april - JUNE 2009 Vol. 3 - No. 2 20 pages free

BPO Industry Mid-Year Status: Well-managed, Innovative Firms Are Growing

A Philippine business district where the BPO business is booming. Photo from www.bigstockphoto.com.

of the Hotel InterContinental Manila.Richard Mills, President of the Canadian

Chamber of Commerce, says that the awards allow Filipinos [to show] the world that they can not only work at international levelsbut beat international levels. Its quite a momentous experience. He adds that for the past three years since its establishment, the ICT Awards has been fulfilling its mandate to recognize the organizations and individuals who contribute the most to put the Philippines and Filipinos in the minds of global business leaders.

Increased hiring and professional development are among the benefits of the academe-industry synergy

In a historic move, representatives from the BPO industry, the academe, and the Philippine government signed the first set of Memoranda of Agreement effectively launching the Advanced English Pre-Employment Training (AdEPT) Program to further develop the BPO workforces English proficiency skills. The launch was held on May 5 at the Makati Sports Club.

This joint effort of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) intends to equip college students in particular with the communication skills needed to gain employment across various industries, but especially for the IT-BPO sector.

BPO Industry Applauds ICT Awards Winners

AdEPT Program to Further Develop BPO Workforces English Proficiency Skills

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eXeCUTIVe profIle p. 15Marife Zamora, ConvergysINTerVIew hIghlIghTs:The BPO Employer of the Year

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

april - JUNE 20092 BreakthroughsBPA/P Stories

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E-mail: netteroselo@bpap.org

PEaChiE G. COrTEZOperations Director

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252 Sen Gil Puyat, Makati CityTel: 856-4956 Fax: 856-4954

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Mills also acknowledged the valuable contribution of the BPAP, saying, From day one, weve worked with the Business Processing Association of the Philippines. The idea was to form a partnership with them to be a supporting party to their objective of promoting the BPO industry.

The industrys bestThe most coveted BPO Company of the Year award went to TeleTech Customer Care Management Inc. A leading BPO company, TeleTech provides a full range of front to back office outsourced solutions like customer management, direct sales and marketing, training development and delivery, recruiting, staffing and workforce management, loan processing, benefits and claims administration, vendor management, payroll administration, and eCommerce. With more than 21,000 people by the beginning of 2009, it is considered the largest BPO employer in the country. It expects to exceed a manpower count of 25,000 by this years second quarter.

Convergys Philippines was named BPO Employer of the Year for excellence in leadership, strategic HR practices, commitment to continuous improvement, corporate social responsibility involvement, and active support of the international ICT industry in the Philippines. [See related story Ed.] Winning this award for the second time since the ICT Awards was launched in 2007, the U.S.-based multinational corporation is aggressively expanding operations in key cities of the country despite the global economic crisis. It also maintains employee-centric management and development programs to strengthen employee loyalty and retention.

Stresses Convergys Philippines country manager Marife Zamora: Our greatest asset is our people. Without them, Convergys could not have established the kind of reputation that it has today, both in the Philippines and across the globe.

Headstrong Philippines Inc. was awarded Best Midsized BPO Company of the Year. Headstrong is an IT consulting organization and a diverse BPO company that focuses on outsource software and software-enabled services to global clients. On receiving the plaque of recognition, Headstrong Philippines president Nora Terrado said: The Philippines has truly become the BPO destination of choice for software services, which we will ensure, as a company, to maintain by further strengthening and developing our unique differentiators and core processes and by consistently delivering value to our clients.

Indian-based WiPro BPO Philippines Ltd. Inc.

BPO Industry Applauds ICT ... Continuation from page 1

BPO Company of the Year Accenture, Inc. APAC Customer Services, Inc. Convergys Philippines Sutherland Global Services TeleTech Customer Care Management Inc. TELUS International Philippines Inc. BPO Employer of the Year AIG Business Processing Services, Inc. Convergys Philippines ePLDT Ventus IBM in the Philippines ICT Marketing Services Inc. Sitel Philippines Corporation Best Mid-sized BPO Company of the Year Affinity Express Headstrong Philippines Inc. Netsuite Philippines Inc. NorthgateArinso Pointwest Technologies Corporation Multi-sourcing BPO of the Year AIG Business Processing Services, Inc. Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific (Hong

Kong) Ltd IBM in the Philippines SPi Technologies, Inc. Sutherland Global Services

International ICT Awards Philippines 2009 finalists

From L to R: Sean Georget, Executive Director, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (Can-Cham); Gil Genio, Head, Globe Business; Romit Gupta, Country Head, Wipro BPO Philippines Ltd. Inc.; Nora Terrado, Country Manager, Headstrong Phils, Inc.; Rahul Singh, VP, Genpact Services LLC; Henry Schumacher, EVP, European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines; Celeste Ilagan, Executive Director, Board of Investment; Peter Maquera, CEO, SPi Technologies Inc.; Marife Zamora, Country Manager, Convergys Phils.; Maulik Parekh, EVP and General Manager, TeleTech Customer Care Management Inc.; Nerisse Ramos, FVP and Head of Corporate Business Group, PLDT; Oscar Saez, CEO, Business Processing Association of the Philippines; and Richard Mills, President, Can-Cham.

was awarded Best New Locator for its promising and aggressive operations in the country. A global services provider delivering technology-driven business solutions for its clients, Wipro is the worlds first CMMi Level 5-certified software services company and the first outside the U.S. to receive the IEEE Software Process Award. Having just begun operations in Cebu in April last year, it is now providing customer services and back-office operations to various international companies.

The Fastest-Growing BPO of the Year award went to Genpact Services LLC, a company that manages business processes for it global clients, combining its process expertise, information technology, and analytical capabilities with operational insight derived from experience in diverse industries to provide a wide range of services using its global delivery platform. Genpact posted an impressive revenue growth of 300 % in 2008. Last year, their employee roster also gained a meteoric rise from 375 to 1,300 people.

The Most Innovative Company of the Year award went to Cutting Edge Productions in recognition of its multitasking capabilities in music production and editing, as well as audio and motion graphics. Owned and managed by multi-awarded film composer and musical arranger Jessie Lasaten, what used to be a simple production shop in 2003 has evolved into a total support group for the creative vision of clients and advertising agencies.

In the meantime, Celeste Ilagan, Executive Director of the Board of Investments, received the ICT Individual Contributor of the Year for her exceptional involvement in the promotion and facilitation and giving assistance to BPO companies.

Bright horizonICT Awards Philippines added a new category this year: the Multi-Sourcing Company of the Year. The new award recognizes the company that best caters to BPO, IT outsourcing, and engineering services outsourcing line of businesses. This categorys first winner was SPi Technologies, for successfully serving over 350 global companies in publishing, health care, legal, automotive, electronics, and financial services in mostly non-voice high-value services.

Mills elaborates on this new category: We wanted to highlight companies that are providing more than one service in the Philippines. Many of them are solely call centers or solely financial service providers, but there are those that perform many more functions. We wanted to emphasize this. SPi does a lot of other services like medical, legal, and publishing services.

With the ICT Awards bringing together over 400 industry players, even for just one night, Mills looks forward to good prospects for ICT in the Philippines. Even though the global economic crisis is slowing things down all over the world, the ICT industry is still projecting a growth rate of over 20% this year.

We think its a great time for the Philippines, says Mills. And if you look at the industry five to six years ago, it employed almost zero jobs. Today, it employs 450,000. To my knowledge, there is no other industry in the world that has grown to such a degree as this industry has grown. Even in this so-called traumatic economic crisis right now, were going to add another 80,000 to 100,000 jobs this year. Thats a tremendous achievement in this environment. .

Best New BPO Locator of the Year StarTek International Inc. vCustomer Services India Private

Limited Wipro BPO Philippines Ltd. Inc.

Fastest Growing BPO Company of the Year Genpact Services LLC. NCO Financial Systems, Inc. Siemens IT Solutions and Services Sutherland Global Services

Most Innovative BPO Company of the Year Affinity Express CCTP Cybercity Teleservices

Philippines Cutting Edge Productions, Inc. Glow 3D Animation Studios, Inc. Maersk Global Services Centers

ICT Individual Contributor of the Year Award Celeste Ilagan, Executive Director,

Board of Investments Dan Reyes, Country President, Sitel

Philippines Corporation Jon Kaplan, President, TeleDevelopment

Services Inc.

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

april - JUNE 2009 3Breakthroughs BPA/P Stories

Continuation from page 1BPO Industry Mid-Year Status .. .June 16 entitled, State of the BPO Industry: Mid-Year Report. Noshir Kaka, partner of McKinsey & Company provided an update of the position of the Philippine BPO industry in the global BPO market while Mike Henderson of Sykes Asia provided the industry perspective based on his companys experience. A panel of industry CEOs including Beth Lui of Accenture, Marife Zamora of Convergys, Neil Elias of Logica, and Fred Ayala of LiveIt Solutions discussed their own take on the state of the industry. David Blumanis of APC by Schneider Electric also presented the effect of the crisis on clients and how they could cope using cost-effective infrastructure.

