Analysis: Reporting and Expertise for Digital Decision-Makers

R&D investment has been identified as a major factor in the success of the tech industry’s innovation ecosystems. With several Latin American cities claiming to be the region’s equivalent of Silicon Valley, one would assume that R&D investment holds an… Read More »

Jamaica keeps gaining ground over other geos in the race to become a top player in the global services sector (GSS), thanks in great part to its population’s inherent soft skills. Nearshore Americas’ latest white paper dives deep into the… Read More »

The sudden changes in working and sourcing models spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic promised to transform the global services industry. With a couple years of hindsight, it can be stated that the shift hasn’t been as radical as expected. Sourcing… Read More »

Costa Rica has effectively excluded Chinese companies from bidding on local 5G network contracts, citing concerns about cybersecurity and following a meeting between President Rodrigo Chaves and President Joe Biden in Washington. President Chaves signed a decree which establishes that… Read More »

Historic change is underway in the IT consulting field. The latest wave of tech innovation –spearheaded by ML/AI, cloud computing and IoT, among other trends– has pushed businesses into a mad scramble towards the transformation of their processes, operations and,… Read More »

Uruguay has formally laid the groundwork to attract foreign tech talent. The country’s parliament enacted a law to provide tax incentives to foreign IT workers who settle in its territory. Uruguay, whose IT services industry generated US$1.95 billion in revenue… Read More »

Atento, one of Latin America’s largest providers of CRM and BPO services, announced its delisting from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in late July 2023, after its market capitalization fell below US$15 million over a 30-day period. Atento’s delisting… Read More »

Chile stands out as one of the most politically stable and socially developed countries in Latin America. It tends to perform strongly within the Americas in global indexes which rank government transparency, tech development and R&D.  Many of Chile’s qualities… Read More »

Caribbean nations are doubling their efforts to attract foreign investment. One of the keys to achieve this goal is to successfully prepare and upskill the local workforce. However, attracting foreign talent is also a natural next step for any country… Read More »

Attracting and retaining talent remains a key challenge for BPO companies as the industry continues to face high levels of attrition. This problem affects the operational core of a business as it makes it incapable to develop robust institutional memory,… Read More »

Automation seems to have taken hold of the imaginations of most people in the business world. Thanks to the advent of generative AI, this year has been dominated by fantasies of how automation technologies will revolutionize the ways in which… Read More »

The Mexican peso (MXN) has been gaining ground in the currency markets over the past couple months, eating into the profits of service exporters who tend to negotiate cross-border contracts in US dollars. The Mexican peso began the year being… Read More »

As part of his plan to turn El Salvador into Central America’s next hot destination for tech, President Nayib Bukele promulgated a law which provides handsome tax exemptions for new IT investments.  The new law has made a lot of… Read More »

In IT, change occurs much faster than in other industries. Since the 1950s, when the first commercial general-purpose digital computer was built, the speed and power of central processing units (CPUs) have been doubling approximately every two years. These increases… Read More »

Over the past couple years, something big has been cooking between India and Mexico; something that might lead to stronger trade ties between both economies and fan the flames of Mexico’s growth in IT services exports.  Mexico and India are… Read More »

Compliance has turned into an increasingly relevant yet complicated issue in the services sector. As  business operations become more interconnected, carving a truly global marketplace, governments the world over pay more attention to what’s happening beyond their territories. Compliance has… Read More »

Brazil is Latin America’s biggest tech market, and São Paulo remains the most popular and vibrant hub of IT activity in the country. And yet, macroeconomic pressures, plus São Paulo’s high price tag, are turning smaller, less-solicited Brazilian cities into… Read More »

There’s an awakening taking place in the tech sector of Central America. Historically regarded in the US mainly as a source of migrants, the region is gaining traction as a spot where companies can shop for IT services and find… Read More »

As the demand for IT and global services continues to surge, companies are being pressured to compete in a challenging battle for talent and operational efficiency to survive in a fierce and always-changing market. The concept of nearshoring has emerged… Read More »

Teleperformance is making larger bets on India, pointing to a plan to turn the country into one of the company’s certpieces in its global operations. Company leadership confirmed big plans for expansion in India, where it aims to add 60,000… Read More »

Lately, Nearshore custom software partners are having a tough time keeping their software engineers away from “the bench”.  A host of macroeconomic pressures have resulted in a downturn in business for several providers of IT services, both Onshore and Nearshore.… Read More »

Keeping pace with advances in healthcare is no cakewalk. Healthcare providers throughout the world try to use the best technologies and drugs available to heal their patients. However, hospital administrators and medical professionals spend a lot of time also on… Read More »

With compliance becoming more present in corporate discourse, companies should be on the lookout for inappropriate or outright corrupt business practices when operating in any territory, including the Nearshore. Yet, it must be underscored that business integrity is a two-way… Read More »

Like several other players in the BPO space, TELUS International (a Nexus Illuminate Award winner) is going through a period of change that has the potential to transform not only the company, but the industry as a whole. Nearshore Americas… Read More »

CX providers keep trying to balance attempts at offering the best value for their clients while remaining nimble and creative enough to be adaptable in the industry’s ever-changing terrain.  Though the relationship between CX vendors and the Nearshore has been… Read More »

The Nearshore is rich in resources, both natural and human. US companies have known this for years, and their awareness of the fact has resulted in a steady flow of talent (both temporary and potentially permanent) from Latin America and… Read More »

SoftServe’s 30th anniversary is a landmark achievement, to be sure. But as the company celebrates three decades since its launch in Lviv (Ukraine), it also looks back at the first 365 days of its most recent venture: Latin America. SoftServe… Read More »

A shortage of traditional higher-education institutions and the opportunities presented by the IT industry seem to be pushing Mexican students towards online universities —which are smaller and less known— to get computer science degrees. What’s happening?: In Mexico, the two… Read More »

Central America is making taller and taller waves in the global business stage. Historically passed over in favor of more popular regions, Central America has been garnering more credibility as a source for high quality service delivery, sophisticated tech talent… Read More »

Remote work is here to stay, but not in the ways predicted a couple years ago. As the COVID-19 pandemic fades into bitter memory, many of the changes that it brought to the labor market have had enough time either… Read More »

Competition in the Mexican market among CX firms and tech services providers is becoming brutal.  In the last two years, Mexico has emerged as a star within nearshore markets, with firms like Concentrix, Globant, Syras and Webhelp recently expanding operations… Read More »

Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to revolutionize workflows in most industries, with software development being one of the activities in which the technology’s prospects are already taking shape.  Faced with the threat of labor shortages, coding factories have spent the past… Read More »

Nevermind the exorbitant salaries. The IT industry’s fast pace and high stress environment is taking a heavy toll on the mental health of many tech executives, pushing a significant portion of them into subtance abuse as a coping mechanism. A… Read More »

The abduction and grueling assassination of a group of call center agents in Mexico has put the country under the international spotlight once more, reviving the conversation around Mexico’s high levels of insecurity and its faulty implementation of rule of… Read More »

After decades of speculation in scientific journals, laboratories and science fiction yarns, it seems like AI has finally arrived. Yet, are businesses ready to harness the power of those “self-taught” and “self-thinking” solutions? To close Nexus 2023, NSAM gathered a… Read More »

Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) have revolutionized the way businesses operate across various industries. This article dives deep into the best practices, challenges and solutions for ML projects, sharing expertise and experience to help your business thrive.  These… Read More »

BPO pricing for domestic services from the US seems to have hit a wall. Meanwhile, Nearshore rates have been steadily climbing since the start of the Covid-19 period. With rumblings of saturation encircling the most popular and tried Nearshore locations,… Read More »

Compliance. Social responsibility. Impact sourcing. ESG. The business world seems to have grown a more concerned conscience over the past decade, resulting in global efforts to turn companies into something more benevolent than mere money-making machines. In spite of those… Read More »

The mad race to capitalize on the potential of generative AI has been going on for months. In the Nearshore, service providers have been experimenting with the technology’s capabilities to provide value to their customers as well as to improve… Read More »

The term “usability” qualifies the ease of use of a product or a system. It is measured by factors such as learnability, efficiency, error rate and utility for the intended job functions. If products or systems do not check all… Read More »

The Mexico-US border has for decades been a hot button issue which catalyzes some of the most passionate discussions about politics, economics and culture. Yet, as the debate rages on, the inhabitants of Monterrey (Nuevo Leon, Mexico) and Austin (Texas)… Read More »

Much has been said about artificial intelligence’s (AI) potential to catalyze the next “great leap forward” in humanity’s technological and productive capabilities. Yet, not enough has been discussed about what the technology could do for regions like Latin America and… Read More »

Nearshore Americas’ is proud to present the first-ever Nearshore Value Index (NVI), a tool designed to calibrate Nearshore destinations according to the value those locations deliver. The NVI was officially unveiled during Nexus 2023 and, going forward, will be updated… Read More »

Artificial intelligence (AI) is once again making a mark on the global stage following the release of OpenAI’s GPT-4, a particularly advanced chatbot, late last year. Its arrival generated mixed opinions. While some celebrated the milestone in the evolution of… Read More »

“For AI, we’re all in from day one, baby. That’s what’s different; it’s an equalizer.” Such were the words of Richie Etwaru, CEO and Founder of spatial AI firm Mobeus, who kick-started Nexus 2023’s conference cycle with a keynote speech… Read More »

In the sound and fury that spurs from the conversations about the futures that could be enabled by AI, a thought stands out for its optimism about the technology: what if AI turns out to be the great equalizer at… Read More »

In the midst of a business landscape that turns more challenging and surprising by the day, the Nearshore remains resilient not only in its value offering, but in its disruptive power.  In that context, NSAM proudly honored the winners of… Read More »

Cloud computing has revolutionized how the world does business. With distributed data storage and shared resources in multiple data centers, organizations and end users now enjoy immense capabilities. Businesses can scale affordably and powerfully, accessing applications and resources globally through… Read More »

Guyana-born innovator and tech entrepreneur, Richie Etwaru, will serve as keynote speaker at Nexus 2023, taking place June 14-15th, just outside New York City. A self-described “humble technology enthusiast”, Richie Etwaru has made groundbreaking contributions to the fields of Immersive… Read More »

