Due to the precariousness of the English language, in recent years’ companies in the Contact Center & BPO sector have decided to close thousands of jobs in the region and relocate their investments to other markets where they have no difficulty in recruiting qualified personnel.
Reports at a global level show that the command of English is one of the weaknesses at a Central American level.
The multinational company Feuji technology services has announced that it will be setting up a customer service and support center in Heredia.
From a statement issued by the CINDE:
San José, July 27, 2017.The service company Feuji, which specializes in providing technology solutions and services in the cloud, has officially announced its arrival in Costa Rica and the hiring of 150 more people for the remainder of 2017.
The company TransPerfect has announced that it will be opening a contact center in Alajuela to provide interpretation and translation services at an international level.
From a press release by Transperfect:
San José, Costa Rica, May 2, 2017 – TransPerfect, the world's largest privately held provider of translation services and technology solutions for global business, today announced the opening of a new contact center in Costa Rica. The facility will seat 120 new employees, most of whom are expected to be new hires from the greater San José area.
New lines of business represent further diversification and specialization of operations in Costa Rica. Convergys currently has over 2000 workers in the country providing service in English, Portuguese and Spanish
(Heredia, July 4th, 2016) Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG), global leader in customer management, celebrates the move to a new location in La Aurora de Heredia.
Roche Pharmaceuticals has announced an investment of $5 million to expand its service and distribution center, from where it serves 23 countries in the region where it operates.
From a statement issued by the Government of Costa Rica:
Heredia, Costa Rica. -12 August 2015 The pharmaceutical company La Roche today inaugurated its new service and distribution center in the country, which will optimize its operations serving 23 countries in Central America and the Caribbean. Thanks to the investment of $5.5 million, the company will also expand its storage capacity for biotechnology products and implement cutting-edge technologies in the building, committing to the highest environmental and energy saving standards in the world.
There has been an increase and there are now 122 international companies which have invested in the operation of 140 shared services in different categories.
Currently the export of computer services, management and other business functions make up 5.8% of Costa Rica's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the last 15 years, exports of value-added services increased from 12.1% of total exports to 47.5%, as estimated by the Costa Rican Coalition for Development Initiatives (CINDE).
Call centers with basic operations that were predominant in the country in the past decade are moving now to countries with lower cost structures such as Honduras or El Salvador.
Instead of the basic operations call centers, so called because they are centers dedicated to providing only bilingual phone support, Costa Rica has focused on attracting business processing outsourcing services (BPO's) which require staff with specialties such as finance or engineering.
An announcement has been made that the U.S. firm Startek will be closing its operation in the country and laying off its 550 employees.
Following in the footsteps of Intel Corporation and Bank of America, the company's business process outsourcing (BPO for short) operation has announced it will close its center in Costa Rica, as confirmed by the Minister of Foreign Trade, Alexander Mora in an article on Elfinancierocr.com.
Results Company has invested $2.5 million in a new customer service center in a free zone in Heredia.
The new contact center belonging to the U.S. company, which will be its second in Latin America, will provide call center services to customers from other firms.
From the press release:
"The new call center represents the company's commitment to continued investment in Latin America, with operations in Hermosillo and Obregon, Mexico.
The new tower it has moved to in San Jose, Costa Rica, will allow the company to hire 25% more personnel, which now totals 900 employees.
Aegis expands its footprint in Costa Rica
March 21, 2012 Zoom In Zoom Out
900-seat contact center provides for growing client engagements
Dallas, Texas and Mumbai, India: Aegis, a global outsourcing services provider and part of the $17 billion Essar Group, announced today that it is expanding its footprint in Costa Rica by opening a 900-seat call center in Rohrmoser, San Jose, Costa Rica, close to the U.S. Embassy and the National Stadium.
The multinational Sykes has increased its operations in Costa Rica, where it opened its third call center this week, a $2 million investment that aims to create 700 jobs.
The location chosen was Hatillo, south of San Jose, a place with favorable cost conditions. The initial number of employees is 300 people, reported Nacion.com.
"The biggest risk we face is hiring the 700 people we have projected having at this site, but we are confident we will be able to do it. Furthermore, the other sites are full to capacity and there is opportunity to grow here", Chuck Sykes, president of Sykes Enterprises Incorporated, told Nacion.com .
Sykes, a call center company, has bought ICT group in a move that increases its Costa Rican operation from 2,800 employees to 3,200.
The merger process between the multinational companies began back in February this year and sees Sykes add an additional 20,000 people to its worldwide workforce.
Arturo Barboza, director of corporate affairs for Costa Rica, explained that the company plans to end 2010 with a total of 3,500 employees and is considering opening a third site, accirding to Nacion.com.