Near Contact Wins Deal with Auto Parts Maker

Austin, Texas – June 01, 2010 – Near Contact Inc., an Austin based subsidiary of a Mexican nearshore IT support firm, just won a significant account upgrade from his major automobile part manufacturer customer-Metalsa that more than doubles the size of its IT service desk support staff and now covers downstream customers in the US, Mexico, Brazil and Australia. Metalsa is one of the largest worldwide manufacturers for light and commercial vehicle structures including: chassis, suspension and car body structures. Actually, there’s a really good chance your car might use a chassis structure manufactured by this giant global auto maker.

It’s a trend that’s been picking up speed for a while as US companies seek alternatives to the sometimes rocky results encountered with traditional offshore IT service desk providers.

For Genaro Rodriguez, Vice President of Business Development for Near Contact, it’s a sign that US companies are beginning to place value ahead of cost when seeking an IT support outsourcing partner. “According to a survey in InformationWeek from last year, half of IT pros surveyed indicated they have new concerns about offshore IT support providers,” he says. “The value of a nearshore solution like Near Contact is that it helps US companies lower IT support costs without sacrificing quality and geographic proximity.”

As proof that nearshore is gaining in popularity among US businesses looking for affordable IT support outsourcing, Rodriguez points to a strong 18% growth rate Near Contact posted for the past 12 months even as many worldwide competitors reported flat results. “We had our best year on record in spite of the recession and are seeing strong interest for new levels of round-the-clock IT services support from several US companies,” he says.

The financial benefits and customer satisfaction ratings resulting from shipping IT services jobs to offshore locations have long been a source of heated debate. Until recently, nearshore firms in Mexico have been largely excluded from the conversations taking place in IT departments of major US companies, but that has recently begun to change. Mexican IT outsourcing firms like Near Contact have set up US companies and begun an aggressive marketing campaign to illustrate their superior IT support and application development outsourcing model. The net result has been a slow but steady erosion of the dominance of traditional offshore IT outsourcing.

“Nearshore firms like Near Contact have come a long way in the last 2 years,” Rodriguez says. “We’ve expanded our scope of services and operations to include not just basic IT Help Desk / Tier-1 support but also a global single-point-of-contact support incorporating multiple languages. Our services now include software application development on such popular software platforms as .NET and JAVA. There’s really nothing we’re not able to support that major US companies are receiving from other parts of the world,” he adds.

The president of the Americas for Senate Technologies Inc. saw a similar value proposition in utilizing nearshore.  According to Imre Szenttornyay, he picked Near Contact to assist Senate’s infrastructure and managed IT services support team for their global customer base. “Near Contact is a top tier provider of nearshore helpdesk services, and their team, business processes, and methodology of execution are second to none” says Imre.

As of today, nearshore IT firms have a relatively small piece of the $50 billion-a-year outsourcing market. Still, when magazines such as CIO report up to 53% of US companies failing to realize a return from offshoring, CIOs of large enterprises have a tendency to look for other options. If Near Contact’s selection to handle IT service desk support 24/7 for a global automobile customer is any indication, nearshoring is getting ready to enter a faster lane.