The Guatemala Story: Will Big Tech and ITO Define the Next Wave?

During last week’s  IAOP Central America conference, I had the unique pleasure to spend some time with Ingrid Jacobs, a high energy and enthusiastic champion of near shore outsourcing in Guatemala. She is a senior advisor in the government-supported Invest in Guatemala agency.
Ingrid played a major role in driving the success of the  conference  – pulling together logistics, orchestrating sponsors and driving registration – all in a span of about six weeks.
Ingrid reports that:

• The number of BPO employee in Guatemala has roughly doubled in the last 6 months, rising to 12,000 FTEs.
• The government is increasingly focused on bi-lingual education, both in near term and long term.
• Attracting firms seeking support for ITO functions is becoming a major initiative for Guatemala.

No doubt Guatemala’s leadership sees the advantages of ITO and KPO partnerships — higher service and value delivery to clients, the creation of more vertically-oriented career paths and the potential to become a hub of ICT support throughout the region.
Word is that both IBM and HP have existing near shore operations in Guatemala City.* (see note below)
Another great contact at Invest in Guatemala is Luisa Ybarra. Both Luisa and Ingrid are exceptionally helpful and can answer many of the important questions firms might have about setting up ops in Guatemala. The English-version of the Invest in Guatemala website can be found here.
Editorial Note: We will continue to work with captive outsourcing companies, BPO providers and national investment agencies to shed light on the real impact near shore outsourcing is having in producing greater value to client  organizations. Our intention is not to expose companies not interested in getting exposure – rather it is our belief that near shore outsourcing carries with it a wide range of positive impacts: from creating social and economic stability in near shore nations to spurring goodwill and friendships across borders to providing powerful innovative tools to sponsoring clients.  Continue to send leads and ideas to me: kirk@nextcoastmedia.com Thanks!