In the face of talent shortages, several IT providers have opted to build a university of their own. The strategy allows for direct access to a fresh crop of tech graduates, while ensuring that their skill set is market-relevant out… Read More »

A digital buzz is growing louder in Monterrey, Mexico’s premier manufacturing town. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) opened its first office in Monterrey, the capital city of Mexico’s northern state of Nuevo Leon. Though this is TCS’s ninth office in the… Read More »

Providers of nearshore services, as well as regional governments, have been suddenly pushed into an upskilling race with AI.  With the technology being integrated into more service portfolios, portions of the workforce in the region will find themselves not only… Read More »

The AI train is gaining momentum, and the pressure to jump on board grows more intense by the day. Unfortunately, the urgency of the situation might lead some companies to fall flat on their faces as they race against the… Read More »

At the very core of decision-making and business performance, lies data quality.  When a company’s fundamental data is unreliable, of poor quality or just plain incorrect, even the best technologies and most accomplished professionals will struggle, potentially making catastrophic errors.… Read More »

You’ve been successfully hit by a ransomware attack. What do you do? Assuming you decide to pay ransom –a choice that, at least in the Americas, remains covered in shades of gray–,  it’s likely that you’ll call a ransomware negotiator.… Read More »

For companies, tax codes can be one of the most intimidating factors when assessing whether to jump into the Latin American market. The diversity of tax systems in the region, plus language and cultural barriers, can turn a process which… Read More »

Tech expertise is gaining luster in the eyes of companies interested in outsourcing IT operations to nearshore/offshore territories, changing the dynamics of a market driven for decades by lower labor costs. The numbers: 60% of companies surveyed by Bain &… Read More »

After years of turmoil, the office real estate market in Colombia is undergoing unavoidable changes. Once remote work trends took hold in the country, office real estate had to react fast. Company (and employee) preferences changed quickly, heralding a transformation… Read More »

The resources of the planet are being stretched beyond all limits despite the focus on sustainable business practices. The climate crisis continues to loom large, and resources are getting scarcer. It’s no longer considered enough to practice sustainability, which is… Read More »

The team at Nearshore Americas is proud to announce the launch of the Nearshore Location Value Index, the industry’s first robust analysis of technology services’ destinations in the Nearshore specifically crafted to measure cost vs. value. The top 20 locations… Read More »

The Costa Rican government has taken the shocking step of halting funding for CINDE –the country’s national investment promotion agency – in a move that deliberately signals the government’s growing uneasiness with relying on FDI from the United States to… Read More »

BPO providers find themselves in a mad scramble to properly understand and implement the latest AI tools, with generative AI being at the forefront of their priorities.  The state of things: For months, BPO vendors have been experimenting with the… Read More »

There’s a lot of noise surrounding generative AI, and few are the voices out there attempting to bring nuance to the many conversations about the technology’s role in human activity.  One of those few voices belongs to Joe Procopio, a… Read More »

Acquisitions are nothing new to the global CX industry, but two mega mergers announced over the past month have triggered an unusual amount of indigestion.  Four of the biggest fish in the CX pond agreed to pair their businesses and… Read More »

Technology has been advantageous to organizations in many ways, but few compare to the transformative power that data presents.  Big data that allows businesses to turn numbers into actionable insights is a veritable game changer. It is no surprise that… Read More »

It’s been a couple months since Elon Musk confirmed his plans for a Tesla mega-factory in Monterrey, but the announcement is still making waves in the Mexican city, located a couple hours away from the Texas border. Expectations are flying… Read More »

Colombia and Chile have officially taken an axe to their respective work weeks, following a trend that seems to be taking hold in some European territories and showing signs of a groundswell in Latin America. On April 11, the Chilean… Read More »

Managing tail spend is usually compared to searching for a needle in a chaotic haystack. Nevertheless, the openings that tail spend management offers for procurement opportunities lend themselves to a more positive comparison: a gold mine which, if worked properly,… Read More »

The global inflation crisis placed additional strain on supply chain networks. Rising input costs have exerted significant pressure on margins; supply chains are breaking down, increasing inefficiencies, thereby increasing costs. As a result, business leaders need to plan their strategies… Read More »

The heart of El Salvador’s entrepreneurial community weighs heavy with grief due to the sudden loss of Darwin Romero, Co-Founder of Applaudo Studios and one of the country’s most promising young businessmen.  Romero, 40, died in a car crash last… Read More »

Content moderation has grown into such a hot button issue over the last several years that some BPOs have decided to abandon ship before the flames catch up to them. Given the size of the investments and the levels of… Read More »

While politicians squabble over hot-button issues surrounding the Mexico-US border, business keeps booming in the so-called “Cali-Baja” mega region, blurring the dividing line between the states of California and Baja California. Few places embody the Nearshore mentality like the Cali-Baja… Read More »

Mexico keeps making waves internationally. The COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions as well as geopolitical tensions are pushing for a “Made in Mexico” label at the center of global supply chains. During 2022, foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country increased by… Read More »

Something’s cooking in the Caribbean. Something big and difficult to ignore. With years of economic turmoil on its back and, apparently, a couple more ahead, the global services sector (GSS) is still reconfiguring its delivery strategies. Big and mid-sized companies… Read More »

At this very moment, the Nearshore is living in a ‘golden age’, says Nearshore Americas’ founder and chief analyst, Kirk Laughlin, in a recent podcast interview with Michele Marius, publisher and editor of ICT Pulse, a Caribbean-based online blog and… Read More »

There’s much to know about Mexico’s tech capabilities and the country’s potential to progress further in its role as an IT powerhouse in Latin America. Nearshore Americas’ most recent special report showcases the bona fides of Mexico’s IT services and… Read More »

When assessing Latin America’s tech labor market, Mexico and Brazil stand head and shoulders above the rest of the region due to the sheer size of their workforces. Both countries have been able to leverage their positions as the two… Read More »

Data is driving everything. Although HR departments have yet to catch up entirely, the emergence of people analytics is pushing recruitment towards more tech and data-driven practices, allowing companies to chip away at the biases embedded in their hiring processes.… Read More »

Beyond the hassle and the unwanted media attention, cyberattacks can be quite costly for BPOs. Cybersecurity is a growing concern for practically all industries. BPOs, though, find themselves among the most vulnerable targets. A report by cybersec vendor SentinelOne pointed… Read More »

All businesses have one primary concern. Irrespective of whether you own the business or are a key stakeholder, you will be focused on revenue generation and all it entails. When all attention is given to bringing in new customers and… Read More »

Monterrey’s been visited recently by some of the biggesst companies in the tech business. Heavy players such as Google and Meta are frequenting the city (located in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon), leaving with bagfuls of freshly graduated programmers… Read More »

Wizeline has been sending its software engineers back to school to participate in a different kind of learning. The tech services vendor recently opened a new in-premises office within the Monterrey (one of Mexico’s top tech cities) campus of Tec… Read More »

For foreign investors, it seems like criminality comes with the territory when operating in Latin America. In spite of the region’s heavily publicized shortcomings when it comes to managing crime and corruption, investment from all corners of the world continues… Read More »

Coaching is a term usually associated with sports. The role of a sports coach is straightforward; it is to enable athletes to reach their full potential. This concept can be adapted for the corporate world with leaders playing the role… Read More »

Sooner or later, the so-called “Amazon Effect” had to make its way into the BPO industry.  Amazon has been using its big dog status to strong-arm offshore and nearshore BPO partners into using LanguaTest, an English proficiency testing tool from… Read More »

The tsunami of layoffs in the United States’ tech industry has altered the job market once more. Whether the changes are for better or worse depends on who you’re asking, but the fact remains: the sands keep shifting, and all… Read More »

A decade ago, Carlos Vela-Treviño stepped into a legal firm, about to start a job as a young IT lawyer in Mexico. His colleagues were welcoming, yet ill-informed.  “They thought I was a computer technician; someone who does repairs”, Vela-Treviño,… Read More »

It’s widely accepted that Agile software development can deliver significant customer value while providing an engaging and rewarding experience for the team. Twenty plus years after its implementation, the questions remain: what is Agile, really, and where do Agile frameworks… Read More »

A robust workforce with solid English fluency is a core requirement of all non-native English speaking destinations. Companies and governments in the region know this and have spent years scrambling to upskill local populations in that direction. The results, unfortunately,… Read More »

It finally happened. CrossConnect Forum is in the books, and new paths are already opening for the trade of tech services between Europe and the Caribbean and Latin America region (CALA). With the participation of over 20 industry experts and… Read More »

The global services industry is no stranger to witnessing the social and economic impacts of client operations in major delivery hotspots. India, the Philippines, Costa Rica and other countries have seen entire communities given a shot at upward mobility thanks… Read More »

A new vision and a day for transatlantic global business connections emerged yesterday at CrossConnect Forum, a conference launched by the Nearshore Americas team that highlighted the vast opportunities for digital business partnerships.  Over 20 industry experts painted a bullish… Read More »

Pressures keep mounting for CIOs and other C-suite executives as they try to maintain a balance between in-house development of technological capabilities and organizational needs for third-party expertise. The winds of technological change blow with increasing fury, giving businesses no… Read More »

Have you ever had an experience with a business where everything just seemed to click? Perhaps a restaurant with delicious food and friendly staff, or a store with helpful employees and tailor-made products that made your shopping experience a breeze? … Read More »

A lot has been said about the Nearshore’s appeal as a provider of IT services for the US market, but details are often lost in those general statements. The Nearshore is a vast and diverse region, a fact that is… Read More »

We’ve only glimpsed the potential business and societal applications of blockchain. Though some of blockchain’s most wide-spread implementations have yet to get regulators and the general public on board, enthusiasts of this technology won’t give up on its promises. Innovative… Read More »

Automation is inching its way into Jamaica. With it come hopes for the economic future of the island, but also the urgency to upskill its workforce, particularly the women, before the impact of technology is felt too severely in the… Read More »

The Sutherland v Sitel trial is no more, officially putting to rest years of a courtroom battle between two of the biggest names in the BPO industry. All parties involved in Sutherland Global Services Inc. v Sengupta et al agreed… Read More »

