Contact Islands 2018 in Cebu

Annual contact center conference highlights dynamics of empowered customers in a digitized world

‘Contact Islands 2018’ Focuses on Customer Experience in a Digital World

Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) press conference with the members of the Cebu Press.  From L-R: Mr. H. Karthik, Everest Group Partner; Mr. Benedict Hernandez, CCAP Chairman, Mr. Jojo Uligan, CCAP President

The Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) formally opened “Contact Islands 2018” to various stakeholders of the industry via a ribbon cutting ceremony led by Mr. Monchito Ibrahim, DICT Undersecretary (4th from left), participated by Mr. Dan Reyes, CCAP Board of Director; Mr. Mickey Ocampo, CCAP Board of Director; Mr. Benedict Hernandez, CCAP Chairman, Mr. Jojo Uligan, CCAP President; Ms. Annie Reyes, CCAP Board of Director; Mr. Butch Valenzuela, CCAP Board of Director and Mr. Jovy Hernandez, CCAP Board of Director 

CEBU, Philippines—Following its success last year to bring to fore the future of customer experience, the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) continues the progressive discussion on important issues concerning the entire business process outsourcing (BPO) industry and the changing international market during the Contact Islands 2018, themed “Leading with CX in a Digital World”, at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City on July 25 and 26, 2018.

“Personalized and differentiated customer experience, powered by digital, is the new competitive battleground in our sector,” said CCAP President Jojo Uligan. “This is a new service opportunity for contact centers in the digital world.”

The two-day event delves on the dynamics of empowered customers, hybrid workforce, jobs of the future, new service delivery models, and other insightful topics. It also highlights the continued success of the contact center sector, which is a part of the broader BPO industry, from the past recent years up to the present and future.

“The industry has continuously evolved to remain competitive and to grow its market share,” noted Jojo Uligan, president of CCAP. “All of our indicators were saying that we continue to enjoy this growth.”

Currently, the Philippines remains the biggest source of voice services worldwide. Based on data from the Everest Group, the country is seen to account for 16 percent to 18 percent of the aggregate outsourced services globally in 2018.

Financial-wise, the research company also revealed that the revenue generated by the local call center sector reached $13 billion in 2017. This is projected to grow this year by seven percent to nine percent.

“We are forecasting to add another $1 billion in revenues this 2018. That translates to an additional 70,000 more jobs,” Uligan bared.

Contact center players are, likewise, bullish on the industry’s financial performance as shown in positive results of the surveys that the CCAP conducted.

These figures are aligned with the industry’s existing roadmap, which shows that the call center sector’s revenue is projected to rise by 8.2 percent compounded annual growth to $20.4 billion between 2016 and 2022.

“Now on our third year of industry roadmap, the contact center community remains consistent with its forecast of growth given that focus on high complex type of work,” Uligan said.

Today’s digital era provides opportunities for Filipino agents to upskill and do more complicated and challenging tasks.

In fact, CCAP’s recent survey of member-companies revealed that mid- and high-level skills now comprise about 55 percent and 30 percent of jobs in the voice space, respectively. 

“We have been investing in digital customer experience already and that investment is paying off,” he cited. “We’ll continue to aggressively move to complex skills given all of the significant investments we’re making, but most especially in enabling the Filipino talents to actually compete in a digital world.” 

Confident of the success of this year’s edition of the Contact Islands conference, CCAP vows to carry on this platform for top players and thinkers worldwide to converge and share ideas on how to take customer experience to a new level.

“Our primary industry agenda here is to keep that leading edge position of the Philippine contact center sector globally. With the continued full support of the government, the academe and other partner sectors, we remain committed in creating more value-added jobs.” Uligan stressed.