breakthroughs issue 1

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINESwww.bpap.org

MAY - JULY 2007 �Breakthroughs

MAY - JULY 2007 • VoL. 1 - No. 1 • 16 PAges • FRee

BPO Roadmap Plots Philippines Direction for 2010

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By Dahl Bennett

THE past five years have seen a steady and solid growth in the country’s BPO industry and sub-sec-tors (back-office operations, medical transcription, software development, animation, contact centers, etc.) enough to make potential investors take a sec-ond look at the Philippines as a rising hub for BPO-related services.

From 2001-2005, there was a dramatic 40-50 percent growth in the industry with employment in-creasing by more than double from 2004 (100,500) to 2006 (237,000). Such growth shows the Philippines is on its way to becoming one of the major players in the global BPO industry that has an estimated ad-dressable market of $300 billion.

Plotting the “roadmaP”“There is something big here

for the Philippines in terms of par-ticipation. So the BPA/P started getting more organized which is a better way of telling the whole world about our industry,” says Os-car Sañez, BPA/P Chief Executive Officer.

With India as the benchmark—as it has the largest slice of the pie globally with 46 percent share – BPA/P, with its 174 member firms and four associations, in November last year collectively “hatched” the need to be more united in their vi-sion for the industry.

From this agreement the “road-map” was born with Sañez at the helm. The roadmap—which is de-tailed in the BPA/P paper entitled “Driving Breakthrough Growth in BPO/IT-Services” -- is anchored on two core initiatives to be able to realize its potentials: (1) Develop “Roadmap 2010” to enable break-through growth; and (2) Build a

International ICT Awards Honor Top BPO Companies

It was an award meant to honor the outstanding accomplishments and major contributions of the major players and leaders of the Information and Communications technology (ICt) industry. Organized by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, it also intended to showcase that businesses and people in the Philippines could compete in the larger global arena.

thus, last March 1 at the Renaissance Hotel in Makati City, the International ICt Awards gave recognition to firms, executives, workers, and groups that made a huge impact on the Philippine business sector in 2006. the BPO industry was well represented

as several members won in the following categories: BPO Company of the Year, Accenture Inc.; Best New BPO Locator of the Year, Dell Philppines; Best Mid-Sized BPO Company of the Year, Leverage Systems technologies; BPO Employer of the Year, Convergys Philippines Services; Fastest Growing BPO Company of the Year, teletech; Most Innovative BPO Company of the Year, transprocure Corporation; ICt Contributor of theYear (Public Sector) Department of trade & Industry; (Private Sector) Bong Borja.

the panel of judges were as follows: Belen Bonifacio of the

janisdeiabad2007Several companies from India have already made the trek to the

Philippines, and others are expected to follow as they look outside the well-established Makati and Ortigas enclaves to set up their tier-2 facilities for their call centers.

Low wages, one of the reasons why India has drawn in investors, is becoming a thing of the past, as salaries of BPO employees are be-coming higher and getting to be more competitive. As a result, BPO firms that refuse to be saddled by the increasing costs of scaling up are looking for less expensive alternatives. The Philippines, already recognized as a BPO center in Asia and a fast-rising player in the market, is becoming the destination of choice.

Relocation is not only the prime reason. Some BPOs in India may retain their primary facilities in that country, but outsource the sup-port services to the Philippines.

Establishing a base in the archipelago is generally regarded as easier. Neither does scaling in the National Capital Region’s business districts rack up the same huge costs as in the more populated Indian cities.

Some companies which have effected a transfer to the Philippines, an acquisition, a partnership with a local firm, or the creation of a new facility include Infosys BPO, HTMT, IBM Daksh, and GenPact.

The Philippines is not the only competitor in town. Industry in-siders have said that investors wanting to set up shop for their tier-2 facilities are studying the advantages of doing so in China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

Philippines Attracting More BPOs as India’s Wages and Infrastructure Costs Increase

Company Profiles:

B&m global Services and ShellShared Services pp.14-15

Executive Profile:

BPa/P Ceo oscar Sañez p. 9

WHAT’s INSIDE

In the Spotlight:

Back Office Outsourcing p. 12

Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information technology (CEDF-It); Celeste Ilagan of the Board of Investments (BOI); Mitch Locsin of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P); Don Felbaum of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; Henry Schumacher of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP); Sean Georget of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines; and Richard Mills of the International ICt Awards Committee for 2007 and the Chairman of Chalré Associates.

Business Processing Association PHILIPPINES www.bpap.org

MAY - JULY 2007� Breakthroughs

BPO Roadmap Plots Philippine Direction for 2010

Continuation from page 1

“beefed up” BPA/P management team to implement “Roadmap 2010” and coordi-nate with stakeholders.

“The idea we played around with is ‘What place should the Philippines be in the whole industry?’” shares Sañez.

As early as 2005, the Philippines was still behind countries like India, China, and Malaysia in terms of its potential to make it big in the global BPO industry.

But as of 2007, Sañez notes, Booz Al-len Hamilton consulting firm in their re-search of Fortune 500 companies in terms of outsourcing location preference placed the Philippines No. 2 against India particu-larly in sub-sectors of contact centers and back-office operations.

StrengthS and weakneSSeSThe Philippines’ fertile BPO/IT

environment is based on a number of factors, the most important of which are cost competitiveness, quality of service, and sustainability of talent.

The Philippines is at par with the world’s major BPO players in the aforementioned areas but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. If the industry is determined to meet its target goals by 2010, then the challenges must be addressed, says Sañez.

Among the serious supply side constraints cited in the BPA/P paper are: insufficient quantity of suitable and willing talent to fuel growth, insufficient quantity of suitable space to achieve 2010 goals, and persistent perception of the Philippines as a high-risk environment.

Sañez stresses the need for more quality and quantity of our workforce. “We may produce a lot of graduates but it may not be the right skills. There’s a need to have a good matching of supply and demand here so the challenge for us is to be able to produce enough qualified candidates—those with the right IT skills and language proficiency,” he says.

“What we need to do is have an initiative in all the key industry areas that will help solve those issues. If we don’t act as an industry body, we will not be able to grow,” he warns.

By the year 2010, the industry hopes to increase its total global market share from 4 percent to 10 percent and reach a revenue target of $10-12 billion. In terms of manpower, it foresees hiring around 150,000 annually.

BPa/P and the government hand in hand

Elaborating on the rationale of the roadmap, Sañez points out that more than just a destination or set of goals, it serves as a guide in showing the challenges, the roadblocks, and potential bridges that may not be open to the industry for it to reach its destination. The BPA/P, he adds, needs to work with the different government arms to address different areas of concern.

“Example, we do face challenges for qualified talents, so what do we need to do to increase recruiting yield? It may require that we work with the Department of Education or Commission on Higher Education in building a new curriculum or raising standards of education. It may be initiatives that will require us to work with the Board of Investments or it may just be about helping us change the image of our country so we can attract more investments,” he explains.

getting down to BuSineSSAt the moment, Sañez is in the thick of

recruiting around 12 people to make up the team that will help develop and execute the roadmap.

“One thing different about this team is that I will be hiring professionals who may or may not be from this industry but who are experts in fields like marketing, human resources, or advertising.”

Sañez knows whereof he speaks as he himself is not from the BPO industry. A former country manager for Procter &

Gamble in Australia and New Zealand who left the corporate world to do volunteer work, Sañez was offered the CEO position at BPA/P only this year. “I wanted a job that had something to do with social development and my work now fits the bill.”

The development of the roadmap, Sañez estimates, would take around four to five months. “As we go along we’ll make changes and adjustments. We will be acting just like a business management team doing the whole cycle of planning and executing, controlling and revitalizing the goal. For all we know by next year we have higher goals depending on the opportunities we see.”

Describing the BPO industry as a sunrise industry, Sañez says that there’s no doubt, the Philippines can make it to where it wants to be but stresses the importance of being organized; otherwise, “we might miss the boat and miss a lot of opportunities.” This is where the crucial role of BPA/P comes in – as an intervening body that will take care of the needs of industry that are above the levels of concern of the BPO and IT companies.

2010 and BeyondBeyond 2010, Sañez is optimistic that

new businesses will evolve from what the industry is now. “In the future, there can be a lot of real-time work like a marketing or design team in a conference in the States with a draftsman based in Manila, and a creative team in Japan all working together, adding their inputs to the work in real-time. That’s higher value for work because that’s real-time decision-making enabled by technology and leveraged by capabilities of different cultures around the world. We can participate in that.”

Sañez adds that what is happening right now is just a small part of what the industry can potentially become. “There are things beyond what we see right now. There’s going to be a lot more,” he assures.

Concerns that must be addressed:• Will the Philippines continue to attract

investments?• Specific strategy to propel the industry up the knowledge intensity ladder• Government support for rapid development of infrastructure and personnel• Skills of workers must be matched with

the actual job requirements

Strengths, Weaknesses, Challenges

[Source: An Analysis of the Philippine Business Process Outsourcing Industry, ERD Working Paper No. 3, written by Nedelyn Magtibay-Ramos, Gemma Estrada, and Jesus Felipe. The ERD Working Paper Series is a forum for research and policy studies undertaken in or behalf of the Asian Development Bank.]

