Convergys Corp., one of the biggest business process outsourcing firm (BPO) in the Philippines is looking to hire at least 3,600 new employees this year.

The plan of Convergys to hire additional employees was announced by Convergys Philippines country manager and managing and managing director Marife Zamora. She said the expansion is meant to meet the demand of its clients, who mostly belong to the top Fortune 50 list of global firms.

The company has expanded its five of its 12 existing sites in the Philippines, and with the additional new employees, it hopes to bring its total workforce to 25,000 before the year ends.

The sites that are included in the expansion are the: UP TechnoHub in Diliman, Quezon City; San Lazaro in Sta. Cruz, Manila; Nuvali in Laguna; Cebu i3 in AsiaTown Cebu; and Bacolod.

The expansion involved the addition of 2,300 workstations, prompting the need to hire at least 3,600 more people. Of the total, an estimated 350 were for the Bacolod site, 600 for Cebu, and 2,800 for Metro Manila.

Zamora said that the Philippine’s call center agents were among the best, if not the best in Convergy’s global workforce, which fuels client demand for more business to be outsourced here.

“We’re expanding mainly because of the outstanding performance of our employees here and the overall demand for the high-quality service that the Philippine operations are delivering,” she said.

While many of Convergys’ 12 existing facilities were already filled to capacity, she said there were still other sites that had room for expansion. She added however, the company was already looking at several locations nationwide to house possible new site

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines continues to grow. In fact, the growth of the BPO sector is said to be unstoppable as it is expected to accelerate in the first half, with many companies committing to expand faster that expected.

In the report from Inquirer, executive director of the Business Process Association of Philippines (BPAP) Gillian Joyce Virata said the BPO industry’s recovery from the economic slump would be “very steep” in the first semester, as existing players scramble to expand their workforce.

“People are really ramping up. There are recruitments left and right, so we’re seeing a very steep recovery in the first half. The growth will taper off by 2011,” she said.

And this is not limited in the voice services. Virata said companies were also hiring more people to do back-office work and higher-value services.

Likewise, the growth is of the industry will go beyond the third-party service providers, or BPO firms engaged in the business of servicing different companies’ various outsourcing needs. Captives, or BPO firms performing dedicated services for one company alone, were likewise ramping up.

Australian firms are planning to outsource to the country, while the banking sector are also seriously considering the outsourcing option. Interest in the Philippine BPO sector was also moving beyond voice and leaning more toward higher-value services.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, through its president Richard Mills, noted that the Philippines is now ready to take on higher-value jobs, as it has proven itself as a premier destination for voice services.

Iloilo City is one of the city identified as the Next Wave Cities (NWC) for business process outsourcing (BPO) firms by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) because of its attractive power, telecommunications, commercial, sea and airport infrastructure and it offers one of the lowest rental, power and average base pay rates in the country.

Taking the cue from the BPAP, Ayala Land, Inc. signed a 35-year lease agreement with the Pison Group. This agreement would see Ayala to develop a two-hectare property located at Riverside Boardwalk in Smallville, Barangay San Rafael, Mandurriao, Iloilo City.

The investment of Ayala in Iloilo City would see the rise of three BPO facilities with a total of 19,000 square meters of gross leasable area (GLA).

The initial phase of the construction, which is scheduled to start by the second quarter of this year, involves the construction of the first building with approximately 9,500 square meters of GLA. The target date of completion is the first quarter of 2011.

Ayala Land Businesscapes, the office real estate solutions arm of the Ayala Land, will develop this BPO facility which would the biggest in Iloilo to date. The project is also expected to generate about 8,000 jobs in the city.

The investment is part of the Ayala group’s goal of expanding into, developing and redeveloping in strategic areas within attractive growth centers across the country.

Ayala Land Businesscapes is at the forefront of providing a complete line of office real estate solutions in the most strategic sites that are developed according to world-class standards and complemented by preferred amenities and the most reliable facilities management services.

The country continues to become an attractive place to invest, especially in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, because of the availability of qualified workforce and quality service areas.

The ingredients that motivate Infosys BPO Ltd. to draw up plans to expand its presence in the country. The Philippine expansion of Infosys includes opening up three more new BPO sites here.

Visiting Infosys chief operating officer Ritesh Idnani said the company is very bullish about the Philippines and that they will continue to invest in the next few years.

Philippines operations currently accounts for five to six percent of the company’s entire revenues, but Idnani said they expect it to grow to eight to 10 percent in 18 to 24 months. They also expect a 100 percent growth in revenues by the end of its fiscal year ending March 201o.

The plan expansion would create additional job opportunities for more Filipinos as disclosed by Infosys delivery center head for the Philippines Madhusudan Menon. He said they would be creating an additional 2,000 local jobs this year.

They are looking at two properties in Quezon City and one in Clark, Pampanga for their next site in the country. At present, Infosys’ 1,100-seat center is located at Fort Bonifcio, Taguig and currently employs around 650 personnel.

Another business process outsourcing (BPO) firm opened in the Philippines which would provide more employment opportunities for Filipinos. Australia-based Salmat has put up an 800-seat facility at McKinley Hill in Taguig City, the company’s first call center in country and also it’s first major investment outside Australia.

The new call center company is not really new in the country, as they have been operating in the Philippines since 1996. Although Salmat general manager of strategy Philip Hadcroft said they were just doing mostly transactional service which served only the Philippine market.

Their new facility, Hadcroft said, marked their expansion into higher-value sercies, as well as their foray into international markets for its Philippines operations.

