Why 2015 Is A Great Year To Invest In Philippine Outsourcing

Outsourcing continues to gain popularity around the world and the industry is only expected to keep growing in the years to come. The Philippines’ outsourcing industry has performed remarkably well compared to its counterparts and is poised to flourish more in 2015. In fact, this year is expected to be a great year to invest in Philippine outsourcing and here are some of the reasons why.

Stronger Economy

In an article on ABS-CBN, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said that the Philippine economy had a growth rate of 5.8 percent in the January to September period of 2014. The country is likewise targeting a total growth rate of 6.5 – 7.5 percent for 2014 and hopes to achieve 7 to 8 percent growth this year. Domingo also stated that “the growth will be fueled by higher foreign direct investments and lower oil prices”.

The Philippine Star year-ender report also states that this growth can be attributed to a steady stream of remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers, amounting to $79 billion by end of November. Another cause for the growth are the investments made by business process outsourcing companies. Foreign direct investments reached 61 percent to $4.8 billion, mostly coming from the manufacturing and business process outsourcing industries.

Top BPO Hubs

For the past several years, Philippines BPO hubs have been included in the Tholons Top 100 International Outsourcing Destinations Report. These cities include Metro Manila, Cebu City, Bacolod, Iloilo, Baguio City, Davao City and Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

In the recently released 2015 Tholons Top 100 International Outsourcing Destinations Report, another Philippine city was added to the list. For the first time, Metro Clark was included in the top 100 and took the 98th place, up from last year’s 102th place. Davao City and Sta. Rosa, Laguna maintained their rankings at 69th and 82nd place, respectively. Iloilo jumped to the 91st place while Baguio also advanced to 99th place. Bacolod advanced seven places and landed on the 86th spot. Metro Manila and Cebu City maintained their top spots at 2nd and 8th place, respectively.

BPO Destination of Choice

The Philippines is now being dubbed as the destination of choice of international companies. In an article in the Gulf Times, Jana Kleibert, a lecturer from the University of Amsterdam, says that this is due to a talented English-speaking workforce. The Filipino accent is more easily understood by North Americans compared to other counterparts such as India.

Kleibert goes on to say that another reason for this is that the Filipino workforce “is also well educated, which makes it easier to transfer service-based tasks. And there’s a cultural affinity with North America that also helps in communicating and performing customer services.”

Presently, the Philippines’ BPO industry may only come in second to India in terms of scale but it is expected to progress more in the coming years, which makes now a great time to invest in it.

Photo by Jay Jallorina