IAOP and Nearshore Americas Partner to Drive Visibility of Americas-based Sourcing
November 24th, 2009By Kirk Laughlin, NSAM Editorial Director
We are excited to report that the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) is joining together with Nearshore Americas to create a new media-based alliance that will bring more high quality reporting and more professional development opportunities to the Nearshore community. We will be stepping up our involvement in IAOP events in the Nearshore region and will be working with the great leadership at IAOP to deliver more authoritative information to clients and customers of global services.
How to Stop Culture from Killing Your Offshore Deals
October 20th, 2009Steve Rudderham, VP, Client Engagement, Capgemini: “Problems culminate when customers and providers don’t spend enough time with each other”
Julia Santos, Director, Worldwide Strategic Outsourcing, Johnson & Johnson: “My way of communication and dealing with providers in India and LatAm is different. Because of the culture in Asia – it’s hard to just say no.”
Maurizio Velasquez, Commercial and BDVP Teledatos S.A., based in Colombia: “From a Latin perspective –we like to have the human approach.”
When people talk about “culture” in offshoring, what are they really getting at? It’s a question I’ve been thinking a lot about lately as I listen to people talk about culture as a fundamentally critical issue that has to be managed, watched over and in the most direct way – overcome.
Culture can, let’s face it, really screw up an offshoring deal. When I lived in Japan several years ago, I had my own taste of cultural “adjustment” learning quickly that if you’re out on the street and lost – people would rather give you bad directions than deliver the embarrassing news that the place you were trying to get to is far, far away.
Take that example, enlarge it and install it into a business environment, where both providers and customers may rely on increasingly sophisticated processes and modern technology tools to conduct business, but the sum result of that collaboration is intended to be something the client values and the provider understands thoroughly.
How Widespread are Cultural Breakdowns?
Research released recently by Boston-based Vantage Partners shows that culture is an issue that has to be reckoned with head on. The expanding gap between client expectation and provider service delivery – often referred to as “scope creep” – is at the heart of many deals that go bad.
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 …
The Guatemala Story: Will Big Tech and ITO Define the Next Wave?
April 29th, 2009During last week’s IAOP Central America conference, I had the unique pleasure to spend some time with Ingrid Jacobs, a high energy and enthusiastic champion of near shore outsourcing in Guatemala. She is a senior advisor in the government-supported Invest in Guatemala agency.
Ingrid Jacobs is a senior advisor at Invest in Guatemala
Ingrid played a major role in driving the success of the conference – pulling together logistics, orchestrating sponsors and driving registration – all in a span of about six weeks.
Ingrid reports that:
The number of BPO employee in Guatemala has roughly doubled in the last 6 months, rising to 12,000 FTEs.
The government is increasingly focused on bi-lingual education, both in near term and long term.
Attracting firms seeking support for ITO functions is becoming a major initiative for …
Smile for the Camera at IAOP Central America!
April 26th, 2009IAOP: As India Wanes, Does Central America Become a New BPO Hub?
April 26th, 2009I kept hearing it throughout the IAOP Central America chapter meeting this week in Guatemala City:
India is reaching a BPO and KPO saturation point. Companies want more options but they want the same kind of process discipline that originally put India on the map. Is Central America ready to fill those big shoes?
Lori Blackman, president of DNL Global and a key behind the scenes organizer of the event, made a great point when she insisted the greater Latin America region has to take a close look at itself and decide what it can do better than anyone else. As a result, I kept asking my new provider friends: What makes you different? Beyond building call center operations, what’s the long term value play for your operation? Lori says it’s the natural ability to sell and smoothly engage with …
IAOP: Where are the Caribbean Players?
April 24th, 2009It’s a shame we didn’t see a Caribbean presence at this week’s IAOP meeting. The Caribbean region does not currently have its own IAOP chapter, but IAOP chairman Michael Corbett told me it’s an issue that the association’s leadership is looking at. 
Whether the Caribbean outsource community joins the Central America group, or goes out on its own, is an open question.
One thing is for sure: The networking, spirit of collaboration and organizational best practices were what made the IAOP meeting in Guatemala so successful. I am confident the Caribbean can develop a similar community to help the islands’ outsourcers speak as one and help better define the unique value of the region. If you’re active in Caribbean outsourcing and want to get involved in potential discussions around forming a group, drop me a line: kirk@nextcoastmedia.com
IAOP: Quick Country Snapshots from the Show Floor
April 23rd, 2009
Cuba: A report is floating around that over 60,000 well-trained IT professionals are standing by ready to take on BPO work in a country that is quickly shedding its pariah status. Anybody up for planning a BPO conference in Havana?
Honduras: Some savvy folks from this emerging nation are making a strong case for cooking up some deals based on available capacity and its strong English-language training. Country leaders must continue to define their asset base and bring out the more differentiated characteristics of this promising nation. Searching for answers on this market? Gabriela Calix of Green Valley Industrial Park is a great resource.
Colombia: Wow, what an interesting upside. Over 45 million people and a very compelling combination of favorable factors including a far safer society than in years past, …
Michael Corbett, chairman of IAOP, offered rich, pointed remarks about the current state of global sourcing this morning at the IAOP meeting, touching on the global economic crisis and its impact on outsourcing, Peter Drucker’s prescient views on outsourcing and the recent political debate about working with offshore organizations. Some of his key insights:
Current Economic Crisis:
Corbett stresses the 'one nervous system' concept in linking providers with client partners
The best quote of the day so far: “Is the economic crisis an opportunity to strength the core or allow outsourcing to be swept up under the tyranny of immediacy of getting through the current month or current quarter?”
Client businesses are faced with a fundamental choice on how they look at current and future outsourcing …
Blogging Live from the Central America IAOP Meeting – Next Week!
April 13th, 2009Caribbean CRM Central will travel west next week – stopping in to shake hands and blog live from the Central America chapter meeting of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, in Guatemala City.
Guatamala City will host the IAOP's chapter meeting on April 23-24
Central America near shore BPO is thriving and we’ll show you why. Speaking at the event will be the vice president of Guatemala, Rafael Espada, IAOP chairman Michael Corbett, as well as Chris Disher, president Chris Disher & Associates, Don Althoff, former CIO of British Petroleum, Estuardo Robles, principal advisor of Roaring Jaguar, Roger Conrado, president and CEO of GVC Partners, Lori Blackman, president of DNL Global, Steve Rudderham, president of Genpact Latin America, Mario …