The results of the survey suggest that, despite some challenges associated with the global financial crisis, innovative firms are identifying new opportunities as a result of the crisis, Virata said in an interview. This is enabling them to continue to expand their businesses.

Results of the survey and speaker presentations were distributed to forum participants and can be purchased by the public from BPAP or TeamAsia. Approximately 100 C-level executives in BPO firms attended the June 16 briefing, which took place at the Tower Club in Makati.

Measuring impactAmong the other preliminary results, Virata noted, was that while demand for BPO services remains strong, labor supply remains an area of concern for many firms. Forty-five percent of respondents indicated that their firms hire only six or fewer applicants out of every 100 before training. More than half of the respondents, meanwhile, indicated they hire seven or more applicants out of every 100.

Still, a positive indicator for the industry is that attrition is either the same, decreasing, or decreasing significantly in the view of 79% of respondents, with 53% of respondents

saying that attrition in their companies is 10% or lower. However, a significant number of respondents, 29%, said attrition in their firms runs between 11%20%. Seventeen percent said attrition is above 21%.

In a separate interview, ExcelAsia president Rita Trillo-Ugarte said, We see sustained, strong demand for our services with the result that our firm continues to grow rapidly. ExcelAsia provides recruitment and training services for a number of large BPOs in the Philippines, and has expanded rapidly over the past year according to Trillo-Ugarte. ExcelAsia is also a major sponsor of BPAPs CEO forums.

Service providers themselves indicate that expansion efforts are continuing, resulting in increased demand for workers. StarTek, a mid-size value-added BPO, recently announced that it is ramping up its Makati facility to full capacity to meet expanding demand for complex services. Convergys opened three new call centers in Cebu, Santa Rosa, and Quezon City in April that will provide almost 3,000 new jobs and increase the companys headcount to 16,000 in the Philippines. Telus and Sitel have also opened new sites in recent months.

In a related development, Thomson Reuters recently announced that it has established a

team to support global legal content initiatives, its most profitable division, in the Philippines. The company already provides services in five other operations areas, including the investment and advisory division, from the Philippines. The Philippines is providing increasingly complex services for Thomson Reuters customers worldwide, Raoul Teh, Senior Site Officer for the company, said recently.

Miguel Garcia, CEO of industry supplier DTSI and a member of the BPAP board, forecasts that the Philippine BPO industry will grow overall by about 20% this year.

According to BPAP CEO Oscar Saez, BPO industry estimates show an addressable global IT-BPO market of US$450 billion. The penetrated global IT-BPO market is expected to generate US$130 billion in the next two years, suggesting that demand for BPO services will continue to outpace supply for many years. Saez says the Philippine BPO industry aims to capture 10% of that market.

Industry responseThe BPAP-O2P survey was in the field from March 31 to April 29. Invitations were sent to 571 BPO executives and 160 completed the survey, providing a 28% response rate.

Respondents represented approximately 25 BPO sectors ranging from advertising services to legal knowledge process outsourcing to software development. Thirty-eight percent of respondents said their firms have more than one BPO facility in the Philippines in more than 35 tier-one, tier-two, and tier-three urban areas. The size of respondents firms in terms of headcount ranged from less than 500 (40%) to 501 to more than 15,000 (60%). Twenty-one percent of respondents firms employ more than 1,000.

Survey co-proponent Outsource2Philippines (www.outsource2philippines.com) provides a cost-effective, timely mechanism for companies to receive professional support in analyzing the suitability of outsourcing selected operations to the Philippines, and in implementing outsourcing programs.

TeamAsia (www.teamasia.com) is an award-winning strategic marketing communications firm that develops place, corporate, and personal brand strategies, creative concepts, and marketing communications programs for clients. It specializes in non-traditional communications channels, including the Web, contact center services, direct marketing, PR events, and direct marketing communications collateral. .

According to many of the firms surveyed, the crisis impact was either moderator or minor. Hiring will continue throughout the year.

January 2009 NextWaveCities Journal 3

SECTION TITLE

Top 10 Next Wave City: Iloilo

e City of Iloilo ranked third in the Next Wave Cit-ies (NWCs) scorecard with an overall score of 81% (Chart 1). is high ranking can be attributed to the citys top score for Cost (87%) among the top-ten loca-tions in the scorecard (Chart 1; tied with Cagayan de Oro City). Iloilo city also has the second-best business environment and the fourth-highest score for Avail-ability of Talent in the entire scorecard of over 30 loca-tions. erefore, outside of Luzon and Metro Cebu, Iloilo City is one of the best locations for BPO and ITO companies in the country.

Most cost-efficient citye city has some of the lowest rates in real estate rent-als, average base pay, and power (Table 1).

Property developers in Iloilo oer a full range of products, from residential to commercial of vary-ing classes and types. erefore, while average rental rates among the top-ten NWCs are highest in Iloilo at Php451 per sq m, monthly rental rates for commercial space start as low as Php250 per sq m. Average base pay for non-agricultural workers is Php5,170 a month, signicantly lower than the NWC median rate of Php6,556.

Modern and reliable infrastructure Iloilo City is strategically located in the center of the Philippines making it accessible by land, air, or sea. As Western Visayas nancial center, the city has long been a regional hub of trade, commerce, and industry and hosts a number of industrial and investment areas. Recent infrastructure developments, including ber optic connections and PEZA-accredited IT parks, have transformed the city into a prime location for BPOs and ITOs.

Iloilo is 45 minutes away from Manila by plane. e new Iloilo Airport, 20 km outside the city, hosts regu-lar daily transfer ights which connect Iloilo to domes-tic and international destinations. Specically, Cebu Pacic, Philippine Airlines, and Air Philippines y a

RANKRANK

3

Chart 1. Top city outside Luzon

Table 1. Costs in Iloilo Compared with Other Next Wave Cities Iloilo City NWC -

MeanNWC - High

NWC - Low

Labor (Php/month) 5,170.00 6,556.00 6,798.00 5,170.00 Real Estate/Rent(Php/sq m)

451.00 404.00 451.00 310.00

Power (Php/kwh) 4.09 5.40 5.67 3.38 NWC = Next Wave CitySource: BPAP-CICT-DTI Scorecard

Overall ScoreRANK

Talent

Infrastructure

Cost

BERM

IloiloNWC Mean

3

4

7

1, 2

2

81%77%

72%68%

89%91%

87%67%

92%68%

NWC = Next Wave CitySource: BPAP-CICT-DTI Scorecard (October 2008)

TOP 10 NEXT WAVE CITY: ILOILO

4 NextWaveCities Journal January 2009

Table 2. PEZA IT Buildings and ParksOperating and Proclaimed in Iloilo CityAs of October 2008PEZA Site Location Developer Available Space

(sq m)Lease Rate(Php/sq m)

Amigo Mall(Building oor area = 40,382.00 sq m)

Corner Iznart and Delgado Streets La Filipina Uy Gongco Corp. Fully occupied 300Gaisano Capital Info Center(Building oor area = 69,110.78 sq m)

General Luna Street, La Paz HEVA Management & Development Corp.Robinsons Place Iloilo(Building oor area = 78,158.00 sq m)

Ledesma Street Robinsons Land Corp. 4,800 400SMCI IT Center(Building oor area = 101,735.57 sq m)

Benigno Aquino Ave., Mandurriao SM Prime Holdings Inc. Fully occupied N/A

By AirIloilo International Airport (opened in 2007)Travel Time: (from Manila) 5569 minutes; 11 daily ights (from Cebu) 35 minutes; 2 daily ightsCarriers: Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacic, Air PhilippinesTop HotelsIloilo Centennial Resort Hotel, Days Hotel, Sarabia Manor Hotel, Amigo Hotel, Hotel Del Rio, Punta Villa Hotel

By SeaSea Port: Iloilo PortTravel Time: (from Manila) 20 hours; 12x weekly (from Cebu) 12 hours; 1x dailyCruise Lines: WG&A Super Ferry, Negros Navigation, Sulpicio Lines, Trans Asia

Chart 2. Accessibility

total of 13 ights from Manila, Cebu, and Davao (Chart 2). International ights and service from an additional local carrier are expected to start in the rst half of 2009. e city also has a domestic and international port managed by the Philippine Ports Authority, a river wharf for regional shipping, and an inter-island wharf.Mass transportation throughout the city is pro-vided by the popular jeepney. ere are few major roads, none wider than four lanes, and trac can get congested during rush hour. But a single vehicular y-over was constructed in 2007 to alleviate trac at the citys main intersection. In early 2009, local Iloilo ocials announced that planning for a second major yover project had begun under the Presidents Bridge Program of the Department of Public Works and High-ways, a program funded by the French government.Fiber optic connection for BPOs in Iloilo is pro-vided by major telecommunications providers and net-works such as Bayantel, Globe, and PLDT.As of January 2009, there were A-class facilities

ready for occupancy for BPO locators in Iloilo City (Table 2). e SMCI IT Center was the rst BPO site oering of real estate rm SMPrime Holdings and Anthem Solutions-DTSI. Oce spaces at this center were leased in 2008 and lled quickly with locators including Teletech.More prime BPO-ready space is being developed. Major developer Megaworld Corporation has invested Php1.5 billion for the development of the Iloilo Busi-ness Park on the 54 hectare old airport site in Mandur-riao district. e parks master plan includes a retail component, theme park, hotel and convention center, and IT park. e Ayala group of companies is simi-larly looking at constructing a two- to four-story building to cater to BPO and ITO investments. Other property developers in Iloilo City include Crown Asia, Fil-Estate, Filinvest, and Sta. Lucia Realty.

