Future of Sourcing - Multishoring http://futureofsourcing.com/tags/multishoring en On the Cusp or Not: Six Front Office BPO Locations to Watch http://futureofsourcing.com/on-the-cusp-or-not-six-front-office-bpo-locations-to-watch <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Six%20Front%20Office%20Locations%20to%20Watch.jpg"><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Six%20Front%20Office%20Locations%20to%20Watch.jpg" title="On the Cusp or Not: Six Front Office BPO Locations to Watch" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1192-7L_mGwUf7Xk"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="http://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Six%20Front%20Office%20Locations%20to%20Watch.jpg?itok=SrcYQoVs" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{c23c3da7-23a6-433a-b47d-3726deb16226}{181}" paraid="514325124"><span xml:lang="EN-CA">In the current marketplace, there is simply no way around a&nbsp;</span>multishore&nbsp;contact center delivery model.&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-CA">The reality is that with unemployment rates in key demand markets at near-record lows, the ability to source qualified, motivated talent needs to be done both domestically and in overseas locales.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">This is a dynamic that may be the source of political dispute but for those on the front line of delivery, it is simply a fact of life.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Fortunately for both providers and buyers of these services, there are destinations aplenty from which to choose.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-CA">In the current environment, there are some countries that are on the verge of making a global delivery impact.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Equally, there are some locations that have yet to make their presence known, or which have become lost in the shuffle, meaning a great deal of required work is required to establish (or re-establish) their cred</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">entials</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">.</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{c23c3da7-23a6-433a-b47d-3726deb16226}{201}" paraid="2119031793"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Upstart locations driving offshore competition</span></strong></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{c23c3da7-23a6-433a-b47d-3726deb16226}{207}" paraid="1487035323"><span xml:lang="EN-CA"><a href="http://outsourcemag.com/7-reasons-to-consider-belize-as-an-outsourcing-destination" target="_blank">The global contact center offshore outsourcing space</a> is not confined to th</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">ose</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-CA">mature</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-CA">delivery points</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;so frequently discussed, including the Philippines, India, Malaysia, Mexico and South Africa.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">In fact, while these five markets have done an excellent job in&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">pioneering</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;the offshoring business model, there are also many locations that are acting iconoclastically,</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;by</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;forging their own path in global front-office <a href="http://outsourcemag.com/the-paradox-of-the-designated-survivor" target="_blank">Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)</a>.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Among the most prominent</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;in this group</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;include:</span></p> <ul> <li paraeid="{c23c3da7-23a6-433a-b47d-3726deb16226}{207}" paraid="1487035323"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Bulgaria</span></strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;&ndash; This Balkan country has truly come on strong as a nearshore delivery point over the past few years.</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;With both providers and their clients being suitably impressed with its Western European language skills, commercial empathy and multiple&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">cities from which to deliver</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;services</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">, Bulgaria has been able to attract some of the biggest names in customer experience delivery, including TTEC and Alorica.</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;In fact, in the most recent Ryan Strategic Advisory Front Office Omnibus Survey</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;of over 350 enterprise contact center decision-makers, Bulgaria was ranked in the top ten most favored locations among UK respondents.</span></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div> <ul> <li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="1" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-listid="1" role="listitem" style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{d40d4a91-e138-47bd-a072-1a87d0072b00}{3}" paraid="260196153"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Egypt&nbsp;</span></strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&ndash; Following some difficult years post-2011&rsquo;s popular uprising, Egypt&rsquo;s outsourcing value proposition is more relevant than ever.</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;Its government has prioritized attracting new BPO investment, touting the country&rsquo;s skilled labor force, incentives and focus on quality.</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;It should be noted that despite having slowed following the revolution several years ago, Egypt&rsquo;s front-office outsourcing sector never shrank, a testament to the value that its investors place in that location.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Egyptian BPO 2.0 is a reality.</span></p> </li> <li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="2" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-listid="1" role="listitem" style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{d40d4a91-e138-47bd-a072-1a87d0072b00}{16}" paraid="1491879340"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Honduras&nbsp;</span></strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&ndash; The Central American&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">outsourcing&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">upstart continues its march toward prominence in the <a href="http://outsourcemag.com/node/696" target="_blank">American nearshore</a>.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">The coordination between the industry, government and real estate developers has been instrumental in this location&rsquo;s growth, as has the emphasis on bilingual education. The recent initiative t</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">o continue developing the space via the quasi-governmental organization Honduras 2020</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;has further accentuated&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">this location&rsquo;s</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;appeal.</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;It is noted that among US buyers responding to the above-discussed 2018 Front-Office Omnibus Survey, Honduras is now the second-most favored Central American location, which is a&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">tribute</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-CA">to its stakeholders&rsquo; efforts.</span></p> </li> </ul> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{d40d4a91-e138-47bd-a072-1a87d0072b00}{47}" paraid="2119933634">&nbsp;</p> <p paraeid="{d40d4a91-e138-47bd-a072-1a87d0072b00}{47}" paraid="2119933634"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Pivot</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;needed to realise potential</span></strong></p> </div> </div> <div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{d40d4a91-e138-47bd-a072-1a87d0072b00}{61}" paraid="2133245597"><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Obviously, for the front-office outsourcing industry</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">,</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;it is crucial to have new locations available to challenge established ones in order to ensure a healthy swath of delivery options.