Similarly, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF)’s Global Competitiveness Report took note of the Philippines’ escalation from 85th place to 75th among 142 countries.  This rise is said to be the one of the largest among nations.  RP’s macroeconomic condition is perceived to be “more positive” as WEF chronicled.

Malacanang expressed its pleasure over the good feedback by WEF, “Since June of last year, our administration has been very active in showing the world that the Philippines is open for business.  And, thus, it is good to see that our efforts have manifested themselves in these rankings,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda enthused.

…And Experts Have Spoken 

By 2020, World Bank consultant Raja Mitra said that RP’s outsourcing industry can pull in over 50 billion US dollars if the government will continually give focus to the IT-BPO sector.”  (It is) important to simultaneously develop the IT, telecom, education, and other knowledge economy sectors and to enhance the potential synergies between BPO an d other ICT…Such a development offers significant promise it can contribute importantly towards achieving sustainable and inclusive economic growth.”

Another BPO executive and expert, Rembert de Villa, predicted that RP will reap good harvest if it continues to support the BPO culture.  ”When companies around the world figure out the value chain of services, the Philippines will have an advantage.  We have a lot of professionals in finance, healthcare, and legal services.  And our culture is aligned to the United States…What we want is to have people that have Ph.D.s, master’s degrees, law degrees, and other professionals working in BPO’s, “de Villa told a local broadsheet.

Debunking Wrong Notions 

Contrary to popular belief, the Philippines is not merely a reliable producer of employees and laborers in the field of domestic help, construction work, call center, and medical transcription.  The country has also been a perpetual source of professionals like engineers, architects, educators, accountants, IT professionals, SEO specialists, copywriters, business managers, hotel and restaurant staff, pharmacists, nurses, therapists, fashion designers, cultural performers, and even visual and graphic artists.

An English-speaking nation, the Philippines has been gaining popularity among Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Japanese, Taiwanese, and other student s from the Middle East and Africa.  Philippine universities have registered a number of foreign students enrolling in their institutions – as the confidence of experiencing a high-quality education and training on a relatively more economical cost has been surging and spreading worldwide – even just by word of mouth.