The Oscars of the BPO Industry

Transcription

april - june 2008 • Vol. 2 - No. 2 • 24 pages • free
The Oscars of the BPO Industry
INDUSTRY PROFILE p. 14
Gabby Dizon, Game
Devt. Association of
the Philippines
Interview highlights:
How the Philippines'
gaming industry
stands in Asia
■ Oscars of the BPO Industry p.2
• Meet the winners and the finalists of the prestigious award
• The categories of excellence
• The significance of the awards and their overall contribution to the
industry
• Future plans of the organizers: where does the BPO industry go
from here?
■ Europe: The Next Frontier for Philippine BPOs p. 4
• A comparison between the U.S. and European markets
• Current perception of the Philippines by European companies
• Steps that must be taken to attract more European clients to the
Philippines
■ First 100 Days of Roadmap 2010 p. 4
• 50 percent increase in revenue
• 30 percent increase in jobs generated during that same time period
• The global crisis that is compelling U.S. companies to consider
outsourcing as a means of cost-cutting
• Non-traditional markets that Phil. BPOs will venture into
■ Comprehensive BPO Guide Will Promote 100+ Companies p. 4
• The contents of the O&O directory and the assistance they provide
to BPOs, locators, and client companies
■ Phil. BPOs Assess Impact of U.S. Economic Crisis and Peso
Appreciation p. 6
• The U.S. represents 67 percent of direct foreign investment and 86
percent export revenues for BPO-IT firms ■ 2008 Target p. 8
• Forty percent growth needed to reach US$7 billion in revenues
■ From the CEO’s Desk p. 9
• 10,000 TESDA scholarship vouchers released
• 15 educational institutions now in partnership with BPOs to
develop curriculum supportive of the industry
■ The BPA/P’s Initiative in Second Quarter p. 10
• The highlights of a roadshow to Australia promoting the
Philippine BPO industry
■ Anand Chopra p. 12
• The Indian senior executive who became a BPA/P stalwart and a
friend of Philippine BPOs
■ The Game Development Industry p. 13
• The Philippines ranks second only to Singapore when it comes to
game development outsourcing
• US$1 billion: the estimated revenue of game development
outsourcing
• The ability to deliver, flexibility, and excellent English
communication skills are more important to clients than cost
■ The Game Development Association of the Philippines p. 14
• The game that won the Best Innovation in Audio Award and
became a finalist in the U.S. Independent Game Festival in 2004
• The United States, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore, and
India are some of the countries that outsource gaming work to the
Philippines
• How the Philippines’ gaming industry is positioning itself as the
production center in Southeast Asia
■ Pixelstream p. 16
• Filipino gamers are strong in creativity
• The Philippine icon soon to be the center of an original game
■ How Do We Train Culture? p. 18
• What may work for Americans may be disastrous for Britons
The ICT industry recognizes movers and shakers
with awards that serve as a benchmark for companies
and individuals to continually measure themselves
It was an evening comparable
to the Oscars of the movie industry.
Gentlemen and ladies in their best
evening suits and dresses. Thirtyeight finalists vying for some of the
most coveted awards in the industry.
The difference was that no one
among the finalists had inch-thick
makeup, and there were no fans
outside the awards hall shrieking
for their favorites.
But March 13 nevertheless
marked a shining moment for
an industry that has contributed
so much to the economy,
organizations, and individuals. That
night, members of the business
process outsourcing industry (BPO)
once more recognized peers and
colleagues who had contributed
to put the Philippines on the BPO
global map.
By Veronica C. Silva-Cusi
The Second ICT Awards–
Philippines 2008 was attended by
more than 400 participants who
have made it to the list of Who’s
Who in the local and international
ICT scene.
Eight winners further sealed the
Philippines’ fate as the destination
of choice for outsourcing and
offshoring.
Turn to page 2
Photo courtesy of PLDT
L-R: LogicaCMG Global Business Dev. Exec. Mitch Locsin; Sitel Phils. Pres. Dan Reyes; Logica (Phils.) Inc.’s Marie Lee Rodriguez;
Pointwest Tech Pres. Cristina Coronel; ICT Phil. Operations EVP John Langford; Accenture Phils. Country Managing Dir. Beth Lui;
Hinduja TMT HR Head Vida Arciaga; Netsuite Phils. GM-VP James Dantow; and PLDT Sales and Marketing SVP Eric Alberto.
Comprehensive BPO Guide
Europe: The
Will Promote 100+ Companies Next Frontier
Photos by Willie Bicera
The local outsourcing
industry has found
another channel to
market itself globally
The
Business
Processing
Association of the Philippines
(BPA/P) is working with Asiatype,
Inc. to launch the Offshoring &
Outsourcing Directory Philippines
2008 by June.
The
directory
is a
Turn to page 4
Phil. BPOs Assess Impact
of U.S. Economic Crisis and
Peso Appreciation
By Rory Visco
Photos by Shishiir Manzo
The consensus of
many execs is that
there are more reasons
to be positive than
apprehensive
The strengthening of the
Philippine peso has drawn
raves and rants from all sectors
in the Philippines in the same
way that the U.S. economic
slowdown and the dip in strength
of the once-mighty U.S. dollar
sent shock waves around the
world. Not surprisingly, the
Philippine currency’s unexpected
appreciation also drew mixed
reactions
from
information
technology-business
process
outsourcing (IT-BPO) executives
Turn to page 6
for Philippine
BPOs
By Dahl Bennett
Team Europe leads the
campaign via global
promotion and case
studies in new website
The time is ripe. The
infrastructure is in place. The
reputation is solid. No question
about it: the Philippines is more
than ready to look beyond its
dominant U.S. market and gear
up for the untapped European
market.
Multi-billion market
With a potential market that
is worth US$40 billion, where
does the Philippines—or Europe,
for that matter—start and how?
These are exactly the questions
that triggered the formation of
Team Europe last year. So far, the
Turn to page 4
april - june 2008
BPA/P Stories
The Oscars of the BPO ...
Breakthroughs
Continuation from page 1
Interview photos by SANY CHUA
BENG CORONEL
ATTY. BOB GUINTO
Neil Elias, Country Director of Logica (Philippines), Inc. receives the Best New BPO Locator of the Year Award from Berna Santiago, Director , Property / Facilities
of Colliers Philippines. At left, the awards organizers from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (CanCham): (left, top) Sean Georget, CanCham
Executive Director; and (left, bottom) Richard Mills, CanCham ICT Committee Head
And that was just exactly what the awards
hoped to achieve: promoting excellence in
BPO in the Philippines.
Events organizers noted that the awards
were an opportunity for the industry to
promote itself locally and internationally
while encouraging healthy competition.
That the winners were selected by their
peers in fact made the awards comparable
to the Oscars, comments Richard Mills, ICT
Committee Head of the Canadian Chamber
of Commerce of the Philippines (Cancham),
and founder of the awards.
“Like the Oscars, [the awards]
promot(ed) standards of excellence within the
companies, among their own ranks,” Mills
tells Breakthroughs in an interview. And just
like the Academy Awards, it was more of the
industry promoting itself, he adds.
The top three corporate winners were
Sitel Philippines Corporation, BPO Company
of the Year; Accenture, Inc. (Accenture
Delivery Services Center), BPO Employer of
the Year; and ICT Marketing Services, Fastest
Growing BPO Company of the Year.
The awardees
The only individual award went to
Mitch Locsin, former Executive Director
of BPA/P and now Global Business
Development
Executive
of
Logica
(Philippines) Inc. Locsin was given the ICT
Individual Contributor of the Year Award
for his involvement in leading, promoting,
facilitating, or assisting companies in the
sector.
Among the top corporate winners, Sitel
was recognized for achieving successes
in stabilizing its functions and fostering
development in operations brought about
by the grand merger of two of the world’s
largest BPO organizations: ClientLogic
and Sitel. Along with its President Dan
Reyes, the company has championed the
Philippines in the international market as
the ideal BPO location.
Meanwhile, it was Accenture’s second
time in a row to win in the employer
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
category, where it was ranked at the top or
close to the top in all the judging criteria.
The company was recognized for its aboveindustry retention rates, growth rates, and
size. Organizers said that one of the most
telling indications that make Accenture
worthy of the award is that last year, the
company promoted 3,162 employees, more
than a fifth of its 15,000-plus workforce.
Then there was ICT Marketing Services
or the ICT Group, which began operations
in the Philippines in 2003 and has since
continually expanded in employees and
number of facilities. Today, almost 40
percent of the company’s global production
is handled by the Philippine operations.
With strong client demand across vertical
industries and global markets, ICT Group
plans to expand its Philippine operations in
2008.
Other winners include: Netsuite
(Philippines), Inc., Best Mid-sized BPO
Company of the Year (foreign-owned);
Pointwest Technologies Corporation, Best
Mid-sized BPO Company of the Year
(locally owned); Logica (Philippines),
Inc., Best New BPO Locator of the Year;
and Hinduja TMT Ltd. Philippines, Most
Innovative BPO Company of the Year.
Sean Georget, Executive Director of
Cancham, told Breakthroughs that this
year’s awards distinguished between local
and foreign BPO mid-sized companies.
New York-listed NetSuite was chosen
for providing high value employment
opportunities for Filipinos. It also has been
an enthusiastic promoter of the country as a
BPO destination.
Pointwest Technologies, a 100-percent
Filipino-owned company, was recognized for
its profitability; it has experienced continuous
growth, which almost doubles every year,
since it began. Starting with nine employees
in 2002, Pointwest now has 400 staff.
The younger Logica began in the
Philippines in March 2007 with 15
employees. Now it has over 200 staff. The
company achieved profitability on its ninth
month of operation. For 2008, the Philippine
operation has been designated Logica’s
Global Center of Excellence for Human
Resource Management and Enterprise
Content Management functions, showing the
quality of work done by the Manila teams in
2007.
Hinduja TMT, part of the multi-billion
dollar conglomerate Hinduja Group, provides
a range of outsourcing solutions, including
back office processing, contact center,
and customized IT services. The company
was recognized for having implemented
pioneering innovations for their clients such
as doing the company reviews, evaluation,
and video scoring of clips of motor vehicle
incidents. With such innovations, Hinduja
Philippines was able to replicate its clients’
core business process offshore while
maintaining the highest quality standards.
Promotion of excellence
The awards were an initiative of Cancham
to promote the country and individuals,
including Filipino talent. Georget observes
that the awards being led primarily by business
chambers indicates that it is unbiased.
Events organizers say that being the second
award ceremony of its kind in the country,
this year’s event was much easier to put
together. But the judges, who included some
of the movers and shakers in the industry and
government, had a difficult time deciding the
winners because they were all worthy of the
awards, notes Oscar Sañez, Chief Executive
Officer of BPA/P, the awards co-organizer.
Aside from Sañez and Mills, the judges
included Don Felbaum, head of the ICT
Committee of the American Chamber
of Commerce in the Philippines; Henry
Schumacher, Executive Director of the
European Chamber of Commerce of the
Philippines; and Celeste Ilagan, Executive
Director of the Board of Investments.
After the event, organizers say it is
now up to the companies and individuals to
take ownership of the awards and promote
themselves and the country in the international
community.
“People who have heard of the event
have put the Philippines in their minds,”
says Mills. ”The Philippines has emerged as
a primary site for outsourcing right now that
people want to know what’s going on [in the
industry].”
In his closing speech at the awards
night, Sañez underscored the significance
of such accolades to the Philippine BPO
sector: “Growth will come from promoting
excellence in ourselves and our industry. It
is about organizing programs like what we
have tonight, cheering on our demonstrated
capabilities that count, and challenging
ourselves to surpass what has been
demonstrated.”
ARMIE DUARTE
President
heinz bulos
Publisher
cora llamas
Editor in Chief
william dizon
Art Director
DONNA LARAGA
Executive Assistant
DAHL BENNETT
LYNDA CORPUZ
ARTEMIO CUSI III
VERONICA SILVA-CUSI
MARIA MUTYA FRIO
RORY VISCO
Contributing Writers
WILLIE BICERA
SANY CHUA
SHISHIIR MANZO
Photographers
The other categories
He added that such awards serve as a means
to benchmark the companies, individuals, and
industry against themselves.
The following were the other finalists per
category:
BPO Company of the Year
1. Accenture Delivery Service CentersPhilippines
2. AIG Business Processing Services Inc.
3. eTelecare Global Solutions
PEACHIE G. CORTEZ
Operations Director
16th Flr. IJ3 Burgundy Corporate Tower
252 Sen Gil Puyat, Makati City
Tel: 856-4956 Fax: 856-4954
E-mail: [email protected]
www.bpap.org
Breakthroughs
BPA/P Stories
april - june 2008
Beth G. Lui , Country Managing Director of Accenture
Inc., BPO Employer of the Year, receives the award
from Rain Reyes, Enterprise Industry Head of Globe.
Maria Cristina Coronel, President of Pointwest Technologies
Corporation, Best Mid-sized BPO (local owned), receives the
trophy from Fred Stacey, Director for EMEA of Touchstar.
James Dantow , GM-VP of Netsuite (Philippines) Inc., Best
Mid-sized BPO (foreign-owned), receives the trophy from
David Swales, SVP, Business Banking of HSBC.
John Langford , EVP for Philippine Operation of ICT Marketing
Services, receives Fastest Growing BPO Award from Antonio
Pio de Roda, Managing Director of Nortel Philippines.
Dan Reyes , President of Sitel Philippines Corp. (right), BPO Company of the Year, receives
the trophy from Eric Alberto, SVP and Head of PLDT Customer Sales and Marketing Group (left).
4. Proctor & Gamble Asia Pte LTd - GBS
Manila Service Center
5. PeopleSupport (Phils.), Inc.
6. SPi
7. Sykes Asia Inc.
8. TeleTech Customer Care Management
BPO Employer of the Year
1. Convergys Services Philippines
2. DELL Philippines
3. ePLDT Ventus
4. HSBC Global Resourcing (GSC Manila)
5. ICT Marketing Group
6. Telus International Philippines
7. Maersk Global Services Centres
(Philippines) ltd.
Best Mid-sized BPO Company
of the Year - Locally Owned
1. Gurango Software
2. Source Partners/Environments Global
Best Mid-sized BPO Company of the Year
- Foreign Owned
1. Genpact LLC Philippines
2. Perot Systems
www.bpap.org
Fastest Growing BPO Company
of the Year
1. ePerformax Contact Centers
2. Sitel Philippines Corporation
3. Teleperformance
Most Innovative BPO Company
of the Year
1. BOMA One Pacific Corporation
2. NCO Group
3. PeopleSupport (Phils) Inc.
4. Sitel Philippines Corporation
ICT Individual Contributor
of the Year Award
1. Dan Reyes, Sitel Philippines
2. Ernest Cu, President, SPi
Organizers say the awards also fostered
healthy competition because both finalists and
winners are able to showcase the standards of
excellence in the local BPO sector.
A third awarding opportunity is in the
offing next year with the possibility of
including a lifetime achievement award to
deserving individuals and companies. z
Vida Arciaga, HR Head of Hinduja TMT Ltd. Philippines
receives the Most Innovative BPO Award from Gerry
Clark, Regional Head of TPI for South East Asia.
The only individual award went to Mitch Locsin
who received the Individual Contributor Award
from Oscar Sañez , CEO of BPA/P.
april - june 2008
BPA/P Stories
Breakthroughs
Europe: The Next Frontier for Phil. BPOs
(L-R) Oscar Sañez, BPA/P CEO; Neil Elias, CEO, LogicaCMG Philippines; Stephanie Weber,
Business Development Manager, EITSC and Project Leader of Team Europe; and Henry Schumacher,
Executive Vice-President, European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines
paths are slowly being paved for the big and
challenging journey ahead. The initial focus
is on the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, the
Netherlands, and German-speaking nations,
which have diverse outsourcing needs that
the Philippines can readily serve.
“The European companies that are here
which I have talked to are very happy,” says
Stephanie Weber, Team Europe’s Business
Development Manager, who has been in the
country since last year to take the lead in
plotting the team’s long-term goals. “Many
of them plan to extend their business and
that shows that the Philippines can handle
the European (market) and the Europeans
can handle the Philippines.”
