Latin America Is The Next Business Process Outsourcing Center
September 30, 2007 11:58 a.m. EST
Harriette Cecilio - AHN News Writer
New York, N.Y. (AHN) - Latin American countries will soon give business process outsourcing leaders India and the Philippines a run for their money as more U.S. companies are looking to better serve 31 million Spanish-speaking American customers.
According to research outfit Datamonitor, the Latin American call center industry is rapidly growing with the U.S. Hispanic population, which is now estimated at 44 million. The upward trend is expected to continue in the coming years.
Many Latin Americans who have settled in the U.S. could speak English fluently but prefer to conduct business - be it with banks, insurance providers or customer representatives of their favorite fast food chain - in their native tongue.
As such, call center jobs in Latin America could increase to nearly 190,000 in 2010 from 104,000 in 2005, the research firm estimates.
The Census Bureau said there would be more than 102 million Hispanics in the U.S. by 2050.
Fortune Magazine reported that U.S. firms want to provide customer care and support to this population, but also are looking for ways to affordably market to Hispanic households.
Amit Shankardass, a senior vice president of global marketing for Sitel, a Nashville, Tennessee-based outsourcing firm, said this is where Latin American call centers come in.
Countries such as Panama have numerous bilingual agents who can handle calls in English and Spanish, sometimes simultaneously.
Few customer care agents from Bangalore, India and Manila, Philippines could converse in Spanish.
However, aside from Latin American call centers, companies based in Spain also want to get a piece of the $3-billion outsourcing pie.
While the potential of Latin America as the new business process outsourcing is unquestionable, Datamonitor analyst Peter Ryan noted that some U.S. firms refuse to deal with Latin American companies. They reportedly perceive the markets as unstable places to do business, even though Chile and Costa Rica are recognized as very pro-business.
Numerous U.S. companies have set up business processing centers in Asia including Procter and Gamble, Dell and the American Insurance Group.
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Come Together and Create!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka:Peta
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
Email: sacranative@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/
Come Together and Create!
Peter S. Lopez ~aka:Peta
Sacramento, California, Aztlan
Email: sacranative@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Humane-Rights-Agenda/
It wouldn't be surprising to see an outsourcing boom in Latin America. It is a given fact that companies will turn to Spanish speaking nations in order to offer services to their millions of Spanish speaking customers.
ReplyDeleteThe Future of the Latin American BPO Industry Latin America is poised to become the world’s next outsourcing hotspot due to the region’s unique ability to offer dynamic, multilingual contact center services for a wide range of global markets. We expect this region to both rival, as well as complement, India’s own world-famous BPO industry. The future looks strong for a Latin American BPO industry built on the foundation of highly skilled workers, well-established business culture, exceptional customer service and affordable contact center services. In years to come, we can expect that India and Latin America will form two giant pillars upon which the majority of the BPO industry will be built.
ReplyDeleteCharlie