| Over the last few years, the Philippines has been | | | | their growth patterns. The Philippines industry is |
| increasingly gaining traction as an offshoring destination, | | | | approximately one fifths of that of the Indian publishing |
| especially in niches like call centers, medical | | | | BPO in terms of manpower. The two leading |
| transcription, animation, publishing and legal services. | | | | Philippines players are comparable to the leading Indian |
| ValueNotes has been researching and analyzing the | | | | players. SPi with an over 5,000 strong workforce in |
| Indian publishing offshoring industry since 2005. With | | | | the Philippines is one of the largest publishing BPOs in |
| over 100 service providers, some of them with | | | | the world! |
| decades of experience, the Indian publishing offshoring | | | | However, while almost 80% of the Indian revenues are |
| industry is quite mature. While India commands a | | | | contributed by the top 10-12 vendors; in the Philippines |
| lion’s share in publishing outsourcing, especially in the | | | | top 2 vendors comprise 80% of the total revenues. |
| STM (scientific, technical and medical) segment, service | | | | The Philippines vendor landscape is marked by an |
| providers in countries like Philippines and China have | | | | absence of a strong mid tier (200-500 employees). |
| been around for quite some time. | | | | Apart from Xlibris (captive), Affinity Express, Asiatype |
| We estimate the revenues of Publishing BPO industry | | | | and few others, there are very few companies in the |
| to be approximately $100 m in 2008. Among the 20-25 | | | | mid tier vis-à-vis over 80-100 vendors in that space in |
| vendors, SPi Global Solutions, Innodata Isogen and | | | | India. |
| Asiatype Inc. have been the early movers and have | | | | On the skills front, India has developed tremendous |
| been in existence for two decades or more. | | | | capabilities in automation and technology. While |
| All these service providers have a strong focus on | | | | attributes like cultural proximity to the US, design and |
| STM (Scientific, Technical and Medical) publishers, and | | | | copy-editing skills are some of the strong capabilities |
| are now beginning to look at the educational and/or | | | | within Philippines, there is a need to rise to the next |
| corporate publishing segments. These early entrants | | | | level. There is currently an underdeveloped mid tier |
| have positioned themselves as ‘end-to-end service | | | | vendor landscape in the Philippines. Several of these |
| providers’ to the publishing industry. Most large and | | | | mid-tier companies are subcontractors to the industry |
| mid-sized players in the Philippines have been growing | | | | leaders. In order to capture the huge opportunity in |
| at approximately 20-30% per year for the last couple | | | | publishing outsourcing, it is imperative for these |
| of years. | | | | Philippines BPOs to build differentiators in their service |
| While publishing BPO industry in the Philippines and India | | | | offerings. |
| began at the same time, there is a huge difference in | | | | |