The Era of Collaboration

Outsourcing.

It is big topic of conversation around the world.

Businesses are having a hard time making it in today’s economy. Gas, oil and electricity prices are climbing, companies can’t afford increasing wages, and property rental and purchasing options are becoming a major issue. Corporations and small enterprises, alike, are struggling.

As has been seen in studies structured around the global business situation, the old-school thought of pyramid-styled, profit-based companies are not holding up as well as collaborative-based business models.

In saying this…is there then maybe a mindset-change that we as a society need to make?

Outsourcing, in my opinion, should not be a dirty word. Maybe instead, it should be thought of as the global community working together. Those people that find this increasing exportation of jobs a negative might consider that they are being given the chance to upgrade their own lives and do something more rewarding and more stimulating.

Or, at least, entertain the thought that it may be time to stop fighting the new shift in the working paradigm and, instead, join the revolution of working together and for oneself.

This power of people working together creates stimulation of ideas, an expansion of possibilities and a place of accountability for all involved. Or at least it should (and in saying that, those companies that are paying slave wages abroad, should not be supported until they, too, work from a more values-based place of company standards).

Our world has become microscopic because of the advancement of technology and computers. It isn’t the hardest working person (or company) that makes it big, it is the smartest. Those companies that look at the global arena as a huge, accessible pool of associates have made a beneficial step for business growth.

So where do the most intelligent companies looking beyond the box look to collaborate globally?

Of course, India is the first answer that comes to mind. The IRS, major companies such as General Electric and computer tech support divisions have taken the direction of Indian outsourcing. But there is one area that is quickly becoming a leading positive source of collaboration – Argentina.

Argentina is a major draw for lucrative companies, such as TeleTech, Motorola, Microsoft, HP, IBM, Sony, Hyatt, Hilton and Reuters, to name a few. In fact, Starbucks and Google recently decided to invest in Argentine outsourcing.

Dina Crusizio, a head manager for L.J. Ramos Brokers Inmobiliarias, a leading Buenos Aires real estate agency, has seen a surge of movement in businesses investing time and money into Argentine outsourcing. “We are renting a large amount of apartments to executives from small companies that are coming to open their branch’s here.”

Why?

There are a few different reasons Tango’s birth country is a hot collaboration market.

Before the crash of 2001 Argentina was an expensive, affluent country. Extensive time and money was put into data centers, telephone companies, and, most importantly, information technology (IT). Because of the national wealth, people were educated in international skills. Learning a variety of foreign languages at an early age was (and is) held at high importance. Careers like programming, telecom networking and computer design were leading fields for the up-and-coming. In fact, during the dot-com boom of the 90s, Argentina occupied 65 percent of the labor force creating, designing and enacting major Internet start-up companies.

But then disaster stuck. With the devaluation of the peso many lost everything and became hungry for work. Suddenly, instead of a major world power, Argentina became a gigantic pool of talented, technically savvy, highly-educated, unemployed employees. This high level of education helped the nation survive the worst crisis in Argentine history. Its knowledgeable workforce, power-house of a telecom industry, as well as affordable expenses and office space has made it one of the most profitable locations for those businesses looking into an international workforce.

The turmoil of the 2001 crisis—even nearly ten years later—has opened doors of opportunity to the savvy business person. Buenos Aires continues to be a frugal man’s paradise, and even more so outside the metropolis.

Electricity, nationally,  is 30 to 60 percent less expensive then the United States; the average cost for power is US$0.04 per kilowatt per hour. Property is affordable; the median sale price per square meter of office space in the city center, according to Crusizio, is around US$75 a square foot, median rental price, US$0.90 a square foot. According to brokerage firm CB Richard Ellis, the average purchase cost per square foot in New York is US$100.79. New York office rental price averages out to be around US$4.50 per square foot.

San Telmo Architecture, Buenos Aires

Another industry that Buenos Aires is affluent in is architectural design. The culture is rich in European craftsmanship; the architects in Buenos Aires are not only educated in modern, simple designs, but neo-classical as well. The high level of education and creativity offers a lofty level of possible architects for buildings throughout the world.