Manpower strengths: • High literacy rate (97 percent in the

National Capital Region, 89 percent in the rest of the country)

• Familiarity with Western culture• Competent English-language skills• College education • Lower salaries compared to other off-

shore destinations

Manpower weaknesses: • Low hiring rate of 5 percent• High attrition rate of 15 percent

COmPAny news

Training is finally getting the attention that is due, with its biggest recognition to date coming from the government in the form of “Training for Work Scholarships”. Industry players agree that the HR pool surrounding BPO operations is close to exhaustion, and the options to truly grow while not poaching other agents are somewhat limited. To continue to grow the industry, operations must decentralize their facilities or reach out and train a workforce to meet a minimum employable standard.

There is a lot of buzz as to what is the best way to train, and there are still many ques-tions that surround training and where the importance should lie. Previously an integral portion of numerous training programs was Accent Training as opposed to today where Accent Neutralization seems to be at the forefront of training programs.

According to Moi Lee-Rodriguez, training manager of PeopleSupport, “Call centers essentially operate on the basis of ‘aiming to please’. Depending on the markets they serv-ice, local call centers may do some accent training to acquire British or American accents. Training would depend on the needs of the client - if the client requires customer service representatives to sound like native speakers.”

PeopleSupport does Accent Neutralization over Accent Training with the objective to reduce strong native accents.

Worked into any discussion on accents these days is the difference between the Indian accent and the Filipino accent. It is not secret that a lot of voice-related BPO services are packing up operations in India and moving them to the Philippines. A very good example is Citibank which met a lot of resistance in their Australian operations due to the Indian ac-cent. Citibank is by no means the only company looking to the Philippines as an exit from India due to accent-related issues. More have come and more will continue to follow.

The importance of accent training was initially important, but there has been a shift. Less attention is placed on purging the accent but training people’s conversational skills. Call centers especially those engaged in outbound campaigns are looking more to people’s confidence and clarity as opposed to their accent.

Additionally it is important to note that culturally there is less of a divide between Filipinos and their Western neighbors. This can be attributed to the country’s history and to their understanding of Western culture. Filipinos have worked around the world for years and that fact alone has truly had an affect on their ability to adapt to customers from differ-ent areas of the globe.

For this industry to survive and more importantly thrive, there needs to be importance placed on the training and more specifically English fluency, not just in the short-term but in the long-term educational makeup of this country.

What’s In An Accent?By BranDon Miller ([email protected])

& Mark thaler ([email protected]) of eDulynx CorpWith ContriButions froM riCharD Mills anD Moi lee-roDriguez

IT is no secret that we are at an exciting crossroads in the Philippine BPO industry. We have all seen the articles for years heralding this sun-shine industry, but it now seems that there’s a shift in the news of the day to the evolution of training.

BPA/P Next General Membership MeetingWhen: June 25, 2007 Sponsored by:


MAY - JULY 2007� BreakthroughsCOmPAny news

SPi #4 Top BPO Provider and #5 in Human Capital Development, Says Global Survey

IN 2006, SPi was named no. 9 among top best-performing business providers and no. 10 in the development of human capital, categories listed in a top 100 global list of the interna-tional community’s most dynamic service providers. In March of this year, it zoomed up its ranking to land no. 4 and no. 5 in those categories.

the Global Services 100 list compiled their choices from a roster of 150 companies which were then ranked according to feedback given them in a 250-data point system that graded them in four major categories such as operations, service of-ferings, client relationships, and human resource policies that spot leaders in all areas of business process outsourcing, It out-sourcing, engineering, and customer care.

SPi is a frequent contender in awards and recognitions

given by the industry. Some of the awards it has won include: the top provider of Publishing & Strategic Content Outsourc-ing Services, and top 10 provider of Document Process Out-sourcing Services Black Book of Outsourcing, 2006; and top ediscovery providers, tech Survey of top 200 US Law Firms, American Lawyer Magazine, 2006.

SPi’s President and CEO Ernesto Cu said of their leader-ship position in the Global 100 list: “this ranking is a rec-ognition of our commitment to making SPi the Employer of Choice, Vendor of Choice, and Investment of Choice. Being ranked as a top-tier BPO provider is a testament to our capa-bilities, scale, and expertise, and it reflects the high caliber of service we routinely offer our clients as well as our ongoing investment in the development of our people.”

IPVG’s Partnership With HK Company Brings $40M Investment and 5,000 New Seats

INFORMAtION technology company IPVG Corp. ties up with PCCW teleservic-es (Hongkong) Ltd., in a venture that will lead to a projected installation of 3,000 to 5,000 call center seats and an investment of $40 million in the next three to four years.

IPVG’s exclusive licensing and manage-ment agreement with PCCW, the biggest call center operator in Greater China which has 11

branches in the region, makes its IP-Contact Center the sole provider servicing the English-speaking requirements of clients of PCCW teleservices and IPVG.

IPVG’s call center operations is based in Makati’s RCBC Plaza. the company intends to establish another facility to manage the requirements of future clients. Currently, IPVG is servicing the airline, customer rela-

tions, hotel and leisure, and industry and finance industries, among others.

The first 1,000 seats of the projected 3,000-5,000 will be set up this year.

IPVG Chief Executive Enrique Gonzales said that he expects the call center operations “to be a major contributor to the company’s revenues” with an expected 23 percent share in 2007 and 35-40 percent from 2008-2009.

Accenture Projects Greater

Growth for Manila Center

ACCENtURE expects its Philippine office to expand into becoming its third largest global delivery center by the mid-dle of 2007. The US-based outsourcing company’s seven facilities in the country have a total of 10,000 contact center seats which are estimated to grow into 15,000 by August of this year.

Chief Operating Officer Stephen Rohled-er unveiled these plans during last April’s International Information and Communi-cations technology Awards where Accen-ture was awarded the Philippines’ Business Processing (BPO) Company of the Year.

Accenture’s Manila operations serv-ice its other branches in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germa-ny, and Asia with core competencies in application outsourcing, infrastructure outsourcing, BPO, and contact center op-erations. Its biggest facility is the 5,000-seater Robinsons Cybergate tower II in Mandaluyong City.

Fortune Magazine Names Convergys One of the US’ Most Admired Companies for the 7th Consecutive Year

CONVERGYS’ seventh-year winning streak continues as Fortune Magazine cites it as one of “America’s Most Admired Companies,” a post it has held since 2000.

the international giant which outsources customer care, human resources, and billing services won high marks for Social Responsibility, Financial Soundness, Innovation, and People Management. It was included among Fortune’s Most

Admired Companies annual list for the Diversified Outsourcing category.

the list of Most Admired Companies was compiled by the Hay Group, Fortune’s survey partner, which asked industry leaders belonging to the highest echelons to select the winners within their respective industries based on eight categories including investment value and social responsibility.

Jim Orr, chairman and chief executive officer of Convergys, said of the award, “For seven consecutive years, Convergys’ position as one of America’s Most Admired Companies has served as a tribute to the dedication of our employees and their intense focus on supporting our clients every day. I am especially pleased that Convergys received high ratings for Social Responsibility, Financial

Soundness, Innovation, and People Management. these are important corporate values proudly supported by our 74,000 employees supporting clients in more than 70 countries around the world.”

Twenty-seven other firms in Fortune’s top 50 Companies and seven in the publication’s top 20 Most Admired are Convergys’ clients.



NeW PrODuCTSThe AsPecT PerfOrmAnce mAnAgemenT frOm AsPecT sOfTWAre, Inc.: an application that uses dashboards, notifications, and workflows to help align con-tact center operational performance with strategic corporate goals. It provides key performance indicators (KPIs) and a structured process environment to drive improvement in business results for customer service, collections, and sales and telemarketing. Aspect Performance Management can automatically pull data from call center systems and busi-ness applications into a single platform for reporting and taking action. From this platform, it delivers personalized dashboards for everyone in the operation through a thin cli-ent interface, as well as provides complete management re-porting, alerting, and task automation.

q q q

PlAnned WImAx rOllOuT In The PhIlIPPInes: A $12M wireless broadband infrastructure, to be built by Pa-cific Internet Ltd. initially in the Greater Metro-Manila area. The plan includes multiple wireless technologies to support its core business: leased lines, broadband Internet access, and other IP-based services mainly for corporate custom-ers. Pacific Internet Philippines has recently been assigned the 15MHz spectrum in the 2.5-2.7 GHz band, suitable for Broadband Wireless Access for business customers and professionals.

q q qBPm suITe, sOluTIOn Offered By e-PldT TO-geTher WITh glOBAl 360: a powerful application that provides organizations with the tool to consistently process documents faster and, if necessary, allows participants to work in collaboration. It provides the tool to allocate work to the right people at the right time, and also helps organiza-tions build an enterprise wide digital view of its documents. The Global 360 BPM Suite application is comprised of three components: the Filestore repository which provides image, document, and content management capabilities, managing any document type used by the system; the Casefolder, a dynamic virtual folder that aggregates documents, tasks, and subfolders relevant to a case, project or customer; and the Casefolder Task Management which allows tasks and deadlines to be assigned to case participants.

