Brief Philippine Call Center History

The first call center started its operation in the country. According to Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), call centers began as providers of basic services such as email response and service management.

Under former President Fidel V. Ramos’ term, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (the government agency tasked to promote investments and facilitate business operations of investors in export-oriented manufacturing) was instituted. This paved the way for the Philippine Congress to pass the Special Economic Zone Act — an act that seeks to attract foreign investments to generate employment and bolster economic growth.

Former employees of a multinational management consulting company Jim Franke and Derek Holley founded the first call center company in the country.

The BPO industry contributed 0.075% to the country’s GDP.

Mar Roxas established the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) during his term as Trade secretary. According to the association’s website, CCAP is the umbrella organization of the Philippine contact center industry which aims to promote the Philippines as a global leader in the IT-BPO industry.

The Philippine BPO industry contributed 2.4% of the country’s GDP and gained 3% of the global BPO market.

The BPO industry started to witness a 46% annual growth.

Majority of the top U.S. BPO firms already had operations in the Philippines. In this same year, the country has surpassed India as the number one BPO destination in the world.

The Philippines was officially declared as the world’s BPO capital.
– About 525,000 employees are already working in call centers.
– The call center industry generated $8.9 billion revenue, which was expected to increase with a five-year CAGR of 38%. – The country remained as an attractive location for foreign investors.

A total of 638,000 Filipinos are working in the BPO industry, 400,000 of which are working in call centers, making it the biggest and fastest growing job providers in the private sector.
– The BPO industry generated $11 billion revenue and contributed 4.9% to the country’s total GDP

The revenue of the BPO industry comprised 5.4% of the country’s total GDP.
– Over 700,000 Filipinos are working in the BPO sector. It also became a lifeline to a growing middle class.

The industry’s revenue increased to $15.5 billion. Meanwhile, around 900,000 Filipinos are working for full-time for the industry.

The industry is anticipated to generate 1.3 million jobs and is expected to reach a 17% annual growth.
– Projected revenue of $27.4 billion.

The industry is forecasted to rebound after slightly slowing down in 2017.

the BPO industry is projected to become a $40-billion industry based in a 16-percent annual growth rate. This will outshine OFW remittances in bringing dollar revenue in the country.