Unosquare LLC, with operations in Guadalajara, Mexico and Portland, Oregon, today announced a collocation and business partnership with KM2 Solutions in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Through its established location inside the world class Altia Business Park, KM2 Solutions will provide Unosquare with infrastructure and employer services.

For its end of the partnership Unosquare will provide advancement and training opportunities for KM2 employees. Unosquare provides US customers with software development, testing, and application support services from its nearshore locations. KM2 provides contact center services from its nearshore locations and both companies leverage the lower cost labor pool and same time zone advantages for their US clients.

“This partnership will give KM2 Solutions call center employees, our most valuable resource, more options to expand their own career,” said Maggi Williams, Chief Global Strategy Officer for KM2. The partnership is intended to advance and expand the lifecyle of a nearshore contact center worker by giving some of them opportunities to enhance their skills and work in the IT realm as well.

“San Pedro Sula offers our clients a substantial pool of .Net (Microsoft) development and software testing capabilities,” said Unosquare CEO, Mike Barrett. “By providing certain services and access to English speaking resources, our partnership with KM2 gives us a running start to set up and manage our operation there.”

Atlanta, Georgia – KM² Solutions LLC, a leading provider of Near Shore BPO services today announced the opening of a new Contact Center in The Altia Business and Technology Park located in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Plans to develop operations in Honduras were initiated in response to both the needs of KM²’s fortune 500 client base and the continued growth in the market for high quality bilingual services located close to North American markets. The new facility, which includes state of the art technology in a LEED certified building and access to Honduras’s English language skills, will be the company’s fourth, location. The new location will allow KM² Solutions to continue to grow with existing clients and implement new clients and services in a strategic location with modern infrastructure and access to Honduras world class telecommunications infrastructure.

“The opening of KM² Solutions new San Pedro Sula office is an important step towards realizing our plans for growth and expansion in Central America,” said David Kreiss, President and CEO. “The new office will be the first of many important changes for the company in 2011.”

The new office is expected to generate a heightened level of interest in the high quality contact center services offered by KM² Solutions to the Financial Services, Automotive, Telecommunications, Billing Services and media industries.

Close followers of Nearshore Americas may have noticed in the last week we injected some new features and freshened up the look of these pages. (More improvements and a big expansion – next week – are on the way, so stay tuned.) One of the standout additions we have made is the launch of “Honduras Outsourcing“, a section devoted entirely to answering key questions investors and sourcing customers have about a county that is one of leading ‘cost-to-value plays’ in the nearshore region.

The section is the first true “Country Briefing Center” within the Nearshore Americas brand. For months, readers have asked us for better ways to navigate into sections of the site which look at single countries. The Country Briefing Center is our answer. Altia Business Park, a world-class BPO facility that recently opened in San Pedro Sula, is sponsor of the new Honduras section and also a sponsor of the upcoming Nearshore Nexus executive conference, April 26, in New York City.

Our plan is to continue to partner with forward-looking firms like Altia in other markets who want to make sure to have commonly requested data and content available on the top online portal serving the Latin America sourcing market today. Dan Rubinetti, vice president at Nearshore Americas is the person on our team to talk to about sponsorship opportunities of the new briefing centers.

By Kirk Laughlin, Editorial Director

I wonder what it would feel like if educated people I met in nearby countries in this Hemisphere had no recognition of New England, the place where I was born and grew up. How would I feel if they looked at me as if New England – its seafaring history, the Tea Party and Native American Tribes - was pretty much irrelevant.

The group from Del Campo School in Tegucigalpa, Honduras

In meeting with several groups of high school and college students in Honduras last week, during a tour of the country’s growing global services industry, one of the first things we talked about was how much these students understood about the United States, its influence in Latin America and the model of democracy and transparency it represents. But as they talked about their own personal encounters with Americans, they uniformly described instances where people had no idea where Honduras was – or simply, that it was another stone-age third-world country that didn’t matter.

