Outsourcing has become standard practice for companies for decades. The industry started way before the 70s and 80s when multinational companies proliferated.
This has created a huge wave of professionals seeking job opportunities in global companies. While outsourcing has become a norm, other businesses remain susceptible to doing so.
In most cases, various considerations must be made before deciding to outsource. These considerations include where to outsource, what to outsource, and the budget.
India and the Philippines are among the top outsourcing hubs around the world. But many countries are also starting to get known in the outsourcing scene. Colombia, for one, is emerging as an outsourcing destination, especially for multinational companies in the US.
What attractive aspects of the country make it a viable option for companies? And what are the unique traits of Colombians that serve as their competitive advantage over the others?
This article will answer the question – why outsource to Colombia?
5 reasons why businesses outsource to Colombia
Below are the top five reasons why global companies choose to farm out services to Colombia:
1. Same time zone
Colombia is northwest of South America. This puts the country in the same time zone as the United States, the largest and leading outsourcing client of many foreign companies.
This proximity and similarity in time zone make Colombian software engineers a viable option for US-based teams to collaborate hand-in-hand. In some cases, the outsourced staff can report to US offices in a couple of hours.
This is a huge incentive for conglomerates and small-medium companies keen to collaborate face-to-face rather than waiting for the next shift of employees to assess or solve it.
With better cooperation in the team comes better output, faster delivery of results, and optimized communication leading to synergy.
2. Communication skills
Aside from its proximity to Western countries, Colombia also invests massively in honing the people’s English skills from elementary and high school.
This aptitude makes synergizing with Colombian professionals easier for US-based and Western countries. They can adjust and adapt to any organizational mandate with ease.
Most of the workforce in the country is bilingual. This opens a lot of doors not just for Colombians to access quality jobs from large corporations but also for the latter to hire world-class talents at reasonable rates.
3. Similarities in culture and norms
Geographically speaking, the entire Latin American region is culturally linked to Colombia. They share the same religion and language. This makes it easier for Colombians to interact with American citizens.
These cultural influences are extended to Colombia’s business practices, making synergizing and collaborating easier.
This is a huge advantage for organizations since in-house can work seamlessly with outsourced teams, ensuring the project targets and goals are met.
4. Competitive and highly educated workforce
When an organization considers outsourcing a service, it may mean two things:
- It needs to focus on its operations
- The task or project at hand requires an expert touch
Outsourcing companies employ highly talented, skilled, and educated professionals to perform such tasks. Compared to in-house staff, working with external teams are more cost-effective.
The common workaround is to outsource outside to save costs. The good thing about Colombia’s workforce is they are as skilled and educated as their Western counterparts.
The country has 30 world-class universities and colleges offering specialized and vocational courses that produce highly-skilled professionals companies can tap into for their projects.
5. Increasing tech innovation
The rise of Medellin City as the center of Latin America’s technological innovation is a huge testament to the growing specialization of Colombia.
In fact, Medellin city was referred to as the World’s smartest city because of the self-driving cars and the huge development of artificial intelligence. This makes the city a hub for innovation and technological development.
The good thing about these developments is the government is supportive. It provides funding and exposure for the city to flourish, making it easier for foreign companies to tap into the services and expertise of these companies.
Colombia is the top choice for technological innovation
Outsourcing IT-related services has become prominent. Many companies seek reliable IT teams with proven expertise, especially in software and application development.
Colombia has proven its worth as a leading outsourcing destination for IT services, particularly software development. For decades it has serviced Western countries on their specific needs.
With the rising popularity of Medellin as the Silicon Valley of Latin America, it is expected that other nations will follow suit in tapping the country for its specialized services.
