by King White & Brett Bayduss, on Jul 16, 2014 9:57:00 AM
The Latin America/Caribbean Region (LACA) has become one of the hottest nearshore call center destinations in the past several years. All the major outsourcers continue scrambling to plant their 
flag in various locations as they seek to launch their nearshore solution in a country that has the optimal balance of labor availability, labor costs, and business climate. To understand who is going where Site Selection Group has identified 25 of the largest nearshore call center projects announced over the past several years.
Rapid Growth Creating New Challenges
The growth of the region is creating new challenges for companies as the markets are maturing. The three biggest areas of risk are wage inflation, employee attrition, and applicant flow. Most of the markets are seeing wages increase by 7 to 10% per year on top of a base wage of between US$2 per hour to US$4 per hour, depending on where you locate. The wage increases are needed to maintain applicant flow that will keep the centers staffed with qualified agents. Meanwhile, employee attrition rates continue to increase as more companies enter the market and make it more competitive for qualified labor.
The 25 Largest Call Center Projects in Latin America & Caribbean Region
After reviewing Site Selection Group’s monthly call center absorption over the past 3 years, there were 25 project announcements identified that had the greatest impact on the call center industry in the LACA region. The following table provides a summary of those projects:
| The 25 Largest Call Center Projects in Latin America & Caribbean Region | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company | # of Jobs |
Location |
Type | Year |
| UST Global | 10,000 | Leon, Mexico | New Site | 2013 |
| Qualfon | 6,000 | Georgetown, Guyana | Expansion | 2013 |
| Teleperformance | 2,500 | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | New Site | 2013 |
| Aegis | 2,000 | Lima, Peru | New Site | 2012 |
| Convergys | 2,000 | Bogota, Columbia | New Site | 2011 |
| Allied Global | 2,000 | Guatemala City, Guatemala | New Site | 2013 |
| Allied Global | 1,400 | San Pedro Sula, Honduras | Expansion | 2013 |
| Teleperformance | 1,000 | Puebla, Mexico | New Site | 2014 |
| APAC | 800 | Montevideo, Uruguay | New Site | 2011 |
| Convergys | 700 | San Jose, Costa Rica | Expansion | 2014 |
| Qualfon | 600 | Mexico City, Mexico | New Site | 2013 |
| Transcom | 550 | Cali, Columbia | New Site | 2013 |
| Island Outsourcers | 535 | Freeport, Bahamas | Expansion | 2014 |
| Elephant Group | 531 | Montego Bay, Jamaica | Expansion | 2014 |
| C3 | 500 | Guatemala City, Guatemala | Expansion | 2014 |
| The Results Companies | 500 | Heredia, Costa Rica | New Site | 2014 |
| Island Outsourcers | 500 | Freeport, Grand Bahamas | New Site | 2013 |
| Fullgram International | 400 | Kingston, Jamaica | New Site | 2014 |
| Scotiabank | 400 | Trinidad & Tobago | New Site | 2013 |
| Blackhawk Networks | 375 | San Salvador, El Salvador | New Site | 2014 |
| Convergys | 300 | San Pedro Sula, Honduras | Expansion | 2014 |
| Stream | 300 | San Pedro Sula, Honduras | New Site | 2013 |
| Stream | 300 | San Pedro Sula, Honduras | New Site | 2013 |
| iQor | 300 | Panama City, Panama | New Site | 2014 |
| Callzilla | 300 | Bogota, Columbia | New Site | 2014 |
Conclusions
The demand for nearshore call center capacity is continuing to increase as companies seek an alternative solution to offshore locations like the Philippines and India. It is critical that companies utilize advanced labor analytics in the LACA region to help them avoid selecting a saturated nearshore location. Understanding where other companies have located provides a great way to evaluate which LACA cities may have the greatest demand for labor.
