Do you believe that the Call Center Industry is in Danger?

[Una_dagmar]

I've been hearing all sorts of comments about the industry.

"It won't last ..."

"It isn't stable..."

"Ngayon lang 'yang kasi boom..."

Any feedback or comments about this guys?

:D

[ambertookme]

hi Una_dagmar,fellow CSA here.

as what i've posted sa Convergys thread, many believe that this industry will go on as there is a market.all we need to do is to polish our skills so we wont get left behind by our Indian and Chinese counterparts. share ko lang,im fortunate to have worked with Indians months ago.i just had to resign coz i was missing my family a lot.ganun kababaw. Indians are very well versed in the English language. sobra.nanliliit kaming mga pinoy.Although we can "FAKE" the accent better kasi sila parang iba talaga ang accent. imagine Sushmita Sen taking calls.pero fluent and very articulate. sila naman,they can mimic Brit twang pero ang client namin dun,Americans. But Pinoys are more aggressive sa floor.outbound kasi ang program ko dun and thankfully, we were outselling them. mga Pinoys kasi by nature, wont take NO for an answer. sila, Ok lang ng Ok pag ayaw ng customer.

with the Chinese, i heard may mga call centers na rin dun,big names pa.mas mura yata ang labor cost kasi nila. pero our main advantage talaga is our closeness with the American Culture,accent and all that.so as long as we r giving them good quality service and sales,i guess we'll be fine.

oo,i do believe maraming call centers din ang mag-sasara.just like the lechon manok industry na parang lahat ng kanto,meron,only the big players will survive. so the strategy now is to get employed in a Call Center na stable na,with campaigns on going and preferably,may contact centers din sa States.

[rabbaddal]

This article on a McKinsey study re. long-term prospects in outsourcing may be informative. While the article talks about India, the Filipino outsourcing industry may also find relevance in it:

Indian IT enabled services (ITES) companies may be following a business model that is unsustainable in the long run, according to McKinsey .

Replicating business activities at a lower cost in India, the business model followed by local ITES companies, cannot be sustained because the cost advantage the model is
based on will not last for long. Russia and China, among others, are beginning to be regarded as possible alternatives, which also offer highly skilled but cheap labour. All the major multinational consultancies and IT systems integrators are aggressively increasing their workforces in India, aiming to match local companies' billing rates.

McKinsey advises that Indian ITES companies need to shift their focus from a single activity to expanding their range of activities to one or two end-to-end processes and functions, and begin to offer platform-based solutions and ultimately insight-led custom
solutions.

Another facet of that strategy involves moving up the value chain. This will differentiate Indian ITES companies from new comers entering the market of low-end activities, as these become more and more commoditised.

[Gabriela]

"Spurred by an irritated public, politicians have signed the death notice for telemarketing. But the end of sales calls will deliver another blow to the staggering economy."

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/07/15/do_not_call/index_np.html

[thehitman]

Call centers based on telemarketing are in danger. However, the industry as a whole isn't. For the moment anyway. Most of these call (contact) centers provide customer/tech support so they won't be too affected by the do-not-call list.

:cool:

[Una_dagmar]

Originally posted by ambertookme
as what i've posted sa Convergys thread, many believe that this industry will go on as there is a market.all we need to do is to polish our skills so we wont get left behind by our Indian and Chinese counterparts. share ko lang,im fortunate to have worked with Indians months ago.i just had to resign coz i was missing my family a lot.ganun kababaw. Indians are very well versed in the English language. sobra.nanliliit kaming mga pinoy.Although we can "FAKE" the accent better kasi sila parang iba talaga ang accent. imagine Sushmita Sen taking calls.pero fluent and very articulate. sila naman,they can mimic Brit twang pero ang client namin dun,Americans. But Pinoys are more aggressive sa floor.outbound kasi ang program ko dun and thankfully, we were outselling them. mga Pinoys kasi by nature, wont take NO for an answer. sila, Ok lang ng Ok pag ayaw ng customer.

with the Chinese, i heard may mga call centers na rin dun,big names pa.mas mura yata ang labor cost kasi nila. pero our main advantage talaga is our closeness with the American Culture,accent and all that.so as long as we r giving them good quality service and sales,i guess we'll be fine.

oo,i do believe maraming call centers din ang mag-sasara.just like the lechon manok industry na parang lahat ng kanto,meron,only the big players will survive. so the strategy now is to get employed in a Call Center na stable na,with campaigns on going and preferably,may contact centers din sa States.

