Ensuring business continuity for business process outsourcing companies

Abstract

The outsourcing of services, often from developed countries to their developing counterparts, has been one of the main engines of global growth in the 21st century. Growth and expansion, the necessary next step for many thriving enterprises, may prove to be a key factor for ensuring the continued existence of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines — an industry that spans many sectors and forms the backbone of the entire economy. BPO encompasses a wide range of specialised skills, including voice-assisted customer service, finance and accounting, human resources, IT tasks, software development, IT and data centre operations, engineering design, architectural design, gaming and animation, to name but a few. Since the BPO industry began to take off in 2000, the number of firms involved in the Philippines has grown to at least 500. As of 2008, the industry employs some 400,000 skilled professionals from various disciplines and has earned total revenues of US$6.8bn.