Western Wats to Open Second Philippines Call Center

US-headquartered data collection firm Western Wats is to add to its presence in the Philippines by opening a new 500-seat call center in Davao City in mid-July. The firm, which also operates in Cebu City, has already invested between P60m and P70m (c$1.5m) in the new operation.

Derek Rice, the company's Operations Director, said that once his firm has established the infrastructure, it will implement plans to hire 500 employees, adding that this number will double within the next year. The recruitment drive will commence in May and will include hosting job fairs and approaching local schools and colleges in order to find sufficient fluent English-speaking graduates to fill the seats.

Jose Antonio San Gabriel, the company's Philippines President, says the availability of manpower on this scale was a key reason for the selection of Davao.

Western Wats has more than 16 phone centers, and has operated in Cebu in the Philippines since August 2003. The company specializes in collecting quantitative research data via live telephone interview, automated telephony and the web. Its online panel Opinion Outpost was launched in 2006 (www.mrweb.com/drno/news5303.htm ).

Web site: www.westernwats.com.ph .

Last May, business processing and contact centre outsourcing firm, Foxgate Solutions, opened a new call centre in Cebu City, to service clients in the US, UK and locally (www.mrweb.com/drno/news6794.htm ).

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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