PArTNerSHIPS AND ACquISITIONSglOBAl cyBersOfT Inc.-BAyAnTrAde: Global Cy-bersoft Inc., a company specialized in Software Sourcing Services for different domains such as Factory Automation for Semiconductor, Embedded Systems for Mobile Devices, and Automobiles and ERP business application has established a partnership with BayanTrade, the premier Knowledge Process Outsourcing service provider with domain expertise in Supply Chain Management in the Philippines. The partnership be-tween Global CyberSoft and BayanTrade will complement each other’s existing businesses and further boost the growth in their SAP businesses. Global CyberSoft will provide the needed resources for implementation while BayanTrade will focus on consultancy. Moreover, Global CyberSoft will provide low-cost technicians for BayanTrade’s BPO business.

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cAll cenTer AcAdemy’s (ccA) sevenTh frAn-chIse: Call Center Academy (CCA), the first and largest call center training school in the country with over 3,000 graduates, recently awarded its seventh franchise to Kris-telle Lyne Ong. The new CCA center is set to open in Cebu. Aside from CCA Cebu, CCA now has six new training cent-ers – CCA Pampanga (Angeles City), CCA Malolos, (Bula-can), CCA Sta. Rosa (Laguna), CCA Shaw (Mandaluyong) CCA Las Piñas and CCA Recto (Manila).

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SPi AcquIres sPrIngfIeld servIce cOrPOrATIOn fOr $44 mIllIOn: SPi, a leading global business process outsourcing (BPO) company, announced that it has acquired, through a wholly-owned US subsidiary, 100% of Springfield Service Corporation for an aggregate purchase price of $44 million, with the potential for future earn out payments. Springfield Service Corporation (SSC), the 10th largest player in the medical billing and revenue cycle management market, has 383 employees operating in 5 locations in the US and provides billing and accounts receivable management services for over $1.3 billion of physician charges annually.

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neW BrAnd frOm sITel And clIenTlOgIc: The re-cently merged ClientLogic and SITEL Corporation unveiled a new brand to communicate its commitment to associates and clients. As part of a new brand strategy, the company announced it will adopt the name Sitel and bring to market a new Sitel offering a broader range of opportunities for as-sociates, clients, and customers.

q q qus-BAsed synex cOrPOrATIOn AnnOunces PlAn TO AcquIre lInk2suPPOrT: Link2Support Inc. (L2S), a knowledge process outsourcing and contact center com-pany, based in Manila, has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX), a global information technology supply chain services provider based in Fremont, California. This acquisition was a strategic move to expand SYNNEX’s capabilities in rendering high value IT services such as multi-tiered technical support, knowledge process services, and software to hardware engineering ranging from small-to-medium-to-enterprise applications.

MOveMeNTSBT’s neW mAnAgIng dIrecTOr, sOuTheAsT AsIA OPerATIOns, BAsed In sIngAPOre: Mr. Shiva Singh, BT’s newly appointed Managing Director, will oversee all sales and operations, as well as the delivery of the BT strat-egy, and promote the company’s presence and services in the region, including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sin-gapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam. He will also manage relationships with in-country partners and hold responsibility for customer satisfaction at all levels.

q q qneW nATIOnAl OPerATIOns mAnAger fOr dhl: DHL, the world’s leading express and logistics company, has announced the appointment of Gerardo Ricardo A. Martinez as National Operations Manager. Mr. Martinez possesses a background in contract logistics operations and sales, sea freight operations and planning, procurement, inventory management, materials planning, and teaching. Prior to his new post, Mr. Martinez was acting National Gateway Man-ager for DHL Express Philippines where his responsibilities included ensuring the earliest possible delivery times and latest possible pick-up times, while keeping productivity at the optimum level.

COmPAny newsCBRE Refines Business Processes To Prepare For ISO Certification

IN preparation for its ISO 9001 certification, CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) Philippines will undergo a review and recommendation for enhancement of the business processes of its Assets Services Department, conducted by ECC International (ECCI).

CBRE is the biggest real estate services company in the world, and the CBRE Asset Services is its biggest department with its manpower and five business lines (property management, facilities management, asset management, technical services and project manage-ment). The consultancy firm ECCI specializes in man-agement systems and process improvement.

“We want to refine and further enhance our busi-ness processes. Our principal goal is seamless continu-ity in our processes, even as people are promoted and replaced,” CBRE Philippines country officer Leighton Tsai explains. “We want the business intelligence to re-side not only with the people, but also in our system.”

Asset Services director Nikki Gilladoga, who initiated the project, adds, “Our immediate objective is internal im-provement of processes, which is part of our commitment to raising our standards. When these systems and procedures are in place, then we can push for certification.”

TESDA Taps TeleDevelopment for the Second Straight Year

ECCI managing director N. Sreenivas, who will serve as project manager for the initiative, says the process will involve five stages over a period of six months. “The first stage is ‘Discovery,’ where we try to identify the current state of the company by talking to the management and asking them where they would like to see their company over a period of time in terms of its business processes.”

“The second stage is called ‘Define,’ where we com-pare current processes vis-à-vis what they want to do. After this, we go into the ‘Documentation’ phase where the process definitions are converted to documents. They could be a series of pictures or flowcharts.”

Next, processes that have been defined will be deployed in the “Deployment” phase. “We expect about 50 percent of the old processes to remain, with minor modifications, and the rest to be improved and formalized.”

In the final “Determination” phase, the processes are benchmarked against ECCI’s internal standards to see if they are ready to be ISO-certified. “At this stage, a third-party service provider will come in to take them through the certification process,” said Sreenivas.

FOR the second consecutive year, the technical Education and Skills Development Authority [tESDA] selected teleDevelopment Services, Inc. (tDS) to help develop the Philippines’ BPO talent pool. the Agency, led by Secretary Augusto Syjuco, tESDA’s Director General, and Deputy Director General Milagros Hernandez, tapped tDS to provide an innovative, blended learning solution accessed from teleDevelopment.com as well as the newly launched e-tesda portal at e-tesda.gov.ph.

the online initiative supports tESDA’s commitment to provide “…the Filipino workforce with world-class competence and positive work value.” As e-TESDA ex-tends call center education onto the Internet, it leverages TeleDevelopment’s sixteen years of human resource de-velopment in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia. tDS’ tenure in the Philippines spans seven years.

The 2007 program, announced in time for Labor Day, includes online access to call center learning wherein job seekers can practice English skills before joining face-to-face classes at tDS’ Ortigas facility.

the online portion of the course is supplied by teleDe-velopment’s alliance partner, neuroLanguage, a Canadian-based eLearning provider. With a computer-based train-ing complement to tDS’ call center education, students can hone their communication proficiency from the con-venience of their home, school, or the nearest Internet café before they enter a classroom setting. The courses focus on the English language learning required for non-na-tive English speakers and introduce the necessary skills to succeed in the call center industry.

the inauguration of e-tESDA is the second tESDA human resource development initiative for tDS. the first was announced last year, wherein the Agency di-rected teleDevelopment to provide free English lan-guage skills assessments for the first 50,000 applicants under a Presidential initiative to provide widespread training to aspiring agents. the assessments are provid-ed under exclusive license from ProSpeak, a division of Harcourt Assessment’s Ordinate Corp.

the project, known as the PGMA training for Work Scholarship Program, allows applicants to take the 7-minute exam from any phone. This establishes selection for immediate call center placement, enrollment in the PGMA program for training, or employment recom-mendations in an alternate industry. Applicants thereby understand their own capabilities though immediate feedback while tESDA has a powerful way to reduce costs with a streamlined approach to identify trainable applicants.

According to Jon Kaplan, tDS’ President and Founder, “these tools help us provide innovative human resource solutions in all facets of the career life-cycle. We recognize that the Philippines’ BPO industry continues to grow at a fantastic rate. Keeping pace with expansion means that we must embrace technologies that make us more accessible and efficient. We are proud that TESDA and the office of the President continue to include TeleDevelopment in their efforts to develop the economy through workforce education.”

BPO International, Inc. (BPOI), the largest local outsourcing provider of payroll and accounting services in the Philippines, is opening another office at Robinsons Equitable tower in Ortigas. this facility will house primarily BPOI‘s finance and accounting services and will also serve as a backup/disaster recovery site. The head office of BPOI will remain at the SGV II Bldg., Ayala Avenue, Makati City.

Since the time BPO International acquired the outsourcing practice of SGV & Co., it has expanded its market portfolio and is setting its sights on the international market. BPOI’s services include finance and accounting, HR (payroll processing), suppliers’ accreditation and internal audit. BPOI’s extensive outsourcing experience helps companies focus on their core activities, thus gaining competitive advantage.

BPO International, Inc. Expands To Ortigas

image courtesy of www.robinsonsproperties.com.


MAY - JULY 2007� BreakthroughsBPA/P updates

Accomplishment report June 2005 – June 2006

By alBert MitChell l. loCsin, Bpa/p exeCutive DireCtor

THE Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) made significant strides from June 2005 to June of the follow-ing year, 2006. membership has expanded, important linkages with various industry associations have been established, and BPA/P as the representative of the busi-ness processing sector has been making its presence strongly felt overseas.

We are happy to report that BPA/P over the years has become the umbrella association for the Philippine BPO-ItES Industry at home and abroad. Foreign investors have recognized us as the point person or association that can best help them in their requirements in putting up facilities in the Philippines. technically, we are known as the source of information when it comes to the country’s BPO-ItES industry.

We have also taken concrete steps in ensuring that the progress and development of the industry increase, and not falter.

