Listen to this interview in broadbandBusiness Process Outsourcing emerged in the Philippines in the late 90s. At the turn of the century, the industry employed 2400 personnel mostly in the call center business. Exemplifying its powerhouse status in Philippine commerce, call center employment increased to 112,000 in 2005.
Bringing forth billions of dollars to the local economy, the BPO industry in the Philippines is purported to be the country's premier economic driver in the 21st century, with forecasted earnings of $13 billion in 2010.
Already capturing 40 per cent of the world market in 2004, the Philippine BPO industry is seen to increase its share to 50 per cent in 2008. With over a hundred BPO companies in the country (most of them seeing inception only within the last five years), the industry has become a paradigmatic business structure for technopreneurs. However, bullish as it may seem, this type of trade is not without its share of risks. Many small operations are quickly overrun by the larger, internationally recognized companies with a myriad of services to offer.
But a Hawaii-based IT worker saw this wave as an opportunity to ride upon and was never fazed by the hazards incurred by start-ups in a perilous BPO voyage. In 2005, Matthew Mee-Lee, along with Filipino partners, founded Techmonde Corporation, a global provider of outsourced human resources, information technology and marketing services.
Global Talents for Local BusinessesTechmonde Corporation offers practical expertise in all areas of outsourcing including loan and data processing, call centers, and software and web development. Techmonde's services are designed to help clients grow their businesses by providing access to a global pool of highly skilled and productive human resources in a cost effective manner.
According to Mee-Lee, president and CEO of Techmonde Corp., the company provides a work environment for Hawaii and mainland-based clients so that they can have the benefits of an offshore workforce without setting up their own base outside the United States. He said that offshoring enables local companies to find talents that are not available within their proximity.
"In Hawaii, for example, It's very difficult to find highly skilled technicians in certain areas," Mee-Lee said. "So we can go into a different area where there is a far greater population of these workers."
"(Offshoring) is great relief for companies here in Hawaii because we have got a two per cent or so unemployment rate and it's difficult to recruit qualified workers," he added. "Sometimes you have to recruit talents from the mainland and pay for their relocation. It's difficult to recruit like that and have someone go through the acclamation process coming to Hawaii."
Techmonde caters mainly to small and medium scale enterprises on aiming to establish expansion.
The Philippines as IT destinationCultural familiarization combined with a deep talent pool and a highly-developed IT infrastructure makes the Philippines an ideal offshore location.
A survey by Kelly Services, Inc. based in Michigan, showed that India is no longer the first choice of U.S. companies looking to set up their offshore backroom operations. The study cited companies eyeing the Philippines as the better site (allegedly) due to quality. Most Filipino BPO workers are undergraduate degree holders, which ensures favorable expertise at a fractional cost to American companies.
Many overseas labor sourcers also prefer Filipinos over Indians when it comes to customer support and customer interaction due to Filipinos' relative ease and familiarity with American culture and U.S. slang <cited from wikipedia.org>.
"The one thing that brought me to the Philippines was that there's a really strong English-speaking population especially in the cities," Mee-Lee said.
On the other hand, advances in technology make offshoring more viable. Mee-Lee said that information technology helps bridge the gap between employers and their offshore workforce. Instant messaging and voice conferencing through the internet provides a cheap, sometimes free, means of communication which makes correspondence more immediate and effectual. As a result, clients are able to scale their operations without the added expense and administration of scaling their facilities, so they are able to increase productivity more quickly and efficiently.
Offshoring a philanthropic conceptOther than driving the economy, many businesses offer the additional value of philanthropy especially with the growing prevalence of corporate social responsibility. Adapting the concept of the BRIDGE program, Matthew Mee-Lee and Techmonde Corp. employees plan to open a whole new philanthropic possibility in the Philippines that has the potential to help a significant proportion of the destitute millions in the country.
Mee-Lee draws a blueprint that will enable the company and its employees to engage in community giving both through time and money. The concept is a rudimentary adaptation of the BRIDGE program which Matthew has learned from Steve Metter, CEO of MW Group, Ltd.
"We encourage employees to pick a local community program to donate their time to," he said. "And for every hour they spend in that program we pay in to a general pool and that money gets donated to another community program."
According to Mee-Lee, in a country where the immediate concern is to provide for the needs of the family, the principles that this program offers are a good way of instilling a sense of public service to the archetypal corporate employee, and Techmonde Corp. opened a separate but identical opportunity for social involvement.
By setting a culture of public service through the enactment of the BRIDGE program, Techmonde Corp. may establish itself as a unique kind of BPO, offering their services both privately and publicly. The gains gathered by the Philippine economy through its BPO industry may not be immediately and directly felt by the indigent population, but the added incentive of social responsibility engaged upon by offshore companies can make all the difference.
Sources:
* Techmonde Corp.
* Business Process Outsourcing Association Philippines
* Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Philippines
* Business Process Outsourcing in the Philippines – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the full audio interview and transcript please visit greatergoodradio.com. Greater Good Radio airs every Saturday morning and Wednesday night on 1420 AM and online at www.greatergoodradio.com.
