Contact centers expect sustained growth despite AI’s job challenge

By Othel V. Campos

THE Contact Center Association of the Philippines expressed confidence the information technologybusiness process management sector would break investment, employment and output records in line with the 2028 industry roadmap despite the challenge posed by artificial intelligence on local jobs.

CCAP managing director Rosario Cajucom-Bradbury said the contact center industry was expected to account for additional 2.3 million of the 2.5 million employment target of the entire ITBPM industry by 2028.

“We are confident that the target employment figure will be achieved even with the emergence of generative AI [artificial intelligence],” CajucomBradbury said at the CCAP Contact Islands 2023 in Cebu City.

“Contrary to common assumptions, our group believes that the new technology will bolster the sector’s productivity instead of threaten jobs. Generative

AI can enhance the strengths of our Filipino agents who can then focus on active listening and become more empathetic and engaging when rendering service to our customers,” she said. She said Filipino agents were continuously being upskilled to equip them with the right knowledge and skills amid the evolving nature of jobs across the sector and the industry.

CCAP, however, underscored challenges in operating under the new normal. In 2022, the Department of Trade and Industry allowed the transfer of registration of industry firms from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to the Board of Investments to allow 100-percent work-from-home arrangements.

Wilcon’s profit fell

15% to P856m in Q2

WILCON Depot Inc., a leading home improvement and finishing construction supplies retailer, said Thursday second-quarter net income fell 15 percent to P856 million from P1 billion in the same period last year on lower foot traffic and transaction count.

“The hybrid business model is becoming popular within the IT-BPM industry. But it is a constantly changing setup. At the end of the day, the working setup will still depend on clientele preferences. Some clients are fine with the work-from-home setup of agents, while others require working at the office to ensure confidentiality and data privacy. There’s room for flexibility,” she said.

Another issue the sector is facing is the wage increase, which some analysts see as a pending threat to the industry’s cost-effective advantage. The group said labor cost is one of the many factors that clients look at when signing up for contact center or BPO services across the globe.

Wilcon said in a disclosure to the stock exchange second-quarter net sales inched up by 4 percent to P8.62 billion, thanks to the contribution of newly-opened stores.

Wilcon president and chief executive Lorraine Belo-Cincochan said the slower growth in the second quarter was mainly due to the decline in foot traffic in old stores and the slowdown in private construction in April.

Belo-Cincochan said the company was coming from a high base, as there was pent-up demand in the same period last year.

“Historically, months with longer holiday stretches were periods with relatively lower sales since construction projects are usually also paused to save on labor cost or homeowners go on holiday themselves. While our sales still grew modestly in the second quarter, this was not enough to cover the increases in our fixed costs, which comprises the bulk of our opex.” she said. Jenniffer B. Austria

MCDONALD’S EMPLOYMENT. McDonald’s Philippines, majority owned and operated by Golden Arches Development Corp., renews its commitment to generating employment for Filipino students through its partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment. Attending the signing of a memorandum of agreement for the collaborative implementation of the Special Program for the Employment of Students on July 14, 2023 are (from left) DOLE assistant secretary Paul Vincent Añover, Undersecretary Carmela Torres, Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, McDonald’s Philippines president and chief executive Kenneth Yang, managing director Margot Torres, and vice president for human capital group Ben Marasigan.