In Philippines, early AI adoption in customer service sign of things to come

Some workers will survive through a mix of skill, grit and luck, but many are less fortunate.

- Mara Cepeda

MANILA - "My agents handled fewer complaints from customers after the airline company I was with started using an artificial intelligence chatbot," Ms Melanie Mae Caluya, a call centre director, recalls.

The development disturbed her, for nothing beats the reassurance that a human call centre agent can give to passengers worried if their cancelled flights would actually be rebooked.

"AI service is good because it's fast. But it can't beat us when it comes to human connection and Filipinos are known to be empathetic," said Ms Caluya.

Now in a healthcare firm where she is director of operations, she's seeing the same trend play out, as one in 10 employees under her charge was transferred to a different department because their services were no longer needed.

RISE AND RISE OF THE WORLD'S CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTRE

The Philippines is widely known as the customer service centre of the world, home to a highly skilled, English-speaking workforce with low labour costs.

A conducive regulatory environment – with attractive tax incentives, training support and close tertiary collaboration with industry – has seen this sector grow since the 1990s when information technology was identified as a strategic sector. It is now among the top domestic contributors to the economy, making up 7 per cent to 8 per cent of gross domestic product and the source of employment for an estimated 1.8 million people in 2024.

Initially focused on basic call centre operations and e-mail response management, the thriving industry today – termed the business process outsourcing, or BPO, sector – encompasses a wide spectrum of services including sales and telemarketing, as well as back-end processes such as business data management and administrative, financial, human resources and accounting services.