CCAP calls on academe to coordinate with BPOs

CEBU, Philippines — The Contact Center Association to the Philippines (CCAP) is calling on colleges and universities to work with companies to sustain the country’s edge in the Business Process Outsourcing industry as the latter is anticipated to take a major shift.

CCAP chairman Benedict C. Hernandez said the organization is bent on pushing contact center companies to partner with schools in crafting a curriculum that fits the current requirement of the industry.

Already, CCAP member companies have existing tie-up with 17 State Universities across the country, but the group is also encouraging the academe sector to be pro-active on this private-led initiative.

Most industry analysts from around the world agree that the Philippine call center sector is poised to benefit the most from an ongoing shift from customer service to customer experience.

Global consulting and research firm Everest Group, through its white paper entitled “Philippines at the Help of Delivering Customer Experience of the Future,” has found that contact centers in the country are very ready for this shift.

Higher level of agents’ skills could also counter the speculated setbacks of increasing automation across various industries.

In fact, some of the local contact center companies have already implemented measures to ensure their agents meet current requirements from international clients, leading to more new high-skill jobs with higher pay rates.

However, while industry players are constantly training their people to do higher level and complex jobs, schools play a crucial role in facing the shift, underscored Hernandez.

In the onset of artificial intelligence (A.I.) and automation, Hernandez said complex jobs will be created to support higher level of customer experience. The academe should catch up with the fast moving talent requirement.

Overall, the local BPO industry has a current total revenue of about $23 billion (P1.15 trillion). If it reaches an annual growth pace of about 16 percent, it is projected that by 2022, the industry could further rise to be a $40-billion (over P2 trillion) one, possibly making it the top contributor to the national economy’s growth, displacing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remittances.

The industry could well provide the academe with concrete direction on curriculum and program offers, as technology has slowly overtaken some jobs used to be handled by humans.