Chief Executive Officer | www.the-chiefexecutive.com
With its skilled workforce and an affinity for US and European culture, the Philippines has recently overtaken India as the number one nation for business process outsourcing. Rick Ferry, CustomerContactChannels’ president and COO, explains to Rhian Owen why the company’s recent move to the country has been a success.
Rhian Owen: What do you think the Philippines has to offer to the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector and what prompted the decision to locate to the Philippines?
Rick Ferry: The Philippines has a vital economy, one that has both a cultural affinity and an understanding of North America and Europe, in particular the UK. It’s a very natural place to locate a back or front-office business. The country’s demographic and overall attributes are very strong. It has a population of 95 million, with roughly 20 million concentrated in the metropolitan Manila area. In terms of the geopolitical environment, President Benigno Aquino III has done a great job in sustaining the viability and financial vitality in the country.
Some concerns have been voiced regarding the country’s potential political and environmental risks. Has this hampered the image of the Philippines as an outsourcing location?
Over the past 24 months, the world’s press has covered the country’s political stability. At C3/CustomerContactChannels (C3), we monitor social media communication stringently picking up trends and monitoring discussions at all levels of society, and we see that the Philippines is in a strong position. Even in the depths of the 2008 economic downturn, things slowed down in metro-Manila for 60–90 days before it turned around and picked back up again. It was really quite amazing. The latest forecast I’ve seen for growth in the Philippine BPO sector is $25 billion by 2016, which is incredible. The Philippines’ economy is very robust.
What should an enterprise be considering when sourcing human capital for its operation in the Philippines?
Human capital is the prime consideration – it is essential in this business. I’d encourage all of our counterparts across the industry, whether they are outsourcers or insourcers going into the Philippines, not to compromise on entry-level compensation or trying to locate to unfamiliar areas in order to take down the unit cost. In my opinion, a higher unit cost at the beginning is an investment in the future because it goes a long way towards turnover and encouraging retention. For example, I’d take a careful look at local access, where the population centres are of the desired target population, and provide any type of educational and transportation assistance that you can reasonably give within the confines of your economic targets to make sure you’ve got the right people coming in.
What is C3 doing differently to its competitors?
We have a unique approach. We’re excited about what we’ve done in the Philippines. Our outreach program into the country’s labor market is not only a different advertising approach to recruiting, it’s also a very effective way to communicate our overall operating practices – the way we like to treat people and the kind of community we’re aiming to build.
Can you tell us more about your ‘Love’ campaign?
On our billboard advertisements, the word that has the biggest print and will jump out is ‘love’. The whole theme is to love coming to work in the morning, love where you work, love who you work for, love who you work with – it has been extremely effective. It comes from the old notion that if you love what you do, then you never ‘work’ a day in your life. There’s a great deal of responsibility that goes behind that word and that overall theme; we have to live that every day. Essentially, we want our staff to enjoy what they do and be proud of it. Your workplace should be a place where you want to bring family and friends. With that in mind, we have created a place that has been acclaimed one of the finest facilities that people have seen in the Philippines in recent years. It really is a showplace. Again, there is extra cost in that, but we think it’s worth it in the long run. For example, several months ago, we were waiting for a client in a hotel in central Manila and the waitress came over to the table. I was wearing a shirt that had the company name on it. She took a step back, looked wide-eyed at the shirt and said: “C3, that’s the place where people love to work.” It’s amazing that in a place of 20 million people that C3 would be at the top of her mind. It’s a good brand identity. I’m not arrogant enough to think that we’ll remain that way, but I am confident enough in our innovators that we will stay in front of that curve. I think we’ll be able to really take advantage of what is one of the prime workforces in the world.
How do you see the outsourcing environment within the Philippines evolving over the next few years?
It’s one of the most exiting areas that we’re looking at. There are a number of emerging economies coming into play right now that are doing very well and will continue to do so as they build the infrastructure – this is going to drive that economy upstream and upscale. They’ll be taking on more complex issues as the workforce that is currently coming in is becoming more entrenched with what is happening globally, and social media is driving a lot of that. I see that workforce coming in for at least a decade. In terms of becoming fully engaged and resource-shy, that saturation point won’t be reached for many years. I think there’s a great deal of headroom.
