I’m seeing a lot of reports, news and all raves about the Philippines being the center of attention for the call center industry (or is that contact center?). But, is the Philippines the primary destination? Statistics would show we’re not.
Last week, reports came out that Apple will be opening up a tech support facility in Bangalore, India with an initial manpower of 1,500 and to double by the end of the year. Why Apple didn’t pick the Philippines, I can only speculate.
The early this week, Dell formally launched its office at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City with an initial workforce of 700 to be doubled by end of the year. I saw in TV that GMA was also there to thank Michael Dell for choosing the Philippines as its location for the call center facility. She was all praises actually. Didn’t she know that Dell has an existing support center in India? With an existing 1,000 10,000 call center reps in Bangalore, Dell is also planning to add 50% more within the year as well.
So, by the end of the year, Dell will have 1,000% times more hired agents in India than the Philippines.
Basically, I think we’re just a backup plan and not really the prime destination. At the end of the day, it will still be about the economics of the industry and Indians are still way cheaper than Filipinos.
My experience with Phillippine contact centres for NZ companies has been less than satisfactory. I am shocked at what passes for acceptable levels of oral English. The reps on the end of the phone have the most horrible FAKE sounding U.S accents and are very difficult for the average NZer to understand. I have lived and worked with Nth American people for many years and these Fillipino reps are not even close to passable. They have very little understanding of the products or queries that they are dealing with and give out way too much incorrect information. They send customers spinning in circles through call centre routing to and from NZ and the Phillipines because they couldn’t do their job properly the first time. Any company that has a contact centre based in the Phillipines would live to regret it, unless the competition is all based out of India, which is 10 times worse.
apple has a technical support center here in manila..in shaw blvd to be exact..ive worked there..but i just recently resigned last week due to management issues..
2006: the year when steve jobs(apple founder) is thinking whether to have an apple technical center in india or philippines. He listened to some call center agents taking calls. Both indians and filipinos. He said that filipinos are way better than indians due to the fact that indian call center agents are just taking calls for the sake of the job. But filipinos knew how to symphatize with customers as well. This was the reason why apple decided to have a center here in manila…
Just want to know why Philippine nationalas hate Indians. We havae our good and bads.. I see lot of philippines speaking good english and lot don’t know even how to speak eng. Same with Indians too. Let us think about how to make better quality of life and imporve our standard of living. In some area Indians are smart and in few areas Phil are smart. However all the Indians are not so smart and same with all the philippinos too. I see lot of philippines they think that they are better than Indians in qulaity or whatever.. They think Indians don’t know how to deal their customers, they don’t know english. If the Indians doesn’t know how to deal customers how can they run first and second world Biggest steel indusries… the back bone for all Industry. How can they become the CEO of PEPSI, City Bank, Vodafone. I don’t know that much about Philippine. but I am sure there are smart Philippinoes same with these people too. Still you have questions? please read the Editorials of Manila Times dated 6 Oct, 2007. We need coperation, love, sharing of culture… We have no reason to live like enemies, we don’t have any issues other than just these hypthicated false sense of feeling. Let us learn and live together…
i would like to comment on kiwi’s remarks. i have worked with a lot of north American people and i tell you Filipino accent is at par with the Americans and i have a great and satisfying transactions with them i even mistook them for a local.
This blog looks like an anti Indian blog….
Most of them under the assumption that Idian doesn’t do how to conduct business, how to care customers, don’t know how to speak english. and my Phil friends under the impression that India is in stone age… India got lot of dis advantages and ofcourse ADVANTAGES too. After 60 yrs of Indipendence with billions of poeple, where we at after sixty yrs of Indipendence and where were the so called developed countries after 60 yrs. The only country in Asia where democracy still maitained without overthrowing the democractic Gvt. Indians can be really Proud of that… How many Philippines companies providing jobs to Indians and how many Indian companies providing jobs to Philippine nationalities. You all believe in India thy dont have enough educated People there. Go to middle east you see thousands of Phil nationalities (smart and friendly) working in Indian companies.
