Infosys BPO plans facility in Manila

Driven by a strong customer demand, Infosys BPO is planning to scale up its presence in Manila by setting up its own delivery centre soon. Infosys BPO currently has a tie-up with Ventus, the call centre company of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co's (PLDT) unit ePLDT Inc.

"We are looking at setting up a 300-seat facility in Manila over the next two quarters," said Mr Amitabh Chaudhry, CEO and Managing Director, Infosys BPO Ltd. "The partnership with Ventus has worked well for us and we plan to continue with it," Mr Chaudhry said.

`Ideal destination'

Infosys BPO plans to use the Manila facility to serve the US clients in both voice and non-voice processes. Mr Chaudhry said clients are more comfortable with getting serviced from the Philippines because of the availability of better skill sets, especially in areas of F&A (finance and accounting), the familiarity with the US GAAP standards and in customer relationship management.

Moreover, the Philippines has emerged as an ideal offshore destination for BPO firms because of the English fluency and familiarity with American culture. The Manila facility would also double up as a business continuity centre for Infosys BPO, Mr Chaudhry said

Infosys BPO is also planning to ramp up its operations in China. "We currently have 70 people in China mainly servicing global clients, which we plan to expand rapidly in the coming years," Mr Chaudhry said. Besides China, Infosys BPO also has operations at Brno in Czech Republic.

Mexican subsidiary

The upcoming Mexican subsidiary of Infosys would also include the BPO delivery facility. "About 50 per cent of the seats in Mexico would be for BPO operations," he said. The Mexico facilitywould be operational over the next two quarters.