The Outsourcing Week in Review: Thursday, June 17, 2021

Welcome to Inside Outsourcing: The Outsourcing Week in Review

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provider TaskUs debuted on the Nasdaq on Friday 11 June at an initial price of $23 per share – valuing the company at approximately $2.8bn.

TaskUs was started in 2008 by childhood friends and co-founders, Bryce Maddock and Jaspar Weir.  In just 13 years, they built the company to 27,500 staff across 8 countries generating revenues of $500m and a net profit of $34m.  They are well known for providing customer service solutions for the likes of Facebook, Uber and Coinbase.  The share price initially jumped up to $29 and is now, five days later, tracking at $31.50.  The two founders, Bryce and Jaspar are now reportedly worth $400m each. Congrats, TaskUs!

In the Philippines, a UK-based think tank is projecting the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth is expected to hit a staggering 15% in the second quarter. According to Pantheon Macroeconomics, the country’s more lax and “more tailored approach” to mobility restrictions “appears to have paid off.” To continue these positive projections, President Rodrigo Duterte has approved Metro Manila’s shift to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) – the laxest mobility restriction – from June 16 to 30. Metro Manila will also shorten its curfew hours to 12 am to 4pm to boost economic activity.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez is confident that the country’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector will grow by five per cent this year – which will help to ‘anchor the Philippines’ economic growth’.

Real estate firm Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) is also banking on the BPO sector’s resilience to fill up the office vacancies created by evacuation of the cash-rich persona non grata – the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO). According to FLI, multinational outsourcing companies occupied 88.4% of their real estate investment trust (REIT) portfolio as of March 31. In sharp contrast, the POGOs now only occupied 2.8%. What a way to take over the industry amid the pandemic!

The Philippines celebrated its 123rd Independence Day anniversary last June 12. In celebration, United States President Joe Biden cited the enduring US-Philippine friendship. In a video message released by the US Embassy in Manila, Biden noted the valuable contribution of more than four million Filipinos and Filipino-Americans who live in the US. Let’s hope Biden supports Filipino outsourcing as much as he does the Filipino people.”

In a more sober marking of the occasion, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) hosted an Independence Day virtual job fair that offered around 40,000 job vacancies. Labor Assistant Secretary Dominique Tutay announced, unsurprisingly by now, that the BPO sector was the largest participating industry in the fair. Surprised? Not us.

In a bid to make the Philippines an even more attractive investment destination, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is collaborating with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and other banks to roll out credit facilities for company locators and ecozone developers. PEZA Director General Charito Plaza said they will set up lending windows for local and foreign investors to “boost efficiency in terms of doing business in the country.”

For a quick COVID-19 vaccine update: the Philippines, unfortunately, ranks 8th among 10 Southeast Asian nations in terms of population inoculation. The country has vaccinated only 4.23% of its total population as of June 8. However, according to vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr., the country’s vaccine supply is set to “normalize” this week, since they’re expecting to deliver more vaccine doses to areas outside of Metro Manila. Also, earlier this week, Manila LGU was celebrating the vaccination of 25,000 people in a single day – so progress is being made.

This week’s BPO news has its fair share of good and bad news. For the good news, leading BPO provider TDCX is set to open its sixth hub in the country in Q4. TDCX will launch its Iloilo site before the year ends, and this expansion will provide an initial 300 job opportunities to professionals in the province. In addition, multinational financial services firm Wells Fargo & Co. has announced that it will be cutting down its Philippine presence – however, it will retain its BPO presence in the country despite closing its Philippine representative office.

In Davao City, unfortunately, six BPO offices were placed under lockdown due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. The BPO firms’ employees are also under mandatory swab-all to ensure everyone’s safety. In line with this, Samuel Matunog, president of regional Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector group ICT-Davao, Inc., called out the Davao local government to reassess its approach in handling the COVID-19’s effect in the outsourcing industry. Matunog noted that shutting down BPO firms may significantly disrupt operations, and result in the turning away of clients.

While we all care about everyone’s health and safety, we should also consider the business. What’s your opinion on this? Let us know!

Thursday, June 17, 2021

NEWS THIS WEEK

16 June 2021

• BPO sector to anchor PH growth – read article…
• Metro Manila welcomes shorter curfew hours – read article…
• PH ranks 8th in ASEAN vaccine rollout – read article…

15 June 2021

• Wells Fargo to retain BPO center in Manila – read article…
• Metro Manila, Bulacan ease to GCQ with ‘some restrictions’ – read article…
• More job opportunities for women in digital economy – read article…

14 June 2021

• Gov’t urged to combat unemployment amid COVID-19 – read article…
• Singapore remains key PH investor – read article…
• TaskUs prices IPO at $23 a share – read article…
• Biden cites enduring US-PH friendship – read article…
• PH vaccine supply to normalize by June 14 – read article…

11 June 2021

• PH economy seen to grow 15% in Q2 – read article…
• ‘Resilient’ BPO sector filled POGO vacancies – FLI – read article…
• TCDX to expand to Iloilo – read article…
• Six BPOs in Davao City under lockdown – read article…

10 June 2021

• 40K jobs to be offered at DOLE’s job fair – read article…
• Davao-ICT warns LGU about its lockdown measures – read article…
• Alibaba Cloud to build first data center in PH – read article…
• PEZA to open credit window for locators, developers – read article…