BPO firm opens Cebu facility

Thursday, February 16, 2012

UNFAZED by the pending US House Bill discouraging offshore outsourcing, a business process outsourcing company continued with its expansion and opened its latest facility in Cebu.

Alorica expects to employ 6,000 in Cebu, said chief executive officer and co-founder Andy Lee.

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In a welcome dinner held Wednesday, officials of Alorica met local officials and academics to introduce themselves as the newest BPO in Cebu.

Asked to describe their company, Lee likened Alorica to the new basketball sensation Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks, who recently stunned the sports world with his skills that led to a six-game winning streak.

“We are the Jeremy Lin of the BPO industry,” he told those present.

Opportunities

He said that like Lin, they made the most out of opportunities given to them 13 years
ago, which allowed them to grow at a level they are in today.

“Today, we believe we exist to create opportunities for our people, for the communities we serve and for the clients we serve,” Lee said.

While the company did not give a deadline to reach the 6,000 employee goal, they hope to employ 1,500 by the end of 2012.

Cebu is the sixth Alorica facility in the country, with five of its other locations in Makati, Batangas, Pasig City and Quezon City. The company employs some 3,000 in the country and they hope to end the year with 5,000.

Country manager James Sherin said they picked Cebu because of the good things they have heard about the local workforce. Chief marketing officer Amit Shankardass said factors they consider are the availability of a qualified and skilled labor force, reliable communications infrastructure and the huge support from the community.

Shankardass said they still have to wait where the US bill goes but said that the best companies in the world always source from the best parts of the world. In general, he assured they remained “bullish” about their presence in the country and said they would not be in Cebu if they weren’t.

Aside from recruiting to fill in the job vacancies, Lee said they also hope to partner with local universities to work in a curriculum together to prepare graduates for a
career in BPO.

He also urged local organizations to tell them how they can be better citizens of Cebu.

Support

“There are amazing people in this city and we’ve had incredible support. I can’t imagine we won’t be successful here,” he said.

For now, the Cebu facility has almost 100 employees, although they have enough space for about 1,000. Sherin said they are currently recruiting inbound customer service positions to support “expanded business opportunities” with an existing client.

However, they also offer technical support, billing, sales, email, chat and back
office processing.

While they did not disclose who their clients are, company officials said these were among the Fortune 500 companies in media and entertainment, financial services, technology, communications and travel sectors. Worldwide, they said they have nearly 20,000 employees in 40 locations and an annual revenue of $600 million.