According to an article published by The New York Times, The Philippines is now the “New Capital of Call Centers”, a position previously associated with India. This is due to the continuing growth of call centers in the Philippines, which was also labeled as the “revolution” that has “reshaped the call center business” in the world. According to the article, the Philippines call center demographic is mostly made up of young people who speak lightly accented English” and are very well oriented with the American culture.

Even if the outlook towards the local IT-BPO remains positive to very positive by the respondents of a recent survey by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and Outsource2Philippines (O2P), both organizations related with outsourcing Philippines, stated that the BPO-IT industry needs greater visibility both locally and internationally for the industry to meet high-end growth targets.

According to the 179 executives surveyed, more than just settling at the idea that the country is being optimistic about the growth of the industry, the BPO industry and the Philippine government still need to do more than just “sell” the industry. The BPO industry should also sell the attributes and opportunities for potential offshore staff and their influencers more while the Philippine government should create a plan to increase the visibility of local IT-BPO industries and its capabilities.

Philippine real estate firm, KMC MAG Group has released its real estate market report Philippines or the real estate market research Manila for the Q3 of 2011.

The report contains summaries of the trends in commercial and residential real estate, as well as an office market overview in Metro Manila .

According to the report, the trend for the Q3 of 2011 are that rental rates of commercial spaces rose due to the increasing demand and low vacancy rates while the demand for residentials spaces surpassed the supply in the luxury residential market due to investments of the OFW and expat community. Also, the continuous construction of residential real estates has increased the overall vacancy rate in Metro Manila.

A series of bills in the House of Representatives seeks to make the BPO industry in the Philippines, which includes call centers in the Philippines, more attractive to potential investors.

According to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., among the bills already “moving” inside the House of Representatives are the Data Privacy Act, creation of the Department of Information and Communication Technology, and the Anti-Cyber Crime Act. These bills seeks to boost the position of offshoring Philippines.

Former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her son, Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado Arroyo, have filed a bill demanding more protection for the over 400,000 workers of Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) or Philippine call centers

The lawmakers have filed House Bill 5218, or the Magna Carta for Call Center Workers, which enumerates the rights of offshore staff in the Philippines such as call center agents and protect the interest and welfare of its workers.

“It is in the interest of the BPO companies themselves to protect their workers who are their most important resource,” the younger Arroyo said in a statement.

The rise of the Philippine BPO Industry has seen an accompanied increase in staff leasing services, including the recruitment of SEO Specialists, Web Developers, Webmasters, Copywriters, Programmers, Data Encoders, Virtual Assistants, and Contact Center Agents.  Staff leasing is considered a hassle-free hiring solution for foreign and local companies doing business in the Philippines. Not only does it eliminate Human Resource (HR) costs and payroll, staff leasing also minimizes administrative responsibilities, and enables small and medium-sized companies to expand their business operations to different client markets. Larger companies also benefit from the arrangement, which offers cost-effective human resource management, employee payroll, compensation services, risk management assistance, training, and development.

by: Yves De-Luis

1) Reduce costs

Real estate brokers know best when it comes to real estate market scenarios. What most tenants do not realize is that the possibility of a better deal somewhere always exists. Chances are, only qualified real estate brokers know exactly where to find them. Due to the increase in available office spaces, the current office leasing market favors the tenants more.  Compared to their current terms, tenants can reduce their real estate costs up to 50% easily if they only knew how to leverage on the market.  Hiring a qualified real estate brokerage company can help you understand the dynamics of the market and gain insights in order for you to get a better deal if not the best one.

By Yves De-Luis

There is increasing awareness and support to saving the planet. This makes LEED certification increasingly meaningful. LEED stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”

LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system,  providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built, using strategies aimed at improving performance; across energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.
To be able to be LEED certified, the building must adhere to a set of specific energy principles and features.  These include: