Thomson Reuters opens RP facility for English-based center
By Karen Flores, abs-cbnNEWS.com | 07/01/2009 8:10 PM
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MANILA - Leading data provider Thomson Reuters has formally opened on Wednesday its new global customer support center at the 50-hectare McKinley Hill township project in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.
Already operational since May, the new 500-seat customer service facility provides 24-hour English language support to Thomson Reuters' business professional clients.
According to Thomson Reuters Regional Head for Customer Support Jason Hair, the company has already recruited and trained more than 80 professionals for its English language desks, particularly for its data and applications support group and technical teams.
"Manila is a fast-growing cosmopolitan city with a working environment that attracts quality talent. It is an excellent geographical fit with Thomson Reuters, allowing us to offer more development opportunities," he told reporters in a briefing at the newly-launched facility.
For his part, Thomson Reuters Senior Site Officer for the Philippines Raoul Teh said they have also tied up with local universities to prepare students for future employment in the company. Among the schools who are part of the teamup are the Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines, De La Salle University, and the University of Santo Tomas.
"We work with them through job fairs, get the school's graduate list, and make students get a feel of our content while they're still in school," he said.
Company executives cited the availability of high-quality talent in the Philippines, making the country an ideal site for their business. Specifically, Thomson Reuters officials said Filipinos have excellent communication skills and can easily understand cultures from a global perspective.
"Filipinos are high-quality, intelligent individuals that are always willing to learn," Thomson Reuters President and Global Head of Customer Service Thomas Frossell said.
Expansion
Even before the launch of its customer support center, Teh said Thomson Reuters has been preparing to put up another facility in McKinley Hill for the company's legal content business.
According to Teh, Thomson Reuters Legal is on the first phase of training its 50 future employees. The training period, he said, takes six to eight weeks.
"The facility may be put up sometime this year. It may also be here in McKinley Hill," he said, adding that Thomson Reuters may expand further in the Philippines in the coming years.
In April, Thomson Reuters Legal announced plans to expand its legal content business by operating in the Philippines. Company executives said the type of work planned for the facility would involve analyzing, coding, proofreading, editing, merging, rendering, and validating data.
Specifically, Thomson Reuters Legal Vice President for Litigation Content Center Tom Leighton said some basic tasks include document receipt, copy preparation, conversion of source documents, application of coding to documents, and data load support.
"We need good, strong people, with knowledge of the West-quality format. We also need someone who's quick and accurate," he said, adding that it would be helpful if the applicant has enough job experience, and has a background in law, literature, arts and letters, or journalism.
Thomson Reuters, a result of the combined businesses of Thomson Corp. and Reuters Group PLC, is the leading source of intelligent information for the world's businesses and professionals.
The company has been in the Philippines for 63 years, with its operations including a Customer Support Group, a Content Operations Group, a Media/International Financing Review magazine tele-sales team, and an Investment and Advisory Division.
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