How Viable of an Option is Colombia for Business

[LatinSharpei]

I work in telecom and have to deal with these people in India that are rude, lazy and if it is not cookie cutter fit to the mold then they can never figure out anything.  I was wondering how viable the internet connections are in Colombia, I am sure there are people that are trainable to work with the technology... But my thesis in grad school is that everything that this is needed for sucess in in the America's we do not need to go to Asia for anything.  I would love to get the money flowing south and not east.  Just wondering what other business men's thoughts are on this...

[jb]

Hey LS,

Others on this board are qualified to answer how viable it would be in Colombia.

I can speak to how I feel as a person when my call is routed to India.  I haven't like it.  I felt as if the company doesn't care about my concerns and is looking to save costs.  This is often because of a cultural/language barrier that prevented the customer service rep from truly understanding my concerns and frustrations with the issue and if i don't believe they understand me, i'm less inclined to think they can resolve the issue correctly.  which is a belief in that the company is poor at customer service, which equals the company doesn't value me as a customer.

I have to say that the last CSR i spoke to from India was great.

maybe that would help in your endeavors if you found it viable and decided to launch a call center in Colombia.

[utopiacowboy]

Hey LS,

Others on this board are qualified to answer how viable it would be in Colombia.

I can speak to how I feel as a person when my call is routed to India.  I haven't like it.  I felt as if the company doesn't care about my concerns and is looking to save costs.  This is often because of a cultural/language barrier that prevented the customer service rep from truly understanding my concerns and frustrations with the issue and if i don't believe they understand me, i'm less inclined to think they can resolve the issue correctly.  which is a belief in that the company is poor at customer service, which equals the company doesn't value me as a customer.

I have to say that the last CSR i spoke to from India was great.

maybe that would help in your endeavors if you found it viable and decided to launch a call center in Colombia.

As soon as I hear an Indian voice I start speaking Spanish. That usually gets me routed to the DR or Costa Rica. Once I ended up talking to a Peruana in Toronto - she told me she wished her boyfriend would learn to speak Spanish. When she figured out that I was not a native Spanish speaker, she said we could switch to English but I said, no why bother, we've gotten this far, we may as well continue in Spanish.

[michaelb]

Yeah, a couple of years ago the ex was having trouble with her cable TV and was telling me that every time she called she got some guy in India that she couldn't understand....I told her "Press 2 and you'll wind up talking to a Mexican, that you can understand"....problem solved.

You American bastards are only paying me $20.00 a week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmD_8cBqhW0

 

I want a shocky monkey!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K4iTkXgwAg&feature=fvwrel

[Brazilophile]

The people I have met in Colombia doing computer business were ALL foreigners, mostly Americans.  Same in Brazil, but with more native Brazilians.  These were programming bus8ness that found they could get the almost the same quality for pennies on the US dollar in wages. 

I have done business with computer programming firms in Brazil.  The cookie cutter mold thing is somewhat of a problem.  But there are enough good programmers in Brazil with creativity and imagination who can make new molds to fit your specific problem.  The work is in finding them.   Unfortunately, the decline in the value of the US dollar has made them not as much of a good deal.

My hesitancy about doing business Colombia is the legal system.  Will a contract be honored and enforced in court?  Will you be swindled?  I would keep things small involving little money.  If you have a big project, break it up and farm it piecemeal to many small firm programmers.  Put it all together in the US.

[AndyLee]

Last spring in a conference in Bogota, President Santos acknowledged that Colombian Internet is at least 10 years behind other countries. In a country where almost everything doesn't work well the Internet works least well of all.
It is all but impossible to pay anything online or buy anything online here. Every month I spend several hours in line at the bank just to pay my monthly bills (that could be paid with a click in the US or other modern countries). Banks that do offer meager online services charge extra.
Websites here are designed by monkeys and updated periodically by chimpanzees. Here is a typical example, my local Museum offers weekly programs yet the Eventos page hasn't been updated since January 2011. Before you know the Eventos page is outdated though you first have to figure out how to get into the web site........http://www.museorayo.co/

[LatinSharpei]

Are they going to look to upgrade and possibly use some of the funds that the government has to get the services upgraded.  They could use this as an oppertunity to step further ahead than the deleveloped countries and just go steps ahead.  I know at times wireless is like throwing a bucket of sand out in the air and trying to catch ever single grain but if the copper in the ground is not relaible this would them a physical layer that would be the next step forward with out having to rebuild the infrastructure and replace all that is in the ground.  Just a thought.. But to open a call center there I would have to have the reliablity of my internet connectivity so as these companies want to have momentum on these tickets in less than an hours time.