It’s been over six months since part-time jobs were effectively outlawed in Honduras. Although short, the time has been rough for BPOs, which to this day find themselves scrambling for ways to stay afloat. “We had to get creative”, said… Read More »

A rumbling can be heard across the Atlantic.  In the midst of the so-called “permacrisis”, businesses have grown aware of the need to diversify operations. Relying on a single or even a handful of locations to support business operations proved… Read More »

When the CEO of a unicorn mortgage lender startup fired 900 of his employees over a zoom call with several trailing expletives, the corporate world united in deriding his methods. Amidst the upheaval caused and the media glare, the distanced… Read More »

The legal fees and paperwork keep piling up for BPOs, which seem to be having a rough time shielding their systems from cybercriminals.  Over the past couple years, several BPO vendors have found themselves embroiled in PR firestorms and lawsuits… Read More »

It’s no secret that tech wages across the Americas vary considerably. But how wide is that gap? The following infographic means to illustrate how much average tech salaries differ throughout the US, Canada and several Latin American countries. Built on… Read More »

Roughly ten years ago, there was a widely held belief that the authority wielded by the Chief Information Officer was starting to shrink. Much of this was a result of the ascendancy of the Chief Digital Officer, idealized at the… Read More »

It all began innocently enough; with an infographic. A small corner of social media bubbled with controversy after data visualizer Latinometrics published a graph which illustrates the relationship between English proficiency among Latin American countries and their nearness to the US. … Read More »

After five years of honeymooning, Amazon and Costa Rica have finally reached a rough patch. Amazon was forced to hit the brakes in its aggressive expansion campaign in Costa Rica, which had resulted in a constant flow of foreign investment… Read More »

The road to green software is no highway; it’s long, bumpy and easy to abandon. Nevertheless, those who champion sustainable business practices see it as a necessary path to take if private enterprise is truly committed to bring positive change,… Read More »

A recent reform in Mexico’s labor law granted employees a considerable increase in their guaranteed paid vacation time, providing a much needed victory for workers’ rights in the country. For employers, unfortunately, that triumph will most probably increase their labor… Read More »

Managing a global payroll is no easy task, but someone has to do it.  In the age of remote work and the internationalization of the hunt for talent, companies that provide employer of record (EOR) services have to find their… Read More »

“The reality is that we are not being honest as a society.” Such were the words of Nana Baffour –Chairman, CEO and Chief Culture Officer of Qintess– when asked about the dynamics of positive social change and profit-driven enterprise.   “There’s… Read More »

Foreign investors are so dead set on their Mexican bets that not even explosions of cartel violence are enough to scare them into running away from the table, chips in hand.   Mexico began 2023 under the international spotlight when Culiacan,… Read More »

The clear blue skies once shining on Colombia’s tech industry have disappeared. In spite of the optimism generated by a post-COVID acceleration in the sector’s exports and overall revenue, a combination of economic fears for 2023 and the arrival of… Read More »

Brazilian President Lula da Silva has effectively blocked segments of the country’s upcoming digital education policy in what’s been seen as an attempt to free federal funds for his government’s expensive social welfare programs. Lula signed Brazil’s latest digital education… Read More »

Nearshore Americas, in tandem with IT solutions firm Zigatta, has released a new white paper which offers an in-depth look at the wealth of tech talent across Latin America. Titled “The State of Nearshore Digital Talent,” the document provides details… Read More »

The tech industry is one of accelerated and never-ending growth, where anyone who owns a company of any sort could be in need of IT talent. According to a McKinsey study published last year, significant skill gaps in seven IT… Read More »

Firms from the UK and other European countries seem to be unaware of the tech explosion that’s been happening on LATAM and the Caribbean. That unawareness could cost them dearly.

During Jampro’s Invest Jamaica 2022 event, a panel of finance industry representatives and Jamaican government officials discussed the state of Jamaica’s financial sector

Another fruitful year has gone by for the Nearshore. In spite of the so-called “permacrisis” that stretched throughout 2022 –or maybe because of it–  investors kept betting on the region, which managed to hold on to its reputation as a… Read More »

The year 2023 is already here. What can the Nearshore expect from it? Economic headwinds, a shifting political culture in Latin America and the continuing evolution of work-from-home represent some of the more obvious trends. But in this case, our… Read More »

IDB Invest (the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank) put Jamaica on the map of green investors in an attempt to push the island to new heights.  James Scriven, CEO of IDB Invest, sang Jamaica’s praises in a… Read More »

The year 2022 was one of tough lessons.  As the world around the Nearshore shifts drastically, the region grows more popular as a destination for investment and as a source of top talent. All that change brings with itself new… Read More »

The industry of global digital services is one of the fastest growing in Jamaica. According to JamPro’s numbers, the industry achieved a local revenue of US$700 million in 2020 and boasts the highest growth in employment rate of any industry… Read More »

In a year of shake-ups for Latin America, Colombia stands out as one of the countries that felt most shaken. Following months of mass protests against former President Ivan Duque’s policies, the country elected Gustavo Petro as its next head… Read More »

Blind trust is rarely, if ever, good company policy. Especially when it comes to cybersecurity certifications. As the world grows technologically sophisticated, so does cybercrime. The post-COVID tidal wave of digitalization processes among companies, governments and other sorts of organizations… Read More »

Jamaica’s on the road to becoming a regional business process outsourcing (BPO) hub. But there’s still work to be done before the Caribbean island can claim that achievement. The case was put forth by Jaime Granados, Chief of the Trade… Read More »

Sometimes bizarre regulatory requirements and complicated socio-political terrain has failed to slow down Nearshore landings over the last year. Some of the Nearshore’s most popular locations found themselves ranked atop TMF Group’s latest Global Business Complexity Index, a report that… Read More »

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is celebrating 20 years of operations in Latin America. The company landed in the southernmost corner of the region, launching in Uruguay back in 2002. Today, it has offices in 16 Latin American cities throughout nine… Read More »

The Hispanic market is one of the fastest and strongest-growing in the US, and its momentum is expected to continue over the coming decades. Nevertheless,the same can’t be said about one of its defining characteristics: speaking Spanish. As of 2020,… Read More »

What’s in a job title? Apparently, less than those who hold them would like to believe. Job titles are a staple of business and corporate culture. They are used to identify someone’s place and responsibilities within an organization, while also… Read More »

Costa Rica added another name in the growing list of US companies who have chosen the Central American country as its home for Nearshore tech and business operations. The motivation to chose Costa Rica is not typical however.  Fashion clothing… Read More »

The outlook for economic growth in Latin America has darkened, and unease around global economic turmoil is strangling investment in the region’s startup ecosystem. Yet, nearshore investment hasn’t lost any of its shine in the eyes of foreign investors. Regional… Read More »

The Merida sun shines strong and bright against the crystal structure of Torre Indico, Webhelp’s latest project in the city and the first step in what aims to be an agressive plan of expansión in the Mexican market. Opened in… Read More »

With rich history and culture, exceptional food, pristine beaches and majestic mountains, Puerto Rico’s a quintessential Caribbean paradise. But looking closer you will find a different side to this paradise: a robust, modern entrepreneurial and IT services ecosystem burgeoning as… Read More »

After a couple years of pandemic-related pressures, will US-based call centers finally catch a break? The customer service industry has not been exempt from the constant poundings provided by inflation over the past few years. In a business where wages… Read More »

Government is not exempt from the wave of digital transformation sweeping the world, and tech entrepreneurs like Paola Santana have taken notice. Santana is the CEO and Co-Founder of Glass, a digital marketplace for government purchases that aims to transform… Read More »

Nearshore tech outsourcing is a people-driven business, and one of the most uncomfortable realities of the industry is that customers can be nasty people too.  For Nearshore staffing firms and providers of IT talent, servicing a customer that is being… Read More »

Former diplomat Carmen Cecilia Caballero Villa was named President of ProColombia, Colombia’s federal investment promotion agency (IPA) and a key player in the country’s FDI strategy. Caballero, who previously worked as Consul General in Spain, takes over as the country… Read More »

As big as it is, not even The Walt Disney Company can ignore the mounting pressures that have been pushing businesses worldwide towards digital transformation. Such was the message delivered by Bob Iger, Disney’s former CEO and one of the… Read More »

Though hybrid and work-from-home (WFH) delivery models are seen increasingly as the “new normal” of the CX industry, they are driving a wedge between buyers and providers. Both sides of the negotiating table are clashing over the actual costs of… Read More »

The Nearshore industry has grown rapidly in the last few years. With the pandemic and the dramatic expansion of digitally-driven industries, demand for outsourced customer services has only increased. We’ve seen the value of the global outsourcing industry climb and companies… Read More »

Buyers of customer experience (CX) services find their backs inching closer to the wall. After the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic, they now face the pressures of increasing demand for customer support, rising inflation and the tough waters of a… Read More »

The past decade has been one of bonanza for India’s exports of outsourced software and business services.  The country’s export revenue from IT/BPO services grew almost three-fold over the pat 10 years, jumping from US$62 billion in 2012 to US$156… Read More »

The court ruling against Uber’s former security chief over the cover-up of a 2016 data breach is the talk of town in cybersecurity circles. In Latin America’s corner of the cybersec world, though, the conversation has been more reflexive and… Read More »

It is increasingly evident that fatter paychecks won’t solve the alarmingly high churn rates in the global customer experience (CX) industry.  As demand keeps climbing and the market pushes towards improved performance at the same or lower costs, CX vendors… Read More »

Promoting foreign investment requires more than getting investors to open their wallets. The process demands ongoing care, transparency and a constant flow of pertinent, useful information. NSAM had the opportunity to speak with Vanessa Gibson, Director of Investment Climate at… Read More »

Panama is getting a renewed shot at becoming a hotspot in the Nearshore business process outsourcing (BPO) ecosystem.  Panama is known today among BPO operators as one of the most mature markets in the region. The Central American country garnered… Read More »

At the Clinton Global Initiative September 2022 meeting, former President Bill Clinton recognized research firm Everest Group’s pledge to grow the global impact sourcing market from its current level of 350,000 full time employees (FTEs) to half a million in… Read More »

