Costa Rica Call Center Blog

Last year Costa Rica met its goal of planting 7 million trees on a campaign led by the Environment Minister.

“More than seven million trees planted in 2008 helped offset 2.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide”, explained the Environment Minister, Roberto Dobles.

Costa Rica has a goal to become “Carbon Neutral” in 2021.

The Minister also explained that those numbers place Costa Rica as the leading country in the world in terms of the number of trees planted per square meter and the number of trees planted on a per capita basis. Dobles added that the country will keep the goal of seven million new trees in 2009.

Permalink: http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2009/enero/28/aldea1855244.html

Hewlett Packard has as its goal for 2009 to reach a payroll of 8,000 employees in the country.

The company now has nearly 7,000 workers, said Maria Luisa Gonzalez, human resources manager of HP.

Gonzalez reported that although HP is expected to hire 250 recruits per month until December, not all of them will be to create new spaces.

“That figure (250 per month) does include new hires, but also organic growth and replacement of people who are going” said the manager.

Gonzalez said that the company defines organic growth as an opportunity to give their own workers to change job or promotion within the company.

“Despite the economic crisis affecting the world, HP has maintained a moderately optimistic about the challenges. At no time was thought to lay off employees, we continue with a recruitment process here” she added.

HP provides Customer Service from its Global Financial Services Forum in Building I, Santa Ana, and in the zone Ultrapark in Heredia. The multinational company arrived in 2003 and began its work with 185 people.

“We are positive that this year will include new professional workers. In the financial area will take a major, “said Gonzalez.

Source: La Nacion

Most often is hard to read between lines but there was a signal sent by the Central Bank.

The Central Bank decided on January 21, to increase the daily devaluation of the exchange rate upper side of the band from ¢0.06 to ¢0.20 colones per day.

This sets the ceiling of the exchange rate at year end from ¢578 to ¢610 from the current ¢559.

On the resolution they stated “with the behavior seen and foreseen on the midterm in the international environment and its effects for Costa Rica, the Central Bank of Costa Rica considers that is a good time and practice to increase the depth of an adjustment of the exchange rate to allow for a better response of the exchange rate to the fundamentals of the economy and foreign exchange market.”

Given that:

1. On one hand, the exchange rate has been pegged for the most part to the ceiling of the band.
2. The current account deficit (value of imports of goods and services that the country buys exceeds the value of exports) in 2007 was 9% and is expected to be 6% in 2008.
3. The deficit has been covered by FDI, tourism and services revenues, but next year there is greater uncertainty on inflows of FDI due to the external crisis.
4. Foreign currency reserves falled $400M last year.
   
5. The number of tourist dropped by 22,000 or 2.4% between July and December of this year

   

6. On the other hand, a drop on imports because of lower commodity prices -oil- and a general slowdown in imports will help lower the deficit.

The President of the Central Bank added that “the Central Bank has two instruments to reduce the deficit, monetary policy and exchange rate. The bank raised interest rates from 5.25% to 6.75% and yesterdays decision to raise the ceiling of the exchange rate aims to help further reduce the deficit”

However not everyone agree on this view. Some economists believe the reduction of the oil bill of $2.2B, a reduction of imports for $1.2B and new credits of the government at around $0.5B, along with a growth of 6% in the service sector and increased FDI chasing opportunities for the opening up telecommunications sector, would compensate and the Colon would remain stable or even strengthen.

So reading between lines may provide a hint that the balance may be reached by devaluatin the Colon against the Dollar, but its hard to be certain on the direction of the move.

Permalink: http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2009/enero/23/economia1849600.html
Permalink: http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2009/enero/24/economia1850794.html
Permalink: http://www.larepublica.net/app/cms/www/index.php?pk_articulo=20536

Rochester, NY – January 14, 2009 – Concentrix Corporation, a global knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) company and wholly owned subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX), announced today the company has made an equity investment in Occidental Business Services, S.A. (OBS), a leading business process services company with operations in San Jose, Costa Rica. Concentrix now has the ability to service North American, European and Latin American markets with Spanish, the third most prevalent languages spoken in the world, as well as other language requirements.

