ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS
2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year 2021 Pro Patria Award PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 2018 Data Champion
BusinessMirror
www.businessmirror.com.ph
A broader look at today’s business n
Sunday, June 14, 2026 Vol. 21 No. 243
EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS
BUSINESS NEWS SOURCE OF THE YEAR
(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2018 BANTOG MEDIA AWARDS
P25.00 nationwide | 2 sections 12 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
JOBS, CHECK! BUT SKILLS, GOVT PROCESSES GET ‘X’ T
By John Eiron R. Francisco
HE Philippine contact center industry continues to post strong hiring demand, with around 100,000 jobs currently available, but industry leaders said persistent skills gaps and delays in government-backed upskilling programs are slowing workforce entry into higher-value roles. not be executed at the speed by which we need them as an industry. But we will move on, relying on the individual strengths and capability of our members guided by the championship of CXAP,” Enriquez emphasized.
AI drives higher-value BPO roles
MEANWHILE, CXAP Board Director and Concentrix CVG Philippines Inc. Vice President Tonichi Achurra-Parekh said the Philippine workforce remains well-positioned to benefit from emerging opportunities created by artificial intelligence technologies. “The Philippine workforce is best positioned to cater to these new jobs brought about by AI technology. It will be a missed opportunity for us if we don’t take advantage,” Achurra-Parekh said. Enriquez acknowledged that AI has displaced some manual, repetitive, and script-based functions, but emphasized that the technology is also creating more advanced and specialized roles across the industry. These include functions in marketing, procurement and supply chain, customer experience consulting, customer journey mapping, and AI-enabled business processes. The adoption of AI has likewise opened new career opportunities such as GenAI Maintenance Officer, Prompt Engineer, AI Trainer or Supervisor, AI Content Strategist, CX AI Solutions Architect, and AI Ethicist.
Workforce growth seen through 2028
INDUSTRY data showed that the contact center-business process management (CC-BPM) sector grew by 6.94 percent to an estimated USD33.9 billion in 2025 from USD31.7 billion in 2024. The sector is projected to exANTON VIERIETIN | DREAMSTIME.COM
According to Customer Xperience Association of the Philippines (CXAP) President and Microsourcing and Beepo Chief Executive Officer Haidee Enriquez, the sector continues to welcome government support for upskilling initiatives, but flagged delays in implementation that are slowing industry-led training programs. Enriquez noted at a recent press conference in Makati City that although the industry received P5.5 million in support valid until December 2025 and had submitted more than 50 learning plans focused on digital upskilling, only three proposals have so far received notices to proceed from the government. “This is a well-intentioned program, but implementation does not scale at the speed required by our industry,” she said, referring to the gap between proposal approval and execution. She said the delay leaves more than 50 training programs pending government clearance, despite growing demand for digital and AIrelated skills in the sector. Despite this, Enriquez emphasized that the industry has continued to invest in its own workforce development without waiting for public funding. “If you ask every CXAP member, they will tell you they have implemented at least one AI upskilling initiative funded internally,” she said, adding that firms have relied on self-financed training programs to address skills gaps. She added that the group’s rebranding, formerly known as the Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), reflects the sector’s broader direction toward resilience and self-reliance amid implementation challenges. “We may not have all the support that we need. And all this support might not be coming, might
Industry group CXAP sees skills mismatch, delayed govt agency approvals dragging progress despite 100,000 BPO job openings in PHL
FROM left: CXAP Board Director Julian Valenzuela, Customer Experience Association of the Philippines (CXAP) President and Microsourcing and Beepo Chief Executive Officer Haidee Enriquez, and CXAP Board Director and Concentrix Philippines Vice President for Client Success and Marketing Tonichi Achurra-Parekh. JOHN EIRON R. FRANCISCO
pand by another 5.31 percent to USD35.7 billion in 2026, driven by the continued adoption of artificial intelligence technologies in business operations, particularly in healthcare and global capability centers, which are expected to register the strongest growth, even as it navigates economic headwinds from ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, political uncertainties, and shifting regulatory environments in Western markets. Despite these challenges, the industry remains optimistic about achieving its USD49-billion annual revenue target under the IT-BPM
roadmap by 2028, with a longerterm goal of reaching USD59 billion within the same period. “The Philippines is ready to embrace the next phase of transformation in the industry,” Enriquez said, noting that the country is moving beyond its traditional identity as a contact center hub toward becoming a provider of more sophisticated, AI-enabled, multichannel customer experience solutions. She said Filipino customer experience professionals are no longer focused solely on handling transactions but are increasingly
involved in problem-solving, relationship management, digital support, and value creation for global clients. Enriquez also noted that the local industry has evolved beyond catering mainly to large multinational corporations, with startups as well as small and medium enterprises increasingly outsourcing operations to the Philippines to take advantage of the country’s value proposition. “Value advantage, it’s no longer about cost, we’re becoming more expensive because of the evolving value that every FTE
[full-time employees] brings to our clients,” she noted. Workforce expansion is also expected to continue, with the sector projected to employ around 2.3 million full-time employees by 2028, out of the 2.5 million target set under the broader IT-BPM industry roadmap. The association said it is working closely with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) to ensure that programs are implemented in a way that meets the industry’s needs in terms of scale and speed.
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 61.4970 n JAPAN 0.3831 n UK 82.2461 n HK 7.8478 n CHINA 9.0787 n SINGAPORE 47.7832 n AUSTRALIA 43.0233 n EU 70.9429 n KOREA 0.0404 n SAUDI ARABIA 16.3839 Source: BSP (June 11, 2026)