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By Likha C. Cuevas-Miel, Reporter
THE local business process out-sourcing (BPO)
industry is courting Australian companies into setting up offshore
operations in the Philippines to broaden its market and ensure the
continuous growth of the sector.
Philippine-based BPO firms can tap the largely
unexplored off-shoring segment of Australia to help the growth of
the industry, which has been dependent on the US market, Oscar R. Sañez,
Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) chief
executive, said on the sidelines of the merger ceremonies of Jones
Lang LaSalle and Leechiu and Associates.
New York-listed Jones Lang LaSalle has acquired
the local consultancy firm to take advantage of growth prospects in
the BPO market. The merged firms service JP Morgan Chase, Deustche
Bank, Citibank Savings, Convergys, IBM and HSBC. They have exclusive
relationships with six of the 12 largest BPO firms in the country
like TeleTech and eTelecare.
In April, BPAP and the Department of Trade and
Industry will send a trade mission to Sydney and Melbourne to
persuade firms to outsource to the Philippines.
“Outsourcing in Australia is already a big
industry but offshoring is not as big. We can tap into that. We
think there is [a] big chance because they need more talent and they
need to lower their costs. We will certainly offer 60-percent
savings,” Sañez said.
Besides increasing the number of outsourcing and
offshoring operations in the Philippines, having Australian clients
would be better for BPO workers due to the minimal time difference
between the two countries compared with that of the US.
Sanez said 93 percent of BPO firms’ clients in
the country comprise of American companies but only 20 percent of
Fortune 500 companies have engaged Filipinos for their back office
operations. Therefore, there is still a huge room for growth for the
local BPO sector, which is seen to expand until 2015.
In addition to Australia, BPAP would also
further market the Philippines in the United Kingdom. Lack of
awareness, not differences in accent, is a barrier to expanding UK
outsourcing and offshoring services in the country, Sañez said.
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