BPO players told, tame attrition rates to stay in the game

CEBU, Philippines - Contact center players are told to leverage in better managing their attrition rates and shrinkages to stay competitive in an industry that is drawing so many participants.

Speaker Annie Reyes-Pineda of Motif Ltd. said along with coming up with a good pricing model that can drive revenues, companies can also minimize cost items in their financial statements to keep the business on a positive income level.

Industry leaders said the contact centers in the country are posting a high 55 percent attrition. Several factors, mostly compensation-related, are leading workers to move to another company to work.

If attrition is properly taken care of, Pineda said this is key to staying ahead in the highly competitive industry, stressing the need of good incentive programs to attract and keep the first-line agents.

Pineda also pointed out the importance of recruiting the right candidates to the program at the human resource level in helping tame attrition issues.

Similarly, shrinkages in productivity brought about by employee leaves and overbreaks should keep within healthy standards as wasted time could mean losses to call center operators, Pineda said.

The need to stay competitive by call centers is seen a significant move, especially now that the Philippines continues to be the preferred location for contact center and healthcare services in the world despite the onslaught of competition from locations like India where the cost is cheaper.

“Our strong brand has made the Philippines less vulnerable to competing countries in the contact center sphere. Clients place a premium on our competitive advantage on language, affinity to Western culture and the authentic desire to provide exceptional service,” said Benedict Hernandez, president of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), the umbrella organization of more than 90 contact centers.

Despite the drop in the value of the peso against the US dollar, he said doing business in India remains cheaper by 25 to 30 percent due to the heavily depreciated rupee.

Hernandez said a strong peso is actually bad for the local industry as it makes India a much cheaper location for offshore outsourced services. “The weaker peso is actually helping us,” he stressed.

“The impact (of the weakening peso) on contact centers and healthcare services is less compared with non-voice and IT despite higher cost compared to India,” said H. Karthik, vice-president for global sourcing of the Everest Group, one of the 62 CEOs who attended the CEO Forum at the recently closed International Contact Center Conference and Expo (ICCCE) 2013 in Cebu.

Karthik said the Philippines enjoys competitive advantage in skill, quality and cultural affinity.

To maintain its leading position, local contact centers must offer differentiated services and reduce cost, said Karthik.

While currency stability is important to business forecasts, Danilo Sebastian Reyes, country manager of India-based Genpact Services, said global companies can always hedge their position in countries where they operate to mitigate the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations.

“While we always look long term, currency fluctuation is a cause for concern that the government must address,” he said. (FREEMAN)