If the Indians are so good in handling calls, why am have I been receiving calls from irate customers who want to speak to an American or at least someone who could speak English decently?It may be true that labor is cheap in China, but the accent problem there is a very big problem to handle, considering that not many of them speak with the accent. After all, unlike in the lechon manok industry, our speaking skills are MAJOR.

[KahLeeVogue]

Originally posted by ambertookme
hi Una_dagmar,fellow CSA here.

as what i've posted sa Convergys thread, many believe that this industry will go on as there is a market.all we need to do is to polish our skills so we wont get left behind by our Indian and Chinese counterparts. share ko lang,im fortunate to have worked with Indians months ago.i just had to resign coz i was missing my family a lot.ganun kababaw. Indians are very well versed in the English language. sobra.nanliliit kaming mga pinoy.Although we can "FAKE" the accent better kasi sila parang iba talaga ang accent. imagine Sushmita Sen taking calls.pero fluent and very articulate. sila naman,they can mimic Brit twang pero ang client namin dun,Americans. But Pinoys are more aggressive sa floor.outbound kasi ang program ko dun and thankfully, we were outselling them. mga Pinoys kasi by nature, wont take NO for an answer. sila, Ok lang ng Ok pag ayaw ng customer.

with the Chinese, i heard may mga call centers na rin dun,big names pa.mas mura yata ang labor cost kasi nila. pero our main advantage talaga is our closeness with the American Culture,accent and all that.so as long as we r giving them good quality service and sales,i guess we'll be fine.

oo,i do believe maraming call centers din ang mag-sasara.just like the lechon manok industry na parang lahat ng kanto,meron,only the big players will survive. so the strategy now is to get employed in a Call Center na stable na,with campaigns on going and preferably,may contact centers din sa States.


I guess depende sa mga agents yan. In our case kasi we also have Indian counterparts more often than not, kapag sa kanila nanggaling ang client, Irate na irate ang mga Kano. The thing is Indians can hardly speak correct English or the accent is too thick. Sushmita Sen is Sushmita Sen, pero I still believe that Filipinos are way better than their Indian counterparts at least in our Call center.

About call centers naman, I think depende pa rin sa kung saan ka based na company. Swerte, kami kasi we are handling only one client and so far di naman kami nagpapahuli and most of the workloads sa amin ang bagsak. Nag streamline na kasi sila ng call center sa states eh and besides our company is known for it's world class costumer service. Kung wala kaming CCC for sure apektado ang buong company

Just my two cents.

[Gabriela]

More here...

Jobs in call centers seen doubling to 30,000
Manila Bulletin

Total seats in call centers is seen to jump to about 30,000 by yearend from the present 15,000 seats as the country is experiencing a boom in the industry.

Board of Investments (BOI) managing head Gregory Domingo said there are about 37 foreign and locally-owned contact centers in the country today. During the first four months of the year, investments in the call center industry reached P1.897 billion as compared to last year's P1.59 billion.

In terms of employment, the industry generated 10,426 seats last year as compared to 2001, which only managed around 6,560 seats.

[Chad]

The call center situation in this country reminds me of the tech boom in the US in latter part of the 90s.

The bubble burst.

[SILENTMAX]

"the sky is falling the sky is falling" said chicken little

[KuyaDanny]

Assuming the industry is bound to die (and I'm not saying that it is), how long do you want it to live? I would think you should be looking only over the lifetime of your contracts.

[Ice Burn]

Well a lot of you folks should be glad that the Call Center Industry is giving you employment opportunities. If the bubble bursts, where will you go then? Especially since your work experience revolves primarily with customer support and a career shift may prove to be difficult.