This strategic location allows Concentrix to offer an outsourced solution in countries with closer proximity to the United States, known as “Near-Shoring”, an alternative for multi-lingual delivery of contact center services to its customers.

“Concentrix sought to acquire an established, high quality Costa Rican service provider,” stated Dick Rapach, Vice President and General Manager of Concentrix Corporation. “After thorough research, we invested in OBS, a leading Costa Rican BPO company with a successful track record spanning over several years. As part of that investment, OBS will rebrand itself as Concentrix Costa Rica.”

“The Concentrix brand has an impeccable reputation and is well established within the BPO space,” commented Manfred Kissling, Chief Executive Officer of Occidental Business Services, S.A. “By leveraging the Concentrix brand, we expect to grow our operations more quickly, utilizing our combined expertise of the Concentrix associates, Concentrix technology and the geographical assets. In addition, Concentrix has a proactive, entrepreneurial culture that fits very well into our existing organization.”

Costa Rica is known for its political, social and economic stability and has a highly qualified multi-lingual labor force. These elements, along with a competitive telecommunications infrastructure, have allowed the country to attract a strong contingent of companies seeking an effective near-shore service delivery option. With a population of over four million and a literacy rate of over 95%, Costa Rica provides an excellent location for Concentrix to provide near-shore services for its large United States client base. The country shares similar time zones with the United States and is easily accessible through air travel.

The growth into Costa Rica represents the most recent expansion by Concentrix, bringing total worldwide employment under the Concentrix banner to more than 4,500 associates.

“We are impressed with the talent pool that is available in this country,” Rapach continued. “Our strategy calls for recruiting the best people available to service both our existing and potential new clients in technical support, customer care and demand generation programs.”

About Concentrix Corporation
Concentrix Corporation is a global KPO company with award-winning expertise in providing our clients with services and support to enhance their customer relationships. From locations in China, Japan, the Philippines, the United States and Central America, our over 4,500 employees support clients in multiple languages and countries around the world. Concentrix Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX), a Fortune 500 company. For more information, please visit www.concentrix.com

About Occidental Business Services
Occidental Business Services, S.A. is a leading Costa Rican BPO company with headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica. The company provides a suite of complementary sales, customer care and support services. For more information, please visit www.obsamericas.com

Net sales of Call Center Services, Software and Other Services generated $703 million in the first nine months of 2008 that is an increase of 51% over the revenues on the preceding year.



This is a result of the country providing a:

1. Strategic location as an ideal “Nearshore location”.
2. Stable political, economic and social environment.
3. Highly qualified labor force.
4. Attractive investment incentives.
5. Competitive telecommunications infrastructure.
6. Streamlined start-up process
7. Excellent quality of life

Costa Rica is a low cost and high quality location that has hosted a large number of Captive Multinational Corporation and Outsourcing Companies for many years, positioning the country as a very low risk location.

Related article: http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2009/enero/06/economia1829187.html

By Nick Taylor, 08-Jan-2009

The FDA has established its first permanent presence in Latin America by opening an office in Costa Rica as part of “Beyond Our Borders Initiative”, which has also seen the agency set up three sites in China.

More US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offices are scheduled to be set up in the region over the next 12 months, with Mexico and a South American country the likely sites.

These offices fit into the FDA’s “Beyond Our Borders Initiative” which the agency has launched in an attempt to more closely monitor standards in countries that have significant imports to the US.

Consequently China has been a primary focus of the initiative, with three FDA offices now set up in the country, but the agency has now turned its attention to Latin America.

Secretary Michael Leavitt, who leads the US Health and Human Services, said: “The countries of Central America, along with Panamá and the Dominican Republic, create the third-largest US export market in Latin America, and, every year, the United States imports millions of dollars in goods from these important trade partners.

“An HHS/FDA presence in the region will improve collaboration, strengthen our partnership and hasten the flow of quality goods to our markets.”

The establishment of an office in Costa Rica began in June 2008 when Leavitt met with Health Ministers from the region at a summit in the Central American country El Salvador.

This follows on from a busy period for the agency, in which it has opened an office in Brussels to collaborate with the European Commission, set up at three sites in China and announced it will establishing a presence in two India cities.