BusinessWeek
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve checked in with Indian IT and BPO outsourcing companies on how the global financial meltdown is affecting their businesses. So far, so good—even for those with a relatively high exposure to financial services clients. The near-shore scene is similar. Beni Lopez, CEO of Mexico-based Softtek’s near-shore operations, tells me there are a couple of forces at work. Under pressure because of concerns about the economy, some North American companies are trying near-shoring services for the first time. Meanwhile, some of Softtek’s existing customers have cut back on the services they require because of budgetary pressures. So far, “Softtek hasn’t felt the pain,” Lopez says. The company expects revenues to grow at more than 30% this year, roughly the rate of growth it has experienced for the past five years. One source of stability is its domestic Latin American business, which represents more than 50% of revenues. Brazil is growing fast, for instance.
Technorati Tags: offshoring, near-shoring
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International Business Times
IBM today announced it has opened three new Global Delivery Centers in Argentina, entailing a US $60 million investment over ten years. IBM also announced the extension and opening of its Virtual IT Campus, the largest IT services hub in SouthAmerica.
These investments are in addition to the more than US$200 million that the company has announced in Delivery Centers over the past seven years in Spanish-speaking South America (SSA) — Argentina, Bolivia, Chile,Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay and Venezuela — as a result of exponential growth reported in the services division and in the development of Global Delivery Services.
Argentina has been selected by IBM as one of the four countries in the world to deploy its Global Delivery Centers, as part of the company’sstrategy to become a globally integrated enterprise.
IBM has tripled its workforce in SSA in recent years, to almost 15,000 professionals, 50% of whom work in the Global Delivery and Servicesorganization.
The three new global delivery centers located in Argentina serve more than20 countries around the world. Services include server, database, networkand storage monitoring and support based on global practices, processes andmethodologies.
“These projects are part of the ten-year investment plan we have for SSA,”said Gustavo Méndez, IT Services Director for SSA.
Due to the steady pace of growth experienced over the past five years bythe LA region and LA countries — including Spanish-speaking South American countries, IBM Corporation has included the region in a new organization called “Growth Markets.” This territory comprises 51 countries with a consistent 20% growth rate, now representing 22% of the Company’s global revenues. The Company is planning to invest in these countries approximately US$1.6 billion by 2010.
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