The Wutz Up in the Philippines!

Serviced offices offer a much needed convenience to foreign and local companies setting up business in the Philippines. These offices usually come fully-furnished, and are equipped by a separate facility management company. The managing company purchases the individual desks, office space, and operating equipment, then rents them out to client companies. Also referred to as executive suites, managed offices, business centers, or executive centers, serviced offices boast a large number of benefits, including plug and play options, prominent business adresses, and flexible short term contracts. These types of offices often have more flexible rental terms, compared to conventional leased office space, which are subject to more restrictive leases. Additional office space is easily allocated within short notice, making it more convenient for client companies in general, should a particular business change in size. Serviced offices are also more cost-effective, owing to the fact that client companies do not require to set aside capital for start-up costs and solicitor’s fees.

Most serviced offices are equipped with the latest technology, including plug and play options, high speed internet access and state-of-the-art facilities. A large number of workstations are available to employees, and can be used by anyone. Serviced offices have become a viable alternative to conventional leased office space. They are used buy a large number of foreign and local companies in the Philippines, some of which include start-up business ventures, branch offices, expanding companies, and foreign companies in need of local representation. The accessibility of serviced offices also makes it an attractive option to many companies. Most offices are usually open on a 24 hour basis, and provide high-speed internet access to anyone, anytime. However, serviced offices have their own share of limitations. For one thing, a serviced office often gives clients a generic impression of your company. Serviced offices also have higher monthly rental rates than conventionally leased office space. Most serviced offices are usually found in Central Business Districts (CBDs) like Makati, Manila, Ortigas, and Fort Bonifacio.

Serviced offices in Manila usually range from Php 15,000-30,000 per month, depending on the type of facilities available to the renter. Office rates in Makati, on the other hand, range from Php 15,000-40,000. However, some rates are only given on application. This is usually the case for offices located in premier business areas in the city, such as Ayala Avenue, Makati Avenue and Paseo del Roxas.

According to Michael McCullough of Makati-based real-estate brokerage firm KMC MAG Group, “”Serviced offices offer an immediate business location solution without having to spend all the time and money building out an office. You often get a great corporate address and the facilities you need to impress clients.”

Adds Business Consultant Gregory Kittelson of Manila consulting firm Kittelson & Carpo Consulting, “Many of our smaller clients registering a business in the Philippines take advantage of serviced offices while ramping up on the initial hiring of employees. Once the the company matures and hires more employess, they then leave the serviced office option and look for leased office space throughout Metro-Manila.”

By: Eden Lorren Pabalan

The newly completed SCTEx (Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway) a P36 billion peso expressway is a leading avenue through Olongapo, Tarlac and bridges the three cities of Tarlac, Subic, and Clark. Access from the Metro Manila area through the superhighway is convenient, safe and predictable.

Investments in office space and residential infrastructure are growing in Subic. Subic Bay Gateway Park is a commercial hub  home to a number of Korean and Taiwanese companies doing business in the Philippines. It offers 300 hectares of prime industrial land.

Ayala Land Inc., the Philippine’s biggest real estate developer has signed a 50-year lease with the government to develop a 7.5 hectare  commercial hub along Rizal Highway, within the Subic Bay Freeport and are in the steps of final completion for Anvaya Cove, a luxury resort area. An estimated P3 billion pesos are on the line for this investment venture. The proposed plan for the vicinity is to establish a shopping mall, hotel, and a Business Process Outsourcing building.

PLDT Corporation is also eyeing Subic as a BPO hotspot in the Philippines. The company has already inked a 17 hectare development project with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, an  ICT hub that will bring the freeport to the frontlines of ICT infrastructure development in the country. Other call center companies are already open for business in the area, such as US-based Sutherland Call Center and Teletech.

According to Outsourcing Consultant Gregory Kittelson of Kittelson and Carpo Consulting, a Makati-based firm, “We are now seeing more interest from foreign investors in Subic.  Every year,  more and more of our clients are setting up operations in Subic and getting involved in outsourcing, shipping, and the importation and exportation of goods and services in the area.”

