In the past few decades, the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry has transformed from a fledgling subsector of the service industry to the lifeblood of the Philippine economy. Call center companies offering inbound and outbound services have sprouted like mushrooms all over the Philippines since then, and now, there are over 800 registered BPO companies employing hundreds of thousands of Filipinos.
You’ll be surprised to see the names of the companies that outsource to the Philippines for their range of call center and back-office services. Microsoft, Google, AT&T, Skype, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Oracle, AXA, Telstra are just a few of the companies that have outsourced part of their operations to the Philippines.
Before we talk about the call center services available in the Philippines, let us take a little stroll down memory lane and look back at how it all started. The BPO industry in the Philippines can trace its beginnings to the founding of the Accenture Global Resource Center by Frank Holz in 1992. Back then, no one could have predicted that companies that provided call center services would one day make a substantial contribution to economic growth in the Philippines.
In 1995, the Philippine Congress passed the Special Economic Zone Act to attract foreign investors. This act would lead to the growth of call center services providers in the Philippines. In 1997, Sykes became the first multinational company to operate in the country, followed by eTelecare in 1999 and a US-based outsourcing center PeopleSupport in 2001. Convergys Corporation would follow suit in 2003 by opening two call centers.
In 2005, the Philippines acquired over 3% of the global BPO market, accounting for 2.4% of its GDP. By 2010, the Philippines was already considered the world’s BPO capital as the industry generated $8.9 billion in revenue and employed around 500,000 employees in call centers throughout the country. The numbers continued to rise in the following years, and the industry is now projected to generate around US$39 billion in revenue by 2022.
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Inbound call centers deal with customer inquiries and product- or service-related issues, and Filipino customer service representatives are some of the best in the world in providing positive customer experiences. They are trained to look after customers’ needs and frustrations, which is why many companies choose to outsource to the Philippines.
So what are the services that fall under this category? See the list below.
While a lot of people think that customer service revolves around assistance during the transaction itself, the fact is that it involves assisting customers before, during, and after a transaction. Many potential customers will abandon an online transaction if they cannot easily find what they are looking for, so there have to be people there to provide the answers to their questions before a sale is even made.
Post-transaction support is just as important as sales itself. While product quality and price are significant factors in attracting customers, what makes them stay depends on how you treat them after they buy your product. Why? That’s because people are highly-emotional beings. This concept revolves around the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If you’re present during your customers’ moments of happiness or distress, they are likely to become more loyal to your brand.
More than a handful of call centers offer technical support services in the Philippines because of how important it is for businesses in the tech industry. As technology products increase, so does the need for technical support. Technical support services help businesses resolve user issues and build stronger customer relationships.
Businesses that need technical support services:
• Technology companies
• Software development companies
• Video game design companies
• Home appliance companies
• Computer manufacturing companies
• Repair shops
• Audio electronics companies
This is especially helpful if your business belongs to the banking or utility sector. With a billing inquiry service, your customers can check their balances, payment history, due dates, credit card statements, and ask about any related concerns. This service provides convenience — which is what the modern world calls for.
Direct response marketing support can help you gather immediate feedback about your product. But why is this important? The opinion of your market can pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of your product. Once you have the data analysis, you can make the necessary tweaks to make it more marketable.
If this is so important, why should you outsource it? Well, it lets you save resources from calling a long list of customers one-by-one.
Convenience and real-time support are crucial elements of customer service. Live chat offers both of these. This is the reason why live chat is so important. Without anyone to assist them, online shoppers are likely to abandon their carts. A live chat agent can help them come up with better purchasing decisions.
One of the most practical and convenient customer service channels is email support. It does not provide the same timely response as live answering, and live chat does. However, it allows customers to write detailed reports about their experiences. It is also the best channel to attach and discuss confidential documents.
Inbound sales deals with a targeted audience. Its method focuses on determining the purchasing decisions of customers. It gives you the ability to create messages that suit your buyers’ interests.
Outbound call centers help businesses make outbound calls or emails to clients on their behalf. Most call centers that offer outbound services in the Philippines are sales-oriented, although some companies conduct market research or surveys.
Appointment setting is an integral component of any business. To accomplish this, agents contact potential customers and arrange sales calls. Their job isn’t to get a sale. Instead, appointment setters are there to gauge a person’s interest in a service or product and scheduling appointments for them to speak with a salesperson.
A lead generation specialist’s job is to generate interest in a service or product by interacting with potential leads and pre-qualify those who showed interest. When done right, your lead generation should pump a steady stream of fresh prospects into your sales funnel.
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Starting a business out of nowhere, without careful consideration of the market trends or future innovations, is a huge risk. Market research helps businesses prevent failure by determining current buyer behavior and needs.
Telemarketing and telesales are two different powerful tools used to generate sales. The telemarketing strategy is more like lead generation. It provides information, generates interest, creates business opportunities, makes appointments, and yields leads. Meanwhile, telesales aims to sell products directly to customers.
A collection reminder service assists you in reminding your clients to settle their liabilities. It speeds up your revenue cycle and settles issues with your customers. This service is very beneficial to utility companies.
Outbound surveys are essential to business. We live in a competitive world, and getting a leg up on the competition can be vital for you. That’s why you need surveys so you can learn more about your customers and use the data you gathered to develop better products or services.
Data verification checks the accuracy and consistency of the data. If you had a recent data migration or whose data are already obsolete, you could use this. By verifying the accuracy of your data, you can have a smoother and error-less operation. There will also have fewer complaints from customers.
As the call center industry continues to provide services to hundreds, if not thousands, of companies worldwide, it also generates thousands of jobs for people in the Philippines. The BPO industry is here to stay as the Philippines transforms into a hot spot for call center services.
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