At Proximiteam, we are often asked why we choose to locate our development centers and technical teams in Latin America.
Our reasons are many, yet straightforward. Five stand out not just as reasons for Proximiteam to locate some of its most critical functions in Latin America, but for any business to look to Latin America to expand their IT capabilities.
5 – Latin America Is Positioning Itself to Compete
Particularly in the three countries we are located – Mexico, Colombia, and Costa Rica – both the local governments and universities are preparing for the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Technology will continue to change how we live. Our physical, digital, and biological worlds will continue to become more and more entangled. Mexico, Colombia, and Costa Rica especially have recognized that, in a globally connected world, they have the flexibility now to prepare for what’s coming. For companies like Proximiteam, this means is that Latin America has a pool of world-class software engineers ready to work on cutting edge technologies.
Moreover, Latin America is home to several globally competitive, technical universities. The area has already attracted such recognizable brands as Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Disney, Discovery, Verizon, FedEx, Unilever, and more. All of these organizations have development centers or contractual agreements with Latin American software development centers.
These organizations have done their due diligence and chosen Latin America. Yes, there are regions in Latin America that are still developing – but, on the whole, these countries are taking pains to develop themselves into a competitive marketplace in the global economy.
4 – Open Lines of Communication
Easy, open lines of communication are critical components of achieving Teamability – the ability to form highly cooperative and efficient working relationships between two or more companies.
The close proximity of the US and Canada with Latin America has opened a large window of communication. Not only does popular culture bleed through the national borders, but these highly-educated, university-trained IT professionals are exposed to English both through coursework and in business.
While not every IT professional in Latin America is fluent in English, the pool of talent is large enough, and English prevalent enough, that we can ensure our professionals are highly proficient in the language.
Moreover, the fact that nearshore resources lie in similar time zones to all of North America can be critical at times during a project when immediate turnaround is needed. Companies can choose to outsource their IT to Europe, Asia, or India, for example. Having our development centers in Latin America enables us to collaborate in real-time, with immediate responses and the agility that companies need.
3 – Financial Practicalities
Simple cost-benefit analyses are no longer the only – or even the primary – reason that a business might choose to outsource. Financial concerns, however, are still on the list of determining factors when making such a crucial decision as where to find its IT professionals.
In the US and Canada, a software engineer actively looking for work will have four or more offers to choose from. At the same time, the 2019 turnover rate in software engineering was 13.2%.
Taken together, this means that local developers are hard to find and easy to lose.
The average salary for an IT professional located in Latin America is very competitive, and comparable to what a similarly trained professional would make in Eastern Europe, and somewhat more than they would make in Asia.
Paying this premium salary for the quality that Latin American IT professionals yield, as well as the benefits of easy communication, has proven to be more than worth it.
2 – The Right Fit
We considered many factors when making our strategic decision to locate our development centers in Mexico, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Among them was access to a large, well-educated talent pool. Thanks to the foresight of the governments and universities we discussed above, these three countries have the highest ranked programming skills in all of Latin America.
This not only makes it easier to recruit in these countries than others; it also means that the technical skills of our nearshore partners are a good fit for our customers’ needs.
From web and mobile development, through to the Internet of Things, cloud-based services, and artificial intelligence, the education and skills of our Latin American neighbors are very much in-line with where North American companies are heading.
1 – Seamless Collaboration
At Proximiteam, we work tirelessly to build project-specific teams that are able to work seamlessly with our clients. By leveraging our expertise in building cooperative relationships, we create greater efficiencies than other options allow.
Our nearshore presence together with on-site program management enables us to rapidly respond to our clients’ needs with more transparency, collaboration, and control.
The result is a cost-effective business model. Our pool of experts in software development, quality assurance, and analytics allows us to assemble the most capable team for each project, and ensure high quality results on time and on budget. Our projects are personally managed locally by seasoned executives who manage their teams, provide technical supervision and quality control, and ensure compliance with customer methodologies.
The Global Marketplace Demands Pragmatic Solutions
We operate in an environment whose competitiveness is only outmatched by the pace at which it changes. We have implemented a working model that provides the flexibility, creativity, quality, and know-how that our clients need.
At Proximiteam, we nurture a culture of excellence and customer service. We support the professional development of each and every one of our engineers. Our DNA is built from motivated people, trust, support for rapid and efficient communication, and constantly improving our abilities.
At the same time, our spirit of creating true business partnerships is based on productive relationships, honest work, professional talent, and technical skills that support creativity and innovation.
