Wednesday, February 14, 2007 Dabawenyo call center agents impressive: Bian By Ben O. Tesiorna
LEADING call center companies based in Manila were said to have been impressed with the Davao-trained call center agents during their visit in the city last week.
Joji Ilagan-Bian said three of Manila's biggest call center -- Accenture, eTelecare and Sykes -- were in Davao City to hold job fairs in the search for the call center agents that they require. She said the companies were impressed with the Dabawenyo cal center agents who trained in the JIB eAcademy.
E-Telecare and Advance Contact Solutions (ACS) are call center partners of JIB eAcademy. The two companies earlier forged a memorandum of agreement with JIB for the academy to provide them access to their graduates.
ACS also conducted on line interviews and testing with all the graduates of JIB and students who pass were immediately given job offers for Manila.
Bian, chair of the Joji Ilagan Foundation, said there are also a significant number of people who pass the exams but preferred to stay and work here in Davao with our call center, the Six Eleven Global Solutions, and in the other call centers in the city.
Bian urged the city's promotion and investment for their efforts to be more focused in bringing the big call centers in Manila to put up an actual operations here. She notes that what is important is that people do have jobs wherever it may be.
"This is all a great help to the people of Davao who may not have the finances to go all the way to Manila to apply," she said.
Bian, who was also appointed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to sit as Mindanao Representative in the Export Development Council, said they are looking closely at the huge impact of the call centers' earnings to the country's economy.
She said the call center industry may even lead to a one percent increase in our gross domestic product. The EDC is currently determining the exact figures in dollar earnings that the business process outsourcing sector.
Mindanao has, at least, 10 call centers operating, distributed in Davao and Cagayan de Oro cities.
The annual foreign exchange earnings from Philippines call centers are estimated to reach US$7.3 billion. This is almost triple the US$2.6 billion projected earnings this year. The employment in the call center industry by 2010 is projected to grow by 182 percent, from the 179,000 jobs projected for this year.
Call center employees are estimated to contribute US$162 million worth of income taxes to the government's coffers in 2006.
Bian said that in its bid to become the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) hub of Mindanao, Davao is now able to provide skilled and competent call center agents to Call Centers who wants to locate or put a branch in Davao City or the nearby cities.
Agents being vital components of the call center of the Joji Ilagan Foundation established the JIB eAcademy as the premier call center and English language school.
Today, the school has five branches -- General Santos, Butuan, Marawi, Iloilo, Gingoog and Bukidnon. More branches will soon open in Bacolod, Surigao, Iligan, and Manila on June.
