Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Philippines

Welcome to Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Philippines!

This site is dedicated to promoting the Philippines as the primary destination for all Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) requirements.

Business process outsourcing or BPO is an emerging industry in the Philippines. This industry was regarded as one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The BPO boom is led by demand for offshore call centers. It is estimated that 112,000 people were working in call centers in the Philippines in 2005, bringing in revenues of US$1.12 billion for the year. This is a sharp increase from 2000 when call centers employed 2400 people and earned US$24 million. Overall, Philippine BPO is forecasted to earn US$13 billion for the year 2010.

This emerging industry in the Philippines is fueled mostly by customer care, medical transcription, software development, animation, and shared services. Though customer care call centers form the largest part of the BPO boom locally, the Philippines’ language proficient information technology, human resource, and finance/accounting professionals are a significant contributing factors as well. The proficiency of many Filipinos in English and Spanish were major factors in the growth of BPO in the Philippines.

The Philippines has the largest number of accredited accountants in Asia, with the number growing yearly. Filipino accountants are also renowned for their flexibility in working with multiple accounting standards.

The Philippines’ Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) report for 2004 cited the Philippines as among the top 10 choices for offshore operations. Major companies that already operate in the Philippines include AIG, AOL, Barnes & Noble, Chevron, Citigroup, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, JPMorgan Chase, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, and Trend Micro. Notable BPO vendors include Accenture, Convergys, and Unisys.

A survey by Kelly Services, Inc. based in Michigan, showed that India is no longer the first choice of U.S. companies looking to setup their offshore backroom operations. The study cited companies eyeing the Philippines as the better site due to quality. Filipinos enjoy a comparative advantage over American workers for two reasons. First, labor costs in the Philippines are a fraction of those in the United States. Second, most BPO workers in the Philippines are college graduates. Many overseas labor sourcers also prefer Filipinos over Indians when it comes to customer support and customer interaction due to Filipinos’ relative ease and familiarity with American culture and U.S. slang.