Philippine Outsourcing Awakens the Philippine Property Market

A growing number of MNC's and SME's from around the globe that have decided to put up an offshore location in the Philippines has revive the Philippine Property Market.

Prior to the Philippines being the choice of destination among top sourcing companies, the country's property market has not been like the way it is today. Way back the year of 1997, most offices in Makati City, the central business district of the Philippines, were uninhabited.

Mitch Locsin, executive director of the Business Process Association of the Philippines, the local BPO industry group, looked back how cheerless Makati was in those days. “The buildings were empty with office space priced at 300 pesos ($6.5) per square meter.”

At present, the tide has changed in favor of property real estate owners. Booming demand for office spaces and condominiums is highly jumping because of a rise in outsourcing to the Philippines. This scenario has been a red hot topic in the international property real estate developers.

On the front page of the Singapore's Straits Times Newspaper, the most popular broadsheet in the city-state, reporter Alistair Mcindoe analyzed the state of the Philippine property sector. It was bullish and very encouraging. Here is the full text of his report.

However, Philippines' real estate developers seem to be unable to provide the demands for enough office spaces for new investors coming in the Philippines to establish their own satellite office here. It is because more businesses doing back office operations for their US client-company have opted to hold offices in rent-to-own apartment buildings or in converted houses inside residential subdivisions than to wait long to rent a corporate office in Makati, Ortigas, Eastwood and The Fort Global.

If we cannot supply office spaces for today's demands, how can we accommodate the ever growing Philippine Outsourcing which is expected to employ 920,000 Filipinos by 2010 as businesses expand and new investors are coming in?

Philippine Outsourcing Aging Workforce boon to BPO Industries?

Is it indeed a benefit to BPO industries to have maintained aging workforce in the Philippine Outsourcing?

Of course not. I highly dispute that aging workforce is an emerging benefit to BPO industry.

Most of the tasks involving business process outsourcing require more than just basic knowledge in internet technology. Perhaps the functions these individuals can do efficiently are sales and telemarketing and occupying top level management. Aside of those, I highly doubt their skills competencies.

Computer systems play a central role in keeping modern businesses running smoothly, and functions such as email, internet, logistics, finance and administration are vital to such efficiency.

Now that we are in an era where things have become fast and rapidly changing, I am skeptical that these individuals have the endurance to cope with it.

Let me propose an argument, here. If sales and telemarketing can be done by younger ones more effective than these aging workforce, does the BPO industry still need them?

Philippine Outsourcing Professionals for European Markets!

The ever increasing number of US companies investing and adopting the idea of outsourcing to the Philippines is attracting more multinational companies from Europe to emulate the activities of successful US-based business entities that have reap million of dollars from trusting the Philippines' capabilities in the outsourcing industry.

The testimonials and insights about their experiences in outsourcing to the Philippines imply that they would rather initiate contract extensions and project expansions to a Philippine-based BPO to provide them services such as customer service, medical and business transcription, IT, research, etc...than relocating to an Indian-based BPO.

These opportunities are overwhelming. However, the big question remains to be unanswered. Does the Philippines have enough available pool of qualified and skilled workers to do the job?

The Philippine government figuratively has been advertising through printed media that it has enough labor pool. It may be true, but are they qualified in terms of skills required in the BPO industry? Are they finance, accounting, engineering, economics, marketing and IT graduates?

The e-services Philippines mentioned in their report that the Philippines has more than 100,000 accountants and business related college graduates every year.

Good to know that, however if the Philippines would want to get the largest share of the European markets, the government and concerned institutions need to continue expanding the labor pool of qualified candidates of technically skilled professionals and liberal arts graduates to meet the growing demands of outsourcing.

Can the Philippines really supply the outsourcing requirements of the European markets?