Asia: Home of the Best Outsourcing Destinations
Asia is one of the homes of the outsourcing destinations. It is still the cheapest place to acquire skilled, knowledgeable, and English-proficient call center agents, where the wages of customer service representatives can be as much as 80 percent lower than those of their American counterparts.
Philippines - the world’s second-largest English-speaking country has become the ideal destination for outsourced call center operations of multinational companies. Here, the rates range from $6 to $10 per hour per seat and the customer service industry is prospering. The Philippine call center industry reached a whopping $10.5 million in year 2002, and is fast catching up with chief player India, which gained $12 million.
Although most major call center outsourcers would rather not publicize that they are outsourcing their requirements to the Philippines, there are about 30 to 40 call centers in the Philippines.
Filipinos are better call center agents
Proficiency in English. Having neutral accents. Compatibility in culture. Because culturally, Filipinos are more Westernized than their Asian neighbors, more foreign investors are choosing the Philippines as a base for their offshore customer service facilities.
Filipinos are more familiar with the nuances of American English for they watch American TV. Also, they have neutral accents, compared with Indians. When 1-800 number is dialed by clients, they think they are still talking to an American, when in fact it is a Filipino on the other line.
Aside from being helpful and friendly, Filipinos are more customer-oriented and more patient in handling calls,
Also, the Philippines invests heavily in keeping the quality of customer service as shown in a 1999 regional study conducted by the Australia-based Call Center Research. Philippines was ranked second to Australia by the CRC.
Heating Competition
Filipinos being better in English than Indians is not enough for them to be confident. In the near future, the Philippines faces greater competition from Singapore, Hong Kong, and even China. It is not just about being an English-speaking nation, outsourcers prefer call center facilities that could handle calls from all over the world.