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The event will be organized under a corporate matchmaking format, allowing buyers and sellers to spend quality, one-on-one time together. This is a second annual event, sponsored by the Guatemala Exporters Association. Sessions will be organized around these key topic areas:

• Sustainable Tourism
• Health & Wellness Tourism
• Laboratory Services
• Software Development Solutions
• Contact Centers & BPO´s

To register, just visit this site.

We are launching the media brand to meet a strong hunger for relevant and deep analysis of how to develop profitable, long-lasting partnerships in Latin America and the Caribbean. We will have much more to tell you in September, including launch of a regular newsletter, contributions from outsourcing experts, buyer case studies, live blogging and much more! Response to our current brand – Caribbean CRM Central – has been overwhelmingly positive. We expect to play a part in helping the Nearshore community establish itself more visibly on the world BPO stage.

The North American Shared Services and Outsourcing Summit is coming to Chicago, from Sept. 28-Oct. 1

- Innovative pricing models and contracting

- Building a world class HR shared services function

- Getting your organization ready for BPO

There will also be a session specifically dedicated to emerging outsourcing regions, particularly Latin America.

If you’re going to be in Chicago for the event, let me know -  let’s connect: kirk@nextcoastmedia.com

The Forrester researcher, Sudin Apte, paints a pretty grim picture of the India BPO sector citing that major providers are ill-equipped to handle a perfect storm of diminished demand, picky clients wanting better deals and anti-outsourcing rhetoric from President Barack Obama.

The researcher says: “Indian providers’ limited preparedness to fight the recession poses a risk for clients. While in the short term sourcing professionals will find it attractive to obtain lower rates, vendor viability is challenged in the  long run — putting project delivery and overall client work at risk.”

These are pretty strong words and have major implications for Nearshore providers and US customers. What can providers learn?

Lesson 1: Differentiate yourself and your brand. Part of the problem for many India providers is they are doing too much and have lost sight of their core specializations.

Lesson 2: Build credibility through service excellence. The outsourcing business is very much a long-term gain proposition. It remains essential that providers consider their delivery value through continuous engagement and committing to invest in competency areas.

Lesson 3: Be honest. Say No. Part of the advantage of working in the Nearshore region, is the sharing of similar cultures. For that reason, the Western Hemisphere is probably better known for its ability to be “professionally blunt” when necessary to get the point across. This is an advantage for providers who are working with clients who are used to receiving “push back.” Being tactfully frank when necessary is something that customers will respect you for.

Lesson 4: Offer new methods of engagement. This point – courtesy of Forrester – is important since providers need to demonstrate that they are innovating in the right areas and looking at ways to improve the delivery of service, through human capital efficiencies, technology improvements or other creative models.

Is the India outsource industry about to collapse? Absolutely not.

But when major research firms like Forrester talk about anticipating bankruptcies – it’s a wake up call I would pay attention to.

Forrester advice to US clients working in India: “Rather than wait for a provider to go bankrupt or be acquired and face work disruption, identifying early symptoms of risk can save a lot of pain.”

No hard feeling Mel, but if you and the rest of the political leadership want to truly serve your country then walk away from the righteous arguments and let stability – and commercial growth and opportunity – prevail.

Of course, the political situation in Honduras is not that simple. But what is encouraging is that despite the past several weeks of negotiations and high-level wrangling, the country’s emerging BPO industry is holding itself together nicely.

First, it is critically important to note that the cooler heads in such situations are often business people and investors who see well beyond the political rhetoric, knowing that this too shall pass. Companies preparing to establish or expand operations in Honduras include the giant food and agricultural corporation Cargill, the globally renowned marketing and ad agency McCann Ericsson, and Netsol, a global provider of  business services with branches around the world.  This encouraging news was relayed to me by Ruben Sorto, Corporate Marketing and New Projects Director at Grupo Karims, which is establishing several world-class office centers, including the Altia Business Park project near San Pedro Sula. (Check out the virtual tour here.) “The project is right on track and within the scheduled program,” says Sorto. “We will finish the first tower by December and we expect to have everything up and running in the first quarter of 2010.”Sorto says that his firm has rented about 70% of the first tower (14 floors, each floor with 11,000 sq. feet) to corporate tenants.  

Ruben Sorto, left, of Grupo Karims joins Carolina Pascua (far right) from FIDE (the Honduran Investment Agency) and an unidentified executive during a recent meeting in Honduras.

Honduran-based business leaders are continuing to come out publicly in support of Zelaya’s ouster: “We’re here to support the brave actions of the new government, said Santiago Ruiz, president of the Agriculture Association of Honduras.

While some might argue that Zelaya’s strength was in promoting Honduras as a public relations pitch man, the reality is – upon reflection – that he appeared to quite keen to establish his own home made brand of continuismo, where he would defy the constitution and hold on to power as long as possible.

