BPO industry hoping for more currency stability
THE Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) said it is hoping for a more stable currency even though the weak peso is advantageous for the sector.
In a briefing, Chairman Benedict C. Hernandez of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) said: “A weaker peso is generally good for us (because) we’re into exports… It is of some advantage. We earn more.”
He called the weakening of the peso a positive trend for exports, but added that the IT-BPM sector prefers a stable currency as companies can “build around” it.
“It’s a positive trend, but the thing is we don’t want it every year behaving differently. Business planning for a very erratic currency is more challenging,” said Mr. Hernandez.
During the same press briefing, CCAP also announced its Contact Center Subsector Roadmap 2022, which gave a forecast of 8.2% revenue growth between 2016 and 2022 to $20.4 billion by 2022 and the compound annual growth rate for employment at 7.9%.
The subsector is projected to generate $13.3 billion in revenue and employ 818,200 workers this year, $14.6 billion and 890,300 workers in 2018, $15.9 billion and 961.8 workers in 2019, $17.2 billion and 1,034,600 workers in 2020, $18.6 billion and 1,110,600 workers in 2021, $20.4 billion and 1,186,300 workers in 2022.
According to CCAP, the subsector may even “surpass the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) sector as the biggest dollar generator for the country” as the global offshore services market and demand from companies continue to expand.
Drivers of the growth are cost competitiveness, a service-oriented culture, growing market demand in Asia and the Pacific and the European Union and a solid track record for delivering voice services
Risks to growth, on the other hand, are talent quality, loss of workers, perception as a “voice only” market and competition from emerging locations.
To address this, CCAP will “invest in our people” by focusing on upgrading the skills of workers.
The Voice and the Non-Voice BPM markets are expected to generate $8.77 billion and $4 billion, respectively, and to employ 751,207 workers by 2022.
“The non-voice segment is expected to grow much faster, towards higher complexity back-office services,” said Mr. Hernandez.
Markets such as Australia and New Zealand are “the faster growing” areas and are among those where high value contact center jobs are being eyed, according to Mr. Hernandez.
According to Mr. Hernandez, the areas for potential growth are health, insurance and banking.
Other emerging growth drivers also include human resource outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing services for analytics, legal, research and management, among others. —