Europe had one foot in, so to speak. For
some years now, big multinational companies
based in Europe have been tapping the
Philippines for their outsourcing needs,
mainly back office services. Siemens, Atkins,
Deutsche Bank, Ericsson, Henkel, HSBC,
Nestlé, and Shell are just a few of them. Yet
despite their presence, the European market
here only makes up ten percent of the US$4.5
billion BPO industry in the Philippines
compared with the 65-percent share of the
U.S. market.
Weber says that Europe has been
“slow and conservative” in looking at
outsourcing and offshoring, but since last
year companies there have been catching
up. “Europe has caught up, and it makes
sense for Europe to come in as it will grow
still in the future,” she says optimistically.
Team Europe’s main goal is to promote
the Philippines as an established outsourcing
location offering world-class service in
the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)
and Information Technology (IT) sectors.
At this point, the team is still in the very
first stages of implementing its long-term
goals but, even then, it has started laying
the foundation.
Some of its notable achievements are:
the organization of journalists’ visits, which
has produced “very positive articles in the
European media”; winning the United
Kingdom’s National OutsourcingAssociation
(NOA) Award; and the creation of the
website, www.team-europe-philippines.com,
to spread information about the Philippines
and its BPO/IT industry and to become a
venue for case studies and testimonials of
successful European businesses here.
“It will take a couple of years (to reach
our goals) but it’s ongoing,” Weber says. She
also notes that “the whole BPO environment
changes” and Team Europe wants to make
sure that the Philippines and Europe are
“moving in one direction.”
Media play an important role in early
goals of Team Europe as it faces the challenge
of changing the continent’s negative
impression of the Philippines, which is often
associated abroad with coup attempts and
Abu Sayyaf kidnapping reports.
“We haven’t gone out (of the country) so
far and we are planning to bring a delegation
to Europe in the second half of the year,” says
Weber. “We also want to invite more media
people there (Europe) to give them an idea
[of how the BPO/IT industry is thriving].”
Making presence felt
Another crucial strategy to achieve its
vision is for the Philippines to exert more
effort in making its presence felt in European
market. “What the Philippines has to do is
increase its presence there,” says Weber.
She paints the picture happening in trade
shows and events in Europe: “If you are an
interested European company and you get
approached by five Indians and five Chinese
companies, then of course you consider first
whoever is there.”
She adds that Team Europe is there to
support the local outsourcing businesses
by helping build that necessary and crucial
awareness for the Philippines in Europe.
“Companies here, especially the smaller
ones, don’t know how to start [breaking into
the European market] and that’s where Team
Europe comes in,” she says. Team Europe is
in the thick of planning outbound missions
for next year where the Philippines can
participate in relevant trade shows, events,
and conventions in Europe. “We also want
to get more media coverage and get the IT
associations involved as well,” says Weber.
To do all these, funding is necessary and
Weber admits that budgetary constraints
have been a major roadblock in pursuing
some of its goals at a faster pace. This has
also been the reason why the team hasn’t
been to Europe to promote the Philippines
apart from last year’s trip to London to
receive the “Best Offshoring Destination of
the Year” awarded by the NOA.
Help, financial or otherwise, is needed
not only from existing members (Board of
Investments, BPA/P, and the European Chamber
of Commerce of the Philippines, to mention a
few), but from outsourcing companies who
want a share in such a big, almost untouched,
pie. “We are happy to support these interested
companies but they have to help in the funding,”
Weber stresses.
Active participation in the team’s newly
launched website can literally go a long
way and get the right information straight to
Europe in order to win their confidence and
get them to invest in the country. “We would
like to ask the companies to participate
in giving information (case studies) and
testimonials through the website so that
it can grow and help the Europeans who
want to come here,” says Weber. “We want
to cover as many companies as possible to
show how big it really is.”
How far Team Europe can go may depend
on how far the local companies are willing
to participate. It takes two to tango as they
say, and while there’s still plenty of time, it
is best to go out there and show that, apart
from India, Vietnam, and China, there’s also
the Philippines. “Present yourself, show the
Filipino face out there,” Weber urges. z
Comprehensive BPO Guide Will Promote ...
comprehensive guide to the information
technology/IT-enabled and business process
outsourcing (BPO) services available in
the Philippines. More than 100 companies
offering these services will be included in the
directory, which will be updated annually.
At the soft launch-cocktails introducing
the project last March 31, Asiatype, Inc.
Managing Director Philippe Saurel said the
directory would be a good marketing tool for
the Philippine BPO industry. He added that it
took Asiatype and BPA/P two years to work
on the directory, which retails for US$295.
BPA/P Chief Executive Officer Oscar
Sañez said the directory will benefit local
BPO companies that are looking for clients
from around the world.
The soft launch was preceded by the
BPA/P monthly membership meeting where
Sañez told members that the directory
contains guidelines to help firms set up a BPO,
including guidelines in filing for applications
for tax perks under the Omnibus Investment
Code of 1987 Executive Order 226.
Some BPOs that choose to locate in
designated and proclaimed economic zones
are entitled to incentives, including income
tax holidays.
The directory also has a list of these
economic
zones,
including
updated
availability of space, Sañez added.
Companies included in the directory are
classified according to the priority sectors
identified jointly by the government and
the private sector, namely: customer contact
center, software development, computer
graphics / animation / publishing services,
information processing and management,
engineering design, and support services.
Information on each company includes
those on its market capitalization; revenue;
year of establishment; address and sites;
email address; contact person; and website.
These basic data can help a potential investor
looking at the Philippines decide which
company to work with.
There is a section as well that contains
a brief profile of each company, its specific
areas of operation, and members of the
management team.
To further help potential partners
decide in choosing a Philippine-based
BPO as a partner, the directory has a list of
investment promotion agencies and industry
associations. z By Veronica F. Silva-Cusi
Clockwise: Oscar Sañez, BPA/P CEO speaks on the
importance of the O&O directory; Philippe Saurel,
Managing Director of AsiaType Inc., explains the
partnership that created what he says can be an
important tool for global marketing; and BPA/P
members meet and mingle prior to the launch.
www.bpap.org
april - june 2008
BPA/P Stories
Breakthroughs
Phil. BPO execs Assess Impact of US ...
during a breakfast forum organized recently
by the Business Processing Association of
the Philippines (BPA/P).
The forum, entitled “Peso Strength
and U.S. Economic Woes” and held at the
prestigious Tower Club in Makati City,
gathered executives from major IT-BPO firms
in the country, including top BPA/P officers
and economists from the private sector and
government. The event tackled the possible
impact of the U.S. currency situation and
subprime crisis on the overall health of the
IT-BPO industry in the country.
Romeo “Romy” Bernardo, President
of Lazaro Bernardo Tiu & Associates, a
consultancy firm, predicted that Philippine
GDP growth will be driven by the services
sector, with inflation moving higher than the
government’s own forecast of 3-5 percent.
He added that the country’s current account
surplus will again be driven by remittances
from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and
also by the IT-BPO sector, which he said will
continue to expand.
But University of the Philippines
economics professor Raul Fabella was a bit
more apprehensive about the Philippine peso
appreciating at this time. “We shouldn’t lead
the currency appreciation race but should be
closer to the bottom,” he said. “For a country
that has high costs of power, we don’t have
the right to lead appreciation.”
Diwa Guinigundo, Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas Deputy Governor, however, disputed
Fabella’s contentions. In his presentation,
he showed that the peso’s cumulative
appreciation from 2001 to 2008 was pegged
only at 20 percent to land at the middle range
among 10 countries they studied. It was low
in 2001, he said, then went up in 2005 due to
the passing of the extended value-added tax
(E-VAT). But it still improved thereafter.
In the ensuing panel discussion, select
panelists from various IT-BPO companies and
allied sectors like the real-estate sector aired
their views on the U.S. economic situation and
the strong Philippine peso. Marife Zamora,
General Manager of Convergys Philippines,
was emphatic in her statement during the
discussion: “I believe there’s no cause for any
grave concern. We’ve been doing well for our
clients. Plus, despite the looming recession,
we believe more jobs will be sent to the
Philippines because it is a lot cheaper and the
quality of work is superb.”
In fact, Zamora said that Convergys
already has a total of nine sites in the country,
with plans of adding more this year, bringing
their employee base to around 13,000 people.
“We’re practically larger than India now,”
she said, referring to the company’s India
operations.
She also gave credit to the government’s
efforts in extending financial incentives
to investors, given the U.S. recession, and
relayed that Convergys is coming up with
agreements with its clients on how to mitigate
the risks of this cyclical economic condition.
“For us, it’s the people, not the exchange
rate, that remains a concern,” she stressed.
“We believe that the U.S. dollar will rebound
eventually.”
James Donovan, President and Chief
Executive Officer of American Data
Exchange Corp. (ADEC), echoed Zamora’s
views, saying that the Philippines’ IT-BPO
companies need to position themselves as
a strategic partner to their clients and at the
same time, move to higher-value business
work in BPO, like finance and engineering.
Strategy and flexibility
“BPO is a vital cog in the national
economic development and growth of the
Philippines,” he said. “The Philippines has
the talent; we just need to position ourselves
strategically to mitigate any foreign exchange
movements.”
Nora Terrado, Country Manager of
Headstrong Philippines, a software solutions
and services provider, had a slightly different
view. She said that the effect of foreign
exchange fluctuations on how companies
run their business is a fact of life. Thus,
companies should innovate more and focus
on fundamentals and competitive advantage.
“It’s the more practical approach. We just need
to be agile in fighting external pressures,” she
added.
In the meantime, the Chairman of property
developer CB Richard Ellis Philippines,
Rick Santos, was even more optimistic of
the impact of the economic situation in the
United States and the peso appreciation
on the IT-BPO industry. “With what is
happening in the U.S. economy and the U.S.
dollar, coupled with the strength of the peso,
we see positive impact on the Philippine ITBPO industry,” he said. “A stable currency is
a plus for investors.”
He only lamented the fact that while there
are a lot of successful business stories in the
Philippines, these are generally not known to
Economists and BPO execs who lent their expertise in the forum included: BPA/P CEO Oscar Sañez
(topmost photo, right); Romy Bernardo of Lazaro Bernardo Tiu & Associates (top center); Frank Holz, CEO
of Outsource2Philippines (top, left); Monette Hamlin of Hamlin-Iturralde Corporation (top, right) and BSP
Vice-Governor Diwa Guinigundo (side, right).
many people. “We need more visibility, more
marketing efforts for the Philippine brand of
BPO service,” he said.
Ray Espinosa, Chairman of SPi Global
Solutions and concurrently President of
ePLDT, for his part saw continued growth
of about 15-20 percent for this year. He said
that SPi is now moving to performance-based
compensation in order to offset high costs of
labor and cost of living.
Assessing the impact of the U.S. economic
situation and currency performance on the
IT-BPO industry, he said, “The best way
to mitigate cyclical economic conditions
like this is to really sell (market) more to
clients.”
Airing his views as a venture capitalist,
Martin Lichauco, Vice-President and Country
Manager of the Philippine office of Walden
International, a leading global venture capital
firm, said that now is the right time to invest.
“The BPO industry will definitely stay, no
doubt about it. Making investments in this
industry will remain top priority for us,” he
said.
BSP Deputy Governor Guinigundo
summed up the impact of the U.S. economic
situation on business: “The ultimate impact
of a possible U.S. recession is that it may
even encourage more companies in the U.S.
to outsource to other countries in order to
lower their operational costs.”
Based on the BSP data, the United
States represents 67 percent of foreign direct
investment in and about 86 percent of export
revenues for Philippine IT-BPO firms.
These concerns about the U.S. economic
slowdown, the strong peso, and the idea of
marketing the Philippine brand of IT-BPO
service, explain why, according to BPA/P
Chief Executive Officer Oscar Sañez, the
industry association is trying to diversify
its members’ client base and broadening its
horizon through various missions and road
shows to promote the Philippine IT-BPO
industry in other markets like Europe.
“We have already established what we call
‘Team Europe’ for this purpose, with the able
help and support of the European Chamber of
Commerce of the Philippines,” he said. [See
related story in The Front Page – Ed.] “We
are setting our sights and will be making trips
to countries like the United Kingdom and
Germany, perhaps even France.” z
www.bpap.org
BPA/P Updates
april - june 2008
Breakthroughs
2008 Target: Forty Percent Growth
Needed to Reach US$7 Billion in Revenues
By Gigi Virata BPA/P Executive Director for Information and Research
Continuing demand for Filipino
services and a huge untapped
manpower supply outside the
NCR allay the apprehensions
brought by the U.S. economic
slowdown
a direct result of the slowing U.S. economy.
Yet companies are also reporting new client
interest in offshoring and outsourcing as a
means to cut costs—another direct result of
the U.S. economic slowdown.
As always, there are the pessimists and
the optimists.
If the Philippine IT-BPO industry is to
capture 10 percent of the global market share
by 2010, it needs to grow by 40 percent in
2008 and 2009. Can it do this with the U.S.
economy in recession?
Economists tell us that Europe will also
be affected, and that global output will be
lower this year. The good news from the
economists, however, is that Asia will be
a bright spot and stimulus will come from
emergent economic giants China and India.
Economists also say that the recession will
be not be as bad as those experienced in
the past because the U.S. economy now
primarily runs on services, and this sector
tends to rebound more quickly than the
industrial or manufacturing sectors from
economic slowdowns.
From a more micro perspective, we hear
similar good news–bad news refrains. Some
companies have reported that call volumes
have decreased in the first quarter of 2008—
Reasons to remain positive
Those who take the darker view say
that the stronger peso has eroded margins
to a point where MNCs will naturally look
for cheaper places to do business; if not
this year, then in the next few years. Their
suggested strategy is for Filipino managers
to learn the business as best they can and
build an industry based on homegrown
entrepreneurship and talent. The alternative,
they say, is to pack up all your Filipino agents
and move them to an isolated village in
China or Vietnam to enjoy liberal incentives
and to guard them against poachers.
The optimists, meanwhile, say that
they have weathered the shock of the rapid
appreciation of the peso and rather than
folding or packing up, they are instead
planning to expand—some very rapidly. They
report interest from new clients in addition to
renewed business from current ones.
Our experience in BPA/P this quarter
Year Export Revenues
($000,000)
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 (target) 2010 (target) 1,475
2,420 3,257 4,875 6,760 12,999
puts us on the side of the optimists, not just
because it is our job to remain positive, but
because we continue to receive almost nonstop requests for presentations to clients—
new ones or those considering expansion;
requests for information from both potential
clients and suppliers; and reports of new
contracts closed. A favorite anecdote for this
quarter is of an animation contract lost to
China because of cost, only to be regained
because of quality.
Supply-side issues also have two
faces. Recent media headlines have been
proclaiming a shortage of skilled workers
for the IT-BPO industry. It would be silly
to deny that the competition to attract talent
is fierce. But like in many “shortages,” we
suggest that the issue could be more related
to distribution than to lack of supply. Eighty
percent of the industry is in the NCR (and
mostly in Makati City), while 75 percent of
Growth Rate (%)
64
35
50
39
new graduates are outside of the NCR.
But beyond the simple math there
are more anecdotes that can only inspire.
There are pockets in the NCR that are still
virtually untapped, places reporting 100
walk-in applicants a day! There are remote
places in Luzon that are rich in students who
score higher in English-language tests than
in the NCR! There are state-run colleges
and universities that produce thousands and
thousands of high-caliber graduates eager to
join and stay in BPOs!
And the stories of how well Filipinos
learn and perform at global standards—
our agents, IT professionals, animators,
engineers, accountants, lawyers, medical
practitioners—continue to spread. The
secret of how good Filipinos are is not yet
fully out there. But soon, it should be. z
Comments and questions are welcome.
Contact: [email protected].
BPA/P May Meeting
The Business Processing Association
of the Philippines (BPA/P) held last May 7
a special membership meeting in which the
Board of Directors submitted to its members
a set of proposed amendments to BPA/P’s
Articles of Incorporation for final approval
and the adoption of a new set of By-Laws.
