RP team goes on N. American tour to promote BPO sector

By MELVIN G. CALIMAG

With the local BPO (business process outsourcing) sector showing no signs of slowing down, a trade delegation is being organized by the government in North America to entice investors to locate in the country.

The Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the export promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry, said in a statement that the expedition is actually a "follow-up trade mission to e-Services Philippines" and will focus on the US and Canadian markets.

"The mission is part of the government’s strategic marketing program to position the Philippines as a preferred e-Services hub," Trade Assistant Secretary Fe Agoncillo-Reyes, executive director of CITEM, said in a statement.

"The mission also hopes to strengthen the potential of the country in nonvoicebased BPO services, including F&A (finance and accounting), and legal and healthcare," she added.

The North American tour is scheduled for June 7 to 19 and will cover New York, Florida, and Chicago in the US, and Toronto in Canada.

David Kinnear, president and CEO of DDC HRO and head of the BPO Council, a newly formed initiative of the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce in New York, said there’s been big shift in terms of awareness of the BPO sector Philippines in the last six months.

Of particular interest is the increased understanding for higher-value BPO, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, and skills-based BPO work products such as F&A, he said.

In the recent e-Services Philippines Conference in Manila, industry experts indicated their positive outlook for the Philippines’ growing role in the global BPO sector and the opportunity for economic growth this will create.

Jojo Aquino, managing director of NeoIT, said "F&A is the next big wave for the Philippines." NeoIT’s managing director, Russ Metcalf, on the other hand said the rapid growth of the BPO industry in the Philippines is a result of successful explorations by US business in the past five years.

"The effectiveness of the Philippine workforce in handling customer service, HR, IT services, and other functions shows that supporting US business needs from this country is the right thing to do," Metcalf said.

The number of jobs in the BPO sector has jumped from just 2,000 to over 200,000 with a 48-percent increase in activity in the last year alone, according to CITEM. About three to four additional jobs are created for every BPO job, it added.