Our partnership with the government is crucial to that development. Hence, we have created linkages and means of collaboration with all the different government agencies involved in the Philippine BPO-ItES Industry such as the Department of trade and Industry (DtI), the Board of Investments (BOI), the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), the technical-Education Skills Development Administration (tESDA), the Department of Education (DepED), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and others.

In particular, we have worked hand-in-hand with tESDA on the Presidential Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (PGMA) Training for Work Certificates.

BPA/P has also evolved into a lobbying force to the government to ensure laws and policies are done for the continued growth of that the industry. These efforts

include: the lobbying for the strict implementation of English as a medium of teaching and language in all schools and universities in the Philippines, which has now been implemented; the BPA/P position paper with Senator Mar Roxas on the proposed Amendments in the Labor Law; the creation of the Data Privacy & Security Law/Guidelines in partnership with the Board of Investments, which is now on its fourth reading in the Senate for adoption to the eCommerce Law; and continuing ventures with the different sectoral associations and the different foreign chambers on the retention on incentives from PEZA and BOI.

BPA/P also has worked closely with Secretary Arthur Yap [currently Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and the Presidential Adviser on Job Generation] on any issues and problems regarding the Philippine BPO-ItES Industry to insure the continued growth of the industry.

Partnerships with the private sector have also gained greater ground. BPA/P has formed solid relationships with the different vendors associated with the Philippine BPO-ItES Industry for sponsorship funding requirements concerning our organization. We have also established linkages with the various sectoral industry associations in the country such as HRCC [Human Resource Council for Contact Center, SEIPI [Semiconductor and Electronic Industries], ItAP [Information technology Association of the Philippines], ItFP [Information technology Foundation of the Philippines], PICS [Platform for Internet Content Selection], PCS [Philippine Computer Society], PEtEF [Philippine Electronics and telecommunications Federations, Inc.], PCCI [the Philippine Chamber of Commerce, Inc.], the Makati Business Club [MBC], etc.

Synergy with foreign and local chambers of commerce such as the MBC, the PCCI, the American Chamber of Commerce, and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, etc. has led to collaborations in programs designed to help our industry like the English is Cool Advocacy Program, the Promoting English Proficiency Program, and the Foreign Chambers trade and Job Fair.

Internally, we have also experienced growth via the following: a) 60 new members signed up, totaling our entire membership to 140; and b) the set-up of committees which have clearly delineated functions (Membership Power team, the Government and Legal Power team, Marketing and Communications Power team, Human Resource and training Power team Information and

Research Power team).Aside from the twice-a-week meetings of the Power

Teams, this fiscal year has also proved to be a busy one for BPA/P given the following activities: Monthly General Membership Assemblies; Board of Trustees & Executive Committee Meetings; Golf Fund Raising Events; Trainings (Black Belt Six Sigma Trainings, Green Belt Six Sigma Training, PGMA Training for Work Certificates, etc..); Conference and Expos (eServices Philippines, CCAP Conference and Expo, Software Innovation Philippines 2006, Cebu ICT Conference & Expo, Foreign Chambers trade & Job Fair, etc.); BPA/P Social Responsibility Program (Adopt a School Program with Innove, Nova Foundation, etc.); the BPA/P Social Events (Combined Christmas Party, BPA/P Power team Appreciation Night, etc.); and the completion of research projects with the Asian Institute of Management and teamAsia quarterly.

the amendments in the constitution and by-laws have finally been completed, and our website www.bpap.org has been launched.

Meanwhile, BPA/P continues to consolidate its gains and extend its reach through continual promotion and marketing of the Philippine business process outsourcing to potential investors and customers overseas.These marketing ventures include the following:q Promotion of the Philippine BPO-ItES Industry

aboard in the United States, UK, and India. Soon we shall be establishing relationships with the Australian and Canadian markets;

q Links with the different international consulting and research firms like A.T. Kerney, Everest Group, Frost & Sullivan, Lehman Brothers, McKinsey & Co, neoIt, Hewitt, Tholons Inc., IDC, TPi/Monitor Group, and others;

q Established relations with the different industry associations around the world including NASSCOM, Outsourcing Malaysia, American teleservices Association, International Association Outsourcing Professionals, etc.

q Partnered with CItEM in international conferences and road shows, to create better value for our members and other delegates.

As a result, BPA/P is now being recognized and invited to speak in the different international conferences, conventions, and expos overseas.

Neither is the Philippines neglected. BPA/P has been promoting the Philippine BPO-ItES Industry to the different provinces, cities, and municipalities of the country. Presentations had been made to industry representatives in Cebu City, Iloilo City, Bacolod City, General Santos City, Davao City, Naga & Legaspi City, Lipa City, tacloban City, Bulacan, Clark Pampanga, Quezon City, taguig City, Makati City, and others.


MAY - JULY 2007 7Breakthroughs


MAY - JULY 2007� BreakthroughsBPA/P updates

the BPa/P Board Of Officers And Trustees

fred AyAlA Chairman, Trustee

Fred is the CEO of LiveIt Solutions, Inc., Ayala Corporation’s holding company for its investments in the BPO sector. LiveIt seeks to invest in companies in the US, India and the Philippines that provide complex BPO services.

ATTy. JOBeT mAmurIcCorporate Secretary

Jobet is the Managing Partner of Nisce Mamuric Guinto Rivera & Alcantara Law Offices which he also founded. He has counseled and represented various corporate clients, domestic and multinational, and established the first BPO in the Philippines.

OscAr sAÑeZChief Executive Officer

Oscar Sañez is the newly appointed CEO of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P). In this full-time role, Oscar is responsible for leading the development and execution of the strategic plan of BPA/P and delivering its growth targets.

mITch lOcsInExecutive Director

Mitch’s field of expertise ranges from business management, information technology, to political affairs. Before being appointed as the new Executive Director of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, he worked as Consultant for Political Affairs in the Office of Senator Mar Roxas from July 2004 to May 2005.

kAren v. BATungBAcAl Trustee

Karen, President of ICT Asia-Pacific, is responsible for overseeing the Company’s Philippines and Australian operations, as well as future expansion initiatives in other Asian countries.

rAInerIO “BOng” BOrJA Trustee

Bong heads PeopleSupport’s worldwide operations as its President. Concurrently, he is President of PeopleSupport Philippines Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of PeopleSupport Inc., providing outsourced services to US clients.

grAce dImArAnAnTrustee

Grace is President of the Animation Council of the Philippines. She is the Managing and Creative Director for Top Peg Animation & Creative Studio Inc. which produced the first all Filipino children’s animated series called TUTUBI PATROL aired at ABC 5.

mIchAel gArrIsOnTrustee

As Country Manager for Dell Philippines, Michael is responsible for running two existing customer support sites in Makati and Pasay. Dell has had a strong presence in the Philippines for several years.

rOsAlIe mOnTenegrOTrusteeRosalie is the President of the ePLDT Ventus, Inc., a 100% owned subsidiary of PLDT which focuses on Outsourcing, principally for inbound and outbound customer service and sales calls with data support for email and back-office processing.

mylA rOse mundO reyesTrustee

With over 12 years of industry experience, Myla is currently managing director of Total Transcription Solutions, Inc., handling both its MT production and Training Center businesses. Myla is also the president of the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines, Inc..

dAn reyes President, Trustee

As its Country Manager, Dan has overall business responsibility for ClientLogic’s Philippines operation. He was most recently the Country Chairman of Salmat Philippines, an IT outsourcing services company.

dAvId suTTOnTreasurer, Trustee

David is the Centre Manager of HSBC Electronic Data Processing Philippines, Inc. He has been with HSBC since 1974 when his career began in London as a Foreign Staff Trainee. After two years, he received his first overseas posting as a secondment to The British Bank of the Middle East in Abu Dhabi. David has been President of HSBC Electronic Data Processing Philippines, Inc. since 2004.

mAulIk PArekhTrusteeAs Vice-President and General Manager of TeleTech in the Philippines, Maulik manages 11,000 employees in eight large customer management centers across the country.

fermIn TArucTrusteeFermin Taruc is no stranger to the field of Information Technology (IT), having held various roles and responsibilities in the industry for over a decade. Fermin was elected President of the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) in July 2005, a position that he continues to hold.

Power Team For Power Members

By WilMa inventor MiranDa

THE membership Power Team is becoming known as a “workhorse” committee at the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPA/P). This is be-cause of the untiring leadership of its energetic chair-man Anand chopra (President–citigroup Business Process solutions Pte.ltd.) and the Trustee-in-charge, dan reyes (President – clientlogic). call it social os-mosis, but their enthusiasm is just so contagious that members like me, manny guillermo (President – ksearch Asia consulting, Inc.), marian hernandez (hr Operations manager – hewitt Associates), larcy sta. Ana (country manager – The siemon company), Alex cecilia (managing consultant – Avanti People Patner-ship International), gloria Torres (national customer service manager - dhl Worldwide express (Phil.) corp.), Jun Banaria (vice President - siemens) and many others are always inspired to make the Power Team’s projects a success. mitch locsin, executive director, is always there to lend support, too.

