DAVAO’S recovery from the pandemic is getting a major boost with the expansion into the city of a global customer experience solutions outsourcing company known for putting people first and using technology to develop advanced omni-channel solutions.
US-based Full Potential Solutions (FPS) inaugurated Tuesday its Davao City office, marking the start of official operations after launching its recruitment hub in the city in July with the goal of hiring at least 1,000 professionals by the end of 2022.
“We are very pleased to start our operations in Davao and excited to tap the city’s highly skilled outsourcing professionals. This expansion will help bring the kind of excellent service that Full Potential is known for to more customers not only in the Philippines but also worldwide,” Full Potential chairman and president Amit Basak said at the inauguration.
The Davao branch is the second Full Potential site in the Philippines and its opening comes on the company’s fifth year of operations in the country. The original office was launched in 2017 in Metro Manila.
Rex Arenas, Full Potential Vice President for Operations, said the company intends to grow even further in the next few years by employing 1,000 to 2,000 more employees. Full Potential is also eyeing another site in Davao City or in other parts of the country.
“Davao City is where our growth opportunity is located. This is really one of our flagship facilities and we see Davao as a focal point in Philippine operations,” he said.
Combatting unemployment in Davao
Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) in Davao Region expressed its gratitude and elation to FPS for choosing Davao City in establishing its second site.
"The Department of Labor and Employment in Region 11 is ecstatic to have your company in the region as this means another employment opportunity for the Dabawenyos as well as those from neighboring regions. And this site brings another hope, another confidence to our people," Dole-Davao Regional Director Randolf C. Pensoy said during the inauguration of FPS office in Davao City on November 15, 2022.
Pensoy said that since the global crisis made a severe blow to the economy of almost all of the countries all over the world, many businesses ceased operations and thousands of Filipinos found themselves out of work.
"In April 2020, which after the declaration of lockdowns, around 350,000 Dabawenyos were unemployed and in July of 2020, some 490 establishments submitted termination reports due to financial losses, redundancy, downsizing, among others. From these establishments, a total of 10,562 workers were affected, 26% of the 490 establishments were composed of the large establishment," he reported.
With this, he said Dole thanks the BPO industry for bringing job opportunities to every Filipino.
"And we thank you Full Potential Solutions for helping us in this endeavor, combatting unemployment," he added.
Post-economic recovery
Vice President Sara Duterte also lauded Full Potential for the new milestone. In her message to the company, Duterte said: “your expansion helps invigorate the labor market and contribute to efforts in post-pandemic economic recovery.”
She commended Full Potential for its continued confidence in extending its presence in the country and “placing cities outside Metro Manila on the map of competitive investment regions with highly qualified technology-literate workers.”
While, Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte noted that the growth of Davao’s BPO sector means even more steady jobs and opportunities for the people.
“Your expansion is also proof that we are becoming more economically stable, more profitable, and more attractive to investors. As such, this milestone promises a boost to the local economy and in the lives of many Dabawenyos,” he said.
The Full Potential story
Founded in 2014 in the United States, Full Potential currently has over 5,000 employees in offices in the US, Philippines, India, and Colombia, servicing hundreds of thousands of clients in technology, consumer, healthcare, telecommunications, education, and financial services in over 120 countries.
The company brings to Davao its experience in developing technology-powered innovations in Solution Architecture, Software Development and Administration, and Conversational Artificial Intelligence, among others.
In particular, Dabawenyo professionals will benefit and grow from Full Potential’s capabilities in API integrations, Omnichannel and SDKs, as well as expertise in Amazon Connect, RingDNA, Genesys, Cisco, Service Cloud Voice, Vicidial, FastCall.
These values have helped the company not only survive the pandemic but even thrive. In launching its Recruitment Hub in July, Basak reported that Full Potential achieved more than 70% growth in 2021 and is on track to achieve even more growth this year.
“The manner by which we are growing will create the opportunity for us to employ many high-caliber people in Davao. We expect to employ thousands of people. This gives us the opportunity to create career paths for people,” Basak said.
Putting people first
Full Potential takes pride in its “putting people first” culture. Basak said that the company was designed to provide a working environment where employees can realize their full potential wherever they may be in the world.
The company boasts of its compensation package for employees, including a salary that is 10-15% above the average industry rates.
“Full Potential is committed to investing in our employees’ growth and satisfaction by continuing to provide an environment for them to thrive. We aim to further engage with our employees and provide consistent, repeatable, and recurring leadership training programs, and developing paths for long-term career growth,” Basak noted.
He added that the company is guided by its core values of excellence, accountability, grace, and integrity and that having sons with autism has inspired him to embrace diversity and make Full Potential an open community of people from different walks of life.
“We put utmost importance on providing equal opportunity for our employees. We are dedicated to fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, leadership, and fun.” CEA with PR