Belize has been receiving increasing attention from U.S. Companies seeking an alternative to low cost destinations in Asia and India. Americas Nearshore Nexus was the premiere conference that connected countries like Belize to the faster-growing IT services and BPO (Business Processing Outsourcing) Region in the world.  With more than 20 expert speakers representing more than 14 different countries in the Americas, Nearshore Nexus was the conference of the year.  The conference was by “invitation only”, designed especially for senior-level business, IT and Finance Executives seeking to gain high-value connections and knowledge about utilizing offshore business process operations in Latin America and the Caribbean – and BELIZE was there!

BPO buyers who have been offshoring jobs to countries like China, India and the Philippines are starting to “Nearshore” or “reshore” these jobs to either other low-cost locations or even back to their own countries.  This trend will most likely increase in the next several years. Including increasing services wages, rising transportation costs, con­cerns about intellectual property protection, and Chinese wage-rate inflation are all driving American countries the reshoring trends.

The single most important factor in the selection of a BPO destination is total landed cost, with about 85% of BPO buyers rating it very important to their decision. Trends dated back from 2005 to present are showing that the cost gap of BPO in China, India and the Philippines (compared to those in the West) and in other low-cost markets such as the Caribbean and Latin America has disappeared.

According to former President of the Republic of Colombia, Mr. Alvaro Uribe, one of the conference guest speakers, other emerging markets will start to benefit from the rising costs of doing business in China and India, as opposed to traditional domestic markets. In 2013, Nearshore Americas forecasts that traditional (US) domestic markets and other emerging markets will almost double their share, jumping from 12% to 22%, while China’s share will shrink by about one-quarter.

Countries like Belize need an action plan!  In the face of this rapidly shifting global BPO marketplace, Nexus conference presenters all recommended that these plans should include developing a global strategy for the development of BPO in all immerging destinations.  This will include creating a global demand model, creating a center of excellence for supply chain analytics, building a talent recruitment/management/retention strategy, broadening decision-making approach beyond total landed cost, and determining an organization’s unique dominant factors.   Countries competing to be the choice for Nearshore business must do what is necessary.

BELIZE is now on its way to becoming the number one location of choice!