Philippine call centers and outsourcing

<h1>Philippine call centers and outsourcing</h1>

<p align=right>by Michael Rad</p>

<div align=justify>Believe or not, animation outsourcing is one of the subsectors that the Philippines is trying to penetrate and eventually take a big slice from. In fact, animation is one of five subsectors in the outsourcing industry that the Philippine government is heavily promoting overseas because the country’s leaders believe that the Filipinos have the talent and artistic skills to excel in this market. The other four subsectors the government is pushing for are the call centers, medical transcription, software development and business process outsourcing. The Philippine animation industry is expected to make an impact on the animation outsourcing industry because local animation studios have been doing subcontracted animation work for almost two decades now for American animation companies like Hanna-Barbera, Warner Brothers, and more recently, Cartoon Network. It is also now a known fact that several Filipino animators were involved in Pixar’s huge hit 3D movie Finding Nemo. Although India and Korea are years ahead of the Philippines in terms of 3D animation, the country is relatively strong in 2D animation. The reason the country is behind in 3D animation is not because of talent and skills as evidenced by a number of Filipinos working for Pixar, the company that pioneered full 3D animation movies, but because of the lack of local technology. Local animators simply cannot keep up with latest 3D software like the Koreans or the Indians because of the prohibitive costs. This is one reason why the government is greatly promoting animation outsourcing in the country so that local animators would be exposed to the latest software and technologies, because in terms of skills, Filipino animators are just as good as anyone in the industry. The call center boom in the Philippines has spilled to the provinces as well. With the premier cities headed by Makati being crowded by call center operations, many companies have started to set sights on nearby provinces to as far as Cebu and Mindanao. Cebu, considered as one the most progressive provinces in the Visayas region, has positioned itself as a main hub of information and communications technology services. Already, some 14 call centers have started operations in Cebu, including big companies such as Sykes, PeopleSupport, Convergys, eTelecare and Global Alliance. More companies are intent to follow suit. Other firms that are exploring opportunities in Cebu are Ambergris, Teletech, Daksh, Vision X, Teleperformance and Wipro Spectramind. Cebu becomes the second choice for these call centers after Metro Manila because of the province’s strong local government support and its familiarity with large foreign investments. But the main advantage of Cebu over other provinces is its large pool of English speakers who meet world-class service and language standards demanded by call center operators. Many Cebuanos are better English speakers than they are in Pilipino. According to the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, it is important to increase the number of call center operations outside of Metro Manila as the demand for the industry continues to pour in from the United States and Europe. With about only five out of every a hundred who apply in a call center actually get hired in Metro Manila, the growing demand of these foreign companies would be hard to meet unless it is channeled through the provinces. Thus, the government, through the Department of Trade and Industry, is pushing for the development of more IT hubs outside of Metro Manila. The DTI is also encouraging the enhancement of communication skills among students to improve the hiring rate in the call center companies. </div>

<p align=center>Article source: <a href="http://www.ArticlePros.com/business/Public-Relations/article-54361.html">ArticlePros.com</a></p>
 
<table align=center width=550 cellspacing=1 bgcolor=silver cellpadding=5>
<tr bgcolor=antiquewhite>
	<td>
		<p align=center><b>About the author</b></p>
		<p align=justify><br />
Global Sky is a US owned and operated call center based in the Philippines offering US Quality at Offshore Rates. Find out more about <a href="http://www.global-sky.com">Philippines call centers</a> and <a href="http://www.global-sky.com/why-us.html">call center outsourcing</a>. Also check out our <a href="http://www.global-sky.com/full-service.html">call center services</a>.</p>
		<p align=left><a href="http://www.global-sky.com" target="_blank" title="will open in new window" class=blue>http://www.global-sky.com</a></p>				<p align=center><input type=button class=asubm value="Other articles by Michael Rad" onclick="document.location='http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Michael Rad'" style="height:20px;cursor:hand"></p>
	</td>
</tr>
</table>