THE Philippines now faces tough competition from many countries when it comes to the contact center or call center industry.
This is because new technologies have made it possible for other nations to expand into the voice sector even if they don’t speak English or may have a strong accent.
Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) President Haidee Enriquez said the Philippines remains the number one choice for companies in the voice sector, but many challenges remain.
“[It] used to be that the English proficiency of our labor pool was our number one advantage… It’s still important, but probably because of growth also in other talent markets where they are getting more proficient in the English language coupled with technology or AI [artificial intelligence],” she said.
CCAP officials said many apps or programs now have AI which can remove accents and some even automatically translate what a caller is saying. Many countries are expanding into this path, including those in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, according to CCAP.
“There are more and more locations that want to be like the Philippines,” Enriquez added.
But they assert that the Philippines too can use AI to their advantage. AI can also add more job opportunities in the country and make the contact center industry even bigger.
“This age of AI and technology brings about new roles. For example cybersecurity professionals or AI analysts, designers, AI coaches, or even prompters,” she said.
CCAP is not too worried yet with the entry of more countries in the call center industry because of the general attitude of empathy and the work ethics of Filipinos.
But she added that the Philippines cannot be complacent, saying it is very crucial to upskill or reskill employees so they can handle more value-added work.
Enriquez announced that the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority has approved P500 million funding for upskilling of the IT-BPM sector this year and more funds expected from government in the coming years.
They thanked government for the support especially because the call center industry is among the biggest revenue contributor to the government and a slowdown in the sector will be felt by the entire economy.
Based on CCAP data, the sector hit $31.5 billion in revenues last year – employing 1.62 million workers. It eyes to hire 80,000-100,000 more employees this year, lower than last year’s figure. But CCAP is confident of about 5-7% growth this year. (ABS-CBN News)
