Call Centers Remain Resilient, Growth Picks Up Amid Covid

Growth of the contact centers in the Philippines is seen outpacing that of the global industry, according to Benedict Hernandez, chairman of the Contact Centers Association of the Philippines (CCAP).

At the opening of the Contact Islands conference Monday night, Hernandez shared the 2021 projections of analyst Everest where the revenues will grow 9 percent from 6 to 7 percent globally while the number of full-time employees (FTE) will increase by 8 to 9 percent, compared to about 6 to 7 percent growth globally.

The entire information technology-business process management sector — of which contact centers account for 67 percent — revenue growth locally and globally is expected to grow 8 percent and FTE size is seen to rise by 7 to 8 percent.

Hernandez also shared CCAP’s survey among its members which said they expect double-digit growth.

“We’re seeing a pickup on the growth momentum that we saw towards the tailend of 2020 and in 2021, regardless of the changes that we’ve seen, from ECQ (enhanced community quarantine), MECQ (modified ECQ( and now we have the granular lockdown, that momentum appears to be strong. That’s a testament of the resiliency, the durability of our different employees and different teams that are actually part of this industry. It’s not easy.

It’s been confusing, frustrating and tiring for many of the operators to adjust as the rules sometimes change over time,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez said due to the pandemic, the government should have a more long-term work -from-home, hybrid policy framework where companies are able to deliver services both onsite and offsite.

Shirley Hung of Everest said aside from addressing infrastructure, the contact industry in the Philippines should have business continuity, build resiliency and agility as well as solid risk mitigation and management plans in place post pandemic.

Over the near-term, Hung said global players should address geographic concentration concerns in terms of relying too heavily on the Philippines for service delivery.

Players in the Philippines must also be prepared on how to navigate to the shift to digital and automation.

“The story of our industry was a really tough 2020 for many of us, still tough in 2021. But the market is rebounding. The Philippines is rebounding together with the market but because we are highly differentiated, no other country could do contact center better than the Philippines. We are enjoying faster growth than the global market and fueling our business growth is the creation of jobs,” said Hernandez.

Source: Malaya Business Insight