Reason #2: Superior Solution vs. India
When it comes to considering offshoring work from the U.S., the two countries that come to mind are India and the Philippines. Both countries support English language outsourcing, and both have significant Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) footprints with large pools of English-speaking agents
The Philippines has grown fast for business services (Contact center, shared service centers, BPO/KPO) and surpassed India back in 2009. Both countries have continued to grow in these services since then and remain the top two destinations.
However, although India is a popular offshoring location that many companies consider for offshore English programs, in most cases the Philippines will provide a superior solution, particularly for customer-facing, voice-based work.
Historically, India led the way for a lot of US offshore outsourcing around the turn of the century and it grew into a significant outsourcing destination. However, soon thereafter the Philippines began to attract attention and soon grew into a significant competitor to India and became the preferred destination for voice-based work.
Communications skills are better in the Philippines. English is the official language of the Philippines with 95% of the population speaking English. In fact, the Philippines is the 3rd largest English-speaking country in the world. In comparison, in India only 10% of the population speaks English (BBC News). In addition, the Philippines has a more Americanized accent versus India which tends to have a more British accent.
English speakers are much more available in the Philippines. There are about 1000 English speakers per square mile in the Philippines. Because of its size and diversity of languages, India only has 94 English speakers per square mile. This means you have to target specific cities with those English speakers in India to find the right skill set and those cities can get oversaturated quickly.
Cultural affinity is much higher in the Philippines, with Christianity representing over 90% of the population. India on the other hand is much more diverse and fragmented, with a closer affinity to the United Kingdom for its English speakers. In India, Christians represent only 2.3% of the population. This is important because many of the employable graduates in India come from the Catholic schools where English is taught.
The Philippines is more culturally aligned with the US. This can be seen with their retail stores and restaurants where there are many more American brands than in India. In sports, the National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the most popular sports in the country. American music if very popular. In general, the Philippines is much more westernized.
Finally, Filipinos have a natural affinity for customer service delivery. They tend to be more empathetic and easier to talk to than agents in other countries. They remain calm and polite when talking with customer even in stressful situations. They naturally show respect for elders and superiors and they treat customers the same way.
Conclusion
To be sure, India is a great place for certain kinds of work (e.g. Back office work, technical KPO roles, software development) but if you are looking for functions that require the best US-English communication skills to provide a superior customer experience, the Philippines is the best choice.
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