Bosch Launches BPO Center in Costa Rica

Bosch Service Solutions, a BPO arm of German industrial giant Bosch, has expanded to Costa Rica with the launch of a service center at a free trade zone in Heredia, north of the capital San Jose. The site will provide support services to Bosch Group’s operation across North America.

The business center currently employs 100 workers but Bosch expects to add up to 200 more jobs by the end of 2016.

According to CINDE, the Costa Rican investment promotion agency, information technology services in Free Zones generated US $ 2,253 million in revenue, representing 65% of total exports of services in 2014. Moreover, information technology sector accounted for 50 percent of new jobs created in the Free Zone last year.

The service center will act more or less as a back-office by managing the Group’s general accounting and financial reporting, accounts payables, travel and expense, general ledger and fixed assets accounting.

In addition, it will provide technical support for Bosch’s external customers as well as for Bosch security and communication products in the North America market. Initially it will offer its services in Spanish and English.

“Opening our first branch in Costa Rica expands our international reach to four locations across the Americas, a strategic growth market in which we want to establish ourselves among the leading international suppliers of business process solutions,” explains Robert Mulatz, Senior Vice President of Bosch Service Solutions.

Paulo Maia, General Manager of Bosch Service Solutions, stated that he believes Heredia will provide a good “operational basis” for the company as the area offers good infrastructure and talent pool.

Bosch is said to be the fourth German company and one of 120 firms providing ‘corporate services’ from Costa Rica.

“We are a very attractive place for business process outsourcing and not in vain we remain outstanding as the first destination in Latin America and the eleventh in the world in this field,” claimed Alexander Mora, Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Trade.

Frankfurt, Germany-based Bosch employs some 5000 people in 23 locations across the world, providing BPO services in more than 30 languages.