The Outsourcing Week in Review: Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Welcome to Inside Outsourcing: The Outsourcing Week in Review

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Developments in the Philippines’ labor market presented a mixed picture last week. Human resources consultancy Mercer gave a positive outlook for Philippine staff hiring next year in the BPO sector with 70% of outsourcing firms looking to expand their workforce. In contrast, according to the recent Monster Employment Index, the online recruitment portal has seen no growth in hiring over this year in the BPO sector, compared with booming demand for staff in the healthcare and retail industries. Leechiu Property Consultants, however, believes that there will be a pick-up in hiring in the BPO sector for next year. With salaries rising in the US and a weak peso, the increased appeal of the Philippines as a location will drive new investment. Samuel Matunog, Information Communication Technology (ICT) Davao president, agrees. According to him, the majority of the city’s IT-BPO players are now eyeing business expansion.

Meanwhile, IBPAP announced that it will soon be offering online tech courses, as it joins the growing ranks of those in the training space. Teleperformance, a major player in the country’s outsourcing scene, won the 2018 Aon Best Employer Award in seven countries, underlining that the knowledge base for best-practice HR is definitely now accessible in the country. During the National Export Congress in Pasay City, knowledge process outsourcing firm ADEC Innovations was also recognized by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as one of the top Philippine companies. Cebu City continued to roll out its popular service of free night buses for BPO workers.

There was also news on how the impact of the Philippines growing friendship with China is beginning to impact the BPO industry in the country. 51Talk, China’s online English language teaching giant, said that it will be looking to hire a massive 100,000 online English teachers in the Philippines in the coming years. Curiously, there was also a significant bump in numbers of Chinese BPO workers coming into the country. According to Cebu’s Department of Labor and Employment, of the 2,432 foreign workers with approved alien employment permits for working in the Central Visayas, 1,301 of them are for Chinese nationals, and of those, the majority work for one BPO firm in Lapu Lapu.

In the M&A space, Singapore’s Everise, an emerging regional player in the customer experience market, announce that since its inception in 2016 its acquisition program has resulted in the firm reaching an estimated market value of US$300 million. Global IT and outsourcing firm HCL Technologies announced it is embarking on a US$1.8 billion mega deal to acquire a number of IBM’s software applications; and Accenture has bought US management consultancy firm Enaxis Consulting to beef up its offering to its oil and gas clients.

With the festive season now fully upon the country; it was also peak Christmas party time for BPO firms, large and small. One of the country’s first movers in outsourcing, Sykes, held its annual year-end celebration offering almost P2 million worth of raffle prizes, and with international travel very much the theme of the night. According to the old saw ‘travel broadens the mind’. Appropriate for an industry embarking on a vast up-skilling and retraining of its workforce to meet the challenges of the near future.

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

NEWS THIS WEEK

17 December 2018

• IBPAP to offer online tech courses – read more…
• BPO industry’s online hiring saw stagnant growth – read more…
• IT-BPO in Davao City remains bullish – read more…

14 December 2018

• Philippines salaries to grow 6% in 2019 – Mercer – read more…
• Teleperformance is best employer in seven countries – read more…
• Singapore’s Everise hits US$300m valuation – read more…

13 December 2018

• 51Talk hiring 100,000 online English teachers – read more…
• Sykes holds travel-themed ‘Year-End Celebration’ – read more…
• PUP graduates are the top choice of BPO firms – Nograles – read more…

12 December 2018

• Philippine BPO industry poised for recovery in 2019 – read more…
• KPO firm ADEC Innovations recognised by DTI – read more…
• Accenture acquires Enaxis Consulting – read more…

11 December 2018

• Most of 1,301 Chinese in Central Visayas work in BPO firm—DOLE-7 – read more…
• HCL to acquire IBM software for US$1.8bn – read more…
• More free bus rides for night-time BPO workers – read more…

Read more Inside Outsourcing Newsletters here:

1. The Outsourcing Week in Review: December 12, 2018
2. The Outsourcing Week in Review: December 26, 2018