Colombia tops the first Offshore BPO Confidence Index 2021

Confidence in an offshore location rises and falls fast in business process outsourcing. One year a country is the next big thing, and the next it sits near the bottom of the list. That makes choosing a new delivery location, or a partner abroad, a hard call.

So we asked the people running operations on the ground how they see their own country. The Offshore BPO Confidence Index 2021 is the first edition, produced with Ryan Strategic Advisory.

Who answered

Between July 27 and October 5, 2021, we surveyed 93 country managers at 59 BPO providers. They run operations in Bulgaria, Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Poland, and South Africa.

Respondents rated their confidence from one to four in eleven categories. These are political stability, economic stability, public safety, public sector trustworthiness, government support, infrastructure, recruitment and staffing, talent scalability, language skills, BPO industry cohesiveness, and commercial real estate.

Colombia comes out on top

Colombia ranks first overall with a confidence rating of 90.9%. Its strongest categories are government support and the cohesiveness of its BPO industry, and it places in the top six for every category.

India is second at 86.8%. Respondents rate its real estate and the cohesiveness of its BPO industry highly, though trust in the public sector is its weakest point.

Bulgaria’s surprise third place

Bulgaria finishes third at 86.5%, with three first places, for economic stability, public sector trustworthiness, and infrastructure. Its weak spot is the BPO sector itself, where respondents show little confidence in how well the industry works together.

A close field behind them

Below the top three, the field is tight. South Africa, El Salvador, Mexico, and Egypt are all within about one and a half points of each other. South Africa scores well for real estate, government support, and talent, but public safety is a concern after the civil unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in July 2021. Nicaragua is last at 69.9%, ten points behind Poland in eleventh.

Download the 2021 report

The full report covers each category and each country across 31 pages.