The document discusses opportunities for business process outsourcing (BPO) in Colombia. It notes that Colombia has become a regional hub for outsourcing services due to its qualified human capital and strategic geographic location. Several sectors in Colombia, such as financial services, healthcare, oil and gas, and energy are expanding and increasing their demand for BPO and IT services. The country has a large number of graduates with skills in fields like engineering, business administration, law and medicine who can support the BPO industry. Major foreign companies have established operations in Colombia to take advantage of the business environment, infrastructure and skilled workforce.

1. BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING
OPPORTUNITIES IN
THE LOCAL INDUSTRY
The financial sector has been one of the most dynamic sectors in mobile
internet demand, based on a mass bancarization dynamic sought by the
Government to offer everyone the possibility to manage their finances
using mobile devices. This trend has created many opportunities for the
provision of back office and call center services in the country.
Colombia has become a distribution hub for outsourcing services and IT
and Software Services regionalwide, due to the availability of qualified
human capital, the strategic and competitive geographic location with
easy access to global markets. Its location in the middle of five time zones
hasacomparativeadvantage,sharingatimezonewithimportantbusiness
centers in the Americas such as Miami, LAX, NY, Toronto, Mexico City,
Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and Santiago, among others.
The National Government is currently carrying out an ambitious plan,
more than US$ 35,7 billion over the next years, for the development of
road, port, railway, and airport infrastructure in the country, that will
require accounting, finance, and logistics support services to control
projects operation.
Due to the sustained expansion of the health sector and the growing
demand of the population (47 million inhabitants), this sector requires
increasing support in mobile telecommunication services for remote
monitoring of patients (Telemedicine) and information consolidation
(Data Entry).
The Oil & Gas sectors demand more services related to mobile
telecommunications as well as control and drilling, extraction, and oil
transport processes for their daily activities.
The Colombian companies of energy generation, transport and
distribution are growing. This expansion process will increase the
demand of BPO and IT services.
GROWTH, CONFIDENCE AND
OPPORTUNITIES TO INVEST
Libertad y Orden

2. • Develop KPO centers focused on financial services, market research, legal,
engineering and design services, taking advantage of the more than 37,000
professionals in Management and Engineering programs which represent a
workforce capable of providing added value.
• Develop scalable basic Voice BPO operations and gain access to more than
34,000 people in technical and technological programs in Business and
Engineering programs in Antioquia.
• BuildOffshoring&Outsourcingcenters,asaresultoftheregion’sstrongvocation
in these sectors. Because of this, the Tholons Top 100 rankings for 2014 listed
Bucaramanga as one of the 100 most attractive cities to invest in outsourcing.
• Outsource customized services and gain access to the more than 2,000
Medicine graduates and 9,000 Law graduates.
• Build Voice BPO centers in Spanish to provide call center, financial and
accounting services and gain access to more than 8,000 graduates in technical
and technological programs related to Management and Engineering.
• Develop KPO projects specialized in outsourcing Engineering services with
more than 5,000 engineers in different areas.
COLOMBIA, A COUNTRY WITH
MULTIPLE AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT
• Build Voice BPO centers in activities such as telemarketing, collections and
customer service, tapping into more than 21,000 graduates of technical and
technological careers, in programs related to Management and Engineering.
• Outsource professional services, especially Telemedicine as there are more
than 500 companies in the health sector in the region with AN anually growth
of 13% per year.
• Develop Market Research and R&D + Innovation companies particularly for
the cosmetics and food industry, with a business network of more than 240
and 380 companies respectively.
BOGOTA
MEDELLIN
CALI
• BuildbasicVoiceBPOcenterssuchastelemarketing,collectionsandcustomer
service, taking advantage of more 15,000 technicians and technologists in
Engineering and Management programs.
• Develop KPO projects, especially in Engineering and R&D + Innovation
services thanks to the network of more than 16,000 professionals in
Engineering and Management areas.
COFFEE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
BUCARAMANGA
BARRANQUILLA
• Create Voice BPO centers in Spanish and English to provide services for
collection, telemarketing, sales and customer service, and gain access the city’s
9.4% bilingual population.
• Build Non-Voice BPO and KPO centers, leveraging the 50,000 people graduated
in Management and Engineering areas between 2010 and 2012, , which
represent a highly skilled workforce.

