The Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) is on track to attain a 7 percent growth in revenues and workforce this year as it ramps up the number of digital cities to 31 to host more investments.
But Mickey Ocampo, CCAP president, said the roadmap for the entire information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) industry is up for review next month to update the targets and goals of the industry by taking into account the impact of Generative artificial intelligence (AI)
“Generative AI could reflect in the sector’s figures in two to four years….the emerging technology was not factored in when the IT-BPM roadmap was set because it surfaced just about seven months ago although AI has already been widely used across the industry,” Ocampo said.
Ocampo said the IT-BPM industry is focused on expanding operations to the countryside with the goal of having 40 percent of talents in areas outside Metro Manila by 2028 from the current 30 percent.
Rosario Cajucom-Bradbury, CCAP managing director, said the group along with the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) launched yesterday five additional digital cities to host IT-BPM locators: Antipolo, Dagupan City, Malolos, Tagbilaran and San Fernando, La Union chosen for their ability to deliver talent, infrastructure, policy and business environment.
CCAP accounts for more than 80 percent of the IBPAP talent, which reached 1.57 million in 2022. The goal is to reach 2.2 to 2.3 million by 2028 of the 2.5 million to be created by the IT-BPM sector by 2028.
Ocampo said CCAP continues to attract new players with a number of companies in exploratory talks such as members of Pro-Colombia, an association of contact centers and Nasscom, India’s tech group as well as two Japanese firms.
CCAP is confident the sector could keep its position as being the world’s top provider of voice and business process outsourcing with the adoption of Generative AI.
“Generative AI can be used to automate and enhance various aspects of customer interactions. Some examples are chatbots and virtual assistants. There are automated email responses for faster adaptability. To illustrate, in the past, when an agent needed to respond to a customer’s call, he had to look at the CRM and backtrack or even go to the knowledge base. Now, these things are automated, further enhancing agent productivity,” said Ocampo.
Cajucom-Bradbury said the use of Generative AI Assist working alongside agents when handling calls increases their efficiency, productivity, and resolution in handling customer service.
She said Generative AI thus creates more high-complex jobs.
A survey conducted on Filipino agents showed the use of Generative AI has increased their productivity by 13 to 15 percent.
The country’s contact center sector has set an annual revenue target of $59 billion by 2028–about $49 billion of which is expected from CCAP-member companies. The sector has posted an actual revenue of $27 billion in 2022, which accounts for 84 percent of total revenue of the IT-BPM industry at $32 billion.
CCAP will hold the Contact Islands Conference 2023 with the theme The Philippines, the Heart of CX from July 26 to 28 in Dusit Thani Mactan in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.
