Vol. XXII, No. 70-A [ BusinessWorld Online ]
Saturday, November 1, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Almost half of local business process outsourcing (BPO) companies expect rising demand in the next twelve months as a result of an ongoing financial crisis in the US and Europe, which are expected to outsource more to cut costs.
More than two-thirds of BPO firms think the crisis will have a positive or neutral effect on their operations, a survey of 113 local outsourcing firms done by local BPO groups Outsource2Philippines and theBusiness Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) showed.
More than a third of the respondents said the crisis would affect them positively, while another third said it would have no bearing on them. But still another third said they would be hurt by crisis, while almost half expect a possible cut in demand.
"While the global financial crisis provides both opportunities and challenges for the Philippine BPO industry, industry players are indicating that overall, the outlook remains positive, and at least in some sectors, will become more so," BPAP Chief Executive Officer Oscar R. Sañez said in a statement.
While large companies expect to benefit from the crisis, smaller BPO firms employing less than 500 workers were less upbeat.
Software developers were the most pessimistic, more than half of which said the financial crisis would hurt them.
Software service providers were more optimistic, with a third saying they expect to profit from it.
Meanwhile, more than half of contact centers expect to benefit from the crisis, while a third were neutral.
"The results of the survey suggest that indeed, there is opportunity in crisis," Outsource2Philippines Chief Executive Officer Frank Holz said. "The challenge is to identify those opportunities, quickly determine how to capitalize on them, and then act aggressively," he added. — Paolo Luis G. Montecillo
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