One of the fastest growing industries in the world is the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), a rising industry in the Philippines.
The sudden growth of BPO is led by the demand of 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.
The progression of call centers keep on to be rapid, up from 72 registered in late 2003 when the Asian Call Center Review reported the Philippines as the first rank in the offshore call center industry for the Asian region, outdoing India at the second position. From being an almost unexplored BPO territory in 2000, the call center industry has grown leaps and bounds. The Philippines Board of Investments (BOI) estimates growth rate of this industry since 2001 to 100 percent annually with less than 1000 seats in 2000 to more than 69,000 at the end of 2004.
In the year 2004, the Philippines already took over 20 percent of the total world market share in contact center services. It was estimated that the country could capture 50 percent of the total world English-speaking market in 2008. This industry, apart from contributing 12 percent in to the Philippines’ gross national product, is also the fastest growing provider for Filipino college graduates. The Information and Communications Technology division of the BOI reported that the call center industry experienced a growth rate of 70 percent in 2005 making it the most dynamic of all sectors in the Philippine information technology industry. It has been calculated approximately that as many as 130,000 could be working in all call centers in the Philippines by February 2006. According to industry forcasts, in excess of a million Filipinos would be employed in the call center industry, with more than US$12 billion in revenues in the year 2010.
With the revenues being brought up by the call center industry in the country, surely, it is a big help to the economy. The benefits this industry is offering is truly something to be acknowledged and be given importance.
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/outsourcing_in_the_Philippines
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call-center_Philippines
