Off Hours: A Woman’s Travel Guide to South America
September 1st, 2010I was strolling along Rio’s famous Copacabana Beach when suddenly I felt forceful yanking at my throat. I thought my assailant had gotten my backpack with valuable documents and money, but to my relief, I realised the miscreant had ripped a thin gold chain with a small diamond from my neck. He’d also gotten my faux gold earrings, all while riding a bike. “My diamond!” I screamed. Luckily he dropped the goods – I learned later that resisting can lead to bodily harm – and with the help of a wonderful ‘abuela’ (grandmother) I recovered my lost gems.
I was foolish to wear jewellery in Rio. Warnings abound in South America’s capital cities about street crime, largely committed by ‘favela’ kids so poor that theft is their only option. The threat of being accosted is real but can …
Spanish-Language Support a Key Pillar of a New WNS Deal with Intercontinental Hotels
September 1st, 2010NEW YORK, NY and MUMBAI, INDIA, Aug 31, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — WNS (Holdings) Limited , a leading provider of global business process outsourcing services, today announced a contract to deliver analytics and customer care services for IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group). Under this multi-year agreement, WNS will deliver customer care services in several languages including German, Italian, French and Spanish to IHG’s entities across Europe. WNS is also providing a dedicated analytics team to support IHG’s consumer marketing programs.
“IHG is committed to meaningful and lasting customer relationships through outstanding customer service, relevant communications, and memorable customer experiences. Our success rests on our ability to understand the needs and wants of all our guests, allowing us to treat each guest as a valued individual. We chose WNS because of their deep understanding of the travel industry, strong customer care capabilities, insightful customer analytics, and their global delivery footprint,” said Steve …
Robust Growth Ahead for CALA Telecoms, Triggering More M&A
August 31st, 2010Data from TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Insight Research Service project that telecom service revenue in Latin America and the Caribbean will grow from $122 billion in 2009 to $143 billion in 2014, led by the wireless sector. That signals a good growth opportunity for carriers in the region, as well as those looking to buy stakes in existing operators.
Telecom revenue in Brazil, Latin America’s largest market, will top $55 billion in 2014, followed by Mexico, with $25 billion, and Venezuela, at $13 billion. Brazil is growing revenue at 39 percent and Mexico at 17 percent. Venezuela is a distant third, at 9 percent.
Total mobile revenues are projected to grow just over 4 percent annually, while revenues from fixed-line (broadband and voice) services will grow just over 2 percent annually. Revenues will be driven by wireless and broadband subscriber annual …
Global ICT Firms Urge Obama to Remove the Cuba Embargo
August 31st, 2010Nokia Oyj, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. are urging the U.S. government to ease rules that keep them from operating in Cuba even after President Barack Obama loosened telecommunications regulations last year to promote democracy on the communist island.
Nokia, the world’s biggest mobile-phone maker, is urging the U.S. to ease its 47-year-old trade embargo so it can sell handsets to Cuba. AT&T and Verizon, the largest U.S. wireless providers, urged regulators to make it easier for U.S. companies to directly connect calls to and from Cuba.
The companies’ pleas come after Obama said in April 2009 that greater contact with the outside world would reduce Cubans’ dependency on President Raul Castro’s regime. Still, other regulations prevent companies with U.S. operations from entering the market, according to a July report by the Washington-based Cuba Study Group, which advocates for an open economy.
“We don’t understand why the regulations stopped where they did,” …
Zemoga Wins Recognition as One of the Fastest Growing Firms in the U.S.
August 25th, 2010NEW YORK, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ — Award-winning digital innovation firm Zemoga announced today that it has been named to the 2010 INC. magazine ranking of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the United States for the second consecutive year. Over the past three years, Zemoga has amassed an impressive 485% cumulative revenue growth record.
Debuting in 2008 as a companion to the well-known INC. 500 listing, the INC. 5000 is the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs. Taken as a whole, the companies on the list represent the backbone of the U.S. economy.
Zemoga moved up to #619 in the 2010 rankings from its #646 position in 2009. Last year, the company also …
Microsoft Invest $500 million on State of the Art Data Center in Brazil
August 25th, 2010Total investments in Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT) Brazil data center will reach US$500mn, the director of technology and innovation for Microsoft’s Chile division, Wilson Pais, told BNamericas.
Construction is well underway, Pais said, but was unable to disclose the center’s exact location. The facility will be up and running next year.
The executive also confirmed Microsoft’s intentions of constructing additional data centers in the region, but said the exact locations are still up in the air.
“There will be more than two in Latin America,” he said. “All the data centers are connected, and they all have Microsoft cloud computing infrastructure. Each data center represents an investment of roughly US$500mn. These are data centers the size of soccer stadiums.”
Pais emphasized that the company will make the final call regarding additional centers once demand reaches a certain level. Factors under …
OAS Chief Singles Out Honduras for “Epidemic” Violence
August 24th, 2010The Organization of American States (OAS) chief José Miguel Insulza, said that the violence in some Latin American countries with high homicide rates can be compared to an “epidemic.”
During an open class that Insulza gave at the American Institute of Human Rights in San José de Costa Rica, the official said that among the ten countries with the highest homicide rates, “more than half” are in Latin America and that if homicide rates in some cities in the region would use the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO), they would definitely rank as an epidemic.
“There are a large number of Latin American cities in which violence has turned into an epidemic that we have to face for once and for all”, and added, “the region is suffering of a crime wave that has …
Are U.S. Call Center Agents Wages Now on Par with India?
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Some outsourcing jobs are becoming as cheap to fill in the US as they are in India, according to the head of the country’s largest business process outsourcing company.
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Guatemala Gets Serious about Free Trade Zones to Boost Investment
August 23rd, 2010Automated Translation from Spanish
Rep. Mariano Rayo anticipated that the Free Zones Act could be approved later this year.
The zones represent investments in the country, employment generation and value added to exporters. However, the country could lose these benefits by having an old law that regulates this activity, for which various sectors are urging the adoption of the initiative is in the Congress.
The 3858 bill, Free Zones Act, which seeks to amend the Decree 29-89, Law on the Promotion and Development of Export and Maquila activity, received a favorable opinion of the Committee on Economy and Foreign Trade of the Legislature in 2008, but since that time has not fully discussed.
This initiative aims to create conditions for promoting investment. “As a business we have participated with other organizations in the dialogue table in Congress, for presenting this proposal is innovative and futuristic,” said the director of the Competitiveness of …
Genpact Moves to Double U.S. Workforce in Next Few Years
August 19th, 2010Offshore BPO major Genpact is planning a major ramp-up of its ‘onsite’ presence by doubling the US workforce to 2,000 professionals in the next 2-3 years. It currently has about 1,000 professionals in the US, across functions such as revenue cycle management, mortgage processing and loan modification.
“This whole area of business process management and driving improvement in business processes will demand more onsite presence, more domain-specific capabilities and very high-skilled re-engineering capabilities. I think we need to be closer to our customers when we do this kind of work. So we are very comfortable from a business model and demand perspective, with regard to our hiring plans in the US,” the Genpact President and CEO, Mr Pramod Bhasin, told Business Line.
Of the 1,000 professionals that the company currently employs in America, between 60-70 per …