One of the key objectives of the Membership Power team is not just to sign-up new members but to enhance the overall quality of the membership base of the association. the Power team believes that having a strong membership base is very essential to the future success of the BPO

The editorial Advisory Board and Membership Power TeamFrom left to right 2nd row - Rona Quilban, Manny Guillermo, Mitch Locsin, Danilo Sebastian Reyes, Wilma Miranda, Anand Chopra, Larcy Sta. Ana, Jun Banaria, Alex Cecilia, Nette Roselo, Zyra Rayos Del Sol.

a unity in purpose and vision that will enjoin it to celebrate what the newsletter title denotes as its “breakthroughs”.

there are still more to come in terms of plans and ideas for the betterment of the membership. The dynamic Membership Power Team is really one committee to reckon with in terms of working hand in hand with the Association to reach new heights.

[Wilma Miranda is the Business Development Director of BPO International.]

industry in the Philippines and in helping the country (and the industry) achieve its Roadmap for 2010.

Hence, in the past year, the Membership Power team developed the criteria for the acceptance of new members as well as defined situations/events in which membership can be removed, established a code of conduct for the members, defined categories of membership, and redesigned the application form. the membership database was also updated with a review of status of delinquent members.

A key highlight of the process that was introduced to induct new members is to formally introduce and welcome each new member on stage during the monthly General Membership Assembly. this is followed by a formal pledge-taking ceremony that is designed to instill a sense of pride among the association’s members.

For this year too, the Power team decided to screen carefully the companies applying for membership in order to preserve the quality of the base. But even before they are interviewed, they have to undergo a background check. The membership of BPA/P now stands at 174 companies and four Association members. It is the goal of the Power team to help each member integrate into the Association and have a fruitful and enjoyable time while within our ranks.

One of the projects of the Power team is the launching of the BPA/P newsletter in the 2nd quarter of 2007. With the help of Media Focus-Business Info, this maiden issue now fulfills this dream. We hope that through this newsletter, the membership will enjoy the following: further strengthening and bonding; a voice for advocacies; a vehicle for professional development; a chance to benchmark and be updated with the best industry practices; and most of all, Photos by Willie Bicera


MAY - JULY 2007 �Breakthroughs InsightsExecutive Profile

his Second windOscar Sañez, Chief Executive Officer, BPA/P

Retiring is not in Oscars vocabulary

HE was supposed to retire early. yet at 50, Oscar sañez, the new ceO of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines is pretty accomplished in his almost three decades as topnotch ex-ecutive for multinational Procter & gamble (P&g) – the company he first went to work for after he finished Business Administration from the university of the Philippines-diliman.

By lynDa C. Corpuzphotos By shiir Manzo

Far from retirementthere seems to be no slowing down

yet for this executive who believes that retirement is just a shift in career. “No one really retires. And for me, BPA/P is a second career. What I wanted to do now is to offer my service and talent to a field where I can contribute well,” he says.

He’s active in advocacies In all his advocacies, he supports

education and believes that better access to quality education and harnessing the new generation’s potential is the way out for the Philippines’ poverty issues. Apart from GILAS and his previous teaching stints, Mr. Sañez and his fam-ily (his three children are now studying abroad) have been involved for years with a foundation dedicated to street children. His wife, Grace, 51, is also helping various government agencies and certain hospitals.

He’s into outdoor activities Whenever he has time, Mr. Sañez goes

on out-of-town trips and scuba dives as well, and cites that the marine resources of the Philippines is more beautiful than the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

He loves Australia Since he was posted there for five

years – the longest of his foreign posts – Mr. Sañez has learned to love the Aus-tralian people for their warmth, friend-liness, and casualness. In Australia, he also spent time in activities like surfing and running marathons. He also likes the Australian fresh vegetables and good deli just off the streets. He can’t speak with an Australian twang though. “the kids can speak with the twang, but not me,” Mr. Sañez laughs.

that. We can be big here because this is not an overnight phenomenon.”

Recruit the best people Mr. Sañez says he is just fortunate for

the chance to make a difference in the BPO industry, and he is keen to get more people not just by building his staff, but tapping people like himself who had worked in private corporations and been trained in leadership and management. “And this industry needs a lot of those people. But indirectly, I want more people to support the industry in whatever capacity they can,” he says.

Create the right vision “Leadership that is able to paint a good

picture for the industry, as well as to enjoin others, is now required from us. And that’s the challenge for me now,” Mr. Sañez says.

Tap all possible support Allied industries such as real estate,

telecoms, financial institutions, retail, among others are now aware of the fruits the BPO in-dustry is reaping for the country. “After almost two months, I think we’re getting close to 90 to 95 percent in terms of commitment to our 2- to 3-year plans,” he says.

Sustain the industry’s efforts Mr. Sañez admits that now, the BPO sector

needs all the support to get the initiatives go-ing. “But I don’t want to see this industry body becoming dependent on sponsors,” he says. And he is optimistic that after three years, the association would be self-sustaining, in terms of their presence and leadership. “Sustainabil-ity is possible because by then, we would be different in position in terms of revenue size, employee scale, and the government and other countries will notice us and would pour more support for our initiatives,” he believes.

Collaborate with fellow contributors The way to benefit from a fast, ever-chang-

ing global industry is to work with significant players in the field, Mr. Sañez says. He suggests looking at India not directly as competitor but a country with assets that complement ours like knowledge process outsourcing and other high-value services. Also, the Philippines can offer day services to Australia and Japan, given the close time zones. “We can have a signifi-cant share of the global pie just by combining strengths,” he stresses.

But after his 5-year post as P&G country general manager and managing director for Australia and New Zealand, as well as with his previous management executive posts in Singapore, Japan, and the United States, this Filipino just, well, missed home. “I remember my Economics teacher saying, ‘You can take the Filipino out of the Philippines but you can’t take the Philippines out of the Filipino,’” he says.

With that, he availed of P&G’s early retire-ment plan, packed his suitcases, and came back here to initially devote himself to education and youth advocacies. Last year, he got involved with GILAS, a multisectoral initiative aiming to create Internet-connected computer laboratories in all of the country’s public high schools. He also taught at the business management schools of UP and De La Salle University. But the executive was up to another challenge in his career, this time, to contribute significantly to the country’s booming business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

the creation of a BPA/P CEO position came after a thorough study concluding that while BPO companies’ officials volunteer their time, a full-time manager is required to account for and deliver results for the industry. A search was set for a CEO – preferably an experienced, senior manager from a multinational (as multinationals tend to provide a more global outlook) and one from outside the industry who would have a very neutral stance and perhaps a different perspective. And Mr. Sañez fits the bill. “I [was] attracted to the offer, not so much because of the package, but more of the industry. So I said, ‘Yeah, I think I’m interested in doing this. ‘Well, I’m happy they chose me because I think I can really contribute to this effort,” Mr. Sañez says.

Coming from the corporate world that spanned 29 years of his career, Mr. Sañez says his main challenge as a CEO of a trade or-ganization like BPA/P is to build the very new industry. And to do so, all systems must be in place. Here, he details what BPA/P, under his helm, aims to do to reach its 2010 roadmap:

Market it well Mr. Sañez says as CEO, it is clear to him

that he has to market the industry, and get a fair share of support and attention that it deserves. “It’s part of my mission to sell the in-dustry and the country,” he says. And by doing so, we can get part of the untapped $250 billion worth of services yet to be outsourced and off shored by First World countries. the pie is so huge, we should be able to grab a big chunk of

MAY - JULY 2007�0 Breakthroughs


Insights

Root causes must be addressed. We can trace current failures to two causes: the widely felt decline in the country’s education system, and the generally insufficient executive attention to employee education and training.

THiS ARTiCLE FOCuSES ON THREE uNdERLyiNG iSSuES:1. Basic education processes are not tailored to meet

the requirements of business organizations. A common complaint of employers is that universities no longer produce graduates who meet their basic skills requirements. the basic challenge for educators is, therefore, to re-align curriculum to meet the current and future skills requirements of the business sectors and to urgently raise the quality of education.

Since improving the education system is a long-term process, a long lag time must be expected. The resulting challenge to business organizations will be twofold: first, to quickly fill the qualification gaps in their incumbent employees and second, for new hires to be trained to be effective and efficient on a sustained basis.

2. there is a risk that business leaders must face. Business organizations have somewhat little choice but to rely on the existing education system, even though the graduates may not entirely meet their requirements. However, most business organizations tend to regard spending for employee training as risky due to the fear of resignation soon after the training. Such “leakage” of the benefits of training weakens the incentive to any firm to undertake it, unless the organization is fairly large or without competitors for the skills for which it gives training. Except for the few large multinational companies and local conglomerates, there appears to be a general lack of management commitment to undertake employee training on the scale required.

3. the overriding issue for business organizations, of course, is to develop a competitive workforce, not only locally but also (and inevitably) globally. We must recognize the magnitude of the task since global skill requirements are well beyond the reach of most local businesses today.

the Challengethe global reach of these issues indicates that

solutions require the coordinated involvement of government, businessmen, and educators. No single group can do it alone. the solutions will require a range of bold, decisive, and far-reaching approaches.

Businessmen should take the initiative. Their first challenge is to bridge the qualification gaps of their own employees through company-sponsored training programs. Executive management should initiate or upgrade existing employee training programs. Employee education and training can be done in-house in large organizations or through independent training centers which provide specific and specialized technical and management development courses. Large business organization and local conglomerates should intensify efforts to provide their promising staff career training so they can assume increasingly higher level positions.

