The Philippines Outsourcing Scenario

The Philippines is ranked #1 in the availability of knowledge-based jobs and workers worldwide, and ranked 4th among Asian nations in terms of labor quality, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. based Meta Group. Aside from the huge pool of productive, trainable and multi-skilled labor force, the country competes in the quality of its managers and information technology (IT) staff and engineers. The unique edge comes from a high level of proficiency in English (the Philippines is the 3rd largest English-speaking country in the world) (Gov.ph 2007).

The recent growth spurt in the outsourcing industry in the Philippines has been fueled not by traditional low-value-added call centers but more higher-end outsourcing such as legal services, Web design, medical transcription, software development, animation, and shared services. Though call centers still form the largest part of the sector, the Philippines has begun leveraging its creative design talent pool, its large pool of lawyers, and its professionals in accounting and finance.

"Philippines as a country offers us a unique talent pool for outsourcing services in legal as well as design services," says Joseph Sigelman, co-president of India-based OfficeTiger, which was acquired by U.S. printing services giant R.R. Donnelley in April. The company chose the Philippines as the springboard for its legal services outsourcing and expects to make Manila the main center for "pre-media" outsourcing work, including desktop publishing, composition, typesetting, and graphic design.

FAMILIAR WITH U.S. Legal services were a natural extension of the outsourcing work the firm has been doing from its base in Chennai for years. "As an ex-American colony, there is cultural affinity and the legal system is based on U.S. law," says Sigelman, a native of New York. "In Manila, every lawyer seems to know what Roe vs. Wade was about. In Chennai, they may have some of the finest legal brains in the world but not everyone has heard about Roe vs. Wade or other key cases in U.S. Supreme Court." Most Filipino lawyers sit for U.S. bar exams and that gives Manila a leg-up over India, China, or Malaysia.

Design work is another place where Filipinos have and edge, according to Sigelman. He says he has found incredible depth of design talent in Manila; the kind of talent that is hard to come by in Bangalore, Hyderabad, or Chennai.

OfficeTiger's clients include large insurance companies, retailers, and publishers of books and directories. OfficeTiger is looking at Philippines operations to provide 40% to 50% of its total annual revenue growth over the next three to five years.

Continue reading The Philippines' Awesome Outsourcing Opportunity

India is currently the top supplier of BPO services, but the Philippines is close behind. With its strategic business location, steady supply of competent workers, world-class telecom infrastructure, and investor-friendly government incentives, among other advantages, analysts say the Philippines could well be India's leading challenger.

Learn more about outsourcing in the Philippines through aov outsourcing service.