100 foreign companies eye local BPO sector

The Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) is bringing in about 100 new foreign players planning to either set up their own operations or tap local outsourcing providers as the country continues to be the most preferred destination globally for contact center services.

This will be the first time the CCAP is reaching out to its investors and clients and bring them here to see for themselves the lucrative opportunities and innovative services that Philippine firms can offer.

According to CCAP president Benedict Hernandez, the interested firms were mostly multinational companies from the United States, Asia, Australia and Europe and did not have any presence yet in the country. The Philippines has also managed to attract companies from countries that are not the traditional markets for the local contact center sector such as Bangladesh and South Africa.

These foreign firms will be in the country next month at the 11th International Contact Center Conference and Expo (ICCCE), where they will be able to interact with prospective local business partners and enablers, connect with local government agencies and explore investment opportunities during business-matching meetings.

“We hope (this visit) will translate to business opportunities for the Philippines. In terms of decision-making, some companies may take a long time to decide like two or three years. But we hope to convert (into real investments and partnerships) a good chunk of those companies coming in,” Hernandez said in a briefing Wednesday.

Hernandez said it would be crucial for the new administration to retain the current incentive regime to ensure that these foreign players would either invest in or tap the contact center services in the country. The tax perks helped propel the Philippines’ status as one of the most attractive destinations for the whole information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) industry.