Message or call us on Whatsapp or Viber : +1-778-917-5533
YOUR SMART Outsourcing PARTNER: UNSTOPPABLE. RELENTLESS. FOCUSED.
+1-833-88-STARK (US/Canada)
1-833-887-8275
OUR strong team
FOUNDED ON TRUST
A HOME-GROWN SUCCESS STORY
CEBU OPERATIONS CENTER
Today, our operations span three floors in Cebu City supporting several clients in North America, Australia, UK and the UAE. We acknowledge that Stark BPO won't be where it is today without the 18 brave men and women who were part of our pioneering team. Just as important, our team wouldn't come about had it not for the backing of our first client who believed and supported a very talented pilot group that we put together on Stark BPO's launch on August 21, 2016.
As one united team, we took on the challenge of meeting our first client's process needs and growth objectives in our maiden year, guided by our shared values. We take pride in our results because we didn't just meet those expectations, we exceeded them. Our shared values are the results of close collaboration and teamwork. We empowered our team members to contribute to the identification of these values that are important to them. These values are fittingly reflected in our company name and in our culture.
Our story is one of raw courage and will to succeed. Beyond numbers, we believe that success should also be measured by how we take care of our people, and how our people take care of our staff and co-workers is what success looks like.
Our values and our mission are aligned. They are easy to remember and practical. Most of all, they are deeply rooted in the belief that we have in our people. That's the same belief we had from the day Stark BPO was born because our people are at the heart of what we do. After all, we are our clients' trusted outsourcing partners. Excellence is a by-product of he synergy of our values, strong sense of purpose and unrelenting drive to succeed.
CEBU OPERATIONS CENTER
A HOME-GROWN SUCCESS STORY
CEBU OPERATIONS CENTER
Stark BPO Services is located in the heart of Cebu City, the Queen City of the South, Philippines, a less than 10-minute walk to the historic Fuente Osmeña Circle and Cebu Provincial Capitol. Stark BPO occupies 3 floors of Onael Building with fully operational total capacity of over 150 seats combined plus training, conference room and huddle rooms.
Stark BPO - IT Infrastructure
Stark BPO’s Systems and Network infrastructure complies with both BCP and DRP standards. Below is a Quick Summary of Stark BPO’s IT infrastructure, ISPs, Redundancy and Emergency Recovery Systems
Stark BPO IT infrastructure systems are hosted on-premise on a virtual environment with redundant physical host servers, storage drives & network for load balancing, fail-over and high availability, most of which are within multiple server platforms, using the most top known equipment in a secured environment to ensure continuous inter-operability, redundancy and scalability.
Stark BPO's hardware systems are composed of multiple physical host servers running on virtual platform configured as a resource pool hosting multiple virtual servers. Stark' network runs on Cisco platform with its proprietary routing practices. Network has standby cold spare units pre-configured for any hardware faults. Data technology uses network attached storage linked to multiple drives and file services across all production and backup environment comprising of standard RAID disk configuration for redundancy and fault-tolerance. Backup comprises of onsite, multiple rotating offsite and a cloud replicating backup systems.
A HOME-GROWN SUCCESS STORY
A HOME-GROWN SUCCESS STORY
A HOME-GROWN SUCCESS STORY
Millions of young Filipinos aspire to work in the BPO industry because of better pay and equal opportunities that traditional industries in the Philippines don't generally offer. The opportunities are tremendous. The new experience that awaits a new hire in a new industry will be personally and professionally rewarding. There's no denying that the BPO sector has been a life-saver for many Filipino families across the country. Prior to the entry of the BPO industry in the early 2000s, the Philippines was heavily dependent on OFW remittances that have kept the Philippine currency and the national economy afloat.
The BPO sector is now forecasted to eclipse the annual remittance of OFWs by 2023. This unprecedented growth has attracted a large amount of foreign investment into the BPO industry as the number international and local BPO operators multiply. Stark BPO is one of those upstart, home-grown companies that's 100% locally-owned and managed.
