When asked to think about countries known for their contact centers, the first country that comes to mind may not be Jamaica. However, in the past decade, Jamaica asserted itself as one of the finest markets in the BPO industry, offering a myriad of advantages to U.S. companies looking to outsource nearshore.
First, one of the biggest advantages Jamaica has to offer is its workforce. Jamaica’s English-speaking 1.3 million strong labor force consists of talented, educated and motivated individuals who have a strong cultural affinity to the North American market.
Second, Jamaican based BPOs also offer the advantage of proximity. Jamaica falls in the Eastern Standard Time Zone, making collaboration with client companies more efficient. With the time differences for the U.S. market only varying from three hours to none, coordinating with a BPO during times of call volume surges becomes much easier.
Third, the proximity of Jamaica to the U.S also allows for the advantage of efficient business travel. A flight from the U.S to Jamaica is shorter and less expensive than a flight across either ocean to Europe or Asia.
Jamaica also offers a variety of economic advantages when it comes to the contact center industry. With highly competitive wage costs, Jamaican contact center salaries are roughly 40 to 60 percent lower in cost per seat than in the U.S. This leads to an overall better price for clients looking to outsource, allowing them to conserve valuable resources and reinvest them elsewhere in the CX technologies industry.
“Contact Center BPOs in Jamaica are among some of the most innovative we’ve seen in the world,” said Tom Silzell, founder of CX Partner Source, a company that matches small to medium size BPOs with small to medium size companies. “With a proven track record in foreign investment, near shore advantages for the North American market, a highly educated and English-speaking workforce, competitive costs and quality infrastructure, Jamaica has positioned itself as an ideal location for Business Process Outsourcing Investments.”
Joseph Fidangue III, Chairman of Iterum Connections, noted that Jamaica is an ideal country with a warm and friendly culture, saying “We chose to invest in facilities and people in Jamaica, given the quality of the leadership and agents we met there. They embrace our company’s values and further our mission to provide flexible, responsive and creative CX solutions to our clients – and great experiences to our clients’ customers. We’ve been tremendously successful in Jamaica, and will continue to reinvest and grow in this outstanding geographic market.”
Silzell says that when it comes to finding the perfect match in a BPO partner, you must take into consideration a myriad of factors. The overall health and wellness of a country’s population and its people directly impacts that availability of creative and smart employees who represent brands in friendly and professional manners.
“Jamaica has one of the most ambitious, free-spirited, and well-mannered cultures I’ve ever seen,” Silzell explained. “Jamaicans are always open to a conversation, and have such a strong sense of national pride, whether it’s the reggae, or the food, or the just the beautiful weather,,they love their country and their joy comes through in every conversation with customers.”
Silzell also noted that when it comes to infrastructure and technology, Jamaica offers some of the highest quality in the contact center industry. “The island has state of the art communications infrastructure, with a complete fibre ring around the island and multiple off-island sub-sea links that provide built-in redundancy and constant connectivity to the world.”
Jamaica has quickly turned itself into a haven of BPO companies. In the last five years alone, the country has set aside roughly 1.2 million square feet of space just dedicated to BPO Centers. Jamaica earmarked 15 million dollars to funnel into the industry, and in return they’ve doubled the amount of BPO companies on the island, adding more high quality BPOs into the outsourcing market.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
