Paul Young asked:


Growing at 46% annually since 2004, the US$6.8 billion Philippines’ offshore market today employs over 450,000 people, mostly for voice-based services. The Everest study, The Silent Knight: The Philippines’ Emerging Non-Voice BPO Capability, which includes contributions from the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), shows that the Philippines is now poised to emerge as an important destination for non-voice offshore BPO work for buyers looking beyond India to grow their offshoring footprint. It is noteworthy here that by 2012, the offshore BPO market will have an addressable opportunity of $220-280 billion, and as much as 90 percent of this addressable market opportunity will be in non-voice BPO services.

The Everest Research Institute study shows that while the scale of work is currently low, a number of providers are already leveraging the Philippines for a vast scope of non-voice functions. However, there remains limited awareness of the Philippines’ real capability in non-voice services, which has grown significantly over the past three years.

Says Nikhil Rajpal, Principal, Everest Group, “Success in voice-based BPO services has positioned the Philippines as the second largest low-cost BPO destination after India, and both countries combined account for 50 percent of the offshore BPO market in revenue terms. In non-voice BPO, most current activity and scale in the Philippines is concentrated on transactional services. Whereas almost all types of non-voice BPO functions are now being delivered from the Philippines, their maturity varies, so while we see relatively high activity and maturity in Finance & Accounting and transcription services, there has been only some activity recently in HRO, with even lesser in Procurement Services. Further, while there has been an increased traction in judgment-intensive knowledge services such as research, analytics and legal services, the scale and maturity remains low.”

The Filipino government is focused on development of the non-voice BPO industry, providing incentive programs to attract investors as well as providing grants and infrastructure developments.

Says Jimit Arora, Research Director, Everest Research Institute, “A number of factors are favoring the growth of non-voice BPO in the Philippines. These include acceptance as a key destination for customer service and support; competitive costs; sizable pool of English speaking talent; and a starting base of captives and suppliers. There is strong cultural similarity between the Philippines and the United States, making it easier for Filipino agents to relate toU.S. customers.”

“In terms of operating cost per employee for transactional back-office work, the Philippines offers about 75% and 70% respective savings over tier-II cities in UK and US, which is somewhat lesser savings as compared to India, but sizably more than other offshoring destinations like Monterrey (Mexico) and Prague (Czech Republic). Again, in terms of graduates per annum, at 480, 000, Philippines lags behind India’s 30, 00, 000, but is much ahead of Egypt, Argentina, South Africa and Mexico”, adds Jimit.

However, according to Nikhil, managing talent-related constraints will be critical to ensure operational success in the Philippines. He says, “Philippines will need to address four key talent-related challenges – scalability of entry-level talent; availability of specialized skills; availability and quality of managers; and migration of skilled talent.” Challenges regarding shortage of entry-level talent exist in India as well as the Philippines. According to the NASSCOM-Everest study, “Roadmap 2012 – Capitalizing on the Expanding BPO Landscape”, released last year, while the number of people required to support impending growth of BPO in India are available, unless the current focus on “ready-to-eat” talent is altered, the future growth may lead to a shortage of approximately one million entry-level graduates by 2012. However, availability of specialized skills, access to quality management talent, and talent migration are challenges that are much more pronounced in thePhilippines as compared to India.

Concludes Nikhil, “Given the nascent stage of the Philippines’ non-voice BPO market and prevailing talent-related challenges, the Philippines is unlikely to replace India as the leading non-voice BPO delivery location.” However, the Philippines can still serve as an important satellite delivery location for such services, and it is time the world starts taking note of its non-voice BPO delivery capabilities, he adds.

Dan Eggers asked:

When traveling to any other country, may it be the Philippines or Holland or Zimbabwe, you’re sure to come across all kinds of hassles and obstacles that could give you a pressing headache and make you wish that you’re back at home sweet home. But it’s really not necessary to go all through that with the right amount of preparation and research. When traveling to another country, you should always expect the unexpected and make sure you have a contingency plan for each situation you might find yourself in. And in your trip to the Philippines, here are a few suggestions you could take to make your trip to the Philippines hassle free.