3. The BPO industry in Colombia has created more than 246,000
jobs. (IDC, 2014.)
The bilingual operations of companies such as Sutherland,
TeleperfomanceandConvergysarenoteworthy.(ACDECC,2014.)
For three years in a row, Colombia was included in the “Top 30
Destination Countries for Offshore Services” report. The report
highlighted the country’s strengths for call center operations and
transactional BPO efforts, the Government’s proactive support
for the IT sector and the competitive costs. (Gartner, 2013.)
Intermsofoperatingrevenuesin2013,theindustrygrewby16%
compared to the previous year. (ACDECC [Colombian Association
of Contact Centers and BPO], 2014.)
On average, exporting companies are exporting about 40% of
their operations. (IDC, 2014.)
BPO INDUSTRY IN COLOMBIA
MAJOR SEGMENTS SERVED, 2013
Source: ACDECC. Contact center and
BPO Colombian Association, 2013.
COLOMBIA, A MARKET
THAT DOUBLES THE GROWTH OF
THE LATIN AMERICAN MARKET
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES
MASSIVE CONSUMPTION
GOVERNMENT
INSURANCE
OTHERS

4. A GROWING MARKET
WITH HIGH CAPACITY
OF SKILLED LABOR
NUMBER OF GRADUATES IN ENGINEERING AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, 2012*
23,108
14,42311,076
8,182
5,851
2,011
67,578
MANAGEMENTACCOUNTINGINDUSTRIAL
ENGINEERING
AND RELATED
SYSTEMS
ENGINEERING
AND RELATED
ECONOMYELECTRONIC
ENGINEERING
AND RELATED
ELECTRIC
ENGINEERING
AND RELATED
13,672 57,283 58,884 85,196 139,423 145,031 488,787
Source: Employment Observatory, Ministry of Education, 2012.
TOTAL
GRADUATES
2001–2012
Colombia, with 47.1 million inhabitants, is the world’s second largest
Spanish-speaking country behind Mexico. It has multiple centers
of development: Nine metropolitan areas with a population higher
than 500,000 inhabitants. (Source: DANE [National Administrative
Department of Statistics].)
Colombia is within the 30th largest economies and one of the largest
within the non-OECD economies.
The country has the second fastest growing labor force in the region.
(IMD, 2014.)
In Colombia more than 200,000 people graduate every year from higher
education. Of those, 56% do so at the undergraduate level and 22% from
masters and specializations. (Employment Observatory, Ministry of
National Education, 2013.)
* Taking into account technological, undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

5. INFRASTRUCTURE, ATTRACTIVE COSTS
SAVINGS AND A PRIVILEGED LOCATION
ATTRACTIVE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
TELECOMMUNICATION
INFRASTRUCTURE OF
SUBMARINE CABLES
Available tools to enable operations in areas such as services exports (Plan
Vallejo), intellectual property rights, Statutory Law of Habeas Data, Value
Added Tax (VAT) exemption for services provided from Colombia,
possibility of applying to the free trade zones regime, First Job Law, and
opportunities to benefit from Telework.
Primestrategiclocation:Locatedintheheartlandofthemaincommercial
andfinancialcentersofthehemisphere,Colombiasharescultural-affinity-
patterns suitable to consolidate operations in the region.
Infrastructure capable of support world-class operations: 9 submarine
cables, supplemented by an internal optical fiber ring that ensures the
national connectivity, increasing Colombia´s competitiveness. (MinTIC-
Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies, 2014.)
GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENT
WITH THE SECTOR
The Government is committed to support and provide aid through the
Productive Transformation Program–PTP, a strategy that promotes
the sector growth. During the last years, the program has created a
favorable environment to consolidate a worldwide recognition for the
sector. Program efforts develop throughout four main themes: Human
CapitalandRegulatoryFramework,Consolidation,PromotionandSector
Innovation, and Infrastructure and Sustainability.
Government plan that aims to generate economic growth based on the
use and appropriation of ICTs in the Colombian population and the
development of a national digital ecosystem. This project is led by the
Presidency of the Republic and the Ministry of Information Technologies
and Communications, which, at the end of 2013, managed to connect
1,078 municipalities increasing Internet connections from 2.2 to 8.8
million nationwide.
Continuous strengthening of commercial relations between Colombia
and the world, opening a window of opportunities for investment in all
business outsourcing services.
NEW MARKETS OPENING
PAN-AM
SAC
CFX - 1
SAM - 1MAYA - 1
BARRANQUILLA
CARTAGENA
TOLU
MEDELLIN
BOGOTA
BUCARAMANGA
CALI
ARCOS
SOURCE: MINTIC, 2013.
PCCS
GLOBENET
AMX - 1

6. MAJOR FOREIGN COMPANIES HAVE CHOSEN
COLOMBIA AS AN INVESTMENT DESTINATION
Pramod Bhasin, Non-Executive Vice Chairman, Genpact
“Colombia offers a favorable business climate for Genpact and for our clients – a rich talent pool with a high
literacy rate and complementary skill sets, a healthy and growing economy, a number of universities with strong
business curricula, a diverse array of industries, and open trade practices. Genpact is honored to establish its
roots here in Colombia and become a part of its culture and thriving business community.”
Sykes, United States: opened a new call center creating 160 jobs in the city
of Barranquilla.
HP, United States: opened a new global service center in Medellin.
United States: contact center to serve the US market.
Genpact, India: added value operations service center, especially in financial
and accounting areas for the region.