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IBM plans to double LatAm offshore staff in 2007
(BNamericas.com Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) IBM (NYSE: IBM) plans to double its staff working in offshore services in Latin America during 2007, from the 4,900 employees currently working at the company's global delivery centers in Brazil and Argentina, IBM integrated technology delivery VP for the region, David Daniel, told BNamericas.
The company operates global delivery centers in India, China, Russia, Brazil (Hortolndia) and Argentina (Buenos Aires). During 2005, these countries generated revenues of US$3.8bn for the company, up 14% compared to 2004.
"We started offering services for local markets from the same countries and then we decided to transfer the internal support services to IBM in Brazil. So a group in Hortolndia started supporting IBM in the USA and Canada, and that was the beginning of service delivery outside the region," Daniel said.
Also, in Argentina, the current global delivery center started out providing services for the local subsidiary of IBM and then the company decided to expand its operations.
"This business started as an internal process and then became an external service. The flexibility of human resources in the region to speak several languages really helps us," Daniel added.
From the Latin American centers the company exports services to the US, Canada, Spain, the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy and in several industries including banking, manufacturing and retail.
From the center in Brazil, the company offers services such as mainframe monitoring, call centers and systems administrations, while from Argentina IBM delivers call center services, data center production and security and asset management, along with IT administration.
"For 2007 we see increasing demand for other services, such as midrange platforms, security, networking and mainframes support," Daniel said.
Citing statistics from IDC, he said the overall service market in Latin America grew 19.8% in 2006 compared to 2005 and is expected to increase 12.8% in 2007. IDC forecasts that Brazil will grow the fastest in the region this year, by 14.2%.
Copyright 2006 BNamericas.com
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