Instituto de Telemarketing e Serviço ao Cliente

Title :Talking to the world : Brazil entering the offshore Call Center Market
Source: Up Date Magazine
Date: July 2005

The brazilian offshore Call Center potential, still little explored, starts to get movements. The MIID(Marketing Integrado Interativo Direto) Integrated Direct Interactive Marketing, Telemarketing Institute business unity, invests on opportunities of business unity detection for Brazil at the foreigner market and presees a 30 thousand foreign companies demand, the biggest part from north America . We started our work spread in November. The next step is to bring american managers to Brazil to do an area recognizement. There is a demand of 300 thousand AP(attending position) outside country. We want run to catch this market fit, says Bernardo Tobias , MIID director.

With a branch in Toronto , in Canadá, MIID undertakes on establishing the contact with american and canadian companies and to make captation of business to Brazil . When identifying the needs, they check out at the brazilian industry which Call Center furnisher companies are ready to reach the demand offering the most qualifying services and appropriated technology.

´We make happen every integration process, since geographic choice of the better operator until the legal paths`, explains Tobias.

Government Support

Among the main difficulties the setor face, there is the knowledge lackness of other countries related to Brazilian acting on the segment. The managers on the area are unanimous: everyone criticizes the lack of incentive of the government to promote Brazil as trader market on the Call Center services furnisher. The participations in fairs, business congresses and other international events are the companies own initiatives, which invests on the clients prospection. For the foreign market, Brazil is seen as a commodity trader. The government has to do his part, affirms José Eduardo Ribeiro Lima, ACS international relationship coordinator, ALGAR group company.

However, a project from Brazilian Associated Costumer Relationship in company(Abrarec) Acossiação Brasileira da Relações Empresa, to promote Brazil as a trader polo region in technology, including the Call Center area, is in quarrel with export and promotion braziIlian agency (APEX).´We want to know the potential in Call Center Market and create opportunities to the country. We can export not only services, but to sell technologies, consultancy and to orientate a whole range of values`, says Roberto Meir, Abrarec´s president. The project implant shall initiate at the second semester this year.

To APEX, the promotion politic execution of exports depends on the organization and claims from the association that represents the segment interests. According to Renata Sanches the export technology and project manager, Brazil has several competitive advantages, such as lower price and relatively few time difference compared to USA and Europe . Besides that, the brazilian management culture is aligned with the developed countries dynamic.´We have interest in working the brazilian image outside country`, affirms.

The brazilian Offshore Call Center market is new. Started in 2003, when ACS closed the first contact with the American company Call Logic. Still, there are no statistics about the participation of the setor in the national market. According to ABT, it is appreciated that last year there was 500 AP´S turned to extern market service.

Brazilian differentials

The expectation to this year is to double this number. Lima presees that the extern ACS business volume will represents about 10% of the total in three years- actually the offshore contracts represents 1%. According to him, opposite to other countries that act in this segment, that are exclusively focused to export the services rendered, Brazil has a large space to grow at this domestic industry, this explains the late entrance at the international industry. Today, the setor employees 555 thousands professionals in the country and the growth projection for this year is about 10%, according to ABT.

Brazil disposes of competitive facilities that stimulate offshore segment development for the next years. For example: in USA , country that most outsource services outside country, the costume service hour value is of US$ 25; IN Brazil , is of US$12. The technologic area of the country is advanced, and it is in the same landing of the industry leaders, such as Índia and Philippines . And, although in Brazil the english language isn’t the main one, it´s crescent the number of people that dominate the language, with potential qualifying labourwork growth.