april - JUNE 2009 • Vol. 3 - No. 2 • 20 pages • free
BPO Industry Mid-Year Status:
Well-managed, Innovative Firms Are Growing
EXECUTIVE
PROFILE p. 15
Marife
Zamora,
Convergys
Interview highlights:
The BPO
Employer of
the Year
<BPO Mid-year Status: Well-Managed
Firms are Growing pp.1, 3.
• 60% of BPO companies introduced new
services as crisis presents new opportunities
• 79% of BPOs surveyed: agent attrition is
decreasing
• Companies that opened up new sites this year
<BPO Industry Applauds ICT Awards
Winners p.2
• BPO Company of the Year
• Best New Locator
• Fastest-Growing BPO
• Most Innovative Company
• Best Multi-Sourcing BPO of the Year
• The Individual Contributor of the Year
• The ICT Awards finalists
<AdEPT Program To Further Develop English
Proficiency of BPO Workforce pp. 1,.4
• Interactive teaching methods give students
English skills suitable for the workplace
• Program targets enrollment of 22,500
students, 60% of which should be qualified
for employment after finishing the program
• AdEPT has 60%–70% track record of
converting near-hires to actual hires
<Next Wave Cities™ 2009 Annual Report pp.1,.4
• Report provides information critical to
location strategies
• Research relevant for BPO decision-makers,
locators, and investors
<International Road Shows p.6
• Countries where the BPAP promoted the
BPO industry in the first half of the year
• Philippine BPO companies that participated
in the road shows
<Talent Development p.7
• 40 faculty members from 21 schools
participated in the AdEPT courseware
• Prestigious global publishing firm partners
with BPAP to create a leadership program
<Quezon City Creates Jobs and Attracts
Investments p. 9
• How QC aims to be the “future perfect
cybercity”
<The New President of the Animation
Council of the Philippines p. 14
• Weng Bagadion: Producing and promoting the
Philippine brand
O2P-BPA/P survey results reveal
increasing demand for people
By Michael Alan Hamlin
“Innovative
firms
are
identifying new opportunities as a
result of the crisis, enabling them
to grow their business.”
— Gillian Virata, BPAP Director
for Information & Research
Manila, Philippines, May 27, 2009
– A clear majority (83%) of respondents to
a recent survey of executives in the business
process outsourcing (BPO) industry said
the global financial crisis has had a least
some impact on their firms. About 60% of
the executives in firms affected by the crisis
indicated that their firms have responded by
introducing new services, suggesting that
new revenue opportunities are providing a
silver lining.
Most of the respondents who said their
firms were affected by the crisis also said that
the impact was “moderate” or “minor.” Only
5% of respondents said the impact of the
global financial crisis was “very significant”
and 16% said it was significant.
The complete results of the survey,
conducted by the Business Processing
Association of the Philippines (BPAP)
and Outsource2Philippines (O2P) with the
support of TeamAsia, were presented by
BPAP executive director for information and
research Gillian Joyce Virata,in a breakfast
briefing for senior industry executives on
Turn to page 3
A Philippine business district where the BPO business is booming. Photo from www.bigstockphoto.com.
BPO Industry Applauds
ICT Awards Winners
A recognition that Philippine
BPOs can compete on global
standards
By Malou Rosal
Photos by Bong Mercado
The Business Processing Association
of the Philippines (BPAP) and the Canadian
Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines
honored the best and the brightest players in the
ICT industry at the third annual ICT Philippines
Awards held March 26 at the Grand Ballroom
of the Hotel InterContinental Manila.
Richard Mills, President of the Canadian
Chamber of Commerce, says that the awards
allow “Filipinos [to show] the world that they
can not only work at international levels—but
beat international levels. It’s quite a momentous
experience.” He adds that for the past three
years since its establishment, the ICT Awards
has been fulfilling its mandate to “recognize the
organizations and individuals who contribute
the most to put the Philippines and Filipinos in
the minds of global business leaders.”
Turn to page 2
Annual Report on Top-10
Next Wave Cities™ Out Soon
The leading source of
information on the subject
for investors, locators, and
government organizations
By Joyce Gamboa
By July 2009, the Business Processing
Association of the Philippines (BPAP),
the Commission on Information and
Communications Technology (CICT), and
the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
will launch the first annual report on the
best locations for information technology
and business process outsourcing (ITBPO), entitled Next Wave Cities™ 2009.
The 80-page report will contain
more in-depth analyses of the top-10
Next Wave Cites™ (NWCs) which were
announced in November last year, in the
order of their rank: Metro Laguna, Metro
Cavite, Iloilo City, Davao City, Bacolod
City, Angeles-Clark-Mabalacat, BaliwagTurn to page 4
AdEPT Program to
Further Develop BPO
Workforce’s English
Proficiency Skills
Increased hiring and
professional development
are among the benefits of the
academe-industry synergy
By Marla Silayan-Gonzalez
Photos by Bong Mercado
In a historic move, representatives
from the BPO industry, the academe,
and the Philippine government signed
the first set of Memoranda of Agreement
effectively launching the Advanced
English Pre-Employment Training
(AdEPT) Program to further develop the
BPO workforce’s English proficiency
skills. The launch was held on May 5 at
the Makati Sports Club.
This joint effort of the Business
Processing Association of the Philippines
(BPAP) and the Coordinating Council
of Private Educational Associations
(COCOPEA) intends to equip
college students in particular with the
communication skills needed to gain
employment across various industries,
but especially for the IT-BPO sector.
Turn to page 4
2
BPA/P Stories
april - june 2009
Breakthroughs
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
ERIC ALBERTO
FRED AYALA
KAREN BATUNGBACAL
beng coronel
grace dimaranan
miguel garcia
GIL GENIO
benedict hernandez
BETH LUI
BARRY MARSHALL
DAN REYES
myla rose reyes
From L to R: Sean Georget, Executive Director, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (Can-Cham); Gil Genio, Head, Globe Business; Romit Gupta, Country Head, Wipro BPO Philippines
Ltd. Inc.; Nora Terrado, Country Manager, Headstrong Phils, Inc.; Rahul Singh, VP, Genpact Services LLC; Henry Schumacher, EVP, European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines; Celeste Ilagan,
Executive Director, Board of Investment; Peter Maquera, CEO, SPi Technologies Inc.; Marife Zamora, Country Manager, Convergys Phils.; Maulik Parekh, EVP and General Manager, TeleTech Customer Care
Management Inc.; Nerisse Ramos, FVP and Head of Corporate Business Group, PLDT; Oscar Sañez, CEO, Business Processing Association of the Philippines; and Richard Mills, President, Can-Cham.
BPO Industry Applauds ICT ...
Mills also acknowledged the valuable
contribution of the BPAP, saying, “From day
one, we’ve worked with the Business Processing
Association of the Philippines. The idea was to
form a partnership with them to be a supporting
party to their objective of promoting the BPO
industry.”
The industry’s best
The most coveted BPO Company of the Year award
went to TeleTech Customer Care Management
Inc. A leading BPO company, TeleTech provides
a full range of front to back office outsourced
solutions like customer management, direct sales
and marketing, training development and delivery,
recruiting, staffing and workforce management,
loan processing, benefits and claims administration,
vendor management, payroll administration, and
eCommerce. With more than 21,000 people by
the beginning of 2009, it is considered the largest
BPO employer in the country. It expects to exceed
a manpower count of 25,000 by this year’s second
quarter.
Convergys Philippines was named BPO
Employer of the Year for excellence in leadership,
strategic HR practices, commitment to continuous
improvement, corporate social responsibility
involvement, and active support of the international
ICT industry in the Philippines. [See related story –
Ed.] Winning this award for the second time since
the ICT Awards was launched in 2007, the U.S.based multinational corporation is aggressively
expanding operations in key cities of the country
despite the global economic crisis. It also maintains
employee-centric management and development
programs to strengthen employee loyalty and
retention.
Stresses Convergys Philippines country
manager Marife Zamora: “Our greatest asset is our
people. Without them, Convergys could not have
established the kind of reputation that it has today,
both in the Philippines and across the globe.”
Headstrong Philippines Inc. was awarded Best
Midsized BPO Company of the Year. Headstrong
is an IT consulting organization and a diverse BPO
company that focuses on outsource software and
software-enabled services to global clients. On
receiving the plaque of recognition, Headstrong
Philippines president Nora Terrado said: “The
Philippines has truly become the BPO destination of
choice for software services, which we will ensure,
as a company, to maintain by further strengthening
and developing our unique differentiators and core
processes and by consistently delivering value to
our clients.”
Indian-based WiPro BPO Philippines Ltd. Inc.
was awarded Best New Locator for its “promising
and aggressive operations in the country.” A global
services provider delivering technology-driven
business solutions for its clients, Wipro is the
world’s “first CMMi Level 5-certified software
services company and the first outside the U.S. to
receive the IEEE Software ProcessAward.” Having
just begun operations in Cebu in April last year, it is
now providing customer services and back-office
operations to various international companies.
The Fastest-Growing BPO of the Year award
went to Genpact Services LLC, a company that
manages business processes for it global clients,
“combining its process expertise, information
technology, and analytical capabilities with
operational insight derived from experience
in diverse industries to provide a wide range
of services using its global delivery platform.”
Genpact posted an impressive revenue growth of
300 % in 2008. Last year, their employee roster
also gained a meteoric rise from 375 to 1,300
people.
The Most Innovative Company of the Year
award went to Cutting Edge Productions in
recognition of its multitasking capabilities in music
production and editing, as well as audio and motion
graphics. Owned and managed by multi-awarded
film composer and musical arranger Jessie
Lasaten, what used to be a simple production shop
in 2003 has evolved into a “total support group
for the creative vision of clients and advertising
agencies.”
In the meantime, Celeste Ilagan, Executive
Director of the Board of Investments, received
the ICT Individual Contributor of the Year for
her exceptional involvement in the “promotion
and facilitation and giving assistance to BPO
companies.”
• Accenture, Inc.
• APAC Customer Services, Inc.
• Convergys Philippines
• Sutherland Global Services
• TeleTech Customer Care Management Inc.
• TELUS International Philippines Inc.
BPO Employer of the Year
• AIG Business Processing Services, Inc.
• Convergys Philippines
• ePLDT Ventus
• IBM in the Philippines
• ICT Marketing Services Inc.
• Sitel Philippines Corporation
Best Mid-sized BPO Company
of the Year
• Affinity Express
• Headstrong Philippines Inc.
• Netsuite Philippines Inc.
• NorthgateArinso
• Pointwest Technologies Corporation
Multi-sourcing BPO of the Year
• AIG Business Processing Services, Inc.
• Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific (Hong
Kong) Ltd
• IBM in the Philippines
• SPi Technologies, Inc.
• Sutherland Global Services
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
Fred Ayala
Chairman
Dan Reyes
Continuation from page 1
Bright horizon
ICT Awards Philippines added a new category
this year: the Multi-Sourcing Company of the
Year. The new award recognizes the company
that best caters to BPO, IT outsourcing, and
engineering services outsourcing line of
businesses. This category’s first winner was
SPi Technologies, for “successfully serving
over 350 global companies in publishing,
health care, legal, automotive, electronics, and
financial services in mostly non-voice highvalue services.”
Mills elaborates on this new category: “We
wanted to highlight companies that are providing
more than one service in the Philippines. Many
of them are solely call centers or solely financial
service providers, but there are those that
perform many more functions. We wanted to
emphasize this. SPi does a lot of other services
like medical, legal, and publishing services.”
With the ICT Awards bringing together
over 400 industry players, even for just one
night, Mills looks forward to good prospects for
ICT in the Philippines. Even though the global
economic crisis is slowing things down all over
the world, the ICT industry is still projecting a
growth rate of over 20% this year.
“We think it’s a great time for the
Philippines,” says Mills. “And if you look at
the industry five to six years ago, it employed
almost zero jobs. Today, it employs 450,000.
To my knowledge, there is no other industry in
the world that has grown to such a degree as
this industry has grown. Even in this so-called
traumatic economic crisis right now, we’re
going to add another 80,000 to 100,000 jobs
this year. That’s a tremendous achievement in
this environment.” .
International ICT Awards – Philippines 2009 Finalists
BPO Company of the Year
OFFICERS
Best New BPO Locator of the Year
• StarTek International Inc.
• vCustomer Services India Private
Limited
• Wipro BPO Philippines Ltd. Inc.
Fastest Growing BPO Company
of the Year
• Genpact Services LLC.
• NCO Financial Systems, Inc.
• Siemens IT Solutions and Services
• Sutherland Global Services
Most Innovative BPO Company
of the Year
• Affinity Express
• CCTP Cybercity Teleservices
Philippines
• Cutting Edge Productions, Inc.
• Glow 3D Animation Studios, Inc.
• Maersk Global Services Centers
ICT Individual Contributor
of the Year Award
• Celeste Ilagan, Executive Director,
Board of Investments
• Dan Reyes, Country President, Sitel
Philippines Corporation
• Jon Kaplan, President, TeleDevelopment
Services Inc.
Vice Chairman
Oscar Sañez
President and Chief Executive Officer
Bob Guinto
Corporate Secretary
Karen Batungbacal
Treasurer
Barry Marshall
Assistant Treasurer
Martin Crisostomo
External Relations Director
Jonathan De Luzuriaga
Membership and Industry Affairs Director
Jamea Garcia
Talent Development Director
Gigi Virata
Information and Research Director
editorial
advisory board
JONATHAN DE LUZURIAGA
Oscar Sañez
gigi virata
businessinfo inc.
ARMIE DUARTE
President
heinz bulos
Publisher
cora llamas
Editor in Chief
william dizon
Art Director
DONNA LARAGA
Executive Assistant
joyce gamboa
MARLA SILAYAN-GONZALEZ
michael alan hamlin
MALOU ROSAL
Contributing Writers
BONG MERCADO
Photographer
advertising contacts
nette roselo
Administrator
business processing
association of the philippines
9th Flr. The Palisades Condominium
107 perea St., Legaspi Vill., Makati City
Tel: 817-BPAP (2727) Fax: 817-8141
E-mail: netteroselo@bpap.org
PEACHIE G. CORTEZ
Operations Director
businessinfo Inc.
16th Flr. IJ3 Burgundy Corporate Tower
252 Sen Gil Puyat, Makati City
Tel: 856-4956 Fax: 856-4954
E-mail: peachie@businessinfoinc.com
www.bpap.org
Breakthroughs
BPA/P Stories
BPO Industry Mid-Year Status ...
June 16 entitled, “State of the BPO Industry:
Mid-Year Report.” Noshir Kaka, partner of
McKinsey & Company provided an update of
the position of the Philippine BPO industry in
the global BPO market while Mike Henderson
of Sykes Asia provided the industry perspective
based on his company’s experience. A panel of
industry CEOs including Beth Lui of Accenture,
Marife Zamora of Convergys, Neil Elias of
Logica, and Fred Ayala of LiveIt Solutions
discussed their own take on the state of the
industry. David Blumanis of APC by Schneider
Electric also presented the effect of the crisis
on clients and how they could cope using costeffective infrastructure.