About outsourcing… India demonstrated the world there is feasibility for outsourcing and it can be done successsfully and save money . And regarding smartness… in what field you are really smarter than Indians? Pharmacology? space technology? Nono science? rocket science? Intelligence system and net work? IT? business? Political system? or in expanding business.. They are not just in outsourcing they acquiring global companies, and they may outsource you their global job to you people in order to exploit your advantages…
And in business see a few following comanies that Ind companies recently aquired. I am not including the 35 billion Indian Company acquisition by Mittan group. and they are the first two top steel companies…
Tatal steel- Corus Group UK 12Billion UK
Hindalco- Novelis- Canada 6 Billion
Videocon- Daewoo Electronics-Korea 729 MIL
Dr. Reddys’s- Betpharm-Germany- 597MIllion
Suzlon Energy- Hansen (Belguim) 565 Million
HPCL- Kenya Petroleum Refinery- 500 Million
Ranbaxy Lab- Terpia (Romania) 324 Million
Tata Steel- Natsteel (Singapore) 293 Million
Viedocon- Thompson(France)- 290 Million
VSNL- Teleglobe (Canada) 239 Million
Bharat Forge- CDP
UCAL Fuel– Amtec
Sundarm Fastners- Cramlington
Tata- Incat, Dawaoe
Matrix- Dcpharama
Jubiliant- Targer Research
Malladi- Novus Fine Chemicals
Tata Tea- Tetly UK
Tata Tea- FMLai
Apeejay- Premier
Wipro- Nerver Wire
Mastek- Enteram
Just name a few that i knew..Recently Kig Fisher accired one of the Scotch Wisky company and they are the second largest producer of Liquor in the world…
Still you beilieve Indians don’t know how to care cutomers? how to speak English, How to conduct business. One more thing, India plan to expand their business in PHil by investing 2 Billion dollar..
My friends Indians and you can do lot of things together and lot of things to learn… Just coperate and grow together….
Indians are great. Filipinos are self-proclaimed great. I’m a Filipino and there are too many things we as people need to accomplish before we dare say that we’re better than Indians.
Indians not educated, don’t know enlgish, dont know how to care customers, not even smart and doesn’t know how to conduct business?
Silicon Valley: Indians in Santa Clara County, home of the Silicon Valley, have the highest median household income, own the most valuable homes, and are the best educated, according to a latest Census report. The report which provides a snapshot of Santa Clara County, one of the only two counties in the country, shows that Indians have median income of $116,240, which is about 44 per cent above the county’s median of about $81,000, said the San Jose Mercury News.
The report profiled the four largest immigrant communities – Indians, Mexicans, Chinese and Vietnamese. It found that although three-quarters of the Indian population was born abroad, they own the most valuable home of about median home price of $860,000, compared with the county’s price of $743,000.
More than four in five Indian adults have at least a bachelors’ degree and Indians are most likely to be white-collar professionals, with about 80 per cent engaged in management, professional and related occupations.
Kailash Joshi, a prominent Indian entrepreneur here, told the Mercury News that he believes Indians flourish in the US not just because of their commitment to education, but because their native country prepared them for America’s ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity, and its aggressive market economy.
A significant share of the valley’s Chinese population lacks an advantage its Indian counterpart enjoys – English. Almost 40 per cent of Chinese, which is twice the share of Indians, is not fluent in English. Despite that they thrive in business.
A kangaroo,
I don’t know which people from the Phillipines you were talking about, they must be pretty rare though. I have lived in Asia for longer than I care to think and have very rarely stumbled accross any with passable accents. I will admit that they do exist, but don’t work in call centres for the most part. Comprehension is another HUGE barrier for them.
I hate going from tier one to tier two through these help desks, the first person you get may be ok but it’s like lotto getting another rep that you can understand or that can understand you. I know IT and can’t believe the people that pass for IT help desk reps.
But hey, there is one point. India is much worse to deal with and comes with much more unwanted attitude.
To All Indian Folks.