The growing BPO business in Central Luzon is continually creating job opportunities for Filipinos. Subic will soon be known not only as a beach and diving paradise, but also as a busy and prosperous economic zone in the Philippines.

By: Kathleen Yu

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is one of the fastest growing industries in the world today. As emerging leaders in the global BPO market, both India and the Philippines are considered prime outsourcing destinations for multinational companies all over the world. India dominates with 37% of the global offshoring market, Canada at 27% and the Philippines in third at 15%. However, the Philippines, which boasted a 40-50% industry growth in the last three years, is now on the fast track to overtaking India as a global BPO provider.

According to Business Consultant Gregory Kittelson of Kittelson and Carpo Consulting, “The Philippine BPO industry is growing by as much as 46% annually and may soon overtake India as the industry leader. In fact, we have started to see an influx of BPOs and call centers from India registering businesses in the Philippines and setting up operations here.  The opposite is not the case.”

By: Eden Lorren Pabalan

Malaysia and Philippines are two of the top four offshore countries in Asia together with India and China. As the BPO industry progress, the first two countries are battling neck to neck in striving to achieve a higher global market share. Both the Philippines and Malaysia are experiencing unprecedented growth rate and revenue. Call center companies are booming in both countries and are expanding quickly.

The Philippines, composed of approximately 7,107 islands, is a country boasting of growth and development in Southeast Asia and home to different international BPO companies. Office spaces in the Philippines are being filled up by start-up BPO companies and the Philippines was hailed as the “2nd Top Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Destination in the Asia-Pacific” by International Data Corporation (IDC). Three of its key cities were also awarded a slot in the “‘Top Ten Asian Cities of the Future” by Financial Times, placing Quezon City at 7th Place, Cebu at 8th and Davao at 10th place.

Convergys Philippines is the top BPO employer in the country with approximately 12,000 employees. Setting up a business in the Philippines is a good investment because of the high growth rate of its economy. The BPO annual growth in the Philippines average at 46% since 2006, thus, bringing in more jobs to Filipinos. The BPO output for 2008 in the Philippines was US$ 6.1B, making the country the 3rd largest BPO destination (15%) after India (37%), and Canada (27%).

Meanwhile, Malaysia is a country located south of the Philippines in Southeast Asia. It has a land area of 329,845 square kilometers and is currently ranked next to Philippines as a BPO destination. Malaysia is home to many international BPO companies such as Scicom (MSC) Bhd, SnT Global Sdn Bhd, and Vsource Asia Bhd. Malaysia has a unique advantage in government support, human capital, infrastructure, and domain expertise for supporting Asia-Pacific over neighboring countries.

Contact centers and BPO companies in Malaysia, like the Philippines, are also growing in number. The advantage of Malaysia is that their economy is more stable in the past few years than the Philippines’ before the Global Economic Crisis. The inflation rate of Malaysia (2.4%) is not as low as the Philippines’ (5.0%).

According to Gregory Kittelson, Business Consultant for Kittelson and Carpo, a Makati-based consulting firm, “Asia is awaiting the Philippines’ rise, especially with the change of political leaders of the country this year. BPO companies prefer the Philippines to other Southeast Asian countries because of the Filipinos’ skill of having a good command of English. Malaysia has already shown its tremendous progress from 2007 to 2008 before the Global Economic Crisis while the Philippines is yet to rise this year. It’s about time the country advance economically.”

The Philippines is expected to have an increase in revenue for 2010 especially after the elections in the country. More BPO companies are seeing the Philippines as a potential place of investment for the industry. Malaysia, on the other hand, is predicted to feel the effect of the 2009 Global Economic Crisis this year which affected their GDP tremendously at -2.0%, thus, giving the Philippines an advantage.

By: Eden Lorren Pabalan

Subic Bay, Philippines is flanked on the east side by the mountains of Zambales and surrounded by the bay and the South China Sea on the western end. It is known for its beaches and natural beauty. Subic has also been a gateway for transporting goods through its ports and a hot diving spot in the Philippines. Despite the nature-friendly features of this paradise, technology has also improve the standards of this community. Real estate and BPO companies doing business in the Philippines are fast-rising in the province.

