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The sun has barely risen over the skyline of Manila, but inside the bustling offices of a contact center, a symphony of voices speaking in dozens of languages is already weaving through the air. In this thriving hub of global business, a multilingual workforce caters to the needs of customers from around the world. Welcome to the future of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines.
Over the last decade, the country has emerged as a preferred outsourcing destination for multilingual call center support. “With a workforce fluent in over 30 languages, it is fast becoming a modern-day Tower of Babel for global businesses,” says Ralf Ellspermann, CEO of PITON-Global, one of the country’s leading experts on multilingual customer and back-office support. But what is driving this remarkable transformation?
A Melting Pot of Languages
The country’s multilingual prowess is rooted in its diverse cultural heritage, influenced by centuries of colonization and trade. This rich history has left its people with a natural aptitude for learning languages. Today, the Filipino BPO workforce speaks a plethora of tongues, including but not limited to English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, and Portuguese.
