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.
Is Mexico Finally Waking Up to This Key Concept?
January 30th, 2012
By William Gourg
The Greeks, 2,500 years ago, were onto something. Creating a concept such as synergy might have been one of their greatest inventions. Although the word has sometimes been overused and abused, synergy surrounds us nowadays. Synergies underlie mergers and takeovers, coalition governments, and civil society movements. More and more often we are starting to see public-private partnerships that promise the benefits of mutual cooperation.
Telefonica’s Wayra and MIT Sign Global Partnership
January 27th, 2012Source: The Next Web
Telefonica‘s startup accelerator Wayra and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) signed a global partnership, the two entities announced. The agreement was signed during the launch of Mexico’s Wayra Academy.
As we reported, Wayra is an initiative promoted by Telefonica Digital to foster entrepreneurship and innovation in the ICT sector. Wayra works as a startup accelerator, selecting ten projects in each country in which it operates, which then receive mentoring and other resources at one of the newly opened Wayra spaces.
Initially launched in seven Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela), Wayra is now expanding to Europe, starting with the imminent launch of a Wayra Academy in Madrid.
Following Wayra’s agreement with MIT, the two entities will collaborate on a series of initiatives in Latin America. Wayra academies in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Argentina are the first to join the …
Take a Deeper Data-Dive into Mexico’s Second-Tier Locations
January 19th, 2012
By Luke Bujarski
When shopping around for new site locations in developing countries, much of the decision process too often hinges on second-hand and potentially biased information. Oftentimes, data from a conference presentation or a promotional agency website are all you have to go on when taking that initial step into a new market. This is particularly true when considering untested, second-tier markets that have yet to prove their worth as global services platforms.
Sheltered Services Offers ‘Goldilocks’ Option
January 17th, 2012By Luke Bujarski
Sheltered services is an approach that has long been standard practice in the manufacturing industry, but now it’s becoming more of an option for customers of IT and BPO services too. Because of time zone alignment, the sheltered model can be particularly effective for customers of Nearshore providers – especially for North American customers of providers based in Mexico.
Nearshore Needs More Training, Greater Scale
January 11th, 2012By Patrick Haller
Shanker: India has a better grasp of "the training concept."
The prospect of managing multiple locations in the US, India, Mexico and Japan can be daunting for many people. But Ravi Shanker, Sales Director for HCL America, Inc., has been doing it for years. His experience overseeing IT development projects began with Polaris Software in the early 2000s, then with HCL. As an insider, he has been directly involved in a market that has shifted from Indian-centric software development to new destinations like Brazil and Mexico. We asked Shanker about the current state of outsourcing, the trend toward onshoring, and what countries need to do to remain relevant or become more competitive.
MexiCANs: The New Breed Needed for a New Era
January 10th, 2012
By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
After being out of Mexico for almost eight years, I returned to my native Guadalajara in November 2010, driven by the desire for closer ties between my daughter and her cousins, grandparents, uncles, and aunts.
My friends in San Diego asked over and over why I was leaving San Diego for Mexico. “It is dangerous,” they said.
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.
Latin America Sees Overall Reduction in Poverty
December 1st, 2011Source: Fox News Latino
Poverty in Latin America has dropped overall 17 percentage points in the last 20 years with two major exceptions, according to the United Nations regional economic body.
From 1990 to 2010 the poverty rate fell from 48.4 percent to 31.4percent, meaning that roughly 177 million people now live in poverty in the region. However, Honduras and Mexico trended the opposite way with poverty rates rising 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent respectively, according to the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
In regards to Mexico, the comparison was made with the poverty rate for 2008 so the figure does not only reflect the economic growth in Mexico in 2010, but also the major GDP per capita contractions in 2009, a press release from ECLAC stated.
“Poverty and inequality continue to decline in the region, which is good news, particularly in the midst of …