Guys, please understand that what you’re reading here is not really the general opinion of all Filipinos toward Indians. These not so good comments made to you by some self-glorifying Filipino folks here do not necessarily mean anything. It’s true that there are many world class Filipinos and there are brilliant Indians but most of the time these guys are really low profile and hate to join discussions like this, which seem to malign other people or race. Kudos to the government of India for producing highly educated engineers, which dominate the battlefield of the IT industry.
To All Indian Folks.
Guys, please understand that what you’re reading here is not really the general opinion of all Filipinos toward Indians. These not so good comments made to you by some self-glorifying Filipino folks here do not necessarily mean anything. It’s true that there are many world class Filipinos and there are brilliant Indians but most of the time these guys are really low profile and hate to join discussions like this, which seem to malign other people or race. Kudos to the government of India for producing highly educated engineers, which dominate the battlefield of the IT industry.
Mr/Ms Woteber,
I do agree with you and not referring to all the Phil nationals. I read a lot of bad comments about Indians from Phil people than any other nationals in the world. Yes we have our on goods and bads. I read your comments that India and Indians stink, cultureless.. Seems like those people are from a foriegn plannet. We do not need any of those people’s (not talking about good people in Phil)help to develop our more than 5 Trillion dollar economy with 10% growth rate (Phil GDP 449.8 Billion with 5.4% Growth rate). Those who think india and Indians stink can go away from Indian companies or stop our investment in your country. Or you can even stop the submarine high speed data network connection from Indian Company, stop bio fuel technology coperation, stop asking dairy science technology stop asking satelite data.. Still stink??????
There are people in your country and other countries to identify the potential of India’s growth and interest in investing India…
These are the few business news from today about India
Gulf realty firms to invest $50 bn in India
13 Indian firms in Asia`s fastest-growing list
Indians second biggest investors in London
Jyoti CNC acquires French company for Rs 240 crore
13 mn.sq.ft of IT space in the works..
France’s Carrefour to enter India’s retail sector
State Bank of India to set up branch in China’s Tianjin.
SAP India to increase headcount to 7,000 in next two years.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel, has said that the government has plans to touch 100 operational airports by 2008 and was working to create at least 500 small and big airports across the country. Patel said around $150 billion was expected to be invested in the aviation sector in the next few years.
Singapore’s CapitaLand Ltd, one of Asia’s largest listed property companies, has established a US$600 Million fund that will invest in retail mall developments in India, the company said
In the lastest example of British Universities collaborating with Indian institutions, the University of Ultster and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur have begun working on developing intelligent robotic device to help severly disabled people becom independent.
Indian.Kerala Chief Minister laid foundation stone for $381 Million Smart City along with Fareed Abdul Rahman, executive Director. The Smart City Project is being carried in collboration between the State Government and Dubai Internet City.
India IBS Softward Services has linked a multibillion Five-year deal with Tokyo based All Nippn Airways Co Ltr (ANA) to provide an integrated supply chain Management solution for theier cargo business. ANA is Japan’s second largerst domestic and International Airline.
A Delegation from Novara, one of the most industriallly advanced cities in Itally held discussion in India for possible cooperation in IT between Novara and Technopark
French oil-major Total is exploring various marketing avenues in India including aviation, industry fuels and retail service stations segments as part of its growth strategy to enhance its presence in the country, particular in the south. Besides, it also wants to grow its LPG business by 50 per cent in another five years.
London: In a major victory for India Inc., Britain’s largest manufacturing union that represents Ford has backed a bid by India’s Tata Motors to buy out the luxury car brands Jaguar and Land Rover.joint sales of Jaguar and Land Rover would fetch Ford between $1.3 and $1.5 billion.
Saudi Arabia is India’s 13th largest market for exports and a source for 5.5 per cent of India’s total imports. This year, total bilateral trade has reached $16 billion.
NEW DELHI: India added 8.1 million wireless users in October, taking the subscriber base to over 217 million, while total telephone numbers crossed the 250 million mark two months ahead of target, the regulator said.