The proposed amendments called for the
adoption of a few changes particularly in
how the BPA/P should organize itself, among
other things. After gathering all the votes
of the members present during this special
meeting, the amendments of BPA/P’s Articles
of Incorporation and the adoption of the
new BPA/P By-Laws were overwhelmingly
approved. z
Susan Vidal, Consultanf for eTelecare sandwiched by two
BPA/P Exec. Dirs.: Jamea Garcia (left) and Cathy Ileto (right)
Zyra del Sol (left, seated) and Rona Quilban
(standing) of BPA/P with Lylah Fronda of Rockwell
Land (seated, right).
A hearty dinner, cocktails, and interaction preceded the serious business for the night.
L-R: Zyra; Bea Locsin, Training Specialist, People2Outsource; Nette Roselo,
BPA/P Administrator; Cathy, who handles BPA/P’s External Relations;
Nina Estenzo, and Rona.
Rona (left) with Atty. Joan Musico of NMGRA and Atty. Bob Guinto,
BPA/P Corporate Secretary and NMGRA.
www.bpap.org
BPA/P Updates
Breakthroughs
april - june 2008
From the CEO Desk
Full Speed Ahead
In the industry pursuit to drive a strategic plan, we had to start with building the strong
foundation required to mount our programs. This is why we have spent a significant amount
of time doing the following: tackling the business of planning and organizing; such items
like writing and publishing the industry roadmap; enrolling stakeholders and institutions
enrolling the public sector, other allied industries, and the academe; staffing Team 2010;
collaborating with all partner associations to create a unified front; and finally, ratifying the
Association by-laws to formalize all the structural and organizational changes. As we take
on the next phase of work behind the industry roadmap, it is important to get focused on the
high-leverage items that we have so defined in our roadmap.
The three main themes of the roadmap should now be moving on to the fast lane. In the
Talent area, our leadership initiative in driving the distribution of the Training-for-Work
Scholarship vouchers in partnership with TESDA is on “overdrive” with close to 10,000
vouchers released after two months. The ADEPT and ELITES Programs (talent partnership
with universities) are now at roll-out stage with 15 universities adopting the industry
program beginning with the new school term in June. The post-graduate program for middle
management talent is also at the intermediate stage of development with the country’s top
two graduate schools leading the charge.
Our commitment to accelerate the development of Next Wave Cities in partnership with
the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT) and the Department
of Trade and Industry (DTI) is now at a stage of preparing to release the publication of the
country directory of all BPO companies in July and the O&O Cities Ranking in October.
All the important research initiatives related to building pertinent industry data on relevant
issues are also at fever-pitch level. Finally, the key components of our Business Environment
initiatives have also accelerated their pace.
The international conferences and trade missions schedule is more aggressive and more
representative of various sectors in IT-BPO and with greater coverage in terms of target
geographies. On top of two major conferences and a major trade mission to the U.S., we
now have programmed events in Europe (primarily UK and Germany), Australia, as well as
neighbouring countries Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan. Our recent IT-BPO forum in Sydney
and Melbourne has proven that we can take on an aggressive country-sell program on the
back of a combined DTI/CICT/BPA/P partnership strategically focused 100 percent on our
sector and sharply addressed to a select group of high-potential companies in the audience.
We can take this highly successful formula to all our future missions.
Our efforts to get our legislative agenda get support from both houses of Congress are
also starting to pay off. The tax incentives are almost certain to pass while our position
papers on labour code amendments, the data privacy bill, intellectual property rights, and
cybercrime have all been getting good traction and support.
The BPA/P agenda has just become even more exciting. BPA/P’s Team 2010 working
closely with the Power Committees and partner associations are just thrilled to see growing
support for our many initiatives.
As we drive toward more positive results, we will even see stronger commitment to do
even more. z
BPA/P and DDI Partner for
Global Leadership Survey
By Zig Rabara, DDI
Leadership, its development, stages of transition, and current
state are the areas covered
BPA/P and Development Dimensions
International (DDI) partnered for the 20082009 Global Leadership Forecast. The
Forecast is DDI’s fifth study of practices
related to effective leadership, a research
series that began in 1999. It features
responses from both HR professionals and
leaders. This year’s study gathered a total
of 1,493 HR responses and 12,208 nonHR leader responses worldwide, giving
a truly global benchmark for leadership
effectiveness.
BPA/P and DDI worked together to
gather industry data on leadership. From the
105 Philippine companies represented in the
study, 28 companies came from the BPO
industry. Through a unique BPA/P survey
portal that was launched late last year, a total
of 26 HR and 347 non-HR leaders responded
to the surveys.
As a result, an industry report will be
prepared by DDI with leadership norms that
www.bpap.org
can be compared against both global and
local norms in the following areas: the state of
leadership today, leadership development, and
transitions in different levels of leadership.
DDI would like to thank BPA/P for their
invaluable support in this benchmarking
initiative, particularly BPA/P Information &
Research Director Gigi Virata.
Celebrating 30 years in the Philippines,
DDI is a global human resources consulting
firm that helps organizations close the gap
between today’s talent capability and future
talent needs. DDI’s expertise includes
designing and implementing selection
systems, and identifying and developing
front-line to executive leadership talent. With
more than 1,000 associates in 76 offices in
26 countries, DDI advises half of the Fortune
500. To learn more about DDI and how it can
help your organization, call (632) 638-2061,
email [email protected], or visit www.
ddiworld.com/ph. z
10
BPA/P Updates
april - june 2008
Breakthroughs
Share your Success Story!
By Stephanie Weber, Business Development Manager, European IT Services Center
“It is crucial to populate the
newly launched information
portal with case studies and
testimonials.”
The next milestone of the Team
Europe activity plan is achieved: The
Team Europe website has been launched
with a press conference on April 9th
hosted by Team Europe members Henry
Schumacher from the European Chamber
of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP),
Oscar Sañez from BPA/P and myself, as
well as Neil Elias from Logica representing
our industry partners. [See related story
on The Front Page - The Ed.] The news
about the website was received very
well by the local media. This reflects
the interest of the Philippines’ business
community in Europe.
First inquiries from European companies
also show that there is interest in the
Philippines. The most visited pages so far
are the case studies and testimonials, which
are the heart of our web portal. They show
prospects in Europe that the Philippines
is already a well-established offshoring
destination for European firms of all sizes.
One important fact is that these companies
have grown rapidly in the last years, making
it clear that the decision to invest in the
Philippines is a right one.
With these success stories, we address
in particular small- and medium-sized
companies in Europe that, in comparison to
big corporations with much more resources,
might find it more difficult to get a broad
picture of the global offshoring market.
Finding all the worldwide known companies
already established in the Philippines gives
them confidence that the advantages of the
industry are really existing here and are not
pure promotion.
But the launch of this information
portal was just the start. What is crucial
now is to populate it with more case
studies and testimonials. The company
overviews briefly summarize the main
facts of publicly known information. In
this way, the Team Europe website gives
as much information as possible while
respecting the confidentiality requirements
of companies that it features.
We encourage you to browse through
www.team-europe-philippines.com
and
share your success story to improve the
reputation of the Philippine BPO industry
in Europe. We appreciate case studies with
or without testimonials from all European
companies as well as global third-party
providers and Philippine companies that
already serve European customers. Global
and local third-party providers can especially
benefit from the Team Europe website as a
free media tool to present their companies to
interested firms in Europe.
A strong BPO industry with a diversified
customer base will be advantageous for all.
A small contribution like sharing your
experience can have a big impact on the
Philippines’ BPO industry. I am looking
forward to hearing from you.
For questions and more information,
please contact [email protected] or (632)845-1324. z
BPA/P Initiatives Gain Ground in Q2
By Cathy Ileto BPA/P Director for External Relations
the delegation’s “Core Team” composed of
members of the BPA/P executive team and
government officials. The Core Team helped
guide Admerex on several areas, including
expansion plans.
Afterward, the group proceeded to the
NSW Trade and Investment Centre for the
NSW IT Industry briefing, where the members
talked on issues such as the talent capability
of the Philippines, its exceptional quality, and
the possibility of doing IT-BPO business in
New Zealand. Next came a presentation by
Dr. Catriona Wallace, Chief Executive Officer
of callcentres.net, an online publishing,
news and research firm. Wallace practically
vouched for the Philippine IT-BPO industry
by touching on the country’s potential as a
global IT-BPO destination.
As in Melbourne, a business forum
followed and was later deemed a resounding
success since it resulted in the intention
of three Australian companies to visit the
Philippines and explore possibilities of
locating here. A “networking cocktails” event
between the delegation and members of the
Australia-Philippines Business Council also
opened doors for Philippine firms wishing to
go into business Down Under. z
L-R: Michelle Sanchez, DTI Trade Representative in Sydney; Oscar Sañez, CEO, BPA/P; Geoff Daly,
Head of Human Resources, Admerex; Millie Telan, President, Australia-Philippines Business Council (APBC);
Rob Yeldon, CEO & Director, Admerex; Cathy Ileto, External Relations Director, BPA/P; and Luis Ignacio Lopa,
Business Head, PLDT Business Solutions.
A roadshow to Australia
promoting Philippine BPOs
was the highlight
The Government Committee, headed
by myself, together with our legal counsel,
the Quisumbing Torres law firm, which
is affiliated with Baker & McKenzie,
and
BPA/P Trustee-in-Charge Karen
Batungbacal, is now in the process of
consolidating proposed changes to specific
pieces of important legislation that can affect
the information technology-business process
outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry in the country.
These include proposed amendments to the
Philippine Labor Code, the Data Privacy Bill,
and the Tax Incentives Law.
In the area of internal marketing, initiatives
are currently underway in partnership with Ms.
Jamea Garcia, BPA/P’s Executive Director
for Talent Development. Similar efforts are
also being undertaken for external marketing,
particularly the “e-commerce” link for the
BPA/P website and the final testing of the
BPA/P Board-approved new tagline; then there
is BPA/P attendance in major international
conferences like the CommunicAsia in
Singapore this June and the World BPO Forum
in the United States this July.
The second quarter of this year, however,
was marked by the very successful Philippine
IT Services Roadshow to Australia, held in
Melbourne and Sydney last April 28 to May
2. BPA/P, together with important Philippine
IT-BPO companies, met with representatives
from various Australian companies and
agencies.
The activities started with the Philippine
IT Services Business Forum in Melbourne
highlighted by BPA/P CEO Oscar Sañez’s
presentations as well as those of Secretary Ray
Anthony Roxas-Chua of the Commission on
Information and Communications Technology
(CICT). After the presentation came a
panel discussion, in which members of the
delegation participated. The day was capped
with a visit to the Stellar Asia Pacific office
where, in a meeting with BPA/P executives,
the company bared expansion plans, asked
for relevant data about the Philippine IT-BPO
industry, and expressed its desire to become a
BPA/P member.
Front row, l-r: Arup Maity, President and CEO, BlastAsia; Gerry Topacio, Chief Operating Officer, Diversified
Technology Systems, Inc.; Dennis Guda, Segment Head (BPO), Globe Telecom ; Cathy Ileto, Executive Director
for External Relations, BPA/P; Atty. Gil Zerrudo, Partner, Quisumbing Torres; Luis Ignacio Lopa, Business
Head, PLDT Business Solutions; Paul Malcolm Jones, Orange & Bronze Software Labs; and Jim Griffin, CEO,
Polaris Vanguard. Back row, l-r: Sean Argos, Business Development Manager, Tata Communications;
and Alan McCartney, Senior Manager, Global Enterprise Solutions, Tata Communications.
Trip down under
The Melbourne trip also included a
roundtable meeting with the prestigious
Australian IT Industry Association (AIIA) at
the Multimedia Victoria, where they expressed
their desire to conduct high-level networking
activities with BPA/P members, along with
significant data and best practices exchange.
The group then went on to visit Australia’s
Center for Health Innovation (CHI) and
the National ICT Australia (NICTA) at the
Melbourne University.
The Sydney leg, meantime, began with
a visit by the delegation to the Australian
Technology Park, followed by a meeting
between Admerex, a provider of financeand credit-risk management solutions, and
Arnul Pan, Country Manager, Phil. Airlines Australia
(left) and Xavier Ugarte, Director, Hill Rogers Australia
Jim Griffin, CEO, Polaris Vanguard (right) and
Ed Alcordo, Director, First Pacific Capital Australia
www.bpap.org
12
april - june 2008
Executive Profile
A Stalwart Friend of
the Philippine BPOs
His BPA/P colleagues cite the contributions of the ex-Membership
Committee Chairman to the O&O industry on the eve of his
re-assignment
By Artemio F. Cusi III
Anand Chopra, former Citigroup
Business
Process
Solutions
(CBPS) President and CEO,
could not hide the joy of being a
witness to the development of the
offshoring and outsourcing (O&O)
industry in the Philippines.
“I have seen it grow like a baby,” says the
43-year-old Chopra, who also predicted that the
Philippines would exceed industry expectations
in Roadmap 2010. The Indian senior executive
was recently transferred for a new assignment
to the regional office of Citi in Singapore after
the first quarter of 2008.
Despite the status of the Philippines in
2003 as still an emerging destination of O&O
investments, Chopra noted the relative ease of
setting up CBPS in the Philippines upon his
arrival in March 2004.
Part of this accomplishment may be
attributed to the managerial skills honed
through his 18 years of working for Citibank.
Chopra, a certified public accountant, also
backs up his professional track record with
an MBA degree from the Indian Institute of
Management in Ahmedabad.
CBPS is the provider of business process
outsourcing (BPO), call center, and other IT
and IT-enabled services such as CitiPhone
Banking, Credit Operations, and Transaction
Services for Citi’s Global Consumer business in
countries like Australia, Guam, the Philippines,
and USA.
“I had to set up a company for Citi. It was
relatively straightforward and easy in setting it
up, but the more important thing was to quickly
make it world class and successful.” Chopra
reflects back on the start-up phase.
At that time, Chopra says, the crucial
question for investors mulling over the viability
of the Philippines was: should we go there?
“But today, it is ‘the’ destination. Nobody
doubts the capability of the Filipino workforce,”
he says, predicting that there will be good
supply of middle managers in five years.
In recounting his specific experience with
Filipinos working for CBPS, he further says,
“Filipinos are playing global roles in a global
company.”
Decisive, committed, low-key
Business
Processing Association
Philippines (BPA/P) colleagues attest to
Chopra’s selfless yet humble devotion in
striving to achieve the goals of the organization
even in its fledgling stages of development.
During those times, BPA/P CEO Oscar Sañez
already spotted Chopra’s ability to quickly
react to important matters.
“Anand has been a very committed member
of BPA/P. He came at a time that BPA/P was
in formation stage and quickly decided that
he could contribute his personal time, talent,
and effort in the membership committee as its
Chairperson,” Sañez says.
Chopra’s commitment to BPA/P did not go
unnoticed despite his low-key style of work.
“He was one of those who didn’t ask for
anything in return,” says Sañez. “And in his
own humble way, he would not attract attention
to himself and instead, gave credit to the many
Filipino friends he had made and how they
have helped make his life in the Philippines
quite comfortable and enjoyable.”
Breakthroughs
Deep concern for industry
More than being a contributor to the growth
of BPA/P, Chopra is recognized by his fellow
industry players as an active participant and
partner in harnessing the O&O potential of the
Philippines and giving a premium to the work
of Filipinos.
“But the really amazing quality of Anand
is his deep and real concern for the industry
and belief in the Filipino talent,” Sañez says.
“He realizes the true potential of our country
in becoming a leader in this industry and
he committed himself to promoting this to
everyone he can reach out the message to.”
Promoting the achievement of the
Philippines in the global arena endeared
Chopra to Filipino friends who greatly valued
his efforts.
“He became an ‘ambassador’ for Philippine
outsourcing even without the official title,
and all the work he did in this end had been
voluntary and drawn straight from his strong
personal belief,” Sañez says.
