Op/Ed: How Call Centres Help the Philippines Rebrand as a Hub for Service Excellence

As the global economy’s biggest ‘back office’, the Southeast Asian nation is increasingly seeking to depict its workers as educated, empathetic and fluent in English.

By Jan M. Padios | South China Morning Post

"What changes in a country – and what does not change – when it devotes itself to servicing the businesses of other countries? Not long ago, I found myself looking for answers to that question in the busy district of Makati, in the Philippines’ capital Manila, during a meeting with Melvin Legarda and Joseph Santiago, executives at the Business Process Outsourcing Association of the Philippines.

"The organisation’s mission was to entice foreign businesses to outsource back-office work – such as accounts receivable and medical billing and, of course, customer service and technical support call centres – to the country.

"Call centres are big business in the Philippines, and while I was a doctoral student at New York University, I spent time there researching the industry between 2008 and 2013. During that period, the former American colony became a top destination for outsourced jobs from industrialised countries, the United States chief among them. In 2011, the Philippines surpassed India to become the world’s capital of call centres."

Read the complete analysis by Jan M. Padios, associate professor of american studies and affiliate faculty in women's studies, in the South China Morning Post

Image via Almany/South China Morning Post