Luxembourg-BPO to make Phl its biggest operation

MANILA, Philippines - Luxembourg-based Transcom Worldwide S.A. is set to hire 5,000 new workers this year to maintain the Philippines as its largest operations in terms of workforce in its global business.

Transcom Worldwide president and chief executive officer Johan Eriksson said in an interview with The STAR that the company is bullish about the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines after the country posted a strong growth last year.

“We definitely see the Philippines as a growth area. Things are growing rapidly here and we see some more opportunities,” Eriksson stressed.

Data from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) showed that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.6 percent last year, exceeding the target of five percent to six percent set by the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).

This made the Philippines the second fastest in terms of economic growth in the region after China. This year, the DBCC has set a GDP growth target of six percent to seven percent.

The company through Transcom Worldwide Philippines Inc. is looking at raising its workforce by 50 percent to 15,000 by the end of this year from the current level of close to 10,000.

Eriksson said the Philippines is its largest in terms of the number of workforce, currently accounting for a third of its 30,000 global workforce.

The company operates 70 contact centers in 28 countries including four sites in the Philippines.

He pointed out that the company is looking at utilizing the full capacity of its four sites in the Philippines that include one along EDSA in Mandaluyong City, one in Pasig City, one in Bacolod City, and one in Iloilo City.

Once fully utilized, he said the company would start scouting for additional sites to accommodate the needs of clients.

“The Philippines is very interesting after a tremendous growth last year and we are excited about that,” he added.

Eriksson said Transcom Worldwide is looking at staying in the Philippines for the long term to take advantage of the country’s growth potential.

“With our growth plans we will require additional sites and estimated cost of investment will depend on the size of the site,” he said.

Transcom was created in 1995 by the Swedish investment company, Kinnevik, led by the entrepreneurial visionary, Jan Stenbeck. In 2007, it acquired NuComm to establish its presence in North America as well as Asia including the Philippines.

The country’s IT-BPO industry is making good progress towards achieving the targets under the Roadmap 2016 wherein the industry is expected to register a compounded annual growth rate of 20 percent, hitting $25 billion by 2016 or about 10 percent of $256-billion global IT-BPO market share and 1.3 million direct hires.

According to research and consultancy firm Everest Group, the global offshore services market is growing at a healthy pace, and will more than double by 2016 to $250 billion. Gartner reports that by 2016, the Asia-Pacific market for BPO excluding Japan would reach $9.5 billion.