Not Just A Yellow Brick Road: Your Roadmap to Outsourcing in the Philippines

Corporate decision making is the backbone of change in any organization. With decisions come the growth of the organization in its market, the agility to dodge competition and the strategy to carry out its mission despite the tumultuous market climate. One of the most important corporate decisions is linked to outsourcing, as markets have joined the global revolution. Businesses no longer remain on one shore—oftentimes, the modern-day organization is a string of partnerships between several organizations, often from different nations. Outsourcing has not only paved the way for companies to cut costs, but for corporations to open doors to partnerships beyond borders. It has helped nations achieve great things—increase a third world nation’s GDP, provide jobs despite the global economic crisis and widen horizons to include cultures that are different from one’s own. While outsourcing has become a skill for countries like India and the Philippines, for service buyers, it is still might be an unfamiliar road to tread.

Outsourcing is a corporate decision that must be made through the facilitating of the SWOT analysis, streamlining organizational processes and developing an outsourcing strategy. An organization which aims to outsource a particular process must first execute the SWOT analysis to determine their organizational climate. Take a good look at your organization and streamline every process to see which ones are really working for you and which ones don’t. Don’t panic, though. It’s normal for organizations to fail in one department, especially that which you are not specialized in. By streamlining organizational processes, you can determine which processes essentially make up your core competencies and which can be outsourced. This is where you begin making a list of candidate processes to be outsourced. Determine why these processes aren’t working for you and what you could do to alleviate the problems they’re causing. By analyzing this list of processes you would like to outsource, you’ll develop an outsourcing strategy that outlines your end goals. The European Information Technology Exchange lists several key questions you can ponder on while coming up with your outsourcing strategy, which will serve as a good reflection of where you stand and what you would like to achieve in the future. Your outsourcing strategy must also include your outsourcing destination of choice. Selecting an outsourcing destination is a process which must be undertaken meticulously. While a lot of outsourcing partners boast of being the best in the industry, you should also be aware of the benefits and risks involved in engaging in a partnership with these service providers. There is a wide array of attractive markets with high cost advantage which are also laden by risks. Be aware of outsourcing destinations that earn recognition for what they do—these awards are not handed out easily. Take note of industry leaders and those who land in the second and third places as they are competitive and in the middle of rapid growth.

For quite some time now, the Philippines has kept close behind India as the number one outsourcing destination in the world. The country grew from being a third-world country into one of the world’s leading outsourcing destinations because of its hospitable culture, technologically enabled workplace and diligent workforce. The customer service sector of the outsourcing industry in the Philippines is arguably one of the most successful. Aegis People Support, Teleperformance, eTelecare and Convergys are among several lucrative companies that established their presence in the BPO sector here. Their investment in the Filipino workforce is overwhelming. The primary reason? We have the qualities that make us a competitive customer service representative because hospitality is rooted in our culture as it is rooted in our very being. Our workplace boasts of top-notch computers, modern communication tools and advanced technology. Our infrastructure is stable and continuing to flourish. Because of the BPO boom, even the real estate industry took a piece of the pie as it was their duty to provide more venues for convergence and global business. We are computer-savvy. We enjoy adapting to the latest computer models, software, hardware, mobile phones and whatever gadgets have you. The Filipino is very much in the forefront of adapting to change. Most importantly, we have a diligent workforce who don’t  mind working at odd hours and holidays—offices are guaranteed to be buzzing with vibrant employees 24/7, holiday or otherwise. The Filipino’s passion to succeed equates to heroism—to be a hero for an ailing parent, a sibling dependent on your salary to finish school, an expecting wife and mother of four or more. Our diligence thrives in our blood and the passion to succeed is raw as the dreams are high. These are the values that were instilled in us, the same values that make us so much more different than any other outsourcing destination. While others dive into the grind just to earn a buck, we dive in with determination and a will to succeed. More importantly, we have a heart.

While the Philippines has its share of praises and good reviews when it comes to its contributions to the outsourcing industry, we won’t boast of being the best. Rather, we’d point out that each outsourcing destination has its own strengths and weaknesses and it’s these details that make a certain destination a perfect fit for your business. More than just excellent customer service, our clients see a prime business partner in Philippine service providers because we have a sense of continuum. We used to have ambition—now, we have attainable objectives to carry out in the next year or two. The BPO industry in the Philippines is slowly and surely growing and evolving to include knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) services. With 2009 coming to a close, we forecast an even brighter 2010 in which KPO will gradually penetrate the Philippines. Moreover, we have objectives catered to every sector—business, government and workforce. The Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) will soon be releasing a white paper outlining our collective goals for next year, which includes development of infrastructure in next wave cities, reorganization of talent pools, obtaining further support from the government and improving the current business environment by fully supporting investors and other stakeholders. All these key objectives are geared towards achieving 10% global market share in 2010. Ambitious, yes, but our growth since 2004 has shown a steady increase in growth and development. Our social responsibility now does not only involve our clients, but ourselves as well.

The road to outsourcing in the Philippines may not be laden with yellow bricks but we assure you that it is a bridge towards global partnership and collaborative excellence. Take the first step to make the difference—call us today.