Government urged to promote BPO services in Europe

The government is not promoting the country enough in Europe

The Philippine BPO industry is not very well known in Europe, but if aggressively promoted, it could get a sizeable share of the Euro BPO market.

The Philippines is one of the emerging economies in the world whose growth is spurred largely by business process outsourcing (BPO). It competes head on with India in the fast growing BPO industry. Both countries vie for the very lucrative outsourcing business, with the US and Europe being the primary market. However, despite the Philippines’ impressive performance, the government is not promoting the country enough in the European zone.

Industry experts believe that if the government and industry organizations would boost BPO promotion in key European countries, the Philippines may just be able to get a sizeable share of the Euro BPO market.

European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Vice President for external affairs, Henry Schumacher, said that not enough is being done to introduce the local BPO to the European market. ““When you talk to European companies, many of them don’t know about the Philippine BPO sector. The Philippines is a desired BPO location, but not many European companies know that.” He added.

Schumacher also said that India has been actively marketing its country to the European market and if the Philippines follow this marketing path, it could get a substantial share of the European BPO market. Currently, European companies only account for 10% of the Philippines total BPO revenue.

While the European BPO market outlook is positive, there is a lack of European-language-speaking talents in the country. According to XMG Global research analyst Ming Espineda, there is an increasing demand for BPO services specializing in European languages. The most in-demand are Spanish and German.

Local BPO companies would be hard-pressed to find talents specializing in European languages, or they would have to invest in language training. The government would have to align its BPO roadmap with the demands of the Euro market if it wants to get a sizeable share of the growing European BPO market.

Photo courtesy of BPO Manila