Costa Rica Call Center Blog

Today Presidential elections were held in Costa Rica.  Laura Chinchilla, former Vice President from the Arias administration won by a landslide 47% versus 25% of the socialist Otton Solis and 21% of libertarian Otto Guevara.  Chinchilla is the first female president of the country.

This vote represents the desire by a majority to continue with 4 more years on the current policies.  Some of the achievements of the Arias administration have been:

• Approved CAFTA (free trade agreement with the US)
• Brought back credibility and trust to the government therefore stimulating investment and growth
• Restarted a stalled concession of the San Jose airport to a world class operator
• Build the highway to the Pacific Ocean (road on the drawing board for > 30 years)
• Did a good handling of the world economic crisis therefore minimizing negative effects on the country
• Set a guide and engaged on actions to allow the country to reach carbon neutrality by 2021
• Approved the new FTZ laws
• Started diplomatic relations with China
• Started and may end negotiation of a Free Trade Agreement with Europe, China and Singapore
• Started a very successful program to allow High School students to continue their studies (Avancemos)
• Had a fiscal surplus for the first years reducing the public debt significantly

On the negative side on the export driven economy of Costa Rica, the policies have brought a new strength on the Costa Rican currency.

Hmmm. You think it’s a coincidence? Costa Rica is one of the very few countries to have abolished its army, and it’s also arguably the happiest nation on earth.

There are several ways of measuring happiness in countries, all inexact, but this pearl of Central America does stunningly well by whatever system is used. For example, the World Database of Happiness, compiled by a Dutch sociologist on the basis of answers to surveys by Gallup and others, lists Costa Rica in the top spot out of 148 nations.

That’s because Costa Ricans, asked to rate their own happiness on a 10-point scale, average 8.5. Denmark is next at 8.3, the United States ranks 20th at 7.4 and Togo and Tanzania bring up the caboose at 2.6.

Scholars also calculate happiness by determining “happy life years.” This figure results from merging average self-reported happiness, as above, with life expectancy. Using this system, Costa Rica again easily tops the list. The United States is 19th, and Zimbabwe comes in last.

A third approach is the “happy planet index,” devised by the New Economics Foundation, a liberal think tank. This combines happiness and longevity but adjusts for environmental impact — such as the carbon that countries spew.

Here again, Costa Rica wins the day, for achieving contentment and longevity in an environmentally sustainable way. The Dominican Republic ranks second, the United States 114th (because of its huge ecological footprint) and Zimbabwe is last.

Maybe Costa Rican contentment has something to do with the chance to explore dazzling beaches on both sides of the country, when one isn’t admiring the sloths in the jungle (sloths truly are slothful, I discovered; they are the tortoises of the trees). Costa Rica has done an unusually good job preserving nature, and it’s surely easier to be happy while basking in sunshine and greenery than while shivering up north and suffering “nature deficit disorder.”

After dragging my 12-year-old daughter through Honduran slums and Nicaraguan villages on this trip, she was delighted to see a Costa Rican beach and stroll through a national park. Among her favorite animals now: iguanas and sloths.

(Note to boss: Maybe we should have a columnist based in Costa Rica?)

What sets Costa Rica apart is its remarkable decision in 1949 to dissolve its armed forces and invest instead in education. Increased schooling created a more stable society, less prone to the conflicts that have raged elsewhere in Central America. Education also boosted the economy, enabling the country to become a major exporter of computer chips and improving English-language skills so as to attract American eco-tourists.

I’m not antimilitary. But the evidence is strong that education is often a far better investment than artillery.

In Costa Rica, rising education levels also fostered impressive gender equality so that it ranks higher than the United States in the World Economic Forum gender gap index. This allows Costa Rica to use its female population more productively than is true in most of the region. Likewise, education nurtured improvements in health care, with life expectancy now about the same as in the United States — a bit longer in some data sets, a bit shorter in others.

Rising education levels also led the country to preserve its lush environment as an economic asset. Costa Rica is an ecological pioneer, introducing a carbon tax in 1997. The Environmental Performance Index, a collaboration of Yale and Columbia Universities, ranks Costa Rica at No. 5 in the world, the best outside Europe.

This emphasis on the environment hasn’t sabotaged Costa Rica’s economy but has bolstered it. Indeed, Costa Rica is one of the few countries that is seeing migration from the United States: Yankees are moving here to enjoy a low-cost retirement. My hunch is that in 25 years, we’ll see large numbers of English-speaking retirement communities along the Costa Rican coast.

Latin countries generally do well in happiness surveys. Mexico and Colombia rank higher than the United States in self-reported contentment. Perhaps one reason is a cultural emphasis on family and friends, on social capital over financial capital — but then again, Mexicans sometimes slip into the United States, presumably in pursuit of both happiness and assets.

