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.
Source: BNamericas
SAO PAULO — Brazil’s contact center outsourcing services market is forecasted to bill US$7.1bn in 2015, compared with US$3.9bn in 2009, consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan said in a statement this week.
The analysts said that “vendor consolidation is likely to gain strength in Brazil.”
Frost said in its latest report that new customer regulations put into place in 2008 enabled the consolidation of the market in 2009, with large participants gaining strength at the cost of small firms. The study also found that the overall number of positions expanded during 2009.
“As companies in all different verticals of the Brazilian market had specific guidelines to follow when providing customer services (as by the new law), some had to increase investments, which has benefited outsourcing providers,” Frost said.
The study also said that revenues per position are being reduced every year. At the same time, contact centers need to …
Desktop Virtualization: “Less” Size Fits All
January 3rd, 2011
By Juan Gonzalez
Desktop virtualization enables a single central machine to generate several virtual computers, each assigned to a different user. Those computers include all components available in any desktop computer including OS, data and varied applications.
But really, what is the value-add, and why should you care? Read on to find out how Desktop Virtualization could improve your business efficiency, while radically bringing down costs. We walk you through several possible models for your company, and give you some recommendations for implementing them.
The value proposition
For some enterprises today, the next logical step is desktop virtualization. It’s a practice that has been around for some time, particularly in association with terminal services. However, it has not gained the anticipated traction. There are many factors that have deterred adoption including limited understanding of its value proposition. Whereas the ROI of server …
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.”
BPO Providers: Diversify to Survive
August 30th, 2010By Juan Gonzalez
The economic downturn has had two contradictory effects on the outsourcing industry in Latin America. Demand from existing customers has slowed down, especially for those companies with offshore programs and telemarketing operations, but at the same time, this lower demand has been mitigated by new clients adopting outsourcing practices in order to lower costs and improve productivity.
Meanwhile, some clients have asked to freeze their contracts, while others have demanded that additional services be made part of existing deals. Providers have responded by reducing their own costs, diversifying locations (particularly the global companies), improving efficiency, and creating innovative solutions to cope with increasing client demands for better cost structures. Some providers have also been forced to reduce their prices and decrease or freeze hiring and salaries.
The Latin American market continues to grow, but at a slower pace …
IT Security Outsourcing is Booming in Latin America
July 15th, 2010
By Dennis Barker
More businesses in Latin America will be outsourcing one of their most critical functions — IT security — in the next few years. Managed security services (MSS) are going to really take off in the region, as more companies decide that safeguarding digital assets might be best left to someone who specializes in safeguarding digital assets.
Nearshore Americas Strikes Alliance with Frost and Sullivan
April 13th, 2010We’ve tried hard during the last eight months since launching Nearshore Americas to deliver high quality content – information that is original, targeted specifically on outsourcing in the Americas and free of the kind of spin that you see from other sourcing organizations pretending to be media brands.
Sourcing buyers tell us all the time that they need deep, independent insight into the emerging Latin America provider marketplace since information that is already out there is often tilted toward a particular agenda. Our mission is straightforward: Examine all sides of the outsourcing opportunity for U.S. buyers “shopping” in Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada and build a more visible Nearshore community in the process.
To drive home our commitment, we have just struck an important alliance with Frost and Sullivan, a well respected research organization with deep knowledge of the emerging BPO and outsourcing services sectors of Latin America.
Frost analyst Victor Casiano kicks off our partnership with an interesting analysis of El Salvador’s sourcing market
With four offices in Latin America, Frost is uniquely able to provide on-the-ground views on the wide set of factors that impact sourcing relationships, and perhaps one of the most important is how the maturity of ICT policy and competitiveness impacts domestic global services markets.
El Salvador: On the Right Path
April 13th, 2010
By Victor Casiano
Strategically located in the heart of Central America, El Salvador is close enough (and in an attractive time zone) to be appealing to companies based in the U.S. and Canada. The country offers competitive pricing in comparison to neighbors such as Mexico, Panama or Costa Rica. However, the Salvadorian outsourcing industry still has some untapped potential, which I will be covering briefly in this collaboration to Nearshore Americas.
Early Inspiration
El Salvador was launched as an outsourcing destination in the 2004-2005 period, when Dell and Sykes started operations in the country. At that time, the jobs generated by the industry went from 1,000 to over 9,000 in 2010, a real testament to the attractiveness of the country as an outsourcing destination. There are currently 38 centers in El Salvador (including two finance-specialized BPOs), out …
Nearshore ICT: Latam is Poised to Adopt Faster Broadband Says Frost and Sullivan
February 25th, 2010BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ – The year 2009 is over and though every initiative was judged in the shadow of the economic breakdown, we can see now that telecoms entering the IT space was a trend that was solidified in many of the most important Latin American markets.
3G networks were deployed in the region, commercially operating in 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The arrival of the iPhone in regional markets triggered Internet usage and other services, such as application stores. On the other hand, the pay-TV market still holds promise. IPTV did not become a reality yet due to regulatory restrictions, and its slowness has yet to be resolved in many countries. Instead, video on demand has witnessed great advances.
In this scenario, 2010 brings both hope and anxiety. The following are Frost & Sullivan predictions for the year:
#1 Ultra broadband will gain traction.
The new digital …
Frost and Sullivan Names West Corp. Top North America Outsourcing Firm
February 5th, 2010West Corporation, a leading provider of technology-driven, voice-oriented solutions, today announced that it received the 2010 Frost & Sullivan North American Contact Center Outsourcing Company of the Year Award.
For the Company of the Year Award, Frost & Sullivan evaluated providers on their growth strategy and implementation, their degree of innovation in business processes, products and/or technologies, and their leadership in customer value and market penetration.
“West continues to distinguish itself by the sheer depth of its services. The company has the technology, human capital and financial resources to offer clients the widest array of customer …
