The first outsourcing contact center in the Philippines was built in 1992. With the promising opportunity outsourcing brings, the Philippine government established the Philippine Economic Zone Authority or PEZA to support export-oriented manufacturing and service facilities in 1995 that encouraged more outsourcing companies to build operations in the country.
While many outsourcing hubs have sprung up in the last decade or so, the Philippines, to date, continues to attract some of the most lucrative software product engineering deals for companies locally. The flourishing outsourcing industry in the Philippines can be attributed to the many benefits the country and its workforce offer.
Through this blog post, we will explore some of the key advantages that make the Philippines among the best outsourcing destination for mobile application development outsourcing:
Cost efficiency
Businesses can save 60% to 80% of operational costs by working with a Filipino third-party tech company made possible by the affordable cost of living in the country. The daily salary of Filipino professionals can amount to only the hourly salary of an employee in Europe or the US.
Culture
The Philippines has strong familiarity and affinity to western culture due largely to its historical past with Spain and the United States. Western culture is still deeply seated in the Filipinos’ everyday lives and remains to be highly adaptable to foreign cultures. In addition, hospitality is an integral part of Filipino culture and tradition. These factors make Filipinos easy to socialize and work with.
Commendable English proficiency
English proficiency is integrated into the education system and is enforced even before Filipinos receive formal education. The Philippines is one of the largest English-speaking countries in the world with seventy percent of its population being fluent in English. With this, seamless communication and collaboration with Filipinos can be expected.
Versatile and highly skilled talent pool
Local universities and colleges produce addition of 500,000+ to the pool of skilled and qualified workers annually and the Philippines is expected to continue to benefit from this young and talented workforce in the coming years.
Working with a third-party outsourcing company in the Philippines with such dynamic talents and skills enables you to scale quickly and efficiently without any capital investment or infrastructure requirements. You can expand a team quickly and cost-efficiently. Equally, you can scale down your team if seasonal work is in place or your business takes a turn for the worse. Generally, you can arrange agreements with outsourcing tech companies for customized commitments and very flexible terms.
Focus on Emerging Technologies
In addition to having a strong economy, the IT sector is one of the fastest-growing and dynamic industries in the Philippines. Many companies specialize in various aspects of software development as well as emerging technologies like blockchain and AI.
Proactive government support
The local government provides the outsourcing industry with strong support by way of regulations and incentives that encourage foreign companies to choose the Philippines for their offshore operations. To provide such incentives, the Philippine government established the PEZA and special economic zones (SEZ). The local government further expressed its commitment to supporting the industry via the Philippine IT-BPM Roadmap 2022, a program whose goal is to acquire 1.8 million more jobs for Filipinos and $40 billion in revenues by 2022.
Political & economic stability
The Philippines has a strong, fast-growing economy. Outsourcing has been a significant driver of the growth in the economy and contributes a substantial chunk of the GDP of the country. This has ensured that the Philippines enjoys its reputation as one of the world’s top outsourcing destinations.
Rapidly growing IT Infrastructure:
Due to significant investments and ongoing improvements, the Philippines boasts of similar world-class IT infrastructure as other Asian giants like South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan. The leading and established ISPs are offering high-speed, dedicated fiber optic internet connections all over the country. Incidentally, the Philippines launched 5G technology in 2019 – making it the first country in Southeast Asia to implement the rollout.
While the Philippines has some great positives going for it when one compares it to other outsourcing destinations, there are some things that companies should keep in mind while considering the Philippines as an outsourcing destination.
Things to be Aware of
Time difference
The Philippines is 12 hours ahead of the US Eastern time zone. You’ll need to keep this in mind when choosing a development company to work with. The best software outsourcing companies in the Philippines have key tech project managers available during US business hours.
Holiday calendar
While the US only has eleven official holidays, there are 18 non-working holidays in the Philippines. These extended breaks could be quite costly, especially when working on time-sensitive projects. However, some of the best outsourcing companies ensure that their tech talent is deployed as per the project requirements to counter this issue.
Unpredictable weather conditions
The country experiences an average of twelve tropical typhoons per year that can cause floods and other disasters. That means there is a potential that works in specific areas could be affected by such types of weather, which could delay ongoing software outsourcing projects.
Concluding Thoughts
The Philippines continues to be the most preferred software product engineering outsourcing destination for many companies. Strong work ethics, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and a large pool of talented resources are some of the strong factors helping the country grow in the outsourcing industry.
Despite its few downsides, software product engineering outsourcing continues to be a wise strategic move for global companies. Having the Philippines as your outsourcing destination lets you maximize the benefits of having a third-party tech partner for software product engineering development work. Undeniably, the country provides foreign companies with the opportunity to experience the advantages of working with a world-class talent pool while minimizing costs.
BlastAsia: Your Trusted Software Outsourcing Partner in the Philippines
For over 20 years, BlastAsia has been working with clientele all over the world helping them digitally transform into future-ready organizations. Having experience of different technology practices – from mobile and web apps to RPA, chatbot, smart OCR among others, BlastAsia is a leading global software product engineering company for ISVs outsourcing to the Philippines.
Are you exploring a software engineering outsourcing partner in the Philippines? Connect with one of our digital transformation consultants HERE to understand how BlastAsia might help you with your digital transformation requirements to help you be better prepared to face any business uncertainty.