Cross-country comparisons of happiness are controversial and uncertain. But what does seem quite clear is that Costa Rica’s national decision to invest in education rather than arms has paid rich dividends. Maybe the lesson for the United States is that we should devote fewer resources to shoring up foreign armies and more to bolstering schools both at home and abroad.

In the meantime, I encourage you to conduct your own research in Costa Rica, exploring those magnificent beaches or admiring those slothful sloths. It’ll surely make you happy.

By Nicholas D. Kristof

Davos, Switzerland – Iceland leads the world in addressing pollution control and natural resource management challenges, according to the 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) produced by a team of environmental experts at Yale University and Columbia University. This is the third edition of the EPI, which has been revisited biannually since 2006.

Released today at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010, the EPI ranks 163 countries on their performance across 25 metrics aggregated into ten categories including: environmental health, air quality, water resource management, biodiversity and habitat, forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and climate change.

Iceland’s top-notch performance derives from its high scores on environmental public health, controlling greenhouse gas emissions, and reforestation. Other top performers include Switzerland, Costa Rica, Sweden, and Norway – all of which have made substantial investments in environmental infrastructure, pollution control, and policies designed to move toward long-term sustainability.

The United States places 61^st in the 2010 EPI, with strong results on some issues, such as provision of safe drinking water and forest sustainability, and weak performance on other issues including greenhouse gas emissions and several aspects of local air pollution.

Of the newly industrialized nations, China and India rank 121^st and 123^rd respectively – reflecting the strain rapid economic growth imposes on the environment. However, Brazil and Russia rank 62^nd and 69^th, suggesting that the level of development is just one of many factors affecting placement in the rankings.

Source: YALE

Costa Rican call centers, now 47 in number, registered sales of $600 million last year, 8 per cent growth.

Most of the companies are in the free trade zones. The call centers employ around 12,000 people, mostly university students or recent graduates.

The main problem for the companies is in telecommunications. Another challenge they face is a high staff turnover.

Source: La Republica

Despite Barack Obama’s efforts to discourage offshoring by US companies, there is some evidence to suggest that now even smaller companies in the country are increasingly looking at outsourcing to regions like India to cut costs. And given that smaller companies would prefer to deal with smaller vendors to get the attention they seek, the beneficiaries are expected to be mid-size IT companies in India.

Aditi Technologies, which focuses on providing software services to companies with revenues of between $50 million and $2 billion, has seen a 300% increase in its sales pipeline in last two months, compared to the four months prior to that. The company said it had closed “multiple high potential deals” in these months.

Sonata Software recently won an order from a $50 million , 400-people company in Muncie in Indiana, the first time that this 25-year-old company has offshored work. B Ramaswamy, MD of Sonata, told TOI in November that he expected more deals like this.

Sunil Gupta, VP in ITC Infotech , a company that has a greater focus on Europe, said more and more mid-size companies in that continent too are becoming first time outsourcers . “As of now, we have seen evidence in terms of enquiries . The budgets are still in the approval stage. We’ll get a better picture in the second quarter of this calendar year,” Gupta said. Divyabh Mishra, director-marketing in Aditi, too added a caveat: “I’m not sure if the better pipeline now is a reflection of a new trend, or simply the end of the recession.”

Some analysts believe the trend of smaller companies outsourcing will gain momentum this year. Investment advisory firm Tholons said the primary reasons for this were cost optimization and better synergy between core competence and market requirements . “These businesses will find that not offshoring may well translate into competitive threat. If one firm offshores, which helps to hike its margin from say 8% to 20%, then it gains an advantage over others,” says Avinash Vashistha, CEO.

Source: The Economic Times

About two years ago, Discovery Research took a trip to India.  A number of our clients had asked us to come up with a cost-effective offshoring solution for the market research data we collect.  India was all the rage at the time (might still be).  It seemed like many customer service organizations & some market research companies were sending calls out of India.  DRG hopped on a plane and headed on what was one of the longest flights on earth.  It took MANY hours to get there and when we arrived…what a culture shock.  After a week of traveling around the country, seeing elephants in the streets, a number of onsite visits, meetings with local organizations, being threatened by a street vendor (and threatened in one of our business meetings…contact actually said “How are you going to keep us (speaking of India) from taking over everything that you do and replacing you?”), being food poisoned on a local curry dish, and a grueling flight back, we felt like we’d truly seen it all (a travel companion actually touched a cobra).  I haven’t eaten Indian food since.

The million dollar question for us was…does India seem appropriate for the market research we conduct…and did an office in India seem like it would meet our business needs and the needs of our clients?  I wasn’t convinced.

