PLDT unit launches cloud-based service

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) launched the country’s first cloud-based contact service center as it hopes to lure more clients from the financial services and business process outsourcing sectors.

In a statement, PLDT said the product was launched through Alpha Enterprise, the corporate business arm of PLDT.

It said the product would enable businesses to easily manage applications and software consumption. Application licensing charges are on a per-minute or per-use, per-application scheme reducing operational and IT costs of businesses through the PLDT Cloud, it added.

Housed in PLDT’s network of data centers VITRO, its Cloud service provides enterprises’ contact center operations with vital applications including conversational and PCI-compliant interactive voice response (IVR), Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) and Reporting and Call recording.

Also available are remote office, agent performance, and professional services for a seamless integration of back-office applications from multiple platforms.

As noted, the BPO industry is among the industries the telco is targeting.

In 2012, the BPO industry grew by 22 percent from the previous year, contributing almost 20 percent of the total employment rate in 2012. The local BPO industry is projected to grow by 49 percent in 2016, with revenues expected to reach $16 billion by end-2013.

Virtualized contact centers have seen a boom in the United States, prompting enterprises, particularly small seat deployment companies, to rely on the Cloud in their operations.

Companies also benefit from virtualizing contact centers as it allows the rapid scaling of applications and software based on the demands of their business due to seasonal rise and fall in call volume and usage. This allows organizations to purchase new technology on-demand without the need for costly operational expenditures, PLDT said.

Industries that are heavy on their contact center operations are ensured of the security of PLDT’s network, it added.

PLDT has more than 71,000 kilometers of fiberoptic network and four landing stations across the archipelago.