“The results of the survey suggest that,
despite some challenges associated with the
global financial crisis, innovative firms are
identifying new opportunities as a result of
the crisis,” Virata said in an interview. “This
is enabling them to continue to expand their
businesses.”
Results of the survey and speaker
presentations were distributed to forum
participants and can be purchased by the public
from BPAP or TeamAsia. Approximately 100
C-level executives in BPO firms attended the
June 16 briefing, which took place at the Tower
Club in Makati.
Measuring impact
Among the other preliminary results, Virata
noted, was that while demand for BPO services
remains strong, labor supply remains an area of
concern for many firms. Forty-five percent of
respondents indicated that their firms hire only
six or fewer applicants out of every 100 before
training. More than half of the respondents,
meanwhile, indicated they hire seven or more
applicants out of every 100.
Still, a positive indicator for the industry is
that attrition is either the “same,” “decreasing,”
or “decreasing significantly” in the view of 79%
of respondents, with 53% of respondents
www.bpap.org
According to many of the firms surveyed, the crisis’ impact was either moderator or minor. saying that attrition in their companies is 10%
or lower. However, a significant number of
respondents, 29%, said attrition in their firms
runs between 11%–20%. Seventeen percent
said attrition is above 21%.
In a separate interview, ExcelAsia
president Rita Trillo-Ugarte said, “We see
sustained, strong demand for our services
with the result that our firm continues to grow
rapidly.” ExcelAsia provides recruitment and
training services for a number of large BPOs
in the Philippines, and has expanded rapidly
over the past year according to Trillo-Ugarte.
ExcelAsia is also a major sponsor of BPAP’s
CEO forums.
Service providers themselves indicate that
expansion efforts are continuing, resulting in
increased demand for workers. StarTek, a midsize value-added BPO, recently announced
that it is ramping up its Makati facility to
full capacity to meet expanding demand for
complex services. Convergys opened three new
call centers in Cebu, Santa Rosa, and Quezon
City in April that will provide almost 3,000 new
jobs and increase the company’s headcount to
16,000 in the Philippines. Telus and Sitel have
also opened new sites in recent months.
In a related development, Thomson Reuters
recently announced that it has established a
team to support global legal content initiatives,
its most profitable division, in the Philippines.
The company already provides services in
five other operations areas, including the
investment and advisory division, from the
Philippines. “The Philippines is providing
increasingly complex services for Thomson
Reuters customers worldwide,” Raoul Teh,
Senior Site Officer for the company, said
recently.
Miguel Garcia, CEO of industry supplier
DTSI and a member of the BPAP board,
forecasts that the Philippine BPO industry
will grow overall by about 20% this year.
According to BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez,
BPO industry estimates show an addressable
global IT-BPO market of US$450 billion. The
penetrated global IT-BPO market is expected
to generate US$130 billion in the next two
years, suggesting that demand for BPO
services will continue to outpace supply for
many years. Sañez says the Philippine BPO
industry aims to capture 10% of that market.
Industry response
The BPAP-O2P survey was in the field from
March 31 to April 29. Invitations were sent to
571 BPO executives and 160 completed the
survey, providing a 28% response rate.
april - june 2009
3
Continuation from page 1
Hiring will continue throughout the year.
Respondents represented approximately 25
BPO sectors ranging from advertising services
to legal knowledge process outsourcing to
software development. Thirty-eight percent
of respondents said their firms have more
than one BPO facility in the Philippines in
more than 35 tier-one, tier-two, and tier-three
urban areas. The size of respondents’ firms
in terms of headcount ranged from less than
500 (40%) to 501 to more than 15,000 (60%).
Twenty-one percent of respondents’ firms
employ more than 1,000.
Survey co-proponent Outsource2Philippines
(www.outsource2philippines.com) provides a
cost-effective, timely mechanism for companies
to receive professional support in analyzing the
suitability of outsourcing selected operations to
the Philippines, and in implementing outsourcing
programs.
TeamAsia (www.teamasia.com) is an awardwinning strategic marketing communications
firm that develops place, corporate, and
personal brand strategies, creative concepts,
and marketing communications programs
for clients. It specializes in non-traditional
communications channels, including the Web,
contact center services, direct marketing, PR
events, and direct marketing communications
collateral. .
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
BPA/P Stories
AdEPT Program to Further Develop BPO Workforce’s ...
4
Breakthroughs
april - june 2009
The high-quality English proficiency
skills of Filipino call center agents is one of
the main reasons that have drawn clients and
locators to do business and set up shop in
the Philippines. However, a low 5% passing
rate for college graduates who apply for
work in IT-BPO companies prompted the
authors of this initiative to develop ways to
improve the hiring rate.
BPAP and COCOPEA started their
partnership two years ago, sharing notes
and exploring ways to increase the synergy
between academe and industry. Benedict
Hernandez, eTelecare Global Solutions
Senior Vice President and the BPAP
Trustee-in-charge of the program, reveals
that AdEPT was “based on an industry
language training program developed seven
years ago to help address the low 5% passing
rate of new graduates―with language as
the main reason for not meeting recruiting
standards.”
Atty. Ma. Jamea Garcia, BPAP
executive director for talent development,
describes the first few steps, “We compared
the English lessons taught in our schools
and the English training lessons given by the
industry. We realized that we teach the same
things—but differ in our methods.”
“Whereas classroom learning in the
country is given as lectures, the English
training conducted by members of our
industry is very interactive—participants
are given time to participate and practice
their language skills,” she adds.
Meanwhile, representatives from the
educational institutions were also beginning
From l-r: Benedict Hernandez, eTelecare Global Solutions Senior Vice President and BPAP trustee in charge of the AdEPT program;
LiveIT Solutions CEO and BPAP chairman Fred Ayala; Senator Mar Roxas, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee;
and Dr. Vincent Fabella, Head of Linkages in COCOPEA and concurrently President of the Jose Rizal University.
to realize the growing need for their curriculum
to be more in step with industry requirements.
Dr. Vincent Fabella, Head of Linkages in
COCOPEA and concurrently President of the
Jose Rizal University, acknowledges, “Many of
our graduating students were not ready for the
workplace, something that has always been of
concern to me. The only way to improve on this
was to partner at an association-to-association
level with industry. COCOPEA has been focused
on improving education, and we found a partner
in BPAP which is focused on going beyond
growing individual companies to growing the
industry as a whole.”
From l-r: Dr. Vincent Fabella, COCOPEA; Jamea Garcia, BPAP Executive Director for Talent Development; Sen. Mar Roxas;
and Grace Abella-Zeta, President of the People Management Association of the Philippines.
Annual Report on Top-10
Next Wave Cities™...
Continuation from page 1
Confidence is one area that needs to
be addressed, according to Grace AbellaZeta, President of the People Management
Association of the Philippines (PMAP).
Zeta opines, “Communication skills refer to
confidence in dealing with people and not just
grammar skills. Some honor students from
the prestigious schools who do well in written
English sometimes falter during an interview
mainly because of lack of confidence.”
An English-only environment
Mentoring and guidance will be the backbone
of the AdEPT program in a radical departure
from the regular classroom scenario, which has a
teacher lecturing about the rules and principles of
grammar and style to students who merely listen.
Under the AdEPT program, a typical class
lasts from four to six hours. The instructor will
lecture only half of the time, the rest of the period
being taken up by games, role-playing, and other
activities that will encourage the students to talk
in an all-English environment.
For 2009, BPAP is targeting an enrollment
of 22,500 students, 60% of which should be
qualified for employment after finishing the
program. BPAP member companies will be
partnering with educational institutions to
mentor and train their teachers to enable them to
sustain the program in the long-term.
Says BPAP chairman Fred Ayala: “The key
is to help the different stakeholders see what is
in it for them and to help them act on their own.
We can just be a catalyst. Hopefully, hundreds
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
the production of the NWC scorecard—made
the major editorial decisions for the annual
report. The working group includes CICT’s
Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua and
Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim; BPAP’s
CEO Oscar Sañez, Virata, and Research
Consultant Tonette Consuelo; and BPAP
members Jones Lang LaSalle Leechiu (JLLL;
David Leechiu, President) and John Clements
Consultants (Carol Dominguez, President).
Former Board of Investments (BOI)
Director Celeste Ilagan was part of the group
before leaving the BOI last month. DTI is
also represented by PEZA and its Regional
Operations and Development Group. CICT
and JLLL provided support by assigning
researchers to augment BPAP’s two-person
research unit. Researchers Mae Agne of
CICT and Ana Peña of JLLL joined Virata
and Consuelo in interviewing sources and
experts, verifying and updating data, and
drafting and editing the report.
BPAP telecommunications and real estate
members also provided information and
participated as advertisers to help defray the
cost of the publication, and BPAP member
Asiatype supported marketing efforts and is
leading the design and production process.
BPAP and Asiatype will be the major
distributors of Next Wave Cities™ 2009. .
of schools will walk this same path because
we were able to come up with a standardized
curriculum and methodology along with a
very tight integration with potential employers
that effectively has made the schools’ job
easier.”
The collaboration between industry and
academe is welcomed by the government,
with Senator Mar Roxas remarking during the
launch: “The partnership between industry
and academe is laudable and good because
in effect, industry is telling the schools the
kind of skill sets and competencies that their
companies need. This will give the schools
the chance to integrate that training into their
regular courses.” Roxas is Chair of the Senate
Education Committee.
Roxas added that the programs born out
of the industry-academe collaboration such
as AdEPT “need to be institutionalized and
spread to all the school systems and not just in
a few. They can’t be taught in just one semester
here or there. What would be advisable is that
they become part of the English-language and
reading-comprehension skills that students
learn in college, and perhaps even as early as
grade school and high school.”
An individual coming out of the AdEPT
program would be more equipped to speak
and communicate. Hours of practice and
the knowledge that he or she can speak
fluent English will give that individual
the confidence to face other people while
utilizing a language that is not his or her
mother tongue. Zeta names other benefits
to the student, “This gives the individual a
competitive advantage over other applicants.
If you have good communication skills, you
can make yourself heard and you can assume
other positions in the company.”
Hernandez explains the benefits of the
program to the industry as a whole: “The
program will also provide immediate talent
needs of industry with a 60%–70% track
record of converting near-hires to full-time
hires. Graduates of AdEPT will increase the
talent supply of industry, broadening the pie
of qualified applicants.
“Furthermore,” says Hernandez, “by
enabling students to enter the workforce, you
invest in them. In return, the students will
develop more loyalty to the industry because
they appreciate that investment when no one
else would do the same.” .
For more information on the
AdEPT program, please call BPAP at
817-2727(BPAP).
TOP 10 NEXT WAVE CITY: ILOILO
SECTION TITLE
Top 10 Next Wave City: Iloilo
Chart 2. Accessibility
RANK
3
Chart 1. Top city outside Luzon
77%
72%
4
68%
Infrastructure
89%
Cost
87%
7
91%
1, 2
67%
92%
BERM
By Air
By Sea
Iloilo International Airport (opened in
2007)
Sea Port: Iloilo Port
Travel Time:
Travel Time:
(from Manila) 55–69 minutes; 11 daily
flights
(from Manila) 20 hours; 12x weekly
(from Cebu) 35 minutes; 2 daily flights
(from Cebu) 12 hours; 1x daily
Carriers: Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific,
Air Philippines
Cruise Lines: WG&A Super Ferry, Negros
Navigation, Sulpicio Lines, Trans Asia
Top Hotels
Iloilo Centennial Resort Hotel, Days Hotel,
Sarabia Manor Hotel, Amigo Hotel, Hotel
Del Rio, Punta Villa Hotel
RANK
3
81%
Overall Score
Talent
Marilao-Meycauayan, Cagayan de Oro City,
Calumpit-Malolos, and Lipa City.
“Next Wave Cities™ 2009 aims to
address the information needs of two major
stakeholder groups: investors looking to
operate outside Metro Manila and Metro
Cebu; as well as local business, education
and training, and government organizations
that can support IT-BPO operations in their
localities,” says Gigi Virata, BPAP executive
director for information and research
and editor in chief of the report. “It also
consolidates the research efforts of BPAP,
CICT, and DTI in preparing these locations
as IT-BPO hosts and in attracting investors to
them.”
The number of graduates from these
locations, population data, comparative costs,
sites accredited by the Philippine Export
Zone Authority, other ready IT-BPO spaces,
information on telecommunications and
power facilities, and locator headcounts are
among the detailed data that will be included
in the report. Data maps created by Paperless
Trail, a company that presents business
data in innovative ways, will show relative
locations of schools, malls, and locators in
each of the NWCs.
The members of the NWC working
group—the same organization that directed
Continuation from page 1
total of 13 flights from Manila,
Cebu, and Davao (Chart
2). International flights and
service from an additional
local carrier are expected to
start in the first half of
2009. The city also has a domestic
and international
port managed by the Philippine
Ports Authority, a river
wharf for regional shipping,
and an inter-island wharf.
Mass transportation throughout
the city is provided by the popular jeepney.
There are few major
roads, none wider than four
lanes, and traffic can get
congested during rush hour.
But a single vehicular
fly-over was constructed in
2007 to alleviate traffic at
the city’s main intersection.
In early 2009, local Iloilo
officials announced that planning
for a second major
flyover project had begun under
the President’s Bridge
Program of the Department
of Public Works and Highways, a program funded by the
French government.
Fiber optic connection for
BPOs in Iloilo is provided by major telecommunications
providers and networks such as Bayantel, Globe,
and PLDT.
As of January 2009, there
were A-class facilities
2
68%
Iloilo
NWC Mean
NWC = Next Wave City
Source: BPAP-CICT-DTI Scorecard (October 2008)
The City of Iloilo ranked third in the Next Wave Cities (NWCs) scorecard with an overall score of 81%
(Chart 1). This high ranking can be attributed to the
city’s top score for Cost (87%) among the top-ten locations in the scorecard (Chart 1; tied with Cagayan de
Oro City). Iloilo city also has the second-best business
environment and the fourth-highest score for Availability of Talent in the entire scorecard of over 30 locations. Therefore, outside of Luzon and Metro Cebu,
Iloilo City is one of the best locations for BPO and ITO
companies in the country.
Most cost-efficient city
The city has some of the lowest rates in real estate rentals, average base pay, and power (Table 1).
Property developers in Iloilo offer a full range of
products, from residential to commercial of varying classes and types. Therefore, while average rental
rates among the top-ten NWCs are highest in Iloilo at
Php451 per sq m, monthly rental rates for commercial
space start as low as Php250 per sq m. Average base
pay for non-agricultural workers is Php5,170 a month,
significantly lower than the NWC median rate of
Php6,556.
