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English skills no longer enough(Business World (Philippines) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) The Philippine call center industry's best asset is its English- speaking, American-acculturated work force, but to keep up with a rapidly growing industry Filipinos must offer something more than good communication skills. "We still need people who are qualified, who can communicate but at the same time think well. We have to develop more talent; despite the high number of college graduates every year, we just get around 20-25% of them for jobs," Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) executive director Jojo Uligan said. The CCAP estimates that there are presently 100,000 "seats" in 128 call centers nationwide. "The demand is huge, because a lot of companies are expanding. This could grow by as much as 30 to 40% by the end of the year, and maybe more next year," Mr. Uligan said in a telephone interview. An Asian Development Bank study released earlier this year said the whole business process outsourcing total workforce size could "reach 500,000 to 600,000 in 2010, which is considerable for a single economic activity". Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) information technology unit executive director Maria Susan P. dela Rama told BusinessWorld that six to seven government-trained applicants are rejected by call centers, highlighting that the employee base is not really as skilled as state expects it to be. "About 45% are near hires, while most of them fail in the number one requirement of the business, English proficiency, [although] there are other factors considered in hiring," she said. No similar data was available for privately-trained applicants or those directly hired without training. The lack of qualified call center workers could clip the Philippines' growth in the business, although government and industry players are banking on the country's "core competencies" to further boost an industry already worth P2.3 billion as of end-2006. The managing director of a private coaching company, Michael Alexander M. Ang of the Manila Times Language Institute, Inc., said that while the Philippines may no longer be the number one non-native English-speaking population, it has two distinct communications advantages. "Filipinos have the ability to quickly assimilate and imbibe cultures. When you're having a conversation [with North Americans, the predominant market], it is important that you connect ... there are certain peculiarities [in American English] that don't follow rules of grammar, and also, you have the past colonial experience, and the present exposure to the country and its culture," he said. But more than communication skills, the CCAP's Mr. Uligan said Filipinos offer a wider range of higher value services than its competitors. "More than voice-based, which would be the traditional call center jobs, we have a good research and technical support community ... We've developed a total solution. We have a niche market, and the quality of our people's services have been proven," he said. But aside from agents' skills, officials pointed to management capabilities as a key factor in nurturing an industry barely six years old. Speaking at the sidelines of the 2nd Annual Contact Centre Congress, Information and Communication Technology Commissioner Monchito B. Ibrahim told BusinessWorld that "this is a young, fast rising sector so we don't have too many mature mid-level managers yet." Shawn Kewley, president of Australia's Customer Contact Management Association (CCMA), added that "putting young people in charge of business is a big responsibility on someone without a lot of life or business experience ... To make up for this lack of management capabilities, companies move their old people from country to country." And while very few Filipinos are in charge of big contact center companies, Dell International Services Philippines, Inc. has put Damian O. Mapa on top of country operations. Mr. Mapa said Dell is "quite happy with the talent pool in the Philippines". Headhunter Yu Ming Chin, executive director of Viventis Search Asia, said the Philippines will remain on the radar of top outsourcers. "You have all the biggest call centers here already, Convergys, Dell, etc. so it's (the Philippines) a major captive player. But a lot of companies not yet here would like to have multi-country bases, to back up operations, and the Philippines is a close second to India in terms of reputation. In fact, the Indian outsourcers are coming in. The main factor really would be the costs," he said. "If you can set up a site in Manila for $150,000 ... compared to $400,000 elsewhere, that's good," he said. Mr. Kewley also agreed that cost is a big factor. "In the first global survey of call center operators, cost accounted for 80% of the decision. Based on this, I think this is why the Philippines has actually seen a tremendous growth over the years," he said. Copyright 2007 Business World Publishing Corporation, Source: The Financial Times Limited |