DESPITE the presence of some of the world’s finest and biggest business process outsourcing (BPO) firms in the city, Bacolod was not included in the list of 31 cities cited as new BPO hotspots in the world.

International magazine Business Week, in its February issue, cited Iloilo and Davao cities as two of the world’s top BPO investment sites.

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In an article posted in the magazine’s website, it said “BPO companies were looking to outsource work to lower-cost cities due to economic and political pressures”.

It said “while widespread layoffs in western countries, especially in the US, have afforded global outsourcing highly skilled workers to beef up their presence in the United States, many companies were still looking to invest in less costly cities in South America, Europe and Asia”.

The magazine based its article on a report released by KPMG in February, which said the two cities in the Philippines were rapidly emerging to compete with traditional BPO destinations such as Bangalore, Chennai and Shanghai. KPMG is a global network of professional services firms.

The KPMG report called “Exploring Global Frontiers” noted traditional BPO locations that rapidly approach saturation point, stating that “there was a sizable opportunity for these new and emerging locations to swallow up a large proportion of the new outsourcing work, which the credit crisis was apparently creating.”

According to the report, Iloilo was noted as the educational hub in the Philippines’ Western Visayas Region with six universities, more than 30 colleges and technical schools, which produce more than 17,000 student graduates yearly.

Also, the city was cited for its large pool of talent owing to a number of educational institutions and strong English skills of the population.
At present, there are seven BPO firms in the city. These include call centers, software development, medical and other data transcription, animation and digital content and engineering design.

Davao, on the other hand, was also cited because of its English-speaking talent pool with many cultural ties to the US owing to its large number of universities and colleges. The KPMG report further said that some companies were setting up training centers in Davao, which were also being used to train the companies’ employees from other operating centers in the country.

Bacolod, however, emerged as one of the best sites for BPO in the Philippines, as its local government was already planning to push the city to be one of the BPO hubs in Western Visayas.

Cebu, where many of the big call centers can be found, did not make it to the list either.

In a recent report of one of the call centers in the city today, it said 41% of their manpower is in the Philippines and they see the country as a vital site for the business.

Before yearend, another BPO firm -- Clerysys -- is reportedly eyeing a site in Western Visayas, although it is not yet sure if it is going to be here in Bacolod, in Cebu or in Iloilo.

Bacolod, at present, is home to some of the world’s top-performing BPO firms in the world, including Convergys, TeleTech, Teleperfomance, Focus Pacific and Alliance Call Centre.

Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on July 4, 2009.