NEW DELHI: India has emerged as the world’s best performing stock market in the past three months, notwithstanding the five-day plunge that wiped off close to $85 billion of investors’ wealth from the bourses
BEIJING: Indian Billionaire Lakshmi Mittal-led ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, has become the first foreign company to acquire controlling stake in a Chinese steel firm — China Oriental — in a deal valued at about $1.6 billion
ndia has emerged as a hub for climate change research in Asia with UK emerging as a key partner.
While the Chief Scientific Advisor to UK David King has been on a lecture tour of India exhorting scientists to move fast on climate change, the government on its part is moving
Britain’s Marks & Spencer is reportedly looking for joint venture partners in India, according to a news report, and French furniture maker Gautier and retail giant Carrefour detailed plans to set up operations on the subcontinent as well.
India’s financial capital Mumbai ranks second only to global commercial hub London in terms of office rentals, while the national capital is not far behind at eighth spot.
Automobile major Tata Motors [Get Quote] and space agency Indian Space Research Organisation are gearing up to launch the prototype of the world’s cleanest car that will run on hydrogen and emit a mere wispy trail of water vapour.Making this announcement in Bangalore on Thursday, ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair said that the car would roll out early next year.
The drug regulatory agencies of India and Canada are planning to collaborate on improving the quality of drugs traded between the two countries, besides helping the industry in both the countries to tap the opportunities in the field of generic medicines and drug development.
Electronics major Hitachi Home Electronics Asia (HHES) today announced that it would increase focus on the Indian high-end flat panel display market, as part of its growth strategy. The company plans to focus on tapping the high-end market and expand to tier-II cities.
If you longingly gaze at those classic white and ivory luxury linens in home décor magazines, here’s some good news for you. America’s famous luxury bed linen brand Peacock Alley is coming to India soon.
Mining industry in Australia is looking at India as a huge investment destination particularly in contract mining with Kolkata as the hub of operations.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), a global engineering society which boasts of over 1.5 lakh members globally, is looking to strengthen its partnership with Indian engineering community in all branches of engineering.
Cambridge to launch scholarship in PM s name
PLEASE DONT’ DSTURB US… LEAVE US ALONE WE STINK AND WE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO CONDUCT BUSINESS, WE DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH, WE DON’T KNOW WHAT IS INDUSTRY, TECHNOLOGY PLEASE BE KIND ENOUGH TO LEAVE THIS SINKY INDIA AND INDIANS….. we are not educated…. tooo Please leave as alone do not smell us,just close your eyes in case you see us…
Mr/Ms. Truth and Fact,
Hahaha! Sorry, but I can’t stop laughing with your post. Don’t be offended but I mean this in a very friendly way. If only those self-glorifying countrymen of mine realize this then they will probably shut up and stop bragging about how great they are. But hey, cool down. I don’t think that in general Indians are stinky. There are stinky folks in every race. A lot of Filipinos are stinky too. I even read in someone’s blog that some Europeans smell so bad too. So it’s plainly ignorance. Just ignore those Filipino losers.
Another Globally proven reply to this dicussion
INDIA’S HPCL WORLD’S N0-1 OUTSOURCING VENDOR
India’s fourth largest software exporter HCL Technologies has been ranked as the world’s top vendor in the infrastructure space, a recent survey said. HCL Technologies topped the list of 276 vendors, while beating global and domestic giants like IBM, Accenture, HP, Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Satyam.
HCL Tech is followed by US-based Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) on second and third positions, according to an annual survey by Brown-Wilson survey for “The Black Book of Outsourcing.”
A total of five Indian companies made to the top-20 list, including Satyam (13), Wipro (14), Infosys (18) and Tata Consultancy Services (20). HCL Technologies also excelled in the sub-categories like on-site comprehensive, remote comprehensive and desk top support services and storage and servers.
The infrastructure ranking was based on vendor evaluation across 18 points of infrastructure operational excellence including innovation, training, breadth of offerings, client adaptability, reliability, support and customer care to name a few.
India leading offshore services: Gartner
BANGALORE: India remains the undisputed leader in offshore services while countries like China, Russia and Brazil are providing credible alternatives, according to a Gartner study which also named 30 offshore locations.
Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam performed weakly due to concerns over the political and economic environment.
Mr and Mrs Speedy,
To say that the trial of call centres in the Philipines for Xtra internet services in NZ has been positive is a real joke. Xtra is right at the bottom of the heap in customer satisfaction especially in dealing with the call centre. Everyone has a horrible story of their experience with a Filipino rep on the phone. Now they’re making things worse than that by outsourcing directory assistance to the Philipines too. I don’t care how much Maori language training these reps get or what sort of overview they get of NZ, they will NEVER be able to do this job well. Some NZ place names are difficult for real Kiwi’s to grasp hold of, especially with local slang, mispronunciations and common deviations. Things that only a kiwi would know. All these call centres do is make the customers furious and make things extremely difficult for the real local workers to clean up when things eventually get escalated to the BEST people for the job, the locals on the ground.
It may be cheaper but I am yet to meet anyone that can really say that they’ve had a positive experience with a call centre hosted in the Philipines for a NZ customer base.
That all being said I would like to ask one question. If most of the complaints related to Teletech and Sitel, is it possible that the service levels of these particular call centre operators are not the best and if so which companies do a better job?
I would be interested in feedback on the above question as it may be possible that the opinion of the Kiwi public is jaded by the experience given from a small number of call centre operations. Perhaps our judgement is not fair, although I do believe that my points about directory assistance are valid.
Indians don’t know English and dont know how to conduct business>>>>>????
WASHINGTON: Vikram Pandit, a India’s Nagpur-born NRI who wowed was on Tuesday named CEO of Citigroup, the world’s largest bank, in what many see as a crisis rescue mission. Pandit, who is 50, is the first person of Indian origin to scale such heights in the financial world, which has many well-regarded Indian executives. Citigroup has operations in more than 100 countries, with 300,000 employees and $ 2 trillion in assets.
See the Truth and Accept the Facts
YOU ARE NOT IN THE PICTURE EVEN….
RP not a top investment site, says consulting firm
Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:13 AM
An international consultating firm said that despite the booming economy of the Philippines, it is still not one of the top destinations for investment.
A.T Kearney consulting firm said that China and India remain the top investment sites as of this time.
Country’s like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, meanwhile, are on the top 25 list.
The following are A.T Kearney’s top 25 destinations:
1. China
2. India
3. United States
4. United Kingdom
5. Hong Kong
6. Brazil
7. Singapore
8. The United Arab Emirates
9. Russia
10. Germany
11. Australia
12. Vietnam
13. France
14. Canada
15. Japan
16. Malaysia
17. Other Gulf States
18. South Africa
19. Mexico
20. Turkey
21. Indonesia
22. Poland
23. Central Asia
24. South Korea
25. Czech Republic
Here is the link: http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Local%20News&p=54&type=2&sec=2&aid=200712125
Whether you are a Filipino or an Indian, we’re just both kissing the American’s and Brit’s asses. Think about it.
No Mr/Ms. Sick and Tired..
Look back to the Hisotry and you will see who is kiising.. Diplomacy and strategy is not kissing asses. We dont even let those people enter India without obtaining a visa prior to enter Air Port. It is a long process too. We dont let any other nationas Defense Base in our country.. India no Longer Boycott foreign companies, instead we just buy out. We overcome and succeeded with all the so called developed nations embargo and sanctions. We maintaned democracy in a decent way without any Military intervention. we dont have any confusion to find out who elected after the democractic elections.
Honesty we are tired of You peoples (not all) attitude towards rest of the Asians…..
Both nations are a second choice to the superior service and support that could be given in the home nation. It’s cost and cost alone that drives call centres to India and the Philipines. Heck, some countries have even chosen Egypt these days because Egypt is even cheaper. It’s only a matter of time before another country offers a cheaper service and this whole argument will be a waste of time.
Both India and the Philipines offer second rate service but very good rates for delivery of that second rate service.
So this is really an argument about who delivers the best crap.
