Is Cuba Poised to Become a Call Center Hub?
November 6th, 2009NSAM EXCLUSIVE GUEST POST
By Peter Ryan, Lead Analyst – BPO and Contact Center Outsourcing & Services, OVUM
Since Fidel Castro’s relinquishment of power to his brother, Raul, many Nearshore outsourcing speculators have been wondering aloud whether Cuba could be the next big thing for contact center services into North America.
IAOP: Quick Country Snapshots from the Show Floor
April 23rd, 2009Cuba: A report is floating around that over 60,000 well-trained IT professionals are standing by ready to take on BPO work in a country that is quickly shedding its pariah status. Anybody up for planning a BPO conference in Havana?
Honduras: Some savvy folks from this emerging nation are making a strong case for cooking up some deals based on available capacity and its strong English-language training. Country leaders must continue to define their asset base and bring out the more differentiated characteristics of this promising nation. Searching for answers on this market? Gabriela Calix of Green Valley Industrial Park is a great resource.
Colombia: Wow, what an interesting upside. Over 45 million people and a very compelling combination of favorable factors including a far safer society than in years past, new telecom infrastructure and tax incentives. Vladimir Ramirez and Pedro Quintanilla both …
Raul Castro, Cuba’s president, can bring Havana a bit closer to the US mainland if he signs off on offers to bring fiber optic and satellite telecom services to Cuba. As part of the easing of the US embargo on Cuba, the Obama administration is permitting telecom service providers to turn up service links with its Cuban neighbors. Whether Castro will permit landing rights and okay roaming agreements is not yet clear. About 11 percent of Cuba’s population has telephone service, and less than two percent are mobile subscribers.
Cuba and US Halt Feuds in Support of Hemingway
March 17th, 2009The BBC is reporting on a Rare Project to Save Hemingway papers through a landmark joint effort between the Cuban and US governments. We applaud the effort to bury the political hatchet in favor of literally 
rescuing these literary treasures. Hemingway, who lived in Cuba for 21 years, represents not only a cultural bridge between the two nations but also was not distracted by political disagreement. Although the United States is a long way from normalizing relations with Cuba, we view this latest cooperative effort as hopeful and symbolic.
Cuba is less than 100 miles off the southern shores of Florida. Can you imagine the value both nations could provide in terms of cultural, industrial and educational exchange if the two countries moved toward deeper cooperation? My prediction: In less than 5 years this site will be reporting on a landmark …
