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While the Colombian offshore contact center outsourcing market has not lived up to its billing, the Peruvian market picked up the slack and has grown impressively in the last two years. Spanish companies, which were the biggest offshore revenue contributors to both countries, have increasingly set up operations in Peru to provide offshore services to Europe and other Latin American countries. In 2010, Spanish companies accounted for 70 percent of Peru’s offshore contact center outsourcing revenues and only 41 percent of Colombia’s.

The Peruvian market is expected to grow faster than other nations within the region, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.9 percent from 2009 to 2015, compared to Colombia’s 12.4 percent. Similarly, offshore revenues accounted for only 18 percent and 43.7 percent of Colombia’s and Peru’s revenue pie, respectively.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Colombian and Peruvian Contact Center Outsourcing Services Markets 2010, finds that the Colombian market earned revenues of $447.0 million in 2009 and estimates this to reach $902.0 million in 2015. Meanwhile, the Peruvian market earned $171.0 million in 2009 and estimates this to reach $393.7 million in 2015.

Some foreign companies are still reluctant to outsource to Colombia because of the former’s limited bilingual resources. Local market participants in Colombia will also be facing the heat of competition from foreign-based companies, which will be looking to extend their services to local clients to complement their offshore portfolio with domestic business.

“Nevertheless, Colombia is expected to accelerate its offshoring activity during 2011-2012,” says Frost & Sullivan Industry Manager Juan Gonzalez. “The country has improved its reputation for excellence in outsourcing in recent years, and has created a supportive business environment, backed by favorable government legislations.”

Meanwhile, revenues in Peru have increased substantially from $171 million in 2009 to $194.1 million in 2010 – 3.0 percent higher than Colombia’s revenue growth during the same period. Peru’s recent success lies in its agent workforce’s ‘neutral’ Spanish and robust technology infrastructure to facilitate the telecommunications businesses development.

Both Colombia and Peru have benefited from Latin America’s rapid recovery from the economic downturn, and companies have begun to consider them viable outsourcing markets for contact center servicing, sales, and debt collection.

“Overall, increasing pressure on profit margins and the global economic climate have boosted the demand for customer care cost savings, giving a leg up to the contact center outsourcing services market in Colombia and Peru,” notes González. “Their ability to provide a fully integrated suite of end-to-end services has further reinforced their status as outsourcing hubs in Latin America.”