BPO Firms Exploring Agentic AI to Boost Efficiency — Amazon Executive

AI in the BPO Sector

Business process outsourcing (BPO) companies in the Philippines are now exploring the use of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance operations and improve productivity, according to an executive from Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Speaking at a media briefing, AWS Philippines Country Manager Precious Lim said AI adoption among Philippine businesses has grown by 50 percent year-on-year, reflecting the technology’s expanding role across industries.

She added that 64 percent of local companies using AI have reported improved revenue growth. AWS projects the Philippine AI market could reach $3.5 billion by 2030.

AI in the BPO Sector

Lim emphasized the importance of the BPO industry, which provides not only voice and contact center services but also legal support, software development, animation, banking, and back-office operations to clients worldwide.

“Our BPO sector is super important,” Lim said. “They’re not just providing voice and contact center services to customers around the globe, but also legal, software development, animation, banking, and back-office services.”

According to Lim, many BPO firms are now evaluating agentic AI — systems capable of making autonomous decisions and performing multi-step tasks — to streamline processes and deliver services more efficiently.

“They are also looking at ways to apply agentic AI so that these processes can be done faster,” she said.

The goal, she explained, is not to replace Filipino workers but to elevate their roles.

“Our human capital our Filipinos employed by these BPOs can up-level the value that they provide their customers,” Lim said.

From Experimentation to Scaling

Lim noted that many AI initiatives launched in the previous year focused on improving customer experience through chatbots and automation tools.

“A lot of initiatives from last year were around customer experience transforming customer experience by the use of AI, use of chatbots,” she said.

However, companies that have been experimenting with AI for some time are now entering a more mature phase. Organizations are assessing which AI initiatives deliver measurable gains in productivity and operational efficiency.

“These organizations already have decision criteria in terms of which AI initiatives are really bringing them increased productivity or operational efficiency,” Lim said.

The next step, she added, is determining which projects are ready to scale.

As global competition intensifies in the call center industry with other countries increasingly integrating advanced technologies into voice services Philippine BPO firms are turning to agentic AI as a strategic tool to remain competitive and deliver higher-value services in a rapidly evolving market.