Philippine Travel Tip #1 – Weather This, Weather That

When you’re in Dubai, you’re sure to expect extreme heat during the day and extreme cold during the night. In the Philippines, however, there are no extremities in temperature to watch out for. If you’re going to travel to the Philippines between the months of March till May, be sure to bring lots of light clothes because it’s the hot and dry season. During the months of June till October, it’s the rainy season that would greet you on your Philippine travel. Lastly, the months of November till February are possibly the best times of the year to travel in the Philippines because it’s cool but dry. But to be more specific, if you want your trip to the Philippines unmarred by the occasional typhoon, set your travel date between the middle of December till mid-May.

Philippine Travel Tip #2 – Everything’s Within A Call Away?

Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, is also dubbed as the texting capital of the world because everyone, and I do mean everyone, has got a cellphone – or two! – in their name. That’s why if you’re lost, you need not worry about looking for the nearest public phone because cellphones are able to work in almost all places in the Philippines. Quite a convenient thing for anyone traveling, isn’t it?

Philippine Travel Tip #3 – Party Time!

One of the most unique and enjoyable experiences you could have when you travel to the Philippines is being part of the fiesta season. The whole town or city usually participates in a fiesta and each and every house is open to all, natives and foreigners alike. Filipino delicacies are prepared in each household and colorful banners are hung everywhere so that you’d know when there’s a fiesta going on. You could also try participating in one of the native games that’s usually played like climbing a tree slick with oil or being blindfolded and try hitting the “palayok” or pot filled with candies and coins for children.

Tammy Johnston asked:

Philippines dating the service will provide the manner of helping the American men to meet the Philippines brides on line. There is no necessary performance of service because all is free. The Web sites of dating of Manila want just to connect ladies of Philippines to the types of the United States for the relationship and the marriage. You can create free personnel dating the profile, the search for singles, and acts one on the other with them without payment. As you know it, Filipino dating the service was famous who help of the thousands of married of Filipino with the Western men. Or you are an unmarried woman of Philippines or a man, you can find your companion of heart on line at any cost. To be unmarried will return to you sad and only, should find to you thousands of married and men of Philippines on line. Find your other half today without paying any cost.

The Filipino women in Manila will accept older husbands because they want to come to America to live. They want to have a good future for them and their children. They want to be likely better to work and live that in Manila. There are thousands of women of Philippines who come to the United States each year. They marry with one or the other American men or Filipino natives of the United States. You can see the difference between the husband and the wife. The wife is too young and enough. The husband is about between two double ages. At all events, they seem large unit and particularly they like deeply. Thus, the marriage with women or girls of Manila must be of free Philippines dating from the sites. The research of the love of Internet was common and simple in last years.

Philippines singles and the personnel was on line easily and conveniently. The primary reason that the single girls of Filipino like to live in the USA east them have a better future for them and their children later. On the one hand, the American men who are interested by young wives from Philippines will come to Manila to marry with these girls. The men of some United States are older than their brides approximately during 20 years. This is called the older men and the younger women. We saw these stories in films and the books. The principal difference is that the films and the books of stories do not have a happy end. The real stories between older American men with moreover young women of Philippines have a happy end. They like very, much.

In last years, there are thousands of married of Philippines who come to America by the marriage with the American single men. The way in which a Filipino bride and an American man know themselves is by the Filipino sites of dating on line. The research of the love and the romance on the Internet was popular nowadays. The American types want to marry with the women Filipino, they must be recorded with the Filipino sites in line of dating. The same rule applies to Philippines of the girls. When an unmarried woman of Philippines wants to marry with a man in the United States, it must join these services. The men and the women can seek by the site of dating to come into contact with any of them which they like the majority.