Cherishing bayanihan
Chopra gained the respect and admiration
of his peers, not only for his professionalism,
but also that rare fondness shown by a
handful of foreigners for the Philippines and
its people.
“Anand has been very single-minded
throughout about contributing to creating a solid
foundation for BPA/P and to helping propel its
growth, firmly believing in its great value to
the Offshoring and Outsourcing Industry in the
Philippines,” Guillermo says.
“But beyond that, I surmise that that kind
of motivation on his part was equally spurred
by his genuine fondness for the Philippines,
which he and his wife have grown to cherish,
by his own admission, as ‘home’,” Guillermo
stresses.
For Chopra, working in the Philippines
added to his sense of pride and accomplishment,
considering that his stint was a once-in-alifetime experience.
Like a genuine leader, he believes that it is
not by the efforts of one man alone, but by the
collective action of a group that a goal, whether
social or corporate, could be achieved. It is thus
not surprising why he could relate very well to
the bayanihan or the cooperative spirit of the
Filipinos.
“I like the spirit of volunteerism in the
Philippines,” Chopra says in describing
his experience of engaging in community
development activities for the Sibol Schools
of Gawad Kalinga (GK) communities and the
environmental preservation efforts for the La
Mesa ecological park.
Indelible mark of friendship
Anand Chopra: the unofficial “ambassador” of the BPOs in the Philippines which he
and his wife have cherished as a second “home.”
KSearch President and CEO Manuel
Guillermo also notes the soft-spoken but firm
nature of the man. “My having joined the
BPA/P Membership Power Team’s start-up two
years ago gave me the opportunity of working
with Anand and have since then enjoyed what
I quickly observed of Anand’s powerful blend
of subtle and low-key leadership style as its
Chairman,” Guillermo says.
Democratic,results-oriented leadership
To prove that a leader need not espouse
dictatorial tendencies just to be efficient,
Guillermo points to Chopra as the epitome
of a democratic manager and results-oriented
leader.
“He made things happen, yet made sure
that everyone in the team had been consulted
and gave his or her input to the process,”
Guillermo says. “It was easy for me to
gravitate to Anand’s persona: always exuding
humility and charm, yet so competent and
effective, never losing focus on what needed
to be done.”
Sañez shares Guillermo’s view and takes
note of the seriousness that Chopra carried
while taking the lead role as Membership
Committee Chairman.
“He took this role quite seriously and in a
short span of time, he delivered well ahead of
his promise of expanding our organization to
more than 200 companies,” the BPA/P CEO
says.
Sañez also emphasizes that despite its
small number of volunteers, the membership
committee under Chopra became the most
active in BPA/P.
From Chopra’s own pronouncements, it is
clear that he enjoyed his tasks at BPA/P. “When
you work with a lot of professionals, it feels
good. BPA/P gave me opportunities to work
with colleagues in the industry,” he says.
Chopra credits the cooperation of the
members for much of its achievements.
Particularly, he valued the vocal character
of the membership committee. “People are
not afraid to speak up. I owe it to the team,”
Chopra says.
His friendship with Chopra has transcended
professional partnership, according to Sañez.
“Anand had not been just a colleague or a
partner in the industry. We have found a true
friend in Anand. I know the Philippines has
made a real mark in his heart,” he says.
Those bestowed with Chopra’s friendship
continue to hold it with high regard even for
years to come.
“I am proud and privileged that Anand and
I have become very good friends, transcending
BPA/P and our respective companies’ interest,”
Guillermo remarks. “I will miss him immensely
as I know everyone whose lives he has touched
one way or the other.”
BPA/P board member Rainerio “Bong”
Borja relished those light moments, especially
when taking respite and enjoying culinary
delights, with Chopra and Guillermo.
“Surprisingly, we share the same
gastronomic cravings of various Indian and
vegetarian cuisines, and of course, fine wines.
I will miss our threesome monthly eat-outs
with Manny Guillermo,” Borja says.
Indeed, they could not prevent the reassignment of their dear friend, in the same
way that their hands are helpless to hold the
flow of a stream.
But the industry colleagues of Chopra
are comforted with the fact that their lives
are forever immersed in the flow of that
friendship.
In bidding farewell to Chopra, Sañez leaves
a heartwarming message to his friend: “Anand,
please know that you have made an indelible
mark here as well.” z
www.bpap.org
Breakthroughs
In the Spotlight
april - june 2008
13
The Games Development Industry
By Maria Mutya Frio
The
Philippines’
game
development
capability
is
getting second-mention next to
Singapore, and our talents are
drawing in clients
Who knew that tinkering with the
computer and trying to make your own
computer game as a hobby would lead to
a full-fledged, legitimate business? The
captains of the industry did. Now these young
gamers-turned-entrepreneurs are fueling the
growing enterprise of developing games and
outsourcing their services to produce video
games.
Although game development has had a
long history in more advanced countries, its
genesis in the country harks back to hobbyists
who decided to make a real business out of
making games. People who were passionate
about games became entrepreneurial, set up
their own outfits one after another, until the
industry grew by itself. It is comparatively
small vis-a-vis other business process
outsourcing (BPO) industries like contact
centers or software development. But
the gaming industry is becoming a very
promising commerce. In fact, it is poised for
the potential global revenue worth as much
as US$1 billion by 2010 that will be raked
in from outsourcing games alone. Suffice
it to say that the Philippines will enjoy a
multimillion-dollar share of that huge profit.
But moving from the game room to the
boardroom cannot be too easy as changing
players in a role-playing game (RPG). One
has to be able to find the right niche, in
this case overseas, before the business is
recognized locally. Gabby Dizon, one of the
founders of Flipside Games, a Philippinebased company specializing in full-scale
development and outsourcing services for
the game industry, confesses to encountering
countless obstacles before his company got its
foot in the door. “Not too many people have
done what we are doing so it’s really hard to
explain what your company does,” he says.
“When you’re trying to do business, this is a
hard problem. Almost from the start, we were
forced to do outsourcing abroad because the
companies that could understand what we
were doing are companies that needed our
services abroad.”
Breaking ground
The gaming industry broke ground in
2004 when Anito Entertainment, for which
Dizon worked as a game designer before
setting up his own outfit, developed the first
Philippine-made, single-player, role-playing
game (RPG). Anito: Defend A Land Enraged
bagged the Innovation in Audio Award and
became a finalist for the Open Category at the
Independent Games Festival in the U.S.
Showcasing Filipino talents and skills
in regional and international conferences
made the Philippines a viable outsourcing
destination for developing games. Locally,
Dizon credits the success of online games
brought in from Korea for paving the way
for gaming to become more accessible to
the public. He, along with his colleagues
in the sector, is also educating the industry,
spreading the message that it is indeed
possible to make games locally.
At a steady pace, the Philippines’ game
development capability is achieving a greater
presence in the region, often mentioned next
to Singapore. Dizon mentions that while many
multinational companies are comfortable
establishing headquarters in Singapore, they
suffer from a deep shortage of talents. The
talents come from other countries. These,
Dizon believes, is where the Philippines
often gets mentioned.
www.bpap.org
The Filipinos’ artistry and creativity make them a natural talent pool for outsourced gaming.
Harnessing the workforce
Today, graduates are schooled in
classic courses like Computer Science for
programmers and Fine Arts or multi-media
design for artists. Dizon opines that Filipinos
have inherent skills in art, like drawing.
Programmers are excellent in their field as
well.
But Dizon thinks that schools and training
institutions should come up with more
specific curricula so students are trained with
the skills that game development needs. He
says, “What we lack now are the specific
skills set that come from either professional
experience or formal or informal training. We
still do not have too many people trained in
the specific skills set that are needed by game
development.”
The game development sector is
changing the landscape by partnering with
institutions like the Technical Education
and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)
and schools like the De La Salle University,
College of Benilde and the Ateneo de Manila
University. This way, these institutions can
provide the proper game development-related
skills to their graduates. Dizon also thinks
that shortening the training time will make
people more productive and faster, thereby
helping the industry grow even more.
Filipino-owned companies can encourage
overseas clients to set up shop here. The
industry need not have to start from scratch.
New kids on the block
Dizon, a baccalaureate holder of
Management Information Systems (MIS)
from the Ateneo de Manila University, is also
President of the Game Developers Association
of the Philippines (GDAP) [See Industry
Association Profile – The Ed]. GDAP,
formed in 2006, promotes game development
in the country. Young as it is, GDAP takes its
cue from other IT industries that have gone
through the birth pains of establishing a startup company as well as reaped the benefits
of leveraging their resources by joining an
industry association.
GDAP is now the latest member of the
Business Process Outsourcing Association
of the Philippines (BPA/P), a wider group
of individual companies as well as industry
organizations representing the contact
center, software, medical transcription, and
animation industries, among others.
The young entrepreneur reflects on
the advantages of collaborating under
one umbrella industry association. “In the
outsourcing industry, we may sell different
services but it’s a similar game where you
offer a service and a client abroad pays for
good quality at a good price,” he says. “We’re
usually not the cheapest option but we want
to be very good value for money.”
For him, knowing key strategies that
other outsourcing companies have used is
important. These include knowing how to
position themselves in this kind of business,
how to build up infrastructure, how to create
manpower, and how to cope with fluctuating
foreign exchange rates. “These are similar
things that other sectors in the BPO industry
are facing, though we do very different
things,” he reflects.
In addition, GDAP’s alliance with
BPA/P gives them the voice to have a say
on Roadmap 2010, a blueprint for the BPO
industry’s growth. Game developers can
contribute more to the high-end services
market.
Dizon sees a very bright future for game
development in the BPO industry. As it is,
the Philippines now ranks as the second
outsourcing destination of choice next to
India. He says, “I guess the challenge is
for these established BPOs and contact
center companies to keep this leadership
and continue to evolve, and for the younger
industries to catch up and show people that
you can be a positive force in the country
as an industry, as these other sectors have
done.” z
Outsourcing to the Philippines
Dizon reveals that a lot of game
development work was traditionally done
in the United States. Games are very late in
terms of outsourcing because of the long-held
notion that creativity cannot be outsourced,
he says. Clients do not typically look at
the price first. Instead, they want to ensure
various factors: that the company can get the
job done, if the client can deal with and talk to
their people easily, and if their English is good
or if they will require a translator.
Fortunately, the Filipino’s mastery of the
English language and his cultural familiarity
with the United States, where more than half
of the clients come from, are key to inking
the deal. Clients are comfortable in setting
terms that a typical outsourcer may not be
familiar with. They are put at ease if the
outsourcing company can banter and share
insights about their favorite games because
this only proves that it understands the kind
of work they require. Dizon feels that this
is very important in a creative environment.
“They may give a reference to an old game in
the 80’s and say they want something similar
to that,” he says. “If you understand that, it
gives you a bigger advantage over those who
don’t.”
Furthermore, clients rely on a company’s
previous work that, if done well, could very
well bring in more business to Filipino
companies.
Government incentives from the Board
of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine
Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) could
also entice more clients to outsource their
game development needs to the country. By
including the game development industry in
government programs and incentive schemes,
14
Industry Association Profile
april - june 2008
Breakthroughs
Tackling the Business of Gaming
in deciding whether or not to make his own game, which is
more capital-intensive but more fulfilling creatively. It’s also
an all-or-nothing risk, he says. The other option is to stick to
outsourcing, which is fulfilling as well, but does not give the
same creative freedom. Currently, he is doing a bit of both,
although the bulk of his company’s work is outsourced.
The Philippines’ competitive edge
Dizon says Filipinos have a latent talent in art. “In the
past few years, we have been channeling artwork toward
skills specific to game development. This could be concept
illustrations or 3D modeling – some of the skills that clients
look for abroad,” he says. Then there is programming, which
is very similar to software development. At face value, it really
is a software project with an entertainment component. A game
should not just work properly, but has to be aesthetic and fun
at the same time.
A superior gaming culture and a deep understanding of
games also give Filipinos an edge over competitors. Says
Dizon: “You don’t outsource a game to someone who may be
technically skilled but hasn’t played the game before. With
the Philippines, it’s not usually a problem because we’ve been
playing games since we were two to three years old.”
Putting the Philippines on the map of outsourcing game
development entails offering a good workforce that is talented,
creative, and passionate. Dizon banks on the same strengths of
BPO companies and contact centers in the country that have
made it an ideal place for outsourcing. He cites mastery of
the English language and the Western culture as fundamental
elements for an industry that is based on creativity. A long
history in gaming, particularly in playing video games from
Japan and Korea, is another Philippine advantage over other
outsourcing destinations.
Manager behind the gamer
Flipside Games fosters a results-based environment where
there are very few hard-written rules. Dizon confesses that
his management style is more hands-off than most managers.
“What we ask and demand of our people is to get their jobs
done well,” he says. “If you hire people correctly and they
are passionate about what they do, then motivation is rarely
a problem. We give them all the tools they need to do a good
job. We’ve never had someone apply who was not interested
in games.”
Dizon further states that he invests in his people the most
by providing them the hardware, software, and exposure to
trade publications and magazines. He wants his staff to know
the tricks of the trade, how it ticks in the global market, and
how things can be done locally. It is, after all, a business that is
dependent on developers’ talents and skills.
Admitting that he reads more now than he plays games,
Dizon says he turns to business books, biographies, and history
books to learn how other people have succeeded in business.
His management style alone tells that he does not necessarily
adhere to traditional management structures; rather he looks for
examples on how other companies have built a great working
environment.
Like most owners of game companies, Gabby Dizon is young and has played games all his life.
By Maria Mutya Frio
The gamer turned entrepreneur-manager
shows that Filipinos can be a formidable
player in a very competitive field
For gamers, by gamers. This is the principle behind the
relatively small yet emerging sector of game development in
the Philippines. And who would best stand as spokesperson
for the industry than a gamer himself who turned video
game-making into a lucrative, outsourced enterprise?
Gabby Dizon is co-founder of Flipside Games Studios,
an outfit that specializes in full game development and
outsourcing services for the gaming industry. Dizon says
that parents of gamers would probably never think their
children would ever be able to use their deep knowledge of
games to set up and run successful businesses.
Dizon, however, is proof of that. Today he even stands
on the frontier of directing the Games Development
Association of the Philippines (GDAP), of which he is
President. Set to promote the game development industry
in the Philippines and to attract a high traffic of game
development outsourcers, GDAP is marking its presence in
the region as well [See In the Spotlight – Ed.]
The fairly young entrepreneur and the equally young
industry association may become the next big things
as the game development sector slices a share off the
outsourcing pie.
Setting up shop
People who set up their own game companies are those
who’ve played games all their lives, so Dizon claims. They
also tend to be on the young side. After earning a degree in
Management Information Systems (MIS) from the Ateneo de
Manila University in 2000, Dizon worked as a game designer
for Anino Entertainment. The company developed the first
Philippine-based single-player, role-playing game (RPG)
called Anito: Defend A Land Enraged. Based on Filipino
folklore, Anito earned the Innovation in Audio Award and
was one of the finalists for the Open Category at the 2004
Independent Games Festival in the United States. “Seeing
your games downloaded and enjoyed by other people is a
fulfillment in itself,” says Dizon. “We can see the immediate
effects of our work, we can see people enjoying the game and
that is very fulfilling.”
Dizon dabbled with freelance work before setting up his
own company in 2005. “It’s been a life-long dream to make
games and eventually have my own gaming company,” he
says. “In the Philippines where that industry was practically
non-existent when we started, we had to be the pioneers. It’s
almost out of necessity that I have my own company making
games because there’s no one else to do it.”
Setting up shop in a place teeming with natural talent but
scant on financial resources made sense for the company to
outsource. With ten full-time staff and a pool of contractors,
Flipside is even able to learn its clients’ best practices,
including how to upgrade its own skills and resources. Its
roster of clients includes gaming companies from the United
States, Singapore, India, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom.
As an entrepreneur, Dizon sees the biggest challenge
A collective voice
As President of GDAP, Dizon envisions the Philippines
to become the top-of-mind destination for outsourcing game
development. Established in late 2006, GDAP is made up of
ten companies developing games for different platforms. It
aims to promote development of games in the Philippines and
is currently composed of homegrown outfits that use Filipino
talent. It also welcomes multinational companies that want to
invest in the Philippines.
