The call center outsourcing industry, may yet see an upside to the gloomy situation affecting many firms around the globe.

With the current pandemic stunting the growth of many economies, more and more firms will need to trim their expenses and retract from their expansion plans. But these same companies will eventually resort to outsourcing their non-core call center functions in order to control their finances.

This, therefore, presents an opportunity for call centers in the Philippines that have experienced a slowdown during the early part of the lockdown beginning mid-March. This also presents an opportunity for companies abroad in need of alternatives to maintaining their businesses while riding out the impact of the pandemic.

Labor cost in the Philippines is 60 percent lower compared to the United States and 70 percent lower vis-à-vis the Australian and United Kingdom markets.

“As economies and companies start to recover from the pandemic, they will continue to outsource their call center requirements to the Philippines. It might not happen immediately, and may as well take a year or two, but the key competitive advantages of the Philippines as the world’s leading call center outsourcing destination such as English language proficiency, cultural affinity to the West, highly qualified and skilled labor pool as well as the low labor cost, remain unchanged,” said Ralf Ellspermann, CEO of PITON-Global, a leader in the Philippine call center outsourcing industry.

Having been in the business since 2001, PITON-Global has seen the growth of an industry that has catapulted the Philippine economy forward. Today, the industry employs more than 1.3 million Filipinos and generates more than US$26 billion in revenues, equivalent to almost a tenth of the country’s gross domestic product.

As a result, the Philippines is the world’s second largest BPO and largest call center outsourcing destination. Key to all this is a largely English-speaking nation and a population with a 94-percent literacy rate, which is the second highest in Asia.

Call centers in the Philippines today boast of a vast labor pool with more than 20 years of outsourcing experience. There are also more than 800 call center outsourcing providers operating in the country at the moment, serving buyer markets such as the United States (60 percent), Australia (25 percent), United Kingdom (10 percent) and other countries (5 percent).

PITON-Global, a leading mid-sized call center, specializes in providing customer experience management and back-office support services for companies in the US.

“The Philippine contact center outsourcing industry is not going anywhere. Companies still prefer to outsource their call center requirements to us. And not just because of the potential cost savings, but also enhanced operating efficiencies and customer experience,” Ellspermann added.

This is why call centers in the Philippines remained open for business even as several industries across the country shut down when the government imposed a strict quarantine to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Outsourcing providers in the country immediately implemented work structures that closely observed the government’s strict health standards and social distancing measures. Firms either provided shuttles or gave accomodations to workers whose mobility were disrupted.

Once the situation begins to clear up and companies will revisit their expansion plans either delayed or halted by the pandemic, call centers in the Philippines will be more than ready to serve their needs. PITON-Global will also commit to this resurgence.