El Salvador’s Effort to Improve English Starts to Have Real Impact
November 25th, 2011By Jon Felperin
One of the most pervasive and challenging issues across the Nearshore region is establishing English language training programs that actually do work – and actually produce well-trained professionals. One country that has been working on this in a sincere way for over ten years in El Salvador – in large part because of the commitments several major contact center players have made. The results of focused collaboration between private industry, federal government and USAID is beginning to show good results.
Seeking Opportunity Arbitrage in LatAm
August 10th, 2011
By Eric Simonson, Everest Group
I often hear organizations wanting to attain benefits but with a desire to “minimize” risk. Understandable, but what they don’t realize at the outset is that this is a limiting mindset, particularly when most also agree they prefer sustained benefits. My preferred definition of global sourcing is “attaining a different profile of benefits from successfully managing a different profile of risk.”
Instead of trying to follow what has already been proven “safe,” the innovators in global sourcing are intentional about what risks their organizations can take and successfully manage in order to achieve the desired benefits. These risks may be in overcoming infrastructure disadvantages, creating delivery models that can withstand more variability, or choosing to cultivate an underutilized talent pool.
The single largest and most enduring challenge in global services is getting the right talent. …
Five Things That Might Scare You About Nearshore Real Estate
August 5th, 2011
By Patrick Haller
Nearshore countries say they want the IT and BPO jobs, but some are apparently not willing or able to provide the office space those jobs require. Dynamics vary from location to location, but finding the right facilities for your business is not typically going to be simple. Here are five risks you should be aware of when sourcing real estate in the region.
Obama’s Visit to Brazil, Chile, El Salvador Fuels Optimism
March 14th, 2011Source: Sacramento Bee
By MIMI WHITEFIELD / McClatchy Newspapers
MIAMI — As President Barack Obama prepares for his trip to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador this week, there is optimism in the region that his swing south will begin a new relationship – one that reflects the profound changes Latin America has undergone in the past decade.
But with a budget crisis looming in the United States and the possibility of a partial U.S. government shutdown by the end of the week if a stopgap measure isn’t approved, the president’s trip, scheduled for Friday through Wednesday, could be delayed.
If the trip goes forward as planned, the Latin America Obama will encounter is more confident, more politically diverse and healthier economically since adopting sometimes painful reforms.
Chile and Brazil have looked to new markets beyond the Western Hemisphere and increasingly formed investment and trade links with China. Chile’s trade …
El Salvador Journal: A First-Hand Reaction from the Experts
November 15th, 2010
By Kirk Laughlin
San Salvador: A number of influential executives from the offshore/nearshore sourcing industry gathered here last week for a brief tour of the expanding call center/BPO industries of this nation of six million people. Meeting several dozen luminaries, executives, managers and country promotion leaders – the group came away with a distinct and real-world view of where the country is headed.
The group included Anupam Govil of Global Equations, Peter Ryan of Ovum, Juan Gonzalez from Frost and Sullivan and Shannon Curley of Jones Lang LaSalle. We asked them two key questions about El Salvador – and you might be surprised that the country is being called one of “the most interesting markets in Central America.”
