Over the last two decades, Philippines has served the world as a global leader for BPO services. The rapid advancement in technology combined with the naturally gifted communication skills of Filipinos, have contributed to this immense success. It is a critical pillar of the national economy with over 1.25 million people employed in the sector and US$25 billion in revenues.

At Trends & Technologies, Inc. (Trends), we recognize this as an immense opportunity. As the country’s leading provider of technology-enabled business services to enterprise customers and BPOs, we are excited to announce our partnership with Genesys. They make it possible for us to leverage the best CX solutions to support the transformation agenda of our clients. Together, we bring the best of global technology and local integration capabilities to the market.

As a technology partner, we do not only think about IT, but how it enables our clients’ overall business strategy. In the last few years, we initiated steps towards the transformation of the industry to meet the demands of the new global digital economy. Sectors such as healthcare, animation and game development have emerged as growth drivers. The revenue growth will be higher than the headcount growth as the industry evolves to provide more complex services.

COVID-19, however, has presented a new challenge for us. The restrictions on the movement of people is a huge strain on the industry and economy, as we were not prepared to respond to this unprecedented global crisis. Several BPOs have been affected and this challenges our country’s position as a global leader who can deliver seamless services.

Our ability to serve the world effectively will define our future. We need to move with a sense of urgency to define the new way forward for the industry. The ability to empower employees to work remotely is critical. Of course, to meet this new normal, companies will need to:

- Address security and compliance needs;

- Address needs of the operations team / leaders to have the capability to remotely manage workflow with the same efficiency as being in the office;

- Enable tech teams to deploy this new operating model with minimal additional investments in additional infrastructure;

- Leverage tech tools to ensure wellness of the teams are not compromised;

- Ensure remote agents can work in environments where high speed broadband may not be consistent.

Beyond the remote working, we also need to keep in mind the other technology trends such as cloud and AI that are having a huge impact on the industry. Cloud will provide the foundational infrastructure and the ability to accelerate the pace at which we can introduce new innovative services to the market. AI will help us meet the increasing demand for personalized engagement from global consumers of digital services. We need to prepare well as companies, and as individuals for this digital era. 

The technology to enable this is ready and available. The key is helping organizations adopt this technology in a seamless manner, supporting the change management to make this a reality. 

By actively transitioning to a business results approach boosted by our expertise, years of experience, and global partnerships, we believe Trends is well placed to help the Philippine BPO industry elevate their CX solutions to one that builds genuine connections and loyal relationships.

While we are anxious about the current challenges we face, we look forward to a new possibility of less traffic jams, more time for many of us with our families and a better environment all around if we are able to embrace the capabilities that technology presents us.