Note: Â This is a guest post by a fellow blogger, Carol Wilson.
This year, Tholons, a global outsourcing advisory firm, named Cebu number nine on its top 100 list of established outsourcing destinations. Cebu ranked higher than all other locations in the Philippines and most locations in India. Business process outsourcing has definitely become a huge part of the economy in Cebu and Cebu City in particular, and outsourcing in Cebu is only expected to grow over the next several years.
Foreign businesses are attracted to Cebu for a lot of reasons. Because the cost of living in the province is so low, businesses are able to save money when they hire Cebuano workers. Additionally, since Cebu is an IT and academic hub in the Philippines, Cebuano workers are appealing because many of them can perform complex business tasks. Businesses are also flocking to Cebu because most people who live there speak English and have a solid understanding of Western culture.
IBM, Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Infosys, Epson, Microsoft, Wipro, and Lexmark all currently outsource to Cebu, and the number of major companies who are realizing the value of working with Cebuano workers is steadily growing. There are presently more than a hundred businesses that provide outsourcing services in Cebu. Cebuano employees perform customer service and clerical duties as well as more complex tasks such as graphic design, programming, and medical billing and coding.
Tens of thousands of Cebuano citizens are now employed in the business process outsourcing industry. As new students graduate from Cebuano colleges each year, more and more highly educated and skilled young people sign up for work at outsourcing companies and continue to build the reputation of Cebu as a leading destination for business process outsourcing.
Unfortunately, Cebu does have some challenges to face before it can become the number one business process outsourcing destination, especially because the competition in many surrounding areas of Asia is fierce. Unfortunately, many businesses outsource to India because it is better known for its quality outsourcing companies than the Philippines. Additionally, occasional power outages in Cebu cause problems with the province’s ability to be productive and completely reliable. Cebu will have to work to continue to build its reputation as an outsourcing leader to make it to the top of the heap.
Outsourcing is definitely on the rise in Cebu, and it will continue to be on the rise. What’s uncertain is whether or not this lovely island in the Philippines will still be an outsourcing leader in ten years. Fortunately, Cebuano workers are talented and skilled enough to deliver the results businesses are looking for. So, the future seems bright for outsourcing companies in Cebu.
References: http://www.tholons.com/TholonsTop100/index.html http://outsourcing.ph/OutsourcingCebu.pdf http://www.welive2care.com/2009/07/17/business-process-outsourcing-industry-cebu/
About the Guest Author
Carol Wilson is a versatile guest blogger who primarily writes about global business trends and finance. When she’s not writing for sites like businessinsurance.org, she enjoys reading about politics and fashion.