When Unilever launched a dishwashing brand that used a water-conserving technique to develop it, total sales of its entire “eco-friendly” category outpaced other brands in its portfolio. In the same vein, Finland’s leading petroleum-refining company, Neste, changed tracks to renewable… Read More »

Libertad Digital, one of the main promoters of digital skills programs in the Dominican Republic, is gearing up to add much needed fresh talent to the country’s tech workforce over the next couple years. But several questions surround the program’s… Read More »

The Europeans are coming, and with them, an acceleration in the CALA-Euro sourcing connection. Though already attractive to potential clients hailing from the Old Continent, Latin American and Caribbean (CALA) countries are glowing with even brighter light in the eyes… Read More »

In August of this year, the US-based fintech firm American First Finance opened a new site in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The move was not unique. As Jamaica keeps experiencing sustained growth in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector, announcements of… Read More »

India’s tech capital is drowning. After being hit by flooding rainfall, the city of Bangalore –which houses local offices of tech giants such as Google, Wipro, Cisco, SAP and Infosys– turned into a watery disaster zone, underlining the rising risk… Read More »

Recent studies have suggested that labor inflation for tech talent is only going to get worse, with demand far outstripping supply in the coming years. But is this a reasonable assumption, given that we may be looking down the barrel… Read More »

The odds might not favor Sitel Group in the next chapter of its legal battle with Sutherland Global Services, which accused the former of allegedly stealing confidential company information and using it to obtain business with at least one major… Read More »

Beauty and comfort can go a long way in many contexts, including the hunt for qualified workers. Pfizer’s aware of this and has made it part of its workforce strategy to fill-up its newest Costa Rican facilities.  The pharmaceutical giant… Read More »

Worldwide, automation use cases are spreading rapidly across various industries and sectors, with sensor-based technologies playing a fundamental role in enhancing the reach of automation. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is one of the most promising sensor-based technologies for the… Read More »

Even though the world is walking deeper into its own digital creations, the fact remains: the real world is out there too, and it still holds a strong influence over its virtual counterpart. David R. Bell (international bestselling author, former… Read More »

Sutherland Global Services and Sitel Operating Corporation –two of the biggest players in the global BPO industry– are gearing up for a trial over alleged claims of stolen trade secrets and the loss of at least one major client potentially worth… Read More »

Uruguay might be a relatively small player in a land of giants, but the country is gaining fame and momentum in Latin America’s technology landscape. Nearshore Americas had the opportunity to chat with Carlos Acle, President of Uruguay’s Tech Industry… Read More »

The years keep piling up, and the tech world hasn’t been able to escape the stranglehold of its talent crisis. At Nexus 2022, a group of tech executives discussed what their respective companies have been doing to tackle the issue… Read More »

“We’ve never had an expat run a country operation. We’ve never relocated somebody from the US”, said Raul Vega, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Auxis, a Nearshore outsourcing and consulting firm that has been gaining more and more traction with… Read More »

What can be said about the risk of investment in the Nearshore? Economist and tech specialist Anthony Porter spoke to NSAM at Nexus 2022 about risk and opportunity for investors in the Nearshore: from the availability of talent to the… Read More »

BPO and ITO service providers are now spoiled for choices when it comes to their delivery options. From a traditional office setup, to full-on remote and a wealth of hybrid models, companies face more diversity than ever when deciding how… Read More »

The age of the digital nomads is upon us, and governments throughout the world are jumping at the opportunity of attracting working, travel-starved foreigners with disposable income into their shores. Latin American and Caribbean countries are now involved in a… Read More »

Things are moving fast in the CX space. With the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic apparently behind us, the world is still adapting to new, and more flexible work models, catching up with the impact of tech transformation and dealing… Read More »

What’s the value of college degrees, really? For many IT employers, the answer is “less than we initially thought”. In an attempt to deal with an increasingly tight job market, and realizing that they can find skilled software engineers outside… Read More »

How well are Nearshore partners positioned to propel the digital transformation of their clients? NSAM had a one-on-one at Nexus 2022 with Rajeev Gupta, Nearshore LATAM Head and Mexico Country Head at TCS, on topics such as software and language… Read More »

Scope creep is one of the many realities faced by development teams working in the Nearshore. Whether it is avoidable or not can be debated, but the fact remains: your feet will be stuck in the muck of it if… Read More »

As the landscape changes, site location becomes even more relevant for Nearshore operations. At Nexus 2022, a panel of experts conformed by Jeff Pappas (Managing Director at Mohr Partners), Sakshi Garg (VP at Everest Group) and Kaye Greenidge (CEO at… Read More »

Each year, the international education company Education First EF (EF) publishes its English Proficiency Index, which ranks more than 100 countries based on the English skills of their populations. Several leading organizations such as Statista constantly use and replicate this… Read More »

Nowports is a supply chain-oriented Latin American startup which only recently achieved Unicorn status. The company has found itself in the midst of a media cyclone over its fundraising success. In a context of high inflation, dovish venture capital firms,… Read More »

In late June, Google announced a US$2 million investment that aims to develop female tech talent in Mexico’s southeast, a region that has been historically marginalized, lagging behind in economic growth. The investment –implemented through the Google Career Certificate program… Read More »

Technology and innovation have become crucial tools to navigate a world that moves faster than ever and is more connected than ever on several levels. Two tech experts –Rajeev Gupta, Head of the Nearshore/Latin America region and Mexico Country Head… Read More »

In a mood to change the curtains? Remembered an important birthday a tad too late? Or simply forgot to order groceries? Nth-hour shopping panic has never been so peaceful thanks to the convenient next-day and 10-minute deliveries. The real action,… Read More »

While some of the biggest names in tech are freezing hirings, slowing them down or outright laying off part of their engineering teams, firms in Latin America are gearing up for a battle of open wallets in an attempt to… Read More »

Everyone’s dealing with the IT talent crisis, but there are options available to deal with it. At Nexus 2022, Ashish Patel, Founder and CEO at Simpat Tech, shared his outlook for the IT talent landscape in the Nearshore in the… Read More »

As the corporate world seems to grow more careful about its social and environmental impacts, several companies are going the extra mile to align themselves with the ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria of potential investors. In the business process… Read More »

These are times of high risk, and investors are understandably extra careful when approaching new territories in search of investment prospects. During Nexus 2022, Felipe Brito, Partner at CI&T, spoke openly about the challenges faced by the Nearshore and delivered… Read More »

Coders and showbiz may sound like a strange match, but that’s one of the latest bets in Latin America to promote software development and drive the topic of global demand for tech talent into the living rooms of television viewers.… Read More »

Less than a 150 mile drive from Guadalajara –one of Mexico’s most well known and successful tech hubs– there’s Colima, a small state with big hopes for its future as the country’s next technological sensation. Colima, with a population of… Read More »

A new generation of entrepreneurs is making its way and leaving its mark in the business ecosystem, bringing to the table fresh ideas on what being a successful company (and person) actually means. A trio of top tech executives (Andrea… Read More »

Guadalajara’s top tech executives are going back to school. Jalisco’s Institute of Information Technologies (known as Ijalti) launched this year a PhD program designed for the top executives in one of Mexico’s most successful and prolific tech clusters. The program… Read More »

As the IT services industry grows more competitive by the day, top players have managed to differentiate themselves and rise above the rest through a combination of their capability to innovate with their products and business approaches, keeping a focus… Read More »

As more eyes look to the Nearshore, potential partners in the region need to step-up their game in order to become more attractive and gain advantages over the competition, which grows fiercer every day. Peter Ryan (President and Principal Analyst… Read More »

The Mexican government has big plans in mind for nearshoring in the country, but they could run afoul due to a poor performance in English skills. Mexico’s Ministry of Finance and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced in early July… Read More »

Although it’s already a source of quality partners and IT talent, the Nearshore region is still evolving. During a Q&A session at Nexus 2022, Issam Gharios (VP of Software at Highres Biosolutions) provided his thoughts on the continued development of… Read More »

Artificial intelligence (AI) arrived on the scene with a promise of radical change for a wide array of industries. CX is not the exception. Speaking to NSAM during Nexus 2022, Yoni Epstein –Founder and CEO at itel– shared his views… Read More »

The popularity of global outsourcing has grown over the past couple years, and it seems that it will grow even further thanks in part to the darkening economic horizon. Nevertheless, many companies still have trouble getting the hang of it,… Read More »

There’s a steady flow of businesses migrating data and processes to the cloud, while many others are being born with cloud-native strategies already adopted into their model. Nevertheless, there’s still much to do and many questions remain unanswered. What’s the… Read More »

Even when they consider it to be a crucial tool for optimization and even radical change in their processes and business model, the truth is that companies still have a tough time figuring out the true weight and relevance of… Read More »

The effects of a recent cyberattack on the government of Costa Rica have already reached the country’s private companies, adding pressure to federal authorities and underlining the ever-growing risks of vulnerable government systems. Several companies operating in Costa Rica were… Read More »

Timing is crucial for investment anywhere, but waiting for the exact moment to make a perfect shot might actually kill your possibilities for making the best out of your bet. Same logic applies for Nearshore investment. Latin America and the… Read More »

From 2005 to 2020, Luis Alberto Moreno led the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the largest source of development financing to Latin American and Caribbean countries. With that wealth of experience under his belt —plus several years as Minister of Economic… Read More »

In the midst of heavier capital expenditures, rising demand, a mad race to hire tech talent in low supply and the alarm bells of economic turmoil going off in the United States, companies have grown interested in low-code and no-code… Read More »

Over the last couple years, artificial intelligence (AI) has grown more and more relevant in the agendas and the budgets of companies on the verge of digital transformation. In a recent survey done by Baker McKenzie, 43% of responding firms… Read More »

Things are heating up in the mad scramble for software engineers in the Nearshore. Lately, recruiters and staff-augmentation firms that operate in Latin America and the Caribbean have noticed a new competitor making bolder incursions into their home turf, snatching… Read More »

Latin America experienced a particularly turbulent 2021. The consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic were still causing serious damage, and sectors as diverse as education, social security and job creation were facing a major crisis as well. While this reality grabbed headlines… Read More »

Accent translation software is the shiny new tool in the contact center industry, and hopes are high for what it could mean for markets where accent-related friction is a common issue among CX agents. Speech technology company Sanas launched its… Read More »

