Call center industry stability predictions

[gdd]

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BPO is still a rising industry in the Philippines. It will remain strong even with the present economic situation we have. It will experience slow down on growth however....

[the Messenger]

My fearless forecast: BPO companies and call centers will continue to sprout like mushrooms. The oversupply of skilled and qualified people will keep these industries alive. Pay rates will dive. Pinas will be a haven for highly skilled and highly professional BUT VERY CHEAP labor.

[gdd]

Outsourcing in Philippines grew 26pct in 2008: industry

AFP - Tuesday, February 10
MANILA (AFP) - - Call-centres and other outsourcing companies in the Philippines earned 6.06 billion dollars in 2008, a 26 percent increase over 2007, the industry association said Monday.
The number of people working in the industry also rose over the same period, by 24.8 percent to 371,965, despite the global financial crisis, said Oscar Sanez, head of the country's Business Processing Association.
He said that this showed the Philippines was on track with its plan to capture 10 percent of global market for outsourced services by 2010.
Call-centres still accounted for the bulk of the industry, earning 4.1 billion dollars in 2008 and employing 227,000 people, Sanez said.
But other sectors such as back-office operations, transcription, animation, software, engineering services and game development all showed strong growth as well, he added.
Officials and industry leaders say they expect the industry to continue growing as more foreign companies seek to save money by outsourcing functions to low-cost countries like the Philippines.
Despite this, the Philippines still needed to promote its capabilities abroad, Sanez said, citing personal experiences in Germany and England which suggested people were unaware that English was spoken in his country.

[brower168]

China is really catching up and they have a lot of man power and much more affordable labor.

[janeg]

Filipinos have the best English so far compared to any asian country. The rate is like $8-10 minimum for Philippine call centers while India's only $3-5 per hour. It's a lot cheaper there, but we Filipinos can be proud that with what we offer, there's quality.

[canvassbags]

With the ongoing global crisis, foreign companies start to kick out employees, re-schedule their department budgets, cut off unnecessary expenses, and some close down.
Business process outsourcing is most likely the first to be given limited budget by a company, especially for a well-established one. Take for example Western Wats Philippines, they are starting to strip off employees for now.
Hopefully, the global financial crisis will end, this wil greatly affect our country, in regards with the call center industry, this means no jobs for our competitive undergrads, and lesser income to the country (they pay BIG taxes here).