As of January 2009, there were at least 15 BPO and ITO companies located in Iloilo City including major players Callbox, ePLDT Ventus, and Teletech

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

april - JUNE 20094 BreakthroughsBPA/P Stories

Marilao-Meycauayan, Cagayan de Oro City, Calumpit-Malolos, and Lipa City.

Next Wave Cities 2009 aims to address the information needs of two major stakeholder groups: investors looking to operate outside Metro Manila and Metro Cebu; as well as local business, education and training, and government organizations that can support IT-BPO operations in their localities, says Gigi Virata, BPAP executive director for information and research and editor in chief of the report. It also consolidates the research efforts of BPAP, CICT, and DTI in preparing these locations as IT-BPO hosts and in attracting investors to them.

The number of graduates from these locations, population data, comparative costs, sites accredited by the Philippine Export Zone Authority, other ready IT-BPO spaces, information on telecommunications and power facilities, and locator headcounts are among the detailed data that will be included in the report. Data maps created by Paperless Trail, a company that presents business data in innovative ways, will show relative locations of schools, malls, and locators in each of the NWCs.

The members of the NWC working groupthe same organization that directed

the production of the NWC scorecardmade the major editorial decisions for the annual report. The working group includes CICTs Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua and Commissioner Monchito Ibrahim; BPAPs CEO Oscar Saez, Virata, and Research Consultant Tonette Consuelo; and BPAP members Jones Lang LaSalle Leechiu (JLLL; David Leechiu, President) and John Clements Consultants (Carol Dominguez, President).

Former Board of Investments (BOI) Director Celeste Ilagan was part of the group before leaving the BOI last month. DTI is also represented by PEZA and its Regional Operations and Development Group. CICT and JLLL provided support by assigning researchers to augment BPAPs two-person research unit. Researchers Mae Agne of CICT and Ana Pea of JLLL joined Virata and Consuelo in interviewing sources and experts, verifying and updating data, and drafting and editing the report.

BPAP telecommunications and real estate members also provided information and participated as advertisers to help defray the cost of the publication, and BPAP member Asiatype supported marketing efforts and is leading the design and production process. BPAP and Asiatype will be the major distributors of Next Wave Cities 2009. .

The high-quality English proficiency skills of Filipino call center agents is one of the main reasons that have drawn clients and locators to do business and set up shop in the Philippines. However, a low 5% passing rate for college graduates who apply for work in IT-BPO companies prompted the authors of this initiative to develop ways to improve the hiring rate.

BPAP and COCOPEA started their partnership two years ago, sharing notes and exploring ways to increase the synergy between academe and industry. Benedict Hernandez, eTelecare Global Solutions Senior Vice President and the BPAP Trustee-in-charge of the program, reveals that AdEPT was based on an industry language training program developed seven years ago to help address the low 5% passing rate of new graduateswith language as the main reason for not meeting recruiting standards.

Atty. Ma. Jamea Garcia, BPAP executive director for talent development, describes the first few steps, We compared the English lessons taught in our schools and the English training lessons given by the industry. We realized that we teach the same thingsbut differ in our methods.

Whereas classroom learning in the country is given as lectures, the English training conducted by members of our industry is very interactiveparticipants are given time to participate and practice their language skills, she adds.

Meanwhile, representatives from the educational institutions were also beginning

AdEPT Program to Further Develop BPO Workforces ...

Annual Report on Top-10 Next Wave Cities...

Continuation from page 1

Continuation from page 1

Sample pages of the NWC report

of schools will walk this same path because we were able to come up with a standardized curriculum and methodology along with a very tight integration with potential employers that effectively has made the schools job easier.

The collaboration between industry and academe is welcomed by the government, with Senator Mar Roxas remarking during the launch: The partnership between industry and academe is laudable and good because in effect, industry is telling the schools the kind of skill sets and competencies that their companies need. This will give the schools the chance to integrate that training into their regular courses. Roxas is Chair of the Senate Education Committee.

Roxas added that the programs born out of the industry-academe collaboration such as AdEPT need to be institutionalized and spread to all the school systems and not just in a few. They cant be taught in just one semester here or there. What would be advisable is that they become part of the English-language and reading-comprehension skills that students learn in college, and perhaps even as early as grade school and high school.

An individual coming out of the AdEPT program would be more equipped to speak and communicate. Hours of practice and the knowledge that he or she can speak fluent English will give that individual the confidence to face other people while utilizing a language that is not his or her mother tongue. Zeta names other benefits to the student, This gives the individual a competitive advantage over other applicants. If you have good communication skills, you can make yourself heard and you can assume other positions in the company.

Hernandez explains the benefits of the program to the industry as a whole: The program will also provide immediate talent needs of industry with a 60%70% track record of converting near-hires to full-time hires. Graduates of AdEPT will increase the talent supply of industry, broadening the pie of qualified applicants.

Furthermore, says Hernandez, by enabling students to enter the workforce, you invest in them. In return, the students will develop more loyalty to the industry because they appreciate that investment when no one else would do the same. .

For more information on the AdEPT program, please call BPAP at 817-2727(BPAP).

From l-r: Benedict Hernandez, eTelecare Global Solutions Senior Vice President and BPAP trustee in charge of the AdEPT program; LiveIT Solutions CEO and BPAP chairman Fred Ayala; Senator Mar Roxas, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee;

and Dr. Vincent Fabella, Head of Linkages in COCOPEA and concurrently President of the Jose Rizal University.

excerpt from next Wave Cities 2009s introduction:There are obvious limitations in providing information through a scorecard, and it was hoped that this report would address some of those limitations by allowing more in-depth reporting and analyses. But there are also limitations inherent in producing publications such as these on activities and situations that are constantly changing and, in this industry, also fast-changing.

However, there are many aspects about the 10 locations that topped the first run of the scorecard (done in October 2008) that should remain true even in such a dynamic environment. For example, these locations will probably always be among the areas that produce the most graduates in the Philippines; they will also most likely always be among those with access to the best infrastructure. Therefore, even as the top-10 list will likely have some striking changes after the next run of the scorecard (this year), Next Wave Cities 2009 should remain a useful reference for companies looking for alternative IT-BPO locations and for local stakeholders in all Philippine towns and cities looking for ways to move up the scorecard.

Confidence is one area that needs to be addressed, according to Grace Abella-Zeta, President of the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP). Zeta opines, Communication skills refer to confidence in dealing with people and not just grammar skills. Some honor students from the prestigious schools who do well in written English sometimes falter during an interview mainly because of lack of confidence.

An English-only environmentMentoring and guidance will be the backbone of the AdEPT program in a radical departure from the regular classroom scenario, which has a teacher lecturing about the rules and principles of grammar and style to students who merely listen.

Under the AdEPT program, a typical class lasts from four to six hours. The instructor will lecture only half of the time, the rest of the period being taken up by games, role-playing, and other activities that will encourage the students to talk in an all-English environment.

For 2009, BPAP is targeting an enrollment of 22,500 students, 60% of which should be qualified for employment after finishing the program. BPAP member companies will be partnering with educational institutions to mentor and train their teachers to enable them to sustain the program in the long-term.

Says BPAP chairman Fred Ayala: The key is to help the different stakeholders see what is in it for them and to help them act on their own. We can just be a catalyst. Hopefully, hundreds

to realize the growing need for their curriculum to be more in step with industry requirements. Dr. Vincent Fabella, Head of Linkages in COCOPEA and concurrently President of the Jose Rizal University, acknowledges, Many of our graduating students were not ready for the workplace, something that has always been of concern to me. The only way to improve on this was to partner at an association-to-association level with industry. COCOPEA has been focused on improving education, and we found a partner in BPAP which is focused on going beyond growing individual companies to growing the industry as a whole.

