In the BPO space, I have a reputation as a straight talker. So, I will make no bones about the fact that I am a fan of Belize as a contact center delivery location. While maybe not the largest nearshore market from which to deliver customer experience interactions, in my opinion it is one of the best. Golden Gate BPO has been present in Belize for over three years, and continues to be optimistic about its possibilities in so many ways. Whether from the perspective of government support, workforce quality or location, it is simply an amazing place to run contact center operations.
I first became familiar with Belize about seven years ago, when it was nascent on the nearshore outsourcing scene. I had the opportunity of meeting representatives from their investment agency, Beltrade, which immediately impressed me with the willingness of its team to drive more offshore contact center investment. At the time, Belize was doing little work for US enterprises, but over the past few years, that has changed drastically. I am proud to say that Golden Gate BPO has been at the heart of this evolution.
There are a lot of compelling reasons why a North American enterprise should look at Belize for customer experience delivery. Notwithstanding the fact that it is only a short distance away from major hubs in the US and Canada, once on the ground, it is a country that has so much to offer. It is stable economically with a fixed exchange rate against the USD of 2:1, thereby eliminating currency unpredictability. And, its government understands the value of investing in its people. In fact, per CIA World Fact book, Belize spends more on education as a percentage of GDP than any other country providing nearshore contact center services in Central America. Those of us on the ground understand that this investment is having a positive impact on the country’s workforce. And while admittedly less scalable than labor pools in other parts of Central America, Belize’s comes with a great deal of advantages. For instance, while the country is officially English-speaking, the proportion of the population that speaks Spanish is estimated to be as high as one in every two people. And, its age demographic, in which 54% of the population is under the age of 25, contact center vendors can certainly count on a strong degree of workforce fluidity.
In terms of Golden Gate BPO, we have chosen to leverage Belize to support a number of our clients, and have not looked back. Working from 825 workstations, our team support clients across several verticals including consumer technology and educational services using voice and non-voice channels to provide customer care, technical support and outbound sales. We are excited about the prospect of working with new clients in other sectors from our Belize operations. The quality of the talent is superb and can drive tremendous value to clients regardless of vertical, function or supported channel. It just may the best kept secret in the nearshore for North American enterprises.
Written by Stephen Ferber