Stark BPO started with only 18 agents in 2016 providing lead generation services for its pioneer client, a Dubai-based digital marketing provider. In just its 4th year, Stark BPO has expanded its client base and now supports processes in the US, Canada, UK and Australia for customer service, sales support, data processing and non-voice accounts.
In July 2019, Stark BPO expanded to another floor which increased its capacity to 100 seats. In Q3 of 2020, anticipating further growth in the coming years, it began construction on another floor and installed high end workstations on this new floor. The company now has 3 fully operational floors. In 2023, expect more great things to come. Additional floor facilities are in the works!
OUR happy team
STARK BPO TURNS 6
SHINING BRIGHTER THAN EVER
TEAM MEMBERS' FEEDBACK
Message from the Cheeleader
I can't find the right words to say thank you to all of you. 6 years and counting. We have conquered what no one in the entire BPO industry in Cebu has accomplished. We are home-grown, locally-owned and solely relied on our optimism, confidence and raw talents. We were dirt zero 6 years ago and served only 1 sales account.
Today, we are a fully diverse BPO company that supports multiple North American and Australian accounts from Customer Service, Paramedical Support, Technical Support, Sales and Non-voice Operations.
We now service a key US NYSE-listed technology account that has allowed us to level up and support high-end processes from accounting to SOX audit compliance, graphics design to IT management, and everything in between. We have fully assembled this team within 6 months. This blessing is ours to share and celebrate.
This is what August 21st is all about and it's an absolute joy to join you all in this celebration of positive spirit, of optimism, of will, of teamwork, of greatness, of God's providence.
Forever I am grateful to all of you, Team Stark. You have proven that it is possible to build something out of nothing. That is the story of Stark BPO. We have achieved great things. Stay humble and confident because greater things come to those who believe. To God be the glory.
Yours truly,
Charles Vincent Ho
Cheeleader
Stark BPO Services
TEAM MEMBERS' FEEDBACK
SHINING BRIGHTER THAN EVER
TEAM MEMBERS' FEEDBACK
"A happy place to work, a supportive environment and people-oriented management. This is our home, built by a hardworking and dedicated team."
- Quenne, Pioneer Staff, Operations
"Stark BPO, thank you for giving me the opportunity to grow in this company and become a big part in the team's success.
- Dhio, Customer Service Agent
"More than just a great team. Stark BPO has been instrumental to my professional advancement. To have witnessed the company grow to where it is now in just 4 years is an amazing accomplishment."
- Sherbi, Pioneer Staff, Operations
"Stark BPO provided me great avenues to grow as a call center professional. I excelled in every account I was assigned to, (sales and customer service) which further broadened by experience."
- Jhong, Pioneer Staff, CSR
"I'm one of the founding members who joined Stark BPO in 2016. I'm grateful that I have made the right decision. It's a great privilege to have this opportunity to help lead this company from day one."
- Judy, Pioneer Staff, Finance Admin
"Prior to joining Stark in 2016, I was your typical call center-hopper between 2012 and 2015. When I joined Stark BPO, I learned to appreciate my job. Most importantly, I learned to appreciate Stark BPO, a company that values its people. "
- Jess, Outbound Sales since Oct. 2016
SHINING BRIGHTER THAN EVER
SHINING BRIGHTER THAN EVER
SHINING BRIGHTER THAN EVER
Since early 2000's, several multinational companies have expanded their BPO operations to other key cities in the Philippines outside of Manila, namely Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod and Clark. Cebu is next to Manila in terms of global recognition due to better infrastructure and abundance of young qualified workforce coming out of Cebu City's top colleges and universities, such as USC, USJR, SWU, UC, SIT, CDU, CIT-U, STC and other post-secondary institutions.
Cebu is one of only two cities in the Philippine Economic Zone Authority’s (PEZA) list of “Centers for Excellence.” This is awarded to cities that have a strong hold in certain industries and disciplines. Moreover, Cebu City and Manila are the only Philippine cities in the Top 15th rank according to Tholons Services Globalization Index (TSGI) 2020. Most of the BPO companies that continue to hire outside of the National Capital Region (NCR) are located in Cebu City, the provincial capital. It is followed by the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu , Talisay and Consolacion.
