BPO industry back in expansion mode – Colliers
Property consulting firm Colliers Philippines has said that the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is back in expansion mode after political concerns caused industry investment to be put on hold last year. Notably, Colliers said the knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) subset of the sector showed a more significant expansion as more workers upskill or reskill to become more relevant in the age of automation and artificial intelligence. KPOs accounted for 28% of total volume of office space take-up in Metro Manila alone in the first three months of the year. The office space take-up is a good indicator of appetite for expansion, Colliers said. Even so, regulator voice-based BPOs also expanded their share to 18% in the first quarter, up from just 9% for the whole of last year. In the KPO sector, Amazon, Google, Accenture, and ING were among the major global firms that closed significant property deals in the first three months of the year, Colliers added.
