Zagada Institute — the research arm of Zagada Markets, a business development analytics firm — says Jamaica is one of six top business process outsourcing markets in Central America and the Caribbean.

The region in total generated US$8 billion in revenues in 2015 from more than 300 international and indigenous firms. Total regional economic impact generated was US$24 billion, Zagada says.

The report, entitled

Nearshore Report 2020 On Latin America and the Caribbean Region’s BPO, Contact Centre & CRM Economy, projects a US$50-billion economy with 750,000 people working and serving the US by 2020.

It says that currently six countries generate 80 per cent of the region’s talent capacity and revenues. In order of performance, they include: Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia and Jamaica — with Central America and Caribbean segments generating 65 per cent of core nearshore talent.

It also says the business model in Jamaica and other top revenue generators is maturing.

The report projects that by 2020 the 350,000 English-speaking, bilingual customer care and back office workers currently serving US customers will exceed 750,000, generate more than US$13 billion in company revenues, and exceed US$36 billion in economic impact and create a US$50-billion economy.

The report says the region’s growth performance reflects three growth models to include: Maturing models in Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Barbados; contending models in Colombia, Uruguay, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guyana; and emerging models in Peru, Trinidad, Honduras, and Belize.

“The product mix in the region continues to evolve from pure front office contact centre projects into more complex back office, finance and accounting, tech support and customer relationship management functions now representing over 20 per cent,” Zagada stated.

It reports that merger and acquisition and foreign direct investment activities produced more than US$2 billion in transactions, compared with US$700 million the previous 36 months.

Philip Peters, CEO of Zagada Markets, was quoted as saying: “While the first chapter in Nearshoring (2004-2014) focused on rebranding the region from its hospitality-only focus, the second chapter (2015-2020) now requires companies to aggressively develop business, win long-term contracts and scale their businesses.”