Secondly, business executives can assist to establish programs such as job training centers and adult literacy programs that move unqualified, unemployed, but eligible workers from unemployment to become qualified workers.

thirdly, business-initiated movement is needed to improve existing education system. If a company does not have an active program of collaboration with universities or local school systems, it should investigate opportunities to engage in mutual consultations and cooperation.

Government can support post-school education through financial incentives to businesses, possibly including tax concessions, as a means of persuading employers in priority industrial sub-sectors to undertake employee training programs.

Educators must, in any case, have the greater share of responsibility in the development of real solutions to education problems. However, the magnitude of the task calls for improved partnership between businessmen and educators. Business executives can, for instance, help define what a high-school graduate and a university graduate must know and be able to do after 12 to 17 years in school. Generalizations such as “know the basics” will no longer be sufficient. Specific skills and attributes must be defined. Obviously, business should not be the only contributor to this discussion, but its input will

PEOPLE – Our So-Called Most Important Asset(But Unable to Make It Stick!)

By Manuel r. guillerMoMeMBer, Bpa/p poWer CoMMittee

carry weight because it ultimately accepts or rejects the graduates through the employment process.

The bottom line is that business should work with educators to create positive and measurable changes in the school system. Business, in fact, should be a demanding partner.

SuCCeSSful emPloyee eduCation and trainingEmployee education and training have become

the most important driving force to the success of many large companies in highly competitive markets. Global or national competition, a changing workforce, rapid shifts in technology, and defects in the basic education system have all combined to make training an imperative response in order to succeed in the respective industries.

Business executives are often skeptical about employee-training programs. they naturally want a return on their training investment. If the process of training seems to be failing, the solution is not to impulsively increase the training budget alone. the training department staff should be asked to define the problems, offer solutions, and implement a plan of action to fix the process of training.

Too many executives do not know the cost of their employee training, nor do they spend enough time to review their training programs. Executives must know what their company must invest in training and the results expected from the training department. Executives must look at their training budgets before looking at their capital budgets.

Most organizations are now beginning to realize that their large budgets for training employees pay for too many unstructured courses. Chances are they will be shocked at how many those employees are who have not received the minimal training required for the company to meet its objectives. Others will be surprised to find out how much money is being spent for “nice to know” instead of the “need to know” courses.

the time for leaderShiP and Commitment iS nowA major breakthrough to this serious problem will

require enlightened leaders with the vision of how to build a successful education system. First of all, they must be able to surmount the negativism that will confront them from skeptics, indeed from “education experts” who will resist and will eloquently shout that “You cannot change the system. It may not be a perfect system, but this is how education is done. It is different from business. Measurements and performance systems cannot work.”

Leaders of change must have the experience and will to succeed. the best leaders will have managed major changes in their own business enterprises and will work in close partnership with the more open-minded and progressive education leaders who themselves have been advocating change for a number of years, but have constantly been mere voices in the wilderness. these leaders must have a consuming sense of purpose.

Long-term commitment will be necessary. they must be able to deal persuasively with people who can help their programs and with those who can hinder their programs. they must be able to cut through non-essential and weak excuses to reach the important decisions essential for change. the people who manage change must not only have vision; they must be able to see the vision and, most importantly, to implement it.

Clearly, there is a need to make education a higher national priority.

Business executives, government leaders, and educators have been saying for years that “people are our most important asset”. Confronted by change in the business environment, both the public and private sectors continually face new challenges in establishing and maintaining a motivated, trained and competitive workforce. Pressures from steadily advancing technologies, constantly changing government regulations, and the globalization of markets now affect every aspect of human resource management.

We can no longer just pay lip service to addressing this mounting problem; nor can we continue to possess the temerity to keep on uttering that “people are our most important asset” and not do something drastic about it.

Manuel R. Guillermo is the President and Managing Director of KSearch Asia Consulting, Inc., an eight-year old executive search firm which assists in the executive and managerial requirements of mostly multinational companies, including those in the BPO, KPO and other IT-Enabled Services sectors . Mr. Guillermo is a retired partner of Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and SGV & Co. He attended the Harvard Business School Program for Management Development in 1971 (PMD-22). He can be reached at [email protected].

THE fundamental questions for business organizations today will be whether manpower will continue to lag behind requirements or whether management will act to close increasing qualification gaps.

Fred AyAlADan REyES

DavID Suttonatty. JobEt MaMuRIC

oSCaR SaÑEzMItCh LoCSIn

nEttE RoSELo

OFFICerS

BOArD OF TruSTeeS

Fred AyAlA KaREn batungbaCaL

RaInERIo boRJagRaCE DIMaRananMIChaEL gaRRISon

RoSaLIE MontEnEgRoMyLa RoSE MunDo-REyES

MauLIK PaREKhDan REyES

DavID SuttonFERMIn taRuC

eDITOrIAL ADvISOrY BOArD

ananD ChoPRaManuEL guILLERMo

MaRIan SantoS hERnanDEzWILMa MIRanDaMItCh LoCSIn

ADverTISING CONTACTS

aRMIE DuaRtEnEttE RoSELo

BusIness PrOcessIng AssOcIATIOn Of The PhIlIPPInes

7th Flr. Oakwood PremiereAyala Center, Makati City

Tel. 755-8806Email: [email protected]

BusIness InfO Inc.Rm. 17-O, Burgundy Corporate Tower

252 Sen. Gil Puyat, Makati CityTelefax: 886-4407 / 889-7763

Email: [email protected]

hEInz buLoSManaging Director

BuSINeSS INFO INC.

CoRa LLaMaSEditor-in-Chief

DahL bEnnEttLynDa CoRPuz

Eva goyEnaManny guILLERMoMaRICRIS oRPIano

WILMa MIRanDaContributing Writers

JanIS DEI abaDLayout Artist

ShIIR ManzoWILLIE bICERaPhotographers

oRICo MaCatangayProduction Head

Donna LaRagaEditorial Assistant

MAY - JULY 2007 ��Breakthroughs


It is with great pleasure, and an amount of pride, that the Busi-ness Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) presents you the premiere issue of Breakthrough!, our official newsletter.

Much has happened to our industry since the early days of 2000. During a much slower age, before the Internet revolutionized the way we did business, thrusting our operations into a much broader global arena where responses can happen at the click of a mouse, the business process outsourcing industry was just a blip on the map of global trade.

Now it has powered up and spread to become a powerful wave. More important, especially for us, the Philippines has become a major player in Asia. We have done more than our fair share of supporting our national economy and infusing much needed input and resources into the strengthening of our sectoral infrastructure and the training of our people. For this, the industry, too, can be proud.

Breakthrough! is a testament to our accomplishments, yet similar to a community gathering hall where we can keep abreast of what is happening within our ranks to encourage us and motivate us to support each other, while maintaining the spirit of healthy competition.

Breakthrough! is also a clarion call to spur us to reach greater heights. As one of our main stories have made it clear, there is much more work to done, and much more that needs to be accomplished.

Yes, we have emerged as a major player in the global market, one that is continu-ing to capture the attention of present and potential customers in the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific, but the bigger landscape poses more challenges and is in-habited by tougher competition.

Our headline story talks about those challenges, and the roadmap that we are strongly encouraged to pursue for the next three years if we are to consolidate our gains and expand to a greater market. Research from some esteemed associations such as the McKinsey Group with its landmark reports and the Asian Development Bank clearly indicate the revenues we are continuing to earn, the clients we attract, the interest that our country and our association members draw, while at the same time delineating the kinks in our collective armor that we have to repair and other concerns that we are to address if we are not only to enjoy our status, but to grow well beyond it.

But take heart. the awards that industry members in the recent International Communications and technology Awards show that we are on the right track. So is the recent news item that a significant number of contact centers from neighboring India are finding the Philippines a logical – and we might as well hope – a long-last-ing alternative as that country is beset by inflation and rising wages.

these victories are ours – to share with each other and as a catalyst to spur one another. Breakthrough! is not just a newsletter meant to disseminate information (al-though there is a lot of that) – it is, ultimately, your voice, your standard, your imprint on our industry. We would truly appreciate your active participation in future issues. E-mail us your concerns, news items you would like published, issues that you may wish to be addressed in feature articles.

Let us know what you think. Engagement, cooperation, unity – these are the es-sential ingredients of breakthroughs which we hope will continue to erupt in the years to come.

InfOrmATIOn is power, as the digital age keeps on telling us. strategy is the conduit of that power. And organization is what holds all that driving force together – a force to contend with, a powerhouse that makes everyone sit up and notice. eliminate one, and everything can collapse like a house of cards.

the availability of information allows us to view the landscape of what we can offer as a country and as an industry that will afford us the license to participate and win the market share we deserve in this global contest. Strategy provides us the blueprint or the roadmap that will define the “how” to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves, what are the key strategic choices we are making, what resources are we harnessing and how will we drive those resources. Finally, an organization needs to be created based on the demands of the strategic plan and driven to focus on the key priorities set by the roadmap. An organization that is empowered to lead these initiatives and has clear ownership and accountability for the task and the results is destined to win and surpass what it had aimed to achieve.

