Narayan AmmachchiSpanish call center service giant Atento is adding 100 employees to its workforce in El Salvador after it won a contract to provide customer care service to a U.S. telecom firm. This marks the first expansion of the company in Latin America since it sold off its operation in Czech Republic last December and voiced its desire to focus on serving more U.S. clients from nearshore region.
With the new hirings, the number of agents serving U.S. clients from El Salvador will increase to 630, the Madrid-based firm stated. It’s other agents, according to Atento, are engaged in providing customer care service in Spanish.
Atento’s European operations, according to its recent quarterly result, are declining in revenue, while LATAM operations grew 70% in net income, largely due to strong performance in Brazil.
Encouraged by this growth, Atento bolstered its service offering last year, besides launching new delivery centers in countries like Guatemala.
“The U.S. nearshore market is a very important growth opportunity for Atento. Last year, we proactively launched a strategic program to grow our U.S. nearshore business, and it is already delivering results,” said Alejandro Reynal, CEO of Atento.
Today hundreds of its agents in El Salvador, Guatemala and Puerto Rico manage customer relations for several U.S. companies in the telecom, retail and consumer electronic sectors.
Experts say that this bilingual workforce, combined with the large presence in Central America, has made Atento one of the largest providers of CRM BPO service from Latin America.
The new employees will work in the company’s 28,000 square feet facility in San Salvador, which features training rooms, restaurants and a recreation area.
The world’s third biggest BPO provider by revenue, Atento began as a customer service unit of Telefonica, but is now owned by the Boston, MA-based private equity firm Bain Capital Partners LLC.
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