Call Center Site Selection Guide to the Latin America & Caribbean Region
by King White, on Mar 21, 2022 4:45:32 PM
In the last two years over 65,000 jobs at 87 call center sites have been announced across the Latin America & Caribbean Region (LACA). This unprecedented growth is clearly a sign of the geographic shift the call center industry is going through as companies are selecting nearshore markets for expansion over the U.S. and offshore locations such as the Philippines. This growth has made the site selection process more challenging as cities become oversaturated with competition, driving up wages and attrition rates. To help you understand the nearshore options to consider, Site Selection Group has provided a summary of the region to help guide you in the site selection process.
What is the LACA region?
There is often confusion on the definition of the LACA region. The technical definition of Latin America is the portion of the Americas comprising countries and regions where Romance languages—languages that are derived from Latin—such as Spanish, Portuguese, and French are predominantly spoken. This is a combination of Mexico (technically in North America), Central America, and South America.
The Caribbean consists of all islands in the Caribbean Seas. Obviously, one of the challenges of islands is the geographic and population limitations which often makes scalability difficult. As a result, some of the larger islands are the most popular for call center locations with the Dominican Republic and Jamaica being great examples.
Which countries have a more mature call center industry?
It can be very difficult to expand into a new country that doesn’t have an established call center industry to source management and trained agents. As a result, it becomes a balancing act of finding a location that has some direct labor competition but isn’t too saturated. The amount of growth in the region has made the site selection process more complex and risky as companies seek that balance.
Site selection guide to the LACA Region
The following table summarizes the typical targets with their maturity and cost profile. This data can help guide you as you consider your options.
| Country | Market Maturity | Cost Ranking | Region |
| Argentina | Mature | Moderate | South America |
| Bahamas | Emerging | High | Caribbean |
| Barbados | Emerging | Moderate | Caribbean |
| Belize | Mature | Moderate | Central America |
| Brazil | Mature | Low-Moderate | South America |
| Chile | Mature | Low-Moderate | South America |
| Colombia | Mature | Moderate | South America |
| Costa Rica | Mature | Moderate-High | Central America |
| Dominica | Emerging | Moderate | Caribbean |
| Dominican Republic | Mature | Low | Caribbean |
| El Salvador | Mature | Moderate | Central America |
| Grenada | Emerging | Moderate | Caribbean |
| Guatemala | Mature | Moderate | Central America |
| Guyana | Growth | Low-Moderate | South America |
| Honduras | Mature | Low-Moderate | Central America |
| Jamaica | Mature | Low-Moderate | Caribbean |
| Mexico | Mature | Moderate | North America |
| Nicaragua | Growth | Low-Moderate | Central America |
| Panama | Mature | Moderate-High | Central America |
| Peru | Growth | Low | South America |
| Puerto Rico | Mature | High | Caribbean |
| Saint Lucia | Emerging | Moderate | Caribbean |
| St. Vincent & Grenadines | Emerging | Moderate | Caribbean |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Growth | Low-Moderate | South America |
| Uruguay | Mature | Moderate-High | South America |
Conclusions
The growth in the LACA region has been incredible to watch. It has become true staple geography for a call center presence as companies continue to diversify their footprint. The ability of nearshore locations to handle the long-term growth of the call center industry will probably be the single biggest challenge faced by the region as markets become oversaturated.
