THE country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry should now start to work on getting European companies to outsource its services to the Philippines, especially when most companies are now looking for ways to cut on costs after suffering losses caused by the global financial crisis.
Opportunities from Europe are also considered to be “endless,” ranging from engineering, architecture, graphic design, procurement, human resource administration, accounting and financial services and other back office services, said Henry Schumacher, executive vice president of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP).
“The (country) should export designs, not designers,” he added during an interview with reporters yesterday.Schumacher also referred to Europe as a “large BPO market,” even larger when compared to the United States.
But based on data from the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP), out of the $6.8 billion worth of exported services by BPOs in 2008, only 10 percent were from European companies.
At present, European companies outsource to India, not because it is the biggest outsourcing destination, but it has successfully made itself visible to the European market, Schumacher said.
Visibility in Europe is among the concerns that Schumacher wants to be addressed by the Filipino BPO industry.
Aside from this, the country should also work on “successfully branding the professional Filipino.”
“With eight million Filipinos outside (the Philippines), somebody must have been touched by a Filipino in one way or another,” he said.
Schumacher also stressed that there is a need to create a European champion who can talk about how the Filipinos helped his or her business.
Even if ECCP has committed to help address these concerns, Schumacher said industry players should not expect the results “to be delivered on a silver platter.” “I need to see some hard work here,” he added.
Schumacher also observed that various sectors in the Philippines have been “neglecting” the European market for “the longest time.”
“The (Philippines) have always looked East, because at the end of the rainbow, there is the American dream,” he said.
Schumacher launched the “Look West” campaign, which aims to encourage BPO players to look at Europe.
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