The Philippine BPO industry directly employs over 1.3 million Filipinos nationwide which generated $26.3 Billion in 2019, a 7.1% improvement from the previous year. We, at Stark BPO are proud to be contributing to this growth in our small ways through job creation, career opportunities and advancement.
We are optimistic that the future is bright for our organization and the Philippine BPO industry as a whole. We are proud to serve our clients and their customers. We are committed to providing the most cost-effective, reliable, and highly efficient outsourcing solutions.
Stark BPO'S CALL CENTER FACILITIES ON 3 floors
Counting Our Blessings.
Grateful for every opportunity to serve and grow.
OBJECTIVE GUIDE TO CALL CENTER OUTSOURCING
Credits: Hubspot Article by Swetha Amaresan
Smart companies always do whatever they can to eliminate costs. Budgeting is key as it can help businesses invest more into the aspects of their company that they want to focus on — such as employee appreciation or newer equipment.
One way that many companies consider cutting costs is through outsourcing call centers. Some industry leaders firmly stand by this decision, believing that it alleviates costs that can afford to be cut down. Others, however, disagree with this decision and believe that keeping call centers close to home is worth the additional costs.
If your business is in the process of considering this switch, read on to learn more about outsourcing customer service as well as the pros and cons of hiring an external call center.
Outsourcing Customer Service
Outsourcing customer service allows companies to re-focus their time and resources on other aspects of the business, such as product development, content creation, and sales. Rather than assigning more employees to their customer service department, companies can hire an external service to oversee a specific business function, e.g. existing or small business customers. These outsourced services can also take over a business's call center completely. This means the company is outsourcing all of the operations involved with that call center, rather than just one or two functions.
Call center outsourcing occurs when a business hires an external customer service organization to staff and manage their call center from a separate location. In this situation, the customer service organization hires and trains their employees to handle all communication with customers for the business.
Among the benefits to call center outsourcing are as follows:
1. It Costs Less
One of the primary reasons for outsourcing customer service is that it vastly lowers call center costs. The cost of living in certain foreign nations such as the Philippines and India, which is a common choice for outsourcing — is much lower than that of the U.S. companies. These countries pay workers lower wages, thus saving your company money.
2. Your Company Can Save Time
Interviewing, hiring, and training call center employees can take longer than expected. You need to make sure these employees have the skills to handle interpersonal communication, gain knowledge on the company and products, and solve customer problems. An outsourced call center can take some of this weight off of your company's shoulders by handling staffing. That way, you can refocus your time on other in-house tasks that require your attention.
3. It's Helpful For International Expansion
If your company is already international or is considering international expansion, it's helpful to have outsourced call centers. Specifically, it's beneficial if those call centers are placed in external nations where you'd like to eventually start doing business. That way, there will already be a local call center in place with employees who speak the same language and are a part of the same culture.
4. There's An Increase in Flexibility
Outsourced call center employees work for your company when needed, rather than as full-time employees. Whenever a company has shifting needs, they can quickly and easily assign outsourced call centers to meet those needs, knowing that they don't need to up-charge or pay overtime. Instead, these employees will just continue to be paid for the hours they spend on the phone.
5. You Can Provide 24/7 Customer Service
24/7 customer service is something that has become expected by consumers. However, it's unbelievably costly to pay local employees to work overnight shifts. By having an outsourced call center, you can easily cover 24 hours of the day just by having international employees work during the daytime. Time zone differences will make 24/7 coverage happen without your having to assign someone extra shifts.
6. You Can Easily Transfer Overflow Calls
There are certain times of the year when there's a higher call volume than usual, like around holiday seasons. During these times it can be difficult to manage a sudden spike in customer service calls. By having an outsourced call center whose job is to handle overflow, you can easily transfer calls to the call center without breaking a sweat.