GDAP positions itself as an association offering a staple
of services in the Southeast Asian region where member
countries enjoy a level playing field in the game development
arena. Individually, GDAP members innovate on their own,
developing games in different platforms such as arcade, web,
mobile, PC, or handheld devices.
“We measure pretty well against others in the region,” says
Dizon. “There is no dominant country when it comes to game
development in Southeast Asia. Singapore has the most in
terms of locators and workforce but they also have a shortage
of talent. Global companies’ headquarters may be in Singapore
but it may have production capacity here in the Philippines.
That would be our positioning – that this is really the production
center of Southeast Asia.”
GDAP does this by participating in regional and international
events, including the 2007 and 2008 Games Convention Asia in
Singapore. It also took part in the Game Developers Conference,
the largest in the world. This year, GDAP is gearing up for the
Asian Advergaming Summit that will open up the market for
companies to advertise in video games.
“When people think about outsourcing, they think about
either China or India, and also Eastern Europe,” Dizon says.
“We’re trying to get the Philippines into that conversation. We
want to make a bigger name for ourselves in the industry.” z
www.bpap.org
16
Executive Profile
april - june 2008
Breakthroughs
It’s Not Just Child’s Play
By Lynda C. Corpuz
The Japanese programmer
fulfills his childhood dream
of creating his own games
right here in the Philippines
Pixelstream Corporation started with
– what else? – pixels that created images
and later branched out to plant its roots in
the Philippines. The enterprising soul who
established it is a fun-loving Japanese who
is heavily into games and thought it wise to
put up a business in this country.
Pixelstream President Nobuhiro Fujii
had a gaming company in Japan, but
found it hard to do business in such a
competitive environment. He heard about
the Philippines from a friend, made his
first visit in 2003, and was drawn by the
Filipinos’ fluency in English, which he
describes as the language of business.
He also took note of our direct access to
cutting-edge technology that is crucial in
games development and content creation.
The start of a dream
Another factor, naturally, was the
cost-effective way in which he could do
business. Fujii laments that it is difficult
to get talented staff in Japan, because there
are a lot of gaming companies scrambling
to recruit them. In contrast, in the
Philippines, “there are still a few [gaming]
companies, so it’s easy to get talented
people,” he says.
For close to three years now,
Pixelstream has been serving the U.S.
and Japanese markets with its games
development and content creation that
adhere to strict quality assurance and
multiple check content systems for 2D/3D
animations. “While the ideas for PC and
console games come from our clients, we
also try to infuse our own ideas as well into
every product and service we provide,”
Fujii says.
The executive knows whereof he
speaks. He home-studied programming
in his youth and went to the now defunct
Human Creative School to further his
gaming skills. As a young man, he realized
that he liked games “because they’re easy
to play. We can make our rules and make
stories, and we can interact in games.”
The Yokohama native started work as
a programmer making numerous PC and
console games. He also enjoyed a brief
spell in Hawaii where he helped develop
the popular Final Fantasy adventure series.
But he soon realized that he did not want
to just work in the gaming industry – he
wanted to create virtual-reality adventures
for others to play in.
He is getting that chance now as
Pixelstream is setting its sights to develop
its own games. One example is Brando,
a 2.5D game designed for Xbox 360
about a lizard-man who is the champion
of humanity in a world dominated by
monsters.
Pixelstream is also working on a PC
game featuring a Philippine icon, the
jeepney. “It’s still in the development
stage, but we think that the jeepney, which
is a very popular vehicle, will make for a
good PC game,” says Fujii. “The player
will control the jeepney’s stopovers and
maneuver it through traffic. We hope to
have it both in Filipino and English.”
He adds, “I’ve also ridden the jeepney
and it was nice.”
Nobuhiro Fujii: from the land of the rising sun into the entertainment sector of the Philippines’ sunshine industry
The Filipino gamers
While the U.S. and Japan markets are
really spending for games, piracy in the
country is threatening the gaming industry.
In Japan, the kids end up buying only one
product at a time because of the high cost of
the games. In the Philippines, Fujii laments,
“once a game is no longer interesting for
these kids, they can buy a pirated one at a
cheaper price, and it would not really be
expensive for them.”
He also notes that while Filipino gamers
are creative, they still have to improve their
programming skills. Fujii illustrates that
on average, Filipinos produce only one
game every one to two years. A short game
can take from three to six months, console
games within 10 months, and Nintendo DS
games from six months to a year. “By this
present rate, we have to make games faster
to catch up with the U.S. and Japan game
industries,” Fujii says.
Despite these challenges, Pixelstream
is keen to grow here and expand its
operations. It has an employee base of five
programmers, 18 3D model designers, four
2D model designers, five computer-aided
designers, and five administration staff.
As Pixelstream’s President, Fujii says he
develops his staff to develop their decisionmaking capabilities. “Game development
is a very creative work. If the boss forces a
decision upon his staff, then the staff might
stop enjoying their work. But give them the
power and responsibility and they’ll give
their 100 percent,” he points out.
It seems that Fujii feels quite at home
in the Philippines now. He croons Tagalog
songs as well as he does his Beatles
favorites. He is married to a Filipina and
the proud father of two children.
That sense of satisfaction, serenity
and fun – complemented with his constant
drive for excellence – should carry over
into his work and motivate Pixelstream
to deliver more high-quality work and, in
time, create its own games.
Fujii says, smiling, “As long as we
know that gamers have fun playing our
games – that really is an accomplishment
for us.” z
www.bpap.org
Breakthroughs
In Sights
april - june 2008
17
Engaging Executive Search Providers
By Manuel R. Guillermo
and J. Albert Gamboa
Speed,
strategy,
and
specialization are just some of
the few qualities that firms look
for in their ESPs
A senior position in his BPO was still
open after almost a year, and corporate
recruitment manager Hans Montenegro knew
it was time for some ESP – an executive
search provider, that is, not a psychic. Also
known as headhunters, ESPs have become
essential in the Philippines and elsewhere as
the corporate “war for talent” intensifies.
Indeed, many progressive companies’
recruitment heads gladly admit their
outsourced ESPs have helped them to a great
extent. Montenegro, for one, says the ESP he
tapped for the BPO he worked for was able to
endorse the right candidate who fit right into
the job, and in record time at that.
But there are also those who have not
been as lucky. Unlike Montenegro, HR
head Barbara Gatbonton has found some
ESPs disappointing. She says those she has
contacted have consistently failed to comply
with her call center’s urgent requirements,
falling short of what they originally promised
during their presentation of credentials.
While ESPs may be quick to assert that
they are able to provide immense value, the
feedback from their clients tends to vary.
Still, there is widespread recognition across
industries that headhunters have better leads
and contacts within the executive circuit,
and are more capable of conducting targeted
searches owing to their specialized skills.
“Conventional wisdom dictates that ESPs
are better equipped to provide candidates at
senior levels and for very technical positions,”
says Eric Concepcion, Director for Philippine
Recruiting at eTelecare, a major player in the
call center industry that is listed in New York’s
NASDAQ Stock Exchange. Headhunters also
spare him from awkward haggling situations
and having to make small talk with candidates.
One ESP, he says, even crafted a customized
strategy leaving nothing to chance when he
asked it to search for a country manager.
Tricky task of finding right candidates
“We also need to know who’s who and
what’s going on in the industry,” says Eden
Florencio-Caguiat, Recruitment Director of
APAC Customer Services Inc., a leading
provider of customer care solutions to the
healthcare, publishing, travel, entertainment,
financial services, and communications
sectors. At the moment, Caguiat needs ESPs
to fill up over 50 open positions in APAC’s
leadership and support departments like team
leaders and workforce managers.
Veteran HR practitioner Gonzalo Ongpin,
meanwhile, engages an ESP “when there is
a need to immediately find a suitable and
capable replacement for a key position.” This
HR director of a Japanese pharmaceutical
company says most firms lack internal
capabilities for executive recruitment, a
function that is increasingly outsourced. Plus,
he considers headhunters a necessity in his
particular industry for reasons of delicadeza,
i.e., to maintain utmost confidentiality in
hiring senior executives.
The global talent acquisition manager
of a transnational law firm also says that
employers who are not yet recognizable as
brand names find it crucial to use headhunters
for the recruitment of a significant number of
leadership roles. Montenegro, a former TV
network executive who is now Senior Manager
for Corporate Recruitment at BPO industry
pioneer Convergys, for his part says ESPs
are employed “when we have exhausted all
possible internal candidates or when a hiring
manager specifies that an outsider is needed.”
Even Gatbonton, who also heads payroll
outsourcing services at the British-owned
call center Logica, says, “When the profile
is difficult to source, such as IT or SAP
specialists for European clients, we tap ESPs
because of their wide network.” She recalls
that when her company was a start-up ITBPO in January 2007, an ESP helped her
build their pioneer group successfully.
Ongpin is particularly impressed with one
ESP whose reach goes beyond the country’s
borders to search for Filipino expatriates who
turn out to be excellent candidates for highly
technical positions. Yet he echoes many
executives in rating the top local ESPs at 7 to
8 on a scale of 10. This expatriate Country
Manager of a leading global bank also has
mixed sentiments about local headhunters.
He says their level of sophistication leaves
much to be desired as compared to their
international counterparts.
Ongpin allows that “there’s no such thing
as a perfect candidate (for a position).” But
teaming up with the right ESP can certainly
limit the chances of ending up with a really
wrong fit for a job.
Top factors in choosing ESPs
Track record is of primary importance
to clients in choosing which ESP to engage.
According to an HR relationship manager of
a European bank operating in Southeast Asia,
ESPs are subjected to an accreditation process
just like all vendors. But he says richness
of resources and lines of specialization, as
reflected in their track record, eventually
determine which ESPs are selected for the
search.
The HR vice-president of a French
manufacturing company’s local subsidiary
says an ESP’s reliability goes hand in
hand with its track record. He reveals that
background investigation is conducted
to check out references made by ESPs,
a practice that most clients adhere to.
Background checking ranges from inquiries
with personal networks and government
regulatory agencies, to the hiring of private
investigation firms. The goal is mainly to
establish whether an ESP exhibits financial
stability and a reputation for quality
Concepcion says, “We always check an
ESP’s brag sheet by validating with industry
counterparts and even with candidates.”
Gatbonton, however, finds no need for formal
background checking, saying “since among
practitioners, one can get a sense of the ESP’s
track record.”
Another leading factor in choosing
ESPs is the quality of the decision-maker’s
previous experience with them. Related
to this are trust, integrity, reliability, and
commitment to ethical practices. Some clients
place importance on candidate handling as
evidenced by how they themselves were
handled by the ESP as candidates. The
ease of doing business with an ESP usually
depends on the point person or account officer
assigned to the client, and to some extent on
the latter’s relationship with the owner or
CEO of the headhunting firm.
Other factors that companies say
influence their choice of ESPs include:
Speed – turnaround time; sense of
urgency; ability to work within tight
deadlines; quickness of response; does
not waste HR time by pushing too many
candidates; flexibility
Strategy – ability to understand client’s
HR requirement and business strategy at a
high level; sound recruitment strategy
Specialization – industry niche; line
of expertise; established network within
the industry; excellent market intelligence;
ability to give feedback on market rates and
insights on industry trends and practices
Thoroughness of search and selection
– candor and truthfulness in evaluation
of candidates; ability to bring in the right
candidates; availability of talent pool
After-sales service – matching success;
ability to track candidates even when they are
not hired; feedback mechanism; emphasis not
on placement but on matching needs.
Surprisingly, cost is not a major
consideration for most clients in choosing
an ESP. As Ongpin puts it, “Why will you
scrimp on the search when in the long run,
the real expense would be higher if you hire
the wrong candidate?” He adds that price is
irrelevant because quality normally suffers
when the price is low, and he always sticks
to the headhunters who are able to meet his
search expectations.
Most of those who use headhunters
also simultaneous tap two to three ESPs in
searching for senior executives. Companies
find it beneficial to use multiple ESPs because
this way, more options are provided for
critical, difficult-to-fill positions. In looking
for a Finance Director or CFO, for instance,
Caguiat used three ESPs simultaneously
and only one of them was able to deliver.
One European bank has three ESPs on the
ready so that each time its needs branch
managers and relationship officers, one of
them immediately provides two qualified
candidates within a day.
HR practitioners, however, advise against
using more than three headhunters at a time.
Otherwise, they say that commitment gets
diluted, resulting in complications such as
overlapping of schedules, poor service, and
confusion for candidates.
From all indications, ESPs are here to
stay and their services will continue to be
sought after. But given that their clients have
become much more discriminating, only
those that demonstrate quality processes and
results will flourish. z
Manuel R. Guillermo is the President
and Managing Director of KSearch Asia
Consulting, Inc., a Philippine executive search
firm, which assists mostly transnational
companies and Philippine conglomerates;
J. Albert Gamboa, a Project Consultant
of KSearch, writes for Philippine business
publications and is an active member of
the Financial Executives Institute of the
Philippines.
Creative Recruitment To Sustain BPO Growth
It is time to get out of the box
and venture into innovative
and more creative kinds of
recruitment in the business
process outsourcing (BPO)
industry, for at stake in the
next few years is a potential
revenue of US$10-12 billion.
eTelecare Human Resources
Director Eric Concepcion says
we have barely scratched the
surface of potential candidates
who can turn out to be assets
to their respective companies.
He points out, “A number of the 400,000
graduates who enter the workforce each year
remain unemployed. The hiring yield rates
are going down – from a double-digit high
to five percent or even less. That means
there are many people out there whom we
have not even screened yet.”
eTelecare itself ventures out of its safe
confines, sending recruiters to the farthest
www.bpap.org
corners of the country in search of talent.
Concepcion continues, “We make sure
that there is no labor pool out there, from
north to south, that we haven’t tapped. Our
job caravans try to reach all areas in the
archipelago.”
He also points out the Filipino
employee’s good qualities that make him
excel in the industry: “History as a good
English-speaking country, we are a patient
people, and a very close affinity with our
American colleagues.”
Concepcion adds that slowing down
present recruitment efforts is not an option.
“The Philippines cannot assume thinking
that some of the business will just trickle
down here. We have to take advantage of
the demand in the industry right now. One
way to do that is to get many of the programs
from the customers as we can handle before
they get shipped to either India or China.”
Many of Concepcion’s industry
colleagues are cognizant of the situation
their industry is facing which he expalins
this way, “Most of the call centers right
now are not scaling back in terms of their
requirements; their successes in the last
few years have fueled their appetite for
expansion and growth. But we are starting to
see a labor crunch, the Philippine situation
is not yet as pronounced [as that of India,
five or seven years ago] but we’re seeing
that right now.”
One way to leap over that hurdle
is exploring non-traditional sources of
manpower like state-of-the-art technological
portals like job sites.
eTelecare has
partnered with JobsDB Philippines, Inc.
(www.jobsdb.com.ph), Asia’s premiere
internet recruitment network which has
more than a million resumes of qualified
professionals in their database. JobsDB also
holds an average of four job fairs a month in
the Philippines in association with schools
and universities, local government units,
business corporations, and industry sectors.
eTelecare sources 10-15 percent of their
over-all recruitment needs from JobsDB.
Concepcion describes another strategy,
“We educate the labor pool that this is a
good industry that has career progression.
Over the years, we’ve seen employees who
rose from the ranks to higher positions.
This kind of career success at that kind of
speed does not always happen as often in
other industries. We have success stories,
people who have experienced significant
career development in their years in the call
centers.”
Third, happy, motivated employees
become the best recruiters as they
encourage friends, relatives, colleagues,
and acquaintances they believe qualified to
try their hand in the industry. Concepcion
says, “We have a very high rate of employee
referrals. Our employees do recommend
eTelecare as an employer to their friends
and even their families.”
eTelecare, cited by the People
Management Association of the Philippines
as Employer of the Year in the year 2005,
invests heavily in employee training, skill
development, and people-friendly facilities
that encourage workers to recharge and have
fun in a family-friendly environment.
