American tech firm spending $50M for PHL outsourcing expansion

New York Stock Exchange-listed technology firm Emerson Electric Co. is investing $50 million in the country for the expansion of its in-house outsourcing operations that support the company’s $24-billion-a-year global operations.

In a press conference on Wednesday, the company said the fresh investment, which would go to the long-term lease of various office buildings in Metro Manila, would support the increase in headcount at Emerson’s “shared services” operations in the country.

“Manila is by far the most important location for Emerson’s shared services. It was the first, the largest, and it offers the most diverse services,” said George Mulligan, vice president and general manager of Emerson’s Share Services operations in the country.

The company’s shared services operations, which provide various back-office and technical support services to Emerson subsidiaries and affiliates across the world, currently have 3,100 employees.

By the end of Emerson’s current fiscal year, the firm aims to increase its workforce to 3,300. By 2015, the number is expected to reach 4,000.

Services delivered out of Manila include accounting and finance functions, information technology support, human resource processes, marketing and product support, and supply chain management.

Emerson’s shared services operations are currently housed in the Cybergate building in Mandaluyong City.

Mulligan said the company was unfazed by the strengthening peso, which had diminished the industry’s cost advantage over rival business process outsourcing (BPO) hubs like India and China.

A stronger local currency means companies that earn in dollars will have to spend more to pay their employees in the Philippines who are paid in pesos.

The company provides IT solutions to industrial and retail companies with customers in various industries, including power generation and oil and gas drilling, wastewater management and food and beverage.

Apart from its shared services operations, Emerson also has two manufacturing facilities in the country—one in Cavite and another in Laguna.

In total, Emerson employs more than 12,000 people in the country.