Thirteen chiefs of top business outsourcing firms in the country visited MMSU Jan. 21 to assess MMSU graduates potential for call center work, possibly even right here in Ilocos Norte.

The chiefs were acting either as presidents, executive presidents, senior executives, country managers, and executive directors that form as members of the board of directors and 2010 officers and committee heads for 2010 of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), the official organization of contact centers in the country that aims to promote the Philippines as the country-of-choice for contact center services, among others. The group believes in the Filipinos’ skills, talents, and traits that are known worldwide which guarantee the delivery of the best outsourced contact services to the whole world.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Benedict Hernandez, senior executive for BPO Services Delivery Operations Lead of Accenture Inc. and president of CCAP, said that they have high hopes for the potential of people in Ilocos Norte, especially those at MMSU, for call center jobs.

He made the pronouncement after his group personally interacted with MMSU students and alumni who have undergone training sessions facilitated by faculty members of the university who were previously trained by JobSolutions Philippines, a firm based in Quezon City manned by professionals who are experienced and adept in the business process outsourcing (BPO) field. These trainings for potential employees in the BPO industry were part of the Project C4 (Coaching for a Call Center Career) of the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) coordinated by MMSU.
 
The call center executives were very impressed with the university’s faculty members, students, and alumni whom they met over lunch at the FEM Conference Hall.

Aside from Hernandez, the following were also present during the meeting: Jojo Uligan – executive director, CCAP; Dan Reyes – country manager, Genpact Services LLC; Bong Borja – president, Aegis PeopleSupport; Scott Nagle – director for operations, Global Contact Services; John Langford – president, Protocol Global Solutions; Jeffrey Uthoff – director and country head, IBM DAKSH; Butch Valenzuela – president, Visaya KPO; Raymund Eruma – operations manager, CCAP; Armie Duarte – executive vice president, DL Media Focus International; Jenny Lumba – executive assistant, CCAP; Jomari Mercado – director for business development, Convergys; and Raffy David – director for marketing and quality assurance, Pilipinas Teleserv.

The group were here in Ilocos Norte upon the invitation of Governor Imee R. Marcos who has been aggressively promoting the province as hub for call center operations. In fact, under the Project C4, the PGIN gave P200,000 for the free training of prospective agents who could become ready manpower for the call center industry in the province.

The governor has also offered the second floor of the MMSU Main Library as possible contact center office space.

Dr. Miriam E. Pascua, during the Administrative Council meeting on Jan. 24, was very glad over the possibility of expanding the call center industry in Ilocos Norte, especially within the university, as “this would spell out jobs for MMSU graduates and generate more revenues for the university.”