Concepcion says of recruitment
strategies, “We should always be on the
pathway of discovery.” z
18
In Sights
april - june 2008
Breakthroughs
How Do We Train Culture?
By Hayley McCarthy
“We need to accurately
distinguish between each of
the major Western countries
and the sub-cultures within
them.”
FuturePerfect’s Director of Education,
Dr. Jane Lockwood, anticipating the
demands of the industry, has recently
hired training directors and curriculum
developers native to each of the major
Western English-speaking countries.
Knowing that only native speakers
can provide the level and relevance of
information and exposure that will truly
affect C-Sat scores, the FP team is now
the only BPO training company to offer
both trainers and curriculum developers
native to Britain, America, Canada, and
Australia.
Just a few years ago, O&O in the
Philippines was servicing American
customers almost exclusively. Now with
its foot resolutely in that door, Filipino
call centers are increasingly taking on
accounts from all over the Western world,
from Britain to Canada, Australia and even
New Zealand. In order to maintain this
expansion, Philippine call center agents
must be trained in specific, relevant cultural
competency.
Cultural competency
Since it was founded in 2004,
FuturePerfect Business English Specialists
has incorporated cultural competency
(generally targeted at the United States)
into all of their BPO training courses and
assessments. Research into the field suggests
that the issue of cultural competency for
call centers in the Philippines isn’t merely
about understanding the difference between
Filipino and Western culture. Now more
than ever, we need to be able to accurately
distinguish between each of the major
Western countries and the sub-cultures
within them.
One call that FuturePerfect researchers
analyzed that captures this issue perfectly
featured an agent who had recently moved
from an American account to a British one.
The call revealed the disastrous results that
can arise from assuming that “one size fits
all” when it comes to soft skills. The agent’s
gentle, coaxing, mollifying tone (something that
would have gone down well with the average
U.S. customer) acted as a catalyst, advancing
the customer from mere irritation to outright
fury. Worse still, FuturePerfect has found
that many Filipino agents servicing British
accounts frequently misdiagnose fury in British
customers. This mistake is based on applying
American expressions of anger (shouting, direct
aggression) to British customers.
Distinguishing accents
Recognizing and correctly interpreting
tone of voice is a vital part of callhandling skills, but here we touch on a
more fundamental issue: recognizing and
understanding accent. Extensive exposure
to a wide variety of different accents is
absolutely vital on any culture course
(particularly British and Australian, since
North American media is more prevalent
in the Philippines). The diverse range of
accents and their idioms within a given
country can very often only been recognized
and understood by a native speaker. Scottish,
Yorkshire, and Northern Irish accents are
notoriously difficult to decipher even for
the native Brit, as is the broad Queensland
accent of Australia.
This is why we at FuturePerfect ensure
that only native speakers teach this part of
their culture courses. We also recognize
that accent training needs to be ongoing
after intensive culture training courses. Our
solution? We offer continued support with
online, easy-to-access listening clips and
exercises with a range of accents relevant to
specific voice accounts.
Beyond accent
But even being able to understand (and
distinguish between) a Yorkshire farmer and
a Californian surfer can only get one so far.
We go the extra mile and believe that effective
culture training requires the conversion of
knowledge and exposure into useful, effective
skills that agents can flexibly and competently
apply on the floor. To be able to understand the
idiomatic expressions and regional accent of a
customer and know facts about their country
does not necessitate effective intercultural
communication. FuturePerfect training courses
focus on turning knowledge into practical callhandling skills to promote empathy, rapportbuilding, and efficient AHT.
But how to measure it? How to prove
that we in fact provided your team with both
knowledge and the necessary practical skills
with which to apply this knowledge? As the only
company to offer a purely cultural assessment
system targeted to the call center industry
(Cultural Competency Assessment System),
we provide our clients with quantifiable data
What drives Filipinos to join
or leave their employers?
By Mylene Masangkay
and Stella Garcia, CCP
What employees seek in the
company and how employers
intend to reward them may not
necessarily match
When asked for the reasons why they
would leave their employers, Filipinos cited
low base pay, stress levels, and promotion
opportunity – in that order.
Posed the same question, however,
employers seemed to underestimate the
impact of stress levels on one’s desire to stay
in a company. In the 22 countries (including
the Philippines) screened by a recent study,
stress levels were not cited by employers as
key drivers for employees’ departure.
These are some of the eye-opening
findings in the Global Strategic Rewards
Survey that offers information gathered
across five continents and 22 countries. In
the Asia-Pacific region, the survey covered
400 employers and gathered the opinions of
4,000 employees. This includes the Philippine
segment, which covered 45 employers
supplemented by a random sampling of 500
employees. (See table 1)
The Filipino employees also disclosed
that base pay was the main reason for joining
a company, followed by career development
opportunities and finally, health care benefits.
Yet Filipino employers did not recognize
the importance of health care benefits as an
attraction tool for winning employees into
their organizations. (See table 2)
While many of the replies from employees
were the same globally, those from the
Philippines tended to put more emphasis
on the “money-in-your-pocket” aspect
compared to their counterparts elsewhere
in the world. Meanwhile, employers tended
to overestimate the importance of employer
reputation in attracting employees.
The survey also revealed that employees
didn’t seem to fully appreciate the rewards
offerings provided by their employers. It
appeared that employers did not communicate
effectively to the employees just what were
in store for them.
The good news is that while there were
evident differences in the way employers
Table 1: Reasons why employees leave their company:
Rank
1
Employees
Global
Stress levels
Employers
Asia Pacific Philippines
Stress levels
Base pay
Global
Base pay
2
Base pay
Base pay
Stress levels
Career
Development Opportunities
3
Promotion
opportunity
Promotion opportunity
Promotion
opportunity
Promotion
opportunity
Asia Pacific Base pay
Philippines
Base pay
Career
Development
Opportunities
Career
Development
Opportunities
Promotion
opportunity
Promotion
opportunity
Table 2: Reasons why employees join their company:
Rank
Employees
Global
Asia Pacific Philippines
Nature
Nature
1
Base Pay
of work
of work
Employers
Global
Asia Pacific Career
Development
Base pay
Opportunities
Career
2
Base pay
Job security Development Base pay Opportunities
Career
Development
Opportunities
Health Care Employer Employer
3
Job security
Base pay
Benefit
Reputation
Reputation
Philippines
Employer
Reputation
Base pay
Career
Development
Opportunities
Table 3: Most common ways of addressing retention challenges
Rank
Asia Pacific
1
Implemented off-cycle increases
2
Increased responsiveness to findings of employee opinion surveys
3
Accelerated career development opportunities
Philippines
Increased responsiveness to findings
of employee opinion surveys
Implemented off-cycle increases
Implemented/increased use
of recognition programs or increased efforts
to survey employee opinions
on their agents’ knowledge transfer and skills
transfer to measure cultural competency levels
post-training.
Culture for managers
The ever-growing need for global
cultural competency doesn’t stop with
agents. Managers and middle managers
are increasingly expected to negotiate,
network, and converse effectively
with counterparts in the United States,
Canada, Australia, and Britain. The
business cultures of these countries are
so entirely dissimilar that to apply one
rule to all might achieve promotion in
one place and exclusion in the next! In
order to ensure smooth communication
across borders, middle and senior
managers need to be conversant not only
with the essentials of the cultures they
are encountering, but also with the key
differences between them.
To share our knowledge of and
research into effective culture training,
FuturePerfect recently ran a free seminar
for all BPA/P members entitled “Can We
Train Culture?: How to Use Call Center
Interactions to Teach Cultural Awareness.”
This seminar, led by the Country Head of
Logica, Neil Elias, was the fifth in the
“Training Excellence” seminar series that
started in February. z
Hayley McCarthy is the Corporate
Communications Director of FuturePerfect
Business English Specialists, Inc., leading
the industry in language and culture training
and assessment through sound research and
practical experience and a team of native
speakers.
and employees viewed rewards, the former
have used various ways of addressing
retention challenges.
Although the
immediate knee-jerk reaction would be to
provide a counter-offer by implementing
an off-cycle pay increase, we discovered
that employers are now taking efforts to
listen more to their employees by collecting
opinions and addressing concerns raised in
these surveys. (See table 3)
At Watson Wyatt, we view these studies
as effective tools to urge employers to
address the rewards priorities of their targeted
workforce segments more effectively. In so
doing, they must avoid two pitfalls in order
to maximize return on investment:
Misguided investments – Allocating
resources to rewards programs that are not
important to employees is unlikely to produce
the desired returns.
Poor execution or implementation
– Employee awareness and understanding
of reward programs is required for these
programs to have any power in attraction,
motivation, or retention. Low employee
awareness suggests that many companies
have ineffective communication programs. z
Stella J. Garcia, CCP, is Watson Wyatt
Manila’s Office Practice Leader for the
Human Capital Group. Mylene Masangkay
is a Consulting Specialist and the Philippines’
Champion for the Global Strategic Rewards
Survey. Watson Wyatt is the trusted business
partner of the world’s leading organizations
on people and financial issues. For more
information on the Global Strategic Rewards
Survey, please contact Ms. Garcia at stella.
[email protected] or call (02)8415188 and Ms. Masangkay at
mylene.
[email protected] or call (02)
841-5137. Copies of the global report,
including Asia-Pacific findings are available
for sale. For inquiries, please contact Cherry
Punongbayan at (02) 841-5143.
www.bpap.org
Breakthroughs
Company News
AIG BPSI Inaugurates
New Operations Center
in the Philippines
april - june 2008
19
Colliers’ Head of Sustainability
Lectures on Green Buildings
Simon
Carter,
Colliers
International’s
Head
of
Sustainability
for
Asia
Pacific, gave a lecture on
“Sustainability in the Built
Environment” to clients of the
Manila office last January 24
at the RCBC Plaza in Makati
City.
His audience was a healthy mix of
major developers, landlords, and tenants.
The Executive Director of the Philippine
Green Building Council was also present.
Carter’s discussion revolved around
Sustainability in the Real Estate Industry
that had “Green Buildings” as one of its
main components. Energy and water
efficiency, waste management, and
improving indoor environmental quality
of buildings and offices, and how these
can affect business operation and people
productivity were the major points of
interest.
The presentation provided
innovative, forward, and strategic thoughts
on how organizations can best respond to
and benefit from developing issues such
as sustainability, new work practices, the
transforming workforce and the knowledge
economy.
Carter is an Ambassador for Al
Gore’s Climate Project and the author
of Lifeblood, a groundbreaking report
launched by Colliers International in
March 2006.
Colliers International Philippines Inc.
was established in 1995 and is a subsidiary
of Colliers Macaulay Nicholls Inc. (CMN),
a member firm of Colliers International, an
affiliation of independent companies with
267 offices in 57 countries worldwide.
CMN is the largest member firm of Colliers
International and provides a full range of
services to real estate users, owners, and
investors worldwide including brokerage,
property and facilities management,
corporate services, valuation and consulting
services, project management research, and
investment sales. z
AIG-BPSI President Chris Duncan-Webb
AIG
Business
Processing
Services, Inc. (AIG BPSI)
inaugurated
its
second
operations center in the
Philippines,
the
Manila
Operations
Center,
last
January.
AIG BPSI is a service center providing
back-office and call center support to AIG
businesses worldwide. It specializes in
complex insurance transactions supporting
new applications, underwriting support,
policy changes, and claims. The company
employs over 1,000 employees in the Metro
Manila area, where it has operated for over
five years.
The inauguration of the new operations
center represents the latest expansion
for AIG in the Philippines. The Manila
Operations Center (MOC) will support
AIG’s claims business in North America
that is currently expanding and requires
greater capacity. It will provide additional
capacity, along with high-quality services
and a more robust disaster recovery
platform or the business.
The new AIG BPSI facility, which houses
250 employees, is located within the Paragon
Corporate Center in Alabang, Muntinlupa
City. AIG BPSI plans to double the size
of its new facility within the year as the
company invests more heavily in expanding
its Philippine presence.
AIG has a long and distinguished history
in the Philippines dating back over 60 years
through the Philippine American Life and
General Insurance Company (Philamlife).
American International Group, Inc. (AIG),
a world leader in insurance and financial
services, is the leading international
insurance organization with operations in
more than 130 countries and jurisdictions,
serving commercial, institutional, and
individual customers through the most
extensive worldwide property, casualty, and
life insurance networks of any insurer. z
Globe Business Increases
Internet Bandwidth and
Boosts Cable Diversity
Globe Business has doubled
its
international
Internet
bandwidth to six (6) Gbps and is
continuously upgrading to reach
ten (10) Gbps by the first quarter
of 2008, providing customers
with even faster connectivity
and less lag time.
The increase in capacity will benefit
all its customers ranging from everyday
home users to Internet cafés and other
growing businesses, as well as large
corporations with bigger broadband access
requirements.
Globe offers its customers the best
and diverse routes to enable borderless
communication and easy access to realtime and relevant information. It has
now the most number of direct network
connections to Asia, the United States,
Europe, and popular web portals.
www.bpap.org
Globe’s traffic passes through the Asia
Pacific Cable Network 2 (APCN2) and
City to City (C2C) cable system, as well as
the East Asia Crossing (EAC). This year,
Globe will expand its list to include the
Tata Global Network - Intra-Asia Cable
System (TGN-IA), adding another diverse
route. Its various investments on cable
routes ensure continuous Internet access
to its customers.
Cable diversity assures redundancy
and provides peace of mind to Globe’s
customers. The advantage that Globe
offers is continuous Internet connectivity
and the elimination of service interruptions
in emergency cases such as natural
calamities.
Globe
also established direct
connection with online content providers,
which include Yahoo and Google among
others, and is hosting Akamai Servers in
its data center. These connections ensure
Internet traffic flows directly to these
online content for faster access. z
Simon Carter in action
Punongbayan & Araullo
Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence
Accounting, tax and business
advisory firm Punongbayan &
Araullo (P&A) celebrated its
20th anniversary in February
with a cocktail reception for
clients, colleagues and friends,
both from the business and
the government sector. The
celebration was held at the
Blue Leaf Events Pavilion in
McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio.
Known as “the firm with a big heart,”
P&A was founded by Ben Punongbayan
and Joe Araullo, prominent personalities
in the accounting and banking profession
respectively. The firm’s soft opening
happened, appropriately enough, on
Valentine’s Day in 1988. At that time, P&A
had all of eight people on board: seven CPAs
and one secretary.
“Even if we were only eight at that
time,” says Joe Araullo, “we built the office
to accommodate more than 100 people. The
way we looked at it, we were going to be
successful. Why lease a small place?”
P&A expanded quickly, bagging several
privatization engagements that helped
establish the firm’s reputation, and attracting
big batches of CPA board top-notchers who
were eager to be a part of P&A’s pioneering
team.
Now, P&A, an active member of
BPA/P, currently has 19 partners, a personnel
complement of over 600 people, and five
offices all over the country.
Ester Punongbayan, one of the partners
of P&A and a part of BPA/P’s Membership
Power Team, heads the firm’s outsourcing
arm, the Business Support Services, currently
one of the firm’s fastest growing divisions.
Punongbayan initiates and supports efforts
at increasing BPA/P’s membership and
addressing the needs of the booming local
outsourcing industry. z
P&A’s BSS Team (from left): Aris Pigao (Supervisor), Benee Dizon (Director), Ched Raña (Supervisor),
Paz Malubay (Partner), Ester Punongbayan (Partner and Division Head), Grace Joboco (Supervisor),
Beth Veluz (Supervisor) and Shyrwin Joboco (Supervisor)
20
april - june 2008
Company News
Transcom-Worldwide
Selects RP for Asia’s
Contact Center Hub
Transcom-Worldwide formally
opened its Asian regional
customer contact headquarters,
Transcom Center, on March 5
in Pasig City near commercial
centers Tiendesitas and SM
Hypermart at C5.
Realizing the competitive economic
advantages of its offshore location with its
European connections, Transcom-Asia’s
new building in the Philippines will serve
as its headquarters or service center in the
Asian region. It will be its Southeast Asian
financial and business hub, catering to over
500 multinational companies in the region.
