Global BPO firm eyes Davao as its new location

A New York-headquartered Business Process Outsourcing firm is eyeing Davao City as its third and newest location in the Philippines. The other two offices are located in Manila and in Clark, Pampanga.

“The company is looking at the possibility of establishing an office here in Davao and they have met with us already to inquire about the investments opportunities here in the city,” DTI XI National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center director Teolulo Pasawa told Mirror. Another prospect for its new location is Iloilo City.

Sutherland Global Services provides contact center and back-office outsourcing to its clients worldwide. It has a total of 12,500 employees distributed in various locations including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Canada, India and the Philippines.

“We have briefed them on the advantages of locating their business here in the city such as the good peace and order condition and the availability of qualified potential workforce,” Pasawa said.

If plans pushes through, he said, Sutherland Global Services is looking at the possibility of establishing an office with an initial 500 seats. More than 70 percent of Sutherland’s clients belong to the Fortune 500 companies in the areas of retail, financial services and information technology.

The city is becoming a favorite location for top BPO companies. GCom is already operating 250 seats with a view to increasing this to 450 seats later on. Another company, Link to Support, will start operating next month. It will start with 200 seats but with a projection of 2000 seats later on.
Big BPO companies are those with capitals of over P150 million. Pasawa said there is still a great demand for BPO workers in the city not just in the areas of call center operations but also in support services.