Table 1. Costs in Iloilo Compared with Other Next Wave Cities
Iloilo City
Labor (Php/month)
Real Estate/Rent
(Php/sq m)
Power (Php/kwh)
5,170.00
451.00
NWC Mean
6,556.00
404.00
NWC High
6,798.00
451.00
NWC Low
5,170.00
310.00
4.09
5.40
5.67
3.38
NWC = Next Wave City
Source: BPAP-CICT-DTI Scorecard
Modern and reliable infrastructure
Iloilo City is strategically located in the center of the
Philippines making it accessible by land, air, or sea.
As Western Visayas’ financial center, the city has long
been a regional hub of trade, commerce, and industry
and hosts a number of industrial and investment areas.
Recent infrastructure developments, including fiber
optic connections and PEZA-accredited IT parks, have
transformed the city into a prime location for BPOs
and ITOs.
Iloilo is 45 minutes away from Manila by plane. The
new Iloilo Airport, 20 km outside the city, hosts regular daily transfer flights which connect Iloilo to domestic and international destinations. Specifically, Cebu
Pacific, Philippine Airlines, and Air Philippines fly a
January 2009
NextWaveCities Journal
ready for occupancy for BPO
locators in Iloilo City
(Table 2). The SMCI IT Center
was the first BPO site
offering of real estate firm
SMPrime Holdings and
Anthem Solutions-DTSI. Office
spaces at this center
were leased in 2008 and filled
quickly with locators
including Teletech.
More prime BPO-ready space
is being developed.
Major developer Megaworld
Corporation has invested
Php1.5 billion for the developme
nt of the Iloilo Business Park on the 54 hectare old
airport site in Mandurriao district. The park’s master
plan includes a retail
component, theme park, hotel
and convention center,
and IT park. The Ayala group
of companies is similarly looking at constructin
g a two- to four-story
building to cater to BPO and
ITO investments. Other
property developers in Iloilo
City include Crown Asia,
Fil-Estate, Filinvest, and Sta.
Lucia Realty.
As of January 2009, there
were at least 15 BPO
and ITO companies located
in Iloilo City including
major players Callbox, ePLDT
Ventus, and Teletech
Table 2. PEZA IT Buildings and Parks—Oper
ating and Proclaimed in Iloilo City
As of October 2008
PEZA Site
Amigo Mall
(Building floor area = 40,382.00 sq m)
Gaisano Capital Info Center
(Building floor area = 69,110.78 sq m)
Robinsons Place Iloilo
(Building floor area = 78,158.00 sq m)
SMCI IT Center
(Building floor area = 101,735.57 sq
m)
4
NextWaveCities Journal
Location
Developer
Corner Iznart and Delgado Streets
General Luna Street, La Paz
Ledesma Street
Benigno Aquino Ave., Mandurriao
Available Space
(sq m)
Fully occupied
La Filipina Uy Gongco Corp.
Lease Rate
(Php/sq m)
300
HEVA Management & Development Corp.
Robinsons Land Corp.
4,800
400
SM Prime Holdings Inc.
Fully occupied
N/A
January 2009
3
Sample pages of the NWC report
Excerpt from Next Wave Cities 2009’s introduction:
“There are obvious limitations in providing information through a scorecard, and it was
hoped that this report would address some of those limitations by allowing more in-depth
reporting and analyses. But there are also limitations inherent in producing publications
such as these on activities and situations that are constantly changing and, in this industry,
also fast-changing.
“However, there are many aspects about the 10 locations that topped the first run of
the scorecard (done in October 2008) that should remain true even in such a dynamic
environment. For example, these locations will probably always be among the areas that
produce the most graduates in the Philippines; they will also most likely always be among
those with access to the best infrastructure. Therefore, even as the top-10 list will likely
have some striking changes after the next run of the scorecard (this year), Next Wave
Cities™ 2009 should remain a useful reference for companies looking for alternative ITBPO locations and for local stakeholders in all Philippine towns and cities looking for
ways to move up the scorecard.”
www.bpap.org
BPA/P Updates
Breakthroughs
april - june 2009
5
From the CEO Desk
By OSCAR SAñez
T
Marketing on All Fronts
he BPO train which left the station
only two years ago following a road
map of growth continues to chug along
unperturbed by the global slowdown,
seemingly unstoppable in its drive to
continue to generate export dollars
for the country’s GDP and additional
employment opportunities for the
Filipinos.
On the penultimate year of its road
map plan, BPAP is ramping up the
execution of its portfolio of initiatives in
all the road map themes of talent, business
environment, Next Wave Cities™,
and Team 2010. You can read all these
updates from the BPAP Directors in this
quarter’s publication and also partly
during the mid-year CEO Forum. With
the government pushing the recovery
plan support fund to the private sector,
particularly the Export Development
Council, BPAP has also moved proactively in submitting a set of initiatives
that serve to aggressively market the
Philippines as a BPO destination to our
target investor countries.
If the government support comes
through, we will see a truly global
campaign to promote the industry
through advertising on several important
touch points of cable, print, and out-ofhome media. This is also the first time we
will see a joint BPAP-SEIPI campaign
on a single platform to promote both
industries using the Filipino knowledge
worker as “handle.”
Given that these two sectors are the
two largest dollar earners after OFW
remittances, it does make sense for the
government to aggressively promote
these two. Already, the first half of the
year had been quite busy for BPAP on
the international trade conferences front.
In partnership with the Commission
on Information and Communications
Technology (CICT), we have established
presence at the Gartner Conference in
Las Vegas, the Software Development
Exposition and Conference (SODEC)
in Japan, and the Cebit Conference in
Sydney. All of them had the opportunity
for country-sell seminars and exhibitor/
business-matching sessions.
With the global crisis still taking
its toll on many industries, it’s really
the most opportune time to get the
Philippines on the aggressive marketing
path. This is the time that most CEOs are
under pressure to carry their companies
through the difficult times. This is the
time for CEOs to deliver cost-savings
solutions that will get their companies
to improved levels of competitiveness.
There’s no better time for the country to
get ourselves to be “top-of-mind” with
these CEOs.” .
The Insider
By Jonathan De Luzuriaga
BPAP Executive Director for Industry Affairs
N
A United Front
o one will dispute that much quoted
proverb that there is strength in
numbers—but I daresay that that strength is
powerful and effective only if the numbers
that are boasted about are in unity.
The strength of unity sometimes
surpasses the strength that can be found
in numbers. Just take a look at the history
books. The fabled Spartan 300 (relived
in comic book and cinematic glory fairly
recently) turned back a formidable Persian
army that was more than ten times larger.
Or the Battle of Agincourt where a tired
and outnumbered British army conquered
their French enemies who were of a far
superior number.
Unity makes us strong because it
encourages us to pool our resources,
exchange ideas and information, and, most
of all, form a bedrock wall of trust that cannot
be broken and, thus, can help us stand strong
against the onslaught of any adversity.
Unity of purpose and spirit does not
necessarily mean homogeneity of style or
identity. The members who freely choose
to come under one banner maintain their
independence, their diverse philosophies
and lifestyles, and their own individual
goals even as they fight for one common
cause hand-in-hand with their brethren.
It is this unity of purpose that industry
associations such as BPAP have always
sought to establish. In spite of our own
unique strengths, value propositions,
services—and in spite of the competition
that exists among the members, a reality in
any business sector including ours—the ITBPO industry has to be united if we are to
continue with our momentum and build on
the gains that we had won the past years.
www.bpap.org
Individual members have accomplished
many good things on their own but, joined
together in an industry association, we can
be unstoppable.
To begin with, various sectors in
society—such as government and media—
will begin to take us seriously if they see us
acting us one. Concerns raised by one strong
body that means business will definitely
get a hearing more than several lone voices
in the wilderness, no matter how loud they
are. Friends in media who seek information
or data from us will find our findings more
credible if they are consistent and do not
vary from one member to another.
The same is true of foreign partners
or potential clients who see an armada of
Philippine delegates come to their side of
the world to talk about the advantages of
setting up shop in the Philippines—with
one common objective and sans the crab
mentality that we have become notorious
for. An authentic united front would give
them good reason to show us the beginnings
of trust.
Then there is the exchange of ideas
mentioned earlier in this column. Some
studies in countries like Canada, for
example, show that industry associations
have become the birthplace of innovation
that have propelled their respective
industries to new and higher ground.
In responding to their own industrial
challenges, they create the solutions that
in turn lay the groundwork for growth and
development.
United we stand—and only in unity we
shall ascend. .
For
feedback,
email
jonathandeluzuriaga@bpap.org
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
6
BPA/P Updates
april - june 2009
Breakthroughs
Research 2009:
The Road, So Far
By Gigi Virata
BPAP Executive Director for Information and Research
Annual report on Top-10
Next Wave Cities™
The Philippine delegation at the Philippine pavilion at Gartner
BPAP external affairs director Martin Crisostomo, Avanti People
Partnership president Nerissa Reyes and Glenn Lagcao of DPC Data
Crisostomo with Gartner Account
Manager Craig Sherter
Hitting Two International
Road Shows Within a
Month: My Baptism of Fire
By Martin Antonio S. Crisostomo
BPAP Executive Director for External Affairs
W
hen I assumed my post as BPAP
Executive Director for External
Affairs four months ago, I quickly found
myself faced with two challenges: the
Gartner Vendor Management Outsourcing
Summit in Las Vegas, followed by the
CeBit Australia exhibition and trade
mission. These two conferences became
my baptism of fire.
These two events happened within days
of each other—the Gartner conference in
early May and the CeBit event from May
12 to 15. BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez, Sec. Ray
Roxas-Chua (CICT), and I had to fly up north
to the U.S. then jet to the south Down Under
all in a span of two weeks. On May 9, my boss
Oscar and I arrived in Manila from Las Vegas
early in the morning, had a hot shower in
our respective homes, packed up some fresh
clothes, and hopped on another plane that
would fly us to Sydney at 8 p.m. the same day.
How’s that for a stopover?
In terms of preparation for these two
events, I was going through my learning
curve as quickly and efficiently as I could sans
assistant and yet with the imperative to hit the
ground running.
I applaud the government’s support of
BPAP’s efforts to promote the Philippines as
a desirable investment site. These are trying
times where the first budget item to be cut is the
allocation for marketing and any help, especially
from the government, is a big break.
Warm
response
budget cuts
despite
It was with these conferences that I began to
refine my ability to take calculated risks, given
the financial constraints and the photo-finish
preparations due to the endless red tape. In a
sense, this process was like giving birth—it
was very difficult but, in the end, you look at
the results and say it is worth all the close calls
and the heartache it took to get it done. It was
stressful, but worth every drop of sweat.
Getting people and companies to sign
up for these two trade fairs was not an easy
task either. To get Filipino participation for
the CeBit event, we initially signed up five
delegates, with others trickling slowly in
until we were able to register 14 Philippine
representatives for the trade fair.
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
For the Gartner event, we went through
the process of sending out invitations to
potential delegates at a time when belttightening and marketing budget cuts
were the order of the day for the firms we
were inviting. The slots were limited to
eight pods, as this was what the funding
from government could cover. However,
it turned out that we needed a lot more
than that. Several companies wanted to
participate despite the limited number of
pods. But wanting to make “everybody
happy” as much as possible, with the help
of our cooperative organizers from Gartner,
we were able to have additional delegates
and companies participate in the trade
conference.
We ended up having 21 delegates attend
the Gartner summit. The number of leads we
got, especially from the Australia road show,
was very encouraging and I plan to write
about the conversions of the two trips in my
next column.
Now that I have two big international
trade shows under my belt, I feel that I have
found my place in the BPO industry. When
I was in government I saw myself as a
promoter of the country for good international
publicity and image. And now, I find myself
still a promoter of the Philippines but as an
investment location.
I thank the wonderful delegates who
participated in both trade shows. They were so
helpful, cooperative, understanding, and fun
to work with. I would like to express gratitude
to the Philippine government, to the staff and
leadership of the Commission on Information
and Communications Technology in
particular, not only for facilitating the release
of the funds for the trips but also for its strong
support of its leadership and staff . Most of all,
I would like to thank my BPAP family which
is always there to listen and help in times of
difficulty.
It was a radical shift of paradigms for me
in the last four months, transitioning from my
past job as Press Undersecretary to my present
role as the BPO industry’s marketing director.
But I will definitely continue waving the flag
and will continue to serve the country through
this industry…because my new suit feels
really great! .
At the start of this year, BPAP’s research
unit (BPAP research consultant Tonette
Consuelo and I) was augmented by two
researchers who were assigned to help us part
time: Mae Agne from the Commission on
Information and Communications Technology
(CICT) and Ana Peña of Jones Lang LaSalle
Leechiu (JLLL) (until May 31, 2009). Mae and
Ana were generously “offered” to us by bosses
CICT commissioner Mon Ibrahim and JLLL
president David Leechiu, respectively. Our
common task was to provide the content for
the first BPAP publication on the top-10 Next
Wave Cities™ (NWCs) within the first half of
the year.
Our proposed outlined was refined and
approved in December 2008 by the NWC
working group composed of CICT head
Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III,
BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez, then Board of
Investments director Celeste Ilagan, John
Clements Consultants president Carol
Dominguez, other representatives of the
Department of Trade and Industry, Mon,
David, Tonette, and me. Asiatype’s managing
director Philippe Saurel and project manager
Levi Balanon also worked with me
before the Christmas season to lay out the
production requirements and the details of
our partnership for the publication. Tonette,
Mae, and Ana then took over the hard work
of gathering, verifying, and updating data
and information from national and local
governments, ICT councils, and other local
stakeholders; telecommunications and real
estate companies; and online sources—to
put together papers, replete with charts and
tables, on each of the top-10 NWCs.
We also discovered a new resource asset
in Paperless Trail which produces digital
maps from extensive databases. These maps
will be a prominent feature of the publication.
I was also pleasantly greeted with generous
support from the telcos and real estate
companies with content and ad placements.
We are in the middle of the last concerted
push to complete all the reviews and final
detailed work within June to hit our target of
launching the premier annual report on the
NWCs, entitled Next Wave Cities™ 2009 (See
related Front Page story – Ed.).
BPAP-O2P forums on pressing
industry issues
At the well-attended and highly rated CEO
forum Going Voiceless in December 2008,
featured speaker Nikhil Rajpal (Everest global
services head) showed how, by 2012, the
demand for non-voice services was expected
to comprise 90% of total business process
outsourcing (BPO) demand. He also outlined
the current and, importantly, potential capacity
of the Philippines to capture more of this
market. His talk caught the attention of Tata
Medado, managing director of Asia Pacific
College. Tata’s concern was how to better
prepare the academe as the main supplier of
talent for information technology and BPO in
the higher-value non-voice (and even highervalue voice) services.
It was unanimously agreed on by
BPAP’s CEO forum team (Frank Holz of
Outsource2Philippines, Michael and Monette
Hamlin and their team at TeamAsia, and me)—
with the concurrence of Oscar and BPAP’s
executive director for talent development
Jamea Garcia—that the issue identified by
Tata and related concerns around bridging the
perennial skills gap easily qualified as urgent
for the entire industry and, therefore, as a
topic for a forum. Instead of just CEOs,
however, we included academic officials and
human resource heads of industry players in
our target market for the forum. With support
from Excel Asia (major sponsor), Ayala
Land (minor sponsor), and World Pacific
(refreshments), the forum produced a very
engaging discussion actively participated in
by a very engaged audience. Their common
demand was for more time to continue the
dialogue! (See related article - Ed.)
