Aegis Builds Latin America Strategy By Targeting Tier Two Locations
September 20th, 2011
Sandip Sen: Argentina inflation a problem
By Patrick Haller
Making 18 acquisitions in five years poses several challenges, not the least of which is how to integrate the companies into an existing corporate fabric. Following a comprehensive acquisition model that includes keeping as many of the existing employees as possible, Aegis, a subsidiary of Essar Global Limited, has been expanding steadily into new markets over its thirty years of operation. Aegis acquired the Costa Rican company People Support in 2005, and Action Line in Argentina in 2010.
Arrogance, Attrition or Economics: What’s Troubling Accenture Argentina?
August 25th, 2011
A CIO and his deputy point to underperformance by both Accenture and Cognizant
Globant Buys Nextive, Acquires U.S. Mobile and Social Media Talent
August 4th, 2011
Globant CEO Martin Migoya welcomes the firm's growth, fueled partly by the creative tech approach of CTO Guibert Englebienne (at left).
By Dennis Barker
Well-known nearshore trailblazer Globant revealed parts of an ambitious, globally expansive growth strategy this week with the acquisition of a small and savvy mobile software developer in Silicon Valley. The acquisition, taken on face value, shows Globant is doing what very few Latin America-borne IT players have done in recent years: land onshore in the US, make an acquisition or two, and create US jobs in the process. (Outsourcing bashers, explain how such companies hurt the US economy.)
Outsourcing Professionals Who Have a Life: Telling Jokes, Motorcycling for Charity and Building an Iron Will
June 30th, 2011
By Marnely Rodriguez
“Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.” Christian Hebbel
Without passion our lives would be dull 9-to-5 jobs with nothing to look forward to. The characters in this story are anything but dull and continuously strive to balance their passions for work and for extracurricular activities. It’s not every day that you meet an
Interactive Marketing Manager for Neoris, like Julio Blanco, who also is a Stand-Up Comedian; or a Senior 
Software Engineer in Argentina, like Esteban Planells, who is passionate about supporting charities such as “Fundacion HOPE” and “Fundacion Nutrir Salta” and will be participating in the world famous Dakar 2012.
Are Higher Costs Crippling Argentina’s Call Centers?
June 16th, 2011
The Argentina BPO/ call center community has converged this week in Buenos Aires to confront – among other things – growing concern that Argentina is losing its place as a premiere Latin America contact center destination. Inflation, scalability concerns and an ongoing mismatch between government and private industry agendas represent the biggest worries for the industry. We decided to check in with two of the most respected analysts in Nearshore BPO/call center services – Juan Gonzalez, of Frost and Sullivan, and Peter Ryan, of Ovum – who are attending the Tenth Regional Contact Center & CRM Congress in Buenos Aires this week.
BUENOS AIRES — Kirk Laughlin is an expert on IT outsourcing and BPO. Visiting here to lecture on the possibilities that the U.S. market holds for Argentina’s IT companies, he took time to speak with IT Business about what the U.S. tech market needs and what local companies can do to meet those requirements.
“Many U.S. companies need software to add value to their businesses,” said Laughlin, founder of NextCoast Media and the publication Nearshore Americas. “In terms of outsourcing, the price is still important — but not the only factor to consider. The Argentines have, in relation to the rest of the countries of the region, a very interesting talent base, a good education system, and there is the cultural affinity that helps to develop business relationships. For all these reasons, Argentina is in a good position to meet U.S. demands,” said Laughlin.
Regarding the global …
Source: El Cronista
Argentine IT exports increased by 222% between 2003 and 2009, while the exports of goods reached only 86%, according to data from the Permanent Observatory of the Software and Information Services Industry (POSISI). Numerous companies began selling their products to foreign markets while learning about the needs of customers and how to satisfy them through local production. Despite the international crisis of 2008/09, local companies that exported products grew by 23.8% between 2009 and 2010, versus the 19% of non-exports.
Argentina’s Promotion of Software Law is targeted at increasing software service exports into the United States. The practice of penetrating the US market can be done many ways, including relying on personal contacts, local associates, recommendations or through personal visits.
How to Land
Javier Porretti, Commercial Director for Softtek Sudamerica Hispana, an IT business service provider nearing 20 years of experience, and billing $300 million USD, recounts, “toward …
Until recently, most of the Latin Americas’ contact center outsourcing markets were considered cost-convenient for establishing offshore business. However, the overall global economic slowdown, offshore outsourcing and aggressive cost-cutting pressures demanded by clients are hitting revenue growth rates in the short-to-medium term.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (contactcenter.frost.com), Argentinean and Chilean Contact Center Outsourcing Services Markets 2010, finds that the Argentinean market earned revenues of $627.1 million in 2009 and estimates this to reach $1,027.7 million in 2015. The Chilean market earned revenues of $290.9 million in 2009 and estimates this to reach $494.4 million in 2015.
“Issues like high inflation, rising wages, and lack of government support are damaging the competitiveness of Argentina so further expansion in offshore business is unlikely in the short term,” says Frost & Sullivan Industry Manager Juan Gonzalez. “This has caused concerns regarding the market’s prospects for 2011 among the companies.”
Nevertheless, Argentina’s …
Argentina IT: Our Best Shots
May 18th, 2011Over 150 professionals turned out last week in Buenos Aires for a two-hour session on “Selling IT Services into the US”, sponsored by our friends at Globant and CommonSense. Sometimes pictures do a better job of telling the story, so check these out:
Argentina Software Factories Have a Great Story, But Don’t Look to the Government to Tell It
May 16th, 2011By Kirk Laughlin
Selling IT Services in the US was the topic of a event sponsored by CommonSense and Globant last week in Buenos Aires.
Argentina is – no doubt – a success story in both the domestic and exported IT services market. But one can only fathom where this nation of just over 40 million would be if there was a more collective industry effort to rally around an Argentina IT-empowered “brand.”
This fact is one of several interesting takeaways from a visit to Buenos Aires last week, where all kinds of contradictions and complexities underlie an IT industry that has been growing between 15% to 20% each year since 2003, according to industry group, CESSI. In a variety of meetings with education and technology ministry officials and also executives from Softtek, Globant, Grupo Assa, Neoris, CommonSense, Belatrix and other smaller firms, one sees almost immediately that the exported software sector remains ‘one of the best kept secrets’ in IT offshoring in Latin America.
