BPO a bigger boon to economy than mining, says lawmaker

Business process outsourcing (BPO) will do more good to the Philippine economy than any mining investment, according to Sen. Pia Cayetano.

Cayetano, who chairs the Senate committee on natural resources and environment, said investing in human skills, rather than altering natural resources through mining, should be the focus of the government’s economic policies.

"The Philippines should fully harness the economic benefits of the BPO-contact center (CC) sector for the jobs generation program for our people," she said during a recent forum sponsored by Five9 Inc., a California-based information technology company providing solutions to the contact center industry.

"Unlike mining, the BPO-CC industry does not have too much baggage for our environment to carry," she pointed out. Cayetano warned that mining, if not properly managed, could have destructive effects on the environment. The government, she said, must properly balance mining’s economic and environmental impact.

On the other hand, the BPO-CC industry could result in economic growth and better income for the people, without causing damages on the environment, because it focuses on human resource development.

She said companies like Five9 are doing the country a favor by training and equipping thousands of Filipinos with the right skills to become highly paid contact center agents and other BPO professionals.

Five9 country manager Junie Pama echoed this, saying that with the number of call centers in the country steadily rising, "the employment opportunity for Filipinos is also experiencing unprecedented growth as the Philippines is now tagged as the BPO-CC capital of the world."

Another 300 call centers are expected to operate in the country within the next two years, because of the many advantages the Philippines has over other Asian countries, in terms of personalized customer service, impeccable work ethics, language, diction, and robust communication infrastructure.

Five9 has chosen the Philippines as the site of its regional headquarters in Southeast Asia. In 2005, the company introduced its award-winning Five9 Virtual Contact Center (VCC), a revolutionary technology that allows small organizations to start a call center with minimal capital.

"With the development of low-cost and state-of-the-art technology such as the Five9 VCC, we will be able to help differentiate Filipino BPO centers with higher skills, excellent or superior customer satisfaction and customer experience, high velocity delivery, and specialized value and increased knowledge," Pama said.

Pama said that with the advent of new low-cost technology, it is expected that the 100,000 jobs in the BPO-CC sector will increase by another 90,000 over the next three years, expanding the business by $10 billion.