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Saturday, February 15, 2003
Glo to multinationals: Outsource to Pinoys
By Cherry T. Lim
PRESIDENT Arroyo on Thursday called on multinational companies to outsource more of their information technology (IT) requirements to Filipinos, hinting this was a way they could pay back the Philippines for being a good host to them.
In her speech during the opening of e-Services Philippines, an IT outsourcing and subcontractors exhibition, at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, she urged the chief executive officers of multinational companies operating in the Philippines to “outsource more to the Philippines.”
“It costs one-fourth to one-third less to outsource from here ... you’ll be shoring up your respective firms and (also) increasing your contribution to the economy that has been a good host to you,” she said in remarks beamed to Cebu and Davao through the videoconferencing facilities of Mosaic Communications (Moscom).
Arroyo said statistics on the royalties, profits and dividends of companies operating in the Philippines showed that multinationals were doing well in the country.
She said the Philippines was strong in hardware manufacturing assembly and data collection and processing services. She added that it was also getting increasing recognition in business process outsourcing.
And then there are the call center operations, which she called just the “tip of the iceberg,” as there are also potentials in other e-services like “payment processing, accounting and finance, logistics and customer relations.”
At Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, where Moscom had set up its videoconferencing facilities for the Cebu audience, Cebu Investment Promotions Center managing director Joel Yu told Sun.Star that two firms were set to embark on call center operations in Cebu.
He said Sykes had rented a building in Mandaue City near La Tondeña, where “initially under 200” people might be employed.
He added that Bigfoot Communications, already operating in Cebu as a niche telecommunications provider, had bought a building on F. Ramos street, beside Beehive restaurant, which would be used partly as a software institute and partly as a call center.
Yu further revealed that People Support, “the biggest call center operation in the Philippines,” which operates in Manila, had sent recruiters to Cebu last week, recruiting up to 800 people.
He said People Support would pay the relocation expenses of Cebuanos they could recruit because their need was immediate.
He estimated that in Manila, there are now 16,000 people employed by a combined 34 call center operators.
English
In her keynote speech, Arroyo called information and communication technology (ICT) “one of our most competitive sectors,” citing the Philippines’ claim to being the third-largest English-speaking nation in the world and having the “best and largest pool of knowledge workers.”
She said this was why she recently ordered a return to English as the primary medium of instruction in schools.
Added to the list of reasons why multinationals should outsource to the Philippines are the cost-competitive telecommunications infrastructure, availability of real estate, consultative and customer-services mindset, and firm government support for the industry, she said.
The e-Services, hosted by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, is now on its third year.
(February 15, 2003 issue)
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