Narayan AmmachchiContact center provider Knoah Solutions has expanded to Honduras by acquiring LL Contact Center in the country’s capital of Tegucigalpa.
Approximately 120 people, mostly locals, are working for the call center, but Knoah intends to more than double the size of the workforce.
While Knoah’s has a single onshore delivery center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and two offshore centers in Hyderabad and Pune in India, this Honduras-based center is the company’s first nearshore location.
Speaking to Nearshore Americas from his base in Las Vegas, Knoah’s Co-founder and Executive Vice President Ralph Barletta stated his company is organizing site visits for clients and that hoping to increase the headcount to 300.
Billed as Honduras’ first call center firm, LL Contact Center provides customer care service in both English and Spanish, and through a verity of channels including voice, chat and email. According to Barletta, LL Contact Center has four clients, three of which are U.S.-based.
Honduras’ main draw is its large pool of bilingual speakers and time zone alignment with the United States. But ongoing violence, blamed mostly on drug gangs controlled by Mexican cartels, has kept foreign investors at bay for a long time. For reasons of security, most foreign outsourcers operating in the country are in Altia Business Park in San Pedro Sula.
Barletta said his firm is the second foreign call center firm operating in Tegucigalpa. The first to set up office there was StarTek. The capital has fewer foreign outsourcing firms than San Pedro Sula due to the lack of a secured office complex like Altia Business Park.
“I have visited Tegucigalpa half a dozen times and I never felt scared,” said Barletta. “Close to our office is a U.S. embassy office, and there are many luxurious hotels for clients to come and stay. Life is as normal as it is elsewhere in the region.” Honduras also shares a cultural affinity with the U.S. “They have the highest number of bilingual schools in Central America. Moreover, Hondurans are accent-neutral English speakers,” he added.
Due to a lack of business activity, hiring a skilled labor force in Tegucigalpa is more cost-effective than in San Pedro Sula and easier due to a higher volume of available workers. “We believe that this location will allow us to competitively broaden our offerings and support the growing demand for high-quality, low-cost, English and Spanish contact center services for our global clients,” said Knoah’s CEO, Sri Myneni, in a statement.
Before settling on Honduras, Knoah conducted an extensive search for a suitable location in the nearshore region. Barletta himself visited Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Belize.
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