Outsourcing of Services BPO
The BPO industry in Colombia is characterized by attend diversity of industries and sectors such as: Banking and Financial Services, Telecommunications, Health, Government, Insurance, Logistics, Public Services, Mass Consumption, Hydrocarbons, among others.
Why to invest in the BPO sector in Colombia?
THE POSITIONING OF COLOMBIA, THE EXPONENTIAL GROWTH OF SALES AND THE ARRIVAL OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT PROVIDE EVIDENCE OF THE GREAT POTENTIAL OF THE BPO SECTOR
Colombia is considered one of the most important destinations for the development of BPO operations in the world, ranking first in the Offshore BPO Confidence Index. In 2021, Colombia exceeded USD 2.6B in BPO sales the BPO sector, and represents the 19% of the total sales in the region, occupying the first positions at the regional level and surpassing markets such as Argentina, Peru, and Chile (IDC)
Similarly, the country it’s been characterized by becoming a relevant investment destination for the BPO sector, from 2015 to 2021, more than 100 projects have been identified in the sector, these projects exceed USD 300 million, investments that comes mainly form countries such as the United States, France, and Spain (FDI Markets)
BPO is the outsourcing of business activities and functions to an outside provider. Outsourcing Services may include Payroll, Human Resources (HR), Accounting and customer relations (call centers). BPO categories are Front-Office customer service (technical support) and BackOffice business tasks (such as billing), among others.
Outsourcing services are important because they improve the speed and efficiency of different business processes.
COLOMBIA AS AN EXPORTING PLATFORM FOR THE SERVICE OUTSOURCING SECTOR - BPO
In 2021, exports of the BPO sector in Colombia exceeded USD 1.9B and increased by 26% compared to the immediately previous year. The United States, Spain, Mexico, and Chile were the main destinations for BPO exports from Colombia in 2021.
- Call center services
- Advertising services, market research and public opinion polls
- Business consulting services in business administration and public relations
- Research and Development R&D
- Architectural, engineering, and other technical services
- Juridical services
- Accounting, auditing, bookkeeping and tax advice services
- Employment services, that is, search, placement, and supply services of personnel
COLOMBIA HAS A STRATEGIC LOCATION, IT ALSO HAS HIGH-QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONNECTION
Colombia is in the middle of the time zones of important economic centers such as New York, Toronto, Buenos Aires, and Miami. The convenient time zone and strategic location of the country allows it to meet requirements with shorter response times and travel to the main cities of America in less than six hours by plane.
Additionally, Colombia has 11 submarine cables in operation, positioning itself as the second country in the region with the largest number of cables, which allows it to offer an excellent international connection, fast data transmission, stability, and high quality of services. According to the Ministry of Information Technologies (MINTIC), at the end of 2021, the total of fixed Internet accesses in Colombia reached 8.44 million, increasing by 7.79% the connections that were had with respect to the year immediately preceding.
THE COUNTRY HAS HIGHLY QUALIFIED HUMAN TALENT
According to the IMD World Talent 2021 Report, Colombia has one of the largest workforces in the region. It ranks third in terms of availability of Qualified Labor, surpassing countries such as Argentina, Peru, and Brazil. The country has 3 universities in the top 500 in the world and 13 in the top 100 in Latin America, according to QS World University 2022. Ten years ago, no Colombian university was part of the ranking.
Colombia offers the possibility of developing scalable BPO operations in 6 metropolitan areas with more than one million inhabitants: Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, and Cartagena. (DANE). This has allowed the BPO sector to be one of the largest generators of employment in the country. At the end of 2021, the sector exceeded 705,000 jobs. (MARO – Colombia Productiva, 2022)
According to the Labor Observatory, Colombia is characterized by offering constant education and training campaigns; The National Learning Service (SENA) promotes various spaces for technicians and technologists to be trained in different areas related to BPO operations, such as administration, sales, management, among others.
According to Nearshore Americas, Colombia is characterized by offering competitive salaries in relation to some competitors in the region. This factor, together with quality, has allowed large BPO companies to transfer their operations to Colombia from other regional markets to serve their Nearshore and Offshore markets (mainly the United States and Spain).
INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES HAVE SEEN AN OPPORTUNITY IN COLOMBIA TO DEVELOP THEIR SERVICES OUTSOURCING OPERATIONS
Global companies from diverse origins recognize the potential of the Outsourcing industry in Colombia.
- North America: Amazon, Sitel, TaskUs.
- Europe: Teleperformance, Atento, Grupo Konecta.
- Asia: Hinduja Global Solutions, Tech Mahindra.
- Latin America: Accedo, Skytel.
THESE ARE SOME INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE SERVICES OUTSOURCING SECTOR - BPO IN COLOMBIA
- BackOffice service centers for ICT, Financial and Accounting, Human Resources Management, Graphic Design segments, among others.
- Voice Services Outsourcing Operations in the verticals of Telemarketing, Collection, Sales, or Customer Service.
- KPO operations in Engineering, Telemedicine, Research, Development and Innovation (R+D+i), Legal Services and Medical Transcriptions, Engineering Services and Architectural Design.