Their service center in McKinley Hill has been operating for the last five months, as they moved from transactional services to true IT-driven services. They employ 100 personnel at present, but Hadcroft said they plan to hire more employees to grow to 800 over the next three years.

Salmat Philippines’ facilty would be serving the company’s accounts from Australia and New Zealand, split evenly between voices and non-voice services. It will also extend existing statement processing services to call center, computer programming, Web content management, data entry, and a range of IT-enabled services.

Salmat is listed in the Australian Stock Excahge and currently employs more than 7,000 personnel across Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Yes, the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is seen to grow bigger, in fact it is predicted to be a $10-billion industry in 10 years time

This is what the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) sees, who said that the BPO sector in the country is growing, the $10-billion industry mark will be possible in 10 years if the right investment are made the next administration.

NEDA Director Dennis Arroyo said that based on the way the sector is growing at this time, he projected that the country’s BPO industry would be able to take up a fifth of the global industry of $500 billion by 2020.

The country’s BPO sector, which just started as a $0.02-billion industry in 2000, has grown to $1.5 billion in 2004, $4.9 billion in 2007 and $7.3 billion last year. The sector now represents close to five percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

From just a $0.02-billion industry in 2000, BPO has quickly grown to $1.5 billion in 2004, $4.9 billion in 2007 and $7.3 billion last year.

BPO now represents close to five percent of gross domestic product and according to Arroyo, it has multiplier effects in other sectors that contribute to the overall economy.

The Philippines’ BPO sector is now second only to India who has a $9-billion BPO industry. But Arroyo said that the country can easily surpass this because of our inherent advantages over our Asian neighbor.

Some of the advantages, Arroyo pointed out, is the country’s edge over proficiency in the English language as well as the overall talent in various fields, such as animation.

He then tossed up the challenge on the next administration to put up the necessary investments to sustain the growth of the country’s BPO industry.

The Philippines is still a favorite site for business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, as another US firm sets up business in the country which will provide more job opportunities for Filipinos.

Cybernet-Slash Support (CSS) recently opened its 1,000 seat call center facility in Taguig, it’s first in the country. It currently employs 400 people, but it plans to hire 2,000 local employees this year.

The new call center will be used for the company’s outbound sales, technology and other integrated BPO services for clients in North America.

The company said that the new site and its plan of hiring more employees this year is in line with its aspiration to emerge as strong player in the Philippine’s BPO space.

CSS’s chief executive Nick Sharma acknowledges that the country has become one of the key global hubs for the BPO industry. He said they were lured in by the Philippine’s “highly conducive” business atmosphere and the vast pool of talents of experienced BPO professionals.

“We felt this is the most opportune time to expand our capabilities in the Philippines and extend our portfolio of superior, effective support services to customers,” he added.

CSS has earmarked around $15 million to develop its business in the Philippines. Sharma said that in three to four years time, it would be the biggest of their facility.

He said the company has committed around $15 million to develop its business in the Philippines, which in three to four years time would be the CSS’s biggest facility.

CSS is based in San Jose, California and employs more than 4,000 people in all of its global operations centers in India, the US, Poland and now, in the Philippines.

Sharma said they plan to employ mostly computer-related or engineering graduates who will be expected to provide technical and customer support for their clients in the information technology, retail and healthcare sectors.

Some of CSS’s big clients include American telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent and tech firm Sun Microsystems & Blackboard Inc.

Employment opportunities in Iloilo City open up as Transcom sets up a facility there. Touted to be Europe’s largest business process outsourcing (BPO) firm, Transcom will be opening a call center in Iloilo this year. The company is planning to hire 1,000 to 2,000 employees for the said facility.

According to City Mayor Jerry Treñas, the company will start hiring around 1,600 on October and it will double its work force after it starts operations. Transcom investment would give a big boost to the city’s employment as it provides work for residents of Iloilo and the rest of Western Visayas.

Transcom at present is in 29 countries with a total of 75 centers and has expertise in various industries including telecommunications, financial industry, travel and leisure, utilities and retail/consumer goods. It has a total workforce of around 20,000 employees who serve over 120 countries clients in more than 30 languages.

Here’s good news for those seeking employment in Mandaue City and nearby provinces, especially students who want to take a part-time job to support their schooling. A call center company will be opening in Mandaue City, and is looking to hire about 1,200 employees in September.

According to Ryan Beattie, site director of Focus Direct Philippines, the company is planning to hire both part-time and full-time employees, and is even planning to accommodate working students in their roster. Focus Direct Philippines is willing to offer working students a 70-percent subsidy for their tuition.

Focus Direct has a branch in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental. Their Cebu expansion is a proof that they are not affected by the global recession because they have a good marketing arm in the United States, said Beattie.

Focus Direct Philippines is an affiliate of Focus Services based in Utah. Its major clients include Direct TV, Quest Internet Services and AT&T.

Their Cebu service center would be located at the Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue and it will have a 300-seats capacity in each floor. In the initial phase of the operations, the company would be using only two floors, but Beattie said “We will hire as many as we can.”

The company’s benefits and salaries for their employees would compete with other call center firms in Cebu, according to Beattie.

They will be accepting applicant from August 5 to August 15 at the Alpa Suites near the boundary of Sitio Panagdait, Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City and Subangdaku, Mandaue City.

Vanessa Gay Nang, Management office of Focus Human Resources, said they would prefer applicants with experience in call centers, but she said they are not closing their doors to those without prior call center experience, especially students.