Arroyo: BPO, call centers to generate 2M jobs by 2010

President Arroyo said on Tuesday that she expects the business process outsourcing (BPO) and the call-center industry in the country to generate two million jobs by 2010. The President made her forecast at the opening of the Dell Philippines Customer Contact Center at the SM Mall of the Asia Complex in Pasay City, which is expected to employ as much as 1,400 people. “There were less than 2,000 business process outsourcing employees five years ago. Now, there are 125,000 (employees) in a billion-dollar industry. We expect that there will be 2 million BPO and call center employees in the Philippines by 2010," she said. The President said that big companies like Dell have been lured to the Philippines because “we possess the language and technological competencies to be the back office or the front desk of the world," and because of the Filipinos’ “competitive edge" of answering queries “fast with fact and with feelings." “While giant strides in telephony may synthesize a human voice..., no one has and no one can ever replicate the warmth by which Filipinos attend to calls. We have proven that fiber optics not only transmit data and voice but also Filipino hospitality. Thus, because it’s not yet possible to download a handshake or e-mail a hug, the next best substitute is the Filipino call center employee," she said. The contact center was originally supposed to employ only 700 people but Dell chairman Michael Dell announced that the number will be doubled. “Our new team of members, working with the state-of-the-art technology, is the foundation for our growth and expansion in the Philippines," Dell said. The company cited the country’s “robust telecommunications infrastructure combined with a population with strong communication skills and work ethic" as among the reasons for its decision to expand operations in the country. The 145,000-square-foot facility in Pasay City is Dell’s second facility put up in Metro Manila in the last five months, after its recruiting and training center in Makati City in October. Dell also inaugurated the “Connect Pasay" project, a community-collaboration program to help enhance the information technology awareness of public high school students. Dell donated several computers to the Pasay East High School, which he said represented his company’s belief that technology would help prepare the youth for the future. -GMANews.TV