CALL CENTER TO WORK WITH DICT
Performance 360 will be working with the Department of Information and Communication Technology for the Rural Impact Outsourcing project.
The Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) has pledged to work with Cebu-based Performance 360 to roll out rural impact sourcing in the country.
Michael Cubos, founder of Performance 360 Call Center and BPO Services in Cordova, Mactan, yesterday said he and DICT Undersecretary Monchito Ibrahim have agreed to work together to bring call center opportunities to the countryside.
The two met in Bohol during the 5th Visayas ICT Cluster Conference last Mar. 2.
Through DICT’s Rural Impact Sourcing (RIS) Philippines, Cubos said they aim to fast track countryside and rural BPO development by forging partnerships with the local government units (LGU).
He said the LGUs will have to provide the facilities needed to set up the call center work, while Performance 360 will bring the call center work. The homegrown call center firm will, likewise, handle the hiring and operations of the business.
“This partnership will bring the call center to rural areas, generate employment and spur more businesses in the countryside,” said Cubos.
Earlier, Cubos identified Bogo, Bohol, Bukidnon, Gingoog, Argao and Medina in Misamis Oriental as potential sites for the rural call center operation. He said he has already discussed the call center project to the local executives of these areas.
According to Cubos, the RIS project will create at least 10,000 jobs in the next three to five years, excluding the indirect businesses it will create.
At least 50 jobs will be created per area, of which one direct hire will create three indirect jobs. Interested applicants for the call center job will be trained in customer service, sales and marketing, among others.
He noted that LGUs cannot compel the trained applicants to work in their call center firms. Applicants may use the skills they acquired during the training to land in other jobs in the community or apply in bigger call center firms.
Rural impact sourcing is an initiative by the government that specifically focuses on areas where there is a high population but low employment due to lack of investors and is aimed at contributing to the country’s development plan’s pursuit of inclusive growth.
Cubos added that the idea of spreading employment to the countryside through outsourcing is more realistic now, given the high interest of LGUs to provide more jobs for residents and the improvement of internet connectivity in provincial areas.
According to the 2022 Roadmap of the IT-Business Process Association of the Philippines, the BPO sector is expected to generate $40 billion in revenues, 7.6 million direct and indirect jobs, 500,000 jobs outside National Capital Region and cover 15 percent of the total global outsourcing market by the end of 2022. /