As the Philippines approaches the status of being the business process outsourcing (BPO) capital of the world, multinational call center companies set up camp in the country and engage in what can be perceived as the battle of the call centers. Their weapons and tactics include building or leasing offices in expensive real estate locations, installing state-of-the art dialing systems and technologies, and, to lure the crème de la crème among the now discriminating platoon of Filipino call center agents, companies use bedazzling and inevitably pricey advertisement campaigns that position themselves as the best, the number one, the largest, the most stable, and the most generous call center company.

Meanwhile, away from the buzz and fanfare, a “little giant” is feeling upbeat, confident, and assured.  Winsource Business Solutions, Inc. (Winsource), a Filipino owned and operated BPO, quietly clinched the deal with two new US and Australian accounts in October 2, adding these to their existing 30-50 campaigns and 15 year-round corporate clientele.

In the past four years since it operated under the wing of Winace Philippines Holdings, Inc., a holdings company chaired by prominent businessman Teodorico T. Haresco, Jr., Winsource has demonstrated indomitable force. Employee attrition being a key challenge in the call center industry, Winsource’s voluntary attrition rate is at 5%, a double-edged feat indeed, as it is unique to Winsource, and constantly elusive to other multinationals.

Winsource President and CEO, Dr. Patrick T. Azanza, Ph.D., beams with pride. While other local call centers have been doomed to oblivion, Winsource shows great promise of staying on foot. “We will stay, we will remain. We are even expanding,” Azanza says. 
So just how is Winsource winning the war? Azanza lets out the secret: people management with a Filipino heart, and putting the company’s money where it’s worth. “We are in the business relating to people, thus, we recognize that our people are our number one resource. We value them. They are inspired and motivated to deliver,” Azanza, a Harvard-trained human resource executive, says.  Winsource agents, he says, are treated as family where they have access to top management, even to the president himself. “I talk to each one of them.  Our performance scores rose from 65% to 85%. That mark-up was achieved because it was, in the first place, targeted not just by the company but by the agents themselves. We get their commitment on what they can deliver as professionals, size it up against industry standards, and then incorporate the company’s own goals. Putting all these three together into a balance, we map out an achievable target that fulfills the agents and the company’s interests,” Azanza shares.  This approach is in stark contrast to other multinational companies that-- hook, line, and sinker-- apply a purely numbers-driven approach to employee relations; thus, the staggering employee retention rate.
Azanza has 25 years of human resource management and experience, once as technical consultant to Asian Development Bank, among his accolades. Thus, with Winsource, he shifts investments from fancy media advertisements and lofty office spaces to people. When he stepped in as Winsource president and CEO last July, he veered away from hiring business development officers and took up the cudgels himself. He tapped his well-established business networks as agents to refer him to potential clients. In so doing, Azanza dramatically cut overhead costs.

For office location, Winsource chose strategically to hold office at a Philippine economic zone, thus, enjoying certain tax exemptions from the government which equated to lower operating costs. This has in turn, Azanza says, given elbow room for Winsource to lower the pass-on rate of its services to principals.  Winsource has been enjoying a steady stream of business from the biggest telecoms and directory assistance companies in the US, among others. The facility in Robinson’s Cybergate Tower 1 is state-of-the-art, spacious, and evidently employee-friendly.

Winsource agents are the ones who benefit best from this business leadership strategy. “We offer stability, above-industry compensation, 20% guaranteed night shift differential, health management, scholarship for employees, and commissions,” Azanza says. This is, in fact, a humble accounting. The above-industry rate is, in actual terms, P20 to P30 thousand pesos basic salary. The commissions are in dollars, not pesos. And for their management training, Winsource call center agents are sent to the Asian Institute of Management. “We may not have the number compared to bigger call center industries, but because we take care of our people, the 10 that we have are so driven that they actually deliver the work of 100,” Azanza says.    
At the heart of Winsource’s operation is a vision for nation building, which is another unique characteristic of the company being 100% Filipino. “The vision of Mr. Ted Haresco (chairman, Winace Holdings Philippines, Inc.), is to provide more jobs for Filipinos. Filipinos don’t have to go abroad to find jobs. The impact of diaspora is very strong on the family. We have documented studies showing that children of OFWs go into rebellion, drug addiction, become out-of-school youth, and enter into early marriage, early pregnancy, or witness the marital disloyalty of their parents. We want families to stay together. We want children to be reared in safer homes where mores and values help them develop stronger characters. Better families make for better government. The call center is one of the answers to that,” Azanza explains.  

Makes clear sense. And gives all the more reason for this little giant to keep on keeping on, and win in the call center war.