Outsourcing heads to South America

India and the Philippines have dominated outsourcing deals for software development and customer service, while China and Eastern Europe have been key manufacturing destinations. Now changes are in the works, according Amit Shankardass, chief global marketing officer at global outsourcer Sitel. In an interview with Forbes.com, Shankardass said there has been saturation in the traditional big city, overseas markets as well as a desire among other countries to play in this arena.

"We've seen a lot of growth in Central and South America. That includes Panama and Nicaragua,'' he said.

The outsourcing executive said work in these new venues includes customer service, customer support, back-office processing and bilingual support for English and Spanish. He said the work being outsourced depends on the labor force available. In India, he said the bulk of the work is knowledge-process outsourcing.

"There are a lot of skilled engineers, nurses and doctors. A doctor there can take an X-ray sent electronically from the U.S. and interpret it. In Latin America, it's a lower skill level. Nicaragua would be a place for customer service. India would be a place for more technical support,'' he said.

When it comes to labor costs, Shankardass said you can find workers in the U.S. for $10 an hour, compared with $6 an hour in Mexico, $4 an hour in Central America and $2 an hour in India and the Philippines. But there are other costs associated with outsourcing, like labor management, data networks and telephony infrastructure. When you look at all the factors, Shankardass said, India and the Philippines offer a 32 percent to 38 percent savings for U.S. companies. The savings are about 24 percent to 28 percent in Central America, and 30 percent to 35 percent in South America.

To read the full interview:
- see this Forbes.com article [1]

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