Upstarts Threaten Big Players in Potential LatAm BPO Boom
February 6th, 2012
Santiago: Sustained vertical drive.
By Dan Berthiaume
Latin American nations make up about one-quarter of the 2012 list of Top 100 outsourcing locations compiled by global outsourcing research/advisory firm Tholons, and that is no accident. As Manuel Ravago, president for research at Tholons, explains, Latin America is an up-and-comer in the world of BPO. And more agile smaller countries might make the most of that.
Can Latin American Providers Meet the Demand?
February 2nd, 2012
By Bill Huber, Partner, ISG, and Kristen Elvinger, Research Associate
Concerns exist over the capacity of Latin American service providers to absorb rapid growth. Several global providers currently have a presence in Latin America, and tax and other trade incentives will help attract more outsourcers to the region. And, many Latin American countries are positioned to further develop emerging areas of specialization. Indeed, lessons learned from India, China, and some Eastern European countries suggest that specialization and quality-focused differentiation will be the keys to success, especially for countries with small populations.
Investment Data Reveals State of Interest in Latin America Locations
January 25th, 2012By Reshaad Durgahee
Lima, Peru: Surprisingly emerging.
In the period 2003 through 2010, Europe and Asia were the largest recipient regions of foreign investment projects in shared services and BPO activities, accounting for 46% and 29% respectively. Meanwhile, interest in Latin America has clearly been growing. The number of shared services and BPO foreign investment projects in Latin America rose year on year until 2010, when the total number of projects entering the region decreased by 15%.
COUNTRY PROFILE: Puerto Rico’s Knowledge Economy Off to a Slow Start
December 15th, 2011By Luke Bujarski
Given its close proximity to the mainland and ample bilingual workforce, Puerto Rico should stand out as an ideal Nearshore platform for call centers and BPO operators – right?
Not so fast: Cost arbitrage aside – a lack of coordinated planning around a knowledge economy may have also set Puerto Rico back a long way behind similar Caribbean and Central American (CCA) markets, particularly for knowledge-intensive services. Here, lessons can be drawn from the successes Costa Rica has had in attracting technology-enabled captive operations. And, given the right global market environment, Puerto Rico could see expansion beyond the current 5,000 or so contact center seats.
Setting Out to Train More Scrum Masters and Develop More ‘Agile Nations’
December 13th, 2011By Dennis Barker
In the big international competition with India and other low-cost outsourcing destinations, some Nearshore IT providers have been taking their game to the next level (apologies for the sports cliche) by adopting agile software-development methods. And one of the keys to helping teams become skilled agile players is to hire or train good coaches – leaders who are certified scrum masters.
(Scrum is defined by the Scrum Alliance as “an agile framework for completing complex projects.” The term was adapted from rugby – hence the sports cliche – in a 1986 study by Takeuchi and Nonaka that alluded to a team trying to “go the distance as a unit, passing the ball back and forth.”)
A Deeper Examination of Immigration Policies in the Big Six Latin America Markets
December 1st, 2011
By: Patrick Haller
Brazil makes it difficult. Costa Rica is complex but straightforward. Colombia requires a lot of paperwork as does Argentina. Mexico and Chile reputedly provide a smooth road by comparison to the others. We are talking about immigration procedures in Latin America. Navigating through the sometimes confusing, often confounding, maze of immigration regulation can be frustrating at best. Nearshore Americas examines what is involved with obtaining and keeping, work-related visas across Latin America.
Top Ten Trends for 2012 in Nearshoring Industry
November 30th, 2011Stability – ironically – becomes the central attraction around the Latin America outsourcing proposition
By Patrick Haller
During 2011 the world has seen significant changes in social, political and economic dynamics. The Arab Spring, violence in Mexico, a deepening financial crisis and the Occupy movement all have risen to influence business conditions and investment flows. As the year nears its close, we checked in with advisory firm ThinkSolutions to understand how the tumultuous events of 2011 will influence what happens in the Nearshoring sector in 2012.
Costa Rican ICT Market Finally Breathing Life of Liberalization
November 22nd, 2011
President Chinchilla kisses goodbye to monopolies.
By Dan Berthiaume
The Costa Rican telecom market is undergoing a period of intense growth that should last at least through 2016, according to a new report from Pyramid Research.
“Costa Rica: Surging Market Gives Operators More Devices, Access and Content to Sell” identifies two key factors in what is expected to be a robust increase in adoption of Costa Rican mobile services: The emergence of competition from pan-regional operators to dominant local telecom player ICE (Costa Rica Institute of Electricity), and exceptionally strong growth in use of mobile data.
LatAm Free Trade Zones: Are they Really Built to Support BPO and IT?
November 16th, 2011By Jeff Pappas
Over the years, the US has been Latin America’s primary outside investor and leading trading partner, followed by Western Europe. Latin America’s leading imports in past years have included cars, chemicals, electrical equipment, farm machinery, and pharmaceuticals, while its leading exports include bananas, coffee, cotton, meat, wood, and rubber.
Costa Rica’s Startups Fight Through Bureaucracy and Focus on Diversifying
November 15th, 2011Part II: “Diversify or Die” – is part of code of survival for startups in Costa Rica
By Patrick Haller
In Part II of a series, we take a deeper look at the startup culture of Costa Rica. Despite bureaucratic hurdles and limited access to capital, there are numerous success stories here. Getting up and running often requires that firms diversify their services base and figure out a way to become profitable from the start. We talked to four services firms – that managed to thrive in a less-than-nurturing environment.