Trade hubs have popped up throughout history, connecting precious resources in rare pockets of the world to those who are willing to buy. Cut to present times and the evidence of the formation of a new age trade hub can… Read More »

Tata Consultancy Services Latin America (TCS) has big plans for Ecuador. The global IT consultancy’s operations in Ecuador is being positioned to turn the South American country into one of the very few exporters in its portfolio of territories in… Read More »

Colombia took a sudden turn left this year. The country, which has been dominated by right-of-center politics throughout all of its modern history, recently elected Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla member with a left-leaning agenda, as president. Though the headlines… Read More »

Under the triple threat of higher capital expenses, the worsening of talent shortages and a looming economic downturn in the US, tech firms are getting more aggressive in their cost-cutting measures. This has turned Latin America into a preferred hunting… Read More »

If IT talent recruiters think that 2022 is turning out to be a difficult year for staffing, they might want to take a deep breath before 2023 comes crashing down on them. Team builders are well aware of the worldwide… Read More »

CX provider ITEL was in high spirits in late May, when the company officially launched its second site in the Jamaican capital of Kingston just a month ahead of its 10th year anniversary celebration. The opening of the site —located… Read More »

The word of the day for many business process outsourcing (BPO) and technology services companies is growth. This is particularly true for firms operating in nearshore markets. The outsourcing industry in Latin America and the Caribbean is booming with more… Read More »

A storm is building in the horizon for the US economy, enlivening the fears of a recession that could reach the farthest corners of Latin America and the Caribbean. In spite of the alarm bells, experts and executives in the… Read More »

Last week, the Biden administration hosted the IX Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. The event usually convenes leaders from government, private sector and civil society to discuss pressing regional challenges. This year’s summit was a bit particular, to… Read More »

Latin American and Caribbean shores might soon witness an invasion of European firms in search of customer experience (CX) partners. A panel of entrepreneurs and IT executives from Europe and the Americas discussed the state and near future of CX… Read More »

Location remains at the core of Nearshore operations. Nevertheless, in their search for the best points of delivery in a region, outsourcing companies are showing more and more interest in people over places. IT and BPO firms are keeping a… Read More »

No crisis lasts forever, and company executives in the Nearshore information technology outsourcing (ITO) industry already sense an easing in the tech talent shortage that has been strangling the IT ecosystem at a global level for months. Though the tech… Read More »

Nexus 2022 is officially in the books, but there’s still much to talk about as we look back at those two days in which a who’s who of the BPO/IT services industry gathered among the skyscrapers of Midtown Manhattan. After… Read More »

While the talent shortage problem grows, countries with significant untapped human capital increase their competitive advantage. As Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) -a country that is a bit late to the growth of the BPO industry- advances its economic diversification, the… Read More »

When Maritza Díaz  –ITjuana’s CEO– travels from San Diego (California, USA) to Tijuana (Baja California, Mexico) to do business, the sign’s always there, right where the soil rushing under her automobile can start to be called Mexican. It reads: “Aquí… Read More »

The Internet keeps making waves in the consumer space. Companies and consumers continue exploring what can be done with an ever-evolving kit of digital tools, feeding into each other and pushing marketing forward in a way not seen before. Few… Read More »

Costa Rica is at a war. A cyber war. Such were the words of the country’s newly elected president, Rodrigo Chaves, who faces a tough choice during his first month in office after the cybersecurity breach: pay a US$20 million… Read More »

The outlook is pretty dim for doctors working in Mexico. The job market offers limited opportunities for health professionals in the country, who believe that only through policy support from the federal government, things will then turn positive. Mexican president… Read More »

During the last few years, Latin America and the Caribbean have been producing good news in the technology sector. From record-breaking amounts of venture capital investment in the region’s startups and multiple new unicorns, to a dramatic increase in nearshore… Read More »

The trend has been clear for a few years now: North American companies’ demand for nearshoring services continues to increase at accelerated rates. In this context, Latin American and Caribbean providers and economies are set to benefit. Some countries are… Read More »

Today’s fast-paced corporate world has people juggling strict deadlines and pending assignments. The only way they can survive the ever-increasing workload is multitasking; operating on autopilot mode and applying themselves minimally to each task. Can implementing a more mindful leadership… Read More »

A group of virtual cashiers from Nicaragua were at the center of the public relations firestorm that hit Canadian retail chain Freshii in the past weeks. The debacle pulled the general public into a debate over the potentially dark aspects… Read More »

A new dawn is rising for unionization in Mexico, and the heat could make its way into call centers throughout the country. Though far from the monster numbers boasted by other sectors in the Mexican economy, the contact center industry… Read More »

Latin America is a vast region that covers every country below the US southern border, formed by 20 developing economies led by Brazil and Mexico, both with a GDP of over a trillion dollars. Most of these countries share the… Read More »

In my experience, enhanced teams can deliver significant value to clients, but only if a nearshore provider has a clear understanding of how the teams are built and deployed. To do that, it is critical to have a deep understanding… Read More »

Barbados is the best bet for digital nomads who dream of working under the ever-lasting tropical sun of the Caribbean, according to one of the latest surveys conducted by British real estate agency Savills plc. Barbados ranked first amongst Caribbean… Read More »

Softserve looks set to make a full-speed entry into Latin America, with the Ukrainian IT outsourcing firm unveiling two delivery centers in the region, in addition to its plans to launch an office in Chile shortly. The company unveiled offices… Read More »

The bottom line is always a consideration when seeking a nearshore partner. However, a lot of value can be lost – particularly concerning long term ROI – if the exclusive focus is near term cost, without considering the importance of… Read More »

Remember the time when we used to wake up at least two hours in advance to get ready for the day and commute to work? We can’t anymore. In the aftermath of the pandemic, corporate culture has witnessed a metamorphosis,… Read More »

Throughout my career, I have had many opportunities to see how individuals, teams and entire companies can benefit from best practices. However, I have also seen some examples where there have been missed opportunities to do things right. One challenge… Read More »

GlowTouch, one of the few business process outsourcing (BPO) empires built and led by a female, is doubling down on its bet on the Dominican Republic, where the company sees jobs as just one piece of a larger vision of… Read More »

India’s IT services giant Infosys has been accused of barring its employees from joining rival firms amid the rising rate of attrition in the country’s technology market. A non-profit called Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) filed a complaint with… Read More »

The world is moving on from the Covid-19 pandemic as the main factor affecting the narrative of global economic performance. As vaccines increase in availability and the strength of more recent strains of the virus weakens, governments have been lifting… Read More »

Nearshore’s tech industry is, like the rest of the globe, undergoing a period of serious pressure. A lack of talent during a glut of demand is pushing companies to dives deeper into previously uncharted waters to dredge up professionals with… Read More »

Just over a decade ago, Guatemalan export services were rising on a wave of government support and intense expansion.  When Nearshore Americas spoke with then president of the Guatemala Exporters Association (AGEXPORT) Carlos Amador, the BPO industry had just created… Read More »

For the last several years, Colombia has been among the best performing Nearshore markets in terms of BPO and call center attraction. The country, which last year made its desire to attract more customer service companies clear with its Friendshoring… Read More »

How do organizations know that their employees are really working if those employees cannot be seen beavering away at their office desks, wearing looks of concern and glancing at the clock as the end of the working day nears? The… Read More »

A few years ago, I began an ambitious mission of exploring ways to help reduce the numbers of talented tech graduates that leave Guyana each and every year. I worked with many of these graduates for over a decade while… Read More »

The CX industry has a perception problem. Even in the Americas, where the industry has generated hundreds of thousands of jobs, the problem of attracting quality talent, who see the industry as a professional destination rather than a stopgap between… Read More »

Don Berryman, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for North America at Transcom has enjoyed a long and storied career in the customer service industry. From Berryman’s beginnings as a phone agent for a local newspaper, he has steadily… Read More »

Just as instant messaging replacing postcards, streaming platforms replacing cassettes and emails replacing faxes signalled a technology overhaul globally, the smart screen projector replacing chalkboards in the traditional classrooms is the harbinger of yet another revolution in technology innovation. We… Read More »

In the minds of the average North American or European consumer, the Caribbean represents tourism: sandy white beaches, mojitos and music. But for Nearshore leaders, the Caribbean is also a place of significant growth and opportunity.  Tourism, although important, hasn’t… Read More »

The Costa Rican capital of San Jose is a long way from the snow-capped mountains of Japan from which US IT services company Hakkoda takes its name. That hasn’t stopped the company, founded in only July last year by industry… Read More »

Software developers constantly face the challenge of combining regulated, planned, and managed processes with dynamic methods that allow for rapid development. Fortunately for developers, Agile methodology exactly addresses these issues. But mastering the methodology is not easy. “Agile fosters collaboration… Read More »

Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic is a vital hub of BPO service provision in the Nearshore region. The presence of major companies marks this fact; Teleperformance, Acquire BPO, Convergys, and Concentrix are among those utilizing the talents of the… Read More »

If most Americans or Europeans tourists were asked to point out the capital of Honduras on a map, or even name it, few would be successful. But for Nearshore stakeholders, Tegucigalpa is steadily becoming a tried-and-tested location for reliable BPO… Read More »

The Nearshore model for the delivery of IT services has gone through some remarkable technological, demographic, and macro-economic changes that have taken the industry far beyond labor arbitrage. One of the best examples of this shift is PeerIslands, an IT… Read More »

In the minds of most, the concept of digital twins conjures up visions of heavy industry; mile-long manufacturing plants full of large one-armed robots piecing together chassis, or a gas refinery and its bewildering labyrinth of pipes and tubes. But… Read More »

Back in 2011, Nearshore Americas chatted to Avelino Miguelez, vice president at Costa Rican IT integrator company, Grupo CESA. During our interview, Miguelez spoke of the cloud and how it would change computing as we knew it. At the time,… Read More »

As demand for faster and more efficient talent acquisition, recruitment and onboarding processes continues to increase, the drive to employ existing and emerging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) solutions will follow. Strategic use of AI and ML can… Read More »

The Nearshore world is, to a large extent, still based on labor arbitrage. Though the industry argues that outsourcing provides access to larger talent pools, enables companies to diversify geographically and to capture efficiencies, the reality is that without cheaper… Read More »

