Quora is one of the most popular Q&A sites today. On our Quora profile, we get lots of questions about outsourcing, call centers, and BPOs everyday. Here’s one of Magellan Solutions’ answers to a question posted on Quora (What are the pros and cons of locating a call center in the Philippines as opposed to India or some other country?)
Here are some of the pros and cons of locating a call center in the Philippines as opposed to other countries:
Pros:
Accent – The Philippines is now No. 1 when it comes to voice call center services, according to IBPAP. Filipino call center agents are very flexible when it comes to accent. There are agents who are accent-free/having a neutral accent; there are agents who can pull off an American accent, and there are also agents who can speak in British accent. This is one of the major reasons why the Philippines is No. 1 in voice services because it is crucial that customers/clients and the call center agents have a smooth flow of communication.
Further reading: ‘Accent’ matters: Philippines acquiring 70% of India call centers
Philippines: The new call center capital of the world
Infrastructure & Technology – The Philippines has been a very good destination for call center outsourcing for years already. As a growing industry with a projection of $25 billion dollars of revenue this 2016 (8% of the country’s GDP), the country’s call centers has built tested-and-proven efficient infrastructure and technological systems that enable superior-quality call center operations.
Culture – What call center agents from other outsourcing destinations lack is cultural flexibility. While they fall short of this, one of the strengths of Filipino call center agents is cultural flexibility. They can easily adapt to other cultural influences — and it is interesting to note the colonization history of the Philippines. At an early age, Filipinos can already speak and understand the English language as it is the language of instruction in schools and most of the public areas. Philippine media is also saturated with culture and lifestyle influences from other countries — mostly American. With this fact, Filipino call center agents can better relate to the clients/customers from other countries when they are dealing customer service, sales, and other call center services with them.
Work Ethic & Management – Filipino call center agents are very hardworking and performance-driven. They deliver excellent work; that is one of the reasons why outsourcing call center services is thriving in the Philippines. The country’s years of experience and expertise in providing outsourced call center services has also produced effective management strategies to any size of operations — giving headache-free call center operations to clients.
Cons:
Weather – The Philippines is very susceptible to natural calamities like storms and floods. That is why Philippine call centers are always ready with systems that enable them to continue operations despite the bad weather condition (back-up generators, connecting to 2-3 telecommunications providers, etc). It is also important to note that the natural calamities mostly hit the regions outside Metro Manila (call center capital) so call center operations in cities within Metro Manila are not heavily affected most of the time.
Internet – The price of internet connection in the Philippines is expensive than most countries.
Cost – The call center pricing is somehow a bit pricier than other counterparts, but it is worth the quality of work. That is why Philippine call center services are cost-effective.
If you are interested in finding the perfect call center partner in the Philippines, try to contact Magellan Solutions as it is one of the leading call centers in the country — delivering a comprehensive range of services that can be customized to any size and any type of business.
The post Pros and cons of locating your call center in the Philippines appeared first on Magellan Solutions.