Exclusive: Where is ACS Going Next?
August 9th, 2010By Kirk Laughlin
Mike Wooden at ACS: Clients are pulling back from offshore
Multinational call center and CRM players like Teleperformance, Convergys and Stream Global Services aren’t the only major league operators looking to expand their presence in the Nearshore region.
Embolden by the deep pockets of its new parent Xerox, ACS rates high on our list of companies prime to leverage the robust interest many clients have to locate customer service operations in Latin America. Mike Wooden, senior vice president, market development, Business Process Services gave us some of his thoughts in this interview.
Sitel’s LatAm HR Chief: Governments Could do a Better Job
August 3rd, 2010By Tarun George
The ability to find qualified and language-proficient workers is a very big deal when you’re trying to sustain or expand an outsourcing operation. The pursuit of talent is the force that drives the nearshoring engine, and there are always going to be debates about the next hot spot where great talent and attractive wages converge. Julio Mosquera-Stanziola, Sitel‘s Regional HR Director for Latin American Operations is an expert at finding the next great talent pool – so we decided to find out what he thinks about the current market. Hear why he thinks Chile, Colombia and Nicaragua are leading destinations in Latin America… and more.
Nicaragua Becomes Site of Second Facility for 24/7 in Latin America
August 3rd, 2010
Nicaragua, Monday, August 2, 2010: 24/7 Customer, the global leader in predictive interaction solutions, announced the launch of its contact center in Managua, Nicaragua. The company set up its tenth center world-wide, to deliver voice based inbound customer support service. Located in Accedo Technology Park, it currently employs nearly 150 people with plans to ramp up to 1000 people in the next 12-18 months.
P V Kannan, Co-founder and CEO of 24/7 Customer Inc said: “The opening of the new delivery center in Managua is an integral part of our global expansion plan and emphasizes our focus in the ‘Americas’ (Latin & Central America). Nicaragua as a country has displayed great potential to be the next preferred outsourcing destination in the contact center industry. We are amongst the first to set up operations here. The positive response from our clients to this region as a preferred near shore destination has been …
Sykes Revenue in the Americas Declines
August 3rd, 2010TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 2, 2010 — Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated (“SYKES” or the “Company”) , a global leader in providing outsourced customer contact management solutions and services in the business process outsourcing (BPO) arena, announced today second-quarter 2010 financial results.
Second quarter 2010 Highlights
— Second quarter 2010 revenues of $299.2 million increased $90.3 million,
or 43.3%, over the comparable quarter last year; second quarter 2010
revenues included $98.5 million in contribution from the ICT
acquisition
— Second quarter 2010 operating margin was 2.9% versus 8.2% on a
comparable basis; on an adjusted basis, a non-GAAP measure, which
includes the ICT acquisition but excludes ICT acquisition-related costs
(see Exhibit 4 for reconciliation), second quarter 2010 operating …
PRONicaragua Boss Doesn’t Duck Questions on Ortega
July 6th, 2010
Javier Chamorro, the man at the helm of PRONicaragua (and #33 on our Power 50 Ranking) is part of a new generation of Nicaraguans looking to reshape the perceptions of the country to fit the year 2010.
A steady tide of multinational organizations have shown up in Nicaragua over the last few years, with many raving about the quality of the workforce. But the fact that Daniel Ortega is still the man in charge causes many potential investors to stop in the tracks. But, according to Chamorro, Ortega has been a money magnet, drawing billions in investment over the last several years.
Carlos Amador, president of AgExport in Guatemala, talks candidly about how the country needs to cultivate the right environment for the outsourcing sector to maintain its blistering growth.
By Jon Felperin
It is no secret that Central America faces some challenges on the road to create a robust and truly bilingual professional workforce. Local efforts at English education are inconsistent across the region and many hardworking students graduate with less than an intermediate level of spoken English–far below what contact centers require for entry level employment.
A Top LatAm Marketing Executive at Stream Moves On
April 27th, 2010Rodolfo Salazar, a popular and well-known marketing head for Stream Global Services’ operations in the Americas, has resigned from his role at the international BPO player. Salazar, who is based in El Salvador, spent nearly two years at Stream and was one of the company’s chief spokespersons for their activities in the region.
“After working for Telefonica, Microsoft and Dell, I could summarize my experience with Stream Global Services as a great ride through a high potential growth market in fast paced ever-changing organization, driven by an Experienced business man (CEO Scott Murray) that knows how to take calculated risks fast for growing the Business even faster,” wrote Salazar in an email to Nearshore Americas.
Salazar has not made clear what he’ll be doing next – but we wish him the best and hope he lands in a place where he can continue to advocate for the Nearshore …
El Salvador: On the Right Path
April 13th, 2010
By Victor Casiano
Strategically located in the heart of Central America, El Salvador is close enough (and in an attractive time zone) to be appealing to companies based in the U.S. and Canada. The country offers competitive pricing in comparison to neighbors such as Mexico, Panama or Costa Rica. However, the Salvadorian outsourcing industry still has some untapped potential, which I will be covering briefly in this collaboration to Nearshore Americas.
Early Inspiration
El Salvador was launched as an outsourcing destination in the 2004-2005 period, when Dell and Sykes started operations in the country. At that time, the jobs generated by the industry went from 1,000 to over 9,000 in 2010, a real testament to the attractiveness of the country as an outsourcing destination. There are currently 38 centers in El Salvador (including two finance-specialized BPOs), out …
Charges of Laziness and a Shallow Labor Pool Have People Asking: What’s the Problem with Panama?
April 1st, 2010By Tarun George
Even Panama promoters admit that specialized talent is hard to come by in Panama City
Long regarded as the bastion of financial services in Central America, Panama has lately been trying to position itself as a call center and outsourcing hub in the region. While sporting a very qualified workforce however, the country seems to be suffering in the often-cited area of scalability. The Panamanian government has instituted a number of programs to combat the problem, but it may be too little too late. With rising labor demand and falling labor supply, and constant competition for talented workers, several large company pullouts in recent years tell the story.
With a population of only 3.4 million, Panama is the second smallest country in the Central American region. The capital Panama City, and perhaps San Miguelito are the only cities with populations capable of supporting a decent sized outsourcing business. As a result, call centers and software development operations are mainly focused in these areas. International players like Sitel have a large presence (over 3000 employees in Panama City), as do local companies like Star Contact (can employ more than 1300 call center workers, also in Panama City).
Since 2005, as more outsourcing companies have set up in these urban centers, the demand for qualified labor has grown but the talent pool has not. Or at least, it’s been growing very slowly. Panama’s appeal has always been its extremely skilled workforce, bilingual and exposed to US culture and accent. But companies are now reporting that it’s harder and harder to find that kind of talent, resulting in several high profile pullouts from the country.
