Diversified Career Paths: The Derivative of the Evolving BPO & KPO Industries
The BPO industry in the Philippines is ripe. We’re moving to a KPO age wherein more specialized professionals are needed to help propagate success in these financially trying times. Knowledge process outsourcing is a highly specialized type of outsourcing where services are more decision and analysis-oriented. It requires a workforce with a more specialized skill set, preferably experienced professionals in their field. KPO is seen as the future of the BPO industry as it takes outsourcing to a whole new level. Knowledge process outsourcing activities include legal services, engineering and design, web content and research and medical research. These field-specific services are the next targets of outsourcing.
“Actually, these high-value services that comprise what we call KPO are considered the next wave of growth that will really help drive the country’s gross domestic product and provide jobs to more local talents,” Cirdia Foundation president Catherine Ileto told the Business Mirror in June. It is very likely that knowledge process outsourcing will play a part in the development of the BPO industry in the Philippines, where 40,000 technical students graduate annually. The Philippines has a “highly trainable and technology-savvy” workforce which will quickly adapt to the requirements of the lucrative knowledge process outsourcing industry. Ileto believes that the Philippines has “a very good chance to corner the high-value KPO needs” of untapped markets. In fact, she leads the Cirdia Foundation, an organization which aims to “develop the Philippines into a global hub for excellence and a preferred investment destination” for knowledge process outsourcing, much like the way the Business Processing Association of the Philippines is gearing to optimize the country’s BPO industry.
Today, the KPO phenomenon is starting in the country, with companies establishing their offices in several key business locations in the Philippines. Such companies include Fly Free For Health, an organization that provides collaborative healthcare services through medical call centers managed by healthcare professionals specifically trained in information technology, research and case management to serve a wider array of clients across the globe.
Fly Free For Health founder De. Wei Siang Yu said in a press conference that the company will be investing $2 to $4 million for the two KPO centers opening in Pasay and Davao. Fly Free For Health will be providing a venue for nurses to act as medial butlers for their patients, who can acquire these services through the Internet. This good news is delivered with hope for Filipino nursing graduates who are finding it hard to break into the industry.
“These initiatives will kick-start the transformation process for the current system of exporting healthcare human resource. Filipino health professionals are well positioned to discover and tap into new opportunities like Medical Concierge Management, Borderless Multi-Disciplinary Management and Borderless Collaborative Care in the healthcare industry today,” Wei said during the press conference.
Fly Free For Health further demonstrated the endless possibilities that knowledge process outsourcing can bring to the country by holding the first Borderless Healthcare Introductory Workshop in the Philippines. Ten percent of the workshop’s nursing participants were given internships with the Fly Free For Health Group of Companies. Participants of the workshop included fresh graduates, nurses, school administrators and healthcare professionals. Topics discussed ranged from Medical Tourism and Nursing Informatics to Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Spa, Wellness and Complementary Medicine.
With the Philippines being one of the top BPO destinations in the world, it is only natural that these organizations come to us for yet another milestone in the progression of this industry. The fact that we have an abundant number of registered nurses is a good fit for the direction that BPO is taking in our shores. Knowledge process outsourcing presents another great opportunity for the Philippines to take a step forward and prove that we deserve to have a place in the forefront of the global outsourcing industry.
The Philippine outsourcing industry has already proven that the Filipino workforce is a force to reckon with—a competitive element that’s ready to support the diversified global economy, be it in the customer service sector or otherwise. More importantly, we are now solving our own problems—we can now offer our people jobs within the country. No longer do we need to leave the country to seek greener pastures. We are a growing economy with a workforce so diligent that our clients no longer see us as mere employees. The modern Filipino worker is now looked up to as a global professional reaping the benefits of a diversified career path.
