In this BPO Corner:
Small Call Center Cottage Industry Eyed
By Emmie V. Abadilla

The government has forged a partnership with an American foundation, an international call center solutions provider and a local school to develop 400 to 500 small- to medium-sized call centers in the countryside.

The undertaking should employ an additional 88,000 Filipinos, on top of the current 100,000 call center jobs, Ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao announced yesterday after the Jobs Generation office of the Office of the President signed a memorandum of agreement with California-based solutions provider Five9, the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Center Foundation Philippines and the Systems Technology Institute (STI) to boost employment activities in the Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector.

Under the MoA, the government will provide the policy environment; Five9, the technology; JFK CF, the training; and STI, the infrastructure and manpower to turn the Philippines into the next global customer care capital of the world after India.

All the activities now are in the small call centers on the 40-seat range, noted Brian Silverman of Five9.

Based on this, STI wants to be a halfway house for small call center entrepreneurship, not just turning out quality call center agents but teaching Filipinos how to run, monitor and manage call centers.

With its network of over 100 schools nationwide, STI is in the best position to provide the needed infrastructure and human resources to develop the call center business as a cottage industry in the provinces, says STI president and CEO Monico Jacob.

STI plans to establish call centers in STI facilities, with 20 to 50 seats each, with Five9 providing the technology and the JFK Center training STI graduates prior to their employment as call center agents.

In addition, the Foundation can do a three- to six-month “hand-holding” of the entrepreneurs and provide business clients for the STI school call centers, according to president and CEO Celso Santiago. The foundation is also looking at the feasibility of financing small call center entrepreneurs.

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This article was originally published in the Manila Bulletin on January 13, 2006. Reprinted with permission.