It’s surprising in a way that these students show little to no anger about this wide-gap in awareness. They are accepting of the way things really are, showing a maturity that is well beyond what you might expect from typical 16 and 17-year-old youths, all of which have Facebook accounts through which they often learn about the larger world beyond their borders.  As highly fluent English-speakers,  developed in most cases through English exposure and practice since age 5, these students talked openly about their personal hopes and the transformative dreams they have for Honduras, which in recent months has been a target of worldwide condemnation because of the coup to replace a president (Mel Zelaya) who was, according to countless Hondurans, moving the country down a dangerous path away from democracy.

One student from Del Campo School in Tegucigalpa, called for more sustained planning to build a broader economy, where young, well educated people have an industry to go to when they finish schooling. “I hope we can find more ways to bring money to our country besides remittances from the US,” said another student, commenting on the $2.7 billion sent annually from the Honduran nationals living in the US, which accounts for roughly 20% of the country’s GDP.

Most of these students from Instituto Bilingue Valle de Sula, in San Pedro Sula, intend on continuing their education in the states.

Ruben Sorto, marketing and new projects director for the ambitious Altia Business Park development project, in a lush and well manicured section of San Pedro Sula, said during our meetings that one of the core reasons the Altia project is is in place – potentially providing thousands of professional jobs for Hondurans – is to continue strengthening a nascent industry where educated people have the opportunity to stay in their home country.

Like bright, hopeful students anywhere, these groups of young people see education as critical to their future. One aspiring journalist hopes to enter Cornell University next year; another recently accepted a five-year scholarship to study bio-chemistry in Arkansas. (Both attend Valle De Sula in San Pedro Sula.)

Honduras has over 400 private schools and English is a core requirements at virtually all of these schools as children enter into Kindergarten. It is safe to say that most of the students attending these schools are from middle to upper class backgrounds, enabling their parents to pay between $1,500 and $4,500 a year for students to study there. The majority of Honduran youth however don’t have that privilege and instead study at public schools which are noted for frequent teacher strikes and short school days.

Several of them stressed that education needs to form the foundation for the future emergence of Honduras. “The brains have to come back (from the US),” said one student, candidly.

Maybe when that happens, the rest of the Hemisphere will notice and, even better,  respect this small country struggling to become more relevant to the rest of the world.

“Hay interés de invertir en SPS” Un experto norteamericano visitó el

(Source: LaPrensa.HN)
By Yesille Ponce: yesille.ponce@laprensa.hn

San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Compañías de telecomunicaciones mundialmente reconocidas como Verizon, Sprint y AT& T podrían instalar fácilmente sus centro de llamadas para brindar respuestas a sus clientes desde esta ciudad, segú Kirk Laughlin, experto norteamericano en el tema de tercerización de servicios.

Laughlin visitó el país hace unos días con el fin de proporcionar una amplia perspectiva de las oportunidades de tercerización para algunos inversionistas que tienen interés en San Pedro Sula y el resto de Honduras. Habló con NEGOCIOS sobre el futuro de esta industria.

Todo para atraer inversión

El experto confirmó las ventajas con que cuenta la capital industrial, en especial, en el tema de costo, talento humano y estabilidad política, que es clave para invertir. Agregó, que empresas activas en el Caribe dedicadas al cobro de tarjetas de crédito y bancos optarían por colocar sus oficinas para dar asesorías desde suelo catracho.

Laughlin expresó que esta industria de los «call centers», es decir, centro de negocios de llamadas, ha crecido en países como la India; pero en los últimos años varias empresas tecnológicas han puestos sus ojos en América Latina.

Al consultarle al especialista cómo ve a Honduras en relación con otros países de Centroamérica, respondió: “Tienen una excelente posición geográfica, privilegiada, porque están muy cerca de Estados Unidos; aunque la percepción que los norteamericanos tenemos de la región se ha quedado atrás en los años 80, pero eso cambiará. Otro punto a favor es que cuentan con muchas personas bilingües, especialmente jóvenes; al igual que las instalaciones físicas de Altia, -el primer centro de llamadas, siendo bandera en Honduras- y que funcionará desde este año fortaleciendo la industria, Altia es mejor que algunos proyectos similares que he visitado en Estados Unidos”.

