Essay: Dialed In
Professor Examines How the Philippines Rebrands Itself as World’s Call Center Capital
Employees work the phones at a Knowledge Process Outsourcing call center in Manila, The Philippines. (Photo by Joerg Boethling/Alamy Stock Photo)
Employees work the phones at a Knowledge Process Outsourcing call center in Manila, The Philippines. (Photo by Joerg Boethling/Alamy Stock Photo)
Jan M. Padios, an associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of American Studies, wrote in the South China Morning Post about a trip to examine the pros and cons of the Philippines branding its workers as paragons of customer service:
What changes in a country—and what does not change—when it devotes itself to servicing the businesses of other countries? Not long ago, I found myself looking for answers to that question in the busy district of Makati, in the Philippines’ capital Manila, during a meeting with Melvin Legarda and Joseph Santiago, executives at the Business Process Outsourcing Association of the Philippines.
The organisation’s mission was to entice foreign businesses to outsource back-office work—such as accounts receivable and medical billing and, of course, customer service and technical support call centres—to the country.
Read more of Padios’ piece in the South China Morning Post.
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