So What Does Peru Have to Offer for Contact Centers?

Peru is not exactly the first country people mention when they identify leading locations in the Nearshore BPO and Contact Center space. But, a lack of notoriety should have no reflection on what can be found in the country itself. Nearshore Americas recently sat down with Guy Fort, the president of the Association of Peruvian Contact Centers, to find out what’s special about Peru and where the country’s professional services sector is headed.

Q: Frost and Sullivan recently came out with a report which found that competition in the BPO/contact center is “fierce” in Peru. Are you seeing this as well?

Guy Fort: I think that this fierce competition in not occurring in Peru. The domestic market is growing and exists partial competition in prices but the companies that demand the services are conscious that they must contract professional companies to attend its clients where the price is not the only factor to make the decision. It is important to mention that 50% of the sales of the industry are exports.

Q: Peru is clearly not as close geographically to U.S. customers as countries like El Salvador, Guatemala. Because you’re farther away, what does Peru try to do to make itself more attractive?

Guy Fort: Our country has as an objective the Hispanic market of the United States. We still have a lack of bilingual operators, nevertheless, we considered that we have capacities to attend bpo campaigns in English (those campaigns where data are processed).  Our Association have concluded with the government a strategic plan for the industry, that will allow us to foment our presence in potential countries. We will fortify this presence in congresses and  road shows. Also we will be very focused in professionalize our services promoting for this year an Award that will recognize good practices in the domestic industry.

Q: What’s your own background and how did you become the president of your organization?

Guy Fort: I am engage in this business since 2002, y become from financial sector.  I have been one of first in developing this business in our country, and in order to grow this business we were working around two years with other companies to obtain the exoneration of the sales tax for the export of services of contact center. Once achieved this objective we decided to form an association that allows to develop the industry working jointly with our members and the government. At this moment, Apecco represents 80% of the Peruvian industry.

Q: How much coordination is there in Peru between the government and the private sector in encouraging and planning the growth of the BPO sector? What more can be done to build the industry?

As I mentioned before, we have concluded a strategic plan for the industry with the Peruvian government. We have still pending subjects to make our industry  more competitive such as protection law with Spain. However already exists many contact centers in Perú, which are Apecco members, able to offer its services under world class standards.