A few months later, DRG took its first trip (of many) to Costa Rica.  Talk about a tale of two locations and two experiences.  While in Costa Rica (San Jose) we stayed at a local Marriott that had been converted from a coffee plantation, had watermelon juice for breakfast, were treated exceptionally well by our hosts and the businesses we met with (no threats from the locals), and had one of the best dinners…in one of the best locations I’ve ever been.  To top it off, we found out how bilingual (and educated) the residents of Costa Rica were, that Costa Rica is in the central timezone (sometimes mountain), and that it doesn’t take two days to fly there…what a delight (and a relief).

Discovery Research has been operating a call center in Costa Rica for about two years.  The people and the culture are awesome.  Our office there is an exciting and expanding part of our business.  And, we’ve learned a lot about conducting Hispanic research.

Source: Discovery Research Group

Salt Lake City, UT – January 11, 2010 – Teleperformance (News – Alert), the # 1 global leader in managing the customer experience in the outsourced contact center market, is pleased to announce its launch of operations in San José, Costa Rica.

The Costa Rica operations will primarily focus on serving the US domestic market and extends Teleperformance’s global geographic delivery leadership to 49 countries worldwide.

Teleperformance has already secured a multi-year agreement with an existing client that will be serviced by the newly launched Costa Rica operation. The initial operation includes approximate 300 workstations supporting the USA and an additional 100 workstations delivering services to the Latin American market.

Daniel Julien, Global CEO & Chairman of the Board of Teleperformance commented: “This move strengthens our footprint in Central America and simultaneously extends our existing industry lead in providing the most flexible and effective delivery options to our US market clients. We are very pleased to welcome Teleperformance Costa Rica worldwide family.”

Source: Company Press Release

Recently released research done by Accenture reveals that innovation is a top priority for companies seeking to increase their revenues, but they usually get a poor return on their investment because of flaws in managing it, such as not having a single executive in charge.

We believe those poor returns can be turned into profitable, sustainable growth if innovation is systematically managed end to end, with the same rigor and discipline as other major business processes.

The survey results strongly indicate that more companies should appoint a high-level executive to focus on innovation.

To raise the return on innovation investment, companies need to treat innovation with the same discipline as other functions.

Despite efforts to add structure to innovation, current management practices and processes have numerous shortcomings. Fewer than half of the respondents (44%) said their company had an effective, holistic approach to new product or service development and introduction. Even fewer, 41%, said their company had a well-defined innovation strategy.

Source: FORBES

1) Insure touch points with employees and customers. Ask yourself How and an will I as a Call Center Operations Manager insure my employees feel “TISP” Trusted, Important, Special and Pleased? Despite technology, the people are still the most important resource in a call center. Be specific. What will you do today to insure TISP Factor?

2) What is the quality of the coaching and motivation provided by call center supervisors? Turnover is expensive and supervisors will cost you quality employees. What initiatives do you have in place for employee retention which is as important as recruitment?

3) What scripts and monitoring services do you have in place to maximize per agent sales and service quality ratings? Have you applied the latest brain science and NLP voice coaching techniques to maximize sales and quality results?

4) Listen to calls every day without exception and Keep a Journal. What was the most difficult customer call and why? What was the best customer call you heard and why? (Be sure to tell or write a note to the agent about that best call of the day) What are customers saying about the product and or/service.

5) Most importantly observe and ask as operations manager. How might/can we do this cheaper, faster, better and provide a more energized environment for employees. (Review every protocol and procedure from scheduling to the employee break areas and look for ways to make operations better)

6) Know your Flow! Vulnerable service times, process and procedures. Have protocols in place for all worst case scenarios.

Source:  Costa Rica Call Center LinkedIn Group

The dollar depreciated slightly to the Colon during 2009. Thus the reference purchase price for the year ended at ¢558.67, 1.6% above the price the last day of 2008.  The reference sale price for the year ended at ¢571.81, 2% over the same period.

The average wholesale price ended the year at ¢561.82, with a depreciation of 1.5% over the same period.

The price of the dollar ended the year close to the center of the trading band. The ceiling of the band ended the year at ¢611.05. That ceiling is the price at which the Central Bank sells the required dollars to meet demand in the wholesale market.  So now, the price of the dollar in the wholesale market has room to rise about ¢49.

The floor of the band was maintained throughout the year at ¢500, which creates scope for the dollar can get down at ¢62.

The fact that the Central Bank has not bought or sold currency in the last 20 weeks implies that the price reflected the supply and demand for currencies in the wholesale market.  That is one reason why the exchange rate has had more variability in 2009 that now reflected short-term shortages or excesses.

For Central Bank President Francisco de Paula Gutierrez, is difficult to say an equilibrium price of the dollar, however, noted that studies of the entity indicates that the price of the currency could be entering a “a balance”.  However, this “balance” may change as economic conditions change.

For 2010 the Central Bank plans to continue with flexibility in the dollar in order to proceed with the implementation of inflation targeting system.

Source: La Nacion