As we’ve said in this blog before, Honduras has a great upside in terms of outsourced services. We just hope that same sense of patience and focus that helps create sound businesses begins to form the foundational approach of the national government level.

Yet, there are persistent questions about a saturation point in Costa Rica, where all the best labor is soaked up – especially in technical fields. For a country of just 4.1 million people, there is an impressive list of foreign companies with operations in Costa Rica. Oracle, HP, Intel and Cisco all have offices in Costa Rica and there are countless software development firms providing services to clients all over the world.

According a study just released by Manpower, nearly half of Costa Rica firms cannot meet their needs for skilled labor, particulary in technical fields. The  survey found Peru (56%) and Mexico (44%), are also having a tough time.  On the other hand,  employers in the U.S. (19%), Guatemala (20%) and Canada (24%) reported the least problems.

On my recent visit to Costa Rica – for the June Services Summit sponsored by promotion agencies CAMTIC and PROCOMER – it was clear companies are adapting to the skilled labor challenges by looking beyond borders throughout South and Central America to funnel business to other providers. This is an encouraging trend as the regionalization of service relationships is another shot in the arm to help drive BPO activites – and economies -  in such places as Colombia, Panama and Nicargua.

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 learn about sudden shifts in strategy. We will try to find out more about the issues that triggered this sudden change – but will also invite readers to offer their own opinions.

The Guatemala economy is not enduring the same pain as some neighboring countries – which makes the cut even harder to understand. Just announced figures from the United Nations Latin American and Caribbean Economic Commission indicate the Guatemala economy will shrink by just 1% in 2009.  (Costa Rica, by comparision is enduring a 3% decline).  The overall Latin American region will slow by 1.7%, with Mexico facing a sizable 7% contraction.

The region is expected to get back on a growth track in 2010 – with economies expanding by 3% next year on average.

How much will the losses at IIG impact the outlook for the local BPO economy?

Bogota employs over 30,000 people in the contact center industry

Plenty of heads shook with dismay across Latin America, and particularly in Colombia, when Bogota was labeled as the riskiest outsourcing destination in the world for 2009, according to publishers of the Black Book on Outsourcing.

Lots of rankings come out annually about outsourcing providers, specialty areas, regions and cities – but this particular announcement seemed to be so at odds with reality that it triggered a slew of condemnations across the Internet and raised serious questions about the methods used by authors Scott Wilson and Doug Brown. (For further opinion, see Nearshore Americas’ reaction here.)

Modern City on the Rise

A city that generates over $250 million annually in the call center/outsourcing industry can hardly be called a dangerous investment option.  “It [Bogota] has a big and modern economy with over 500,000 college students, a major international airport and the advantage of moving more cargo in Latin America [than any other country],” says Vladimir Ramirez, Managing Director of International Development Group, a management consulting firm with operations in Colombia, New York and Chicago.  “It was number one in foreign investments last year (in LATAM) making it the first port of entry in Latin America and having both Colombian and international Spanish call centers located in Bogota.”

With facts like these, it’s hard to believe the negative comments on Bogota, but Black Book of Outsourcing doesn’t stop there. It places Bogota under the radar as a dirty and polluted city with an immature legal system.  When contact about the report, authors Scott Wilson and Doug Brown did not respond to questions.

“Many people know very little about Latin America and nothing about Colombia, so I don’t know if those people have ever been here or where they get their data,” says Ramirez. “Colombia, within its political context, has never had a coup d’état, it has only entered in a recession once at the end of the last century and from a public order point of view it is no more corrupt than India, Indonesia and other countries in Latin America.”

Teleaccion: Training Plays a Key Role

Colombia counts on the expertise of a consulting and training company, unique to Latin America, called Teleaccion.

• It’s a 21-employee institution specialized in improving technology and BPO management within the country and nine other nations around Latin America.
  
• It has focused on three primary countries of growth for the call center market, including Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.
• “We have trained around 23,000 people within 157 contact centers in Latin America,” says Patricia Alzate, General Manager of Teleaccion. “We work for Latin American reality, not for American or European cultures. Our method is a practical and simple one that has showed great results.”

According to Ramirez, Colombia is a market waiting to be discovered by the international community.  Currently there are around 120,000 employees within the call center industry.  The largest call centers are located in Bogota which employs around 30,000 people. The country, with seven distinct regions, offers over 12 cities in which to base a company.  In five years, the call center/outsourcing industry is expected to generate $2.5 billion in revenue for the country.