The choice of topic for the second
CEO forum for 2009 was a no-brainer. We
immediately launched a survey on the impact
of the financial crisis, and it was also no
surprise that 83% of the respondents reported
that the crisis has affected their operations.
More surprising, but also confirming previous
surveys and anecdotal reports, was that the
response to the crisis of 49% of respondents
was to increase their workforce by 11% to up
to 200%.
Providing new services was also a
common response. As is our practice, we
planned a CEO forum to delve deeper
into these responses. The forum was held
on June 16 at the Tower Club. McKinsey
and Company partner Noshir Kaka
presented the Philippine position in the
global market, Mike Henderson, Sykes
Asia’s Vice President for the Asia Pacific
Rim presented the industry perspective,
and David Bulamis of American Power
Conversion (APC) presented the suppliers’
perspective. Sector representatives of some
of the most influential BPOs in the country
participated in the panel discussion; they
included Beth Lui of Accenture, Marife
Zamora of Convergys, Neil Elias of Logica,
and Fred Ayala of LiveIt. APC was the
forum’s premier sponsor, Excel Asia and
TeamAsia the major sponsors, Thomson
Reuters and Teledevelopment minor
sponsors, Business Mirror, Manila Bulletin
and Radiopartners media partners.
We aim to have a total of 3 to 5 periodic
surveys a year and 3 to 4 CEO forums. A
constant check on the industry’s “temperature”
and a repeated look at key metrics to establish
trend lines are among our goals for the year.
Among others
Our regular plate of tasks also includes
maintaining, updating, and improving our
industry database. We hope to do this in
tandem with the sector associations and
representatives. We’ve also participated
in government efforts to improve industry
statistics and, recently, after almost two
years of meetings, we finally agreed on
how the industry can be classified under the
international system of classifications. This
means that it’s very possible that the National
Statistics Office will soon start planning to
collect annual data on our industry. The BPAP
board has also identified cost and productivity
as areas that we need to keep track of and
work has begun—slowly, I admit—to design
the work flow of this initiative.
Tonette and I are optimistic that, with
the help of the many partners mentioned
above, we will soon have the pages of Next
Wave Cities™ 2009 flowing through the
presses. We are also confident that O2P and
TeamAsia will continue with the excellent
work they’ve been doing on the periodic
surveys and CEO forums. Finally, when
the above happens, your BPAP research
team can squeeze into our work load more
of your requests for custom research,
among others. .
www.bpap.org
BPA/P Updates
Breakthroughs
april - june 2009
BPAP-O2P and TeamAsia Forum on IndustryAcademe Skills Gap Provokes Heated Discussion
T
Ateneo President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S. J., presents an overview of The Philippine Main Education Highway
TeamAsia managing director Michael Hamlin (back to camera) moderates the lively discussion with panelists (from L-R): Dr. Ester
Garcia of the University of the East (partly hidden), Dr, Vincent Fabella of Jose Rizal University, Alejandro Melchor III of IBM
Philippines, Barry Marshall of J. P. Morgan Chase, Rina Clamor of Accenture, and Noel Duldulao of Sitel.
Courses, Career
Caravans and
Convergence
he Business Processing Association
of the Philippines (BPAP) and
Outsource2Philippines (O2P), in cooperation
with TeamAsia, held a briefing entitled
Delivering the Human Resource: Aligning
Supply with Demand in Philippine
Education on March 10, 2009, at the Ateneo
Professional Schools in Rockwell, Manila.
ExcelAsia Training and Development
provided invaluable support as backed up by
Ayala Land Inc. World Pacific also supported
the event. BusinessWorld and Radio Partners
helped promote the forum.
BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez opened the
program by putting into context the issues
surrounding the supply of talent for the ITBPO industry and its on-going efforts to
work closely with the academe to match
requirements. Frank Holz, CEO of O2P,
presented the results of the survey that
preceded the forum. Top-line survey results
showed 82% of companies projecting
positive job prospects for 2009, with about
half expecting to increase their workforce by
over 15%.
Danilo Reyes, who was then ending his
pioneering stint as head of Sitel’s Philippine
operations, presented the demand side of
the talent equation with both the positive
characteristics of Philippine graduates
as well as the areas where curricula and
teaching methods may need some adjustment
to meet industry needs. In response, Father
Bienvenido Nebres, S. J., President of Ateneo
de Manila University, presented the programs
of the Presidential Task Force for Education
(PTFE) in bridging the skills gap. He reported
that the PTFE works closely with several
public and private organizations to develop
road maps and partnerships to continuously
7
review and update the professional education
curricula. Father Nebres then passed the
lectern to Tata Medado, Managing Director
of Asia Pacific College (APC), who described
APC’s program to coordinate screening
and training for aspirants sponsored by the
Quezon City government through the Far
Eastern University’s training program.
A lively discussion, moderated by
TeamAsia’s managing director Michael
Hamlin, ensued among panelists Rina
Clamor (Accenture), Noel Duldulao
(Sitel), Dr, Vincent Fabella (Jose Rizal
University), Dr. Ester Garcia (University
of the East), Barry Marshall (J. P. Morgan
Chase), and Alejandro Melchor III (IBM
Philippines). The panelists dissected the
peculiar phenomenon of how, with just
100 hours of additional training, as many
as 30% of applicants can be transformed
from “near-hires” to actual hires—and why
this is not more broadly achieved within
the four years of undergraduate education.
Many possible explanations were discussed
such as training methods (lecture-based
versus interactive), class time (1 hour, 3
times a week in college versus 2 weeks of
full-time training), and the difficultly of
changing traditional academic structures
and mind sets. The discussion provoked
many participants in the audience to pipe
in with their own experiences, failures and
successes, and suggestions for closing the
skills gap.
Post-event evaluations showed that the
event met the expectations of 98% of those
who attended and 90% rated it very good or
excellent; the common complaint was the
lack of time to keep the discussion going. .
— By Gillian Virata.
For the first semester of the year, your BPAP talent development
team has been hard at work ensuring that our talent initiatives are
on track to meet our 2010 targets.
By Jamea Garcia
W
BPAP Executive Director for Talent Development
e are pleased to inform you that last
May 18 to 29, we were able to train
40 faculty members from 21 schools on the
AdEPT courseware. We held the training
session at the Jose Rizal University (JRU)
Campus. Around 40 teachers came from
all over Luzon, some from as far north as
Tuguegarao and Masbate. They gave up
two whole weeks of their summer vacation
to attend this intensive training course. Was
it worth it? Most definitely—according to
the participants.
Now comes the hard part. All of these
trainees are expected to roll out the classes
in their respective universities and we hope
to see a vast improvement in the English
proficiency of their students. This we hope
to achieve in the next few months.
Developing leaders
On the management development program,
BPAP has partnered with the Harvard
Business Publishing (HBP) to develop a
series of leadership development programs
for the BPOs. We launched a leadership
development program for new managers
last April 24. This is a competencybased curriculum using HBP content.
The program uses a blended learning and
participant-centered approach, where the
participants go through a self-paced online
learning module and a facilitated weekly
discussion.
This program runs for a period of 10
weeks. There are currently two batches
taking this course. The third batch will
www.bpap.org
start on July 6, 2009. We encourage team
leaders, supervisors, and newly promoted
managers to go through this course.
In addition to the leadership
development program for new managers,
BPAP and HBP will launch, in the first
week of July, a leadership development
program specifically designed for mid-level
managers. This program is targeted for
operations managers, account managers,
program managers and the like. This is
again a competency-based curriculum
using HBP content. We are flying in Ms.
Nikki Nyugen, a professor from University
of San Francisco and UC Berkeley to
conduct this 6-week program which will
run from July until August. Again, we
encourage everyone to send participants to
this program.
The BPAP Career Caravan has now
grown bigger with the participation of
the Commission of Information and
Communications Technology (CICT). This
program has been renamed Convergence
2009. The official launch will be on June
29, 2009, at the CICT grounds and we will
be travelling to our first city in July. In
addition to the 10 Next Wave Cities™, we
will now include Cebu as part of the road
show for Convergence 2009.
These are just some of the
developments for the HR initiatives with
more activities and programs planned for
the coming months. We are counting on
the unwavering support of the industry for
these endeavors. .
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
8
april - june 2009
Industry Report
Breakthroughs
PSIA Conferences in Tokyo,
Sydney, and San Francisco
T
he Philippine Software Industry
Association (PSIA) has embarked
on an aggressive marketing campaign
to showcase the sector as a choice IT &
Outsourcing destination to the global
markets by participating in a number
of international conferences: The 18th
Software Development Expo (SODEC)
in Tokyo, Japan; CEBIT 2009 in Sydney,
The winners of the 1st MT Skills Challenge
Australia; and JavaOne in San Francisco,
USA (upcoming as of press time). Since
1988, PSIA has been working with the
government, academe, private sector, and
other concerned stakeholders to further the
objectives of its 140-strong membership in
line with its goal to make the Philippines
competitive in the software development
services market worldwide. .
Left: The participants of the essay writing competition spent hours developing their essays on a topic about a yet unfamiliar
industry. Right: The transcription skills challengers went through a series of elimination rounds until the final top 10 were
named. During the BPO Summit at Crowne Plaza, only three emerged as winners.
MTIAPI Stages its 1st
MT Skills Challenge
The Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines,
Inc., (MTIAPI) successfully staged its first MT Skills Challenge
last December 2008.
Over 60 students from 16 different
colleges and universities all over Metro
Manila participated in the competition that
aimed to promote medical transcription (MT)
as a viable career for Filipino graduates.
The participating schools were: Arellano
University, Asia Pacific College; Centro
Escolar University–Makati; Centro Escolar
University–Manila; Colegio De San Juan
De Letran; De La Salle University–Lipa;
FEATI University; J.P. Sioson Colleges,
Inc.; Jose Rizal University; National College
of Business and Arts–Cubao; Pamantasan
ng Lungsod ng Maynila; Technological
University of the Philippines–Taguig; Tomas
Claudio Memorial College; Universidad de
Manila; University of Santo Tomas; and the
University of the Philippines.
The competition had two parts: the
On-the-Spot Essay Writing Contest and the
Transcription Skills Challenge. Participants
were initially screened on November 25,
2008, at the Commission on Information
and Communications Technology (CICT)
in Diliman, Quezon City. Thirty-six
essay-writing participants worked on the
general topic “Medical Transcription–An
Alternative Global Career Suited to Filipino
Professionals.” Meanwhile, 28 participants
of the transcription skills challenge
competed for inclusion in the top 10 after the
elimination round.
The awarding of winners for the essay-
writing contest and the final face-off of the
Transcription Skills Challenge were held
during the second day of the BPO Summit
Philippines at Crowne Plaza Galleria in Pasig
City. The final round was held at the Plenary
Hall, where attendees of the MT tracks
conference saw first-hand the complex but
exciting work of a medical transcriptionist.
Winners of the On-the-Spot Essay
Writing Contest were:Emil Karlo de la Cruz,
University of Santo Tomas (first prize);
Katherine Denise Queri, University of the
Philippines (second prize); and Miriam
Joy Tumamak, Jose Rizal University (third
prize).
The finalists in the Transcription Skills
Challenge were: Miriam Joy Tumamak,
Jose Rizal University; Crisan Salagado,
SPi; Myrna Suarez, DLSU Lipa; Charmaine
Roque, JP Sioson Colleges; Corene Joi
Generoso, CEU; Simonette Paragas, SPi;
Andrew Agaton, UST; Romnick Dolores,
Tomas Claudio Colleges; Maricor Villaluz,
CEU; and Dave Edward Jandusay, FEATI.
Simonette Pragas of the SPi MT Training
Center eventually won the first prize.
Tumamak and Geroso won second and third
prize, respectively.
Support for the competition from
the students, academic institutions, and
MTIAPI member companies makes a
second staging in 2009 on a much larger
scale very likely. .
The Philippine delegation led by CICT commissioner Monchito Ibrahim, PSIA president Ma. Cristina (Beng) Coronel, Japan market
head Tae Abe-Abion (not in picture), PTIC-Tokyo representative Toshio Yambe and PSIA executive director Jo-Anne Loquellano pose
in front of the Philippine pavilion at SODEC.
CICT commissioner Monchito Ibrahim and PSIA president Ma.
Cristina (Beng) Coronel hand tokens of appreciation to Japan Users’
Association of Information Systems (JUAS) after an information
session on Philippine IT & Outsourcing opportunities.
Arup Maity, CEO of BlastAsia and a member of PSIA’s
International Marketing Committee (left) and Diane Suico, PSIA’s
Marketing Program Director (right), with Robby Cannings of TRT
(center), a prospective client for IT outsourcing.
Arup Maity of PSIA International Marketing Committee BlastAsia, Inc (1st from right); and BPAP external relations executive director Martin
Crisostomo (2nd from left) are among the members of the Philippine delegation interviewed by the press at CEBIT Australia 2009.
Philippine Call Center Industry Expects Healthy Growth Amidst Economic Slowdown
Industry Event to Tackle Strategies to Generate Revenue Growth and Cost Savings
MAKATI—MAY 28, 2009—The
contact center industry in the
Philippines will continue to
grow in 2009, despite the global
economic slowdown, based on the general
consensus among members of the Contact
Center Association of the Philippines
(CCAP), the country’s official trade group
for outsource and in-house contact centers.
A CEO forum engages the CCAP stalwarts in CCAP’s 2008 Conference and Expo (from l-to r): Dave Rizzo, Regional VP for Operations,
Teleperformance; John Langford, EVP, ICT Group; Vic Endaya, President and CEO, Advanced Contact Solutions; Dan Reyes, Country
Manager, Genpact Services LLC.; Benedict Hernandez, SVP - Philippine Operations, eTelecare Global Solutions; Maulikh Parekh, former
SVP and Gen. Manager of TeleTech; Annie Reyes-Pineda, COO, Pacific Hub; and Raffy David, Director of Marketing & QA, Pilipinas Teleserv.
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
However, the challenge to achieve cost
savings and new growth areas remains. These
critical issues and strategies will be discussed
during the upcoming CCAP Annual Call
Center Conference & Expo 2009 with the
theme “Navigating Through the Global
Crisis” this July 15-16, 2009 at the SMX
Convention Center, Pasay City.
The CCAP Annual Call Center
Conference & Expo 2009 is the flagship
event of the contact center industy, which
attracts around 6,000 executives, managers,
supervisors, and agents of outsource and inhouse contact centers. CCAP was established
in October 2001 by seven founding member
companies. Today, it counts 53 of the largest
local and multinational contact centers in the
country.