If you're in the hunt for a reliable call center provider, search no more. Stark BPO offers the most cost-effective, smart outsourcing solutions for your business. Call us on WhatsApp: +1-778-917-5533. You may also send an email to: info@starkbpo.net
The Good Call Center Guide
Credits: Callcenterbasics.com
Call Centers are talked about, probably because they affect our lives in so many ways. Whatever product or service we may buy, on many occasions we will end up dealing with one.
A call center is defined as the part of an organization that deals with inbound or outbound communications with customers
A call center can be a stand-alone business or an integral unit of a larger organization. Its primary function is to handle customer contacts. These interactions range from customer service calls, technical support calls, sales calls and the like. It can therefore be summarized that it is a unit that does business over the phone.
Call centers are critical to support the marketing and customer service functions of many large companies. Most top Fortune 500 companies has at least one call centers which employs an average 4,500 agents. More than $300 billion is spent on call centers around the world.
What Defines an Effective Call Center?
An effective call center needs to balance three factors: people, process, and technology.
People
It is a good idea to start with hiring the right people to do the job. Although the common known employee is the telephone representative or the agent, there are many other support positions that need to be filled up if the business is expected to perform effectively.
Process
Process refers to the internal procedures by which specific tasks are carried out within the organization. Every department almost has their own process and this must perfectly mesh with processes in other departments to ensure seamless operations.
Technology
Technology is important because it helps the organization in saving time, storing information, and managing relationships. One of the most important call center software is the CRM tool or the customer relationship management tool. This is where data is collected from which business decisions are based upon.
The other significant call center software is the ACD or the automatic call distribution software. This is important in making sure that incoming calls are evenly distributed among staff.
An effective contact center harnesses the value its top three resources: people, process, and technology.
THE RED HOT PHILIPPINE BPO INDUSTRY
Philippine BPO industry steers office demand back to vibrancy
August 3, 2022 MANILA, Philippines — Thanks to the vibrant business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, local office demand is seen revisiting levels last seen in 2016, the year before the influx of Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), property veteran David Leechiu said.
Office demand before the heyday of Pogo operations stood at about 647,000 square meters (sqms) annually, based on 2016 data, which Leechiu said the Philippines had a “good chance” of hitting again “if not this year, [by] next year.” After former President Rodrigo Duterte rekindled bilateral ties with China in 2016, Pogos came to the country in droves, taking up vacant offices across the metropolis. But due to the confluence of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and shutdown of borders, local tax regime uncertainties and the crackdown against gambling in China, there was an exodus seen in the last few years. It was only this year that Pogos started to come back, taking up long-vacated offices and repopulating urban residences, although not in the same aggressive pace seen in the early days of the Duterte regime.
Nonetheless, Leechiu, founder and CEO of Leechiu Property Consultants, expects the growth momentum of the office property sector to speed up in the second half of 2022, with the implementation of the no-lockdown directive and the end of work-from-home arrangements for Philippine Economic Zone Authority-accredited office occupiers, which enjoyed more flexibility during the lockdowns.
Property leasing transactions in various stages of negotiation have been “very encouraging” and so far been the highest since the start of the pandemic at 451,000 sqms in the second quarter of 2022, mostly accounted for by the resilient information technology-business process management (IT-BPM) sector (with live demand of 212,000 sqms), Leechiu said. In the second quarter of last year, total requirements for office space in the country stood at just 330,000 sqms.
With the Philippines poised to return to prepandemic as well as pre-Pogo office vibrancy, Leechiu said this cemented the country’s position as one of the major office markets in the world. As of the second quarter of 2022, Leechiu noted that actual office absorption in the country stood at 255,000 sqms., the highest seen since the start of the pandemic.
The IT-BPM sector today is a major employer in the country accounting for 1.4 million jobs . The IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) reported that the industry had employed 120,000 new workers in 2021 alone – the second highest annual number of jobs created since the inception of the local BPO industry.
