What is the future of business process outsourcing (BPO) in the Philippines?

The Philippines Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has a definition, it is as follows,  “delegation of service-type business processed to a third-party service provider.”  The industry can be divided into the following sectors such as Contact centers, back-office services, animation,  data transcription, software development, engineering development, also game development. 

BPO in the Philippines is a developing industry and it is all because of a relatively low cost of living, and a workforce which comprised of young and educated Filipinos who boasts of English language skills.  The majority of international research and data companies are in the Philippines as the top trending country, also the top outsourcing destination.  In 2015, the Philippines went past  Mumbai as the 2nd ranking BPO destination and is likely to maintain the high position in the Top 10 worldwide outsourcing destinations (that was dominated by Indian companies) in 2017.

The Philippine BPO sector’ s goals, therefore, remains bullish for this year, and the industry is all set to hit a Government revenue target of a whopping US$25.5 billion and around 1.4 million people employed by the year-end.  The sector largely contributes 9 percent of the country’s GDP growth.  However, the Philippines Government need can continue to provide increased Government support and speed the development of national infrastructure projects, for this prolific industry.

Future for the BPO Industry in the Philippines

In 2016, BPOcompanies in the Philippines had a positive growth rate.  Activity in the industry appears to add to the industry’s projected total income range that ranges from US$ 40 to 55 billion by 2020.  The Industry that is employing about 1 million Filipinos, can also give a great impetus to employment by providing a total of about 1.3 to 1.5 million new jobs in the coming three years, both in terms of employees who are directly and indirectly employed.  The BPO industry has been given a great priority by the Philippines Development Plan which is an integral part of the country’s ten high priority development areas.  To further encourage investors, existing government programs incentives make a part of tax holidays, tax exemptions, and simplified export and import procedures.  Apart from that, there are University training programs available for BPO employees.

For local industry sectors, the main subsector is outbound Call Centers and inbound call center solutions.  The Philippines BPO industry has beaten India as the top thriving call center country, and due to this, the subsector is projected to maintain the largest contribution to the industry’s growth in the forthcoming years.   According to a UA&P (the University of Asia and the Pacific), industrial economist, the call center sector can provide a growth rate until 2020.