Vol. XXI, No. 213-A [ Business World Online ]
Saturday, May 31, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
A Japanese business process outsourcing (BPO) firm is investing P120 million in the country to finance the expansion of its local partner, Logicall, Inc.
Transcosmos, Inc., one of the biggest call centers in Japan with 22 offices and over 20,000 employees, merged with the mid-sized call center last month to reach a wider English-speaking market.
Kenji Obata, who now sits as vice-president of the Transcosmos-Logicall merger, said the Japanese firm had spoken with more than 20 companies and even considered taking the business to India before deciding to partner with LogiCall.
"We needed a partner who has an identical sense of values and mentality to be aggressive in entering the English-speaking market. Second, the equipment and facility that Transcosmos has is almost identical to the equipment and facility that Logicall is using," Mr. Obata said.
Logicall is a three-year old BPO with 300 seats at its lone office along Chino Roces Ave. in Makati City.
Logicall Executive Director Archie C. Rodriguez said the company hopes to double capacity by yearend and keep the organization growing.
The company hopes to have 3,000 seats by 2011. "We’re looking at having as many as 6,000 to 8,000 employees," he said.
He added that the merged BPO should start reaping $20 million in revenues annually by then.
Logicall is looking for new locations where it can expand in Metro Manila, while key cities like Cebu, Davao and Bacolod will be explored two years from now.
Like other BPO companies, Transcosmos-Logicall expects the local industry to continue growing.
The government earlier said the sector expects to yield $13 billion worth of revenues by 2010.
"The Philippines has a bright future in the BPO industry. There are also BPOs in Australia and India, but the trend now is that they come to the Philippines," Mr. Obata said. —Anna Barbara L. Lorenzo
_________________________________________________________________________
