Canada’s Rebound: Call Center Rebirth
February 23rd, 2011 
By Susan Arledge, President/CEO, Arledge Partners Real Estate Group
In the international sourcing arena, what is Canada’s competitive advantage? As Eric Hochstein wrote in his recent Nearshore Americas article, Canada Offshoring: A Disappearing Act, “In the horse race of the Western Hemisphere outsourcing destinations, the early leader, Canada, faded fast over the past few years allowing Latin America countries like Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico and Brazil to take the lead and land the jobs. Today, with the dollars at par and with emerging nations competing aggressively for increasingly sophisticated types of work, Canada is generally an afterthought for most service providers. Lower costs elsewhere have drained the country of many of the largest providers.”
While it is certainly true that Ontario has not able to compete with the LATAM region for the Spanish speaking workforce, …
Jamaica: The Full Picture
April 22nd, 2010 By Susan Arledge
Several years ago, the Caribbean began to emerge as a sensible and low cost alternative to outsourcing to Asia or India (especially when a smaller number of agents were required) and countries such as Jamaica, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic began to emerge as top location choices.
These countries have recognized that they are greatly in need of attracting jobs in an effort to retain their knowledge based workforces. Jamaica, as an example, recognized that the BPO industry provides a chance to eradicate poverty and increase the country’s standard of living.
The Honorable Karl Samuda, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, is aggressively seeking BPO and ICT companies to bring jobs to Jamaica and is working with the community colleges, the national investment promotion agency, Jamaica Trade and Invest (JTI/Jampro) and local developers to make …
