Sutherland chooses Pereira to grow its operations in Colombia

Perira,  (Pxp) - Sutherland Global Services, multinational Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services in India, has chosen the capital of Risaralda to establish their third operation in Colombia in order to serve its international clients, most of which are part of the Fortune 500 list.

The company, which commenced operations in the country three years ago, has been supported by PROCOLOMBIA in order to find new business opportunities; efforts which have flourished into an expansion of their services starting in Bogota, then in Barranquilla and currently in Pereira.

" For 2013, this is one of the 14 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects aimed at the BPO, IT software and services sector that have been advised and supported by Proexport. In a joint effort with Invest In Pereira, we presented to this multinational the strengths of the region and the availability of bilingual human capital, the advantages of its geographical location and the incentives offered to capture FDI inflows, "highlighted the President of PROCOLOMBIA Maria Claudia Lacouture.

Juliana Jimenez, Sutherland’s Director of Business Development for Latin America, said that the project would generate employment and regional development. "The employees have the opportunity to work on innovation projects that will enable them to learn international best practices in order to provide services to our clients in the areas of telecommunication, banking, airlines, retail chain stores, logistics and the health related industries and in particular telemedicine. "

PROCOLOMBIA’s President underlined that the strategy in place to attract foreign investment is to present businesses with opportunities that suit their expansion needs. In the case of Sutherland, they visited several cities that met the requirements they were looking for.

Meanwhile Natalia Guzman, Manager of Invest In Pereira, said that the multinational is currently evaluating its operating location, complementing that the company has received the commitment and support of local authorities in this new process.

Internationalization of the region

With the aim of spreading the opportunities and advantages of Risaralda, this year PROCOLOMBIA is providing promotion efforts in strategic markets of the European Union such as Spain and Portugal, in addition to further strengthening its relationship with the allied countries of the Pacific Alliance, as well as spreading opportunities throughout the U.S., which is the main source of capital towards Colombia, and lastly introducing to potential investors from Brazil and Ecuador the advantages that the department has to offer.

" Between January 2011 and May 2013, three of the five FDI projects to settle in Risaralda supported and counseled by Invest in Pereira and PROCOLOMBIA, have targeted the BPO, information technology (IT) software and services sectors, "said Lacouture.

During the last year, representatives of companies from Asia, South America, Central America and Europe visited the coffee region in order to learn about the potential opportunities of the automotive, software, IT services, BPO, fashion and Hotel infrastructure sectors identified by PROCOLOMBIA and Invest in Pereira.

A world-class player

Established in 1986, Sutherland Global Services is an international provider of business process and technology management services offering an integrated set of management and customer touch-points solutions, rooted on the entire customer lifecycle analysis.

Headquartered in Rochester (New York), Sutherland is one of the largest independent BPO companies employing over 30,000 professionals in the 35 operating centers located throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Jamaica, UK, Bulgaria, Egypt, India, Philippines, United Arab Emirates and China.

"Sutherland is a firm that excels in providing growth opportunities offered to its employees. Precisely, this is why I am so thrilled that many of our professionals in the region will find development opportunities and will be able to experience firsthand why we have won many global accolades regarding human talent. This is why I’d like to extend the opportunity to participate in the talent acquisition opportunities soon to be available " stated Sutherland’s Director of Business Development for Latin America.

According to the analysis made by FDI Markets; the Financial Times’ Intelligence Unit, between 2003 and 2012, 42.9% of the investment from India to Colombia has been funneled to the areas of software and IT services.