Now on its fifth run, the CCAP convention,
exhibit, and job fair features more panel
discussions with CEOs, analysts, economists,
support sectors, and call center agents; 32
new conference topics on operations, HR,
technology, and career development; a new
conference track for call center startups called
Call Center 101 Plus; more booths at the expo
with the latest products and services; and a
bigger job fair with more job openings.
The conference sessions follow the theme
with topics focused on generating revenues
and cost efficiencies, such as “Fueling
growth through mergers and acquisitions,”
“Recession-proof your call center,” “Impact
of efficient supply chain management on
your bottom line ,” “Low cost and effective
recruitment straegies,” “Tried-and-tested
tactics for retaining your top people ,” “Using
technology to generating cost savings,”” New
trends in call center automation,” “Motivating
your team to achieve key metrics,” and
“Work-life balance in a 24/7 world,” among
others. .
Interested parties may contact the CCAP
Secretariat at tel. no: 889-7763 or telefax
nos. 886-4407 and 844-8341 or email
events@ccap.ph.
www.bpap.org
Breakthroughs
SPECIAL REPORT
9
Quezon City Creating Jobs, Promoting Investment to Address Crisis
Investors’
business
forum focuses on local
opportunities
Fast-developing
Quezon
City
announced on May 11 that 5,000 jobs are
now available in a range of industries there.
The announcement followed the release of
a Social Weather Station (SWS) survey
indicating that 34.2% or 14 million adult
Filipinos were not working and looking for
jobs in the first three months of 2009, up
from 27.9% and 11 million in the previous
quarter.
Many of the jobs being created in
Quezon City are in the business process
outsourcing (BPO) industry and support
sectors. According to Jones Lang La Salle
Leechiu country head David Leechiu, 44
BPOs presently have operations in the city,
making it the third-largest BPO center in
the country by number of facilities. Quezon
City’s combined BPOs provide services for
clients primarily in North America from
18,000 seats.
But the number of BPO jobs available
is expected to increase further as a result of
an aggressive campaign to BPO investors
undertaken by the city government. In
a survey by the Business Processing
Association of the Philippines (BPAP)
and Outsource2Philippines early this year,
68% of respondents said they expect to
increase their workforces this year by at
6 % or more; meanwhile, 49% said their
workforces will expand between 11% to
more than 200% in 2009.
Quezon City’s effort to recruit BPO
investors was apparent in a recent business
forum organized by the mayor’s office
with the assistance of strategic marketing
communications firm TeamAsia.
The
briefing for senior BPO executives focused
on Quezon City’s efforts to become what
www.bpap.org
Industry Report
april - june 2009
it calls the ‘future perfect cybercity.’
Featured speakers included government
officials responsible for creating a BPOfriendly environment and top officials of
BPOs with operations in the Philippines.
The 120 delegates in attendance included
prospective investors.
Pioneering BPO hub
According to Mayor Feliciano “Sonny”
Belmonte Jr., however, Quezon City is
not only creating jobs. It is also training
Filipinos to fill them.
Indeed, at the core of the city’s
investment promotion program is its
people. Because BPOs locate in attractive
labor markets, Quezon City provides
specialized training to prepare residents
for BPO jobs. In recent years, Quezon
City has evolved into a thriving business
hub with government-built and -supported
infrastructure, reinforced security, and
affordable housing opportunities. These
features, said Mayor Belmonte, attract
young professionals and investors alike.
Not surprisingly, the city played a
pioneer role in the development of the BPO
industry in the Philippines. Quezon City’s
Eastwood City Cyberpark was the first
BPO-ICT (information and communications
technology) hub to be developed in the
country. At present, the city has 28 ICT
parks registered with the Philippine
Economic Zone Authority (PEZA). It was
ranked the number one most competitive
city in Metro Manila in 2007 by the Asian
Institute of Management Policy Center and
seventh in the 2007 ranking of Asian Cities
of the Future, a comparative evaluation
published by the London Financial Times.
Business executives including Sykes
Managing Director for Asia and the
Pacific Rim Michael Henderson and IBM
Philippines president James Velasquez
Quezon City Mayor Feliciano (Sonny) Belmonte, Jr. with Quezon City officials and industry experts at the Quezon City ICT business
forum. (Top L-R) Michael Alan Hamlin, Managing Director, TeamAsia; Jonathan de Luzuriaga, Industry Affairs Director, Business
Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P); James Velasquez, Country General Manager and President, IBM Philippines,
Inc.; Honorable Mayor Feliciano (Sonny) Belmonte, Jr., City Mayor, Quezon City; Commissioner Mochito Ibrahim, Commission on
Information and Communications Technology (CICT); Jose Rainier A. Reyes, Head of Offshoring and Outsourcing Industry, Globe
Telecom; Manny Sabalza, Assistant City Administrator, Quezon City and Head of the ICT/BPO Task Force. (Bottom L-R) Michael
Henderson, Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific Rim, Sykes; Police Senior Sup. Elmo DG San Diego Sr., Police District Director,
Quezon City; John Castelo, VP-Business Development, Araneta Center Inc.; Tunde Fafunwa, Chief Consultant and CEO, BayanTel;
Jose E.D. Lloren Jr., Director for Asset Management, Convergys; David Leechiu, Country Head, Jones Lang LaSalle Leechiu
commended the city administration’s efforts
to provide an ideal training, technology,
security, and infrastructure environment for
existing and future investors.
At the forum, Belmonte returned the
compliment, thanking “all the speakers and
panelists of this forum for their support
of Quezon City’s endeavor to develop
and promote our city as an ideal business
location.”
He added, “We are determined to sustain
our position as the most competitive city
in Metro Manila and the Philippines and
provide our people abundant and rewarding
job opportunities even during this time of
economic crisis.”
A panel discussion, moderated by
BPAP executive director for industry
affairs Jonathan de Luzuriaga, discussed
the capabilities of Quezon City as a BPO
hub.
TeamAsia provided the overall event
management for the investor briefing, from
conceptualization, production design, and
program generation to demand generation
and on-site event management. “We were
honored to partner with Mayor Belmonte
in this initiative to encourage investors to
locate in Quezon City as it seeks to extend
its leadership in the BPO industry,” said
Monette Iturralde-Hamlin, President and
Founder of TeamAsia. .
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
12
Insights
april - june 2009
Breakthroughs
The opinions expressed and the information provided here come from the individual contributors of the respective companies, and must not be taken as official statements from BPAP.
Improving your Bottom Line Through Health Risk Management
By Amy Laverock
and Emmy Navarro
Time to measure the impact
of workforce health on the
organization
Every industry has its health risks. These
risks vary depending on organizational culture,
job nature, and work environment. While
manufacturing jobs come with the risk of
muscle, bone, and joint injuries, white-collar
jobs including those at BPOs have unique
health risks that can include poor ergonomics,
sleep disturbance, and the one that we are all
familiar with: stress.
We are not only exposed to risks at work but
also in everyday life, whether it is from eating
fast food, a lack of exercise, personal stress, or
a family history of certain illnesses. The typical
young demographic makeup and rapid rise in
income levels among BPO workers have meant
that many in the industry feel immortal and may
dismiss the development of a healthy lifestyle as
irrelevant. Unfortunately, when we look at many
employee health profiles in the Philippines, we
see disease profiles of middle-aged individuals
in relatively young populations.
The Philippines is not alone; we see similar
issues in other markets. Let’s compare the
health issues in India’s BPO industry with the
Philippines’ for example. (see table 1)
HR professionals in the BPO space cannot
eliminate all health risks that may be associated
with BPO work. These risks, based on
anecdotal information from BPOs, may include
sleep disturbance, lack of exercise, intake of
stimulants (e.g., caffeine, nicotine, alcohol), and
stress. However, HR professionals can influence
the speed and extent to which their organization
develops solutions to help employees understand
and better manage their risks. Employers who
do manage organizational and individual health
risks will develop a competitive advantage.
From a health perspective, BPOs in the
Philippines have two opportunities that don’t
exist in India. First, while unscheduled absence
is common in the Philippines, it is less of an
issue in India where pay for time off for illness
is less prevalent. This means that by tackling
the issue of health-related absence, employers
in the Philippines can make great strides in
reducing labor costs.
Second, the Philippine government has
placed an onus on employers to fund and deliver
health services like making available medical
practitioners on site as well as annual medical
exams. If properly designed and delivered, these
services can actually improve employee health
and hence deliver a competitive advantage to the
business, at no additional cost to the company.
It is time to ask: to what extent are health
risks affecting your organization?
Do you know what portion of your employee
population smoke? How many of your workers
have hypertension? How many feel positive
about the upcoming six months? How are these
factors affecting employee attendance and
attention? Does employee behavior translate
into a poor attitude toward customers, which
means less queries resolved on the first call?
Are these the factors that are driving the use of
your health plan and the visits to your on-site
clinic?
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)
plan costs have been increasing by 30%–
100% over the past three years, driven mainly
by increased utilization and the underlying
disease drivers in both employees and their
dependents.
The necessary steps
Developing a key set of metrics monitored
regularly by senior management and quantifying
the impact of health on customer service,
productivity, benefit costs, and retention levels
will become key talent management activities
into the future.
So how can BPO employers in the
Philippines tackle these issues to give them
a competitive advantage in the global BPO
Table 1. Key health issues in the BPO industry
Key Issues
BPO Problems to Solve
• High absence rates
• Growing medical plan costs
• High employee turnover
BPO Opportunities to Seize
• Optimizing current spending on annual medical exams
and onsite medical clinics
• Improving employee health profiles with investments
in health risk management programs to reduce burnout
and improve customer service
India
Philippines
✗
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✗
✓
✓
✓
market? Once the baseline metrics are in place,
they can take the following steps to manage the
health of their employee population:
1. Take an inventory of your current health
spending. How much are you currently
spending on medical insurance, preemployment medicals, annual medicals,
wellness, vaccinations, etc.? Which of these
are generating ROI? Are there gaps relative
to employee needs?
2. Focus on the top two or three health risks.
If the health risks facing your organization
are a high consumption of carbohydrates
and stimulants, sedentary lifestyles, and
sleep disturbance, it is advisable to provide
coaching to employees on how to manage
these risks.
3. Look at ways to monitor and address
organizational stress levels. A certain
level of pressure is needed to maximize
productivity, but too much pressure can
result in fatigue, ill health, and burnout,
with a corresponding drop in productivity.
Taking these steps will save you
medical costs and improve the health and
productivity of your workforce. It will also
help you differentiate your employment
value proposition and continue to attract and
engage precious talent. .
About the authors: Amy Laverock is a
Principal and the Benefits Consulting Leader
for the health and benefits business of Mercer
in Asia Pacific. Emmy Navarro is Senior Vice
President and Business Leader for Marsh Risk
Advisers & Insurance Brokers’ Philippines
health and benefits practice. Marsh and
Mercer are wholly owned subsidiaries of
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
Weak Office Demand in Asia
Pacific Leads to Lease Incentives
ACPI’s new president: Rowena
“Weng” Bagadion of Media Farm, Inc
ACPI’s vice president,
Nestor Palabrica
ACPI’s new secretary,
Peter Tan Carrillo
ACPI’s new head of finance,
Erwin Escubio
ACPI Welcomes its New Board for 2009-2011
The Animation Council of the
Philippines, Inc., (ACPI) voted
its new set of officers for 20092011 in general elections held at
the University of the Philippines
Technohub in Quezon City last
March 28.
ACPI’s new President, Rowena “Weng”
Bagadion, is the Chief Executive Officer of
Media Farm, Inc., a global company that has
been providing e-learning, animation, and IT
outsourcing services to clients from the United
States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Asia
Pacific since 2000. Currently, Bagadion is
aggressively exploring the Spanish and Latin
American markets. (See Exec Profile –Ed.)
Supporting Bagadion as ACPI Vice President
is Nestor Palabrica, General Manager of one of
the biggest animation companies in the country,
TOEI Animation. Palabrica, who was ACPI’s
President from 2001-2003, has been serving as
the association’s vice president since 2007.
Palabrica obtained his mechanical engineering
degree from the University of San Agustin in Iloilo
and started his professional career as a Training
Assistant for Engineering Equipment, Inc. (EEI).
When EEI and TOEI Animation Corporation
merged, he became Group Supervisor. In 1994,
he was appointed Assistant Vice President for
Operations of EEI-TOEI Animation Corporation.
When the company became known as TOEI
Animation Philippines, Inc., Palabrica was named
General Manager.
ACPI’s elected Secretary is Peter Tan Carrillo,
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
Studio Manager and Business Development
Manager for Interactive Arts Services Manila,
Inc., a U.S.-based firm that operates its production
division in the Philippines. Carrillo has more
than 20 years of advertising experience, setting
up an advertising firm that launched successful
campaigns in brand and image building for clients
that included known personalities in the Philippine
political arena.
Finally, given the task to supervise the
council’s financial status is Erwin Escubio,
Director for Finance and Business Development
of Cutting Edge Productions, Inc., the company
responsible for producing the first Filipino
fully digital animated flick, Dayo sa Mundo
ng Elementalia. A chemical engineering
graduate with an MBA from the University of
the Philippines, Escubio has worked as Project
Manager for several NGOs, state agencies (both
foreign and local), and associations, among
them the National Centennial Commission,
Canadian International Development Agency,
Provincial Government of Bulacan, Barasoain
Center for Innovative Education, Personnel
Management Association of the Philippines,
and Ford Foundation.
Also joining ACPI’s board of directors
are Father Danilo Isidro of Ateneo de Naga
University, Richard Padilla of Challenge
Systems, Inc., Benjie Marasigan of De La
Salle-College of St. Benilde, Mike Torres
of Eacomm Corporation, Ricky Orellana of
Mowelfund Film Institute, Eric Tansingco of
Take One Animation, and Grace Dimaranan
of Top Peg Animation, who served as ACPI’s
President from 2007 to 2009. .
18 May 2009, Hong Kong—
Colliers International has
recently
released
the
Asia Pacific Office Market
Overview—May 2009. The
quarterly report covers 26
locations and includes the
analysis of the office market
trend in 1Q 2009.
Despite initial signs of stabilization in
various financial markets around the world
in 1Q 2009, the volume of investment,
exports, and imports in the Asia-Pacific
region’s private sector continued to
contract. This slowdown in global
economic activity significantly affected
demand for office space in the region.
Colliers International manager of
research Ramon Jose Aguirre adds other
reasons for the slowdown:
delayed
expansion plans, review of operations,
and increase in supply of office space.
He also notes that “the Philippines’
office market is still faring well compared
with our counterparts in Hong Kong and
Singapore where office rental rates have
gone down by around 40%–50% since the
middle of last year. This is because the
main demand driver [the BPO industry]
for the local office segment remains
relatively resilient.”
Throughout the region, tenants
responded during their lease renewal
in 1Q 2009 by negotiating for
lower rentals, downsizing floor area
requirements, downgrading to secondtier developments, or a combination of
the above. Meanwhile, the number of
tenants planning to sublet their excess
space due to the contraction in business
requirements notably increased.
