Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

April 28, 2008

Dominican Republic Offers Promise for Call Center Industry

By Susan J. Campbell

TMCnet Contributing Editor

When thoughts of the Dominican Republic enter the mind, it is usually thoughts of the tropical get-away. While this type of tourism has long been a key economic driver for the country, it is now looking to expand its opportunities by way of the call center industry.

The country is effectively tapping into its returning immigrant population to become the Caribbean’s leader in the call center industry. And, while some agents may still speak with the hint of an accent, the reality is that many of these agents speak with flawless English and many without an accent at all, making it an attractive location for U.S. investors.

Aside from the language capabilities of its population, the Dominican Republic is also maximizing the benefit of its close proximity and family ties to the United States to capture call center commerce. This strategy is working well as more Americans are frustrated with customer service operators with Asian accents and more industries are seeking business operations closer to home.

To advance its initiatives, the government of Santo Domingo is offering incentives, sending thousands of young citizens to English immersion school and clearing out old factories to make room for call center operations. These methods appear to be working as the number of agents in the Caribbean increased fivefold in six years.

In fact, analysts say that the economic impact of call centers in St. Lucia, Barbados, Trinidad and Dominica is at least $2.5 billion. In fact, as little as four years ago, the country had just 11 call centers. Now, there are 56 centers and nearly 25,000 employees who earn two to three times the going rate for comparable jobs.

As a whole, the Caribbean region has about 60,000 call center jobs, with the Dominican Republic as its leader, according to telecommunications consulting firm, Zagada Markets. Jamaica is close behind with roughly 17,000 international cell center jobs.

Aside from the cost and proximity benefits, the Dominican Republic also offers a cultural connection. The majority of the call center jobs are in English in this nation of 10 million people that has 1 million of its countrymen living in the United States.

While the Caribbean is offering strong benefits to those American companies looking to control costs through outsourcing their call center operations, the area’s share of the industry still pales in comparison with India, which has 400,000 call center agents in a country with a population of 1.1 billion people.

While it may not pose a significant threat to India just yet, the fact is that the area is growing and investors are noticing the promise that the Caribbean can provide for the call center industry.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.

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