Resaltó la parte de telecomunicaciones porque Honduras tiene el costo más competitivo a nivel de toda la región centroamericana.

Aconsejó al Gobierno y organizaciones promotoras de la inversión como Fide para que transmitan al mundo que Honduras está estable políticamente y no como se ventila en los medios internacionales.

Laughlin se reunió con líderes del nuevo Gobierno para ver las posibilidades y facilidades que darán a inversionistas extranjeros y con personal de Conatel.

Empresas confirmadas

Rubén Sorto, gerente de mercadeo del Grupo Karim’s, que realiza esta iniciativa, apuntó que la obra gris de la primera -de tres – torre en Altia ya finalizó y ultiman detalles como instalación eléctrica, elevadores y de vidrios externos. A finales de marzo estará lista la primera torre y en abril el próximo presidente, Porfirio Lobo, junto a los dueños inauguraría esta obra.

En septiembre arrancará la construcción dentro del Altia, de Village Center, centro en el que habrá un área de venta de comidas de restaurantes reconocidos, cuatro bancos, tiendas de conveniencia, bar, agencia de viajes y gimnasio.

Sorto anunció que empresas internacionales están en pláticas para instalarse en este centro de negocios de llamadas que prestará servicio desde la capital industrial. “Ya confirmaron dos empresas multinacionales y luego harán público su traslado: una de California que brinda servicios de traducción; y la empresa norteamericana ACS, que ya reclutó personal”. Reconfirmó que Telecorp y Bancatlan, socio estratégico, junto a Navega, que suministra Internet a grandes empresas en toda Centroamérica, operarán desde Altia a partir de este año.

Altia también albergará a San Services, empresa encargada del sistema de reservaciones en línea realizadas a nivel mundial para hospedarse en Sandal’s, reconocida cadenas de hoteles en el Caribe.

By Kirk Laughlin, Editorial Director

Nearshore Americas is spending several days on the ground this week in Honduras for a couple of very good reasons which I will be talking about and exploring on some interesting videos over the course of the next two weeks. We have been interviewing high level government officials, education and human capital leaders, telecom regulators and business leaders while traveling with our host from Altia Business Park, Ruben Sorto, who is the marketing director at the San Pedro Sula based facility, which is the first world-class business center in Honduras designed to service BPO and call center operations.

Ruben joined me (we’re both at the far right on the panel) today on a nationally broadcast program called Frente a Frente, hosted by Renato Álvarez, one of the most respected business journalist in Honduras who is sitting in the middle of the panel. Other speakers included, from the left include:  Former President of Honduras Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero, Antonio Young, executive vice president of government promotion agency FIDE, and finally Mario Canahuati, the former Ambassador to Washington, who is set to become the new Minister of Promotion and Investment, under the newly elected government, led by Porfirio Lobo who will be sworn in later this month. The panel discussion – going for nearly 90  minutes – focused entirely on the huge opportunity for Honduras to emerge from the political chaos of the last six months by directing more energy on building a viable outsourcing industry.

Honduras, in a sense, is starting from ground zero, having had little in the way of long-term planning to cultivate a global services ecosystem. We will take a closer look at how this new ecosystem is just beginning to take root – despite (with heavy emphasis) the political disruptions and theatrics of the last six months. Clearly, to put it plainly, the Honduran people (from top levels of society to the working people) want very much to move on. Still, the country is in a delicate position,  having taken heat  from all kinds of governments and organizations worldwide, arguing that the country failed to uphold its constitutional principles. If you ask the Honduran people about the coup to remove former President Mel Zelaya, you are likely to hear strong support with people quickly pointing to the very real threat Hugo Chavez posed through his courting of Zelaya.

But they will also tell you the way in which he was forcibly taken out of the country was done too aggressively (in his pajamas in the middle of the night). And this is part of the national reconciliation and – in a real sense – healing the country is going through right now.

Oh, and by the way, the country is operating just fine. Gasoline tanks are being filled, air conditioned malls are loaded with customers and traffic clogs the major arteries of Tegucigalpa.

