JAMAICA continues to make inroads in the global services sector, with the destination ranking among the top 10 in the Ryan Strategic Advisory’s 2022 Most Favored CX (customer experience) Offshore Delivery Points.

On Tuesday May 24, 2022, head of Ryan Strategic Advisory, Peter Ryan shared with stakeholders in the global services sector the findings of the poll and the implications for the country at the Jamaica Promotions Corporation’s head office in New Kingston. The report highlights key business trends that vendors are searching for in an offshore destination including modern network connectivity, language skills, and an established reputation.

Taking a deeper look in the report, Ryan shared that vendors were also looking for reliability and stability to ensure “there is no disruption in CX delivery”.

Jamaica ranked outside the top five countries in the study, which was led by South Africa and India as joint first-place destinations, followed by Poland and the Philippines sharing the second spot. Mexico, Malaysia and Egypt closed out the top five spots.

Still, Jamaica ranked the highest among English-speaking destinations, with the main in-demand markets being the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Jamaica’s perceived strengths include political stability, language skills, customer and experience capabilities. At the same time the report listed economic stability (foreign exchange volatility), public safety and security, infrastructure (commercial real estate availability) and talent availability as weaknesses.

Ryan cautioned that Jamaica-based outsourcers should not ignore Australia as a demand market, noting that vendors in that country are looking for quality customer service delivery outside of the Philippines and South Africa.

“Australia as a demand market is very expensive and it’s got a reputation of being very discerning in terms of quality. Australian enterprises and the decision-makers in those enterprises don’t want to set up shop in a destination where there is going to be erosion of quality when it comes to interacting with a user. That’s why they tend to favour locations that may be of a higher-value nature,” he told Jamaica Observer in a subsequent interview.

While pointing out that South Africa, Malaysia, India and the Philippines are nearshore outsourcing destinations for Australia, Ryan explained that Jamaica has developed a reputation of quality that, “if imparted properly and localised right with Australian decision-makers, you could definitely see traction.

“It’s [Australia] is not the biggest demand market but it’s a very high-quality, high-value one that’s desperately seeking English-speaking alternatives — and that’s something Jamaica’s value proposition should not ignore,” he emphasised.

Among the industries in Australia that present opportunities for Jamaica-based outsourcers are retail banking, e-commerce, travel and tourism, and health care.

When the Business Observer asked about the 15-hour time gap between Jamaica and Australia, Ryan asserted that even outsourcers in the Philippines serve clients in the US.

Still, Ryan warned that as competition heats up between destinations, there are areas in which Jamaica can improve to maintain its competitive advantage.

He recommended that the Government should “listen to the sector, not just in terms of operations but also talent and training”.

In light of competition in other offshore markets, he advised that stakeholders should learn best practices from what other countries are doing “and find elements that can be transplanted”.

With Jamaica seeking to move up the value chain of outsourcing, the Ryan Strategic Advisory head said there needs to be coordination between the Government and industry stakeholders to drive the message that the country is ready for such opportunities.

“I think the time is ripe for Jamaica to have a 2022 and beyond blue print to figure out where the [global services sector] industry needs to go and then start trumpeting that blue print to the world so you can attract that type of investment,” he advised.