The outsourcing industry has been on an upwards trend since the late 1980s experiencing huge growth from US$266.9 billion in 2018, to an expected value of US$445.3 billion by 2023. The Asia-Pacific region is the second largest provider of outsourcing services, accounting for 27-28% of the total outsourcing industry.
In the Philippines, the outsourcing industry is worth US$27 billion and 9% of GDP, and is also responsible for employing over 1.44 million people. The leading user of these services is the U.S., accounting for approximately 60% of the market, followed by Australia and then the UK in close third.
Here we take a look at some of the influences which are likely to impact the Philippines BPO industry in the coming years.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI)
According to Kearney, there have been advances in Artificial intelligence across industries including healthcare, with hospitals and creating new uses for augmented and virtual reality. The automation of highly repetitive tasks has created a new wave of digital savy talent, which has added a new differentiator for Philippine industry. As a whole, we are seeing fewer employees who specialize in repetitive tasks and more employees with the creative capacity and business knowledge that’s necessary to manage automation. -
Knowledge process outsourcing
As part of the changes resulting from AI and automation, jobs are becoming less about business process transaction-based tasks and are more focussed towards knowledge-based work such as market research, legal processing, medical transcribing, fraud analytics and web development. The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines is projecting a rise in the number of mid and high-skilled jobs, as well as those that require specialized expertise, to bring the overall headcount in the BPO sector to more than 1.8 million people by 2022. -
Start-ups: an emerging growth sector
In recent years we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of start-up companies in the marketplace, and with the evolution of digital technology and automation, we’re likely to see this continue, particularly in the tech industry. In order to be competitive against some of the larger players, start-ups are looking to offshore outsourcing to improve productivity and reduce costs whilst they focus on business development and strategy.
The Philippine outsourcing market is up for some major changes in the coming years. With the impact of both AI and knowledge process outsourcing, organisations are going to be able to optimize many different areas of their businesses and for a fraction of the price - through offshoring.
Want to read more on the current trends in the Phillipine outsourcing industry?
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