The dynamic call center segment accounts for the boom in the Philippine Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) sector. The establishment of call centers nationwide has brought socio-economic development in key cities where they are located, resulting in steady rise in employment.
The Philippines is recognized as the call center capital of thworld, due to the country’s improved financial environment, large English-speaking workforce, as well as affinity with Western culture. The government goal is $25 billion in revenues and a workforce of 1.3 million by 2016 in the BPO industry. The call center segment is expected to account for $14.7 billion of BPO revenues, and 816,000 of total jobs to be created by 2016. The IT-BPO industry employed 770,000 at the end of 2012, of which over 500,000 or 65% were in the call center sector.
The Philippines led in voice-based BPO and ranked second in non-voice worldwide in 2012. Healthcare BPO is one of fastest-growing sectors, with revenues reaching $430 million by end-2012. It has become a career alternative for some 200,000 Filipino nurses who work in medical transcription, data management, medical coding, billing, and pharmaceutical management.
The good command of English by Filipinos paved the way for large-scale voice-based services outsourcing to the Philippines. And now Philippines call centers are expanding their market from English to other languages such as Spanish, Japanese, German, Mandarin, French, Korean, Bahasa, and Thai. The Philippines is also a preferred IT-BPO site because of its advantages over other Asian nations: cheaper labor costs; modern infrastructure such as water, power, roads, telecommunications; large pool of college graduates; and good environment for expatriate trainers and managers.
We congratulate the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, headed by Chairman of the Executive Committee Benedict C. Hernandez and President and Chief Executive Officer Jose Mari P. Mercado, and other Officers, in their contributions to sustain the growth of the business process outsourcing industry by ensuring a supply of quality labor and supporting service innovations in the Republic of the Philippines.

Source: Manila Bulletin - May 13, 2013