From l-r: Dr. Vincent Fabella, COCOPEA; Jamea Garcia, BPAP Executive Director for Talent Development; Sen. Mar Roxas; and Grace Abella-Zeta, President of the People Management Association of the Philippines.

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

april - JUNE 2009 5Breakthroughs BPA/P Updates

The BPO train which left the station only two years ago following a road map of growth continues to chug along unperturbed by the global slowdown, seemingly unstoppable in its drive to continue to generate export dollars for the countrys GDP and additional employment opportunities for the Filipinos.

On the penultimate year of its road map plan, BPAP is ramping up the execution of its portfolio of initiatives in all the road map themes of talent, business environment, Next Wave Cities, and Team 2010. You can read all these updates from the BPAP Directors in this quarters publication and also partly during the mid-year CEO Forum. With the government pushing the recovery plan support fund to the private sector, particularly the Export Development Council, BPAP has also moved pro-actively in submitting a set of initiatives that serve to aggressively market the Philippines as a BPO destination to our target investor countries.

If the government support comes through, we will see a truly global campaign to promote the industry through advertising on several important touch points of cable, print, and out-of-home media. This is also the first time we will see a joint BPAP-SEIPI campaign

on a single platform to promote both industries using the Filipino knowledge worker as handle.

Given that these two sectors are the two largest dollar earners after OFW remittances, it does make sense for the government to aggressively promote these two. Already, the first half of the year had been quite busy for BPAP on the international trade conferences front. In partnership with the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), we have established presence at the Gartner Conference in Las Vegas, the Software Development Exposition and Conference (SODEC) in Japan, and the Cebit Conference in Sydney. All of them had the opportunity for country-sell seminars and exhibitor/business-matching sessions.

With the global crisis still taking its toll on many industries, its really the most opportune time to get the Philippines on the aggressive marketing path. This is the time that most CEOs are under pressure to carry their companies through the difficult times. This is the time for CEOs to deliver cost-savings solutions that will get their companies to improved levels of competitiveness. Theres no better time for the country to get ourselves to be top-of-mind with these CEOs. .

From the CEO Desk

Marketing on All fronts

No one will dispute that much quoted proverb that there is strength in numbersbut I daresay that that strength is powerful and effective only if the numbers that are boasted about are in unity.

The strength of unity sometimes surpasses the strength that can be found in numbers. Just take a look at the history books. The fabled Spartan 300 (relived in comic book and cinematic glory fairly recently) turned back a formidable Persian army that was more than ten times larger. Or the Battle of Agincourt where a tired and outnumbered British army conquered their French enemies who were of a far superior number.

Unity makes us strong because it encourages us to pool our resources, exchange ideas and information, and, most of all, form a bedrock wall of trust that cannot be broken and, thus, can help us stand strong against the onslaught of any adversity.

Unity of purpose and spirit does not necessarily mean homogeneity of style or identity. The members who freely choose to come under one banner maintain their independence, their diverse philosophies and lifestyles, and their own individual goals even as they fight for one common cause hand-in-hand with their brethren.

It is this unity of purpose that industry associations such as BPAP have always sought to establish. In spite of our own unique strengths, value propositions, servicesand in spite of the competition that exists among the members, a reality in any business sector including oursthe IT-BPO industry has to be united if we are to continue with our momentum and build on the gains that we had won the past years.

Individual members have accomplished many good things on their own but, joined together in an industry association, we can be unstoppable.

To begin with, various sectors in societysuch as government and mediawill begin to take us seriously if they see us acting us one. Concerns raised by one strong body that means business will definitely get a hearing more than several lone voices in the wilderness, no matter how loud they are. Friends in media who seek information or data from us will find our findings more credible if they are consistent and do not vary from one member to another.

The same is true of foreign partners or potential clients who see an armada of Philippine delegates come to their side of the world to talk about the advantages of setting up shop in the Philippineswith one common objective and sans the crab mentality that we have become notorious for. An authentic united front would give them good reason to show us the beginnings of trust.

Then there is the exchange of ideas mentioned earlier in this column. Some studies in countries like Canada, for example, show that industry associations have become the birthplace of innovation that have propelled their respective industries to new and higher ground. In responding to their own industrial challenges, they create the solutions that in turn lay the groundwork for growth and development.

United we standand only in unity we shall ascend. .

For f eedback , emai l jonathandeluzuriaga@bpap.org

The Insider

A united front

BY JOnaThan dE luZuriaGaBPaP ExECuTivE dirECTOr fOr induSTrY affairS

BY OSCar SaEZ

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

april - JUNE 20096 BreakthroughsBPA/P Updates

Annual report on Top-10 Next Wave Cities

At the start of this year, BPAPs research unit (BPAP research consultant Tonette Consuelo and I) was augmented by two researchers who were assigned to help us part time: Mae Agne from the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) and Ana Pea of Jones Lang LaSalle Leechiu (JLLL) (until May 31, 2009). Mae and Ana were generously offered to us by bosses CICT commissioner Mon Ibrahim and JLLL president David Leechiu, respectively. Our common task was to provide the content for the first BPAP publication on the top-10 Next Wave Cities (NWCs) within the first half of the year.

Our proposed outlined was refined and approved in December 2008 by the NWC working group composed of CICT head Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III, BPAP CEO Oscar Saez, then Board of Investments director Celeste Ilagan, John Clements Consultants president Carol Dominguez, other representatives of the Department of Trade and Industry, Mon, David, Tonette, and me. Asiatypes managing director Philippe Saurel and project manager Levi Balanon also worked with me before the Christmas season to lay out the production requirements and the details of our partnership for the publication. Tonette, Mae, and Ana then took over the hard work of gathering, verifying, and updating data and information from national and local governments, ICT councils, and other local stakeholders; telecommunications and real estate companies; and online sourcesto put together papers, replete with charts and tables, on each of the top-10 NWCs.

We also discovered a new resource asset in Paperless Trail which produces digital maps from extensive databases. These maps will be a prominent feature of the publication. I was also pleasantly greeted with generous support from the telcos and real estate companies with content and ad placements.

We are in the middle of the last concerted push to complete all the reviews and final detailed work within June to hit our target of launching the premier annual report on the NWCs, entitled Next Wave Cities 2009 (See related Front Page story Ed.).

BPAP-O2P forums on pressing industry issuesAt the well-attended and highly rated CEO forum Going Voiceless in December 2008, featured speaker Nikhil Rajpal (Everest global services head) showed how, by 2012, the demand for non-voice services was expected to comprise 90% of total business process outsourcing (BPO) demand. He also outlined the current and, importantly, potential capacity of the Philippines to capture more of this market. His talk caught the attention of Tata Medado, managing director of Asia Pacific College. Tatas concern was how to better prepare the academe as the main supplier of talent for information technology and BPO in the higher-value non-voice (and even higher-value voice) services.

It was unanimously agreed on by BPAPs CEO forum team (Frank Holz of Outsource2Philippines, Michael and Monette Hamlin and their team at TeamAsia, and me)with the concurrence of Oscar and BPAPs executive director for talent development Jamea Garciathat the issue identified by Tata and related concerns around bridging the perennial skills gap easily qualified as urgent

for the entire industry and, therefore, as a topic for a forum. Instead of just CEOs, however, we included academic officials and human resource heads of industry players in our target market for the forum. With support from Excel Asia (major sponsor), Ayala Land (minor sponsor), and World Pacific (refreshments), the forum produced a very engaging discussion actively participated in by a very engaged audience. Their common demand was for more time to continue the dialogue! (See related article - Ed.)

The choice of topic for the second CEO forum for 2009 was a no-brainer. We immediately launched a survey on the impact of the financial crisis, and it was also no surprise that 83% of the respondents reported that the crisis has affected their operations. More surprising, but also confirming previous surveys and anecdotal reports, was that the response to the crisis of 49% of respondents was to increase their workforce by 11% to up to 200%.

Providing new services was also a common response. As is our practice, we planned a CEO forum to delve deeper into these responses. The forum was held on June 16 at the Tower Club. McKinsey and Company partner Noshir Kaka presented the Philippine position in the global market, Mike Henderson, Sykes Asias Vice President for the Asia Pacific Rim presented the industry perspective, and David Bulamis of American Power Conversion (APC) presented the suppliers perspective. Sector representatives of some of the most influential BPOs in the country participated in the panel discussion; they included Beth Lui of Accenture, Marife Zamora of Convergys, Neil Elias of Logica, and Fred Ayala of LiveIt. APC was the forums premier sponsor, Excel Asia and TeamAsia the major sponsors, Thomson Reuters and Teledevelopment minor sponsors, Business Mirror, Manila Bulletin and Radiopartners media partners.