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">That said, there are also cases in which certain locations need to raise their game</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;if they are to remain viable players in an ever-competitive market.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Some of the most obvious include:</span></p> </div> <ul> <li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="1" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-listid="2" role="listitem" style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{d40d4a91-e138-47bd-a072-1a87d0072b00}{75}" paraid="275014513"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Nicaragua</span></strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;&ndash; Once one of the most sought-after delivery points for contact center work in the <a href="http://outsourcemag.com/cultural-counterparts-the-advantage-of-nearshoring" target="_blank">American nearshore</a>, Nicaragua has lost a great deal of voice in the broader front-office BPO discussion over the past two years.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Despite having both global</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">ly&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">and locally run players operating&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">at</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-CA">very high</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">-</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">quality</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;levels</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;within its borders, as well as a historically-active investment promotion board, Nicaragua has fallen out of favor with enterprise buyers of customer experience services, finishing in the bottom quarter of the 2018 Front Office Omnibus Survey.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">To be fair, recent political upheavals have not helped perception&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">in North America, but the country&rsquo;s outsourcing stakeholders will need to take swift action to re-establish Nicaragua in today&rsquo;s BPO discussions.</span></p> </li> <li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="2" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-listid="2" role="listitem" style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{d40d4a91-e138-47bd-a072-1a87d0072b00}{106}" paraid="923773683"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Turkey&nbsp;</span></strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&ndash; A few years ago, <a href="http://outsourcemag.com/node/754" target="_blank">Turkey</a>&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">was</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;considered to be the next big location for global multilingual delivery.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-CA">But</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;despite</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;multiple cities,&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">significant</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;infrastructure</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;investments</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;and a population in the same scale as those of the Philippines and Egypt, Turkey has not yet achieved its offshoring potential.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Notwithstanding that it has a dynamic domestic industry (hosting one of the most impressive annual contact center conferences anywhere in the world) and has attracted&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">a number</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;of</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;global BPO investors, this is one location that has yet to reach its peak in the offshoring game.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">On a bright note, UK respondents in the 2018 Front Office Omnibus Survey were warm to Turkey&rsquo;s value proposition, but more work will be required to broaden this country&rsquo;s appeal to other demand markets.</span></p> </li> <li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="3" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-listid="2" role="listitem" style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{d40d4a91-e138-47bd-a072-1a87d0072b00}{143}" paraid="709560515"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Haiti&nbsp;</span></strong><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&ndash; Another case of a locati</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">on that has not yet met its potential for offshore&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">outsourcing</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">, Haiti should be a logical choice for those firms looking to service Canada&rsquo;s French-speaking marke</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">t.</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;It has the possibility of being a Francophone alternative to North African markets, but to date has unfortunately had a series of false-starts in promoting its value proposition. This is a shame, given its impressively-skilled labor force.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">However, to date no major regional or global player has deployed capacity in this country.</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;Clearly, Haiti&rsquo;s stakeholders&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">need to pivot quickly and adeptly for this to change.</span></p> </li> </ul> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{d40d4a91-e138-47bd-a072-1a87d0072b00}{166}" paraid="2088970421"><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Offshoring</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;has never been an easy project and&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">there is little evidence to suggest that this will change</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;any time soon</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">.</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;With more delivery points from which to choose it is clearly an investor&rsquo;s market when it comes to contact center outsourcing.</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;The key for so many providers will be to determine what works best for their clients, and to decide accordingly.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">For th</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">ose</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;countries&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">with ambition to grow</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;in the offshore and nearshore, positioning is everything.</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;Those that get it right will reap&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">significant</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">&nbsp;economic benefits.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">Those that have the potential to do more must take action if they are to realise their potential.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-CA">But t</span><span xml:lang="EN-CA">he work needs to begin now.</span></p> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/multishoring" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Multishoring</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/contact-center" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Contact Center</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/outsourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Outsourcing</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/business-process-outsourcing-bpo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="On the Cusp or Not: Six Front Office BPO Locations to Watch - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="http://futureofsourcing.com/on-the-cusp-or-not-six-front-office-bpo-locations-to-watch"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Tue, 12 Jun 2018 18:07:00 +0000 Peter Ryan 1192 at http://futureofsourcing.com http://futureofsourcing.com/on-the-cusp-or-not-six-front-office-bpo-locations-to-watch#comments