Call Center Mexico

Charter Communications Inc., the nation's fourth-largest cable company, has recently announced that it’s outsourcing some call center jobs to Canada and Mexico as part of a strategy “to coordinate traffic among centers to better handle both projected and unexpected calling demand,” according to a recent article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Charter is setting up "centers of excellence," according to the Post-Dispatch, which will “specialize in handling different types of calls based on the service a customer is calling about – television service, Internet access or telephone service.”

Neil Smit, Charter's chief executive, told the newspaper that the new structure "enhances our ability to share the information and the best practices" across its centers nationwide.

They’re not the only ones either. Mexico has been growing as a destination for outsourced American call centers.

 

Numbers tell part of the story. The growing number of Hispanics in the United States are retaining their language more than most immigrants do. The Census Bureau reports that as of July 2002 there were 38.8 million Hispanics in the US, compared with 35.3 million in 2000 – Hispanics account for one-half or 3.5 million of the 6.9 million total population growth from April 2000 to July 2002. The trend continues today.

 

And over half of American Hispanics are Mexican in origin. There are significant cultural differences between Mexicans and other Hispanics, too, so it makes sense to locate call centers in Mexico to try to reach the millions upon millions of American Mexicans. Cubans, Dominicans and other Hispanics prefer different sales and service approaches and techniques to Mexicans as well – imagine Americans trying to sell to more reserved Brits for an approximate analogy.

 

Labor costs are another factor in Mexico’s favor, as they are about in the middle of Latin America – generally a bit higher than Argentina, but lower than Chile or Costa Rica. One industry executive estimated that locating a call center in Mexico saves 20 percent to 25 percent of the costs of an American-based one.

 

But a call center located in Mexico has another huge advantage call centers located elsewhere in Latin America might not have. Many Mexicans, especially those in northern cities such as Monterey, have experience of American culture and American Hispanic culture, they understand nuances and subtleties call center workers in Argentina or the Dominican Republic might not be as quick to grasp.

 

Mexicans tend to be bilingual as well, so provide a “two for one” value, so to speak.

 

And of course one of the most important factors to consider is the stability of Mexico. It hasn’t had quite the, ah, colorful political history much of the rest of Latin America has seen, so while that generates fewer heroic t-shirts it also generates fewer business risks.

 

And for many call center operators that’s just fine, they’ll forego the t-shirts.