My friend has this problem. She recently resigned after working 3 years in a call center. She was already a supervisor and well paid. She said she couldn't take working at a call center anymore. She wanted a career shift. After 3 months of job hunting, where did she end up? Call center, where else? Though she now has a lucrative position at the reportedly number 1 call center, she still ended up in a call center.

I asked her, why did you go back to a call center? I thought you wanted a career shift. She told me, that though she has 3 years work experience, her career revolved mainly on a call center and other industries wouldn't hire. The only companies willing to pay her more on the basis of her experience are call centers.

[GeNzO13]

I believe that the call center industry is nearing a phase where most of the unstable centers will shut down and only the strong companies will survive.

Is it in danger? I don't think so, considering the talent pool found in the Philippines. What is important is to find a stable center than offers both inbound and outbound services.

[rabbaddal]

Originally posted by Ice Burn
I thought you wanted a career shift. She told me, that though she has 3 years work experience, her career revolved mainly on a call center and other industries wouldn't hire. The only companies willing to pay her more on the basis of her experience are call centers.

While industry-fit is an important hiring consideration, it does not shut the door completely to those who want to make career shifts. Just as it is with managing a business, it is also up to the person him/herself to manager his/her own career.

Some things to consider:

1. What industries and job functions does the person want to target? Did the applicant talk to professionals in those industries to get a feel of what the job requirements are (and also to subliminally build a network)?

2. How did the applicant position him/herself? What salient qualities in his/her previous job did he/she use to promote him/herself? This is similar to product branding, where only the features that are important or of interest to the market are promoted. Is the applicant willing to start from the bottom and take a pay cut just to enter his/her target career path?

3. How far is the career shifter willing to go to demonstrate to initially skeptical recruiters that he/she is fit for the industry and the position? Is he/she willing to invest in an MBA (and an intership in the field he/she wants to enter), or take on a pro bono (aka. free) consulting engagement, for example, to "add points" to his/her resume?

Several friends of mine also started in the call center industry and shifted to better careers in marketing or finance after 2 to 3 years. In their case, they had to start from the bottom of the ladder in terms of position and pay.

[monicka]

Originally posted by thehitman
Call centers based on telemarketing are in danger. However, the industry as a whole isn't. For the moment anyway. Most of these call (contact) centers provide customer/tech support so they won't be too affected by the do-not-call list.

In addition to that, the call center companies would probably start laying off their US employees before us "low-cost, high-value" Filipinos.

[Gabriela]

Originally posted by Ice Burn
The only companies willing to pay her more on the basis of her experience are call centers.
And we're not only talking here of CSA and tech support positions. I'm also having a hard time looking for an HR position in another field that pays well like the call center does.


Originally posted by monicka
In addition to that, the call center companies would probably start laying off their US employees before us "low-cost, high-value" Filipinos.
Yeah, i heard that the daily wage of a CSA in the US is equivalent to 2-3 wks salary of a Filipino counterpart. sheesh!

[EVIL CLOWN]

Originally posted by Gabriela

Yeah, i heard that the daily wage of a CSA in the US is equivalent to 2-3 wks salary of a Filipino counterpart. sheesh!

:lol: i had an irate caller once who remarked "i bet they pay you only what? $10 or at most $12 an hour?" :glee: haha i wish!

[fenn]

Americans are actually very concerned that so-called "backroom" functions like call centers, accounting etc. are migrating to countries like India, Ireland, the Philippines and China.

I think the Philippines should take care of its call center industry so that hindi ito babagsak. We should nurture this booming industry so that eventually, we can hopefully put India and China out of business at tayo na ang magiging Contact Center Capital of the World.

[Una_dagmar]

Originally posted by fenn
Americans are actually very concerned that so-called "backroom" functions like call centers, accounting etc. are migrating to countries like India, Ireland, the Philippines and China.

I think the Philippines should take care of its call center industry so that hindi ito babagsak. We should nurture this booming industry so that eventually, we can hopefully put India and China out of business at tayo na ang magiging Contact Center Capital of the World.