We aim to have a total of 3 to 5 periodic surveys a year and 3 to 4 CEO forums. A constant check on the industrys temperature and a repeated look at key metrics to establish trend lines are among our goals for the year.

Among othersOur regular plate of tasks also includes maintaining, updating, and improving our industry database. We hope to do this in tandem with the sector associations and representatives. Weve also participated in government efforts to improve industry statistics and, recently, after almost two years of meetings, we finally agreed on how the industry can be classified under the international system of classifications. This means that its very possible that the National Statistics Office will soon start planning to collect annual data on our industry. The BPAP board has also identified cost and productivity as areas that we need to keep track of and work has begunslowly, I admitto design the work flow of this initiative.

Tonette and I are optimistic that, with the help of the many partners mentioned above, we will soon have the pages of Next Wave Cities 2009 flowing through the presses. We are also confident that O2P and TeamAsia will continue with the excellent work theyve been doing on the periodic surveys and CEO forums. Finally, when the above happens, your BPAP research team can squeeze into our work load more of your requests for custom research, among others. .

BY GiGi viraTa BPaP ExECuTivE dirECTOr fOr infOrMaTiOn and rESEarCh

Research 2009: The Road, So Far

Hitting Two International Road Shows Within a Month: My Baptism of Fire

When I assumed my post as BPAP Executive Director for External Affairs four months ago, I quickly found myself faced with two challenges: the Gartner Vendor Management Outsourcing Summit in Las Vegas, followed by the CeBit Australia exhibition and trade mission. These two conferences became my baptism of fire.

These two events happened within days of each otherthe Gartner conference in early May and the CeBit event from May 12 to 15. BPAP CEO Oscar Saez, Sec. Ray Roxas-Chua (CICT), and I had to fly up north to the U.S. then jet to the south Down Under all in a span of two weeks. On May 9, my boss Oscar and I arrived in Manila from Las Vegas early in the morning, had a hot shower in our respective homes, packed up some fresh clothes, and hopped on another plane that would fly us to Sydney at 8 p.m. the same day. Hows that for a stopover?

In terms of preparation for these two events, I was going through my learning curve as quickly and efficiently as I could sans assistant and yet with the imperative to hit the ground running.

I applaud the governments support of BPAPs efforts to promote the Philippines as a desirable investment site. These are trying times where the first budget item to be cut is the allocation for marketing and any help, especially from the government, is a big break.

Warm response despite budget cutsIt was with these conferences that I began to refine my ability to take calculated risks, given the financial constraints and the photo-finish preparations due to the endless red tape. In a sense, this process was like giving birthit was very difficult but, in the end, you look at the results and say it is worth all the close calls and the heartache it took to get it done. It was stressful, but worth every drop of sweat.

Getting people and companies to sign up for these two trade fairs was not an easy task either. To get Filipino participation for the CeBit event, we initially signed up five delegates, with others trickling slowly in until we were able to register 14 Philippine representatives for the trade fair.

For the Gartner event, we went through the process of sending out invitations to potential delegates at a time when belt-tightening and marketing budget cuts were the order of the day for the firms we were inviting. The slots were limited to eight pods, as this was what the funding from government could cover. However, it turned out that we needed a lot more than that. Several companies wanted to participate despite the limited number of pods. But wanting to make everybody happy as much as possible, with the help of our cooperative organizers from Gartner, we were able to have additional delegates and companies participate in the trade conference.

We ended up having 21 delegates attend the Gartner summit. The number of leads we got, especially from the Australia road show, was very encouraging and I plan to write about the conversions of the two trips in my next column.

Now that I have two big international trade shows under my belt, I feel that I have found my place in the BPO industry. When I was in government I saw myself as a promoter of the country for good international publicity and image. And now, I find myself still a promoter of the Philippines but as an investment location.

I thank the wonderful delegates who participated in both trade shows. They were so helpful, cooperative, understanding, and fun to work with. I would like to express gratitude to the Philippine government, to the staff and leadership of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology in particular, not only for facilitating the release of the funds for the trips but also for its strong support of its leadership and staff . Most of all, I would like to thank my BPAP family which is always there to listen and help in times of difficulty.

It was a radical shift of paradigms for me in the last four months, transitioning from my past job as Press Undersecretary to my present role as the BPO industrys marketing director. But I will definitely continue waving the flag and will continue to serve the country through this industrybecause my new suit feels really great! .

BPAP external affairs director Martin Crisostomo, Avanti People Partnership president Nerissa Reyes and Glenn Lagcao of DPC Data

BY MarTin anTOniO S. CriSOSTOMOBPaP ExECuTivE dirECTOr fOr ExTErnal affairS

The Philippine delegation at the Philippine pavilion at Gartner

Crisostomo with Gartner Account Manager Craig Sherter

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

april - JUNE 2009 7Breakthroughs BPA/P Updates

We are pleased to inform you that last May 18 to 29, we were able to train 40 faculty members from 21 schools on the AdEPT courseware. We held the training session at the Jose Rizal University (JRU) Campus. Around 40 teachers came from all over Luzon, some from as far north as Tuguegarao and Masbate. They gave up two whole weeks of their summer vacation to attend this intensive training course. Was it worth it? Most definitelyaccording to the participants.

Now comes the hard part. All of these trainees are expected to roll out the classes in their respective universities and we hope to see a vast improvement in the English proficiency of their students. This we hope to achieve in the next few months.

Developing leadersOn the management development program, BPAP has partnered with the Harvard Business Publishing (HBP) to develop a series of leadership development programs for the BPOs. We launched a leadership development program for new managers last April 24. This is a competency-based curriculum using HBP content. The program uses a blended learning and participant-centered approach, where the participants go through a self-paced online learning module and a facilitated weekly discussion.

This program runs for a period of 10 weeks. There are currently two batches taking this course. The third batch will

start on July 6, 2009. We encourage team leaders, supervisors, and newly promoted managers to go through this course.

In addition to the leadership development program for new managers, BPAP and HBP will launch, in the first week of July, a leadership development program specifically designed for mid-level managers. This program is targeted for operations managers, account managers, program managers and the like. This is again a competency-based curriculum using HBP content. We are flying in Ms. Nikki Nyugen, a professor from University of San Francisco and UC Berkeley to conduct this 6-week program which will run from July until August. Again, we encourage everyone to send participants to this program.

The BPAP Career Caravan has now grown bigger with the participation of the Commission of Information and Communications Technology (CICT). This program has been renamed Convergence 2009. The official launch will be on June 29, 2009, at the CICT grounds and we will be travelling to our first city in July. In addition to the 10 Next Wave Cities, we will now include Cebu as part of the road show for Convergence 2009.

These are just some of the developments for the HR initiatives with more activities and programs planned for the coming months. We are counting on the unwavering support of the industry for these endeavors. .

Courses, Career Caravans and Convergence

BY JaMEa GarCiaBPaP ExECuTivE dirECTOr fOr TalEnT dEvElOPMEnT

For the first semester of the year, your BPAP talent development team has been hard at work ensuring that our talent initiatives are on track to meet our 2010 targets.

BPAP-O2P and TeamAsia Forum on Industry-Academe Skills Gap Provokes Heated Discussion

The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and Outsource2Philippines (O2P), in cooperation with TeamAsia, held a briefing entitled Delivering the Human Resource: Aligning Supply with Demand in Philippine Education on March 10, 2009, at the Ateneo Professional Schools in Rockwell, Manila. ExcelAsia Training and Development provided invaluable support as backed up by Ayala Land Inc. World Pacific also supported the event. BusinessWorld and Radio Partners helped promote the forum.

BPAP CEO Oscar Saez opened the program by putting into context the issues surrounding the supply of talent for the IT-BPO industry and its on-going efforts to work closely with the academe to match requirements. Frank Holz, CEO of O2P, presented the results of the survey that preceded the forum. Top-line survey results showed 82% of companies projecting positive job prospects for 2009, with about half expecting to increase their workforce by over 15%.

Danilo Reyes, who was then ending his pioneering stint as head of Sitels Philippine operations, presented the demand side of the talent equation with both the positive characteristics of Philippine graduates as well as the areas where curricula and teaching methods may need some adjustment to meet industry needs. In response, Father Bienvenido Nebres, S. J., President of Ateneo de Manila University, presented the programs of the Presidential Task Force for Education (PTFE) in bridging the skills gap. He reported that the PTFE works closely with several public and private organizations to develop road maps and partnerships to continuously

review and update the professional education curricula. Father Nebres then passed the lectern to Tata Medado, Managing Director of Asia Pacific College (APC), who described APCs program to coordinate screening and training for aspirants sponsored by the Quezon City government through the Far Eastern Universitys training program.

