Niyamath Parveez

Asian and European countries are not the only players in the BPO field any longer. South American countries are fast catching up, Guatemala being the latest name in the roster. Coca-Cola Enterprises have already outsourced the processing of their financial and accounting work to Guatemala-based outsourcing vendors, and more big names are expected to follow suit pretty soon.

Guatemala has always been a prime location for outsourcing jobs, and its delay in grabbing its slice of pie from the field can only be attributed to less enthusiastic advertisement of the capabilities of its population. Compared to many other South American countries, Guatemala has some significant advantages in the field of business process outsourcing, especially when it comes to handling tasks outsourced by big names in US. The principal advantages that give Guatemala a significant edge over many other countries in the outsourcing field include:

High literacy rate with impressive knowledge of English – 80% of the population learn English from the age of 5. Thus processing business operations for companies that have English as the official language is not a problem to outsourcing vendors located in Guatemala. Besides, the impressive literacy rate of 86% is good enough to provide a sizable advantage to the country in the fields of both technical and non-technical jobs.

Low average age of its working population – About 80% of the population of the country is under 30 years of age. Thus, the workforce of Guatemala is young, energetic, and prepared to work hard. Also, around 200,000 of its population are still studying in Universities, so the inclusion of thousands of freshly out-of-college, technically proficient graduates to the workforce is not far off. This is quite a lucrative prospect for outsourcers indeed.

Already a popular outsourcing destination – Several big names worldwide have already outsourced sizable fractions of their business processing to Guatemala, thereby forming a strong base and proving the potential of the country’s workforce. Some of the key names include Capgemini, Walmart, P&G, Scotiabank, etc.

Peaceful Government – 20 years of undisputed, peaceful democracy have given Guatemala the political stability required for attracting investors and outsourcers.

Well-developed telecom infrastructure – Guatemala is well known for its well-developed and stable telecommunication services. The commerce minister was spotted carrying three Blackberries to a recent conference; which bears further evidence of how tech savvy the general population can be – quite a welcoming sight for outsourcers.

Short distance from US, and same time zone – Guatemala is located very close to the US; a simple 3-hour flight could take the representative of a US-based outsourcing company to a call center in Guatemala. Those located in Asia, in contrast, will take more than half a day to reach.

Good economical condition – Guatemala has quite a flourishing economy, even in these recession-plagued times. The export of green tomatoes, coffee and bananas has picked up, while manufacturing industries continue to provide a strong backbone to the economy of the country, as always.

For these reasons, Guatemala is fast turning into quite a major player in the outsourcing field. The advantage of having a favorable location and a compatible workforce have provided the country with almost all the resources it needs to build a strong and effective outsourcing network.