International businesses commonly outsource call center services to the Philippines to cut down on expenses, but aside from the country’s low operational and labor costs, investors choose the country for the people’s excellent English-speaking skills. That is why outsourcing firms in the Philippines that offer voice solutions such as inbound customer service, outbound telemarketing, lead generation, debt collection, and healthcare information management thrive.
The aforementioned outsourced services flourish in the Philippines because of certain traits of the country’s workforce, economy, and government that complement the types of voice services being carried out. Here are some of them:
Inbound customer service
The BPO Services Association (BSA/U) said that within the 10 years that call center operations were outsourced to the country, the Philippines became the top destination for customer care services. A study by Michigan-based firm Kelly Services also claims that the customer service representatives in the Philippines are the most productive, handling an average of 98 inbound calls a day, which is higher than the 73-call average of India.
Outbound telemarketing
Industries such as tourism, real estate, telecommunications, finance, and fashion rely on Philippine call centers because of the country’s high educational attainment. Call center agents are college graduates, and firms that provide call center services usually match the educational background of their agents with the account they will be handling to ensure that the telemarketing efforts will be carried out by people who have knowledge of the services and products they offer.
Lead generation
According to BSA/U, lead generation specialists in the Philippines are usually paid at an hourly rate of $4 to $5, which is considerably lower than the average in the USA, the UK, and Australia. Outsourcers also benefit from the Philippines’ long experience in telemarketing and wide array of back office solutions that can be used to back up their voice-based lead generation campaigns.
Debt collection
The Philippine senate introduced the Senate Bill 1277 in 2007 entitled “An Act Providing for Fair Debt Collection Practices and Requiring Debt Collectors to Observe Such Practices.” It is a bill meant to “eliminate abusive debt collection practices by creditors and debt collectors.” As American companies see that they can be assured of harassment-free practices from their outsourced Filipino collectors, they choose to farm out to the Philippines even if the country is not under the US Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Healthcare information management
The healthcare information management (HIM) industry in the Philippines has been surging in recent years because of the United States’ push for affordable healthcare benefits. This prompted healthcare providers abroad to comply with government standards, cut costs, and elevate their service quality by focusing on medical services and subcontracting minor but stringent roles such as medical transcription and medical billing. The Healthcare Information Management Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (HIMOAP) said that the 66% increase from last year’s $433 million in revenues of the outsourced HIM sector could mean that healthcare can dominate the Philippine call center industry in the near future.
To go over the list again, the most commonly outsourced voice services in the Philippines are inbound customer service, outbound telemarketing, lead generation, debt collection, and healthcare information management. Factors such as governmental efforts and the workforce’s skills influence businesses to send their voice services to the Philippines.