Nasdaq-listed call center outfit bullish on expansion

published March 03, 2009 in BusinessWorld

PALO, LEYTE — The top official of a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm which opened its first site outside Metro Manila yesterday said business would still be brisk this year despite the global economic slowdown.

Nasdaq-listed APAC Customer Services, Inc., which has offices in Alabang, Muntinlupa and Cubao, Quezon City, invested P200 million on a 31,000-square-meter facility at the Leyte Information and Communication Technology Park in the town of Palo, and plans to hire up to 1,000 workers when operations go full-blast.

"We’re in a business that when companies are downsizing and looking to cut cost, we’re one of the solutions. We prefer not to have the world in economic crisis but the truth of the matter is for APAC, it’s generally a time for opportunity. We will continue to expand in the Philippines and in the United States," said APAC President and Chief Executive
Officer Michael Marrow.

When it opened yesterday, APAC had 225 workers including 150 call center agents. The company plans to have a total of 600 seats this summer.

"If things continue to go the way we’re going right now, we will be in full operation late this year or early next year and will be looking additional space. We will continue to build more seats anytime until we all have 800 workstations built. We won’t stop at a thousand workers if we will be successful," Mr. Marrow said in news conference.

Mr. Marrow said APAC chose Leyte for expansion because of existing fiber optic connections, a good education system with 5,000 to 8,000 graduates every year, and incentives from the local government.

APAC clients are in the health care, financial services, publishing, business services, travel and entertainment, and communication sectors.

Doug Almond, APAC vice-president for international operations, said the Leyte site aims to "expand the sphere of growth and development in the BPO industry to more underdeveloped parts of the country."

"We have a growth strategy for the next five years in the Philippines, and the APAC Leyte site is part of that strategy, together with a couple more sites opening in the Visayas and Mindanao," Mr. Almond said.

APAC’s headquarters is in Deerfield, Illinois, with operations in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, New York, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Philippines. – Sarwell Q. Meniano