Citing the Philippines’ competitive
advantages such as good quality of HR,
strategic location, good infrastructure, and
hospitable lifestyle, the global call center
seats over 1,000 agents and is targeted to
increase to 5,000 by the end of the year
to service its growing number of clients
worldwide.
Transcom-Asia Executive Vice President
of International Operations Duncan Cowie
expressed his optimism over the company’s
future in the region: “The outlook for
Transcom in Asia is bright. Filipinos are
globally competitive and they showcase
unique business outsourcing capabilities
that can be exported to the region and help
move Asia to greater heights.”
He added, “The Philippines is the perfect
location to showcase the global competitive
advantage of our ‘secret weapon’—the
Transcom people. It is the collective skill
sets of these dedicated professionals that
attract business opportunities and excite
executives around the world to put their
trust—their customer relationships—here.”
Wilfred Julius Abo Jr., Transcom’s
Vice-President for Philippine Operations
of Transcom, affirmed, “Our people in
the Philippines will help us maintain our
position as a major player in the BPO
market, and will be the catalyst that brings
Transcom to even greater heights.”
It will use the Philippines as its base to
reach neighboring countries in Asia. “We
will launch our expansion to China. And it
will be led from here,” disclosed Cowie.
Transcom is Europe’s leading Customer
Relationship Management and Credit
Management Service Provider. Established
in 1995, it now employs more than 16,200
trained professionals, delivering services in
33 languages to hundreds of domestic and
international clients, through 72 service
centers in 29 countries across Europe and in
the United States. z
VISION-X, Inc. Launches
Three New Sites
Jobstreet Congratulates
TeleTech for Winning
Regional Excellence Award
JobStreet.com, the number one job site in the Philippines, recently
affirmed its support for TeleTech’s goal of developing globally competitive
workers for the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market. TeleTech has partnered with JobStreet.
com since 2004, making use of the site’s
extensive jobseeker networks to source
local talent for its offices across the
country.
The Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI) awarded TeleTech the Regional
Outsourcing and Offshoring (O&O)
Excellence award at the recently conducted
E-Services Global Outsourcing Conference. The award recognizes companies that
support the development of “next-wave”
cities through direct investments and
other initiatives such as human resource
development. The award is in line with
the DTI’s campaign to establish cities
outside Metro Manila as ideal investment
destinations in anticipation of high demand
from the global BPO market.
Operating
12
delivery
centers
nationwide, TeleTech employs more than
15,000 workers, 10,000 of which are
outside Metro Manila, namely in Cebu,
Dumaguete, Lipa, Bacoor, Cainta, Iloilo,
Vision-X, Inc (VXI), the premiere
contact center solutions company,
recently announced the newest
expansion of its global footprint
through the launch of three new
sites this 2008.
This year marks the most aggressive
expansion initiative by VXI in the Philippines,
with a new site in Makati City expected for
launch by the end of the 4th quarter, and the
addition of a new site in Quezon City.
The new Makati site will be located in
SM Cyberzone 2 along Sen. Gil Puyat Ave.
and promises to be one of the largest business
process outsourcing facilities in the country. It
has a total floor area of 10,000 square meters
and should produce over 1,800 seats. The
new Quezon City site will produce upwards
of 900 seats.
VXI continues to grow in the continental
United States. Through its Lubbock Texas
site, an estimated 500 seats will be added
to the company’s global presence; it will
be operational by early May this year. VXI
currently has over 5,000 employees across
the continental United States, mainland
China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and the
Philippines. Once its latest global expansion
is finished, VXI will have grown by another
2,500 seats. z
Bacolod, San Fernando (Pampanga), and
Sta Rosa (Laguna) facilities.
Maulik Parekh, TeleTech Senior Vice
President and General Manager for Asia, says
the award is a testament to the company’s
exceptional commitment to developing
world-class Filipino talent in these regional
hubs and that the company aims to increase
their employees to 25,000 by 2009.
TeleTech is a leading global provider
of customer management and business
process outsourcing solutions. Established
in the United States 23 years ago, TeleTech
is headquartered in Denver, Colorado with
a global network that extends across 68
customer management centers in North
America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin
America.
JobStreet.com has a database of over 1.5
million jobseekers and an award-winning
suite of online recruitment solutions. It
operates in seven countries: Malaysia,
Singapore, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh,
Japan, and the Philippines. z
ICT Group Named “Fastest Growing BPO
Company of the Year in the Philippines”
The
ICT
GROUP,
INC.
(NASDAQ: ICTG), a leading
global provider of customer
management and business
process outsourcing solutions,
was named “The Fastest
Growing BPO Company of
the Year” in the Philippines
at
the
Second
Annual
International Information and
Communication Technology
Awards Ceremony held last
March 13 at the Renaissance
Makati City Hotel Manila.
John J. Brennan, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of ICT GROUP, said of
the award, “This ranking is a testament to
the responsiveness and flexibility of ICT
GROUP and our balanced, diversified
operating and service delivery model,
which is capable of supporting clients
across a range of products, markets, and
geographies.”
ICT GROUP rapidly expanded its
Philippines capacity in 2007 to meet
accelerated demand from key clients
VXI and SM Executives and guests during the Ground Breaking Ceremony. (from L-R) Jess Lucas, Vice President
of SM Land, Inc; Steven Wang, Vice President for Finance, Vision-X, Philippines Inc.; David Zhou, President and
COO, Vision-X, Philippines Inc.; Anshu Bhartia, Director for Vendor Relationship Management (Asia), American
Express; Paul Birdseye, Executive Vice President and Country Manager, Vision-X, Philippines Inc.; and Lulu Ng,
Regional Director and Head of Contact Centers (Asia Pacific), Western Union.
Breakthroughs
for the delivery of cost-effective, highquality customer management and BPO
support services from an offshore location.
“Not only does this award underscore
the significant accomplishment of
successfully implementing this accelerated
expansion,” said Brennan, “but it also
recognizes the determination and skill
of our management staff and all of our
employees, in the Philippines, the U.S. and
in all of the countries in which we operate,
to consistently meet or exceed customer
expectations.”
ICT GROUP, headquartered in
Newtown, Pennsylvania, provides a
comprehensive mix of customer care/
retention, acquisition, up-selling/crossselling, technical support, market research
and database marketing, as well as e-mail
management, data entry/collections, claims
processing and document management
services, using its global network
of onshore, near-shore and offshore
operations.
It currently manages more than 40
operations centers across the United
States, Canada, the United Kingdom,
Ireland, Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica,
the Philippines, India, and Australia. z
School Transcript of Records Can
Now Be Delivered Door to Door
E-Transcript.Com.Ph
is
a
customer-service
package
designed by Dynamic Outsource
Solutions, Inc. to assist alumni in
obtaining official copies of their
school records.
This innovative homegrown concept
guarantees the fast, efficient, safe,
untampered, and timely delivery of authentic
official school documents, particularly the
Transcript of Records, to alumni, especially
during the course of job-hunting or in
compliance with requirements by wouldbe employers. All they need do is dial one
number and the system runs its course. This
can also be availed through the internet.
Dynamic Outsource Solutions, Inc. is
a business process outsourcing company
providing world-class customer, marketing,
collection, as well as backroom services
This service package has three major
objectives: to allow alumni to obtain their
official school records without having
to personally queue in the university; to
provide university officials adequate time and
better-managed schedules to complete such
requests while ensuring the timely delivery
of these documents right at the alumni’s
doorstep; and to help ensure that employers
receive authentic and untampered school
documents from their “near hires.” Visit
www.e-transcript.com.ph. z
www.bpap.org
Company News
Breakthroughs
april - june 2008
21
Excellence in Any Language
PLDT backs the International ICT Awards 2008
The Philippines continues as the
destination of choice for the global
business process outsourcing industry. In
fact, according to the International ICT
Awards, the country “has emerged as
the world’s fastest growing destination”
for BPOs. The proof is in the increasing
number of clients and scope of services
now outsourced to this country, signalling
strengthened confidence in Filipino talent
and competence.
The 2nd Annual International ICT
Awards–Philippines 2008, held last
March 13 at the Renaissance Hotel
Makati, recognized organizations and
individuals who contributed the most
to put the Philippines and the Filipinos
in “the top of mind of global business
leaders.” PLDT Business Solutions
supported the annual event as premier
sponsor with more focused ICT solutions
that ably serve BPOs.
PLDT SVP and Customer Sales and
Marketing Group Head, Eric R. Alberto,
in his keynote address said, “No matter
what the language, the essence of
excellence remains the same: a drive to
continuously better oneself in all aspects,
a commitment to enabling the best in
others. Indeed, the Philippine Offshoring
& Outsourcing Industry has manifested
this excellence, working together with
partners in the Private Sector, Industry, &
Government.”
Alberto also pointed out that the
industry experienced “unprecedented
employment” of more than 300,000 jobs
and “record revenues amounting to nearly
US$5 billion.”
These achievements, according to
Alberto, “captured the attention of worldrenowned organizations which have
showered us with praises and accolades
in 2007 – ‘Offshoring Destination of
the Year’ from the United Kingdom’s
National
Outsourcing
Association,
recognition from Frost & Sullivan as
being among the top 10 Shared Services
and Outsourcing Destinations in the
World, acknowledgement from Nomura
Securities as the no. 2 outsourcing base for
call center-based BPO activities, acclaim
from Diamond Consultants as third in the
world in terms of BPO location strategy,
and recognition from Tholons of Manila,
Cebu, and Quezon City, as top cities for
outsourcing in the world.”
Alberto also reaffirmed PLDT’s shared
vision with the industry of “10 by 10 by 10
Roadmap,” namely achieving 10 percent
of world market share through US$10
billion in two years, or by 2010. However
L-R: PLDT’s Luigi Lopa, Optel’s Donald Felbaum, and Henry Schumacher
of the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines.
the industry faces challenges as well:
slowing or shrinking U.S. and developed
world markets, as well as aggressive
competition from other countries eager to
cash in on the BPO bonanza. He added
that excellence is the guiding standard for
surmounting these challenges, just as it
remains the key principle at PLDT as it
celebrates its 80th anniversary.
As evidence of PLDT’s commitment
to excellence, PLDT’s targeted CAPEX
of over Php25 billion for 2008 includes
the upgrade of its fixed line network into
Next-Generation (NGN) technology, a
new cable system and a landing station
for unsurpassed bandwidth quite relevant
to BPOs, broadened wireless coverage
and wireless-broadband capabilities, and
growing PLDT’s ICT businesses with
enhanced abilities to deliver managed
services, content, and solutions over and
above current access platforms.
UnionBank Receives Financial Insight Innovation Awards 2008
UnionBank, with its Cash
Management Services OneHub.
Gov product initiative, was
recently recognized for its
Business-to-Government (B2G)
Payments by Financial Insights,
a leading independent research
and advisory firm.
Left to right : Romina C. Meresen, AVP; Victor B. Valdepeñas, President and COO; Hermie M. Pugeda, EVP;
Ana C. Sison, FVP; Elmer R. Paggabao, FVP. UnionBank was given this award in the
FinTech Asia Congress 2008 held recently
at the Raffles City Convention Center in
Singapore.
UnionBank OneHub.Gov is a facility
that allows corporations, through an online
integrated web platform, to pay online their
obligations with the Bureau of Internal
Revenue, the Bureau of Customs, GSIS, PagIBIG, PhilHealth, SSS, and the Philippine
Economic Zone Authority.
Previously,
companies had to send their representatives
to each government agency and its accredited
banks to make manual payments. Because
it was manual, the processing of payments
information and reconciliation with funds
collections took time.
Today, the corporations simply
access UnionBank OneHub.Gov to make
a straight-through processing of their
mandatory payments to the government
agencies, thus making payment processing
and reconciliation easier and faster. The
UnionBank Onehub.Gov portal is available
24x7, allowing corporations to do online
filing and payment anytime, any day,
enabling them to efficiently meet the various
payment deadlines. Users of UnionBank
OneHub.Gov are safe and secure with 256bit SSL and Verisign certification.
The Financial Insights Innovation
Awards
(FIIA)
2008,
increasingly
becoming the region’s most anticipated
award for financial institutions, received
150 submissions from banks and insurers
across the region. UnionBank was the only
Philippine bank among the 10 companies
that received the major awards. z
Magazine Recognizes Convergys as a Service
Leader in Outsourcing for Third Consecutive Year
Convergys
Corporation
(NYSE: CVG), a global leader
in relationship management,
has
announced
that
for
the third consecutive year,
it has been recognized by
Customer
Relationship
Management (CRM) Magazine as
a service leader in outsourcing in
its “2008 Service Awards” issue
- its fifth annual review of industry
innovation and success. CRM referred to
www.bpap.org
Convergys’ strong customer satisfaction
rating – scoring 4.5 out of 5 – and efforts
to explore opportunities in Spanishspeaking markets.
“We are honored to be recognized by
CRM Magazine as an outsourcing leader,”
says Andrea Ayers, Convergys’ President
of Customer Management. “This award
validates the strength of our relationship
management approach and global
outsourcing capabilities, supporting our
vision of being a market share leader in
the markets we serve.”
CRM Magazine is a monthly
publication designed to help business
executives
use
CRM
strategies
and technologies to improve sales,
marketing, and customer service;
strengthen customer relationships; grow
revenue; and increase profitability. The
magazine determines which companies
to recognize by using a formula that
combines industry analyst ratings for
customer satisfaction, depth of services,
and company direction. Convergys is a member of the S&P
500 and has been voted a Fortune Most
Admired Company for seven consecutive
years. It has approximately 75,000
employees in 84 customer contact centers
and other facilities in the United States,
Canada, Latin America, Europe, the
Middle East, and Asia. It has its global
headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. For 25 years, Convergys’ unique
combination of domain expertise,
operational excellence, and innovative
technologies has delivered process
improvement and actionable business
insight to clients based in more than 70
countries and which require knowledge in
35 languages. z
22
april - june 2008
Company News
Breakthroughs
Service
Tata Communications Introduces EXL
Establishes New
Global Suite of Security Services Delivery Center
Tata Communications (NYSE:
TCL), a leading provider of the
new world of communications,
recently announced the launch
of a robust suite of security
services designed to protect
the applications, IT systems,
and networks that power its
customers’ critical business
infrastructures.
The high-quality, cost-effective security
services, which include premise and
managed services as well as professional
services, enable Tata Communications to
provide its customers with security solutions
on a global basis.
Tata Communications delivers a
full range of monitored and managed
security solutions that are backed by
aggressive performance-based Service
Level Agreements (SLAs). The services
are overseen by an experienced, globally
distributed support team using state-of-theart systems, processes and tools. Its wide
range of supported vendors and solutions,
combined with its globally consistent and
efficient service delivery model, meets the
security needs of businesses.
“Research by our global network of
strategic partners shows that security risks
continue to increase dramatically,” says
John Landau, Senior Vice President, Global
Managed Services.
“As attacks continue to grow in
complexity, effective solutions must
integrate
multi-dimensionally
across
Watson Wyatt’s Flexible Benefit Total
Solutions Combats War for Talent
Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a
leading global consulting firm
has launched its Flexible Benefit
software solution, a powerful
Internet-based tool, tailored
specifically for the Philippine
market as part of its benefits
services.
“Employers in the Philippines are
facing a real war for talent and are keen to
offer cost-effective benefits that employees
really value,” says Andrew Heard, Benefits
Regional Practice Director. “They have for
sometime been seeking a provider with a
leading edge, total end-to-end solution to help
them with the administration of such flexible
benefit programs.In this war for talent, only
those with the best competitive solutions can
expect to win and I am very pleased that we
can bring such software tailored to meet the
needs of the Philippine market.”
The software is a powerful management,
communication, and reporting tool. It provides
the organization with the ability to address the
various opportunities and challenges that come
with the management and administration of a
flexible benefits program. With this unique
software tool, Philippine organizations have
the option of administering their own flexible
benefits programs or using Watson Wyatt as a
third-party administrator.
The software provides employees with an
online total rewards statement that highlights
the list of benefits and base pay. It allows
employees to understand the total investment
that employers are making in their rewards
package, which is a valuable communication
tool to assist with employee retention.