The first day of March saw China enact a law that intends to curtail the practice of “algorithmic discrimination” by companies in the e-commerce, ride hailing, online streaming and social media sectors. It’s a law that could have wide-ranging impacts,… Read More »

Latin America and the Caribbean’s 300 million digital consumers are set to grow over 20% by 2025. The potential for the region, as digital transformation continues unabated, is huge.  But how can organizations capture that potential, and what are the… Read More »

The US, the world’s foremost country for tech innovation, has seen a distinct reshaping of tech hubs over the last two years. Sky-high house prices in the Bay Area, and other established tech hubs like New York or Toronto in… Read More »

From the beginnings of the Nearshore industry more than twenty years ago, the debate about whether it is better to buy, build or partner in Nearshore markets has raged. Context, meaning the size of the company, the core services it… Read More »

Nearshore Americas is proud to announce the official launch of the 2022 Nexus Illuminate Awards, celebrating the very best in Nearshore services. The Nexus Illuminate Awards exist for for one vitally important reason: if the Nearshore industry is going to be… Read More »

It can take up to 90 days to hire a software engineer with skills in the top 5% of the talent pool. Lengthy processes like this can cripple a project or even an organization, particularly in the current context. Recruiting… Read More »

Tech recruiters in Brazil are having a hard time. The talent market is a no-holds-barred contest of wages, benefits, and work-from-home offers. The country’s vast internal market is pitting national rivals against one another, while Portuguese firms circle above, searching… Read More »

Countries of the Caribbean have developed a robust global professional services sector in recent years, spurred by growing expertise in Finance and Accounting and general Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) operations. Jamaica, with its traditional links to call centers and customer… Read More »

In 2011, there were only 500 companies specializing in IT services in Ecuador. Today, according to the data from the Ecuadorian Chamber of Innovation and Technology (CITEC), there are around 3,000. Of these, 56 fintechs, a vertical of real strength… Read More »

Following a two-year battering by Covid-19, economies around the world are suffering from high inflation rates. In the US, 2021 saw inflation of 7.5%, the highest year-over-year growth in 40 years. The Nearshore, a region always susceptible to external economic… Read More »

When international organizations look to South America for business opportunities, one of the most alluring countries to investigate further is Chile. It’s digital-first approach, coupled with the general political and economic continuity offers the level of safety that investors need,… Read More »

In 2014, the renowned tech entrepreneur and Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School Vivek Wadhwa opened the Nexus conference with a keynote address that served as a call to arms for Latin America & Caribbean. His advice was clear: “Lead… Read More »

Global IT services’ consultancy Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is getting something right in Latin America. The region was TCS’ highest market of growth in Q3 for the financial year 2022 report against the same quarter in the previous financial year,… Read More »

The most influential conference in the Nearshore services industry, Nexus 2022, will return to New York City for both in-person and virtual attendance on June 8-9th. Registration opens today on the Nexus 2022 website, and sponsorships are also available.  “An… Read More »

Sandwiched between two of Nearshore’s major names in Costa Rica and Colombia, Panama does not always get the credit nor coverage it perhaps deserves. Home to one of the world’s busiest man-made waterways, Panama is a vital hub on the world… Read More »

Covid-19 cases are dropping steadily in many countries of the Americas after a Christmas jump driven by the omicron variant and high levels of social mixing.  As the drop continues, companies across the region are once again preparing to invite… Read More »

The wrecking ball pandemic that drove even the strongest outsourcing markets to suffer drastic drops in business provision has reconfigured the needs and requirements of every player along the industry’s value chain.  At the start of that chain, is the… Read More »

So far, Nearshore Americas has looked at Costa Rica, Colombia and Mexico in its ‘hiring and firing’ series. This instalment lands in Argentina, one of the Nearshore’s major stakeholders and provider of serious technical ability.  The country’s economic difficulties and… Read More »

With more than 130,000 engineers graduating annually and over 700,000 developers in the talent pool, Mexico is a hotbed of top software engineering talent in Latin America.  The pivot to increased remote working because of the Covid-19 pandemic has meant… Read More »

Those investors looking for opportunities during high Nearshore demand are eyeing Peru with interest. As competition in both the business outsourcing operations and IT services industries heats up in key Nearshore markets, interested parties are looking to those countries who… Read More »

Argentina-born technology entrepreneur Agustina Fainguersch has been appointed regional director of Meta, the parent company of social media giant Facebook. Fainguersch, the 2019 winner of the Nearshore Executive Award, will take charge of Meta’s operations in Spanish-speaking South America and… Read More »

For people from Latin America, Argentina has a strong reputation for being a country passionate about psychoanalysis. This reputation is well deserved, as Argentina has more psychoanalysts per citizen than any other nation on earth.  “Argentina is strongly psychoanalytic. We… Read More »

Argentina’s renown as a leading Latin American market for English-proficient, highly-educated Nearshore market has, in the past, revolved around the capital, Buenos Aires. The country has produced more unicorns than anywhere else in Latin America, including major Nearshore players like… Read More »

The first few weeks of 2022 have felt like an unwelcome déjà vu for Ukrainians.  As Russian forces build up on the country’s eastern border, US President Joe Biden has repeatedly voiced his concern that Russia could invade Ukraine, and… Read More »

If the last two years in business has taught us anything, it’s that best laid plans can often go awry.  The IT services’ high-degree of technicality and the integral position of IT infrastructure within the running of a modern business,… Read More »

Colombia’s efforts to pull in US$11.5 billion in foreign investment, centered around its “Friendshoring” initiative, offer clear signs that efforts to strengthen the country’s knowledge export services industry are generating great returns for the national economy.  But companies entering the… Read More »

The last two years have seen a blurring of boundaries between home life and the workplace, the personal and professional and time logged on or logged off. Understandably, as borders between these traditionally separate areas of our lives have collapsed,… Read More »

In February 2021, Brazil and most of Latin America was going through another round of rising Covid-19 infections. At that time, the South American nation had surpassed 250,000 Covid-19 deaths and had the world’s second-highest death toll after the United… Read More »

As the last year drew to a close, Nearshore Americas spoke to Nearshore expert and Principal and Chief Analyst at Ryan Strategic Advisory, Peter Ryan, to hear his views on the trends that would shape market activity in 2022 and… Read More »

With a professional career a quarter of a century long, Guadalupe Torres has been there and done that in Mexico’s tech world.  As the Guadalajara Center Head for Persistent Systems Mexico, a subsidiary of Persistent Systems Ltd, Torres is charged… Read More »

Every year, January brings an avalanche of reports from leading organizations and analysts that warn us about the risks and trends for the next 12 months. From AT Kearney’s Year-Ahead Predictions, to Fitch Solutions’ Key Themes or the McKinsey’s CEO… Read More »

Costa Rica has long been spearheading Latin America’s tech service outsourcing. With a population of just over 5 million, it punches well above its weight in the Nearshore, with IBM, Accenture, Hewlett Packard and Intel Corporation just a couple of… Read More »

Despite the influence the country has regionally, Chile hasn’t often featured in the Nearshore conversation. Though geographically large, stretching half the length of South America, the country is home to less than 20 million, around a third of whom live… Read More »

For most of us, the metaverse, a digital world where reality and virtual reality fuse, is a novel concept. But it’s been gaining a lot of traction recently. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is one of the big names backing the… Read More »

By 2025, 75% of the global workforce will be millennials. I have come across this statistic several times in the past few years. First published in 2011 by the Business Professional Women (BPW) Foundation, the findings ring true today. Millennials,… Read More »

Team management is a thankless task. If it is well done few people will notice but the headaches of a poorly-run team will stick in minds for a long time. This is perhaps more the case for the management of… Read More »

Just when we were cautiously optimistic about leaving the last 20 months of pandemic-filled difficulty behind, the Nearshore industry has, along with the rest of the world, been pulled right back into the thick of things. Nearshore markets that were… Read More »

Sense. Feel. Respond. This is sentience and this is how living organisms sustain and grow themselves. We may have never noticed this, but it is hardwired into our lives.  Now think of our professional lives and let’s go back a few… Read More »

Next year, the Nearshore is going to be different. The past year was one of huge change in the region, as Covid-19 forced a reshaping of the global outsourcing hierarchy and the push for digital transformation drove demand for outsourcing… Read More »

Unlike the steel or car manufacturing industries, it isn’t immediately obvious that outsourcing pollutes. There are no billowing smoke stacks nor churning heavy machinery to point at. No heavy material needs to be shipped from one side of the world… Read More »

Reputation is everything. In the business world, how a company is perceived can have a dramatic impact on its performance. The erosion of consumer trust, a dampening of investor desire to provide financial support and an increase of employee turnover… Read More »

Seasonal ramp-ups are part and parcel of providing customer experience at a BPO. Getting them right and addressing the needs of the client requires a multi-faceted approach that taps into existing talent pools, allows rapid onboarding and incentivizes take up… Read More »

Despite a BPO market approaching 25 years in business, Guatemala, and its capital, still remain a mystery for many Nearshore industry stakeholders. “Most prospects don’t really know much about Central America, it just happens to be that place between Mexico… Read More »

Recruitment is in the spotlight globally. Issues like the ‘Great Resignation’ and the tech talent gap mean the question of worker recruitment rarely leave the headlines, but will that change moving into next year? Ariel Ayala, a Panama-based business development… Read More »

An analytical approach to problem-solving posits that breaking the problem down into smaller chunks is the best way to deal with it. When a problem seems so massive as to be impossible to solve, such as the stupendous shortage of… Read More »

Organizations looking to expand into the Nearshore region often come up against labor law regulation that is entirely different from their home country. Without specialist, country-specific knowledge, companies run the risk of making errors during the recruitment or dismissal of… Read More »

“The real theme of vendor management is not negotiation, nor saving money. It’s not all your contracts and transactional pieces, though these are all important. The real theme is the relationship,” Tim Norton, Founder and CEO of VMO Benchmark, a… Read More »

For years, Chile has been at the forefront of Latin America’s data center industry. The digital-first mindset of successive governments, coupled with investment into a national digital highway and expansive connectivity has produced a country in which digital experience, knowledge… Read More »