[Kiltboy1]

I work in telecom and have to deal with these people in India that are rude, lazy and if it is not cookie cutter fit to the mold then they can never figure out anything.  I was wondering how viable the internet connections are in Colombia, I am sure there are people that are trainable to work with the technology... But my thesis in grad school is that everything that this is needed for sucess in in the America's we do not need to go to Asia for anything.  I would love to get the money flowing south and not east.  Just wondering what other business men's thoughts are on this...

Colombians would be PERFECT for CS.They would certainly be able to assist you in between them talking on there "3" cells phones to
A) There Boyfriend
B) There Girlfriend
C) There Mother
D) There Boss( There Second Boyfriend)
E)  There Hijos Celosos
F) There Western Union Boyfriend
G) And You, The Customer( Who They Might Ask If You Have A Girlfriend)
 
Yes, I think we should move all of the India production to Colombia. Makes Great Sense 
 
KB

[utopiacowboy]

These gringo schemes always amuse me. If there was an opportunity to make money, they would already have thought of it themselves. There is a reason Colombia is in the shape it's in.

[Micky]

PLUS,  a very low 3.8% of the population speaks English.  I think that there are opportunities here,  but really only safe if you have Siamese twin that just happens to be Colombiano.
 

Micky

[Catamaran]

 http://www.geeksonsteroids.com/ is one business owned by an expat in Colombia who does web site design.  I think he either hires out the actual design work to either people in India or in Colombia to have their web sites done.

[no comment]

Is an average foreign programmer comparable to those found in the US, generally speaking, or do most build websites on some generic software like Intuit? 

[benjio]

I'm an IT Manager of sorts for a very large global drilling company with huge operational presence in Latin America. I just returned from Colombia and Brazil on business a few weeks ago. I will tell you in all honesty that there are Colombians that work in computer field with the "know how", but they don't possess that ability to "think outside of the box" when it comes to applying their knowledge. There is usually no single solution to a complexed programming problem, but the average Colombian can't think outside of the most common solution they've been taught to use. They also can't use deductive reasoning to predict the subsequent side effects of any solution they implement. This is a talent that most programmers I know here in the states possess, but I've never seen it in Colombia. I'm sure there are exceptional IT personnel there with comparable programming abilities but I have yet to find one.

In Brazil, the story is a little different. There are most definitely Brazilians you could compare to the best computer techies here in the states, but they know their talent is rare, and they are very expensive. Most of them do not work for large companies, but rather choose to do freelance projects and start their own consulting firms. My company has been literally chasing two Brazilians that are experts with a certain software we are implementing in Macae, but they're busy starting their own company trying to retain clients that utilized them when they worked for a larger consulting company.

As far as Colombia using government funds to improve upon the infrastructure of their internet, I sincerely hope not!!! Please, let's not forget that Colombia is a third world country and many people are starving there. There is still a huge illiteracy problem in some parts of the country as well. Organizations like the FARC have a constant flow of new recruits because of the living conditions and lack of education of most of the people in the regions where they operate. I'm well aware that the internet is now a very important aspect of learning and education, but there are things the Colombian Government needs to get done long before they begin worrying about bandwidth.

[no comment]

In Brazil, the story is a little different. There are most definitely Brazilians you could compare to the best computer techies here in the states, but they know their talent is rare, and they are very expensive. Most of them do not work for large companies, but rather choose to do freelance projects and start their own consulting firms.

... not to mention that the Real is strong against the dollar right now. 


A question for the programmers here is whether the web designer determines how a website will turn up in searches and if it is a disadvantage to have a non-native English speaker create a site for the English speaking/reading market.  I have a new in-law who may have website creation skills and wonder if I should throw him some work. 

[JimD]

Every month I spend several hours in line at the bank just to pay my monthly bills (that could be paid with a click in the US or other modern countries).

I pay my monthly bills online with just a click or with automatic debit (Bancolombia) and anything I can´t pay that way I pay as I go through the check out at Exito, Carrafour or La 14. Very easy. I never have to wait in line at a bank.

[Micky]

BenJ -

 
VERY good observation with the "thinking outside the box."  That applies to ALL things here,  not just IT.  I have said that I believe that is the number one drawback to the growth of Colombia.  I have met some,  but not many that do think outside the box.  Gringos grow up with the encouragement to think outside the box,  here is quite the opposite.
 

Micky

[Traveler]

NC,
 
You are correct, that a good web designer will be able to design a website that will be optimized for search engines.  A bad one will either make a bad design himself, or just follow the instuctions of his customer who will want it to look "pretty" without understanding that some of this prettiness might make his page invisible to search engines.
 
