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HP to Open Service Center in Medellín

HP to Open Service Center in Medellín After Competitive Selection Process in Latin America

HP announced in July that it plans to open a state-of-the-art Global Service Center in the city of Medellín in the coming months. This Fortune 500 company’s investment in Colombia demonstrates the growing confidence major global corporations have in locating their operations in the country, which is rapidly becoming a hub for IT services in Latin America thanks to its modern infrastructure, state-of-the-art facilities, business environment and strategic location.

Proexport, the Colombian government’s trade bureau, and the local development organization, the Agency for Investment and Cooperation of Medellín (ACI), coordinated and facilitated the project, developing a competitive proposal to attract HP. The new service center, which is designed to operate as a strategic hub of operations with cross-functional capabilities, including technology, back-office operations and sales support, is expected to generate up to 1,000 software development, engineering and marketing jobs in the region, as well as other positions.

According to Nearshore Americas, a blog dedicated to outsourcing in the Americas, the selection processinvolved examining several countries and cities in the region and began in the first quarter of2010, when HP started its search for a location for a global services facility to serve the Latin American market. HP press release stated that the selection of Medellin was based on multiple factors, including the availability of a highly skilled workforce, high-caliber universities, the Colombian government’s cooperation, and strategic training opportunities.

Gerard Brossard, vice president of strategy and corporate development at HP, said of the decision to located in Colombia, “In Medellin, we have found the confidence, respect, passion for customers, teamwork, speed, achievements and contributions, a significant innovation and business in a holistic manner.” TheNearshore Americas story also reported that the great relationship Colombia has with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was also a factor.

Over the past several years, Citibank, IBM, GE, Siemens, Motorola, Directv, Unisys, SAP and Bayer, have all set up call centers in Colombia or turned to the country for IT solutions to serve customers in the U.S., Latin America and Spain. Citibank recently moved its call center from Barcelona to Bogota, and Teleperformance bought Colombian firm Teledatos in order to expand its call center service footprint in Latin America, demonstrating the value for international companies in having a Colombian presence, as well as their continued confidence in the country’s economic stability and security.

Tellingly, Colombia was recently listed as the most business friendly country in Latin America by the World Bank in 2010. Consultants and analysts throughout the industry have also taken note: Frost & Sullivan say that Colombia’s call center industry has the highest growth in Latin America, and Gartner considers Colombia a “challenger” - a country ready to take on its more prominent competitors.