Bolivia doesn’t often make the headlines in the Nearshore news roundup. Until recently, there’s been good reason for US companies to overlook it. An inactive investment promotion scene, mixed English abilities and an inward-facing tech industry provided plenty of reasons… Read More »

Buyers of business process outsourcing have historically prioritized efficiencies and effectiveness as key outcomes of these services. The drivers for internal shared-service centers, or captives, were similar —deliver on business metrics, improve processes, and deliver on cost savings. While these… Read More »

When organizations look for feedback on how their customers feel about the products and services they offer, the Net Promoter Score (NPS) is often the first port of call. NPS is an indicator that scores the likelihood of a customer… Read More »

Most recent talk of Guyana has revolved around its oil and gas boom, which, having turned the country’s fortunes on its head, also provided the thrust behind this small slice of South America becoming the fastest growing economy in the… Read More »

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has loaned U$45 million to QMC Telecom, reinforcing the carrier’s plan to boost wireless broadband infrastructure in Mexico, Colombia and Peru. Deepening broadband penetration is the need of the hour in Latin America, as the… Read More »

The best workers are highly motivated. However, to understand what drives employees, and specifically software developers in Nearshore environments, it’s crucial to know what sets them apart.  “In today’s environment, it’s important to ensure that a developer knows how to… Read More »

Is the news that the real estate market is in free fall hyperbole or should commercial landlords begin to fear for the future of their office blocks? José Ignacio González, director of marketing and research at real estate firm Cushman… Read More »

Trust is the foundation of any relationship. Whether personal or business, without trust a relationship can’t flourish. This is particularly true of an outsourced business relationship where parties are separated by thousands of miles. Trust is essential, if sometimes hard… Read More »

With four decades of experience working in software services and global outsourcing, Steve Mezak knows his way around Silicon Valley as well as many other tech hubs in The Americas. As chief “Software Services Deal-Maker” at Next Coast Brokerage, Steve works closely… Read More »

The recurrent image of celebrities vacationing in Jamaica, frolicking on the beach, is part of what has come to shape perceptions of the country in the minds of many US consumers. Jamaica offers the ideal ‘sun and beach’ location. However,… Read More »

As a medium-sized BPO, Collective Solution has approached its strategy to scaling up in and across geographies in the Nearshore by focusing on its existing footprint and moving into new countries where demand exists. It has operations in Honduras and… Read More »

Argentina has long been a safe bet for companies in the Nearshore market. “The knowledge services industry is the third largest export industry in Argentina, generating around US$6 billion annually. Around 60% of this comes from general BPO services, 30%… Read More »

The severe drought of IT talent the Nearshore is experiencing means that companies are casting their nets ever wider as they search out professional profiles. Social enterprises, like Mexico City’s Hola Code, are producing talent that is equipped to provide… Read More »

As Covid-19 upended lives across the globe, the world was forced to shrink behind four walls. Mounting exhaustion from frequent video calls, combined with family commitments and the disorienting effect of working hours spilling onto personal time, was overwhelming. But… Read More »

For decades, India has shouldered the bulk of global IT services, relying on the world’s largest and most equipped talent pool in a single nation. The country, home to over 6,000 engineering and technology institutions that can enroll close to… Read More »

With digital technologies now being found in all areas of business operation and structure, the role of the digital leader is now fundamental to the health and competitivity of an organization. The trend towards digitalization happening in the pre-Covid world… Read More »

Charly Cardeño is the CEO and founder of Elemento 43, a Cartagena-based software services company. Motivated by opportunities to expand to the US market, he has been planning a trip to the US.  “I wanted to take advantage of a… Read More »

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has chosen Guatemala as its new Latin American location, breaking into Central America for the first time. The last time TCS expanded in Latin America was with its move to Peru in 2012. But in this… Read More »

Not so many years ago, Colombia’s status as a Nearshore destination was on rocky ground. Despite its population – now around 50 million – the country’s bilingual talent was sorely lacking, Nearshore Americas found. Since then, the Nearshore world has… Read More »

Followers of news coverage on Latin America & Caribbean in US and international media may be aware of the profound pessimism about the region. Endless cases of corruption, the effects of the pandemic, which has hit harder in Latin America… Read More »

Colombia’s post-pandemic economic reactivation began in earnest this week at the Colombia Investment Summit 2021, as a host of ministers and private business leaders, including President Iván Duque, asserted the safety, prosperity and opportunity that the South American nation offers… Read More »

After some false starts and questions of access to vaccinations, the growth in vaccination rates across The Americas has elevated the optimism about the region’s economic recovery. Recently, Carissa F. Etienne, Director of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), said that… Read More »

Sharing a border with the United States means that Mexico will always be in the minds of business customers looking to participate in the remarkable advantages of Nearshore services. But in recent years, Mexico’s Nearshore shine seems somewhat faded, as… Read More »

Advances in cloud-based platforms, and structural shifts brought on by the pandemic, have increased the importance of best practices when it comes to managing remote developer teams. In many ways, remote and in-house teams are managed similarly. The methodologies are… Read More »

Global IT and software development company, Globant, has acquired Blockchain experts, Atix Labs, founded in 2013, in a move that will strengthen Globant’s position in the trailblazing blockchain solutions market, expected to grow 10x by 2025. Globant intends to leverage… Read More »

As outsourcing growth continues apace following the global impact of the pandemic, the Nearshore region is enjoying a serious uptick in demand. But in one small Central American country in the news for its Bitcoin adoption and internationally criticised actions… Read More »

For most contact centers managers, a significant amount of organizational effort is put into hiring qualified employees. But there can sometimes be less emphasis on retention.  This might be because a job is seen as transitional, with no direct career… Read More »

Although Covid-19 cases are declining considerably elsewhere in Latin America, some countries in the Caribbean are seeing a sudden surge in the number of new infections. Barbados is seeing such a spike in new cases that the US Centers for… Read More »

Nearshore’s ascendency within the global outsourcing industry has taken a huge leap forward in light of the pandemic.  For US-headquartered companies, the global travel restrictions and ongoing safety concerns meant the world’s major outsourcing markets were a no-go for some… Read More »

Business journalism often exclusively focuses on the numbers, the cold, hard figures that are essential factors for decision makers. This is particularly true when it comes to Nearshore issues and internationalization strategies. From local tax incentives and commercial real estate… Read More »

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has forced BPO companies to rethink the way they deliver services. Businesses that thrived during the period quickly understood the need to evaluate and rethink the tools and methods they use to engage their… Read More »

Nearshore Americas will host a webinar on the challenges that financial technology firms are facing following the intense demand that has grown for their services over the last 18 months. Scheduled for October 20th, 2021 – 2PM EDT/11AM PDT, the… Read More »

The client-vendor relationship is the foundation of the Nearshore industry. It’s the motor that drives borderless business in The Americas, and the route to companies receiving quality outsourcing services from a larger talent pool at attractive prices. But when that… Read More »

In a Nearshore environment, there is a significant need for bilingual contact center agents. The strongest demand is for those individuals who are fluent in the region’s dominant three languages – English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Assessing the ability of bilingual… Read More »

As the reality dawned upon us that Covid-19 will be around for a lot longer than we’d expected or hoped, the future of the workplace became a huge topic of conversation. For Nearshore companies, whose premises and workforces stretch across… Read More »

The heralding of AI within the CX sector promoted predictions of an all-robotic workforce, where human customers and artificial intelligence would communicate seamlessly, and contact center agents would be required for only the most complex of tasks. Up to now,… Read More »

Safety and security are ever-present concerns for companies looking to expand outside of their home market. The Nearshore region, and Latin America in particular, has a reputation for trouble. Media coverage of Latin America in the US and Europe most… Read More »

Talk of the “Great Resignation” as the return to the office draws closer in much of the world has shone a light on organisation’s strategies for the onboarding of new talent.  If mass resignations do occur over the next year,… Read More »

A few weeks ago, Deodat Maharaj, Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency (CEDA), published an op-ed calling for greater support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the region. The article is the latest call from CEDA… Read More »

Late Wednesday evening, Mexico City’s vast Zocalo stood empty as Mexican President López Obrador gave the Grito de Independencia to mark the country’s independence.  For the second year running, the Covid-19 pandemic had forced authorities to ban the usual 80,000… Read More »

Many businesses, as well as the service providers that support them, speak of the importance of core competencies.  But what is a core competency? And how can an enterprise separate a core competency from day-to-day business functions, many of which… Read More »

While recognition of the importance of diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) is growing, transformation initiatives need to do more than just pay lip service to the idea.  For many organizations, diversity and inclusion can be defined narrowly and such initiatives… Read More »

The global tech talent shortage has begun to take its toll, with the scarcity of qualified professionals forcing businesses to delay the adoption of new technologies like automation. IT executives now regard the talent shortage as a far bigger challenge… Read More »

Earlier this year over 130 countries signed up for a global corporate tax reform agreement, spearheaded by the OECD, aimed at forcing international organizations to pay their fair share of tax, to be set at at least 15 percent. The… Read More »

Despite the distance, the Nearshore has – or had, depending on how Covid-19 progresses – relied on vendor and client representatives meeting in person before working together. The logic was clear: if a company is about to open a multi-million… Read More »

Cuba is not a great example of a model based on knowledge and intellectual assets as sources of competitiveness and long-term economic growth.  The island’s centralized economic planning and overreliance on tourism, remittances and more recently the controversial exports of… Read More »

The global economy, hurtling towards into digital totality, is seeing a serious dearth of professionals, and the preparedness of education systems in distinct nations are being questioned. In Latin America, universities are playing catch up. In many countries, infrastructural challenges… Read More »

The pandemic has presented call center agents with possibilities that were uncommon before offices were shuttered on mass and employees forced to retreat into their own homes. The Work From Home model has quickly become the norm, and appears to… Read More »

Schools across South America, an area hit particularly hard by the pandemic, are being reopened after a dramatic drop in Covid-19 cases have spurred hope of a return to normalcy sooner than expected. Experts are attributing the success to the… Read More »

Wizeline, the global services technology provider founded by Mexican-American entrepreneur Bismarck Lepe, has taken a giant step towards its expansion goals after Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) purchased a majority stake in the firm. CDPQ, a fund… Read More »

