Interestingly, the outsourcing/offshoring services sector is undergoing a rapid transformation these years. About 2/3 of the service portfolio is still about “labour arbitrage first”, or moving work to a location with lower labour costs. However, this segment is shrinking by 4% p.a. About 1/3 of the service portfolio is now about “digital first” and impact to client (customer experience), and this segment is growing by 20% p.a. Increasingly, the desire to outsource or offshore is driven by a need to access talent abroad which is not available in the traditional markets at home. The distinction between front office and back office is hardly there any more. It is all one integrated service model now.
BECOME AI - LITERATE!
Artificial Intelligence is not just a buzz word nowadays - it will change the way we work and many other aspects of our lives. We are probably just 5% to 10% into the total AI journey, so there is a lot more to come. Some companies are investing a lot in order to become first movers e.g. Ernst & Young having spent USD1.4 bill on AI for their 400,000 employees worldwide. Other companies take a wait-and-see attitude, knowing that AI tools will become smarter and cheaper over time.
Only 12% of companies in the Philippines say that they are AI mature, meaning that most employees do not yet have enterprise AI at their disposal. Exactly for lack of enterprise AI 77% of UK employees say that they are already using social AI in order to improve their work, mostly without the knowledge of their employers. It is a fact that AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini etc. can improve work output tremendously, so we are all encouraged to start using them and incorporating AI into our work routines.
As example, the contact center industry is already talking about super agents who are employees empowered with AI for better customer service. The moment the call comes in the agent has the entire client history on the screen and there is no need for him/her to type and take notes as an automatic transcription tool will do that during the call. Copilot can be listening in in the background and provide suggested answers to questions coming up during the call.
Clients no longer expect just transactional efficiency - the dialogue has switched to impact, value creation and business outcomes for the clients. AI can assist us in providing more valuable output to our clients, so let's all become AI-savvy to lift our performance to the next level, and at the same time secure our jobs for the future. In USA it is already estimated that in the near future AI can handle 50% of all entry level office jobs, so adapting AI can enable the Philippine workforce to continue creating value for clients around the world.