The Philippines is home to more than 800 call centers and BPO service providers that have been in the country for various lengths of time over the last 10 years. The year 2000 marked the birth of the Philippine call center and BPO industry.

Today, roughly a decade later, the Philippines has become the world’s leading offshore destination for English-speaking, voice-related call center services. Over the last years, the process of setting up a call center in the Philippines has become not only faster and cheaper but also a whole lot more convenient.

In addition to the aforementioned, the options exactly where in the country to set up a call center have also significantly increased. From the year 2000 to 2004 almost all call center set ups in the Philippines took place within the country’s two main business districts, namely Makati and Ortigas City.

Companies considering a call center set up in the Philippines today have far more options. Some of the more popular locations for setting up a call center in the Philippines are Makati City, Ortigas City, Alabang, Eastwood, and Cebu City.

Some companies over the last 4 years have successfully ventured beyond Metro Manila however. Large, well known, and well financed call center service providers such as TeleTech and Convergys have successfully set-up call centers facilities in more remote places such as IloIlo, Dumagette and Bacolod (just to name a few). The cost and availability of labor were the key drivers for their decision to set up offices in these more remote locations.

Companies that are considering setting up a call center presence in the Philippines have multiple options to choose from. Two of the most popular options are:

Option1: Call Center set up through  facility lease

The leasing of an entire, fully operational call center facility or a part of a call center facility in the Philippines is the most popular option. By leasing a call center facility an enterprise has the advantage that they can start operating almost immediately. There’s no waiting around for several months to find a suitable location and the physical call center facility build out.

In addition to the aforementioned, the leasing of a call center facility also does not require a heavy upfront investment and is therefore the preferred option for companies (captive operators) or call centers alike.

Option 2: Placement of a foreign direct investment

The second option for companies evaluating setting up a call center presence in the Philippines is to build a call center facility of their own from scratch. The advantage for this approach is that the company has full control and ownership of pretty much all aspects in regards to the call center facility.

Realize however that companies opting to build their own facilities have to be prepared to make a substantial investment. In addition to a heavy, upfront cash layout companies also need to consider that a call center facility build-out can easily take several months to be completed.

The more remote the location of the facility, the longer the time needed to set it up. It also should be mentioned that companies opting to build their own center usually encounter numerous unexpected delays and often technical difficulties when starting their operation.

Option 2 is therefore only advisable for large-sized call centers and/or captive operators that have significant experience in setting-up call centers and/or have the necessary funds to contract the country’s leading call center infrastructure providers.