From Manila: Looking at 2008

As part of the predictable New Years resolution packet, here is a new blog announcement that trumpets a set of blogs that signal a selection of blogs that segregate my musing into a few categories:

• Business in the Philippines with a bent toward Outsourcing from the Provider Perspective: Manila Comment
  
• Observations on the talent variable of the offshoring equation: Talent Philippines
• Stuff I wish I'd known setting up here in the Philippines: Boutique Offshore
  
• Still more commentary on everyday life in Manila and Southeast Asia: Manila Muse
  

These concepts had been jumbled together in a basket of observations in Manila Muse, a project I had unfortunately abandoned as my time in 2007 became more consumed with the project growing a business through its delicate second year of life. That was a year of surprising growth and, as I reflect upon it, a year of multiple revelations in the endeavor of management and operations as a supplier to the BPO industry.

The rationale for the activity is pretty straightforward — Blogging provides an opportunity to solicit global input on ideas that have global and (increasingly) local relevance. As much as the notion that accessing other's input, I suppose I wish that someone had appraised me of the specifics of running this kind of business in the Philippines. Plenty of consultants will provide insight into the world of large business here, but few offer relevant insight for companies that either operate here or source a portion of their business offshore but at a smaller level than large outsourcers. More importantly, on a personal level, writing about these ideas helps me to more effectively explore them than almost any other method.