Outsourcing War adds to rivalry between CatchFriday, Philippines and GetFriday India
Posted by Catch Friday at Sat, 08 Sep 2007 02:12:00 GMT 
Categories: PR, Time Management, Outsourcing, news
Categories: PR, Time Management, Outsourcing, news
Competition drives businesses to improve their offering, and Richard Branson says healthy competition encourages firms to work hard and play hard.
Outsourcing providers are under pressure to maintain competitive prices, as a result of increased competition, and at the same time offer flexibility, whilst ensuring quality.
A successful BPO is TTK Services Pvt. Ltd and in 2004 offered the concierge service 'YourManinIndia', and subsequently traded under GetFriday aiming to provide remote executive assistant services to individuals and small businesses anywhere around the globe.
On their website they have cited a delay in starting outsourcing for a new client contracting with them, which maybe due to shortage in personnel. Gartner (2005) forecasted that there would be a shortfall of over 260,000 workers in India impacting on the quality of staff available. Bloomberg (2007) suggests that there is a lack of qualified people in India.
There is no such shortage in the Philippines, and the emerging rival that may dent a hole in Get Friday's resources is Dolma Interactive Web Services led by Danilo Del Campo, a former troubleshooter with Siemens, who is known as a GO GO GETTER amongst the yuppies of the top echelons in Pinoy society. Danilo set up Catchfriday to fill the gap caused by India's skill shortages, and the Virtual Personal Assistants employed by Catch Friday speak English fluently, have names that are recognizable, and their accents actually are American!
Angel, a vibrant humorous MBA student, and former student at Goldsmith's university in London, work's for Dolma International Ltd in London, UK, whilst living in Makati, Philippines. She is very effective in following up business leads and attracting new business.
Liz Ferraris, who holds an MA in Foreign affairs works as a Virtual Personal Assistant on the American Desk.
On the CatchFriday web site there are case studies from clients who use their services. Catch Friday protects it's clients, who in gereral do not want to advertise that they outsource.
CatchFriday offer's more services than it's rival Getfriday in India, and for example recently they were asked to find an American Tax Accountant to work out of their office. A search was carried and two resumes were submitted to the employer with the appropraite qualifications.
They are also asked for Autocad work, which is very specialized.
Catch Friday finds exact matches for employer specifications, arranges interviews, and makes it hella of a lot more easier for an overseas employer to set up their office through them. Mr Del Campo says, 'we like to put the employer in the heart of our capital and give them the resources they need, whilst running their office completely for them'.
I asked Mr Del Campo:
Why Should I Outsource in The Philippines?
The main reasons why we have our outsourcing services established in the Philippines:
1. The Philippine workforce produces excellent labor outputs yet with a cost-effective income. Gartner Research International stated that the Philippine workforce highly value their jobs. In addition, the research also cited that the Filipinos’ work ethics are outstanding. They are both loyal and committed to their employees. According to Kelly Services’ research, the country’s outsource workers’ performance is the second highest in the world in terms of job tenure.
When it comes to income, the country has one of the world’s most cost-effective salaries. In fact, foreign companies who outsource to the Philippines save as much as 60 percent annually per outsourced worker.
2. The Philippines has a large pool of skilled and educated labor force. Based on the 2003 CIA World Factbook, the country’s 96 percent literacy rate is one of the highest in Asia. Furthermore, the country also produces one of the world’s highest numbers of college graduates a year. It is estimated that the Philippines generates approximately 360,000 new graduates annually. From these graduates, an average of 50,000 students is into computer programming.
3. The country has been referred as one of the top three outsourcing areas in the world. Many experts believe that the Philippines’ outsource credibility ranking is on the rise. In fact, Kelly Services, a Michigan-based research and survey group, cited that many US companies at present are shifting its outsource services from India to the Philippines. According to the survey, US businesses see the country better as compared to India because of quality and cost, and during the last five years, the country recorded an average of 160% annual growth rate in its outsourcing industry. From US $350 million in 2001, the Philippines’ outsourcing income increased to US $1.12 billion in 2005.
4. Most Filipino workers speak and write fluent English.
According to Gartner Research, the outsourcing industry in the Philippines is booming because almost 72 percent of the entire population speaks and write confident English. The research also cited that the country has “world class” English language proficiency.
5. The country is the number one in Asia with the most number of registered and certified Public Accountants (and the number is greatly rising annually). Among the most common outsourced accounting jobs in the Philippines include the following:
• credit card management
• financial leasing
• tax reporting
• financial reporting
• expense & revenue reporting
• inventory control & purchasing
• management consulting
• financial analysis & auditing
• asset management
• payroll processing
• accounts payable management
• accounts receivable management
• account maintenance
6. The country’s outsourcing industry has a very strong government support. The Philippine national and local government units have strongly propped up the country’s outsourcing industry by constantly implementing useful BPO (business process outsourcing) programs.
7. Focused training applied on each individual outsource worker. In cooperation with the country’s private sectors, the Philippine government has provided intensive training to aspiring outsource workers (especially to call center agents) for free. Through this system, foreign companies who want to subcontract their jobs to the country do not have to worry anymore about training hired personnel.
8. Filipinos have a great customer-service business orientation. The country is one of the world’s top in terms of serving customers. They are both skilled in customer relations and solving decisive business problems.
9. The Philippines’ information technology infrastructures can support other countries’ IT needs.
The country’s IT infrastructures are very capable to hold outsourced business services. PITON quoted that the Philippines’ fast-growing telecommunications infrastructure is relatively good in contrast to some Asia - Pacific countries.
At present, the Philippines employs more than 120,000 workers in the outsourcing industry. Outsourcing in the country involves around animation, accountancy, computer programming, website design, publishing (both writing and editing), software development, medical transcription, customer care, and other shared services.
Questions About Our Outsourcing Services?
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We offer free appointments and consultations to your outsourcing needs. Just get in touch with us.
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