Business Process Outsourcing or BPO is globally acknowledged to be the fastest growing industry in the world with a market that is expected to reach almost $200 billion by the end of the decade. The industry has also remained stable despite the global financial crisis. Customer contact services has the biggest share in the industry, followed by finance and accounting, and human resource services. Skills quality and competence is the primary driver why so many multinational companies prefer to outsource their non-core functions, plus the cost-effectiveness derived from entirely or almost entirely eliminating the fixed expenses of the outsources activities.

Business process outsourcing is the assignment of one or more business processes to an external usually offshore provider that specializes in the desired processes. The said process provider in turn owns, administers and manages the delegated process according to definite and measurable criteria of performance. The Philippines is internationally well known for the skills and competence of its BPO workforce.

The huge and continuously rising demand for Philippine call center services continues to lead the gigantic BPO boom in the country. The archipelago’s 62% growth rate in 2006 when the industry earned $2.1 billion compared to the $1.3 billion it earned in 2004 was what has placed the country in the global BPO spotlight. It now ranks third in the world, slightly behind India, and a little more to go to reach the current BPO king, India. The Philippine’s 2,400 BPO workforce in 2004 increased exponentially to 200,000 Filipinos working in 120 BPO companies, most of which were call centers, in 2006. Overall, the Philippine BPO industry is expected to reach a demand of $11 billion with a workforce of 900,000 people before the start of the next decade.

Though the Philippine BPO boom was initiated by the traditional low-cost call centers, the growth was sustained by the great increase in the demand for the higher earning outsourcing services such as legal services, Web design, medical transcription, software development, animation, and shared services. The Philippines has already taken steps to elevate its large pool of highly skilled yet cost effective pool of lawyers and accountants and managers.

The Philippine government has expressed its full support to the countries BPO industry with its various significant fiscal and non fiscal incentives directed in attracting foreign direct investment on Philippine BPO companies. The government is determined to exercise all possible means to sustain this rapid growth and expansion.

Metro Manila houses the majority of the country’s BPO facilities, along with Cebu and Bacolod Cities. The development however has reached other regional areas and eventually led to the establishment of BPO infrastructure in areas such as Baguio City, Cagayan de Oro, Clark (Angeles City), Dagupan City, Davao City, Dumaguete City, Lipa City, Iloilo City and Legazpi City. No wonder the Philippines has been cited as one of the top 10 choices for offshore operations.

The Philippines has definitely evolved into a global BPO leader where the most skilled and effective workforce and cutting edge technology and infrastructure can be availed without the need for a huge capital outlay. If you want to get away from the increasing cost structure of a competitive business while at the same time increasing the quality of your business processes, the Philippines is indeed the place to go.

BPO has transcended from being mere means of cost savings in transaction-intensive, back office business processes to being a very adaptive and strong approach to the realization of a wide array of strategic and tactical claims.

General BPO Benefits

1. Speed to Market – BPO quickly hastens the process of getting fully operational allowing a startup business to be fully stable in weeks rather than months through the use of state-of-the-art capabilities.

2. Competitive Capabilities – established businesses can evolve their current processes into globally competitive capabilities.

3. Cost Savings – BPO dramatically lowers the cost of processes through the elimination of fixed costs.

4. Growth stimulus – BPO can be utilized as a learning tool to get acquainted with the latest, unique and competent capabilities.

5. Revenue – higher quality capabilities brought about by BPO can cause great increase in a company’s income generation capacity.

BPO is now generally considered as an edge to having that unique competitive advantage. With non-core processes being done by the external provider that is specialized in the said activities, the company is able to focus more on its core processes. In the case of human resource outsourcing, HR functions such as payroll and benefits, recruitment, and personnel evaluation are passed on to an outsourcer that specializes in human resource management (HRM) and who will keep the company abreast of constant change in the field of HRM.

The Philippines is deemed to have a stable grip in its place as a global leader of BPO. The country is in a very good position to accommodate outsourcing demands with its outstanding pool of superior yet cost-effective workforce and its excellent telecommunications software and infrastructure. CallComInc BPO is the premier BPO company in the Philippines. Its founder is the primary proponent of the revolutionary 4StepstoSuccess Action Plan, the automated sales machine Tom Green.