IN the near future, Filipinos will be tapped to help start up operations overseas of Dell contact centers.

In an interview late Wednesday, Dell Philippines country manager Michael J. Garrison said the Austin, Texas-based company is impressed with the work performance of Filipino contact center agents in its Pasay and Eastwood offices in servicing United States-based Dell clients for their different requirements.

“When we were starting our operations here in the Philippines, the contact centers…were being manned by Americans, Japanese, Malaysians, Indians and other nationalities. Later on, the operations were turned over to Filipinos because they have proven they’re quite competent in managing clients,” said Garrison.

Dell Philippines started operations as early as October 2005, when it launched the 17,000 square-meter Makati Recruiting and Training Center in RCBC Plaza.

In March 2006, Dell moved to the SM Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City. In March 2007, Dell Philippines inaugurated its site at Eastwood Cyberpark. At present, the two sites have a workforce of 2,500.

Garrison said Dell Philippines will branch out to take on more complex work, possibly next year.

At present, Dell Philippines handles customer service for Dell laptops and desktops, including technical support and corporate accounts.

“We’re pretty excited at the rate the business is going because customers in the United States are very happy with the high quality of services they get from the Philippine office,” Garrison said.

Garrison said his agents would rise to the occasion in delivering a high quality of service.

Proof that Filipinos are competent agents: a Filipino emerged as the most outstanding agent in the worldwide operations of Dell in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Even with the projected increase in new customer services, Garrison said the company would not hire additional manpower. Instead, Dell Philippines will retrain the qualified personnel for such new jobs.

During the briefing, Garrison pointed out that working in a contact center is not necessarily a dead-end job. In the case of Dell, he stressed the company is providing several opportunities for deserving agents to pursue higher studies, such as a masters degree in business administration, or advanced training in technical support.

“Of course, it’s an advantage if the agent has a technical background, because the bulk of Dell Philippines’ work is on the technical side,” he said.

FIRST Metro Investment Corp. will be underwriting three initial public offerings (IPO) early next year.

Executive vice president Jose Pacifico E. Marcelo said these firms have sought the services of First Metro, the investment of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., the nation’s largest lender.

Etihad Airways adds more flights

ETIHAD Airways, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) national carrier, is increasing its Abu Dhabi-Manila flights from four to seven a week beginning next month.

WITH the call-center industry projected to grow a hefty 33 percent this year, ePLDT subsidiary iPLUS is offering start up call-centers an all-in-one premise-based solution, called Call Center in a Box (CCiB).

IN the near future, Filipinos will be tapped to help start up operations overseas of Dell contact centers.

In an interview late Wednesday, Dell Philippines country manager Michael J. Garrison said the Austin, Texas-based company is impressed with the work performance of Filipino contact center agents in its Pasay and Eastwood offices in servicing United States-based Dell clients for their different requirements.

SUN Life Financial-Philippines posted sales of more than P13 billion for the first six months of the year, where its first semester result is 97-percent higher compared to the same period last year.