In my opinion, it's not far-fetched to have the Philippines become the Contact Center Capital of the World considering the skills, knowledge and attitude that our workforce has. The collective term for having other locations and companies handle these "backroom" functions is called "Outsourcing".

I believe that the Philippines is a major and worthwhile country to invest in as an outsourcer despite the dangers apparent or latent.

[Tee_Z28]

hi.. give me info naman about this call center o.. interested din ako kase to try it for part time lang naman...

ano ba ginagawa nung mga asa call center?

[lech0n 420]

well, the account i handle accepts inbound calls only...and basically, you sit on your a$$ for 8 hours, more or less, with three 30-minute breaks for the shift. you speak to americans with questions, complaints, and sometimes VIOLENT REACTIONS to the product you're handling. you do your best to sound as american as possible, because you want to give your callers that they're speaking to one of their own. but if they detect something funny (i.e. you don't sound american enough) and ask you where you're from, or where is the call being routed to, you TELL 'EM THE TRUTH that the call's being handled in MANILA, PHILIPPINES!!!

sometimes they're cool with it, sometimes they spew off a whole bunch of racist comments about "filipinos not able to understand/speak english correctly", but most of the time they don't mind it, and you'd sometimes get some 80-something world war II vet with fond memories of the philippines...or someone who knows some filipinos (they'd usually be from san francisco, or daly city, or milpitas, california) and say some great things about the people and the country!

oops...looks like i'm veering optapik...

now back to the original topic, i don't see any signs that the call center industry's in danger. heck, the call center i work in's allegedly been purchased by a bunch of indians, but i don't see anyone panicking...and (knock on wood) we still get paid on time!

LECHON = LYDIA'S (TM)

[_nu_]

Is it in danger? Not really. Specially the big boys.

The National Do Not Call list may be a cause for concern, but I doubt that it will kill outbound telemarketing.

I think there are 3 groups of people. Those who really won't take telemarketing calls (and are most likely already on the do not call list), those who feel so-so about it, and those who do appreciate offers on the phone.

The 2 extremes are a given, and can't really be changed. The future of telemarketing depends on that middle group, and how they will lean.

But in the end, I think telemarketers will still be around.

[kazziecutie]

Actually, the call center industry is booming right now.......it's not in danger cause there are a lot of new call centers opening up

[Una_dagmar]

Originally posted by kazziecutie
Actually, the call center industry is booming right now.......it's not in danger cause there are a lot of new call centers opening up

That is with regard to short-term effects. What about in the long run? Let's say in about 10 years from now, do you think it'll still work? The customer contact center industry probably wouldn't be booming by then, but do you think some centers would be resilient enough to survive economic and political turmoil?

[amPOGIko]

sa lahat naman diba may mga businesses na nagfefail..pero kung call centers in general, i believe it's here to stay. yung mga outbound malamang mawala...lalo na may bagong law na sa US. yung do not call list nila..libre yung sign up e..pero yung mga inbound..i don't think mawawala..mga tipong tech support ng microsoft, or mga call centers ng bangko. san ka pa magrereklamo pag odd hours of the day diba? ayun..bow

[jpmontoya3]

a lot of fresh graduates who want to make a lot of money agad looks to the call center industry that's why i'm sure it will stay...i myself have been in 3 call centers already

[Macky_EX]

I recently joined this do not call list here in the US..... meron pa ring mga tawag from telemarketers..... yun nga lang mga 3X a day na lang unlike before na almost every hour merong isang tawag.

I am also one of those first affected by the IT bubble burst..... ang nakakatakot lang sa call centers, atleast sa IT kung talagang magaling ka meron ka pa ring kalalagyan.... yan lang ang hindi ako sure sa mga taga-call centers after their bubble burst.

:cool:

[Lightspeed]

The Philippine call center industry is not in danger at the moment.

But 5 to 10 years from now, it will be in for stiff competition from the likes of China, India, Jamaica and other English-speaking countries.

Our singular vision should be to make the PHILIPPINES the dominant player by that time.