SCTEx (Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway) is one of the leading avenues for the progress of Olongapo, specifically Tarlac. It is a 94-kilometer four lane expressway which actually costs P36 billion pesos and helped bridge the three cities which is Tarlac, Subic, and Clark.

Investments in office space and residential infrastructure are also growing in Subic. Subic Bay Gateway Park is a commercial hub which is home to mostly Taiwanese companies doing business in the Philippines. It offers around 300 hectares of prime industrial land. Meanwhile, top real estate developers are also starting to invest in the area.

Ayala Land Inc. has signed a 50-year lease with the government in developing a 7.5 hectare potential commercial hub along Rizal Highway within the Subic Bay Freeport. An estimated P3 billion pesos are on the gamble for this investment in this venture. The proposed plan for the vicinity is to establish a shopping mall, hotel, and a Business Process Outsourcing building. BPO companies continue to set up their businesses in the area.

PLDT Corporation is also eyeing Subic as a BPO hotspot in the Philippines. They already inked a 17 hectare development project with Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and prioritizes it as an ICT hub to bring the freeport to the frontline of ICT infrastructure development in the country. Other call center companies are already open for business in the area such as Sutherland Call Center, an American Call Center company, and TeleTech has also expanded business to Clark.

According to Gregory Kittelson of Kittelson and Carpo Consulting, a Makati-based firm, “We are now seeing more interest from foreign investors in Subic.  Each year we place more and more of our clients in Subic involved in outsourcing, shipping, importing and exporting goods and services.”

The growing BPO business in Central Luzon is continually creating jobs and growth for Filipinos. Subic will soon be known not only as a beach and diving paradise, but also as a busy and prosperous economic zone in the country.

By: Kathleen Yu

Outsourcing companies in the Philippines can opt for either PEZA  or BOI Registration to obtain tax incentives in their respective fields of enterprise. Registering with either PEZA or BOI offers numerous benefits for start-up companies in the country, including easier visa processing for expat employees. However, only certain types of enterprises are eligible for PEZA or BOI registration and registrants must comply with the conditions of their respective registration agreements.

According to Amanda Carpo, senior corporate lawyer of Kittelson & Carpo Consulting, “Companies setting up operations in the Philippines must carefully weigh their options before registering with either PEZA or BOI. This will not only prevent unnecessary mistakes from being made, it will also ensure that your company receives the best possible benefits, under the best possible conditions.”

What are the benefits of registering with PEZA or BOI? How will it affect your company’s business operations? Before I answer any of those questions, let me first give you a rudimentary understanding of what PEZA and BOI registration is all about.

PEZA, short for Philippine Economic Zone Authority, is a government agency that specializes in providing investment assistance and other incentives to foreign investors inside the country. PEZA Registration supports business operations in the IT field, including software development and application, IT-enabled services, content-development for Internet and other media, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), as well as IT research and development. Some PEZA benefits include income tax holidays for up to four years, a special 5% tax on gross income (after the income tax holiday), payment exemptions.. Foreign investors will also be granted a permanent residency status upon initial investment of USD 150,000 to any sustainable, local enterprise. However, enterprises located in PEZA zones are required to export at least 70% of their total production.

The Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) is a government agency attached to the Department of Trade and Industry that promotes solid business investments in the Philippines. BOI Registration supports IT, IT-enabled and ICT support services, including software and application development, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), internet service provisions and other related fields of interest. Some benefits of BOI Registration include income tax holidays, deduction of labor expenses, as well as the unrestricted use of consigned equipment. However, BOI registered companies are required to export 70% of their annual production, and foreign-owned firms must obtain 40% Filipino ownership after a given number of years.

