Back in 2006 Ingram Micro established a ‘Shared Service Centre' in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Up until earlier this year that centre employed four teams totalling approximately 30 employees. The teams remotely handled the accounts receivable, accounts payable, claims management and basic purchasing for the New Zealand operation.

Earlier this year the facility was closed and move to Manilla. The US office of Ingram Micro had been operating a similar facility in the Philippines for quite some time and leveraging that expertise was a logical step according to Gary Bigwood, Ingram Micro NZ, Managing Director.

On Monday this week an extension to this strategy was announced to staff in New Zealand. In the proposal being considered, 15 mainly administrative roles would be relocated during July, with an additional 25 – 30 roles by the end of the year.

According to Bigwood, the common factor with the roles being affected is administration. For example Product Management roles throughout the company are having a number of administrative functions stripped out of them and sent to the Philippines.

The type of tasks being discussed include: - Keying of email orders (already most orders come via the companies website or through EDI). - The processing of faulty RA number requests - New SKU creation - Vendor reporting - Basic purchasing - Claim management

Bigwood didn't think it was possible for the core role of product management to be sent overseas and was at pains to explain it just affects the low level administrative proportions of peoples roles. Outside of the objective of cost savings, the company believes that the move will free up product managers to spend more time with customers.

The median annual wage for a Filipino is NZD $3,956 (source), being 90.5% lower than the New Zealand median annual wage of $41,600 (source).