Life is moving forward for the Honduran people – which once again demonstrates that the urgent, worrying voices coming from major media outlets are often far out of whack with reality on the ground.

SOURCE: LAPRENSAHN.COM (Translated from Espanol)

Altia Park will unveil a new service industry that opens the doors for foreign and domestic companies with the installation of first three-tower communications in February, 2010. This is expected to generate about a thousand jobs in the north of the country.

Daniel Facussé, president of the Honduran Maquila Association, AHM, said that Altia will succeed because everything relating to the sale of communication becomes more profitable to firms in these times of crisis and it also involves outsourcing. Maquila Association provides this service and does so within institutions.

Ruben Sorto, marketing manager Karim’s group, which has started this initiative, explained that despite the blows of the economic crisis, the play was not halted.

To implement this type of modernistic buildings, said Sorto, the country now has favorable conditions, such as having the best fiber optic network in Central and communication infrastructure at low cost. Also, the country has 410 bilingual schools, of which 161 are in SPS and therefore, plenty of manpower is available to companies which establish base in Altia. These companies can also provide assistance in English or Spanish anywhere in the world. Every day, about 200 people work for almost 12 hours for Altia, making the availability of manpower easy and economical. The opening of this facility was scheduled in December, but there were some setbacks by weather factors, said Mr. Sarto.

It has been completed now and the only roadblock is the final stage, i.e. the installation of the five lifts and placement of windows throughout the building that differentiate its inhabitants from others in the city.

Altia Companies

Sorto announced that several international companies are in talks to settle in this new call center so that they can offer services from the industrial capital.

“Two multinational companies are located in Altia, and the talks of outsourcing with two other companies are advancing well. There is this California company that provides translation, and also the global call center giant ACS, which recruits staff. The company has currently stopped its businesses because of the political crisis, but will resume business in the near future,” he said.

Sorto Bancatlan reconfirmed that along with Sail, Telecorp’s strategic partner, which supplies Internet services to large businesses throughout Central America, will operate from Altia from 2010. Moreover, San Services, a company responsible for online reservation system on a global scale, will stay in Sandal’s, a well known chain of hotels in the Caribbean.

AHM’s to shift their offices to Altia next year.

Sorto said that between August and September 2010, construction will start within Altia Village Center, where there will be an area of food sales from reputed restaurants, apart from four banks, convenience stores, bar, travel agency and gym, other amenities for employees are also available.

More details on Altia

The foundation stone for Altia was laid on 13 March 2008. Altia faces the boulevard toward Armenta, including residential Nova and Los Alamos. In the lobby, in front of a beautiful waterfall, you can find a directory of companies that operate in Altia. The parking lot accommodates 1,200 vehicles.

The outsourcing companies are those that agree to outsource certain processes to other companies professionally.

So far, 2009 looks like a good year for the emerging Honduras BPO community.

The first tenants at Altia business park are planning to move into the state-of-the-art facility in September.

Worldwide outsourcing provider ACS recently announced plans to locate a call center near San Pedro Sula and operators of several industrial parks are helping make the case to invest in Honduras – a  country that is becoming well-known for strong English language skills. There are well over 400 English language schools operating in Honduras.  In fact, in a story that came out today in the Honduras publication “La Prensa” (click on this link for the Googlized English translation,) the author claims that Honduras has more bilingual speakers per capita than any other Central American nation.  (Although Belize is probably the Central American country to have the most bilingual speakers – I invite others to make their points in the topic.  Friends in Costa Rica or Guatemala, any comments?) To view the LaPresna story in the original Spanish version, click here.

The story notes that Altia Business Park is one of the leaders in trying to attract outsourcing operations, based on tax incentives and economically priced telecom services.

Another important player is Gruppo Karims, a worldwide organization which invests in industrial real estate, textiles and tourism. The company has operations in Pakistan, Mexico and Hoduras, and offices in Guatemala, China, Dominican Republic and the USA. Karims operates a large industrial facility called Green Valley Industrial Park, considered one of the largest and most technically advanced facilities in the entire Nearshore region.