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Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has become an increasingly common decision for businesses. The principle behind it is simple: by outsourcing ancillary functions, the business can focus on its core product, while those ancillary functions can be delivered at a higher quality and for lower cost.
Although the BPO’s origins were predominantly in call centres, there are now few business areas that haven’t been outsourced successfully. It is not hard to find a business that has completely outsourced its contact centre work.
The Philippines has become the world’s leading contact centre outsourcing destination. This is due to the nation’s unique set of factors that have helped propel them there, despite the nation’s BPO industry only being a few decades old.
“Philippine contact centres have a compelling offer. One of the most important is that they can seamlessly provide multichannel support. When customers might want to start an issue on social media, then move to email, before reaching a solution on the phone, it is important that contact centres be able to switch between those channels too,” says Ralf Ellspermann, CEO of PITON-Global, a leading mid-sized BPO in the Philippines.
In a similar vein, contact centres often need to have round-the-clock provision. While the Philippines has a convenient time zone for the Australian market (which means Australian clients can often attract the best agents), they will serve clients around the world, meaning their contact centres are not limited to office hours.
One of the benefits of outsourcing to the Philippines in the long and close connection the country has had with the west. This influences the country to this day, so there is an exceptionally high number of fluent English speakers and a strong cultural connection. Added to this, many Philippine institutions are modelled on the west, and they even align many of their legal frameworks on western standards to assist the outsourcing industry. This provides highly trained staff working in advanced and comfortable working conditions.
The net result of this is that call centres in the Philippines can offer an exceptionally high standard of service. The government has provided the foundation, recognising the importance of offshore outsourcing to the Philippines, and creating an economic and legal environment to help it succeed. The businesses then complement this with significant investment. First in the staff, who benefit from the training and opportunities offered. Then in their facilities, which are frequently custom-built and offer the latest in call centre technology.
Finally, the population provide highly skilled agents. Despite the low labour costs, contact centres provide an attractive career option for educated Filipinos, and over one million Filipinos work at all levels in the industry, creating a flexible workforce. This means that providers can easily scale to meet the changing demands of their global clients.
Contact centres leverage these advantages to provide great customer service but, because of the economies contact centres in the Philippines can bring, they do it for around half the cost of an in-house equivalent. Any business with a contact centre function, even one that’s relatively small, can benefit from the savings and enhanced service.