A lively discussion, moderated by TeamAsias managing director Michael Hamlin, ensued among panelists Rina Clamor (Accenture), Noel Duldulao (Sitel), Dr, Vincent Fabella (Jose Rizal University), Dr. Ester Garcia (University of the East), Barry Marshall (J. P. Morgan Chase), and Alejandro Melchor III (IBM Philippines). The panelists dissected the peculiar phenomenon of how, with just 100 hours of additional training, as many as 30% of applicants can be transformed from near-hires to actual hiresand why this is not more broadly achieved within the four years of undergraduate education. Many possible explanations were discussed such as training methods (lecture-based versus interactive), class time (1 hour, 3 times a week in college versus 2 weeks of full-time training), and the difficultly of changing traditional academic structures and mind sets. The discussion provoked many participants in the audience to pipe in with their own experiences, failures and successes, and suggestions for closing the skills gap.

Post-event evaluations showed that the event met the expectations of 98% of those who attended and 90% rated it very good or excellent; the common complaint was the lack of time to keep the discussion going. .

By Gillian Virata.

TeamAsia managing director Michael Hamlin (back to camera) moderates the lively discussion with panelists (from L-R): Dr. Ester Garcia of the University of the East (partly hidden), Dr, Vincent Fabella of Jose Rizal University, Alejandro Melchor III of IBM Philippines, Barry Marshall of J. P. Morgan Chase, Rina Clamor of Accenture, and Noel Duldulao of Sitel.

Ateneo President Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, S. J., presents an overview of The Philippine Main Education Highway

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

april - JUNE 20098 Breakthroughs

MTIAPI stages its 1st MT skills Challenge

Industry Report

Over 60 students from 16 different colleges and universities all over Metro Manila participated in the competition that aimed to promote medical transcription (MT) as a viable career for Filipino graduates.

The participating schools were: Arellano University, Asia Pacific College; Centro Escolar UniversityMakati; Centro Escolar UniversityManila; Colegio De San Juan De Letran; De La Salle UniversityLipa; FEATI University; J.P. Sioson Colleges, Inc.; Jose Rizal University; National College of Business and ArtsCubao; Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila; Technological University of the PhilippinesTaguig; Tomas Claudio Memorial College; Universidad de Manila; University of Santo Tomas; and the University of the Philippines.

The competition had two parts: the On-the-Spot Essay Writing Contest and the Transcription Skills Challenge. Participants were initially screened on November 25, 2008, at the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) in Diliman, Quezon City. Thirty-six essay-writing participants worked on the general topic Medical TranscriptionAn Alternative Global Career Suited to Filipino Professionals. Meanwhile, 28 participants of the transcription skills challenge competed for inclusion in the top 10 after the elimination round.

The awarding of winners for the essay-

writing contest and the final face-off of the Transcription Skills Challenge were held during the second day of the BPO Summit Philippines at Crowne Plaza Galleria in Pasig City. The final round was held at the Plenary Hall, where attendees of the MT tracks conference saw first-hand the complex but exciting work of a medical transcriptionist.

Winners of the On-the-Spot Essay Writing Contest were:Emil Karlo de la Cruz, University of Santo Tomas (first prize); Katherine Denise Queri, University of the Philippines (second prize); and Miriam Joy Tumamak, Jose Rizal University (third prize).

The finalists in the Transcription Skills Challenge were: Miriam Joy Tumamak, Jose Rizal University; Crisan Salagado, SPi; Myrna Suarez, DLSU Lipa; Charmaine Roque, JP Sioson Colleges; Corene Joi Generoso, CEU; Simonette Paragas, SPi; Andrew Agaton, UST; Romnick Dolores, Tomas Claudio Colleges; Maricor Villaluz, CEU; and Dave Edward Jandusay, FEATI.

Simonette Pragas of the SPi MT Training Center eventually won the first prize. Tumamak and Geroso won second and third prize, respectively.

Support for the competition from the students, academic institutions, and MTIAPI member companies makes a second staging in 2009 on a much larger scale very likely. .

The winners of the 1st MT Skills Challenge

Left: The participants of the essay writing competition spent hours developing their essays on a topic about a yet unfamiliar industry. Right: The transcription skills challengers went through a series of elimination rounds until the final top 10 were named. During the BPO Summit at Crowne Plaza, only three emerged as winners.

The Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines, Inc., (MTIAPI) successfully staged its first MT Skills Challenge last December 2008.

The Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) has embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign to showcase the sector as a choice IT & Outsourcing destination to the global markets by participating in a number of international conferences: The 18th Software Development Expo (SODEC) in Tokyo, Japan; CEBIT 2009 in Sydney,

Australia; and JavaOne in San Francisco, USA (upcoming as of press time). Since 1988, PSIA has been working with the government, academe, private sector, and other concerned stakeholders to further the objectives of its 140-strong membership in line with its goal to make the Philippines competitive in the software development services market worldwide. .

PSIA Conferences in Tokyo, Sydney, and San Francisco

Arup Maity of PSIA International Marketing Committee BlastAsia, Inc (1st from right); and BPAP external relations executive director Martin Crisostomo (2nd from left) are among the members of the Philippine delegation interviewed by the press at CEBIT Australia 2009.

The Philippine delegation led by CICT commissioner Monchito Ibrahim, PSIA president Ma. Cristina (Beng) Coronel, Japan market head Tae Abe-Abion (not in picture), PTIC-Tokyo representative Toshio Yambe and PSIA executive director Jo-Anne Loquellano pose in front of the Philippine pavilion at SODEC.

CICT commissioner Monchito Ibrahim and PSIA president Ma. Cristina (Beng) Coronel hand tokens of appreciation to Japan Users Association of Information Systems (JUAS) after an information session on Philippine IT & Outsourcing opportunities.

Arup Maity, CEO of BlastAsia and a member of PSIAs International Marketing Committee (left) and Diane Suico, PSIAs Marketing Program Director (right), with Robby Cannings of TRT

(center), a prospective client for IT outsourcing.

A CEO forum engages the CCAP stalwarts in CCAPs 2008 Conference and Expo (from l-to r): Dave Rizzo, Regional VP for Operations, Teleperformance; John Langford, EVP, ICT Group; Vic Endaya, President and CEO, Advanced Contact Solutions; Dan Reyes, Country Manager, Genpact Services LLC.; Benedict Hernandez, SVP - Philippine Operations, eTelecare Global Solutions; Maulikh Parekh, former SVP and Gen. Manager of TeleTech; Annie Reyes-Pineda, COO, Pacific Hub; and Raffy David, Director of Marketing & QA, Pilipinas Teleserv.

MAKATIMAY 28, 2009The contact center industry in the Philippines will continue to grow in 2009, despite the global

economic slowdown, based on the general consensus among members of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), the countrys official trade group for outsource and in-house contact centers.

Philippine Call Center Industry Expects Healthy Growth Amidst Economic SlowdownIndustry Event to Tackle Strategies to Generate Revenue Growth and Cost Savings

However, the challenge to achieve cost savings and new growth areas remains. These critical issues and strategies will be discussed during the upcoming CCAP Annual Call Center Conference & Expo 2009 with the theme Navigating Through the Global Crisis this July 15-16, 2009 at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City.

The CCAP Annual Call Center Conference & Expo 2009 is the flagship event of the contact center industy, which attracts around 6,000 executives, managers, supervisors, and agents of outsource and in-house contact centers. CCAP was established in October 2001 by seven founding member companies. Today, it counts 53 of the largest local and multinational contact centers in the country.

Now on its fifth run, the CCAP convention, exhibit, and job fair features more panel discussions with CEOs, analysts, economists, support sectors, and call center agents; 32 new conference topics on operations, HR,

technology, and career development; a new conference track for call center startups called Call Center 101 Plus; more booths at the expo with the latest products and services; and a bigger job fair with more job openings.

The conference sessions follow the theme with topics focused on generating revenues and cost efficiencies, such as Fueling growth through mergers and acquisitions, Recession-proof your call center, Impact of efficient supply chain management on your bottom line , Low cost and effective recruitment straegies, Tried-and-tested tactics for retaining your top people , Using technology to generating cost savings, New trends in call center automation, Motivating your team to achieve key metrics, and Work-life balance in a 24/7 world, among others. .

Interested parties may contact the CCAP Secretariat at tel. no: 889-7763 or telefax nos. 886-4407 and 844-8341 or email events@ccap.ph.

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

april - JUNE 2009 9Breakthroughs Industry ReportQuezon City Creating Jobs, Promoting Investment to Address Crisis

I n v e s t o r s b u s i n e s s forum focuses on local opportunities

Fast-developing Quezon City announced on May 11 that 5,000 jobs are now available in a range of industries there. The announcement followed the release of a Social Weather Station (SWS) survey indicating that 34.2% or 14 million adult Filipinos were not working and looking for jobs in the first three months of 2009, up from 27.9% and 11 million in the previous quarter.

