Philippines:BPO's leading english speaking labor force!

The human resource in the philippines is a vital factor in the inevitable success of Business Processing Outsourcing. Knowing that the most critical aspect of a successful BPO is people, Philippines is a frontliner to providing the most useful and skilled human resource that is integral for this success. As a service provider, the people who work for you and for your clients will dictate your success as an organization. In a service business such as BPO, this is critical. BPO is fundamentally a“people business” – where geography and culture are the key – and technology is an enabler. But if you don’t get the “people” part right, the rest is academic. Literacy rate: 95.9 percent of the total population. The literacy rate is one of the highest in the world, certainly when compared to others in the Far East and other developing nations (e.g., India’s is 52 percent; Mexico’s is 89.8 percent).

The Philippines is ranked #1 in the availability of knowledge-based jobs and workers worldwide, and ranked 4th among Asian nations in terms of labor quality, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. based Meta Group. Aside from the huge pool of productive, trainable and multi-skilled labor force, the country competes in the quality of its managers and information technology (IT) staff and engineers. The unique edge comes from a high level of proficiency in English (the Philippines is the 3rd largest English-speaking country in the world), the Philippines has world-class facilities and services. The country has excellent accommodations, fine restaurants, modern shopping centers, modern communication services and exhibition organizers, and reliable tour operators.Recent analysis suggests the Philippines to be the top location for more complex BPO activity where quality of outcome and customer service experience, not just cost reduction, is a prime consideration. The philippines’ population is English-speaking, highly educated, naturally enthusiastic, and of a problem-solving disposition. They are very proud and conscientious people, who are friendly, loyal, and diligent. The work ethic and the attention to detail are excellent.

These factors brought a remarkable and significant change in the Business Process Outsourcing Industry. Aside from this human resource, recent growth spurt in the outsourcing industry in the Philippines has been fueled not by traditional low-value-added call centers but more higher-end outsourcing such as legal services, Web design, medical transcription, software development, animation, and shared services. Though call centers still form the largest part of the sector, the Philippines has begun leveraging its creative design talent pool, its large pool of lawyers, and its professionals in accounting and finance (Shameen 2006).