Various research studies have touted the growth possibilities in the Philippines. The country offers lower costs associated with taxes, building and labor, while also offering a political structure that is conducive to overseas business establishment within its borders.
While the contact center industry has been considered the country’s surprise industry, new segments of the business process outsourcing sector are still emerging. Small and medium-sized centers are one area of projected growth. In fact, to maintain viability, many centers are striving to maintain 200 seats or less, but at least 10 seats.
The CICT, or Commission on Information and Communication Technology, refer to these small- and medium-scale call centers (SMCCs) as Smites or Small- and medium-scale IT enterprises. These SMCCs are considered to be flourishing and have proven to be as strong a support sector as the big operators.
These SMCCs are quickly becoming a strong presence in the country. In fact, these centers are dispersed in regions unlike the big call centers, and the average SMCC has 10 seats. Despite their strong potential, SMCCs still have greater odds to face compared to their larger competitors.
Much like SMBs, these SMCCs have fewer resources on which to rely when launching campaigns and implementing next-generation technologies and applications. These challenges not only make it more difficult to compete, it also makes it difficult for these organizations to effectively promote themselves to clients.
It is because of these challenges that Davao-based businesswoman Joji Ilagan-Bian joined forces with similarly situated SMCCs and formed the Philippine Call Center Alliance Inc. or PhilCall in October 2006.
To date, the Alliance has 25 memberships with an average of 40 seats each, including 999 Inc., Synergia Cybercare Inc., VirCommServe Inc., Right Technicomm Inc., Sysgen Outsource Inc., Tech1 Internet and Farmout Central Intouch Inc.
”Our aim is also to professionalize SMCC operation so that we can establish a good reputation that is based on high standards of services as well as of ethics,” Bian says. “We want to flesh out SMCCs from the underground, so to speak.”
Datamonitor recently assessed the growth potential of the contact center industry in this part of the world, focusing especially on the Philippines. Given the benefits that the location can offer, it is expected to experience significant growth in the contact center industry over the next 5 years.
With the anticipated growth of SMBs throughout the world, these SMCCs can focus their marketing efforts on these smaller companies and expand their presence and facilitate their growth through these strong partnerships. In doing so, the Philippines can help to further establish itself as a prime location for offshore contact center operations.