“Seeing the weakening occupational
demand, many landlords were willing to
offer competitive lease terms to new tenants
such as rent-free periods or cash subsidies
toward fit-out costs,” noted George
McKay, Managing Director, Corporate
Services of Colliers International, Asia
Pacific Region. In what is becoming a
more competitive market to maintain
and attract tenant demand, average office
rentals in the region registered a drop
of 4% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) during
1Q 2009. Rentals in Hong Kong and
Singapore declined by as much as 15.4%
QoQ and 21.8% QoQ, respectively, in 1Q
2009.
On the sales front in 1Q 2009,
institutions and real estate investment
funds, which have been the most common
buyers of large properties in the past few
years, stayed on the sidelines or waited
for better market entry points to emerge.
A moderate number of owner-occupiers
and private investors were interested in
buying quality, but mainly mid-priced,
office developments.
“Due to the sustained global economic
consolidation, the occupational side of
the real estate market in Asia Pacific is
expected to remain relatively weak in the
coming quarters of 2009,” said McKay.
“However, the anticipated beginning of
relaxation in banks’ lending attitudes
toward commercial real estate is expected
to serve as a positive stimulus to the
current downturn. Therefore, the pace of
decline in both rental and capital values
is expected to taper off during the second
half of 2009.”
Colliers Macaulay Nicolls Inc. (CMN),
operating as Colliers International, is a
leading global real estate services company
that provides a full range of services to real
estate occupiers, developers, and investors
worldwide. The organization’s 12,700
employees span the globe in 294 offices in
61 countries.  Services include brokerage,
property management, hotel investment
sales and consulting, corporate services,
valuation, consulting and appraisal
services, project management, mortgage
banking and research. .
www.bpap.org
Breakthroughs
Insights
april - june 2009
Myth-Busting Call Center Assessments
By Hayley McCarthy
and Steven Finch
Assessment by counting errors
does not take into account the
candidate’s over-all communicative
competency; neither can voice
recognition software measure his
communicative ability.
Call centers live and die on Customer
Satisfaction Scores (CSATS). So if our customers
are looking for smooth communication and a
favorable outcome, what are we doing to make
sure that communication is smooth? A good
communication assessment will ensure accurate
recruitment and relevant training for the people
who deliver those all-important CSATS.
So why are so many call centers still using
assessments that don’t work? The reason: there
are a lot of myths about call center assessments.
This article tackles five of the big ones:
Myth no.1 : Error-counting is
a good way to assess basic
proficiency.
Error-counting alone is never a good way
to assess proficiency and has been rejected
as an approach by all leading assessment
experts. Assessments based purely on errorcounting have often resulted in the hiring of
poor communicators while turning away good
communicators at the door.
Look at the following example. Which
answer shows better communication skills?
Question: What did you do today?
Answer 1: I woke up. I got dressed. I went to work.
Answer 2: Funny you should ask because today
I have the busiest day imaginable! I have been
in a breakfast with friends, then stuck on heavy
traffic for almost an hour, during which time
I thought my head might explode! Then, of
course, I...um…arrived here.
According to pure error-counting
approaches, Candidate 1 would do extremely
www.bpap.org
well while Candidate 2 would probably fail
(because of fillers and errors in prepositions
and tenses).
The problem with counting errors is that
it doesn’t take into account the candidate’s
overall communicative competency. For
example, while poor communicators often
stick to “safe,” simple structures (answer 1),
better communicators will attempt complex
expressions and vocabulary, sometimes making
errors, in order to communicate more effectively
(answer 2).
This very popular—but very flawed—
approach of using error counting to assess
proficiency is in dire need of revision if the
Philippines is to continue setting the standard
for BPO. Ultimately, poor communication
equals poor customer experience
Myth no. 2: Pre-screening by
using automated voice tests
or casual telephone-interview
staff saves money.
While voice recognition software is highly
advanced, it cannot measure communication
ability. Because of the rigid requirements of
these kinds of tests, spontaneous communication
cannot be measured and could even mean you
achieved a lower score. The software is more
suited to karaoke machines than job applications.
Unfortunately, speaking loudly with the right
intonation at the right times does not necessarily
mean you are a successful agent!
Moreover, research done by Dr. Jane
Lockwood, a leading expert on call center
assessments, shows that lower proficiency
assessors are more likely to reject good
candidates. This means that if your phone
screen staff are not highly proficient, you could
be losing the best candidates before they even
enter your building.
And the reason why all this costs you more?
Unreliable assessments lower your conversion
rates because they reject viable candidates and
raise the cost because tests are charged on a per
13
head basis. Additionally, more resources are
needed to upskill weaker candidates who were
inaccurately hired.
diagnoses that will help you provide targeted
upskilling throughout their tenure?
Grammar provides the building blocks to
language and a successful call center agent
needs to be comprehensible to provide service
on the phones. But it doesn’t end there. From
the point of view of a customer, a Western
accent and perfect grammar will never make
up for poor service (which often comes out of
poor skills in listening and explaning and lack
of cultural awareness,).
Would you rather have perfect grammar or
perfect service? According to Dr. Sue Hood, a
world expert in applied linguistics, subject-verb
agreement, prepositions, minor consonant errors
(such as th) and fillers (such as ‘um’ and ‘er’)
do NOT typically cause communication and
rapport breakdown in call center interactions.
However, according to research conducted
by Ma. Lourdes S. Bautista of De La Salle
University, as well as Dr. Lockwood and Dr.
Gail Forey, the following DO commonly cause
communication and rapport breakdown: misuse
of pronouns, misuse of modality (saying ‘would’
instead of ‘will’), and lack of intercultural
awareness and discourse competence (no clear
logical flow).
What does your assessment system test?
CSATS problems is for all departments to use the
same assessment framework so that, while each
department may use it differently, the organization
is streamlined along a common approach.
Imagine the benefits in efficiency and impact
if quality assurance can accurately identify the
causes of low CSATS and if these problems
can be addressed by coaching-driven solutions
(coaching agents on the identified problem
areas), training-driven solutions (targeting your
curriculum to more effectively meet the needs of
the account), and recruitment-driven solutions
(hiring people with the communication profiles
required).
This myth-busting exposé ends with the
story of an old lady who bought a parrot. When
the parrot did not speak upon her arrival, she
went out to buy him a mirror. When he still did
not speak, she kept buying a new toy each day,
hoping to encourage her pet to communicate
with her. Finally, he croaked out a few words
and died.
In response to her question why the bird died,
the pet shop owner asked the lady for the bird’s
last words. The old lady replied, “Yes! He said
something that sounded like ‘Feed me please.’”
The moral of this rather silly tale is this:
With communication as our core business, we
must be careful to address the real issue, and
not plug the holes with superfluous “mirrors”
and “toys.” .
Hayley McCarthy is the Communications
Director of FuturePerfect Business English
Specialists, and Steven Finch is the company’s
Senior Language Training Specialist.
FuturePerfect is a leader in business
communication with specific expertise in BPO
industry requirements.
Myth no. 5: Dif ferent
Myth no. 3: Accent and departments need different
grammar are the keys to assessments for communication.
communicative competence. The best and most efficient way to address
Myth no. 4: Businesses only need
number scores for assessments.
All call centers need numbers generated from
communication assessments to work with
benchmarks. For example: account X requires
a competency rating of 3.5, but this candidate
only has 3.0 so he needs training for 75 hours.
But his is not a one-time test! Your agents
will be continually developing, supported
by trainers and coaches. What better use for
assessments than to have detailed competency
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
14
april - june 2009
Executive Profile
Breakthroughs
Animation and Entrepreneurship
The new ACPI president sets her sights on new markets
By Marla Silayan-Gonzalez
Photos by Bong Mercado
Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry,
Addams Family, The Mask, The
Jetsons, Dragon Ball Z, Captain
Planet, Finding Nemo, and The
Incredibles—these
popular
animated films have one thing
in common—they were drawn
by talented Filipino artists who
have been making their mark in
the U.S. animation industry for
several years now.
Though some of these homegrown artists
have been recognized in the media, what we
are seeing “is just the tip of the iceberg,” says
Rowena Bagadion, President of the Animation
Council of the Philippines (ACPI). “Animation
is anything that involves movement or
transformation of images. Especially with the
ever-evolving technology, animation is not
limited to feature films or cartoons, but also
includes advertisements and commercials with
computer graphics, Web- and console-based
games, interactive Web sites, real estate and
architectural walkthroughs, and e-learning.
Anything that brings an image to life is
technically under the scope of animation, so
it’s a pretty vast field.”
Bagadion is also President and Chief
Executive Officer of Media Farm Global,
the country’s leading provider of e-learning
services and solutions, and a classic example
of modern-day “hybrid” animation studios.
The Philippine animation industry earned
approximately US$120 million in 2008 and has
been growing at an average of 25% annually.
Three-point agenda
ACPI’s membership is composed of animation
studios who are mostly into foreign and
domestic outsourcing, educational institutions
that provide animation and game development
programs (both degree and non-degree), and
original content producers. To ensure that the
goals of the industry and its membership are
achieved, Bagadion discloses her term’s threepoint agenda:
The first goal is to encourage and support
entrepreneurship in animation and game
development.
As an entrepreneur and former economics
professor, Bagadion emphasizes the vital
importance of promoting entrepreneurship
to help the industry prosper. “Getting more
business people to invest in animation and
game development will create more jobs,
which will have trickle-down effects across
the industry and throughout the country,” she
enthuses. Banking on the business that has been
spurred by the recognition of Filipino artists.
Bagadion confidently says, “I want the number
of studios in the country to double by the end
of my term in 2011.” There are currently some
80 animation studios in the country.
In order to make this a reality, Bagadion
is working on a number of projects, topmost
of which is the establishment of an innovation
center for animation and game development.
This center is envisioned to be the first in the
Asia-Pacific region, and will serve as a venue
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
This artist-entrepreneur envisions the creation of a “Filipino animation brand.”
for incubation, training, and showcasing. This
venue would have the most extensive selection
of equipment and software applications
to enable entrepreneurs and producers to
incubate their new businesses or projects
without expending huge capitalization, help
train trainers for schools, and generally be
a showroom-laboratory where the latest in
animation and game development may be
displayed, tried, and tested.
Bagadion is also working with a number
of educational institutions to develop
entrepreneurship
courses
and
degree
programs.
The second objective would be to facilitate
more diverse international exchange and
exposure, both inward and outward.
As ACPI President, Bagadion brings her
love of learning and networking with her as
she works to expand the Philippines’ share
of the animation market. She recently met
with the Honorable Jocelyn Batoon-Garcia,
Philippine Ambassador to Venezuela, who
strongly believes that Filipinos have an innate
competitive advantage in animation and wants
to push animation services in Venezuela.
Weng cites as well her excitement in learning
that the Philippine Trade and Investment Center
is part of London’s present mandate to promote
other higher value outsourcing services from
the Philippines in the United Kingdom and
Ireland, with animation one of the priority
sectors.
One avenue of promotion is the
Animahenasyon festival, the industry’s flagship
annual event which showcases the talent of
Filipino animators, professionals and amateurs
alike. Now on its third year, it has become a
popular venue for creative minds to exhibit
their work and where industry members vote
on the best of the best.
For the next Animahenasyon, Bagadion
envisions mounting an international forum
where animation experts from several
continents can share their experience, exchange
ideas, and collaborate on projects with
Filipinos. She hopes to bring in participants
and kindred creative spirits from France,
Spain, U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea,
Colombia, and Argentina. “We all can benefit
from increased exposure to more varied, global
animation,” she says. Aside from an exchange
of ideas, knowledge and resources, an area for
business matching will be provided during the
festival.
Finally, Bagadion envisions the creation
and production of more original Filipino
content that will spur on a “Filipino animation
brand.” She also wants to eventually field the
work of the Animahenasyon winner as an entry
into an international competition.
The innovator within
Bagadion’s humble beginnings fueled her
drive, shaped her work ethic, and infused
her with the readiness to spot opportunities.
This daughter of a poor family worked for
her own schooling, earning a double degree
in economics and education at De La Salle
University. Her first job was as research
assistant to Dr. Isagani Cruz. Bagadion looks
back at the lessons learned during those early
struggling years, “I had to be resourceful and
innovative. But, more importantly, I have
learned that it is critical to plan ahead and
put contingencies in place.
“I do a lot of traveling, mostly for work but
also for pleasure. Especially when it’s workrelated, I plan my itinerary so that I arrive in a
place the day before the event as a contingency
in case something happens—like lost luggage.
If everything goes well, I use the extra day
exploring the place and familiarizing myself
with the locals and their culture. I love seeing
new places and meeting new people—and
being able to experience these things ahead of
time helps me immensely with my networking.
I may forget a person’s name but I remember
the person—and I guess they remember me,
too, because often I get calls and projects from
people I met years ago.”
After a year of teaching at De La Salle
University–Manila, Bagadion became Editor in
Chief and later Director of the university press.
Feeling she needed a change in scenery, she
capitalized on her journalistic skills to try her
hand as a writer for Manila Bulletin. Eventually,
along with her college friends whose parents
were generous enough to provide financing,
she ventured into publishing a travel magazine
called Onboard Philippines. Media Farm was
subsequently born to service the design needs
of some of the magazine’s advertisers.
A short stay in the U.S. brought her to
the world of outsourcing. Two months into
their arrival in that country, she brought back
her first outsourcing assignment for Media
Farm. To Bagadion, opportunities come as a
consequence of attitude. She says, “I am a very
optimistic person. I believe there is good and
bad in everything. If you focus on the bad, you
will surely find it. I choose to look for the good
in people and circumstances, and sure enough,
I find it. If you surround yourself with positive
things, you attract positive things. Everyday,
I count my blessings no matter how small or
insignificant they may seem, and the more I
do this, the more I feel fortunate and thankful.
I also believe in giving—whatever you give
will come back to you a hundred- or even a
thousand-fold!”
Not surprisingly, Bagadion is also
the founder of a non-profit organization
called ALTF which helps individuals and
organizations get into e-learning.
Media Farm currently has more than 30 fulltime employees and a few dozen freelancers.
They are also part of an export coaching
program called CBI-ITO which is funded and
implemented by the Dutch government. This
program is central to Media Farm’s expansion
plans in Europe, particularly in capturing the
Spanish-speaking market.
Becoming a global player
Diversification and expansion are on top of
ACPI’s agenda. Bagadion maintains, “In the
past, ACPI mostly participated in trade fairs,
exhibitions, and conferences only within the
Asian region. In terms of foreign outsourcing,
the industry has relied heavily on Asian and
U.S. markets. We know these markets like
the back of our hands. But if there’s one thing
that the global economic crisis has taught
us, it is that we need to expand our reach, to
explore new markets. And this is what we are
determined to do. It is time we show the rest of
the world how great Filipino animators are!”
ACPI is a member of the Business
Processing Association of the Philippines
(BPAP). “We are very grateful for the support
that BPAP is giving the animation industry.