Having said that, understand that while search engine optimization is important and will save you a lot of money down the road, it will take time for the search engines to find your site and - given that it was designed well - move it to the top of their searches, unless your goods or services are very rare and unique.  The people who can conduct effective internet marketing are not very common and very cheap even here, in the US.

[utopiacowboy]

Guadalajara, Mexico is a hotspot for IT outsourcing from the US. All the big Indian companies, TCS, HCL etc have big shops there and are planning expansion. We used to outsource all our work to India but now a lot of it is going to Guadalajara. Of course we still have almost 1000 Indians working on site! Great to see how the H1-B is being abused! And our worthless congressman, Lamar Smith (R-New Delhi) wants to get the numbers increased to payoff the campaign contributions he receives from the above mentioned Indian contracting companies. The man is a criminal and should be hanging from a lamp post somewhere.

[maritime04]

Not many speak a da English................Internet is expensive and SUCKS.  English schools are EXPENSIVE, your only labor pool is expats; US-Colombians; and educated Colombians all of which will probly want to earn more than 10 dollars a day.
 
My biss idea is geared toward US offshore which relies on Philippines, and other Asians for seaman; steward staff; laundrymen, they often are brought over on US OCS Visas good for 1-10 years; American companies often apply for waivers and coast guard exemption letters for them, and often provide hostel type hotel for them when they are not on the boat or platform or rig, when they are on their “time off”
 
This would require
1. English schooling
2. Mariner training STCW, fire fighting; lifesaving ECT…
3. Visa assistance
 
Its viable idea, because companies would save some cash on flights, as Colombia/Latin America is much closer.
 
The Asian attitude is much liked out here because they work hard, and cause little problems, you would have to be very selective on Latin’s but would be worth looking into
 

[AndyLee]

I pay my monthly bills online with just a click or with automatic debit (Bancolombia) and anything I can´t pay that way I pay as I go through the check out at Exito, Carrafour or La 14. Very easy. I never have to wait in line at a bank.

You are right as usual JD.........for me it has more to do with my location since the nearest LA14,  Carrefour or Exito is in Pereira 2 hours away. Still, I manage to enjoy my time in the line at Davivienda because I always enjoy the people who are in line with me.

[Researcher]

    JimD, do you ever have problems with the bank there in Colombia? I use online banking here and sometimes had trouble in the past.I would like to set my Mother-in Law up with online banking but have been a little skiddish.

     Researcher

[JimD]

,,for me it has more to do with my location since the nearest LA14,  Carrefour or Exito is in Pereira 2 hours away. Still, I manage to enjoy my time in the line at Davivienda because I always enjoy the people who are in line with me.

Yes if you´re in an outlying pueblo those big chains wouldn´t be available to you but Bancolombia might be. If you don´t mind waiting in lines more power to you. In fact in a pueblo I wouldn´t mind either, just another opprtunity to chismosiar with the neighbors. In a big city though it´s just drudgery.

[beginthebeguin]

I did find some intresting statistics today about the overall increase in the use of the internet in Latin America and the country with the largest overall increase based on the increase in number of users as a percentage of users from the previous year is Colombia. Data from 2009 to 2010 so this is fairly recent data.
 
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/colombia-internet-audience-increases-31-percent-in-past-year-to-rank-as-fastest-growing-market-in-latin-america-111611749.html

[robert angel]

I've gotten Sirius-XM radio equipment service and Dell Computer service from Costa Rica and Panama call centers and it was excellent, Their English was quite good and they were very friendly. So friendly in fact, that before I got married, I even struck up a personal relationship with a  lovely Dell rep from Panama, although we never actually got together in real life.
I would think that with most companies giving customers the option of Spanish or English speaking service, that given the proper technology infrastructure, that call service and just internet based business opportunities in general, would be growing in South America.

[Calipro]

I pay my monthly bills online with just a click or with automatic debit (Bancolombia) and anything I can´t pay that way I pay as I go through the check out at Exito, Carrafour or La 14. Very easy. I never have to wait in line at a bank.

Never bothered to setup online payment with my BanColombia bank account because it was always so easy just to pay gas, water and electric when I would check out at Exito. I noticed that there was some type of box in my apartment complex that let you pay your bills with just the swipe of a debit card...but I never bothered to use it....have you ever used one?


Also I haven't been able to gain access to my BanColombia account from the internet for awhile. I have to call them to verify funds....have you had any problems in the past with this?