PCGNY.net | News Release

TOP US FIRMS FLOCK TO NEW YORK CONSULATE FOR OUTSOURCING CONFAB

PHILIPPINE CONSULATE - NEWS RELEASE
26 April 2005

NEW YORK --- Top U.S. firms including Citigroup, JPMorganChase, Credit Suisse Group, MCI, John Goldman & Co., Oppenheimer, ITESA, RCG Information Technology, Kaye Scholer LLP, Globe Capital Partners, and Welch Capital Partners flocked to the Philippine Consulate General on 556 Fifth Avenue in New York City on 21 April to attend an outsourcing conference organized by the New York Consulate and Philippine Trade and Investment Center. The seminar entitled, “Golden Opportunities in Outsourcing to the Philippines” was sponsored by the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce, Inc., (PACC) and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT). PACC is the oldest bilateral trade group in the U.S. while PLDT is the Philippines’ largest telecommunications company.

More than fifty (50) U.S. finance, banking, communication and services firms, including the ones previously mentioned, registered for the half-day conference, which focused on the comparative advantages of the Philippines as an outsourcing destination. The heavy turnout far exceeded the organizers’ original target of at most twenty participants. Consul General Cecilia Rebong said “the good turn-out is attributable to the high quality of speakers that we were able to invite for the conference.”

Topping the list of speakers was Secretary Virgilio Pena of the Philippine Commission on information and Communications Technology. Pena was also the event’s keynote speaker. Joining Pena from the public sector was Governor Armin Raquel Santos of the Board of Investments and 5 other speakers from the private sector.

Pena and Santos provided practical up-to-date information on the business and economic environment in the Philippines and the major strides the country has made in the last five years to become one of the prime outsourcing destinations in the world second only to India. The private-sector speakers spoke positively of their personal experiences of doing outsourcing business in the country.

The private sector speakers were Mr. Fred Kumetz, CEO of e-Data Services, a Manila-based BPO specializing in medical and legal transcription services, record excerpting and high-end data entry services; Mr. Charles Otto, Vice President of Sales for SPI Litigation Direct, another Manila-based BPO that specializes in legal transcription services; Ms. Rosalie Montenegro, Senior Vice President of the Call Center Business Group (e-PLDT) under PLDT (Ms. Montenegro is also currently President of the 2 e-PLDT owned call centers, namely, Parlance and Vocativ); Mr. William Tanenbaum, International Chair of the Technology, Intellectual Property, and Outsourcing Group at the law firm of Kaye Scholer; and Mr. Dan Shimabuku, Managing Director of Hanson Advisors, LLC, a California-based consulting firm that helps companies looking to outsource back-office operations such as accounting systems, web services, payroll, disaster recovery and call centers. All 5 private sector speakers volunteered for the conference, using their own time and resources.

Special guest at the conference was Philippine Ambassador to the United States, Alberto Del Rosario, who gave a special message highlighting the dynamic partnership between government and the private sector in developing the IT sector as an economic driver. Del Rosario also said, “Outsourcing in the Philippines has never made more business sense than today. Americans love the Philippines and feel comfortable there – more than 200,000 Americans work and live in the Philippines today – and the government is fully committed to making it easier for American companies to conduct business there.”

After the conference proper, the participating U.S. companies likewise eagerly responded to the one-on-one meetings arranged by the organizers. Two of the speakers who received the most number of requests for one-on-one meetings were Ms. Rosalie Montenegro of PLDT and Mr. Fred Kumetz of e-DATA Services.