Study Shows Mexico Contact Centers Strong Presence for Spanish-Speaking World

The global contact center industry is a dynamic element that contributes to the customer-centric aspect of the overall corporate strategy. In doing so, these centers must be flexible and ready to serve the customer base, wherever that may be.

For many contact centers, no matter where they are located, they are serving customers all over the world. With the explosion of Spanish-speaking consumers in the United States, the contact center market in Mexico is booming.

This country provides the largest number of customer care agents serving the Spanish-speaking world; it has Latin America’s second largest agent population of over 150,000; Mexico provides over 33,000 bilingual agents serving U.S. customers; and the country creates jobs for close to million workers across the industry. The country is expected to be home to more than 200,000 agents by the end of 2007.

According to Zagada Research Institute’s Mexico Executive Call Center Report 2007: A Bilingual Oasis, Mexico could very well be the best choice for the organization seeking to outsource contact center/call center operations. This research indicates, however that choice of city location can be a critical factor in the decision when evaluating total cost per agent, agent attrition rates and agent absenteeism.

Contact center business process outsourcing (BPO) revenue is projected to be at US$6.7 billion for Mexico. This anticipated number is a US$&00 million increase over 2006. Recent years have seen an internal growth rate in the sector at an average of 17 percent. Mexico’s international outsourcing business is showing strong annual growth at 27 percent.

The education levels of a region are important for a potential investor to consider as access to a steady flow of educated and skilled labor is essential for successful operations. The country’s main cities have 577 universities with a stock of 1.7 million graduates and close to 800,00 more students currently enrolled.

Each country has its own internal and external challenges that outside investors must take into consideration and Mexico is no exception. Zagada found that the key challenges include relatively higher wages and real estate prices, high levels of software and intellectual property costs, as well as the need to generate more successful locally grown companies.

This research also revealed that while foreign direct investment (FDI) flows are existing, political tensions and social unrest negatively affect the country’s perception score. The country also faces effective competition from Argentina, Central America and the Dominican Republic.