For more than a year, dust has gathered on the empty desks at offices across the Nearshore region. Commercial real estate locations from Buenos Aires to Bogotá are bereft of their usual bustle and activity, as recurring breakouts of Covid-19 force… Read More »

Shares in technical support services provider Support.com have jumped more than 300% in the past 10 days as retail investors mass purchase shares and force a ‘short squeeze’ that will drive stock prices higher as deep-pocketed short sellers attempt to limit… Read More »

Nearshore Americas has published a white paper that shines a light on Jamaica’s rising digital services sector. With an annual revenue of more than US$700 million, Jamaica’s digital services industry is already supporting 65 companies and over 36,000 employees. The… Read More »

As the cycles of the pandemic continue to pose problems to ideas of returning to the office in the Nearshore, risk exposure is a topic on the mind of all business leaders. Linda Tuck Chapman, CEO at Third Party Risk… Read More »

Never has Human Resources (HR) been as integral a part of an organization’s success as it is today. From a support function to having a seat at the decision-making table, HR has evolved to become pivotal to corporate strategies. More… Read More »

Inspired by discussions with over 70 global business leaders, Javier Peña Capobianco is helping construct a clearer understanding of the future of the global services industry. In his new book, The New Era of Global Services (La Nueva Era de… Read More »

Over the last decade or so, soft skills have moved from the periphery of a business leaders’ recruitment strategy to sit firmly at its center. So important have soft skills become that they’re now being referred to as “core skills”… Read More »

The efforts of most organizations in the business world center on improving efficiencies to increase competitivity and productivity in a highly competitive market. But some, like non-profit groups, aim beyond achieving immediate benefits for a single organization, and instead help… Read More »

Having happier employees at work should be a top priority for any company. After all, happy and engaged employees are more productive. They make the workplace more upbeat and fun, strive to achieve higher goals, and spread their positive attitude… Read More »

Surging cyberattack figures, including threat detection levels that grew by a reported 240% in Q3 of 2020 and 208% in Q4 according to anti-virus platform. McAfee, place global business practices in peril. In Latin America, the IDB says that ill-preparedness… Read More »

Imagine this scenario: A skilled call center agent surpasses all the hiring requirements and is brought on board. They are highly motivated and eager to start their new job. Three months later, performance issues begin to surface, and within nine… Read More »

Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) have had a busy pandemic. Charged with keeping their organizations afloat during the ‘black swan’ event of the recent global economic meltdown, they’ve had their backs to the wall battling to keep cash flow healthy while… Read More »

Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, academics, policy think tanks and government officials have proposed a new wave of strategies to advance digital performance and facilitate economic recovery. This is particularly true for Latin America and the Caribbean, a region heavily… Read More »

Just over 18 months ago, business as we knew it came to a shuddering halt. Gone were the office check-ins, coffee meet-ups and the ability to walk across the corridor to chat with a colleague. The pandemic had arrived and… Read More »

US IT consultant EPAM Systems has expanded its footprints further in Latin America with the acquisition of Colombian software maker S4N. EPAM, based in Newtown, Pennsylvania and which already has presence in Mexico with close to 1,000 employees, said the… Read More »

The suspension of M&A activity in the global customer care sector seen during the unpredictability of the pandemic’s peak has come to a sudden and definite end.  Large-scale acquisitions, such as Sitel’s acquisition of fellow US-headquartered BPO SYKES, have reconfigured… Read More »

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is driving innovation around world. In 2020, the global AI market was valued at over US$62 billion, with an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40.2% from 2021 to 2028. The growth of AI is happening… Read More »

Though Latin America and the Caribbean consist of 33 countries, many nations sit outside of the core Nearshore industry view. While countries like Mexico, Costa Rica and Colombia continue to see their knowledge services’ relationships flourish with the US and… Read More »

Last week, Jamaica’s itel announced its acquisition of Guyana’s Emerge BPO. The move gives itel a presence in Guyana and Honduras, and the ability to leverage a handful of at-home agents in the US. The acquisition, on which no financial… Read More »

One necessary characteristic of delivering on an ideal customer experience (CX) is adaptability. A big reason for this isn’t only the diversity of a customer base, but also the frequent changes in regulatory restrictions and personal choices. The ability to… Read More »

Brad Cleveland, customer service expert, consultant and author, has seen many major shifts in the customer experience industry during his 30 years’ involvement. But nothing like the last 18 months.  “I felt customer experience was important before the pandemic, but… Read More »

Recruiting is a demanding industry. The financial perks of placing a candidate are high, but the pressure to do so is intense. And while demand is rising, recruiters are being pushed to bring in the best talent from a pool… Read More »

Putting top talent into customer-facing roles is the key to achieving high customer satisfaction, yet the current labor crunch makes it all but impossible for companies to keep their call centers staffed with skilled agents.  The workforce shortage crisis in… Read More »

The era of borderless working is in full swing. Despite a global pandemic, or maybe because of it, the surge of interest in migrating to new digitally-powered geographies is a trend that has important significance to countries in the region… Read More »

The Nearshore is buzzing. M&A activity is rising as companies make decisive actions to push on with long-term strategies following the last 18 months. Meanwhile, cross-industry digital transformation is pressuring recruitment in Nearshore markets including Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Argentina… Read More »

Think local, act global, is the new mantra of globalization. Believed to be an antithesis of regionalization for the longest time, globalization is now being touted as a sum total of several regional tracks. The pandemic has especially made it… Read More »

Automation and technological advancements have made growth an easier proposition for companies, and more companies are growing. But this rapid growth can cause some growing pains. With this rapid growth, the need for a different approach becomes crucial. It’s time… Read More »

The world faces a tech talent shortage that has been exacerbated by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. Last year, global recruitment company ManpowerGroup published a report that said a stunning 54% of companies worldwide face a tech shortage. Such is the… Read More »

Cybersecurity has always been a relevant topic to outsourcers and the Nearshore at large. By its nature, companies in the industry employ the services of a wide network of third party providers, stretched broadly across geographies and segments.  While only… Read More »

French outsourcing giant Webhelp has acquired Latin America’s OneLink in a deal that will push each companies’ global ambitions forward amid intensifying contact center industry consolidation. In an exclusive interview with Nearshore Americas, Webhelp Group Managing Director Sandrine Asseraf and… Read More »

Nearshore Americas will unveil a new Ebook illustrating how US companies can address the talent shortage at home by building a strong IT engineering team in Mexico under build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. Titled “Build Operate Transfer 2.0”, the Ebook says remote-working… Read More »

Outsourcing contact center work from a Nearshore location has given many providers an edge, but it comes with a major challenge: for most agents, English is a second language. A contact center employing bilingual agents requires fast, effective language screening.… Read More »

For decades, Miami has been the main entry point for migrants arriving from Latin American & the Caribbean into the United States. The connection between the South Floridian city and the region runs deep, both culturally and economically.  Though Miami… Read More »

For Brazil-based Alelo, a financial services company specialised in the management of corporate in benefits, incentives expenses for SMEs, leveraging the cloud and using a data-driven methodology to develop digital products proved essential in scaling up its digital growth.  The… Read More »

Dave Palmer, president of global BPO Everise, believes that the many cries of the demise of the Philippines’ as the globe’s outright BPO champion (described as a ‘meltdown’ on these very pages) were both overstated and premature.  For Palmer’s company,… Read More »

Latin America and Caribbean was among the most impacted regions of the world by the arrival of Covid-19, with Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Colombia suffering some of the highest death rates in the world. Naturally, business processes were affected. Here,… Read More »

A few weeks ago, a faulty update to the content delivery network (CDN) of edge cloud platform provider Fastly brought down the websites of some of the world’s most recognizable brands.  Amazon, Spotify and Reddit – as well as a… Read More »

Latin American economies have long expressed interest in the advantages of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. Now that El Salvador announced that it would be adopting Bitcoin as an official currency alongside the US dollar, that interest has become concrete. But… Read More »

As the Nearshore industry and global outsourcing continue growing, many companies new to the outsourcing process are entering the space.  These companies have many questions they want answered. Among them are concerns over contracting practices, the best way to seek… Read More »

The Philippines has long had appeal as an outsourcing destination. Cost effective, with an abundant workforce and reliable infrastructure, the Asian nation enables providers to deliver an excellent service to customers in North America. But now there’s a Nearshore location… Read More »

The last year has been rough for everyone. But for those just starting out their careers, the pandemic delivered particularly obstructive effects.  The junior software developer position is all about absorbing and learning.  They’re often fresh out of college, do… Read More »

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on approaches to digital transformation is set to be significant. As Forrester Research’s 30 Predictions Report points out: “2021 will be the year that every company — not just the 15% of firms that… Read More »

Nearshore Americas is to release a new Ebook titled “The Digital Transformation of Nearshore CX”, illustrating how organizations can leverage the power of new digital technologies to enhance their customer experience (CX) service. The new Ebook was developed in partnership… Read More »

Tropical getaways for tech professionals eager to escape their own concrete jungles have been big news over the pandemic. But Próspera, a new ‘prosperity hub’ off the coast of Honduras, is taking that simple idea to the next level.  Situated… Read More »

Read the news from Latin America lately? Doesn’t matter where you turn, it’s the same old story: the region – via corruption, violence and authoritarianism – is descending into a new level of Hell.  Latin America’s two biggest economies, Mexico… Read More »

Lisa Stoner is the Global Head of Support Operations at Uber, meaning she is responsible for six main pillars within Uber’s global customer care and community care environment. She deals with one-on-one customer interaction, from drivers to eaters, and restaurants… Read More »

In the 1980s, Japanese carmakers faced a unique dilemma. They wanted to automate, but in a manner that would not alienate their workforce. The approach they adopted is what we now call human-ware – the co-existence of humans and bots.… Read More »

As countries closed their borders and travel restrictions were put in place around the globe last year, the aviation industry came to a shuddering standstill. Millions of customers, having their flights cancelled last minute, were dismayed. The customer service teams of… Read More »

The pandemic shook the foundations of global outsourcing. Market giants like the Philippines saw their total dominance falter, while minnows were given the opportunity to grow. Saint Lucia Prime Minister Allen Chastanet believes that the pandemic was a watershed moment… Read More »