Welcome to Inside Outsourcing: The Outsourcing Week in Review
The announcement last week by the Philippine Central Bank that foreign investment was up 43% on the year will be viewed as a mixed blessing by many in the BPO industry. On the one hand, increased investment into the country is to be welcomed, on the other, it may embolden the government to remove the tax incentives that many in the industry consider as key to maintaining the country’s outsourcing competitiveness.
Teleperformance had a good week. In addition to receiving recognition for the fourth year in a row by the Cebu City government as a top employer in the city, it announced that it had succeeded in besting its competitors with its US$ billion bid to acquire Blackstone-owned BPO giant Intelenet. Other noteworthy deals included SPi Global’s acquisition of KPO firm Scope and LabCorp’s acquisition of outsourcing firm Sciformix. American BPO firm Conduent also underlined its commitment to the region with the appointment of a new heavyweight CEO to oversee its Asian activities.
There was also reassuring news on the impact of AI and automation. Accenture, one of the country’s largest and most influential outsourcing players, backed up its bullish stance on new technology by revealing that its own aggressive digital transformation had not only improved its business processes, but had also had been achieved with no losses to its workforce.
The announcement that e-Performax had opened the first BPO operation in Roxas City; that demand was robust from BPO locators for workers at a Bacolod City job fair, and that BPO player Flatworld Philippines has plans for substantial expansion in Davao City – where the National ICT Summit is being held this week – will all reassure the government that its efforts to spread the BPO sector into the provinces are bearing fruit.
Key to these plans, of course, are improvements to the country’s telecoms and internet infrastructure. But news on the long-overdue selection of a third national telecoms player has been quiet of late. DICT sought to reassure the market that the plan is only delayed and has not been quietly dropped. Time, of course, will tell whether the new deadline will be met. But PwC’s report that major technology giants are investing steadily in Vietnam’s rapidly growing, outsourced IT sector, stands as a warning that time is also short.
News Roundup
18 June 2018
Roxas City sees opening of its first BPO firm – read article…
No jobs lost as Accenture upskills workforce – read article…
Despite rumors, search for country’s 3rd telco is ongoing – DICT – read article…
15 June 2018
Teleperformance clinches Intelenet deal for USD1bn – read article…
Accenture says new technologies have improved processes – read article…
Concentrix continues push to empower women in the workplace – read article…
14 June 2018
Conduent appoints new Asia Pacific CEO – read article…
Flatworld eyes 1,200 employees in Davao by the end of 2018 – read article…
Teleperformance among top employers in Cebu City for 4th year – read article…
13 June 2018
SPi Global acquires KPO firm Scope – read article…
Davao City to host National ICT Summit 2018 – read article…
Vietnam’s BPO following PH’s growth trajectory – read article…
12 June 2018
LabCorp acquires outsourcing firm Sciformix – read article…
BPO job offers predominate at Bacolod City jobs fair – read article…
Foreign investment up 43.5% in first quarter – read article…