In Bogota, the business outsourcing industry (BPO) has taken important leadership in receiving foreign investment, due to factors such as the availability, quality, and cost of human talent, connectivity, market dynamism, strategic location, and government support. This comprehensive combination of advantages has consolidated the city as one of the best environments in Latin America to established a Contact Center and Shared Service Center (SSC) operation. 

Why Locate in Bogota?

• Experience: Colombia is the fourth largest BPO market in LATAM after Brazil, Mexico, and Costa Rica. The industry in Colombia has market size nearly to US$23.000 million and has presented an annual average growth of 19% in the last 7 years.  

• Different foreign and local companies located in Bogota provide a variety of contact center and back-office services which include IT support, finance and accounting, human resource, sales, and procurement and logistics. 

• Strategic market: According to ATKearney Global Services Location Index 2017, Colombia is the 10^th most competitive country in the world and 3^rd in Latin America in the development of global service operations.
• Human resources: Colombia: the third largest labor force in Latin America, with 26.4 million people. Bogota stands out as the main generator of talent, concentrating more than 25% of the country’s labor force. Bogota stands out as the country’s main generator, with more than 25% of the country´s labor force.
• The BPO industry in Colombia generates more than 230,000 direct jobs, with a sustained annual average growth of 6% in the last six years. 
• Bogota stands out as the country’s main education cluster, with more than 55% of graduates in careers of interest. 
• During the last 10 years, management, economics, accounting, and related areas register an average annual growth of 13%, while computer systems engineering and related areas exhibit an average annual growth of 6%. Bogota stands out as the country’s main education cluster, with more than 55% of graduates in careers of interest.  

Number of graduates in Colombia in selected careers (2007-2017)*thousands

• Additionally, due to training and certification English programs, Bogota exhibits the largest offer of bilingual professionals in the Colombian labour market sharing more than 70% of the population.

Bilingual Population in Colombia

• Competitive labor costs:  The BPO industry offers an excellent cost-benefit ratio for wages in Latin-American.

Contact Center average salaries

Shared Services Centers average salaries

• Priority sector for the Government. The Colombian government is committed to supporting the BPO sector. Therefore, the Business Process Outsourcing sector was included as one of the 20 sectors that now have a business plan tailored to the Productive. Transformation Program (PTP), aiming to achieve decisive increases in productivity and competitiveness.
• Strategic location: In the same time zone as the eastern United States and offering more than 45 direct flight connections daily to and from major cities in the hemisphere, Bogota is a great nearshore location in the Americas.  

Contact Center Industry in Bogota

• During the last years, the Contact Center industry has reached an interesting dynamism in Colombia. Regarding the type of activity delivered InBound and BackOffice shared more than 60% of the market. 

• Regarding the type of service, contact centers in Spanish and pay collections are the leading segments. 

BPO Activities by Type, 2016*

BPO Service by Type, 2016*

• An industry with a high international component: The industry´s exports have registered an annual average growth of 9% in the last 4 years, reaching US$143 million in 2017. USA, Spain, and Netherland are the main destinations sharing the 36%, 24%, and 15%.
• 40% of the contact centers have foreign capital: Spain, the United States, Chile, and Argentina are the main investors, concentrating 44%, 26%, 9% and 4% of the “sites” installed in the country, respectively.
• Bogota stands out as Colombia’s main contact center cluster in Colombia, with more than 60% of the revenues and 40% of the employment. 

Contact center´s revenues and employment by cities in Colombia, 2016

• Some international Contact Center companies has stablished in Bogota: Convergys/Concentrix + Sutherland + Teleperformance + Sitel + Avanza + Allus + Grupo Konecta + Atento + ACS

Shared Service Center (SSC) Industry in Bogota

• Colombia is the 4th largest market in Latin America, sharing 11% of the SSCs. Bogota stands out as the 4th city after Sao Paulo, San Jose, and Mexico City, with more than 35 SSCs.
• The SSC industry is recent and thriving. More than 60% of the centers are between three and five years old and 50% have more than 200 employees.
• 98% of the SSCs offer services in Spanish, 40% in English, 20% in Portuguese, 3% in French, and 1% in German. 
• Around 50% of the SSCs cover the Americas (north, central, and south), 39% have a national focus and 13% have a global reach. 
• Finance & Accounting and Technology support are the main services covered by the SSC in Colombia.

SSC Services Portfolio, 2016

• Bogota stands out as the main SSC cluster in the country, sharing more than 60% of the sites and 45% of the employment. 
• Some international Contact Center companies has stablished in Bogota: Scotiabank + Johnson & Johnson + Diageo + Delta + Nokia + Amazon + Medtronic + BBraun + Abbott + Belcorp + Schlumberger.  

If you need more detailed information, find in the lower part the information of our investment officers in charge of this sector.

Learn more about the BPO sector:

Bogota: A global center for Contact Center Operation (BPO)

Colombia, strategic location for data centers

Updated (mm/dd/yyyy): 08.07.2021