Conrado de la Cruz, Benefits Director for
the Philippines, remarks, “We have seen a strong
and growing interest in There is a clear message
that employers are looking for innovative tools
to assist with the attraction and retention of key
talent. We believe this service offering will
provide organizations with an edge in becoming
the employer of choice.”
Watson Wyatt (NYSE, NASDAQ: WW)
is the trusted business partner to the world’s
leading organizations on people and financial
issues.
Watson Wyatt has 7,000 associates in 32
countries. z
STAR Signs Media IP Network
Expansion Deal with BT
BT announced that its Media
and Broadcast sector has been
awarded
a
multimillion-dollar
three-year managed service IP
network solution contract for STAR
Group, Asia’s leading media and
entertainment company.
STAR broadcasts over 60 services in ten
languages, reaching more than 300 million
viewers in 53 countries across Asia. The service
will run across BT’s Global Media Network, an
MPLS-enabled IP network designed specifically
for carrying broadcast traffic.
BT is one of the world’s leading providers
of communications solutions and services
operating in 170 countries. Its principal
activities include the provision of local,
national and international telecommunications
services to customers for use at home, at work
and on the move; higher-value broadband and
Internet products and services and converged
fixed/mobile products and services. BT
consists principally of four lines of business:
BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail
and BT Wholesale.
STAR, a wholly owned subsidiary of
News Corporation, controls over 20,000 hours
of Indian and Chinese programming and
also owns the world’s largest contemporary
Chinese film library, with more than 600
titles. In partnership with leading companies
in Asia, STAR businesses extend to filmed
entertainment, television production, cable
systems, direct-to-home services, terrestrial TV
broadcasting, wireless and digital services.
Initially STAR will carry eight channels
from Hong Kong to Los Angeles: STAR
Plus, STAR One, STAR News, Vijay, STAR
Gold, STAR Chinese Movies, STAR Chinese
Channel, and [V] Taiwan. Signals will be fed
through Direct To Home (DTH) platforms,
including deploying connectivity to DirecTV,
Echostar, and cable systems that reach millions
of subscribers across the United States. By
using the BT core IP network, STAR is
gaining access to a globally deployed Media
IP network that already touches over 300
points of presence in 170 countries.
Dr. Guo Xiao Yong, Chief Technology
Officer of STAR, says: “This is our second
Media IP contract with BT. BT’s service
has provided us with a giant technology
leap, particularly in assisting us to expand
the distribution of our channels in North
America.” z
different categories of security infrastructure,
take on global visibility of incidents and
events, and build upon best-available realtime intelligence.”
“Tata Communications has assembled
extraordinary expertise and purposefully
designed its defense-in-depth services suite
to address this concerning trend,” he adds.
Tata Communications’ focus on managed
services allows enterprises to reduce costs
by outsourcing the increasingly difficult
and expensive task of both monitoring and
managing their security infrastructure, while
simultaneously delivering higher levels of
coverage and protection. The suite of security
services, which includes managed and monitored
Firewalls and Unified Threat Management
(UTM) appliances, Intrusion Detection and
Prevention systems, Distributed Denial of
Service (DDoS) Detection and Mitigation, and
Penetration Testing, offers customers proactive
detection and evaluation of information security
threats, accompanied by swift incident response
and remediation actions.
Evaluation and response is based on Tata
Communications’ sophisticated real-time
security incident and event analysis, which
draws upon a global base of current activity
and trends. Says Rob Ayoub, Industry
Manager - North America Information &
Communication Technologies for Frost
& Sullivan: “It is hard to predict when a
new problem with security is going to arise.
Service providers offering managed security
services have a better view on the threat
landscape and more data points then any
individual enterprise can have access to on
its own.”
“Tata Communications combines security
with telecommunications services on a global
basis, operating in more than 100 countries,”
he continues. “This sets the company apart
from others and allows it to offer simplicity
for multi-national companies looking to rely
on a small core of service providers.” z
in Pasay City
EXL Service’s new delivery center
in the Philippines will serve as its
first major outsourcing service
delivery location outside of India,
an important first step in its
strategy of providing seamless
global delivery from countries
around the world.
The new facility will offer a total seat
capacity of over 950 seats and a world-class,
modern environment for its professionals. It
is located in OneE-Com Center in Pasay
City, Metro Manila. The site is Philippine
Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)approved and adjoins Mall of Asia, the third
largest shopping mall in Asia.
Sumir Anand, Vice President and
Global Head of Infrastructure and Strategic
Initiatives, spearheaded the Philippine
project to meet the expanding demands of
EXL’s existing clients in multiple industry
verticals as it seeks to spread its operations
more globally. Through this expansion, EXL seeks to
provide a range of outsourcing services from
the Philippines for both new and existing
clients. EXL believes that the Philippines
represents a valuable source of talent that will
complement the significant transformation
and outsourcing capabilities it offers today
from India. A significant presence in the
Philippines will also further enhance EXL’s
business continuity capabilities and disasterrecovery framework.
With this addition, EXL now has nine
delivery centers located across Noida,
Gurgaon, and Pune in India, and Manila in
the Philippines. It is headquartered in New
York and has offices in New Jersey, London,
and Singapore. z
Mercer Signs Agreement
with TalentNet in Vietnam
Mercer, one of the world’s
leading global providers of
consulting, outsourcing, and
investment services today, has
entered into an agreement with
TalentNet Corporation, a leading
executive search and human
resource consulting company in
Vietnam, to market and provide
Mercer’s proprietary research,
HR management tools, and
survey data.
Under the agreement, TalentNet will market
and provide to clients salary benchmarking
tools and surveys such as the Mercer Total
Remuneration Survey, benefits survey, and
eIPE (International Positioning Evaluation), as
well as Mercer’s global insights publication,
corporate benchmark monitor, and global
mobility products.
Guo Xin, Deputy Region Head of Mercer,
Asia Pacific, says that the agreement with
TalentNet further underscores Mercer’s
ongoing commitment to expand in Vietnam, a
strategy that started nine years ago. He says,
“With Vietnam experiencing such phenomenal
growth in the past years, so too has demand
for Mercer’s offerings, particularly with
data-driven products and services from our
Information Product Solutions (IPS) division.”
Mercer provides services to over 25,000
clients in more than 40 countries. Mercer IPS
offers advice, data, and tools to human resources
and human capital decision makers, working
for local and international organizations from
across all industries.
Neo Siew Khim, regional leader of Mercer
IPS in Asia Pacific, says, “As one of the most
attractive and fastest growing economies in
the region, Vietnam’s workforce landscape is
becoming more and more dynamic, yet also
more challenging as employers compete for
the best talent. To succeed, businesses need
reliable compensation and benefits information,
as well as benchmarking and insights to help
organizations manage talent, including local
hires and individuals recruited to take an
assignment in Vietnam on both a long-and
short-term basis.”
Tieu Yen Trinh, General Director of
TalentNet Corporation, comments, “We
are confident that this arrangement with
Mercer will serve as a new benchmark for
professional human resource services in
Vietnam.”
Mercer is a leading global provider of
consulting, outsourcing and investment
services. It works with clients to solve their
most complex benefit and human capital
issues, designing and helping manage health,
retirement, and other benefits. Mercer’s
17,000 employees are based in more than
40 countries. The company is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan
Companies, Inc., which lists its stock (ticker
symbol: MMC) on the New York, Chicago,
and London stock exchanges. z
www.bpap.org
Breakthroughs
Company News
april - june 2008
23
Accenture Wins Philippines ‘BPO Employer of
the Year’ Award at International ICT Awards
Accenture
(NYSE: ACN) was
recognized as the Philippines’
business process outsourcing
(BPO) employer of the year at the
International Information and
Communications Technology
(ICT) Awards held March 13 in
Manila.
“We attribute the success of the
Accenture delivery centers in the
Philippines to the talented workforce that
comprises our organization,” said Beth Lui,
Country Managing Director of Accenture
in the Philippines. “Our employees – about
15,000 in the Philippines - are Accenture’s
greatest asset. We relentlessly strive to
help our people grow and hone their
talents by providing them with continuous
training and development programs, and by
promoting an inclusive culture that respects
their cultures, beliefs, skills and personal
achievements.”
Philippine-based
BPO
companies
serving international clients were eligible
to submit nominations for the award.
The criteria included: leadership that
manifests in company policies and
programs; strategic human resources (HR)
focus, particularly on employee retention
strategies; commitment to talent- and
skills-building; involvement in corporate
social responsibility initiatives; and strong
support in industry development.
“The primary success factors for
Accenture’s selection as ‘BPO Company
Employer of the Year’ are our high
employee
engagement
rate,
which
measures employees’ overall satisfaction
in company practices; our competitive
benefits and compensation package; the
work our professionals do; opportunities
for advancement; employee quality of life;
and our lower-than-average attrition rate,”
said Ramona Velasco, an Accenture Senior
Executive and human resources lead in the
Philippines.
With eight facilities in Manila and
Cebu, Accenture provides capabilities
from systems integration to infrastructure
and applications outsourcing, and data
and voice BPO. In fiscal year 2007, the
company invested US$776 million in
training its global workforce. This included
organizational, professional development
and projects-based training.
Accenture is a global management
consulting, technology services, and
outsourcing
company. Combining
unparalleled experience, comprehensive
capabilities across all industries and
business functions, and extensive research
on the world’s most successful companies,
Accenture collaborates with clients to
help them become high-performance
businesses and governments. With more
than 175,000 people in 49 countries,
the company generated net revenues
of US$19.70 billion for the fiscal year
ending Aug. 31, 2007. z
Headstrong and Gallagher Leading Call Center
Calls on Datacraft to
Financial Systems Form
Support
Expansion
Strategic Alliance
Global consultancy Headstrong
and Gallagher Financial Systems
(GFS), a leading provider of
mortgage and consumer loan
origination software solutions,
officially announced a strategic
alliance between the two
companies last April.
The partnership combines a proven
and industry-winning product with strong
advisory and global implementation capability
to address large-scale technology projects
within major financial services institutions,
according to Nora Terrado, Country Manager
of Headstrong Philippines.
The partnership brings together more
than half a century of leadership in financial
and mortgage services. Gallagher Financial
System’s NetOxygen is an award-winning
Loan Origination System based on the
latest .NET and AJAX-based technologies.
“As a strategic alliance partner, Headstrong
will leverage its 26-year track record in
business consulting, project management,
and technology delivery using its global
delivery platform,” Terrado says. The
partnership offers clients access to a
delivery team that is ‘always-on’ with the
cost advantages of an offshore delivery
model and a faster time to market.
“Lenders are reacting to unprecedented
market conditions by seeking out a
combination of technology and related
services that enables adaptability in the
face of accelerating change in the lending
industry,” says Chris Anderson, President
at GFS. “This partnership delivers the
right technology and resources at a much
lower cost by utilizing both an onshore and
offshore presence.”
“This is a complementary relationship
that allows Headstrong to provide a
cost-effective solution to all tiers of the
mortgage market; the amount of flexibility
and configurability of NetOxygen, coupled
with our global delivery centers will drive
down the time and cost of implementation
and maintenance,” says Hung-Chou Tai,
Head of the Mortgages Services Practice at
Headstrong.
Founded in 1985, Gallagher Financial
Systems is one of the largest residential
loan origination systems providers in
the United States. Headquartered in
South Miami, Florida, with its national
operations center in Brentwood, Tennessee,
the company provides flexible, scalable,
Web services-based loan origination and
decisioning solutions for both the mortgage
and consumer lending industries.
Headstrong’s more than 25 years
of consulting experience drives proven
solutions in financial services to reduce
infrastructure overhead, improve crosssell effectiveness, and enhance overall
client retention. It supplies customized
solutions for some of the world’s biggest
and best-known companies in complex
production environments across Credit
Derivatives, Fixed Income, Marketplaces,
Mortgages, Securities Financing, and
Wealth Management. z
Datacraft, the region’s leading
independent
IT
solutions
provider, has won a project to
help the Philippines’ premier
call center and business
process outsourcing provider,
Advanced Contact Solutions
(ACS), dramatically expand and
support its facilities to ensure
business continuity.
The US$2.5 million project will see
Datacraft upgrade and expand the capacity
of four of ACS’s existing call centers, as
well as build two entirely new ones. The
project will add nearly 2,000 more seats
to address the business needs of ACS’s
clients.
ACS is a pioneer and leader in
the Philippine contact center industry.
It provides full contact and Business
Process Outsourcing (BPO) services to
top U.S. Fortune 500 companies, as well
as companies based in Canada, the United
Kingdom, and the Philippines. In January
2004, ACS became the first publicly
listed call center in the Philippines Stock
Exchange and achieved ISO 9001:2000
certification in 2006. It has grown a 300seater call center in 2003 to 7,000 within
four years.
ACS has six state-of-the-art call centers
conveniently located in highly accessible
areas that serve clients from a broad range
of industries such as financial services,
airlines, telecommunications, technology,
retail, and healthcare. The sites are fully
equipped with IP phones, which connect
them to other ACS call centers located in
the United States, and are well supported
by full power and telecommunication
service redundancy for maximum service
availability.
“The Philippines accounts for more
than 20 percent of the total world market
in contact center services, which is also the
fastest growing sector in the Philippines
information technology,” says Raymund
Del Val, Country Manager of Datacraft
Philippines. “The companies that are
leading in this industry are the ones that
integrate contact center business processes
with supporting technologies to deliver a
holistic customer experience.”
Datacraft will also deliver Uptime
powered by Cisco Services to help ACS
support and maintain its call centers and
network.
Uptime powered by Cisco Services is
a collaborative service offering developed
by the Datacraft-Cisco Global Services
Alliance. By signing up for Uptime powered
by Cisco Services, ACS will benefit from
Cisco’s
industry-leading
technology
expertise and problem escalation to the
Cisco Technical Assistance Centre, as well
as Datacraft’s enhanced service value that
includes flexible Service Level Agreements
(SLAs) and local language helpdesk support.
In engaging Datacraft for this service, ACS
can be assured of quality online as well as
guaranteed on-site engineer and hardware
support to minimize network downtime,
resulting in business continuity. z
IP-Converge’s Salesforce.com Optimizes Productivity for BPOs
IP-Converge aims to optimize
productivity for BPO players by
offering nothing less than best
of breed, globally renowned
solutions.
“It is the mission of IP-Converge to
equip BPO companies with the right tools
so they are empowered to thrive and seize
opportunities in today’s global market,”
says IP-Converge President and COO
Reynaldo Huergas. “Being proponents
of the “Platform as a Service (PaaS)”
www.bpap.org
concept, IP-Converge believes that
embracing such is the key for both small
players and major players to achieve their
productivity targets and ultimately a better
bottom-line, especially in this time of US
dollar depreciation.”
IP-Converge’s banner product which
allows BPOs to experience the power of
PaaS is Salesforce.com, proven leader
in on-demand customer relationship
management solutions. “The beauty of
the Salesforce.com platform is that it is
on-demand and web-based. It provides the
flexibility for customers to subscribe to the
service only when it is required, making it
extremely cost-effective,” says Raymond
Remoquillo, IP-Converge Vice-President
for IT Sales and Services.
Salesforce.com delivers business
process innovations that allow customers
to attain workplace productivity and
efficiency through simple yet accurate
management of business information. It
combines functionality, proven integration,
point-and-click customization, global
capabilities, and the best user experience,
resulting in CRM success.
To complete its PaaS proposition, IP-
Converge also offers V.O.I.C.E.S. (Voice
Over Internet Call Exchange Suite), a
platform hosted in its telco-grade Internet
Data Center. The V.O.I.C.E.S. portfolio
leverages on the company’s high speed
network connectivity and robust IDC
infrastructure that provides high quality
VOIP termination with superb latency to
North America and the Asia Pacific region.
It delivers excellent call quality and creates
the ideal environment best suited for call
center operations. V.O.I.C.E.S. ensures
efficient VOIP communications and call
center operations, on-demand. z

The Oscars of the BPO Industry

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