The Philippine office segment, the residential sector and tourism are well positioned to enjoy strong growth arising from the opportunities brought about by a “multitude of global headwinds,” including global inflation and rising interest rates, Leechiu said. For the residential condominium sector, he said the easing of mobility protocols would likely result in higher activity levels. “The take-up in second quarter 2022 was at 9,030 units or already 70 percent of pre-COVID levels, thanks to stretched down payments for amortization and other concessions offered by developers,” Leechiu said. Moreover, he noted that higher construction costs and the market uncertainties would prompt developers to offer even better payment terms to buyers in an effort to reduce inventory levels and to pave the way for new launches. “Investors and buyers would be wise to grab this opportunity to lock down the price today and to pay interest-free down payment over a period of up to four to five years. They will be highly rewarded in the recovery a few years from now,” he said.
Investment strategies to keep up with rising inflation rates are seen to be the key to mitigating diminishing buying power. “Real estate has always been considered one of the safest assets for capital preservation in times of economic uncertainty. Amid the string of crises experienced over the past decades, investments in residential lots in the high-end gated subdivisions in Metro Manila have proven to be excellent stores of value,” Leechiu said. He welcomed Pres. Marcos’ pronouncement during the State-of-the-Nation Address to spend 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) on improving roads and transportation systems in key cities, a continuation of the previous administration’s “Build, Build, Build” initiative. With infrastructure projects increasing accessibility from Metro Manila to Southern Mega Manila, he noted how land values have consequently risen in neighboring communities, with residential lots in Cavite and Laguna increasing by 7 to 15 percent annually. Continuation of these infrastructure projects is seen to encourage residential developers to launch more projects.
Japan seen as potential outsourcing market for PH
August 01, 2022 JAPAN, which sees its population aging, is seen as a potential market for outsourcing for the Philippines.
According to Dr. Wilson Ng, president of Ng Khai Development Corp., there are opportunities for Filipino talents to tap the Japanese market in the outsourcing industry, which they realized during the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s business mission in Tokyo, Japan.
He said that as the young population in Japan continues to dwindle, companies in the country will later on invest to outsource jobs, and the East Asian country is a potential market for Filipino talents.
“I think the big job now is that the more they connect, the more opportunities there are to come up with right business opportunities and skills for anime, gaming, creatives,” Ng said during the recently concluded Beat Summit 2022 at SM Seaside City Cebu.
Ng was part of the Cebu delegation in Tokyo, as part of the Japan and Philippine governments’ joint promotion with the intention to improve both countries’ cooperation in field of outsourcing and anime and game productions.
During the event, Department of Information and Communications Technology 7 Director Frederick Amores also spoke. He said efforts continue on the country’s connectivity through free Wi-Fi access points nationwide.
Amores admitted that a lot of work is still needed to be done to boost the country’s connectivity but with the government’s partnership with the academe, innovation goals are doable.
“We are happy to be in partnership with the academe, with the local government, with the business community. We work with the chambers, not only in Cebu but in other provinces as well to provide ICT (information and communications technology) and connectivity. We provided the bandwidth and they helped us build the infrastructure. So collaboration is important to us,” he said.
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
Outsourcing Philippines: Why it makes perfect business sense
INQUIRER.net BrandRoom August 25, 2022 It’s an exciting time for global business. Rapid digitization and globalization have enabled many companies to tap into new markets and consumer pools that they didn’t have access to 10 years ago. Remarkable growth, however, comes with serious operational setbacks— primarily increased demand for labor and the need for large-scale expansion of services.
“In today’s fast-paced and increasingly competitive business environment, seamless operations and impeccable customer service are a non-negotiable component of commercial success. If you can’t keep your customers happy, your business could be obsolete in just a few short years,” says Ralf Ellspermann, CEO of PITON-Global. Businesses in the United States are at a disadvantage. Operating costs are soaring, millennial culture surrounding work has shifted drastically, with phenomena like the Great Resignation taking America’s economy by storm, it has become increasingly difficult to recruit and retain top talent at an affordable cost, and turnover among onshore call center and back-office outsourcing providers is unreasonably high.