This design mindset extends to computer programming as well.

The owners of Tridimage, a digital media outsourcing company, saw opportunity in the changing times and developed a packaging company with 3-D marketing designs. Hernán Braberman, a representative of Tridimage explains, “It all started when Tridimage´s partners noticed the astonishing growth of the outsourcing industry in India. Using that as an inspiration, we decided to spearhead the Latin American offshore packaging design industry.”

But one of the most intriguing factors in collaborating with Argentine locals is the language. Argentina is a multi-lingual country (an estimated 70 percent of Argentines have European passports) with a large part of the population speaking Portuguese, Italian, English, German, and, of course, Spanish. There are over 30 bilingual educational centers in Buenos Aires; in fact the cosmopolitan city is the first urban dwelling in Latin America to institute multi-lingual public schools. English, as a second language, is especially common among the young (i.e. the largest pool of employees seeking work).

Buenos Aires 20-somethings enjoying the nightlife

This is not only great for the various languages spoken in Europe, but the United States as well.

It is estimated that there are more people that speak Spanish in the States then in all of Argentina. This fact is a huge incentive to companies looking to outsource to a country that can speak their client’s language. In fact many Buenos Aires technology companies, from tech-support to software-development centers, are using their Spanish abilities as a marketing tool.

At Tridimage it is a part of their mission statement. Braberman describes their belief, “We believe that Argentina can become an ideal location to bring offshore design services. Unlike other traditional regions of the offshore business, Argentina is located in a similar time zone and shares cultural values and similar mindset with the US and EU.”

Some are taking it to a whole new level and using the bilingual prowess as the company motto. Idea Factory, based out of Buenos Aires is such a business. Founder of Idea Factory, Ernesto Krawchik, explains, “We offer all kinds of language services to industries like IT, life sciences and financial services. As their industries are becoming more and more global every year, the quality of their communications with their communities of clients, vendors, shareholders and governments in their languages becomes an increasingly pressing issue. We offer world-class quality of translations and localizations, while at the same time help our customers keep their costs low and the recipients of their communications happy.”

One other positive in hiring within Argentina is its time zone.

Argentina is one hour ahead of the east coast, creating an ability to work on the same schedule as American companies. On the other side of the coin, it is five hours behind Europe, allowing European companies to be available to their clientele for a full half day longer. This difference in time zones is a positive that is not lost to companies activating global collaboration.

Krawchick believes that there are many reasons to work with Argentine outsourcing companies, the time difference being one. “Argentina has excellent professionals that are globally recognized. The business infrastructure, both physical, human and regulatory is excellent. The economy is very competitive for macroeconomic reasons, so prices are relatively low. Spanish is becoming an important global language and English is widely available in our country. Our time zone is conveniently in the middle of the main global markets in US and Europe.”

With all of these positives in regards to working with the people of Argentina, why is it that it has stayed under the radar?

This is mainly the fault of the government. Argentine politicians are not seeing it as a priority to advertise their countries international abilities. This can be seen in two different ways. On one side, there is not much competition for those companies searching out available employees. On the other, it would be a great assistance to the unemployed locals if the government made a concerted effort to put Argentina on the forefront as an outsourcing resource. Although, it should be said that the governments lack of action is not that they do not want foreign company involvement in their country. Actually, on the contrary, Argentina is a large proponent of international business. Their lack of outsourcing advertisement is of the same status as their approach to tourism or exports; Argentina is lackadaisical when it comes to promoting their natural resources.

In my opinion, after five years of living in the country, Argentina is a nation full of opportunity. Its wealth of trained programmers, forward-thinking designers, and highly literate populace has made the country stand alone as a worthwhile investment in Latin America. The cost-effectiveness of a company and its ability to work in a collaborative manner are two components at the root of whether a business will make it in today’s competitive world…or not.

Argentina is ready to help the smart companies succeed.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 10:47 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.