BAGUIO City—Success in today’s fiercely competitive global economy depends on an organization’s ability to change and the abilities of the people around it to respond. For Sitel, one of the global leaders in customer-care business process outsourcing (BPO), its local office here has created a partnership with the University of the Cordilleras for its students to have the country’s first curriculum that integrates call-center training. What this means is that students in the Mountain Province need not migrate to main cities to obtain better career chances.

This phenomenon might have a dramatic effect for the economy here. With students aspiring to pursue a career in the BPO industry, such an alliance is a significant step in creating a more robust industry with sustainable growth. Sitel president Danilo Sebastian L. Reyes believes that it is in “working together that we can achieve a stronger industry, guaranteeing the satisfaction of all involved.”

And, says Sitel-Baguio site director Rod Spires: “It is a milestone in the understanding between the private sector and academe of a need to modify or adjust the curriculum to better prepare the student bodies to be successful in a specific industry.”

The agreement between Sitel and the university encompasses a five-year period, during which time the university would provide two rooms for the exclusive use of trainees. Sitel, on the other hand, would bring in the manpower, computers, training materials and all other requirements for implementing the training program.

The program is incorporated in the curriculum of students at the university’s College of Business Administration, but even those who are enrolled in other courses can take the program as an elective subject. Eventually, says Spires, the training will be open even to those who are not presently enrolled in the university.

“The methodology that we have,” Reyes says, “is tried and tested. That’s the same curriculum that we have in training agents.

“By and large, what we’re doing here in Baguio City is we’re starting something innovative—that I can actually bring to the national level or to the association to increase the yield of quality people coming into the industry,” adds Reyes, who is also the president of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P).

During the four-month program, the students are taught English proficiency, technical competency and customer relationship management by members of Sitel’s human resources and learning teams. “To give the students a concrete idea of what it is like to work in a call center, the final sketch of their training will be an on-site, hands-on lesson at Sitel Baguio,” says Spires.

Meanwhile, the university’s president, Jaime Buzar, notes that he is only taking part of the vision of their founder, adding that “we are not only imagining the future, but also helping build it.”

The training course, for the moment, can accommodate up to a hundred students. There are plans, though, to increase the student capacity in the coming years.

Availability of talents

SITEL broke ground in the call-center industry here three years ago, starting with only 35 agents and now maintaining over a thousand seats.

With over 6,000 seats in the Philippines, together with the recently inaugurated second site here, this demonstrates Sitel’s commitment not only to service companies that desire consistent, high-quality solutions but also to develop talents within this region.

Says Reyes: “As the recognized pioneer call center in Baguio City, we are bullish on expanding our operations in the city because we are pleased of the availability of talents.”

“We shall continue to champion our clients and develop our associates to be leaders in the industry,” adds Sitel chief operating officer Bruce Campbell.

The new site, which can house more than 1,000 associates, is equipped with state-of-the-art amenities, such as training and meeting rooms, an in-house gym, a library, employee lounges and sleeping quarters.

Sitel’s other facilities are in Pasig City, Quezon City and Mandaluyong City.

Sitel has recently received the 2007 Frost & Sullivan Awards for Global Excellence in Customer Care Outsourcing for its “unmatched global footprint, exhaustive customer contact solutions portfolio, and strategic growth initiatives.”

Known as a world leader in growth consulting, Frost & Sullivan’s Best Practices Award recognizes achievement within a multitude of industries and functional disciplines. Companies, products, processes and executives who have achieved world-class performance are the recipients of such an award.

In the Philippines Sitel is represented by Sitel Philippines Corp., a privately held company which is majority owned by a Canadian diversified company, Onex Corp. Formed through the union of top-tier competitors, Sitel and ClientLogic, Sitel Philippines is part of Sitel’s global network which includes over 145 sites in 28 countries and employs over 65,000 associates.

Update

LEADERS of the call-center association, the BPA/P and global consulting firm Baker & McKinsie will release on Tuesday the preliminary contents of their comprehensive plan, “Philippine Call Center Road Map 2010: Full Speed Ahead,” at the Call Center Conference & Expo 2007 at the Crowne Plaza Galleria.

Reyes says the road map includes general matters on how to have a steady source of qualified agents, government incentives, means to bring down cost of business, infrastructure and technology.

If productively implemented, explains the BPA/P president, the business strategy plan will give the industry and other stakeholders, such as academe and the government, one coordinated scheme to pull off the target of reaching 500,000 agents by 2010, wherein they will have to hire at least 10,000 new agents a month.

He adds that the industry does not see future problems when it comes to luring global companies to outsource here, since the Philippines is already the country of choice for contact-center sites. The problem, he says, is how the industry can meet the demand and beef up its manpower pool.

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