“There is, however, a more cost-competitive and reliable solution for US-based companies looking to resolve front and back-office labor shortages — outsourcing to the Philippines,” says Ellspermann
With more than 20 years of experience in business process outsourcing (BPO), the Philippines has established itself as the leading global provider of call center and back-office outsourcing services. BPO in the Philippines has skyrocketed to success due to a number of factors. “The first being that the labor pool in the Philippines is vast and highly qualified. As the 3rd largest English-speaking nation in the world after the US and the UK, more than half of the population speaks English, contributing to the remarkable success of call centers in the Philippines,” explains Ellspermann.
In addition, the country’s workforce is highly skilled and dedicated. The Philippines has a massive population of over 100 million which leads to oversupply of labor and a shortage of new opportunities with Philippine-based companies. Due to the high demand for employment, it is easy to recruit and keep top talent. Outsourcing to the Philippines is an effective business strategy for terminating the resource depleting cycle of perpetual recruitment and hiring that is common in American companies.
According to Ellspermann, “BPO to the Philippines saves companies significant amounts of capital. The purchasing power of the dollar in the Philippines is significantly stronger than in the United States. Standard hourly rates for BPO in the Philippines are much lower than in the US. Cost savings from outsourcing business processes to the Philippines can be as high as 50%.” Despite the impressive sum of cost savings from outsourcing to the Philippines, the quality of services is, when choosing to partner with premium outsourcing providers, not compromised.
The Philippines has one of the most dynamic and vibrant economies in South-East Asia, and with that comes world-class infrastructure. In particular, the BPO industry is supported by advanced technological and infrastructure. The leading outsourcing companies provide staff with all the necessary tools to perform, including high speed internet, accessible IT troubleshooting, and state-of-the art facilities equipped with cutting-edge technology.
Furthermore, BPO in the Philippines enjoys the full support from the government who recognizes the astonishing economic contribution that the industry has made to the Philippines economy. The BPO industry alone generates US$28 billion in annual revenue, a whopping 8% of the country’s overall gross domestic product. The widespread support for the industry in the Philippines helps to remove roadblocks and bureaucracy that clients may experience with onshore outsourcing providers.
“The Philippines has proven itself as an industry-leader in offshore outsourcing and is competitively positioned for years to come. There is no better time than now to start outsourcing your company’s BPO requirements and no better marketplace to obtain services, than the Philippines,” concludes Ellspermann.
Call centers in the Philippines: Why it’s here to stay
Sunstar Cebu August 26, 2022 – THE rapid rise of automated technology and artificial intelligence (AI) in today’s business processes has set off a wave of panic in the call center industry, particularly in the Philippines, where call center outsourcing is a multibillion-dollar business. The industry’s greatest fear is that AI-powered automation will slowly but surely replace many of the 1.3 million agents currently working in the Philippine BPO industry. Some even believe that rapid technological advances will cause contact centers in the Philippines to disappear entirely.
According to industry projections, call centers in the Philippines staffed by real people are on the rise. The industry added 120,000 new jobs in 2021, and full-time employment in Philippine contact centers is expected to grow by eight to nine percent this year, outpacing the global expansion of six to seven percent.
Additionally, economic forecasts predict the contact center outsourcing industry will continue its amazing 20-year growth. Revenues are foreseen to reach nearly $29 billion by the end of 2022. This nine percent increase is higher than the seven to eight percent global growth.
Ironically, AI is expected to add to the country’s economic growth. A 2021 report from the country’s Department of Trade and Industry stated that the Philippine AI industry could contribute up to $92 billion to the nation’s economy by 2030. This significant growth will be fuelled by the nation’s young, tech-savvy population, the same population that Philippine contact center employers highly desire.
So, for the foreseeable future, contact centers in the Philippines aren’t going anywhere. And call center agents needn’t worry that a legion of robots will take their jobs. The Philippines is the world leader in customer service and support. Its BPO industry boasts a workforce of young, highly educated customer service professionals, a customer-centric work philosophy, and a location ideal for 24/7 support. “83 percent of people prefer talking to a live agent instead of automated services like chatbots. Live agents can better understand a caller's needs and field several questions simultaneously. Humans also bring empathy and emotion to customer interactions, an area where bots fall short.