Many of the jobs being created in Quezon City are in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry and support sectors. According to Jones Lang La Salle Leechiu country head David Leechiu, 44 BPOs presently have operations in the city, making it the third-largest BPO center in the country by number of facilities. Quezon Citys combined BPOs provide services for clients primarily in North America from 18,000 seats.

But the number of BPO jobs available is expected to increase further as a result of an aggressive campaign to BPO investors undertaken by the city government. In a survey by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and Outsource2Philippines early this year, 68% of respondents said they expect to increase their workforces this year by at 6 % or more; meanwhile, 49% said their workforces will expand between 11% to more than 200% in 2009.

Quezon Citys effort to recruit BPO investors was apparent in a recent business forum organized by the mayors office with the assistance of strategic marketing communications firm TeamAsia. The briefing for senior BPO executives focused on Quezon Citys efforts to become what

it calls the future perfect cybercity. Featured speakers included government officials responsible for creating a BPO-friendly environment and top officials of BPOs with operations in the Philippines. The 120 delegates in attendance included prospective investors.

Pioneering BPO hubAccording to Mayor Feliciano Sonny Belmonte Jr., however, Quezon City is not only creating jobs. It is also training Filipinos to fill them.

Indeed, at the core of the citys investment promotion program is its people. Because BPOs locate in attractive labor markets, Quezon City provides specialized training to prepare residents for BPO jobs. In recent years, Quezon City has evolved into a thriving business hub with government-built and -supported infrastructure, reinforced security, and affordable housing opportunities. These features, said Mayor Belmonte, attract young professionals and investors alike.

Not surprisingly, the city played a pioneer role in the development of the BPO industry in the Philippines. Quezon Citys Eastwood City Cyberpark was the first BPO-ICT (information and communications technology) hub to be developed in the country. At present, the city has 28 ICT parks registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA). It was ranked the number one most competitive city in Metro Manila in 2007 by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center and seventh in the 2007 ranking of Asian Cities of the Future, a comparative evaluation published by the London Financial Times.

Business executives including Sykes Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific Rim Michael Henderson and IBM Philippines president James Velasquez

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano (Sonny) Belmonte, Jr. with Quezon City officials and industry experts at the Quezon City ICT business forum. (Top L-R) Michael Alan Hamlin, Managing Director, TeamAsia; Jonathan de Luzuriaga, Industry Affairs Director, Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P); James Velasquez, Country General Manager and President, IBM Philippines, Inc.; Honorable Mayor Feliciano (Sonny) Belmonte, Jr., City Mayor, Quezon City; Commissioner Mochito Ibrahim, Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT); Jose Rainier A. Reyes, Head of Offshoring and Outsourcing Industry, Globe Telecom; Manny Sabalza, Assistant City Administrator, Quezon City and Head of the ICT/BPO Task Force. (Bottom L-R) Michael Henderson, Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific Rim, Sykes; Police Senior Sup. Elmo DG San Diego Sr., Police District Director, Quezon City; John Castelo, VP-Business Development, Araneta Center Inc.; Tunde Fafunwa, Chief Consultant and CEO, BayanTel; Jose E.D. Lloren Jr., Director for Asset Management, Convergys; David Leechiu, Country Head, Jones Lang LaSalle Leechiu

SPECial rEPOrT

commended the city administrations efforts to provide an ideal training, technology, security, and infrastructure environment for existing and future investors.

At the forum, Belmonte returned the compliment, thanking all the speakers and panelists of this forum for their support of Quezon Citys endeavor to develop and promote our city as an ideal business location.

He added, We are determined to sustain our position as the most competitive city in Metro Manila and the Philippines and provide our people abundant and rewarding job opportunities even during this time of economic crisis.

A panel discussion, moderated by BPAP executive director for industry affairs Jonathan de Luzuriaga, discussed the capabilities of Quezon City as a BPO hub.

TeamAsia provided the overall event management for the investor briefing, from conceptualization, production design, and program generation to demand generation and on-site event management. We were honored to partner with Mayor Belmonte in this initiative to encourage investors to locate in Quezon City as it seeks to extend its leadership in the BPO industry, said Monette Iturralde-Hamlin, President and Founder of TeamAsia. .

Key IssuesBPO PROBLEMS TO SOLVE High absence rates Growing medical plan costs High employee turnoverBPO OPPORTUNITIES TO SEIZE Optimizing current spending on annual medical exams

and onsite medical clinics Improving employee health profiles with investments

in health risk management programs to reduce burnout and improve customer service

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

april - JUNE 200912 BreakthroughsInsightsThe opinions expressed and the information provided here come from the individual contributors of the respective companies, and must not be taken as official statements from BPAP.

India Philippines

Table 1. Key health issues in the BPO industry

Improving your Bottom line Through Health risk ManagementBY aMY lavErOCK

and EMMY navarrO

Time to measure the impact of workforce health on the organization

Every industry has its health risks. These risks vary depending on organizational culture, job nature, and work environment. While manufacturing jobs come with the risk of muscle, bone, and joint injuries, white-collar jobs including those at BPOs have unique health risks that can include poor ergonomics, sleep disturbance, and the one that we are all familiar with: stress.

We are not only exposed to risks at work but also in everyday life, whether it is from eating fast food, a lack of exercise, personal stress, or a family history of certain illnesses. The typical young demographic makeup and rapid rise in income levels among BPO workers have meant that many in the industry feel immortal and may dismiss the development of a healthy lifestyle as irrelevant. Unfortunately, when we look at many employee health profiles in the Philippines, we see disease profiles of middle-aged individuals in relatively young populations.

The Philippines is not alone; we see similar issues in other markets. Lets compare the health issues in Indias BPO industry with the Philippines for example. (see table 1)

HR professionals in the BPO space cannot eliminate all health risks that may be associated with BPO work. These risks, based on anecdotal information from BPOs, may include sleep disturbance, lack of exercise, intake of stimulants (e.g., caffeine, nicotine, alcohol), and stress. However, HR professionals can influence

the speed and extent to which their organization develops solutions to help employees understand and better manage their risks. Employers who do manage organizational and individual health risks will develop a competitive advantage.

From a health perspective, BPOs in the Philippines have two opportunities that dont exist in India. First, while unscheduled absence is common in the Philippines, it is less of an issue in India where pay for time off for illness is less prevalent. This means that by tackling the issue of health-related absence, employers in the Philippines can make great strides in reducing labor costs.

Second, the Philippine government has placed an onus on employers to fund and deliver health services like making available medical practitioners on site as well as annual medical exams. If properly designed and delivered, these services can actually improve employee health and hence deliver a competitive advantage to the business, at no additional cost to the company.

It is time to ask: to what extent are health risks affecting your organization?

Do you know what portion of your employee population smoke? How many of your workers

have hypertension? How many feel positive about the upcoming six months? How are these factors affecting employee attendance and attention? Does employee behavior translate into a poor attitude toward customers, which means less queries resolved on the first call? Are these the factors that are driving the use of your health plan and the visits to your on-site clinic?

Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plan costs have been increasing by 30%100% over the past three years, driven mainly by increased utilization and the underlying disease drivers in both employees and their dependents.

The necessary stepsDeveloping a key set of metrics monitored regularly by senior management and quantifying the impact of health on customer service, productivity, benefit costs, and retention levels will become key talent management activities into the future.

So how can BPO employers in the Philippines tackle these issues to give them a competitive advantage in the global BPO

market? Once the baseline metrics are in place, they can take the following steps to manage the health of their employee population:

1. Take an inventory of your current health spending. How much are you currently spending on medical insurance, pre-employment medicals, annual medicals, wellness, vaccinations, etc.? Which of these are generating ROI? Are there gaps relative to employee needs?

2. Focus on the top two or three health risks. If the health risks facing your organization are a high consumption of carbohydrates and stimulants, sedentary lifestyles, and sleep disturbance, it is advisable to provide coaching to employees on how to manage these risks.

3. Look at ways to monitor and address organizational stress levels. A certain level of pressure is needed to maximize productivity, but too much pressure can result in fatigue, ill health, and burnout, with a corresponding drop in productivity.

Taking these steps will save you medical costs and improve the health and productivity of your workforce. It will also help you differentiate your employment value proposition and continue to attract and engage precious talent. .

About the authors: Amy Laverock is a Principal and the Benefits Consulting Leader for the health and benefits business of Mercer in Asia Pacific. Emmy Navarro is Senior Vice President and Business Leader for Marsh Risk Advisers & Insurance Brokers Philippines health and benefits practice. Marsh and Mercer are wholly owned subsidiaries of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

Weak Office Demand in Asia Pacific Leads to Lease Incentives18 May 2009, Hong KongColliers International has recently released the Asia Pacific Office Market OverviewMay 2009. The quarterly report covers 26 locations and includes the analysis of the office market trend in 1Q 2009.

