Dell sells Pasay contact center, keeps QC facility

MANILA, Philippines - US computer maker Dell Inc. sold one of its two contact center facilities in Metro Manila, after the company was reportedly hit by falling sales owing to the global crisis. The Round Rock, Texas-headquartered company decided to sell its Pasay City facility at the SM Mall of Asia for an undisclosed price to Teleperformance, a French-based call center operator. When the Pasay facility was inaugurated three years ago, Michael Dell, the company’s founder and CEO, personally attended the event in his first visit to the country. The facility provides consumer tech support to US and Australia-New Zealand customers. Under the sale agreement, “jobs [at the Pasay facility] will remain in the Philippines," a company statement said, indicating that the estimated 1,000 employees at the site will be absorbed by Teleperformance. However, the workers will have the option to accept or reject the job offers expected to be made by Teleperformance. The company’s other contact center in Quezon City — which caters to commercial business clients — “is not part of the sale," a statement from the company said. Although it has been handling Dell accounts in its other locations, the deal will allow Teleperformance to provide call center services to Dell for the first time from its Philippine site. Teleperformance currently operates facilities in 46 countries and reportedly the 150th-largest private sector employer in the world with more than 88,000 full-time equivalent employees. Dell remains committed to the Philippines directly through its various operations at the Quezon City site, Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, vice president of Dell global consumer services, said. “We appreciate the contributions of our Pasay team and will do all we can to make the transition seamless. It is a mutual win that our Pasay team will continue supporting Dell customers through Teleperformance," he said in statement. For its part, Brent Welch, CEO of Teleperformance USA, said that the company was “delighted to see [its] long and successful relationship with Dell progress to the next strategic level," “Teleperformance is and will continue to be committed to growth in the Philippines and this move is a win for employees, Dell, the Philippines and Teleperformance," Welch said in a statement. Besides its contact centers in the Philippines, Dell also maintains similar facilities in Cyberjaya and Penang, Malaysia, and Xiamen and Dalian, China. - GMANews.TV