As an organization, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines has embarked on a major effort to harness existing resources and opportunities, develop a roadmap for success and create a committed management team that will own, lead and be accountable to the delivery of the plans laid out in the strategy. In doing so, we are making a clear declaration to the rest of the world that we as an association and as an industry are ready and committed to becoming the “destination of choice” for all outsourcing and off-shoring IT-enabled service opportunities.

We do need to get going as what we stand to gain is simply staggering. the BPO world market carries a potential of $300 billion in revenues. By the year 2010, we must be able to garner at least 10% of what’s potentially addressable which amounts to about $12 billion. Our present workforce of 260,000 can well explode to 920,000. this industry will be the third most important leg for dollar revenues for our economy after electronics and overseas remittance and will contribute 10-12% to our GDP. We will be contributing to employment growth and will help to build a stronger middle class. We will be assisting the growth of other industries like tel-ecommunications, real property, hardware/software, transportation, and retail. We will be a strong engine of growth for our economy.

the race is on, and the roadmap is pointing us towards a bright and rosy future. But the time to prepare is now. Like any good racer, we have to check our gear, fire up our motors, and make sure we have the required stamina, willpower, and capa-bilities to win the race.

Looking ForwardBy Oscar Sañez

The BPO BlueprintBy Mitch Locsin

Breakthroughs!

The race Is On

MAY - JULY 2007�� Breakthroughs


In the Spotlight

Back Office OutsourcingThe BPO’s Dark Horse

The back office outsourcing workforce comes from a spectrum of industries, from the bean counters that specialize in numbers to the more frenzied creative sectors that are the drivers of modern entertainment. to enumerate a few: accountants, web designers, cartoon animators, warehouse support, recruitment specialists, tax advisers, and marketing consultants.

the Business Processing Association of the Philippines’ (BPA/P) own website, www.bpap.org, lists down the sectors that are classified as back office outsourcing and/or shared services: q Accounting and bookkeepingq Account maintenance q Accounts receivable collection q Accounts payable administration q Payroll processing q Asset management q Financial analysis and auditing q Inventory control and purchasing q Expense and revenue reporting q Financial reporting q Tax reporting q Financial leasing q Credit card administration q Factoring and stock brokering q Revenue management q Transaction processing q Business data processing q Database management q Business Intelligence q Network management q Disaster recovery q Supply chain management q Sourcing and procurement q Logistics q Warehouse and inventory management q Transaction management q Customer relationship management q Human resources administration q Sales and marketing

If the contact center agents are the so-called-frontliners of the BPO industry, then the back office outsourcing employees are generally the unseen but stealthily effective soldiers who perform much of the nitty-gritty and address concerns of clients who are equally less visible yet essential to their industries.

inCreaSing numBerE-services Philippines lists down a few more

services (http://www.e-servicesphils.com/en/page.php?page=bpo): claims processing – pre need industry, expense and revenue reporting, sales auditing, market research and analysis, and intellectual property management.

Additional industries that are increasingly beginning to farm out their support services to offshore facilities now include medical and legal transcription, software development and testing, animation and graphics creation, engineering, and computer-aided design tasks.

Like the customers of the booming contact center industry, clients who outsource their back office functions are also motivated to strengthen their bottom line by cutting down on unnecessary costs, which incidentally also provide their manpower more time to focus on their core competencies, liberating them from detailed work that is vital but not necessarily that particular employee’s main strength.

In recent years, the Philippine business process outsourcing industry has captured a significant share of this back office gold mine.

An international research study conducted by the MEtA Group found Filipino accountants to be “among the best in the world.” in addition to this, In the World Competitiveness Report published in 2001, the Philippines ranked 16th of 49 countries, with India at No. 38 for International Business Experience.

the PhiliPPine PotentialIts accomplishments have certainly made the

international powers-that-be stand up and take notice. the country is already ranked the number two global sourcing provider in the call center sector, according to a study conducted by neoIT, a BPO offshore consulting and management company. the Swiss

International Institute for Management Development has also pointed out that the Philippines enjoys crucial advantages over 60 of its neighbors in the Asia-Pacific region; we rank number one in terms of the quality of the available skilled workers, number three when it comes to available senior managers, and number twelve when it comes to top-notch certified engineers.

What gives the Philippines this distinct edge is the high literacy (95 percent) of our population and the diversity of skills and knowledge offered by the approximately 400,000 college seniors who graduate every year and enter the workforce.

It must be remembered that back office entails more than responding to overseas calls and competently addressing the concerns of foreign customers on real time within a specific number of minutes. Back office requires substantial experience and considerable knowledge in specialized fields like accounting, human resources, computer animation, and web design.

Contact center agent positions do not depend on the degree of the college graduate or employee applying; their main consideration in recruitment are English communication skills, flexibility, quick thinking, and an attitude that puts the customer first.

In contrast, back office outsourcing that requires support in database management would require no less than It graduates or working employees. the same is true for animation companies looking for trained and educated artists who can execute on film or comic strip particular designs they have in mind. Human resource administration that is outsourced needs workers who do not merely do recruitment but are equally versed in payroll, benefits administration, and expatriate and relocation services.

this is where the Philippines business outsourcing industry stands tall when it comes to responding to the need of back office clients. Our talent pool is plentiful with skills that are recognized and certified by the appropriate regulating bodies. To cite a few examples:

q Finance and Accounting: – 80,000 to 100,000 fresh graduates of accounting and

other business-related courses every year– 2,500 to 3,000 new Certified Public Accountants

[CPAs] who pass the board exams annually. These CPAs are adept in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Accounting Standards (IAS) for financial reporting, which are used in Europe, the U.S. and Japan.

– 113,300 licensed accountants in the first three months of 2005

researCh CoMpileD By Cora llaMas

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In the SpotlightBack Office Outsourcing

q Academic and professional qualifications of Filipino engineers included in the APEC Engineer Registry

q Philippines is number four in terms of availability of knowledge workers, according to the global research firm Meta Group. The Meta Group has also moved our ICT ranking to C� which means a high evolutionary potential for our international connectivity.

Currently, the Philippines BPO sector counts 24,500 full-time employees in the back office industry which enjoyed a growth rate of 80 percent in 2005. Projected industry earnings are $180 million.

According to BPA/P, the key players in this sub-sector who have set up shop in the Philippines are: AIG Business Processing Services, Inc., which performs check preparation, accounting and disbursement services for member companies; Caltex Shared Service Center (CSSC), which provides accounting and financial services to Caltex business units in the U.S., UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, and thailand; Maersk Administrative Center Ltd., which does general accounting documentation for the company’s 11 branches; and Procter & Gamble Asia Pte. Ltd., which performs a host of accounting and financial services for P&G affiliates in Southeast Asia, North America, Korea, India, taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Japan.”

If the BPO industry is the sunshine sector, then the back office outsourcing sector is its fast-growing child. It is one of the brightest rays with almost limitless reach and radiance.

As more services are channeled into our part of the world, we believe we are just beginning to witness its initial sparks.

Continuation from page 12

Acquiring the American Accent For Image Enhancement

By teri Burgos-gutierrez

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Each one of us has responded to that question at one time or another in our young lives. But I guess what we should really ask is, “Who do you want to be when you grow up?” Both questions must be answered as we mature, but then again the answers will differ. “I want to be a businessman, to be like the senior officer in a bank or a multi-national firm.”

Who do you want to be? How do see your image in the profession you have chosen?

Your executive image is your total persona. Mastering it is like packaging a gift. Like gifts, each of us will be wrapped differently from the next person. Expressing uniqueness in your packaging is crucially important for today’s career people, young and old alike, as well as up-and-coming CEOs. Why? Because such expression communicates self-confidence, creativity, and leadership.

Each of us is an individual, possessing different personalities, looks, physiques, and so on. In traditional businesses such as banking, law, and accounting, the atmosphere is conservative. the atmosphere is formal and protocol prevails; do’s and don’ts are black and white. those who choose to succeed in such professions, however, will find that even they can project their individuality within the confines of their formal environment. The key to success is inviting uniqueness in yourself when you communicate your expertise in your profession. The key to your credibility may be expressed in the manner by which you project yourself as a speaker. the atmosphere in your chosen profession may be informal, and the rules of conduct may be looser, but protocol is still just as important for the executive.

In the Age of Globalization where connecting to the outside world can be done with a slight touch of a finger, communicating with the American Accent may be of great advantage. American English is still dominating the world as the international language, and will continue to be the mode of communication exchange all over the globe for a long, long time. Being able to speak and understand it

is indeed an added feature in one’s image and corporate agenda.

In my training sessions, there are twelve simple tips that I give my seminar participants to help them acquire an American Accent and apply them in their day-to-day communicating stint in the workplace:

• Speak English all the time (if not most of the time)

• Listen to people who speak the language well• Read English books, articles, essays etc.• Watch English films or television shows• Sing English songs• Enunciate words and phrases• Record yourself. Listen to yourself. Have

someone listen to yourself too.• Bring a pocket dictionary with you ALL the

time• Learn how to read the transcription symbols• Blend your words • Familiarize yourself with American idioms.

Know their meanings. Use them.• Practice! Practice! Practice!

Remember, presenting a remarkable image is total packaging, projecting something unique and appropriate for your chosen profession, and continuing your goal for self- improvement.

On your self-analysis sheet, write down your profession or line of work, the environment where you work, your position, and what you think could be the most appropriate image for you.

