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Top 10 Global Companies Outsourcing to the Philippines
Are you a growth-focused company looking for an outsourcing destination? One of the top choices to consider is the Philippines. This Asian country holds the Top 12 spot in the 2023 Kearney Global Services Location Index, a worldwide ranking that measures the attractiveness of a location for business process outsourcing (BPO).
Top multinational companies outsource work to the Philippines because the large workforce possesses high English proficiency and professionalism. Here are 10 examples of battle-tested global companies that outsource to the Philippines.
Amazon
Amazon is a titan in the e-commerce industry with $574.8 billion in sales in 2023 and 1.9 million active sellers. It’s now the leading online retailer and a top cloud services provider.
Part of its growth effort is creating products sold under Amazon’s brand powerhouse. Given how much it has expanded its business, outsourcing customer service tasks to the Philippines is key to maintaining efficiency. It established its first customer service facility in Cebu City, Philippines in 2018 to support its pivot to outsourcing highly skilled roles.
Apple
Apple is one of the biggest US companies that outsource business processes to the Philippines. Generating $383.2 billion in revenue in 2023, the tech giant is known not only for its minimalist consumer electronics, software, and online services but also for its continuous innovation and being a market leader.
Apple is also one of the many companies that use offshoring to strengthen its customer service arm. Its outsourced customer service team provides timely responses to maintain customer satisfaction.
AXA Insurance
The healthcare industry also outsources work to the Philippines to optimize its service quality. A good example is AXA Insurance, one of the major players in this sector.
AXA Insurance is an insurance company that started in France serving 94 million clients globally. Aside from insurance, it also provides investment management as part of its subsidiary work.
In 2017, AXA moved its Hong Kong-based call center to the Philippines and increased its headcount to 300. Its goal is to create more opportunities and jobs for Filipino IT specialists. This move streamlined the guidance on technical details about pricing and valuation. This shift also focuses on improving processes rolled out in Asia from this service hub.
Canva
One example of global Australian-based companies that use offshoring is Canva.
Established in Perth, Australia, Canva is a popular tool empowering 175 million monthly users to do graphic design through its online platform. It now outsources some of its customer service and software engineering operations to the Philippines because one of its co-founders is half-Filipino.
Canva has been a pioneer in Australia for outsourcing business processes to countries like the Philippines since 2014. Its strategic move motivated other startups, like Eucalyptus and Employment Hero to start outsourcing work.
Expedia
One of the industries that outsourced to the Philippines is the travel and hospitality industry. This sector has a compound annual growth rate of +5.8% and is recovering from the pandemic.
Expedia is a travel tech company that serves travelers by aggregating relevant travel information in one place. This industry giant has partnered with an offshore team in the Philippines since the early 2000s. The team with customer service is one of the top jobs outsourced to the Philippines. They also provide reservations management and accomplish other administrative tasks.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram)
Many social media companies that outsource work to the Philippines do so for various reasons. For example, Facebook and Instagram outsource customer service tasks on top of content moderation tasks to the Philippines.
Since 4.57 billion items are shared daily on Facebook alone, speeding up this business process is crucial. By outsourcing its content moderation work, it continues to mitigate low-quality or harmful content on its platforms.
One of the major companies that outsource to the Philippines is Google.
With 3.46 billion monthly active users, Google holds the largest market share of search engines worldwide It is expanding its services to computer software, advertising, search engine technology, and more.
Google has been collaborating with an offshore hub in the Philippines since 2013. These talents are in a customer support center and an information technology (IT) support hub.
Since YouTube is also part of Google, it outsources content moderation work to the Philippines.
PayPal
PayPal is an online payment system facilitating 25 billion yearly transactions for individuals and companies worldwide. It has been investing in the Philippine workforce since the late 2000s. It established an offshore team to streamline its customer service by centralizing it.
John Nicholls, a former Senior Director and Country Lead of PayPal in the Philippines, cited the quality of workers in the Philippines as a reason to expand its team.
“The level of service and hires in the Philippines has always been exceptional—with high English proficiency and a strong pool of experienced customer service professionals,” he shared about why PayPal opened a new customer operations center in the country.
Nestlé
A leader in the food and drinks processing industry, Nestlé has been the largest food company in the world since 2014. It is one of many companies that outsource supply chain tasks to the Philippines, as it aims to dominate the ASEAN market. It created supply centers nationwide and five local production plants to achieve that.
American Express (Amex)
American Express or Amex is a bank holding company specializing in various financial services and products. Now, it aims to expand its digital repertoire to serve clients better. This vision is made possible with the help of an outsourced team from the Philippines.
American Express outsourcing work to the Philippines isn’t new. The partnership started in 1916 and continues to grow. In 2016, Amex expanded its BPO workforce in the country. These customer contact teams provide support to customer concerns.
Why Companies Outsource to the Philippines
The reason why companies outsource to the Philippines is due to numerous business advantages. First, English proficiency among skilled workers in the Philippines is top-notch. This qualification makes them well-suited for client-facing tasks like customer service.
Technical skills aside, it’s also worth noting that a lot of Filipino cultural traits and attitudes benefit the workplace. These workers are known to be engaging, optimistic, and adaptable.
According to Penbrothers CEO and Co-Founder Nicolas Bivero, “Beyond mere outsourcing, the Philippines offers a partnership based on shared values and growth.” It shows that Filipinos aren’t just workers who do assignments but are also professionals you collaborate with to achieve success.
Given its cultural amiability and technical competence, the Philippines will remain a top choice for an outsourcing location.
Final Thoughts
While outsourcing to the Philippines continues to grow, an alternative option to scale your business is through offshoring. This strategy increases operational efficiency without compromising quality. This approach is focused on custom solutions that involve full control of senior management and major stakeholders.
If you’re scaling your business and have reservations about outsourcing, you might want to explore hiring a reliable offshoring team. This is a better strategy for companies that aim to have direct control of their operations and speed up the hiring process. More importantly, the cost savings can go up to 78% per high-performing talent.
