Due to the several call centers sprouting in Cebu, many were led to believe that a business process outsourcing company is a call center, when actually it’s not. Call center is only part and parcel of the vast services the BPO industry can offer.
Hence, with the opening of their delivery center here in the city, Accenture wants to take away the notion that they are just another call center and out to prove that as a total solutions company, they actually deliver more than that.
Instead of the usual services like voice and non-voice, Accenture’s Global Delivery Network here in Cebu does IT sourcing as their first major operation taking some of their international accounts in the province.
In a press briefing held recently prior to the inauguration of their facility in the Pioneer House Cebu attended by no less than her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Accenture’s Lead for Delivery Center Network for Technology Keith Haviland pointed out that “for over decades the company did IT outsourcing and BPO. What we have done here in the Philippines is to grow in voice and call center but it’s only part of a mix because we do more than that.”
In their Cebu delivery facility, Accenture launched IT outsourcing practice where they actually provide application management in which they look out for system products like servers and desktops to meet the client’s business needs. They also do system integration which is building and writing software programs and initially service clients from different industries.
As for their Philippines (Manila) and India operation, they also do business process outsourcing or BPO which is a multi-faceted area in which they handle pharmaceutical processes of a client.
In several years to come, Accenture is optimistic that their total solutions operation in Manila will also be replicated in Cebu which they expressed so much confidence in.
In fact they also outlaid future plans of collaborating with the academe here in Cebu just like what they’ve done in Manila. But for the meantime, they are aiming to scale up Cebu first before going to other locations and expand.
“I.T. outsourcing is on the top of the food chain in terms of revenue these days. But we will scale up Cebu first, which is the right approach and it will take couple of years for us to decide for another location,” said Haviland.
“Our goal and challenge is to start a new center and replicate what we did in Manila. It’s about time to venture outside Manila, so we will work in partnership with the academe, government and industry in creating a new hub here in Cebu,” added Accenture Philippines Country Managing Director Beth G. Liu.
In Manila, Accenture have tied up with universities and colleges like Mapua Institute of Technology, De La Salle University and Ateneo de Manila University in which their staff volunteered to teach as part of their corporate social responsibility also with the aim to uplift the standard of information and technology education in the country. – Rhia de Pablo
