Hosted services for call centers are gaining in popularity within global markets as such solutions enable companies to deliver the call center capabilities that customers demand, without significant upfront capital investments.

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is gaining in popularity and BT (News - Alert) is one company that is riding the waves of its success. Now, BT is examining the potential of the Philippines market for delivering hosted services for call centers.

The company recently announced that it will be marketing its hosted customer relationship management (CRM) services in the Asia Pacific markets, which include India and the Philippines. Given the market growth and opportunities within these sectors, this move is likely to be considerably profitable for BT.

Inquirer.net reported that CRM general manager for BT Global Services (News - Alert), Ruth Rowan believes that the Philippines will continue to attract further investments from companies that are establishing in-house call centers and those that are providing third-party services.

BT began its foray into the hosted CRM market approximately three years ago and manages client services in the UK. These customers are expanding to offshore locations such as the Philippines, prompting BT to examine the opportunities in these markets.

Rowan told Inquirer.net that BT spends a lot of time with end-users and the trend now is rationalization. Instead of operating offshore sites in 10 locations, companies are trimming down operations to three “superhubs” including India and the Philippines.

Rowan also noted that the economic slowdown has accelerated the adoption of the hosted model in which companies benefit from the pay-per-use model.

Call centers have the desire to run multimedia services, but don’t have enough capital expenditure to do so, Rowan said. The hosted model works for call centers seeking to ramp up productivity, such as those operating in the travel industry that experience a spike in call center work depending on demand.

BT is currently conducting research on pricing models applicable to markets such as that of India and the Philippines. Despite recent cost hikes in India, this market still presents considerable advantage to call center operations. The company is planning to conduct an industry event later this year in Manila to promote its hosted CRM services.

BT’s hosted CRM is supported by PSICOM, a call center services provider with sites in Malaysia and Singapore.

While BT is still in the exploratory stages of determining the viability of targeting the Philippine market with its hosted call center solutions, the reality is that the demand is growing in the industry and the Philippine market continues to attract more and more investment. Assuming this trend will continue, it is likely we will see BT launching its services in this market in the near future.