The emerging global services sector in Chile
Published: September 4, 2009
It has become the most important national export not based on natural resources, with revenues of over US$800 million. This has placed Chile in a strong position among the most competitive destinations in the world for global services.
It is one of the world's most dynamic sectors, and represents an industry with great potential in which Chile participates successfully. There are currently over sixty world-class centres operating in the country and exports for the sector surpassed US$800 million last year.
Chile's global position in the sector, the challenges of human capital and the country's success stories were among the subjects discussed at a seminar on the global services cluster, held on August 28 at Casa Piedra in Santiago, Chile. The event was inaugurated by the Minister of Economy, Hugo Lavados and by Carlos Álvarez, the Chilean Economic Development Agency's (CORFO) Executive Vice-president, and the President of the Strategic Council for the Global Services Cluster.
In his speech, Carlos Álvarez highlighted the industry's progress: "we've been working for almost ten years to establish Chile as an attractive destination for global services. The recent arrival of projects as important as General Electric/UST Global, Equifax and JP Morgan confirm the global position that our country is achieving and take us toward the goal of exports of US$1 billion for the cluster."
Among those speaking at the event, Ashish Gupta, Manager of Evalueserve in India, talked about Chile's opportunities within the global services industry, while Christian Callieri, executive at AT Kearney, gave an assessment of Chile in the international context.
Analysis of offshoring in Chile
At the event, the International Data Corporation's (IDC) study "Observatory on the Global Services Industry in Chile" provided the first evaluation of the size of the industry in Chile: comprising 430 companies, employing over 20,000 people and reaching an export volume of US$843 million in 2008.
Among the recommendations made, the study highlighted the need to continue strengthening the human resources required by the industry, especially in technical areas and regarding levels of English.
Source: www.corfo.cl