Call centers expect 7% growth this year

The Contact Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) expects a modest industry growth of 5 percent to 7 percent in 2025, with revenue seen to remain strong even as job growth slows due to the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence, according to a report by Manila Standard.

CCAP president Haidee Enriquez said in a news briefing Wednesday that while the industry remains confident in hitting its targets, the pace of employment growth is tapering as companies shift toward automation and higher-value services.

“The slowdown in headcount growth is due to tech adoption, but our members are moving toward more complex, high-value work,” Enriquez said.

“We are very, very confident of hitting our targets,” she said.

Based on the industry’s 2024 revenue of $31.6 billion, the projected 5 percent to 7 percent increase would translate into an additional $1.58 billion to $2.21 billion this year.

Contact centers remain the single largest contributor to the broader IT and business process management (IT-BPM) sector, accounting for 83 percent of total revenues.

Enriquez said that while the IT-BPM industry generated $38 billion in revenues in 2024, 1.6 million of the 1.82 million full-time employees (FTEs) were in the contact center segment, “an indication of the sector’s dominance but also a signal that headcount expansion is starting to slow down.”

“Some companies are taking a more cautious approach to AI adoption. There were announcements of potential workforce reductions last year, but those didn’t materialize. What we’re seeing now is slower, more deliberate growth,” Enriquez said.

She said revenue continues to climb as companies transition to high-complexity service delivery, particularly in healthcare, global capability centers (GCCs) and digital customer experience.

Despite the employment slowdown, the Philippines continues to lead globally in contact center services and digital CX delivery, as well as top positions in healthcare outsourcing and GCCs.

CCAP board member Tonichi Parekh acknowledged persistent challenges, including talent and skills gaps, rising costs and intensifying competition from emerging markets, but said the Philippines still enjoys key advantages in workforce quality, cost-efficiency and customer service orientation.

She said the industry is ramping up efforts to upskill and retrain workers to stay ahead of technological shifts.

“It’s still a journey of continued growth, but it requires adaptation and investment in people,” Parekh said.