Colombia has over 20 contact centers around the country all with different levels of success. Teledatos, located in Bogota, ranked number two in 2008 accounting for 13 percent of the market revenue.  With 15 years of history, Teledatos has become a leader in domestic services and has an open door policy for international business. They focus on the health care sector, air and land transportation with their services delivered mainly in Spanish, but also in Portuguese, English and Papiamento (the official language spoken in the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao).  It has a consistent portfolio of loyal clients, one that has maintained a 14 year long business relationship and others that see their quality in customer service and have stayed for over four years and counting.

Over 55 Clients Served

“Teledatos is born in Medellin and then in Bogota, being it the capital it went on to be part of the growth strategy,” says Mauricio Velasquez, Commercial and New Business Vice President. “We employ around 6,200 people and service 55 companies from Europe, the United States and Latin America.”

Profile: Mauricio Velásquez M.

Commercial and New Business Vice President of Teledatos

Systems Engineer of EAFIT, Specialized studies in Management in Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and in Direct Development in INALDE.

He is a professional and numbered member of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals – IAOP, USA.

He was Manager of Business Development with an emphasis on Outsourcing for HP in their region MCA (Multicounty Area), Director of Sales for business lines of Telecommunications for Unisys in Puerto Rico, Project Leader of IBM, among other related positions within outsourcing in technology.

Since 2009, he is the Commercial and New Business Vice President of Teledatos S.A. company that thanks to the strategic vision of its management team, it has leader the transformation of the Contact Centers in Colombia, transforming them in to one of the most strategic sectors of development in the country.

In the national market they place as number one when it comes to number of employees and annual capital.“Latin American culture is very easy and it’s not the same as in Pacific Asia because they have a barrier which is the English language,” says Vasquez. In Latin America we speak English and we weren’t born with it as a main language, so for companies like Samsung or LG that cater to the Hispanic population it would be easy for us to take care of their needs in our language, but for Indians to learn Spanish would be a very difficult process.”

The Colombian government is taking English language training seriously and is developing incentives to bring more qualified workers into call centers and outsourcing.

Government Steps Up its Role

“For this sector and with the help of the Department of Economic Development and the local government of Bogota we created a program called Talk to the World that is currently training 575 future employees in English and we expect to train 10,000 more in the next four years,” says Monica Ramirez Hartmann, Investment Officer of Invest in Bogota, a nonprofit investment promotion agency created by the Alcaldia Mayor de Bogota and the Bogota Chamber of Commerce.

According to Hartmann, Invest in Bogota together with other government institutions such as Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje (SENA) is training and helping employ as many people as they can within the contact center industry regardless of their career choice. They want to attract as many foreign investors as possible by offering them the best customer service at a low price and therefore making Bogota grow from its 60 percent annual revenue within the industry.

“Colombia is a country that for 20 years has had a bad image, but today’s situation is not the same, it’s a problem on how you perceive things and reality,” says Ramirez Hartmann. “This is the least expensive country in Latin America when it comes to payroll, infrastructure and telecommunications and it’s all very effective, they don’t offer any problems to companies. We are also in a great geographic position compared to India and the Philippines, since it’s a city where all the major airlines arrive making it therefore a convenient destination.”

Karina E. Cuevas is a contributing writer to Caribbean CRM Central. She is based in the Dominican Republic and can be reached at: kecuevas@gmail.com

-          Have you ever been Bogota?

-          What documentation and data did you base your analysis on?

-          Did you make contact with any institutions in Colombia to validate your claims?

Unfortunately for all of us, Wilson failed to respond to our questions. That leaves us all wondering about the validity of the findings, how certain Brown and Wilson are of their research, and what level of influence they may have been under from underwriters, clients or sponsors. We may never know the answer to these questions and Brown and Wilson certainly are not the first to distribute opinion parading as research.

The Bogota issue has raised eyebrows across the Internet, including a sharply written objection from well-regarded IT editor Bob Evans at Information Week. Others like Steve Mezak, the CEO at outsourcing consultancy Accelerance, point out that the ranking is largely a joke considering the improvements going on in Bogota.

What have we learned?

We at Caribbean CRM Central and parent publisher Nearshore Americas believe this is an important rallying cry for the region as a whole to recognize that random and erroneous claims such as this one should not go unchallenged.  One of our primary roles at this media organization is to bring to light the reality of doing business in Nearshore countries that is accurate and provides a voice for both customers and providers of outsourcing services. As a Brazilian friend – who works in the outsourcing services industry and grew up in Brazil – recently told me: Sao Paulo is a whole lot more dangerous than Bogota. Yet, where did the Black Book authors place Sao Paulo? The city placed 31^st on the list of risky outsourcing destinations.  We’re not picking on Brazil either – the point is that the people who really know what’s going on are the people you want to talk to when you do “research.” The Internet can be a powerful tool in spreading the truth and portraying reality. That’s what we’re here for…. – Kirk