The Outsourcing Week in Review: Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Welcome to Inside Outsourcing: The Outsourcing Week in Review
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Philippines’ outsourcing is booming.
A recent survey of the Philippine outsourcing industry conducted by Outsource Accelerator revealed that the vast majority of BPO respondents are experiencing high levels of growth, increased profitability and high levels of optimism for the future. The survey sought to measure the impact of COVID and performance of Philippines outsourcing through the first 12 months of the pandemic.
>> BPO & COVID STUDY: Read how the PH outsourcing industry performed during the first 12 months of COVID.
Overall the respondents increased their combined employee count from 30,077 jobs to 39,191 jobs – a 30% jump – during the COVID period (1 Mar 2020 – 28 Feb 2021). Of all companies, 84% experienced revenue growth with 32% growing over 50% during the year. “This demonstrates that we are seeing the second wave of outsourcing growth, which I predict could generate 60 million more jobs over the next 20 years,” said Derek Gallimore of Outsource Accelerator.
In a last minute decision on Sunday night, Metro Manila and the neighboring provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal reverted to the less strict Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ), which will be in place until the end of the month (unless extended). The MECQ means more industries are allowed to reopen at limited capacity. The Metro Manila mayors also made a collective decision to shorten curfew hours from 8 pm to 5 am.
Despite the country’s seemingly never-ending lockdown restrictions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) remains optimistic for the Philippine economy, raising its 2021 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast from its original target of 6.6% to 6.9%. However, Yongzheng Yang, resident representative to the Philippines of IMF, has recently opined that the tightened quarantine restrictions “could dampen economic activity.”
The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry “will remain a pillar of the real estate sector,” said Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA)’s CEO Sigrid Zialcita. Zialcita said that BPOs continue to support real estate businesses by backing real estate investment trust (REIT) investments in the country. This statement is supported by real estate brokerage services company Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC). In LPC’s recent media briefing, the firm named the BPO sector as the main driver for increased office demand – followed by the e-commerce industry.
Optimism seems to be this week’s overall theme. According to the results of the latest Business Expectation Survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), business owners’ Confidence Index (CI) for Q1 of 2021 climbed to 17.4 per cent from 2020 Q4’s 10.6 per cent. Business outlook for the economy is “more upbeat,” as the CI rose to 60.5per cent from the previous quarter’s 57.7 per cent. The survey has 1,512 respondent firms located nationwide.
The recently-enacted Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Law will result in “win some, lose some” opportunities, due to the provisions vetoed by President Rodrigo Duterte. According to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), the result of registered investors being unable to apply for new incentives could lead to their departure from the country.
>> READ MORE: Learn more about CREATE Law and its impact on the Philippines, businesses and the outsourcing industry.
PEZA will be providing over 17,000 job opportunities in spite of the pandemic through its virtual job fair. PEZA’s job fair is powered by talent solutions platform WorkBank Philippines, Inc., which said that the most active hiring companies are in the outsourcing and call center industry, information technology, manufacturing, and transport, and logistics. This is especially helpful as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported that over 8,000 workers lost their jobs due to the first three days of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) in the Greater Manila area.
In line with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)’s 2019 targets of making the Philippines the leading creative economy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations by 2030, the Special Committee on Creative Industry and Performing Arts approved consolidated legislation that will set up programs to develop the country’s creative industries. Panel chairman Christopher de Venecia said that without fundamental legislative reform, “there is little to no chance that the road map as charted by the DTI [] could succeed.”
The Philippines and France are exploring trade and investment deals in aerospace, electronics, shipbuilding, clean energy, agribusiness, and healthcare. DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez recently met with the newly-appointed French Ambassador to the Philippines Michèle Boccoz to explore opportunities between the two countries. However, the two representatives will hold further discussions in the scheduled Joint Economic Commission to be held in Q2 2021.
In other BPO news, Clark-based cloud staffing provider Cloudstaff launched its managed PC (mPC) hardware rental plans, a “flexible hardware option with a focus on business continuity planning (BCP).” The rental program offers an all-inclusive, affordable monthly hardware rental to provide increased flexibility.
Overseas, global outsourcing company Concentrix is set to hire 1,000 more employees in Costa Rica by the end of April. The firm is looking to add more workers there for sales and technical support services. On the other side of the world, Indian multinational firm Wipro has appointed Sarah Adam–Gedge as the managing director for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Adam–Gedge will focus on the firm’s vision for business and revenue growth, as well as customer relationships and brand building.
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Wednesday, April 14, 2021
NEWS THIS WEEK
13 April 2021
- Everise wins Catalyst Company Award 2021 for transformative technologies – read article…
- Cloudstaff launches mPC hardware rental program – read article…
- House panel approves bill to develop creative sector – read article…
- IT-BPM named the main driver for increased office demand – read article…
12 April 2021
- Business owners survey indicate “greater optimism” – BSP – read article…
- PEZA to provide 17k jobs through virtual job fair – read article…
- Greater Manila Area shifts to MECQ – read article…
- Concentrix to expand Costa Rica workforce by 1,000 – read article…
8 April 2021
- DOH to partner with BPOs to improve COVID-19 referral hotline – read article…
- IMF raises PH growth forecast – read article…
- CREATE offers “win some, lose some” opportunities – PEZA – read article…
- Wipro appoints new MD for Australia, NZ – read article…
7 April 2021
- BPO sector a ‘pillar’ of PH’s real estate industry – read article…
- Guidelines for CREATE Law implementation now released – read article…
- PH, France to discuss potential deals in six sectors – read article…
- At least 8K workers displaced during this year’s ECQ – read article…
Independent
