A Transition to Higher Value Services in BPO Philippines
At the turn of the century, the Philippines’ outsourcing sector has seen spectacular growth as top businesses throughout the globe have benefited from the high-quality/high-value BPO services offered by the nation. Millions of Filipinos have received good, well-paying jobs thanks to the business. Also, it has boosted the nation’s economic growth and continues to draw foreign investment. To remain competitive, BPO providers in the Philippines will need to change their business model to offer more complicated, higher-value services as outsourcing services develop.
“Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the BPO industry globally. The majority of the work performed in offshore locations like the Philippines is simple and repetitive, and soon, AI will handle practically all of these duties. New technologies are already automating many chores, especially with the help of voice assistants that become more intelligent. According to Ralf Ellspermann, CEO of PITON-Global, a multi-award-winning mid-sized BPO in the Philippines, one effective example is the chatbot that replies to client queries on a company’s website.
As long as AI is used, businesses will be able to give customers the information they require in a quicker, more practical, and economical manner. There will undoubtedly be a significant increase in the demand for technology-focused businesses, which will have an effect on BPO providers in the Philippines and internationally. To meet this demand, outsourcing companies in the Philippines will need to upskill their BPO staff.
“While it won’t happen immediately, BPOs should begin changing the makeup of their personnel immediately. Future jobs that will be delegated to the Philippines are almost certainly going to be more difficult. These will be tasks that are difficult to automate and still require engagement from humans. Naturally, fewer agents will be required to handle activities that are outsourced as they get more complicated. According to Mr. Ellspermann, BPO leaders must make sure they are creating the best BPO workforces for both today and tomorrow.
Knowledge process outsourcing will become more popular as AI is used for simple, repetitive jobs (KPO). These are the harder-to-do activities that are frequently quite specialized. They call for agents to have a more specialized or technical skill set, like, for instance, accountancy, research, web design, and digital marketing. In terms of this high-value (non-voice) BPO and KPO services, India still has a significant competitive advantage over the Philippines.
The BPO industry in the Philippines is now developed enough to make the move to higher-value services, thus the country does have some benefits. The Philippines already dominates the world in terms of outsourcing voice-related services, and BPOs have started turning their attention to more intricate services. This calls for the use of cutting-edge technologies, data analytics, and difficult-to-automate process design. Moreover, BPO providers are spending more money on internal training programs and developing curricula for institutions to train their workforces on these high-value services.
In the past twenty years, the Philippines has become a global leader in offering value-added business processes and outsourcing services as a result of its success as a BPO haven. The nation is ranked first for voice-related services and second overall in the world for outsourcing locations. Yet, with the rise of AI, BPO firms in the Philippines need to keep spending money on resources and training in order to deliver higher-value services. AI will soon replace human agents doing basic, lower-level jobs, much as robots have taken the place of humans in many factory settings. According to Mr. Ellspermann, BPOs in the Philippines must start preparing their workforces for this inevitable change and switching from BPO work to higher-value services in order to keep their position as a worldwide leader into the next decade and beyond.