The Philippines: A Strong Contact Center Outsourcing Choice
April 18, 2011
By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor
In the overall customer service arena, contact center outsourcing has not always brought along with it fuzzy, warm feelings, especially when the country of destination was the Philippines. As captured in this inContact blog, the Philippines has historically been an occupied country as it did not gain its independence until 1946. And, like many countries before it, the people of the Philippines have adopted the American culture as part of its lifestyle.
As a result, the Philippines actually offers the potential to excel in the call center and contact center outsourcing space as Filipinos offer excellent verbal and written English communications.
While as many as 175 disparate languages are spoken throughout the country, English is the language of choice used in schools at all levels, producing a viable workforce that can support customer care for English-speaking companies.
The Philippines also offers a style of doing business that has traditionally mimicked that of the United States. The country’s form of government, accounting practices and legal policies are very similar to the American system. Contact center outsourcing has been shown to flourish there as Americans can easily insert themselves into the Philippine society. The people in this country are known to be frugal and intelligent, nurturing a society where creativity and sound judgment are the firm foundation.
The culture of the Philippines is also one focused on respect for elders. The people in this contact center outsourcing center are non-confrontational and tend to be considered a submissive group. Words are frequently added to an individual’s name, demonstrating respect for their position, age, etc. It is very common for contact center outsourcing agents to insert “sir” and “ma’am” into their sentences as it is a common approach in the way they talk.
When such traits are added to the call center, the result can be a respectful approach to “the customer is always right”. In fact, this contact center outsourcing destination will often focus on a culture of “try as much as you can to solve it” to deliver high quality service to each and every customer. The Filipino will be respectful throughout the conversation, even when the customer is not.
inContact suggests in its blog that contact center outsourcing to the Philippines can easily be one of the best decisions for a U.S. company as there is very little that needs to be taught to the Filipino to equip the agent to handle the customer call just right. Communication and customer service channels are already in place, requiring only that the company teach the agent the new technology to support the client. The rest is in place, making this contact center outsourcing destination an easy choice.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.