The New Outsourcing Kid on the Block

Filed in archive Outsourcing News on February 17, 2005

Costa Rica's outsourcing industry is growing strong as it builds on existing outsourcing contracts, and improves its IT expertise.

The country is now part of the multi-billion outsourcing deal between Proctor & Gamble and Hewlett-Packard. It also performs advanced design work for semiconductor giant, Intel. Because of this outsourcing boom, Indian Minister, Rao Inderjot Singh, said that his country would establish a $2 million Regional IT Training Center in Costa Rica. Costa Rica has become the center for allied countries in Central America and the Caribbean region.

Federico Cartin Arteaga, executive of Costa Rica's Chamber of IT and Communications, said that software development is growing in the country. He said, "Of 102 countries with indigenous software-development firms, Costa Rica ranks 14th." Also, Costa Rica has nearly 25,000 software professionals in their 4-million-population.

Additionally, local companies are now performing creative IT solutions. An IT company developed a computerized solution for sorting coffee beans. Costa Rican orthodontists with Align Technologies make molds of teeth for U.S. patients. They then send the molds to the U.S. Cartin calls this a 'third-generation call center.'

To attract more outsourcing clients, Costa Rican companies are setting up offices and resources in Silicon Valley. One such company is Avantica Technologies who provides custom programming thorugh its Menlo Park office.