21 November 2005
OPINION: Ilocos Region’s first call center
WINDOWS
Gabriel L. Cardinoza
Until last Sunday, I did not know what a call center looks like and I had no idea what it does.
Thanks to Bitstop Computers’ Wilson Chua. Along with other media colleagues, Wilson invited us to the inauguration of the FarmOut Central Intouch (Foci) Inc., a business process outsourcing company (read: call center), located in Bonuan.
More than the hi-tech equipment in a speech laboratory-like set up, what amazed us was that Foci is the first and the only call center in the Ilocos Region. It is also a local company, with its few investors consisting mostly of prominent Dagupeños and Pangasinenses, who, like Wilson, risked to “tread on the path few dared take.”
“A lot of the experts have said that we can't do it in Pangasinan. We don't have enough talents. We don't have a US office. We don't have the technology. We don't have millions needed to set up a call center. We are here to prove the experts wrong,” Wilson said during the press briefing.
And prove them wrong they did. From an original four agents when Foci conducted its “dry run” early this year, the company now has 26 agents and the number will soon double with Foci’s winning of more accounts from companies based mostly in the US and UK.
In fact during that inauguration, Wilson was quite frantic in inviting us, having been told earlier that morning that no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be there to formally open Foci. PGMA, of course, never came. But her non-appearance did not dampen our interest to cover the call center inauguration because to us, it was a story.
Foci’s success may also be attributed to its belief that “no job is too small.” Wilson says that while other call centers require a minimum of 50 to 100 seats, FOCI makes no such demand.
“This is to enable smaller companies to compete head on with larger companies and become more focused in relationships with their valued clients. We can start with a single seat. We grow when their business grows,” Wilson added.
Board of Investments Governor Connie Perez, who cut the ceremonial ribbon, was ecstatic about the fast growth that Foci has achieved. She was telling us that the first time she visited the call center, it was just a one-room affair “and now, it has an additional room.”
But what Mark August Viegelman, Foci director, is proud of is the fact that their call center agents are all from Pangasinan and they receive salaries comparable to those received by their counterparts in Makati. And as such, they are in a better position because they will be able to save more by no longer paying for apartment rentals. They are also with their families.
Wilson swore that if we close our eyes as we listen to Foci agents handle their clients we would think that we are hearing an American or a British national. This proves, he said, that we have a local pool of talents.
But what impressed me most was Wilson’s vision and enterprising spirit, as articulated in Bitstop Computers’ profile. It said: “So where will Bitstop be five years hence? Bitstop aspires to be globally competitive and hopes to provide new product and service offerings on a global scale. These products will of course still be branded with the unique Bitstop trademarks of high level of expertise, commitment, dedication and drive.”
I’m sure this also applies to Foci.
QUICKQUOTE: Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve. -- Martin Luther King
Gabriel L. Cardinoza
Until last Sunday, I did not know what a call center looks like and I had no idea what it does.
Thanks to Bitstop Computers’ Wilson Chua. Along with other media colleagues, Wilson invited us to the inauguration of the FarmOut Central Intouch (Foci) Inc., a business process outsourcing company (read: call center), located in Bonuan.
More than the hi-tech equipment in a speech laboratory-like set up, what amazed us was that Foci is the first and the only call center in the Ilocos Region. It is also a local company, with its few investors consisting mostly of prominent Dagupeños and Pangasinenses, who, like Wilson, risked to “tread on the path few dared take.”
“A lot of the experts have said that we can't do it in Pangasinan. We don't have enough talents. We don't have a US office. We don't have the technology. We don't have millions needed to set up a call center. We are here to prove the experts wrong,” Wilson said during the press briefing.
And prove them wrong they did. From an original four agents when Foci conducted its “dry run” early this year, the company now has 26 agents and the number will soon double with Foci’s winning of more accounts from companies based mostly in the US and UK.
In fact during that inauguration, Wilson was quite frantic in inviting us, having been told earlier that morning that no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be there to formally open Foci. PGMA, of course, never came. But her non-appearance did not dampen our interest to cover the call center inauguration because to us, it was a story.
Foci’s success may also be attributed to its belief that “no job is too small.” Wilson says that while other call centers require a minimum of 50 to 100 seats, FOCI makes no such demand.
“This is to enable smaller companies to compete head on with larger companies and become more focused in relationships with their valued clients. We can start with a single seat. We grow when their business grows,” Wilson added.
Board of Investments Governor Connie Perez, who cut the ceremonial ribbon, was ecstatic about the fast growth that Foci has achieved. She was telling us that the first time she visited the call center, it was just a one-room affair “and now, it has an additional room.”
But what Mark August Viegelman, Foci director, is proud of is the fact that their call center agents are all from Pangasinan and they receive salaries comparable to those received by their counterparts in Makati. And as such, they are in a better position because they will be able to save more by no longer paying for apartment rentals. They are also with their families.
Wilson swore that if we close our eyes as we listen to Foci agents handle their clients we would think that we are hearing an American or a British national. This proves, he said, that we have a local pool of talents.
But what impressed me most was Wilson’s vision and enterprising spirit, as articulated in Bitstop Computers’ profile. It said: “So where will Bitstop be five years hence? Bitstop aspires to be globally competitive and hopes to provide new product and service offerings on a global scale. These products will of course still be branded with the unique Bitstop trademarks of high level of expertise, commitment, dedication and drive.”
I’m sure this also applies to Foci.
QUICKQUOTE: Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve. -- Martin Luther King