BPAP houses us in their office, which helps the
association save money. In terms of our global
efforts, we also hope to join BPAP’s road
shows, particularly to the US and Europe.” In
addition to Europe, Bagadion is also pushing
very hard for the animation industry to explore
the Latin American market which she says is
“literally virgin territory.”
Bagadion believes that the future for the
Philippine animation industry is “exciting,
especially for those who are fluid enough. The
global crisis certainly affected some of our
members but we have an almost bottomless pit
of animation and creative talents. The world is
a big place and opportunities abound for those
who are willing to go the extra mile to find
them.” .
www.bpap.org
Breakthroughs
Corporate Profile
april - june 2009
15
Why Convergys Philippines is the 2009
ICT Awards’ BPO Employer of the Year
Programs give employees opportunities to build a future with the company
BY Malou Rosal.
Photos by Bong Mercado
Asked as to how the company
nurtures its relationship with
its personnel “from the hiring
to the resignation stages,”
Convergys
Philippines
country
manager
Marife
Zamora gives this story of
one former employee. This
call center agent applied at
Convergys after hearing good
things about this company,
especially its care for people.
Before
his
appointment
with
Convergys’s HR, he expressed a concern
for discretion, not wanting to broadcast this
career move prematurely within a small
industry. He was instructed to call ahead
when he was on his way to Convergys’s
Alabang office, and to give his car’s plate
number. He complied, though wondering
what his car plates had to do with a job
interview.
Upon reaching the Alabang office, he
was pleasantly surprised when the security
guard, immediately recognizing his plates,
waved him to a parking space particularly
reserved for him. Then, he was ushered to a
private room where he signed the logbook
away from the public’s prying eyes of the
public. Impressed at how his concern was
addressed, the man worked for Convergys
for the next few years.
Our story does not end there. The man
eventually resigned from Convergys. But
unlike other departures, his was probably
the best experience of an employee leaving
an organization. Shortly after he resigned,
Convergys’s HR informed him that as he
had already finished with his paperwork,
the remainder of his salary and his clearance
would be available in four weeks. But after
only two weeks, HR called him again,
saying that the paperwork was ready and
his salary available. HR was true to its
word, and the security guard treated him
warmly in spite of the fact that he was a
departing employee.
His family has happy memories as
well of his former employer. The man
said, “On Valentine’s Day, my wife would
receive a Valentine’s card from Convergys
saying ‘Thank you for understanding your
husband and the kind of work that he does.’
During Christmas, my children would get
Convergys T-shirts their size, sent to the
house. No other company would do that
for my kids.”
After finishing that story, Zamora
remarked: “Convergys Corporation has
been Fortune’s Most Admired Company
for nine consecutive years now. I think
it’s really the people-centricity of the
corporation that has been the reason why
we have been recognized as the company
that employees would want to work for.
I’ve been with companies which I thought
were the best things since sliced bread. But
when I got into Convergys, its focus on the
employees and the employees’ wellbeing
is just overwhelming.”
2009 PEZA Investors’ Appreciation Day.
The Outstanding Employer award applauds
organizations that “generate the most jobs,
highly regard the welfare of their workers,
and maintain harmony between workforce
and management.” PEZA has recognized
Convergys with these awards six times, with
three wins each for both categories.
With programs that develop talent and
foster career advancement, Convergys’s goal
is “for every employee to become a key point
of differentiation and a competitive advantage
for the company.” Employees are given
much opportunity to “build a future” with
the company with the following avenues: a
comprehensive step-by-step career path for
its agents and team leaders, a Management
Development Program to prepare senior
team leaders for management roles within
operations, a Transition to Management
program for ongoing training of managers,
and a robust online learning academy called
Personal Development Center through
which employees can earn higher academic
degrees.
Convergys embraces a philosophy of
building from within. Ninety percent of
the manpower complement of its team
leader population is reared from within,
partly due to its successful team leader
development program, which has been such
a great retention and employee satisfaction
tool. This is evident from its employee
satisfaction survey results, which indicate
that Convergys’s employees value personal
and professional development.
Zamora is a veritable font of satisfactory
employee experience. She relates, “Mark
Serrano was from International School, then
went to the U.S. for his collegiate schooling.
When he came back, he joined us as a Team
Leader. That was in 2003, and he was one of
our pioneer employees. Today, he is a Senior
Operations Manager. So, first as a Team
Leader, after two years he was promoted to
Operations Manager, then after two years
he was promoted to Senior Operations
Manager.”
“Chris Mirador also started as a Team
Leader and today is a Director,” Zamora
also says. “He moved from Team Leader,
Operations Manager, Senior Operations
Manager, Director—four promotions in six
years.”
Stringent selection process
Speed of promotion, though, does not mean a
comfortable career path. Convergys has also
gained a reputation for having a stringent
selection process. Business Development
Director Jose Mari Mercado recounts how
this reputation has preceded them even as far
as Bacolod: “I was hearing Mass, and the
gospel for the day was the parable of sowing
seeds where some of it fell on the fertile
ground and some of it fell on the thorns. The
priest giving the homily was explaining how
it’s a selective process. And then he goes,
‘It’s just like Convergys. Here in Bacolod,
Convergys hires only the best people.’”
Zamora reiterates: “We go for the best
and the brightest. No average, no fence
sitters, no moderates. It’s really the cream
of the crop. On the other hand, Convergys
may not be the kind of company who would
give you the highest compensation. We
would be competitive but I don’t think we
would be the highest-paying employer in the
marketplace.”
“But definitely,” Zamora says, “if you
look at the total compensation package,
total compensation benefits, and total the
financial component as well as the personal
and professional development component, I
would think that we are tops in the game.”
In the next few years, Convergys
envisions continued growth and expansion
to keep up with the BPO industry’s everincreasing demands. Mercado observes, “One
of the benefits of being Employer of the Year
is that people want to come to Convergys.
Because when we talk about expansion, it is
in direct correlation to our capacity to hire,
to attract the right balance. The demand for
the business is here, not just for Convergys
but for the Philippines itself. There’s so
much demand right now for offshoring and
outsourcing.”
Convergys would also like to be a
major contributor to BPAP’s dream of
generating US$13 billion in revenues and
over 700,000 employees in the industry in
the next few years. Although their current
contribution of 17,000 people may still
be a long way off the target, nothing is
impossible. For beyond these forecasts,
Zamora shares an inspiration: “For this
year ,our battle cry is ‘Number One by
a Mile.’ We have been number one. But
we’re saying that now, we’re going to be a
mile ahead of number two. Because in this
global economic turmoil, it’s only being a
leader, and being a leader by a mile, where
you can retain that leadership status.” .
Building from within
Little wonder why the company received
the BPO Employer of the Year Award for
2009 in the recently concluded prestigious
annual ICT Awards. In fact, this is the
second time that it was honored for the same
award, the first being in 2007. Convergys
has also been recognized as an Outstanding
Employer and Outstanding Exporter at the
www.bpap.org
Convergys Phils. country manager Marife Zamora believes in recruiting only the best – “no fence sitters, no average, no moderates.”
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
16
april - june 2009
People / Places / Events
Breakthroughs
The Gartner Vendor Management and Outsourcing Summit
May 4 – 6, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
BPAP external affairs dir. Martin Crisostomo, Con. Gen. Marijo Aragon, BPAP CEO Oscar Sanez, Pointwest president Beng Coronel,
CICT Sec. Ray Chua, Farmout president Grace Marti, and John Clements CEO Carol Dominguez
Pointwest team - Beng Coronel, Renato Quizon and Jowee Reyes
Kaisa Consulting managing director Teh Opinion, Ms. Dominguez of John Clements.,
Gartner analyst Cathy Tornbohm and BPAP director Crisostomo
Sencor president George Martel (center) with colleagues (from l-r) Berwin Yap and Jay Manahan
Imperium CEO Imperium Fernando Contreras Jr. (right)
with colleague Rafferty Tan
BPAP’s March GMM
The Induction of new members. From l-r: Oscar Sañez, BPAP CEO; Carlo Rufino, Managing Director, RHL Properties & Dev’t. Corp.; Larry Barlow, Chairman, NRG Global Solutions Pty Ltd.; Michelle Bubke, CEO, NRG Global Solutions Pty Ltd. ; Ramnish Awasthi, Site
Director, Intelenet Global (Philippines) Inc.; Jose Rafael Lopez-Vito, Associate, Bo Le Associates Philippines, Inc.; Manuel Anselmo, Senior Associate, Bo Le; Jose Balderama, Managing Director, Asia Select Inc.; and BPAP industry affairs director Jonathan de Luzuriaga.
Standing, from l-r: Martin De Leon, Director for Bus. Dev., Alphaland Corp; Gener Peciller, Enercon Manager, Shang Properties,
Inc.; Phillip Añonuevo, Associate Director for Markets, Jones Lang Lasalle Leechiu. Seated, from l-r: Lirio Ongpin-Mapa, Vice
President; Anna Marco, Asst. Manager for Markets, Jones Lang Lasalle Leechiu; BPAP CEO Oscar Sanez; BOI executive director
Celeste Ilagan, and DTSI managing director Miguel Garcia.
The BPAP team stands behind Gem Valmores, Director –Business Development, Makati Shangri La Manila and
Francis Fuellas, Group Property Manager, Shang Properties, Inc.
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
From l-r: Bambi Santos, Teledevelopment; Carlo Francisco, BPO International; Carlo Rufino, RHL Properties & Dev. Corp.; Myra
Rocalde, Marketing Executive; RHL Properties & Dev. Corp.; Nette Roselo, BPAP Administrator; Rona Quilban, BPAP Industry
Affairs Associate; and Mickey Bernardino, ASCOTT Makati.
From l-r: Jonathan De Luzuriaga, BPAP Industry Affairs Director; Marie Jose; Matt J. McKelvey, VP for Operations of Kenexa;
Donna Grande, HR Director, Dell; Haidee Enriquez, VP HR ACS; and K.S. Kumar, EVP Sutherland.
www.bpap.org
Breakthroughs
People / Places / Events
CEBIT Australia 2009
17
During this trade show, BPAP made hundreds of
companies in Australia aware that the Philippines
is a prime location for outsourcing.
May 12 – 14, Sydney Convention Centre
Back row (from l-r): Avanti Director Ray Reyes, DPCDATA Country Manager Glenn Lagcao, TAYHANA group Managing Dir. Mike Sahagun, PLDT VP
Jovy Hernandez, PLDT AVP Luigi Lopa . Front row (from l-r): AVANTI President Nery Reyes and Acquire’s Melanie Day
Cocktails at the Philippine Pavilion after the Philippine presentation
april - june 2009
BPAP CEO Oscar Sanez explains the Philippine advantage to the AustraliaPhilippines Business Conference.
Sydney trade attache Michelle Sanchez joins the Philippine Pavilion decorating crew.
Events, First Half 2009
The BPAP-Asia-Pacific College partnership advances industry-academe cooperation for industry growth. From l-r: Sean Sanchez, APC
IT Head; APC president Paulino Tan; BPAP CEO Oscar Sañez; and BPAP industry affairs director Jonathan de Luzuriaga.
www.bpap.org
The BPO is one sector that government can use to tap for more foreign investments in the country, said European Chamber
of Commerce of the Philippines EVP Henry Schumacher in a business forum at Clark last April.
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
18
Company News
april - june 2009
Jebsen & Jessen Communications Forms
Global Alliance to Consistently Deliver NextGen Communications Applications Globally
Jebsen
&
Jessen
Communications
and
two other PlatinumCertified Avaya Business
Partners joined forces to
fulfill the communication
technology needs of
multinational companies.
Jebsen and Jessen, along
with founding partners Datapoint,
headquartered
in
Brentford,
Middlesex, U.K., and the New
Jersey-based Strategic Products
and Services (SPS), established the
Intelligent Communications Alliance
(www.intelligent-communicationsalliance.com) in January 2009 to
help customers extract full value
from their investments in Avaya
communication infrastructure and
applications globally. The Alliance
provides a consistent global approach
to pricing, design, installation,
and support for Avaya and Avaya
DevConnect Partner solutions.
“We have created a new
model to assist clients with global
communication infrastructure and
application deployments,” says
Jebsen & Jessen communications
regional managing director Harold
Thng.
“The Alliance is wellpositioned globally and provides
a uniform architecture, delivering
professional services and consistent
coverage to multinational clients.”
With over 82 years of
collective experience, Alliance
founding members serve over
9000 customers across more than
60 countries.
“With
the
challenging
economy, it is vitally important
for businesses to be as effective
as possible,” says SPS chief
operating officer Jim Felicetti. “By
providing uniform design, delivery
and support standards, the Alliance
deploys strategic communication
solutions, ensures consistency
and helps our clients remain
competitive around the globe.”
As a specialized systems
integrator, the Alliance holds
over 336 Avaya certifications
with expertise in Internet
Protocol (IP) telephony, contact
center, messaging and unified
communications.
“The Alliance is highly
competent,” says Datapoint CEO
Vim Vithaldas. “Through numerous
certifications and experience
directly related to next-generation
communication infrastructure and
applications, the Alliance ensures
service levels and consistency with
every global deployment.” .
CPI Positions Northgate Cyberzone
as the Premiere IT Park in the South
Cyberzone Properties,
Inc., (CPI) premier office
building developer of
Northgate Cyberzone
in Filinvest Corporate
City in Alabang, continues
its commitment to help the
growing BPO sector by building
high-quality, 24/7-efficient office
buildings. Strategically located at
the gateway to CALABARZON
(Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal,
Quezon)—also called the ‘IT
Hub of the South’—Northgate
Cyberzone’s recently completed
iHub 1 still has four contiguous
floors for lease.
These days, Northgate has
construction in full swing on
two new BPO buildings, Vector
One and Vector Two, which are
estimated to be completed by the
second and third quarters of 2009,
respectively.
Both buildings are tailor-made
to suit all kinds of BPO entities.
Each has 14-stories, a vast 1,550
sq. m. gross leasable area floor
plate, and a three-podium parking
level. Buildings in Northgate are
powered 24/7 without overtime
air-conditioning charges.
Northgate also has lush
greenery, open spaces, wide
road networks, and pocket
gardens that offer locators a
nature-friendly and stress-free
environment. Complementary
developments
like
the
residential
condominium
(Studio One) and retail
outlet (F@st Bytes) are now
operational, putting every
resource well within reach. For
convenience to its locators,
a 24/7 shuttle service to and
from the zone is also available,
offering transportation options
and accessibility at any time,
day or night.
Northgate
Cyberzone’s
location at the center of a potential
3-million manpower base makes
it attractive to multinational
corporations’ offshore and backoffice operations. It has one IT
school (Informatics College)
within the park and is surrounded
by numerous nearby educational
institutions in the areas of
Alabang, Muntinlupa, San Pedro,
and Las Piñas.
Northgate Cyberzone is
PEZA-registered, providing its
locators an economic and strategic
advantage through tax incentives
and other benefits. .
Filinvest Northgate
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES
Breakthroughs
GE Money Servicing Philippines Drives Corporate Citizenship
in a Fast-Paced, Schedule-Intensive Environment
GE Volunteers was created to put a single face on GE’s
volunteer activities around the world and to extend the
GE philosophy of hard work and commitment to the
communities where its employees live and work.