Remember to include acquiring the American Accent as an added feather on your cap!

[The author is a professional trainer and author of self-development. This column was previously posted in her column, “Skills Improvement,” in www.jobsdb.com.ph and is reprinted with the editor’s permission.]

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.”-Ludwig Wittgenstein



Company Profile

This new subset of the BPO service is what differenti-ates B&M Global Services Manila from the traditional call centers which offer transcriptions and other word-process-ing services. KPO refers to the delegation of knowledge-based, non-core operations of a firm to an offshore office specializing in the management of that operation.

B&M Global Services Manila is a captive shared ser-vice center of the global law firm Baker & McKenzie, providing the latter with corporate backroom opera-tions in human resource, finance and accounting as well as support services like It network and system manage-ment, financial, and legal research and analysis. B&M Global Services Manila also leverages its creative design talent pool and handles Baker & McKenzie’s advertising and promotional services.

a gloBal BaCk offiCeBaker & McKenzie is the largest global law

firm in terms of reach, with a roster of 4,000 law-yers and over 7,000 administrative people world-wide. It is also the biggest revenue earner among law firms with $1.5 billion revenues in 2006. “Our goal is to be able to serve all 70 offices of Baker & McKenzie in 39 countries,” says B&M Global Services Manila Executive Director Rafael Llave, “and currently we are serving the Asia-Pacific region.”

KPO Is The FutureBy eva goyena

knOWledge Process Outsourcing (kPO): a specialized form of out-sourcing work that entails more than just encoding business documents or conveying a memorized set of in-formation to clients.

rafael “harlie” llaveB&M Global Services

Manila Executive Director

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This offshore office started modestly in October 2000 with only five staff members trying to test the viabil-ity of backroom operations. In August 4, 2004, it offi-cially became B&M Global Services Manila and since then has grown to what is now a group of 329 knowl-edge-based professionals. One-third of them are It practitioners which include network engineers, appli-cation developers and web/graphic designers; another third are document processors and the rest are billing coordinators composed of researchers and analysts. this huge pool of professionals that make Baker & McKenzie’s operations running is composed of rela-tively young, adaptable members of the workforce from ages 21 to 47 years old; the majority (61%) are female. Another feather in the cap of this Manila team is that seven percent of them hold Masters’ degrees in Busi-

ness Administration while some of them are lawyers.According to Mr. Llave, when a type of work does

not require a professional’s presence in the request-or’s country, the task is sourced from the Philippines. He gives an example: “When we make Bak-er & McKenzie’s advertisement, we do the de-sign here and send it to them in soft copy, and printing is done in the country where the request originates.”

He adds that work is continuous with a manpower pool working around the clock. “Our global helpdesk which handles Baker & McKenzie’s systems, like for instance the Elite Global Accounting System, and our document-support center (both voiced-based and non-voiced based) operates 24/7, 3-shifts, no-holidays.”

future exPanSionB&M Global Services Manila handles the law firm’s

critical systems and applications management spread out in different locations. The strong telecommunications in-frastructure ensures the proper and efficient maintenance of a geographically complex system. This is indeed a good tactical option, according to Mr. Llave, because should a system is disrupted in one country, the data are re-routed to another location, thus leaving no room or margin for operation outages.

Initially, Baker & McKenzie considered off-shoring services because of less competitive labor rates. However,

now that B&M Global Services Manila has proven its abil-ity to deliver high-quality jobs on-time, they continue to outsource for reasons of service availability, quality of the labor pool, and infrastructure.

though the Philippines is increasingly being viewed as a compelling alternative to India within the BPO market, Mr. Llave cautions that more work needs to be done. Added government interventions are need-ed to prepare the country for expanding BPO markets that are expected to swell in the following years. For example, he says, there should be more projects like the Department of trade’s E-services program which showcases the Philippines’ business outsourcing capa-bilities to other countries and potential markets.

In the meantime, this billion-dollar-earning out-sourcing provider is committed to supporting the country’s economic development by providing op-portunities and employment to more graduates. B&M Global Services has also participated in community work through charity works with Fabella, an NGO focused on street children, and Gawad Kalinga, which encourages volunteers to literally build homes for the homeless.

Meanwhile, the KPO provider looks ahead to more expansive horizons. Its medium-term objective is the service of the entirety of Baker & McKenzie world-wide. For the long term, Mr. Llave says it is consider-ing servicing more firms as it builds up its capabilities and enlarges its presence.

B&M Global Services



Shell Shared Services Center, Manila

A vision Of excellence

Company Profile

By MariCris orpiano

SHELL Philippines has always been at the forefront of the country’s ros-ter of business giants, operating in the country since the late 1800s with its products and core services already deeply entrenched in every filipino household and corporate set-up. Through the years, shell has built for itself a reputable name and a badge of excellence that speaks so much about its vision — meeting en-ergy demands in economically, en-vironmentally, and socially respon-sible ways.

noel ParasoShell Shared Services Center

Manila’s General Manager

SSSC Manila employees taking part in Shell’s Gawad Kalinga

Meanwhile, the Global Finance function of Royal Dutch Shell’s quest to become a world-class Finance function has determined that the creation of a network of shared services centres (SSCs) in strategic locations across the globe will be key in its efforts to deliver services at competitive costs and standards. While cost is a factor in the determination of the SSC sites, it certainly was not the primary and sole consideration. these SSCs were envisioned to become Centers of Excellence that will deliver activities targeting world-class performance via operational excellence, process improvements, operational efficiencies and leveraging economies of scale. the operation of shared service centres will also enable more cost-effective deployment of standard systems and processes while maintaining controls to a high standard with clear accountabilities.

Global standardsSSSC-Manila, a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal

Dutch Shell plc and established in July 2004, shares the same vision of excellence and global competitiveness. It was the fourth center to be established by Shell and currently has close to 1,000 employees---the biggest in terms of manpower compared to the other SSCs (oth-ers are currently located in Glasgow, Guatemala, Kuala Lumpur and Krakow). SSSC Manila mainly performs back office accounting and finance work exclusively for Shell clients abroad. this includes Shell companies from the US, Europe (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Po-land, the United Kingdom, and Netherlands), and Asia (Malaysia, thailand, Australia, and the Philippines).

The bulk of finance work that SSSC Manila does for its Shell clients abroad include Hydrocarbon Ac-counting (reconcilement of fuel movements); Accounts Payable (or processing of vendor payments); Accounts Receivables (collections of receivables from both in-ternal and external customers); and General Account-ing (financial reporting, fixed asset inventory, payroll accounting, etc.). Other activities being serviced includes: Master Reference Data maintenance; Con-tracting and Procurement (buying activity). Human Resources Service Desk; and Customer Services.

Most of these jobs require above average capa-

bility and exceptional experience is a challenge to Shell’s local manpower handling the above-mentioned activities. Previously managed and supervised by well-experienced, intelligent teams abroad, finance and accounting work done here is far from being simple. Doing foreign work in a local setting while matching the constant exemplary standards and parameters utilized abroad is a constant challenge.

to answer this demand, SSSC Manila always goes the extra mile by delivering and performing expecta-tions. As Noel Paraso, Shell Shared Services Center,

Manila’s General Manager says, “We make sure that the standard of services do not suffer here. We ensure successful migration of these processes by putting in place a stringent migration methodology and hir-ing people with meaningful skills, background, and experience; people who are accounting, business, economics, and engineering majors. (to further equip them), we also give them very thorough, very focused trainings. And probably more importantly we have embedded the needed controls consciousness in the organization that if not strictly enforced will negatively affect the company and nullify all the success that we’ve achieved during the last two and half years.”

According to Mr. Paraso, SSSC Manila is a proof that Filipinos can perform according to the same high standards given to and expected from foreign employ-ees. One proof of this that Mr. Paraso points to is the continued interest to transfer more work because trust has already been established.

Community concernsAside from global competitiveness, sensitivity to

the needs of others is also one of SSSC-Manila’s corpo-rate thrusts. Hence, corporate social responsibility lists as one of the company’s primary concerns. Several SSSC Manila employees have taken part in Shell’s Ga-wad Kalinga and Project Better World missions (coastal clean up, tree planting, etc.). It also supports the ac-tivities of Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc. in programs like an industrial skills training program targeted for out-of-school-youth, an Integrated Farming Systems (IFS) program that imparts agricultural knowledge and technical know-how that are simple, relevant, and affordable to farmers.

Seeing that a substantial number of the Center’s employees are willing to devote their free time to civic-oriented causes and charitable work, the management is continuously brainstorming on other possible activi-ties that will focus on “giving back” to the community.

SSSC Manila pledges to continuously develop itself and provide better service for everyone. Excellence in service for its Shell clients abroad and caring social service for the Filipino communities will always remain integral to its core vision.

Front row: Stella Yulo, Noel Paraso, Cecil Remedio, Stephanie Santos, Anna Bunag, Dennis Miguel, Ricky de Luna, Art Ursua, Liza de Guzman, Ted Capisino • Back row: Abe Sarmiento, Cora Castro, Carmela Sampaga, Bal Pacris, Jed Encarnacion, Eric Ronquillo, Tintin Velasquez, Ed Moran, JP Dizon, Dan Natindim

SSSC-Manila Management Team

Photos courtesy of SHELL

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