Approval for PEZA and BOI registration is granted on a case to case basis. While PEZA registration requires the company to relocate to a PEZA IT Park or building, companies that avail of BOI registration are free to set up business anywhere in the Philippines. Both PEZA and BOI offer similar tax incentives for foreign and local companies in the country. However, PEZA benefits are usually geared toward export manufacturing, IT and Tourism enterprises, while BOI benefits are more focused on BPO Research and Development.

Whether to avail of PEZA or BOI Registration, the choice is yours. But before you decide, think carefully about what kind of benefits are best suited for your company and whether you will be able to meet eligibility requirements. Business is not business without risk-taking but this can be managed with the right advice.

Manila Philippines - What do you think are the pros and cons of having an automated election? There are several issues and benefits regarding this automation of election. The question is, are you in favor of this automated election, are you satisfied in what you have paid in a billion pesos? Would you rather consider the short line for manual voting rather than than of long lines because it became a clustered precinct? As of May 11 We have partial results came from the PCOS machine and being announced by chairman melo of COMELEC, or would you choose the manual voting that the output might result in less than a week?

There are things that needs adjustments at first just like the PCOS machine, because things that are first tested are not guaranteed a 100% full accuracy sometimes it has bugs and other errors which are very usual to machines, but the thing is that the Smartmatic should put IT professionals or Technician who knows well of the PCOS machine and the Smartmatic should test the machine first before they distribute and if lack of time is the reason for this bugs in the PCOS machine, the thing that the Smartmatic should do is to hire more people in their company even for a month only just ti verify that the smartmatic is working great and reliable in counting of votes. The more people that works on the smartmatic the more productive or the more reliable the PCOS machine will be. The smartmatic should also foresee some of the risk that might happen when using the machine so that the technician will know what are the things that he needs to do to be able to fix it as soon as the election starts. Well In the manual voting there are several watchers and teachers that are need to be present just to be able to count the votes that sometimes none of them seem to do their task. The advantage of the PCOS machine is that it makes the counting easily, is makes less people involve in election counting, less effort and many more compared to manual voting that requires opposite of the automated election. A little advice is that before releasing of the machine be sure that it is working and complete in everything that is needed in the election and there should always be a person or technician or IT professionals who knows how to troubleshoot and Be sure to know what are the error and later on fix or enchance the PCOS machine for the next election.

By: Kathleen Yu

As the local BPO industry continues to grow, the Philippines is on the fast track to becoming one of the  prime outsourcing destinations in the world. Next to Metro Manila, Cebu City is considered as one of the most important BPO destinations in the country. As more and more investors flock to the city, the “Queen of the South” is fast becoming the largest call center hub in the Visayas region.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is one of the fastest growing industries in Cebu City. Because of the low cost of labor, more and more foreign and local companies are now setting up operations in the city. There are already a number of call centers in the area, and more are still on the way. Most Metro Manila based call centers have already set up operations in the city. Some small and medium BPOs are even bypassing Metro Manila and going straight to Cebu.  Coupled with an exceptionally skilled workforce and a lower cost of living, it’s no mystery that the Philippine BPO industry is alive and well in Cebu City.

The ability of most Cebuanos to understand and communicate in fluent English is also an important advantage in the city’s outsourcing industry. As English is considered the lingua franca of the call center industry, a rudimentary knowledge of the language is essential in fields like customer service and telemarketing.

According to Gregory Kittelson, BPO Consultant of Makati-based Kittelson and Carpo Consulting, “The growing number of foreign investors is a strong indication that Cebu City is fast becoming an important BPO center in the country. More and more foreign companies are now tapping into the local workforce, injecting large amounts of capital into the economy. I believe that this bodes well for the future of Cebu City’s BPO industry.”

The growing BPO industry has also created a number of job opportunities for Cebuanos, providing solid employment for the local workforce . This, in turn, has further boosted the local economy. A recent study by the Department of Trade and Industry puts the GDP growth at 4.5% in 2008. Experts are also expecting a steady increase in employment for the second quarter of 2010.

As the local outsourcing industry continues to grow, Cebu City will continue to establish itself as one of the prime outsourcing destinations in the Philippines.