Tech trends redefining manpower management

CEBU, Philippines — The Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) is taking the lead in helping the Philippines prepare for the transformation in manpower demand caused by the advancement in technology.

CCAP chairman Benedict C. Hernandez said, during the formal opening of the Contact Islands 2018 conference yesterday at Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa, that the industry is currently experiencing a shift in skills requirement from multi-industry clients around the world.

“Companies are fighting over [hiring] data scientists,” said Hernandez, adding that demand for this hybrid skill, including analytics programmers and automation experts, are not just rising in the outsourcing sector but across industries.

 A data scientist is a person employed to analyze and interpret complex digital data, such as the usage statistics of a website, especially in order to assist a business in its decision-making.

  For the business process outsourcing (BPO), Hernandez said companies have been preparing for this shift in manpower requirement, and had been investing to up-skill their respective employees to keep up with modern call center jobs.

For the academe, as well young students, change of mindset in terms of choosing course and career goals should also be re-considered, as technology has slowly overtaken some jobs used to be handled by humans.

 The two-day conference, which culminates today, aims to prepare over 400 delegates to embrace the digital era, championing the highest form of customer service experience that cannot be done by an unaffectionate machine.

Carrying the theme “Leading CX in Digital World,” CCAP president Jojo J. Uligan emphasized the crucial role of government and the academe in facing the digital disruption to employment demand.

Today’s digital ear provides opportunities for Filipino agents to up-skill and do more complicated and challenging tasks.

A recent survey conducted by CCAP with member-companies revealed that mid and high-level skills now comprise about 55 percent and 30 percent of jobs in the voice space, respectively.

“Our primary industry agenda here is to keep that leading position of the Philippine contact center sector globally,” Uligan stressed.

 The BPO industry is employing over a million people in the Philippines. It is projected to grow within 10 percent rage annually.