Philippine DTI teams up with education sector to boost outsourcing
The Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry has formed an alliance with the country’s education sector to ensure the continuous supply of human resource for the country’s booming call center industry. DTI Secretary Juan Santos also cites the agency’s moves to develop the country’s higher education (Ph.D. education) in order to raise the current business process outsourcing (BPO) to the next level
In an interview conducted at the opening of the Cebu International Furniture and Furnishings Exhibition 2005 in Cebu’s Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, Santos points out,
“Unless we work toward that direction, we are going to be limited to call centers alone. We will try to bring this up to a higher level to make the country also a center for research and development. This will take time but we (DTI) will be working on that,”
He also mentions that the country’s call center industry has been growing at an admirable rate since its conception in 1991. The Trade and Industry Chief says,
“From 1,000 seats in 1991, the industry grew to 50,000 seats last year. The growth however brought forth the problem of shortage of supply of human resources in the country, including Cebu. DTI is aware of this problem. This is why it will be working closely with schools all over the country. DTI would encourage these educational institutions to be active in producing graduates who are qualified to work as call center agents,”
It should be noted that a basic qualification of a call center agent is the ability to understand and speak English fluently.
Along the same vein, the president of the Business Process Association, Bong Borja, debunked spreading word that call center expansion to other parts of the country is due to lack of human resources in Cebu. He clarifies that among other reasons, this was due to the industry’s phenomenal growth and client preference of having a single facility dedicated to serving only their needs.
“The growth of the industry is so fast that Cebu or Manila, or any place for that matter alone, can’t cope with it,”
Santos has expressed enthusiasm for this spread of call centers to the countryside since these spell job creation for these areas. This goes quite well with one of DTI’s main thrusts this year.
related stories, by category:
