• The Nearshore Shift Picks Up Speed: Major Outsourcers Pursue Advantages

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  By  Jacob Cherian

  News reports say that Indian outsourcing giants, Infosys, TCS and Wipro are likely to fall prey to nearshore rivals, like Israel-based Ness Technologies, Softtek of Mexico, and CPM Braxis of Brazil.

  Major outsourcers like Citibank and GEO are now leaning toward nearshore, specialized vendors instead of offshoring work to distant locations like India. These clients are now looking at emerging outsourcing centers like Latin America that is closer to home as favored destinations for outsourcing, reports the Times of India.

  Jimit Arora, Research director at Everest Group was quoted as saying, “Some customers having 70-80 per cent of their offshore resources in India are realizing that they need to look at the third category of suppliers that are local and niche,” in an online report by SourcingFocus.com. More »

• Call Centers in Dominican Republic Answer Call in Haiti

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  “This is a non stop job and we are working with five organizations to make sure all the people are receiving our aid,” said Emma Castro, Site Administrator for Stream.

  By Karina Cuevas

  A large part of the Dominican Republic call center industry has stepped up in a wide variety of ways to help alleviate the terrible suffering in Haiti.

  Many of the institutions began collecting monetary donations internally through their employees, while others have obtained in-kind goods to deliver in Haiti. “Right after the earthquake, a high sense of corporate responsibility kicked in,” said Kemil Carbuccia, Sales and Marketing Manager for Nearshore Call Center Services. We always try to contribute because there is a willingness to help the people in need.”

  Nearshore Call Center Services has already made three trips to the devastated nation and is planning on a fourth one within the next two weeks. Employees have delivered medicine, food and clothing to various sectors in Haiti and despite their well intentioned efforts; it does not seem like enough.

  “At the beginning it was traffic and logistics [that made it difficult to get to Haiti],” said Carbuccia. Everyone wants to help, but it’s hard to organize and try to get everyone what they need.”

  A client company of Nearshore is providing space for storage and thanks to contacts in Haiti; the goods are being delivered from one community to another in a somewhat efficient manner despite the lack of security engulfing the country.
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• Capgemini is Bullish on LATAM and Sees Brazil and Guatemala as Key Engines

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  An Interview with David Poole,  VP and Head of LATAM BPO Services, Capgemini

  By Dennis Barker

  When Capgemini decided to venture into Latin America, it was like the beginning of any serious relationship: Exciting, promising, but not without reason for a few jitters.

  “Latin America is one of the fastest growing regions in the world, and will continue to be. We’ll see huge growth, particularly in Brazil” – David Poole

  “All our clients had been asking about Latin America,” said David Poole, vice president and head of American Business Process Outsourcing at Capgemini. “But it had always been an area where we were nervous to tread. It was in the early days a different economic environment, with unpredictable currency and different tax structures. It was a complicated place to do business.”

  The biggest concerns revolved not around what might seem like the usual outsourcing challenges — finding capable workers, dealing with cultural differences, meeting clients’ cost objectives — but business issues.

  “Our group had found it was not the easiest place to grow a business portfolio,” Poole said. “The big thing was creating enough scale to operate in an efficient way. Most of our clients are some of the largest companies in the world. They are not Latin American entities but multinationals. To meet their needs, it can be difficult unless you have the scale to do that.”

  Unilever Turning Point

  Capgemini’s agreement in 2008 to acquire and manage Unilever’s financial shared service centers in Sao Paulo and in Santiago, Chile, helped provide that scale. As part of the deal, Capgemini would provide BPO services for Unilever’s businesses in Latin America. “The Unilever acquisition gave us coverage in all the Latin American countries,” Poole said. “We can create scale to provide services even where we don’t have a physical presence.”

  While Chile and Argentina are prominent in Capgemini’s LATAM plan, Brazil “has been quite amazing for us,” Poole said. “There are a lot of large Brazilian multinational companies, but Brazil is a huge market in its own right, especially for BPO services. Clients are seeking rigorous process, rigorous control. We’ve seen a great deal of interest from domestic companies, looking for lower-cost locations within Brazil.” Regional differences in operational and employment costs can range from 15 to 20 percent, he said.
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• Exclusive: Can it Get Any Hotter in Colombia? Convergys Commits to Bogota

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  Nearshore Americas has learned that global contact center giant Convergys, which serves half of the Fortune 50, is setting up a BPO  service center  in Bogota after receiving clearance to operate in a new free trade zone in the northern part of Bogota.

  As many as 2,500 seats will occupied at the center within three years, according to two reliable sources. The center, which should be operational in June, will also offer financial back-office support services.

  Colombia is without question one of the hottest outsourcing destinations in Latin America, and its transformation has been one of the biggest stories to hit the headlines in the Nearshore community in the last several months.

  Convergys spokesperson John Pratt declined to comment late today on our report.

  “This does not come as a surprise, really,” says lead BPO and call center analyst Peter Ryan, of DataMonitor, commenting on the development. “There is a lot of capacity in Colombia and the country has the potential to become the next big thing in South America,” said Ryan, comparing its rise to Chile and Argentina, which have become globally recognized outsourcing centers.
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• The Rising Value of the Secondary Nearshore City

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  The natural belief for most US nearshoring customers is that the big cities – Bogota, Guatemala City, Mexico City, Santiago among others – are the optimal destinations to establish services relationships.

  The reality, as we are seeing more clearly than ever, is that the big cities are not the only option, and that prospective buyers should look very closely at some of the rising secondary cities across Latin America. Many of them have international airports, are located near a major university and are eager to welcome new business investment. The other critical factor is there is often less wage pressure which helps both providers and clients anticipate how to manage projects for the longer-term, knowing that competition for workers won’t spiral out of control.

  For bigger countries like Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, there are a long list of secondary cities that are well positioned to become more visible on the global services map.

  Doug Gattuso of Neoris says Cuiliacan, Mexico has been a star performer

  Such is the case for Neoris, a global IT services and consultancy firm with a strong Nearshore presence, which employs several hundred staffers at a satellite center in Cuiliacan, Mexico. Speaking this week with Doug Gattuso, Neoris’ vice president and managing director for the US, he talked about the appeal of “rural” centers (Cuiliacan is tiny compared to Mexico City, with about 600,000 residents.) The city hosts two universities, including a technical college – Instituto Tecnologico De Culiacan – where Neoris pulls much of its talent.

  For bigger countries like Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, there are a long list of secondary cities that are well positioned to become more visible on the global services map. Barranquilla, Colombia – for example – is a city with over 1 million residents and, is becoming better known for its professional services capabilities.
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