BPOs & Barangays: Zen Pond

This post describes Zen Pond, a BPO based Garden Village, to be sited near Matabungkay Bay, Lian Batangas. The core concept can be implemented in thousands of locations throughout the Philippines. Lian has the technical advantage of being 10 kilometers from the location where fiber optic cables connecting the Philippines with the Rest of the World emerge from the West Philippines Sea. Thus bandwidth is cheaper and more available than in Metro Manila.

Executive Summary

The Green Awakening is a global understanding that existing environmental abuses must end if we are to live sustainably on our Planet Earth. The social and economic structures of our world are also being transformed by the Communications Revolution that makes it possible to reply to phones, emails, web queries and more, from anywhere on Earth. The Green Awakening says, “Do this Business Processing work in a Communications Garden, in Zen Pond.”

All corporations must reply to phones, emails and web queries.

These corporations pay BPOs (call centers) a minimum of 300 PhP/hour to answer their phones. English answering services bill 12 hours/day 365 days a year. Thus 4,380 billable hours generate 1,314,000 PhP/year in revenues for each phone. A 1000 seat BPO makes well over 1 Billion PhP/year in revenue; Sixty per cent, 600 Million plus is salaries.

What does this mean for Lian, Batangas?

Lian, Batangas can generate new sources of revenue and employment, exploiting these revolutions, by attracting a 1000 seat call center to a Communication Garden, Zen Pond. Salaries will be spent in Lian. This model will work for many provincial towns and barangays.

BPOs have problems. Employee retention is their top problem.

Many people do not want to live in Metro Manila or try to raise a family there. Pollution, traffic, noise, criminal violence are all things most people do not want. They certainly do not want that for their children. And they can go OFW easily. They work with managers of global corporations every day. But they do not want to leave the Philippines if they have a decent alternative.

Zen Pond, in Lian, is where BPO employees would love to live. We will explore the concepts and develop this idea into a complete plan in following posts.

Credits. Fred Laughter is the originator of the term Green Awakening