Mr/Ms. Kiwi
Withe all respect you as a human being let me write..
Please get out of the small pond you are in and look at the world
Australia
GDP (purchasing power parity):$644.7 billion (2006 est.)
GDP – real growth rate: 2.7% (2006 est.)
China
GDP (purchasing power parity):$10.21 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP – real growth rate: 11.1% (official data) (2006 est.)
India
GDP (purchasing power parity):$4.164 trillion (2006 est.)
GDP – real growth rate: 9.4% (2006 est.) \
Philippine
GDP (purchasing power parity): $449.8 billion (2006 est.)
GDP – real growth rate: 5.4% (2006 est.)
Truth and Fact.
You seems to be missing the point. The service from these call centres is still pretty pathetic. Your facts and figures have nothing to do with the issue at all.
I have worked with call centres and in customer services in the Pacific and throughout Asia. I have managed multi million dollar operations. I am yet to see any operation in the Philipines or India that can match the levels of service possible within NZ for the NZ consumer. The Philipines and India compete solely on cost. However, this is at the cost of customer satisfaction. All of the contact centres that have gone to the Philipines are ranked right at the bottom of the heap in customer satisfaction surveys. Even the 2nd and 3rd tier levels within NZ have high levels of frustration in dealing with the 1st tier level contact staff in the Philipines or India.
This is not about GDP, although important, it does not make these contact centres any better. The service is terrible and the communication skills are really lacking. So please don’t come back with statistics that have no relation to the comments that I have made because it’s so off topic that it is not funny.
So, this Kiwi has been out of the small pond and been extremely successful out of the pond. I’d hazzard a guess more successful and with more experience than yourself.
I’d also be interested in a reply to my previous question. Quoted below
“Mr and Mrs Speedy,
To say that the trial of call centres in the Philipines for Xtra internet services in NZ has been positive is a real joke. Xtra is right at the bottom of the heap in customer satisfaction especially in dealing with the call centre. Everyone has a horrible story of their experience with a Filipino rep on the phone. Now they’re making things worse than that by outsourcing directory assistance to the Philipines too. I don’t care how much Maori language training these reps get or what sort of overview they get of NZ, they will NEVER be able to do this job well. Some NZ place names are difficult for real Kiwi’s to grasp hold of, especially with local slang, mispronunciations and common deviations. Things that only a kiwi would know. All these call centres do is make the customers furious and make things extremely difficult for the real local workers to clean up when things eventually get escalated to the BEST people for the job, the locals on the ground.
It may be cheaper but I am yet to meet anyone that can really say that they’ve had a positive experience with a call centre hosted in the Philipines for a NZ customer base.
That all being said I would like to ask one question. If most of the complaints related to Teletech and Sitel, is it possible that the service levels of these particular call centre operators are not the best and if so which companies do a better job?
I would be interested in feedback on the above question as it may be possible that the opinion of the Kiwi public is jaded by the experience given from a small number of call centre operations. Perhaps our judgement is not fair, although I do believe that my points about directory assistance are valid.”
Kiwi.
This is one of the recent study:
India leading offshore services: Gartner
BANGALORE: India remains the undisputed leader in offshore services while countries like China, Russia and Brazil are providing credible alternatives, according to a Gartner study which also named 30 offshore locations.
Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam performed weakly due to concerns over the political and economic environment.
The quote below from Truth and Fact.
It’s sad to see that offshore support centres are still growing and expanding to more countries. Yes this is a global community, but it’s cost before customer and the poor service of these contact centres only drives more customer call back for rework…. perhaps they bank on this as all the competition are using the same poor service too.
As soon as companies get tired of the poor service and listen to what their customers are saying they will find a way to cut these contact centres out of the equation and automate a great deal of the work that they do. A smart company will also understand that they could do things cheaper at home by doing things more efficiently with far less people.
“BANGALORE: India remains the undisputed leader in offshore services while countries like China, Russia and Brazil are providing credible alternatives, according to a Gartner study which also named 30 offshore locations.
Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam performed weakly due to concerns over the political and economic environment.”