Matt KendallWhile the IT outsourcing industry faces numerous challenges in today’s political climate, companies still see the value in nearshore ITO, and are using it to beat their competitors to the punch.
According to Carlos Diaz, Managing Director at Neoris, his customers are certainly concerned about potential regulatory or legislative speed-bumps, but are steaming ahead with further ITO investment to remain relevant in the evolving world of technology.
Nearshore Americas: What do your clients in the United States say are their main concerns and worries in the IT services space?
Carlos Diaz: Digital and how to embrace it. IT customers have been hearing the word “digital” for six or seven years, particularly from analysts and at events. They know the technologies and know what they can do, but not all organizations are ready for them.
There are some companies where the business side of the organization doesn’t want to wait for IT, instead grabbing whatever they can find in a rush. This is a concern for IT because business leaders are sidelining things like security architecture, which is detrimental to future growth. Companies want to grow fast, move fast, and fail fast, particularly when it comes to experimental solutions, but they need to do this in a sustainable way.
Nearshore Americas: We often hear that companies are slow to implement digital due to the lack of success stories. Has Neoris seen any operational implementations of these new technologies that are in practice today?
Carlos Diaz: Our most mature clients have already started with it, and are focused on their customers. They know they have to focus on operations and employees at some point, but starting with customer-centric solutions and minimum viable products as the starting point.
Some have gone even further and are acting as sponsors of new startups in order to bring in new insights and out of the box thinking.
Nearshore Americas: What are the main political concerns coming from your clients?
Carlos Diaz: Clients on the U.S. side are concerned about how the president is addressing things, but it’s not really stopping them from investing, because they know competitors will race to the finish line if they wait behind, so customers are mainly taking advantage of the opportunity and taking action.
Clients ask us about the wall, NAFTA, and our view of Trump, but in the end, we see things falling into place. They see that these things will be assessed in time, but business has to go on, regardless of politics. Company objectives are to make new business, help customers, and provide safe and great places to work. They are focusing on what really matters — the day to day — while letting the government take care of the rest.
Nearshore Americas: As Managing Director in both Monterrey and the U.S., what are the main pressures you face while directing the Neoris vision across borders?
Carlos Diaz: We need to keep ahead of the customer in order to add value, because the moment they are ahead of us, they won’t need us. We also need to control our costs in a way that value comes from both a business and economic point of view.
Providing our people with a great place to work is something we also have to keep on top of; having an energetic environment where they want to come to work and produce value for the customer, the team, and themselves. For this, we keep a balance between employee, customer, and company, because if we lean too much toward the customer, for example, something would break with the other two factors.
Check out this video interview below, in which Carlos Diaz dissects the digital capabilities of the growing talent pool in Monterrey, Mexico.
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