Its goal is to encourage broad
participation of GE employees
globally in making a strong impact on
their communities particularly in the
areas of education, the environment,
and community development.
Bob Corcoran, GE’s vice
president for corporate citizenship
and the president of GE Foundation,
says, “Volunteerism and giving back
have always been a strong part of
GE’s culture. This is a perfect way to
demonstrate what can happen when
good people do great things.”
Today, there are more than 150
GE volunteer councils located in
more than 41 countries around the
globe, each responsible for addressing
serious social issues facing their
communities.
GE coordinates
volunteer efforts company-wide
by keeping a close eye on societal
needs and inviting all employees
to build stronger communities. GE
employees volunteer over 1 million
hours of community service every
year.
Proving that the spirit of
volunteerism can survive and thrive
even in a fast-paced, metrics-driven
and schedule-intensive environment
of a call center business, GE
Money Servicing Philippines has
about 193 active GE volunteers
collaborating with the Philippine
National Red Cross for regular
blood-letting activities, conducting
school projects such as tutorials and
career-orientation programs, as well
as participating in environmental
projects such as the turtle-hatchling
release at Bantay Pawikan in
Bataan.
April and May have been busy
months for GE volunteers from
GE Money Servicing Philippines.
A painting workshop for kids
of Food for Hungry Minds was
conducted at the Alabang site with
renowned Filipino artist Chris
Mirang, facilitating the workshop.
Film showings that featured
the environment documentaries
“SIGNOS” (a local production
on global climate change) and
“An Inconvenient Truth” were
held at the Net Cube site for GE
employees. Led by GE Corporate’s
market development director John
Alcordo, GE volunteers joined
the Taguig Science High School
juniors in a unique educational trip
to a hangar where they all witnessed
firsthand aircraft maintenance and
the overhauling of large jets. Senior
engineers from Lufthansa Teknik
Philippines related how they started
their careers in the industry.
Another activity was tutorial
sessions where GE volunteers
played “teachers” to Tuloy sa Don
Bosco street children. During the
months of April, May and June, GE
volunteers taught basic English to
underprivileged children in a daily
90-minute session. This initiative
aimed to take children off the streets
and provide them the opportunity to
learn as well as appreciate the value
of education. .
TELUS Opens its Newest Site in Araneta Center
TELUS
International
Philippines
(TIP)
recently
opened
a
site, its newest, in the
Araneta Center Cyber
Park in Quezon City.
The four-story TELUS House
Araneta Center is the company’s
fourth site in the Philippines;
it features a fully equipped
recruitment hub, fitness center,
basketball court, state-of-the-art
operations areas, and commercial
establishments in the site’s
perimeter. It will also boast of a
seat capacity of approximately
3,500 once fully completed.
TIP is a leading Philippinebased provider of contact center
and business process outsourcing
solutions. It is a subsidiary of
TELUS Communications, the
largest
telecommunications
provider in Western Canada
with CAD$9.5 billion of annual
revenue and 11.5 million
customer connections. Backed
by TELUS, TIP is regarded as a
TELUS house Araneta is the fourth site of TELUS International in the Philippines.
premier employer in the Philippine
outsourcing industry.
TIP’s newest site marks just
how far the company has come
since its humble beginnings in
2001, when it launched its first 100
seats. TIP has since evolved into an
outsourcing giant with over 8,000
team members spread across four
key sites across Metro Manila.
Present during the TELUS
House Araneta Center launch
were Senator Mar Roxas, Quezon
City Mayor Sonny Belmonte,
TI president Jeffrey Puritt, TI
Chairman Eng Boon Lau, Canadian
Ambassador to the Philippines
Robert Desjardins, CICT secretary
Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III,
BPAP executive director for
talent development Jamea Garcia,
and Canadian Chamber of the
Philippines president Richard
Mills. During the inauguration,
a tour of the facilities was also
conducted. .
SENCOR Awarded Most Progressive Outsourcing Company
MANILA, Feb. 24 —
SENCOR was awarded the
2009 Most Progressive
Homegrown
Business
Process
Outsourcing
(BPO) Company honors
at the 9th eServices
Philippines
Global
Sourcing Conference and
Exhibition on February
10, 2009.
The Philippine Department of
Trade and Industry gives the Most
Progressive Homegrown BPO
Company award in recognition of
the development of the most creative
and innovative products, services
and solutions in the Information
and Communications Technology
(ICT) industry. The award reflects
“the excellent skills and talents of
(the) Filipino IT professionals whose
ingenuity has produced creative,
innovative and application-proficient
products and services.”
The award selection committee
was composed of internationally
recognized companies, advisory
firms, industry associations, and
government entities. These include
Gartner, the European Software
Institute, the Chicago-based Society
for Information Management and the
Philippine Department of Trade and
Industry.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary,
SENCOR is a pioneer in the
Knowledge Process and Business
Process
Outsourcing
industry.
SENCOR’s areas of expertise are in
Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO),
Business Intelligence (BI), Research
and Content Development.
Its
professional researchers, analysts,
editors, attorneys and statisticians
service top international companies
in the legal, financial, retail and
publishing markets.
The eServices Philippines
Global Sourcing Conference and
Exhibition is a high-profile annual
forum in Asia for thought leaders
and industry movers in the business
process and IT outsourcing arena.
In this year’s conference, SENCOR
President George Martel was one
of the industry leaders representing
the Knowledge Process Outsourcing
(KPO) industry in a well-attended
and well-received presentation about
the status and future of KPO in the
Philippines.
SENCOR is a knowledge
process outsourcing organization
with 25 years of experience in
providing
information-based
solutions that have contributed
to the growth of world-renowned
brands in the legal, financial, and
publishing markets.
SENCOR’s areas of expertise
are Legal Process Outsourcing,
Business Intelligence, and Content
Development and Publishing.
The company employs a full-time
professional team of researchers,
analysts, editors, attorneys, and
subject-matter experts in such
fields as law, IT, and business
intelligence. .
www.bpap.org
Company News
Breakthroughs
april - june 2009
19
San Antonio Express-News Partners with Affinity Express
for Turnkey Solution for Print and Web Ad Production
Affinity Express, Inc.,
the leading multi-shore
provider of outsourced,
high-volume advertising
and marketing design
solutions,
announced
recently
that
the
Hearst-owned
San
Antonio
ExpressNews has implemented
the
c o m p a n y ’s
comprehensive solution
for print and Web ad
production.
Affinity
Express will handle a
majority of ad production
services for the publisher.
“We are excited to work with
such a respected publication and
gratified that the San Antonio
Express-News
has
joined
other clients in the newspaper
market who have decided to
take advantage our turnkey
ad production solution,” said
Affinity Express President of
Advertising Services David
McTarnaghan.
Headquartered in Chicago,
Illinois, Affinity Express has over
800 employees and maintains
production centers in Pune,
India, and Manila, Philippines.
In addition to having the
most domain experience in
print and online ad production
for newspapers, the company
is the only multi-shore BPO in
the outsourced graphic space,
which offers disaster recovery
and business continuity planning
for clients. It has more than
8,000 clients in the media, retail,
quick printing, and promotional
products industries.
“As the largest distributor
of news and information in
South Texas, we have to be
aggressive, agile, and innovative
in our approach and continually
improve to serve both our readers
and advertisers,” said Affinity
Express President and Publisher
Tom Stephenson.
“We believe that streamlining
processes, expanding our capacity
in ad production, and offering
more services to help advertisers
reach their target audiences will
enable the San Antonio ExpressNews to transform our operations
and strengthen our company.”
The company provides a
BPO platform for transformation
by enabling clients to lower
costs, reduce turn times, enhance
quality, and improve profitability.
For the Express-News, Affinity
Express
has
implemented
Affinity Express Service Bureau
v2.1 (AESB v2.1), which is a
pre-configured, hosted solution
to manage all ad production
components and processes.
It consists of Mediaspectrum’s
AdWatch for ad tracking and
administration,
eProof
for
material uploading and full
annotation, Component Manager
for drag and drop integration
into InDesign and QuarkXPress
as well as for tracking on the
component level, and AdDrop
for online material submission
with backend automation.
It is the only Web services–
based system accessible via a web
browser from anywhere.
Clients have no software or
hardware to purchase, install, or
maintain. Software licenses and
hardware are provided, set up, and
managed by Affinity Express.
AESB v2.1 is the workflow
component of the comprehensive
Affinity
Express
solution,
which includes more than 800
graphic designers, world-class
processes, and expertise in
over 30 software programs and
multiple platforms. .
Genpact Appoints Dan Reyes Country Manager for Philippines
Genpact Limited (NYSE:
G), a leader in the
globalization of services
and technology and a
pioneer in managing
business processes for
companies around the
world, announced the
appointment of Danilo
“Dan” Sebastian Reyes
as Country Manager for Genpact
Philippines. Reyes will lead
Genpact’s operations in the country
and work to enhance customer
satisfaction while developing local
talent and expanding the company’s
presence in the country.
Reyes has over 20 years of
professional work experience in
the services and outsourcing industry
and is currently a trustee of the
Business Processing Association of
the Philippines. He was a former
Board Director and President of
Sitel Philippines, responsible for
developing its country growth
strategies, increasing revenue and
profitability, and managing expansion
of service offerings from voice services
to back-office processing.
Reyes also served as Chairman
of the Board and General Manager
Infinit Outsourcing, Inc., Awarded
ISO 27001:2005 Certification for
Information Security Management
Infinit Outsourcing, Inc.
(Infinit-O),
a
leading
BPO and KPO solutions
provider in the financial
services, research, and
healthcare sectors, recently
clinched the ISO 27001:2005
certification by the United Kingdom
Accreditation Service, the world’s
leading verification, testing and
certification company, through its
accredited international affiliate
Certification International.
“As an internationally recognized
business
process
outsourcing
company and a leading provider
of outsourcing solutions, we are
delighted to have achieved this high
level of recognition,” said Infinit-O
President Manolo Aquino. “It is an
extremely important achievement
and a measure of our service
commitment to our clients.”
Infinit-O was ISO-certified for its
Information Security Management
System (ISMS), a systematic
approach to managing and ensuring
the security of critical information
and data. ISMS provides a set of
standard for the types of security
controls that an organization should
implement to recognize and address
security risks by establishing
controlled procedures, policies, and
best practices including data capture,
transfer, access, and storage.
“Infinit-O takes great honor in
being one of the few companies in
the outsourcing sector worldwide
to receive the ISO 27001:2005
certification,” adds Richard Eldridge,
co-founder of Infinit-O. This
certification highlights the importance
Infinit-O places on safeguarding our
clients’ business information and
becoming their trusted partner for
outsourcing solutions.” .
From l-r: Richard Eldridge, Managing Director, Infinit-O; Manolo Aquino, President, Infinit-O; Rene Naravette,
Managing Director, Certification International Phils, Inc.; and Cecile Malay, Site Director, Infinit-O.
www.bpap.org
of Salmat Philippines Inc. and
Board Director and Interim Country
Manager of Contact World Inc.
Prior to joining the BPO industry,
he held the position of Sales and
Marketing Director in companies
like Jardine Salmat and Fujitsu
Philippines.
“We are delighted to have
a leading industry expert like
Dan head our operations in
the Philippines,” says Genpact
President and CEO Pramod
Bhasin. “As our clients explore
opportunities to boost profitability,
Genpact’s ability to deliver bestin-class services globally has
become increasingly important.
Growing Genpact’s presence in the
Philippines will play a vital role
in our long-term success and we
look forward to Dan’s leadership
to drive that growth.”
Genpact helps companies
improve the ways in which
they do business by applying
Six Sigma and Lean principles
plus technology to continuously
improve their business processes. It
operates service delivery centers in
China, Guatemala, Hungary, India,
Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands,
the Philippines, Poland, Romania,
Spain, and the United States. .
Danilo “Dan” Sebastian Reyes as Country
Manager for Genpact Philippines
How the Bó Lè Associates—StaffRIGHT
Partnership Is Making a Difference
in the BPO Sector
Bó
Lè
Associates
Ltd.,
the
leading
executive search firm
in Asia, in partnership
with
StaffRIGHT
Solutions, Inc., a top
recruitment company
in Manila and Cebu
dedicated to the BPO
sector in the Philippines,
have been actively delivering
fully integrated recruitment
and training services for the
BPO and call center industries.
Their services have resulted in
significant increases in successful
placements for support functions
in Philippine call centers and
newly opened contact centers in
Vietnam and China.
During the March launch at
the Filipinas Heritage Library
in Makati, Bó Lè Associates
group managing director Louisa
Wong-Rousseau
said,
“Bó
Lè and StaffRIGHT’s joint
services address recruitment
and training requirements on
all levels: executive search,
senior management, support
staff and call center agents. We
are investing heavily on better
processes and technologies
for the recruitment of support
functions. All these will serve
to lower the BPOs’ overall cost
of hiring and build them better
succession plans.
“This
partnership
will
provide BPOs and other
companies that do massive
recruitment qualified personnel
on a fast pace. Our training
programs
on
leadership
development and other soft
skills should also help reduce
attrition while helping the BPOs
grow leaders, supervisors and
mid-level managers from within
their ranks.”
Rousseau explained the
benefits of the partnership’s
regional network, “We are
actively promoting the success of
Philippine BPOs to other regional
markets including Vietnam,
Malaysia and China, helping to
diversify revenue sources for local
BPOs and further strengthening
Philippine leadership in the global
BPO sector.”
Also present during the
launch were StaffRIGHT’s cofounders, Dean Bindless and
Andres Diaz Jr., industry veterans
who have been involved in the
successful launch and growth
of several sizable Philippine
BPOs. Fred Ayala, Business
Processing Association of the
Philippines (BPAP) Chairman
and CEO of LiveIt Solutions,
gave the welcome remarks.
A panel discussion facilitated
by Rousseau discussed the
Philippine BPO sector’s global
positioning and the steps that
companies must take to remain
competitive amidst the structural
changes in global economies.
The panelists were composed of
Jonathan de Luzuriaga, BPAP
Executive Director for Industry
Affairs; Caesar Parlade, General
Manager, Deutsche Knowledge
Services; Lauro Vives, Chief
Analyst and Founding President,
XMG Global; and Vida Arciaga,
AVP – Human Resources,
HTMT Global Solutions Ltd.
Rousseau said, “Our Makati
office has been at the forefront
of placing highly qualified
candidates in strategic positions
in the leading corporations in
the Philippines.
“We are committed to
encouraging more successful
CEOs and leaders to explore
career opportunities within the
BPO sectors, creating an even
bigger momentum to lift the
BPO industry into becoming
undoubtedly the most important
driver of growth for the
Philippine economy.”
Bó Lè and StaffRIGHT
together form a client base of
the BPO and KPO powerhouses
in the Philippines covering nonvoice and voice with centers
covering 200-14,000 FTEs . .
Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES