On the Ground in Honduras: A Closer Look at a Central American Upstart
January 13th, 2010
By Kirk Laughlin, Editorial Director
Nearshore Americas is spending several days on the ground this week in Honduras for a couple of very good reasons which I will be talking about and exploring on some interesting videos over the course of the next two weeks. We have been interviewing high level government officials, education and human capital leaders, telecom regulators and business leaders while traveling with our host from Altia Business Park, Ruben Sorto, who is the marketing director at the San Pedro Sula based facility, which is the first world-class business center in Honduras designed to service BPO and call center operations.
Ruben joined me (we’re both at the far right on the panel) today on a …
World-Class Honduras BPO Facility Set to Open in February
November 12th, 2009SOURCE: LAPRENSAHN.COM (Translated from Espanol)
Altia Park will unveil a new service industry that opens the doors for foreign and domestic companies with the installation of first three-tower communications in February, 2010. This is expected to generate about a thousand jobs in the north of the country.
Daniel Facussé, president of the Honduran Maquila Association, AHM, said that Altia will succeed because everything relating to the sale of communication becomes more profitable to firms in these times of crisis and it also involves outsourcing. Maquila Association provides this service and does so within institutions.
Ruben Sorto, marketing manager Karim’s group, which has started this initiative, explained that despite the blows of the economic crisis, the play was not halted.
To implement this type of modernistic buildings, said Sorto, the country now has favorable conditions, such as having the best fiber optic network in Central and communication infrastructure at low cost. …
Invest in Guatemala takes a huge cut in staff
July 20th, 2009Invest in Guatemala (IIG), the economic development agency based in Guatemala 
City, recently lost 12 of 15 staff members in a sweeping layoff that has many in the local outsourcing industry wondering: What is the government thinking?
The agency is a key catalyst in promoting the BPO/outsourcing sector in Guatemala, and also helps attract investment into other industries such as agriculture, tourism, energy and manufacturing.
The news is a big shock to many who have come to recognize the Guatemala government as having an enlightened approach to attracting foreign investment. IIG staff are charged with facilitating discussions between local service providers in the BPO sector and foreign clients. Most of the clients are from the US, and those formative relationships – cultivated by IIG – are built oftentimes on trust and continuity.
There is nothing more alarming for an foreign investor to …
Mario Espana is the managing director of CADIS, a Guatemala City-based services firm.
Nearshore services involving product development, R and D and project support are definitely on the rise. While there remain concerns that the Nearshore region – especially Central America – risks being limited to call center and customer support services, we continue to see important signs of growth in value-added business support operations which – in our view – must define the next phase of expansion for the Nearshore community.
Mario Espana is the managing director of CADIS, a Guatemala City-based operation providing graphic design for sales materials, CAD design for architectural projects, web design and other services. Espana views human capital as one of the primary attractions of the Guatemala services sector. In an …
The Guatemala Story: Will Big Tech and ITO Define the Next Wave?
April 29th, 2009During 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 Jacobs is a senior advisor at Invest in Guatemala
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 …
IAOP: As India Wanes, Does Central America Become a New BPO Hub?
April 26th, 2009I kept hearing it throughout the IAOP Central America chapter meeting this week in Guatemala City:
India is reaching a BPO and KPO saturation point. Companies want more options but they want the same kind of process discipline that originally put India on the map. Is Central America ready to fill those big shoes?
Lori Blackman, president of DNL Global and a key behind the scenes organizer of the event, made a great point when she insisted the greater Latin America region has to take a close look at itself and decide what it can do better than anyone else. As a result, I kept asking my new provider friends: What makes you different? Beyond building call center operations, what’s the long term value play for your operation? Lori says it’s the natural ability to sell and smoothly engage with …
