Globe Senior Advisor for Enterprise and IT-Enabled Services Group Mike Frausing delivering his welcome remarks to the participants of the Investor’s Night.
As innovations rise and industries become more competitive, businesses are faced with the pressure to produce the next “big” idea and still be able to provide reliable customer support. But juggling these two different aspects can exhaust a company of its resources and keep it from focusing on its vision. In order to constantly come up with better products, businesses have opened up doors for IT-BPMs—specifically, contact centers—to flourish and undertake the crux of any enterprise—its customers.
The contact center industry, which is expected to earn $25 billion in revenues this year, is especially thriving in the Philippines—contributing to 10% of the economy and creating employment for more than 1 million Filipinos. In fact, the country has been dubbed the “Ultimate Customer Experience Paradise” in the 11th International Contact Center Conference & Expo (ICCCE) where Globe Business, the enterprise information and communications arm of Globe Telecom, acted as co-presenter.
According to Benedict Hernandez, President of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), there are many reasons for foreigners to land their investments on the contact center industry. Aside from having “a very supportive business environment”, the country is growing a young population that has mastered the English language and has a natural liking for different cultures, not to mention a “world-class service centricity”.
Although the industry’s essence revolves around customers, contact centers are now shifting to more complex jobs, leaving low-skill work like data entry, assistance and processing to machines. Mike Frausing, Globe Senior Advisor for Enterprise and IT-Enabled Services Group, mentioned during his speech at the 11th ITCCCE, “Companies are now cutting down on costs and making processes more efficient. Tasks that were once done by several people can now be delegated to gadgets, which are operated by one person,”
In addition, Frausing said “Nonetheless, this transformation does not mean a decline on the employment rates. The change brought about by technology will help the contact center industry grow beyond customer care. This is a chance for Filipinos in the industry to be trained for more technical jobs in finance, human resources, data analytics and IT development.”
Because of the industry’s optimistic future, contact center companies are looking into expanding outside Manila and hiring skilled workers in the provinces. Globe Business is addressing the need for connectivity solutions by providing IT-BPM companies with a wide service portfolio ranging from domestic data services to trans-continental voice connectivity and even allowing information storage at the Globe Data Center. In fact, Globe Business has invested around US$500 million to extend its corporate data network, allowing enterprises in the contact center industry to provide remarkable customer support, therefore, sealing customer loyalty.