Because companies dedicated to the provision of services are more effective than product manufacturers and their growth is more accelerated, economies such as those of Central America could bet on the outsourcing of technology services.
In this context of sanitary and economic crisis, generated by the covid-19 outbreak, several economic sectors were affected due to the restrictions imposed, but, in contrast, companies involved in the provision of technological services reported a significant growth.
Coordinating work teams that work remotely, having updated information systems and incorporating the use of cloud applications to generate reports in an agile way, are some of the needs of companies in the new business scenario.
The return to on-site work is a reality that seems to be far away for some companies, which, faced with the imposition of restrictions on mobility, had to readjust their operations and migrate to digital formats.
In 2016, Costa Rica registered just over $3.3 billion in exports of services through means of technology, information and communication networks.
Of the total value exported, 88% corresponds to large companies, although there is also a significant participation of micro-enterprises (7%). The remaining 5% is shared between medium and small companies.
On November 3 and 4 companies in the technology and telecommunications sector will be meeting in San José to explore business opportunities.
The event will be held at the Hotel Real Intercontinental, where more than 40 companies will be taking part exhibiting their products and services.In addition, conferences and business meetings will be held on topics such as digital transformation of industries, artificial intelligence and new business trends.
On August 30 entrepreneurs from data center industry at the regional level will be meeting to explore business models successfully implemented in other regions.
The event will be held at the Wyndham Hotel in Herradura, and will include the participation of Gary Connolly, president and founder ofHost in Ireland, an organization dedicated to attracting investment in Ireland.
The multi million dollar spending sprees that governments hope will drive innovation and improvements in business productivity is in stark contrast with the widespread tendency to maintain the status quo of the markets.
"In 2005 in Costa Rica they wanted to block Skype, in 2015 they want to block Uber."
The title of the blog in Nacion.com written by Pablo Fonseca, is indicative of a general trend on the part of state officials to protect the status quo, in order to protect the interests of companies or sectors, especially those that are officially regulated.
Panama is the only country in the region which has improved considerably in the use of information technology in the last year.
Investments in the field of information technology have resulted in more and better use of these IT services in Panama, which has improved its overall position in the use of technology, according to the Information Technology 2014 report, prepared by the World Economic Forum World.
Nearly three-quarters of newly formed companies arise from ideas that are not very innovative, and there are very few that are export-oriented.
This was revealed by the "National Report 2012: the state of entrepreneurship in Costa Rica". "The research, made with the methodology of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), shows that 73% of new companies created do not offer any new products or services to customers, while for established firms the ratio is 60 % ", reported Nacion.com.
The growing Latin American potential for consumption of IT services is attracting information technology companies from India.
An article in Nearshoreamericas.com states that "An increasing number of Indian technology companies are expanding in the emerging markets of Latin America, in an attempt to reduce their excessive dependence on the already saturated markets of the United States and Europe ".
IBM is opening a new center of information technology in Costa Rica as the first stage of a $300 million investment over 10 years.
This investment of $300 million is scheduled to run over 10 years and there are plans to employ about 1,000 professionals by 2014, reported Elfinancierocr.com.
Services to be provided at this site include assisting corporate clients in areas such as servers, storage systems, security services, maintenance and monitoring hardware and software, and defect prevention processes.
In order to keep attracting foreign investment Costa Rica needs to produce more professionals in the fields of technology, who speak three languages and have the ability to make decisions.
To attract more investment in the area of new technologies, Costa Rica requires more engineers with computer skills, three languages and the ability to solve real problems.
$300 million will be invested over the next ten years to build a new center for information technology services, creating 1,000 jobs by 2014.
A press release from the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica states:
IBM's operation in Costa Rica currently provides services in human resource processes, management of customer relations, finance, accounting and shared services to IBM customers in North and South of the USA.