The Hindu Business Line : BPO firms look beyond Mexico in S. America

WNS Global set up a 100-seat centre at San Jose in Costa Rica early this week, while the Bangalore-based 24/7 Customer is looking at Nicaragua to expand its Latin American operations. Currently 24/7 Customer runs a large centre at Guadalajara in Mexico.

“We are looking to set up a large centre in Nicaragua over the next three to six months,” said Mr Animesh Jain, Chief Delivery Officer at 24/7 Customer. The proposed centre would employ about 1,000-1,500 people.

WNS, through its centre in San Jose, plans to offer services in English and Spanish to its clients in North America. It will also provide the complete suite of WNS services including finance and accounting (F&A), customer service and research and analytics.

“Costa Rica provides a strong combination of language skills and talent, while still providing a competitive advantage for clients operating in the Americas,” said Mr Steve Reynolds, Managing Director of WNS for North America.

Cost of delivery

Analysts said the delivery cost-structure in Latam countries is similar to that in India or marginally higher. US customers are keen on outsourcing to near-shore centres, as they can fly to the locations and review the progress often.

Already, large IT services firms such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Patni have set up sizeable delivery capabilities in the Latam region, which also helps them to explore the emerging markets there. TCS, which offers services such as BPO, IT infrastructure, consultancy and testing factory from near-shore locations spread across Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico, caters to some 30 local clients in the region in sectors such as telecom, banking, finance, manufacturing and retail.

Infosys, which employs some 250 people at its Mexican subsidiary in Monterrey, set up a facility in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in the September quarter. Wipro runs a BPO facility in Curitiba, Brazil from where it serves customers such as Ambev.