And the path to that vision is to establish our reputation as the location that offers the best quality and the best service to all clients. Then more call center operations will gravitate to our shores.

Pero tulong-tulong tayo ngayon! This is a collective undertaking and I'm sure we will deliver! :)

[Una_dagmar]

I agree with what Lightspeed has mentioned that probably 5-10 years from now, the industry shall experience its trial times. I guess only the best will last.

An imminent danger here is the rise of English competency in India and China (which pose more potential for outsourcers to cut operating costs). What can we do? We just have to speak English better? Hahaha!

[contactagent]

Siguro yung outbound call centers lang. kasi this october, ipapa implement na kasi yung national do not call list sa united states. yung maaapektuhan lang naman nyan is yung mga nag ko call out ng residencial numbers offering various products. pero yung mga outbound for corporate clients, hindi naman kasi yung national do not call list is for residencial telephone owners only. kaya nga nag resign na ako from my former call center which is an outbound one and im lucky and thankful naman kasi natanggap ako for inbound customer service representative. pero lets cross out fingers na hindi mag close yung mga outbound call centers dito sa philippines.

[hermone96]

Anyone there who is working with crescent, the new call center of citibank for its banking clients? This is different from their local call center as this one will cater to citibank Australia clients. Any feedback? I was told that basic pay is Ps16k but heard that the current phone officers are actually being paid only Ps10k.

[sharingan]

You might want to share this bit of news to your agents who might be worried if Senator Kerry wins
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200408180712.htm
Outsourcing’s here to stay
DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco
The Philippine Star 08/18/2004
Because political grandstanding has reached fever pitch levels in the United States, there are those who are getting alarmed over promises made by the Democrats to punish firms that export jobs abroad. Actually, there is nothing much to fear. Even if the Democrats win, and that is by no means certain, it isn’t likely that they will be able to stop the trend towards outsourcing to India and the Philippines, provided the economics remain right.

Besides, the Democrats and other politicians overstate their case on the real impact of outsourcing on the American job market. A report on outsourcing released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that just two percent of all mass layoffs in the first quarter of 2004 were associated with the movement of work outside the US. But it is a "no brainer" to work on the insecurities of a battered American middle class about job losses.

There is little any American administration can do about the current nature of the large American multinationals, which has become less American and more multinational. In fact, I read somewhere that during the downturn in the American economy, the earnings in the overseas operations of these multinationals kept corporate earnings up and profits flowing to the United States.

One study made by economists from Columbia University revealed companies saved between five and 50 percent in costs by outsourcing, margins that would likely outweigh any negative impact from tax changes. In making business decisions, the bottom line influences American executives more than false calls for patriotism voiced by politicians seeking votes.

In other words, the revenue returns to America are significant. American companies benefit greatly by outsourcing to us. For so long as the economics are there and for so long as we are capable of delivering the quality service required, we will continue to get outsourcing business from them.

The bigger problem I see is our declining ability to provide the kind of capable workers in the numbers required. Even now, we seem to be hitting a low growth ceiling, with the deterioration in the ratio of applicants and those actually hired. It is not just the ability to speak and write English, but other skills as well in business process outsourcing (BPO) like accounting and personnel management.

When I last talked to DTI Secretary Cesar Purisima, he was bullish about the growth of BPO but he also recognized the problem posed by inadequate source of trained workers. The deterioration in our educational system will have its negative effects on our ability to grow BPO to make it a major job generator. This is too bad because those who have outsourced with us are pretty happy. Expansion, is however, another thing.

Today, there is an estimated 130,000 people working in Philippine call centers and back office service centers, compared to 245,000 in India. The number of agents in call centers alone has doubled to about 40,000 over the past year and industry executives expect that number to double again by the end of 2005, if we are able to keep up with the demand for quality workers.

DTI will have to work closely with DepEd and CHED to make sure our people get the education and skills they need to take advantage of this opportunity. There would have to be closer monitoring of schools, colleges and universities to make sure they have the right curriculum and trained faculty. We don’t need diploma mills that offer false hopes.