Generation Sykes: Celebrating 15 Years of Success
Back in 1997 when most call center companies are still in India, Sykes already saw the Philippines’ potential and set up shop here. Zoom to 2012, and 15 years later, Sykes is now known as a pioneer of the call center industry in the Philippines.
Upon invitation last December 16 to their company Christmas party called “Generation Sykes“, I was in awe with Sykes’ number of employees alone. The venue was at the SMX Convention Center and they occupied all four halls – or basically the whole of SMX’s first floor. I also came to know that they were expecting 7000 SYKESers dressed in ’90s fashion to flock to the venue that night. The others, which compose the whole Sykes family of 15,000, are either on shift or outside of Metro Manila. They held an earlier celebration in Cebu.
Greeted by a large stage in the 1990′s theme and playful showcase of lights, the celebration started with the Stagecrew band who played a series of 90′s song to put everyone in the mood such as ‘Pretty Fly for a White Guy‘, ‘Sweet Child of Mine‘ and ‘Santeria.’ This was followed by a dance mix by the Philippine All-Stars who got everyone on their feet.
However, it was the Mocha Girls, led by no other than Mocha herself, who shook the whole place and brought the event to party level – at least for the men. In between the performances, trio hosts-DJs Chico, Delamar, and Gino of RX93.1 paced the program and gave away raffle prizes for Sykes employees. There were also henna tattoo and photo booths, while the buffet was served by Josiah’s catering.
Another highlight of the night was the group dance contest between three Sykes groups which involved major production shows with the ‘MTV reinvention‘ theme. Among the three judges was Michael Flores of the Maneuvers. The Manila North Dream Xtreme went home as the Battle Jam’s Grand Champion and took home P60,000!
Not to be missed was the surprise number by Sykes’ Vice-President for Philippine Operations Dean Van Ormer who performed a song and dance number to the tune of the Ricky Martin hit Livin’ La Vida Loca.
“Has it really been 15 years? In a lot of ways, it feels like it was only yesterday that SYKES stepped on Philippine soil with only 14 employees. 15 years ago, we were the first call center to operate in the Philippines and from then, there was no looking back…Your commitment, dedication and hard work helped us reach the place we are in today. So enjoy the night. This is for you,” shares Dean Van Ormer in a brief speech.
There was also a search for the ‘Head Turners‘ of the night in hunt of gorgeous SYKESers donned in their posh fashion. For making ‘90s fashion cool again, the head turners won P15,000 each.
Sandwich also took to the stage and energized the crowd even more. Not only did they sing their most popular hits, they also performed classic Eraserheads songs. It was nostalgic, electrifying and, over-all, a special moment SYKESers won’t forget.
Capping the night was a grand toast to Sykes’ 15th anniversary where 15 sets of P100,000 were raffled off to 15 lucky employees who were at the venue that evening and and 1 lucky SYKESer won P250,000! A total of more than P2.5 million worth of prizes were given away that night.
Cheers to Sykes’ 15 years of success in the Philippines!
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About Author
Jon
Jonel Uy is the EIC of BloggerManila.com. Graduating from UP Diliman with a degree in Computer Science, he is also the Managing Director of #DigitalCircles.asia engaging and amplifying social media campaigns for brands. On Mondays, he teaches information technology classes at Grace Christian College. Know more about him at JonelUy.com