Cultural alignment the strongest card for Latin American players?

Esteban Herrera, Senior Vice President, HfS Research, has written a very interesting report about Latin America in which he argues that the strongest value element of sourcing from the region is the cultural fit card.

It raises many interesting points about how vendors with a Latin American offering can compete more effectively for the global buyer as well as presents the challenges that a fragmented region presents. One theme that's recurrent among analysts and industry though leaders is the need to go outside the comfort zone and to expand to other regions; this means becoming truly global and embracing delivery from large scale locations such as India or China. This is one reason why Softtek's invested in maturing delivery from China, having a direct presence since 2007, after the acquisition of a local provider.

I think the article's title, "Latin America: The Next Sourcing Frontier or an Afterthought?", is telling. Many providers have tried to emulate what has worked in Asia and are presenting themselves as "the same but better". I can guess that's why the article emphasis is competing for value, not against regions. After 17 years creating the nearshore delivery, I have seen enough evidence that for some vendors it will remain an afterthought trying to based value on just cultural alignment or more forgiving time zones; for some others it'll be The Next Frontier, where nearshore is expected to replace Offshore. For some others, and Softtek falls in this category, it's none of them, but rather one component   enhance the value of a global delivery strategy that is well governed, low risk, optimized and streamlined to perfection.

Esteban's full article, featured by Global Services Magazine, can be found here.  A great read!