The Philippines are a small collection of islands in Southeast Asia and they boast beautiful beaches and resorts, bringing in tourists from all over the world. Companies throughout the globe are looking to increase their market share, and break into new ones to expand the scope of their businesses. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, but perhaps one of the simplest ways is to have a presence in countries all over the world. And while it is not always possible to have a physical presence in many different countries, it is possible to have a virtual presence. Call forwarding services allow businesses to get a phone number from anywhere in the world. Companies wanting to have a presence in the Philippines can get a Philippines phone number and start expanding into a brand new market in minutes.
How does a Philippines Phone Number Work?
Let’s take a look at how you can get a Philippines virtual number, and how it works. From the largest bank of available phone numbers, Global Call Forwarding allows companies and individuals to select and instantly set up local or toll free numbers anywhere in the world.
With any number provided, there are a number of advanced, customizable services that every customer is entitled to. There are customizable voicemails and answering options to direct your caller where they need to go. You can forward any incoming calls to different phone numbers to ensure that calls are being forwarded to time-zones where people are ready to answer the call. For example, a company with a Philippines phone number can make sure to always forward calls to call centers with time zones that are the same as the Philippines. This way, all of their clients’ needs can be handled via 24/7 support.
Now that you know how it works, let’s look at why you’ll want one.
Business Opportunities in the Philippines
Over one million Philippine citizens are employed by some form of business process outsourcing. Business process outsourcing involves outsourcing some aspect of your business to a third party company. If this is something that your company already does, or is looking to do, the Philippines have the infrastructure to support this kind of work, and they are anticipating another million jobs in this sphere to open up. Communicating with a third party company can be difficult if you are not physically there. One thing that could make it simpler for them to reach you, in the event of any issues/ questions, would be for you to have an available Philippines phone number.
Shipbuilding is also a surprisingly large industry in the Philippines. The president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands believes that this industry will be one that brings in a healthy number of investors and will be the industry that brings the Philippines together. Investors from overseas countries have already began the race to get involved in this growing field. If your company has anything to offer, it would be wise to get a Philippines phone number, and quickly establish a presence in the country to allow your business a chance to get involved in this rapidly growing sector.
Investors from the US and Europe are jumping on opportunities to earn a share of the success and growth of the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing accounts for 55% of GDP, and is continuing to grow. This is due to the fact that the industry is so varied in the products that it is able to manufacture, allowing it to remain stable even if a particular good is no longer in demand. The success and growth in this industry can also be attributed to their large population of low-cost, highly educated workers. If your company can benefit from affordable and high-quality labor, then you should consider getting a Philippines phone number and begin the work of outsourcing some of your business to the Philippines.
Barriers to Entry
Entering a new market always has its set of challenges, however when that market is in a different country, those challenges are augmented by different manners of cultural etiquette in business. The Philippines is among the top-performing countries in Southeast Asia, and has continued to see growth over the last sixteen years. It’s no wonder international investors and companies are trying to join in on the growth. What they must consider though, is that their standard cultural practices in business may not be welcome in the Philippines.
There has been a push recently to “flatten” leadership, by this I mean that companies are starting to move away from the hierarchical structures that used to dominate the business sphere. In the Philippines, they operate under a strict hierarchical structure. Working with a company in the Philippines will require foreign business owners to understand that lower-tier employees cannot oppose or challenge their boss. This can sometimes be frustrating in times of decision-making. Additionally, harmony among group members is extremely important, so decision-making is often based on intuition and discussion where everybody’s opinion is heard and considered. This can be frustrating for a data-based, research-driven company, but it is important to adhere to their decision-making procedures to avoid misunderstandings.
You should also allow plenty of time for rapport building, and cultivating personal relationships with Philippine business partners – this will earn you respect. While having a Philippines Phone number can earn you easy entry into the Philippine market, your work will come with valuing their cultural practices.