The future of Call Centers in Philippine was good as the rising cost of call center operation in India (News-BPO players ramping up Philippines operations) but now Philippine Call Centers very soon face a new rising industry in country to lure skilled manpower.

Call centers are considered to be one of the more prominent outsourcing opportunities for IT services in the country. Call centers continue to sprout up everywhere and even educational institutions are beginning to offer short-term courses geared toward a call center vocation. Job fairs also tend to be focused on drawing in individuals interested in the call center industry. And, while Datamonitor research predicts that the industry will continue to grow, another segment is emerging in the Philippines that may deliver some competition.

SEO or SEM the new buzz word in Philippine, the opportunities that are emerging in the IT field are in search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine marketing. Both SEO and SEM include strategies and techniques to ensure that a website ranks high in web searches. Growth opportunity in this area is great as high rankings in searches usually translate to profits as top of rank is equated to top of mind.

The industry in North America alone was valued at $9.6 billion in 2006 and is projected to double to $18.6 by 2011, according to the SEM Professional Organization. SEO and SEM are considered likely to be the next outsourcing wave for the Philippines as more U.S. firms are considering the country as an alternative Asian outsourcing site after India. The field of SEO and SEM is being touted as the alternative to a call center life.

One element that makes the Philippines a prime location is that there is no American accent necessary for any position. Spoken English is not that necessary in SEO or SEM work, impeccable English writing skills are required, but for those who do not interface with clients, poor English speaking skills won’t matter. Call centers that are outsourced to the Philippines are done so with particular providers.

When outsourcing SEO and SEM, freelance individuals with specific skills in programming or writing can take on the task. If the SEO/SEM market explodes as predicted, it could present certain challenges for the call center industry. For one, SEO/SEM strategies are put in place to drive profits, therefore the pay structures tend to be well above that of the call center. Second, those citizens with strong English writing skills that lack the proper speaking skills can focus on a different industry.