Despite initial signs of stabilization in various financial markets around the world in 1Q 2009, the volume of investment, exports, and imports in the Asia-Pacific regions private sector continued to contract. This slowdown in global economic activity significantly affected demand for office space in the region.

Colliers International manager of research Ramon Jose Aguirre adds other reasons for the slowdown: delayed expansion plans, review of operations, and increase in supply of office space.

He also notes that the Philippines office market is still faring well compared with our counterparts in Hong Kong and Singapore where office rental rates have gone down by around 40%50% since the middle of last year. This is because the main demand driver [the BPO industry] for the local office segment remains relatively resilient.

Throughout the region, tenants responded during their lease renewal in 1Q 2009 by negotiating for lower rentals, downsizing floor area requirements, downgrading to second-tier developments, or a combination of the above. Meanwhile, the number of tenants planning to sublet their excess space due to the contraction in business requirements notably increased.

Seeing the weakening occupational demand, many landlords were willing to offer competitive lease terms to new tenants such as rent-free periods or cash subsidies

toward fit-out costs, noted George McKay, Managing Director, Corporate Services of Colliers International, Asia Pacific Region. In what is becoming a more competitive market to maintain and attract tenant demand, average office rentals in the region registered a drop of 4% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) during 1Q 2009. Rentals in Hong Kong and Singapore declined by as much as 15.4% QoQ and 21.8% QoQ, respectively, in 1Q 2009.

On the sales front in 1Q 2009, institutions and real estate investment funds, which have been the most common buyers of large properties in the past few years, stayed on the sidelines or waited for better market entry points to emerge. A moderate number of owner-occupiers and private investors were interested in buying quality, but mainly mid-priced, office developments.

Due to the sustained global economic consolidation, the occupational side of the real estate market in Asia Pacific is expected to remain relatively weak in the coming quarters of 2009, said McKay. However, the anticipated beginning of relaxation in banks lending attitudes toward commercial real estate is expected to serve as a positive stimulus to the current downturn. Therefore, the pace of decline in both rental and capital values is expected to taper off during the second half of 2009.

Colliers Macaulay Nicolls Inc. (CMN), operating as Colliers International, is a leading global real estate services company that provides a full range of services to real estate occupiers, developers, and investors worldwide. The organizations 12,700 employees span the globe in 294 offices in 61 countries. Services include brokerage, property management, hotel investment sales and consulting, corporate services, valuation, consulting and appraisal services, project management, mortgage banking and research. .

ACPI Welcomes its New Board for 2009-2011The Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc., (ACPI) voted its new set of officers for 2009-2011 in general elections held at the University of the Philippines Technohub in Quezon City last March 28.

ACPIs new President, Rowena Weng Bagadion, is the Chief Executive Officer of Media Farm, Inc., a global company that has been providing e-learning, animation, and IT outsourcing services to clients from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Asia Pacific since 2000. Currently, Bagadion is aggressively exploring the Spanish and Latin American markets. (See Exec Profile Ed.)

Supporting Bagadion as ACPI Vice President is Nestor Palabrica, General Manager of one of the biggest animation companies in the country, TOEI Animation. Palabrica, who was ACPIs President from 2001-2003, has been serving as the associations vice president since 2007.

Palabrica obtained his mechanical engineering degree from the University of San Agustin in Iloilo and started his professional career as a Training Assistant for Engineering Equipment, Inc. (EEI). When EEI and TOEI Animation Corporation merged, he became Group Supervisor. In 1994, he was appointed Assistant Vice President for Operations of EEI-TOEI Animation Corporation. When the company became known as TOEI Animation Philippines, Inc., Palabrica was named General Manager.

ACPIs elected Secretary is Peter Tan Carrillo,

Studio Manager and Business Development Manager for Interactive Arts Services Manila, Inc., a U.S.-based firm that operates its production division in the Philippines. Carrillo has more than 20 years of advertising experience, setting up an advertising firm that launched successful campaigns in brand and image building for clients that included known personalities in the Philippine political arena.

Finally, given the task to supervise the councils financial status is Erwin Escubio, Director for Finance and Business Development of Cutting Edge Productions, Inc., the company responsible for producing the first Filipino fully digital animated flick, Dayo sa Mundo ng Elementalia. A chemical engineering graduate with an MBA from the University of the Philippines, Escubio has worked as Project Manager for several NGOs, state agencies (both foreign and local), and associations, among them the National Centennial Commission, Canadian International Development Agency, Provincial Government of Bulacan, Barasoain Center for Innovative Education, Personnel Management Association of the Philippines, and Ford Foundation.

Also joining ACPIs board of directors are Father Danilo Isidro of Ateneo de Naga University, Richard Padilla of Challenge Systems, Inc., Benjie Marasigan of De La Salle-College of St. Benilde, Mike Torres of Eacomm Corporation, Ricky Orellana of Mowelfund Film Institute, Eric Tansingco of Take One Animation, and Grace Dimaranan of Top Peg Animation, who served as ACPIs President from 2007 to 2009. .

ACPIs new president: Rowena Weng Bagadion of Media Farm, Inc

ACPIs vice president, Nestor Palabrica

ACPIs new secretary, Peter Tan Carrillo

ACPIs new head of finance, Erwin Escubio

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

april - JUNE 2009 13Breakthroughs InsightsMyth-Busting Call Center Assessments

BY haYlEY MCCarThY and STEvEn finCh

well while Candidate 2 would probably fail (because of fillers and errors in prepositions and tenses).

The problem with counting errors is that it doesnt take into account the candidates overall communicative competency. For example, while poor communicators often stick to safe, simple structures (answer 1), better communicators will attempt complex expressions and vocabulary, sometimes making errors, in order to communicate more effectively (answer 2).

This very popularbut very flawedapproach of using error counting to assess proficiency is in dire need of revision if the Philippines is to continue setting the standard for BPO. Ultimately, poor communication equals poor customer experience

Myth no. 2: Pre-screening by using automated voice tests or casual telephone-interview staff saves money.While voice recognition software is highly advanced, it cannot measure communication ability. Because of the rigid requirements of these kinds of tests, spontaneous communication cannot be measured and could even mean you achieved a lower score. The software is more suited to karaoke machines than job applications. Unfortunately, speaking loudly with the right intonation at the right times does not necessarily mean you are a successful agent!

Moreover, research done by Dr. Jane Lockwood, a leading expert on call center assessments, shows that lower proficiency assessors are more likely to reject good candidates. This means that if your phone screen staff are not highly proficient, you could be losing the best candidates before they even enter your building.

And the reason why all this costs you more? Unreliable assessments lower your conversion rates because they reject viable candidates and raise the cost because tests are charged on a per

head basis. Additionally, more resources are needed to upskill weaker candidates who were inaccurately hired.

Myth no. 3: Accent and grammar are the keys to communicative competence. Grammar provides the building blocks to language and a successful call center agent needs to be comprehensible to provide service on the phones. But it doesnt end there. From the point of view of a customer, a Western accent and perfect grammar will never make up for poor service (which often comes out of poor skills in listening and explaning and lack of cultural awareness,).

Would you rather have perfect grammar or perfect service? According to Dr. Sue Hood, a world expert in applied linguistics, subject-verb agreement, prepositions, minor consonant errors (such as th) and fillers (such as um and er) do NOT typically cause communication and rapport breakdown in call center interactions.

However, according to research conducted by Ma. Lourdes S. Bautista of De La Salle University, as well as Dr. Lockwood and Dr. Gail Forey, the following DO commonly cause communication and rapport breakdown: misuse of pronouns, misuse of modality (saying would instead of will), and lack of intercultural awareness and discourse competence (no clear logical flow).

What does your assessment system test? Myth no. 4: Businesses only need number scores for assessments.All call centers need numbers generated from communication assessments to work with benchmarks. For example: account X requires a competency rating of 3.5, but this candidate only has 3.0 so he needs training for 75 hours.

But his is not a one-time test! Your agents will be continually developing, supported by trainers and coaches. What better use for assessments than to have detailed competency

diagnoses that will help you provide targeted upskilling throughout their tenure?

Myth no. 5: Dif ferent departments need different assessments for communication. The best and most efficient way to address CSATS problems is for all departments to use the same assessment framework so that, while each department may use it differently, the organization is streamlined along a common approach. Imagine the benefits in efficiency and impact if quality assurance can accurately identify the causes of low CSATS and if these problems can be addressed by coaching-driven solutions (coaching agents on the identified problem areas), training-driven solutions (targeting your curriculum to more effectively meet the needs of the account), and recruitment-driven solutions (hiring people with the communication profiles required).

This myth-busting expos ends with the story of an old lady who bought a parrot.