The Outsourcing Week in Review: Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Welcome to Inside Outsourcing: The Outsourcing Week in Review

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

An encouraging report by CEOWORLD magazine has rated the Philippines as the third best destination worldwide for investment and doing business. Ranked on 11 factors, including corruption, workforce, investor protection, taxes, quality of life, and technological readiness, the country follows Malaysia and Poland.

Investment in the country is enjoying stellar growth, particularly in the Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) sector. It is already significantly impacting the country’s office property markets. According to Pronove Tai International Property Consultants president and CEO, Monique Pronove, POGOs took up 45%, of the total 703,000 square meters of office space available in Metro Manila in the first half of the year, while traditional companies only took 28% and IT-BPM firms 26%. Cavite and Clark are developing POGO hubs of 20 hectares and 10 hectares, respectively. These will accommodate 25,000 workers, says Kevin Wong, Oriental Game’s general manager, the developer of the projects.  

Gaming technology company DFNN Inc says it plans to expand its offshore gaming operations with the establishment of a new local entity, Nico Bayan Inc, to capitalize on POGO growth. PRIME Philippines, a homegrown real estate consultancy is so confident on the sector that it is opening a satellite office in Shanghai in October.  It expects its Chinese clients to increase to 40%, says Jettson Yu, PRIME Philippines founder and chief executive. Eager not to kill the golden goose, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) has reassured the market that it is confident the government will not impose higher taxes on POGOs. 

With such rapid growth also come problems. A key issue has been the high number of illegal overseas workers employed in the POGO sector. According to the Department of Labor and Employment more than 7,000 foreign workers in the sector without work permits may face deportation soon. POGOs are also putting a squeeze on available office space. Office stock available for the BPO industry is expected to be fully taken up by mid-2020 after the government banned further development of economic zones in Metro Manila, says Phillip Anonuevo, executive director of Leechiu Property Consultants.

Meanwhile in Cebu, Oakridge Realty opened its third office tower at the Oakridge Business Park. Arthaland’s Cebu Exchange development was highly commended for Best Commercial Landscape Architectural Design at the PropertyGuru Philippines Property Awards. Arthaland’s Century Pacific Tower at Bonifacio Global City was also named Best Office Development and Best Green Development for the third consecutive year.

In BPO company news, one firm that did manage to expand its Manila footprint significantly last week was global multilingual call center Open Access BPO, which opened a new office for 1,000 staff in Makati. Business process outsourcing firm TELUS International was also named a Leader and Star Performer in Everest Group’s 2019 Contact Center Outsourcing (CCO) PEAK Matrix assessment.

The Security of Tenure bill that will end labor contracting is another piece of controversial legislation worrying the business community. Members of the Joint Foreign Chambers and Philippine Business Groups have appealed to president Duterte to veto the bill. 

Online job search site Jobstreet.com released a report revealing that Filipino jobseekers say that a good salary, career development opportunities and flexible hours are the top considerations when looking for a job.  

Another issue that should be of concern to local outsourcing is that US businesses are now choosing local US call centers after previously outsourcing their customer services abroad, according to research by VoIP service provider Global Call Forwarding. The study claims that Americans are growing increasingly satisfied with the abilities of local centers, due to geographical distance, culture and being able to communicate clearly when problems arise.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

NEWS THIS WEEK

22 July 2019

• POGOS Top Office Occupiers In Metro Manila In H1 2019 – read article…
• Filipino Jobseekers Prioritize Pay, Career Growth – Jobstreet – read article…
• US Businesses Prefer Local Call Centers – Global Call Forwarding – read article…

19 July 2019

• TELUS International Recognized As Leader And Star Performer – read article…
• DFNN To Grow Offshore Gaming Business – read article…
• PRIME Expects To Double Chinese Clients – read article…

18 July 2019

• Cavite, Clark To Become Hubs For POGO Facilities – read article…
• Over 7,000 POGO Workers Face Deportation, Says DOLE – read article…
• Duterte Urged By Business Associations To Abandon ‘End Endo’ Bill – read article…
  

17 July 2019

• BPO Office Stock To Dry Up In 2020 – read article…
• Government Will Not Impose Higher Taxes On Pogos, Says Pagcor – read article…
• Arthaland Bags Awards For Office Towers – read article…

16 July 2019

• Cebu’s Oakridge Realty Opens Third Office Tower – read article…
• Open Access BPO Opens New Office, Upgrades Website – read article…
• Philippines Rated World’s Third Best Country For Investment – read article…
  

Read more Inside Outsourcing Newsletters here:

1. The Outsourcing Week in Review: July 17, 2019
2. The Outsourcing Week in Review: July 31, 2019