As competition tightens, land lords turn offices into efficient spaces
The local business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, predicted by global experts to further grow by nine percent this year, remains a solid driver of the Metro Manila office market as new and expanding players take up more spaces in business districts.
As a result, office developers have responded by offering properties that more keenly serve the needs of locators, said Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC).
“In this market, BPO locators have become more highly conscious of running more efficient operations,” said LPC associate director Miguel Manipol.
In a BPO setup, the key to maximizing operating costs are buildings with large floor plates. “It means you can comfortably fit more work stations in a floor. A big floor plate also means managers are equipped to oversee more people than if employees were spread out over several floors of a building with a smaller floor plate,” he said.
For this reason, the recently completed St. Francis Square in Ortigas Center is now being considered by a number of international BPO firms, Manipol pointed out. The building, offering two floors with a floor plate of 4,332 sqm each, among the largest in the Ortigas area, recently received accreditation from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to extend locators tax incentives. It is also leasing out another floor with a floor plate of 2,882 sqm.
In addition to offering retail in its ground and lower floors, the building is also just across SM Megamall and a short stroll from EDSA.
On top of this, a single large locator will have the opportunity to have their company’s branding on the building façade—an advantage very few other buildings in the area can offer.
Still another benefit identified by potential St. Francis locators is that a firm that takes up all 11,648 sqm offered by the building with VRF air-conditioning and 100 percent backup power will not need to share the space with other BPO companies.