Aug 8, 20238 min read

Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Basket - Viable BCP Sites Outside Metro Manila

Updated: Aug 9, 2023

With the catastrophic effects of the pandemic felt in a global scale, many companies from varying industries have been forced to file for bankruptcy. This long list includes giants such as Muji, GNC, Gold's Gym and many other companies. Locally, big companies to small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs), have been similarly struggling to operate as efficiently, due to the effects of the pandemic to the Philippines' economy.

Throughout the country, there is a varying degree of strictness in the implementation of the government's mandated quarantine policies due to a number of factors but mainly due to the number of cases being reported per region. NCR, being the most densely populated region, naturally has most cases recorded.

Most companies have decided to set up shop in the NCR, specifically in Metro Manila, due to its flourishing labor pool and it has the most developed infrastructure in the country. In effect, as the government mandated quarantine has rolled out throughout the region, companies' operations have either been temporarily ceased or severely crippled.

Just to zero in on a specific industry as an example, we'll be looking at Business Process Outsourcing companies (BPOs) as it is attributed as one of the biggest contributors in the Philippines' Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Based on the latest data from Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Philippines is host to 851 registered BPOs. On the year of 2019 alone, the BPO sector reported $26.3-B in revenues, a 7.1% jump from the previous year, and provided 71,000 new jobs, according to the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP). But with the advent of COVID-19, its normal operations have been severely incapacitated. As a supplementary measure, these companies have employed strategies such as having its employees work from home and having shifting schedules with a fewer amount of people allowed in offices. Both are valid strategies to employ but will still need adjustment on the employees side due to a number of factors. Telecommuting or working from home may not produce the same results as having the employees work on site due to a number of factors. To note a few, not all homes are equipped with a sufficient and stable internet connection, equipment such as quality headsets and webcams required for work might not be readily available for every employee, and a quiet and private space conducive for work might be hard to come by with every member of the family staying at home. These factors and a lot more will disrupt the employee's workflow thus posing challenges for the overall production of any BPO company.

Nobody knows exactly when everything will go back to "normal" and this is one situation where an effective Business Continuity Plan (BCP) can greatly help a business stand on its feet until then. The main objective of any business continuity plan is to provide the ability to conduct critical processes that are necessary for the survival of the business in the event of a crisis like this impacts the company’s operations. A crisis of this nature may require relocation of these critical business processes to alternate locations.

Here are highly viable locations outside Metro Manila that should be considered as BCP Sites:

1. DAVAO CITY

Current BPO Locators: Teleperformance, iQor, VXI, Sutherland Global Services

Davao City is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the island of Mindanao, Philippines. It has a total land area of 2,443 square kilometers or 943 square miles, making it the largest city in the Philippines in terms of land area. It is the third-most populous city in the Philippines after Quezon City and Manila, and the most populous in Mindanao. As of the 2015 census, the city had a population of 1.6 million residents and known as the premier agricultural and trade center of Mindanao. According to PSA, as of April 2020, it has a labor force participation rate of 55% with a healthy employment rate of 82%. An industry group has cited Davao City as a “center of excellence” for the IT-business process management sector given the availability of skilled labor pool, adequate infrastructure, its conducive business environment, and competitive costs.