Where can call centers find eager and talented young people willing to work for rock-bottom wages for years to come? India and the Philippines no doubt come to mind. But we see little reason to travel half the globe when you can find the same great workers next door: In the Caribbean and Latin America.

A Stone's Throw Away

As Services Editor Brendan Read illuminates in his site selection coverage of these regions and Canada, the "near-shore option" presents an increasingly attractive alternative to "offshore" locations. The competition hinges not only on favorable geography.

Near-shore countries - Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama, among others - are doing much to woo call centers. They're establishing or expanding vocational schools to train workers. They're deregulating their telecommunications sectors, thereby lowering transport costs. And they're building networked facilities in free zones that are ready to go live.

I had the occasion to see the activity first-hand when I traveled to Jamaica in early July at the invitation of the Jamaica Promotions Corp. (JAMPRO). For three intensive days, I and five other guests visited free zones where call centers and IT businesses have set up operations. These are in Montego Bay and near the capital, Kingston.

Much impressed me, starting with the caliber of the labor. All the call center managers and executives I met with - at Apple Vacations and outsourcers SITEL Caribbean and TeleServices Direct - spoke glowingly of their reps. The agents, I heard repeatedly, work hard and act professionally. And, because the reps view their jobs as careers, they stick with their companies.

They're also top-performers. Patricia Totton, president of TeleServices Direct, which markets credit cards to college students, noted that her staffers on some days outsell their counterparts in Atlanta.

The reasons are not hard to fathom. Unemployment in Jamaica is high: 17%, or about 163,500 people, most of them under the age of 35. Call centers are able to cull the cream of the crop among job hunters - and with little effort. When tour operator Apple Vacations needed to fill 20 positions, the outfit received some 1,500 applicants. And, says Apple Vacations' reservations manager Jennifer Solomone, they all learned about the positions by word-of-mouth!

Apple and other call center operators can count on educated applicants. Candidates are, at a minimum, high school graduates. Most have received intensive training in PC and soft skills. And many have been pre-trained in vendor-specific products and services. A chief source of the training is the HEART Trust, a government-funded national training agency.

HEART and the Caribbean Institute of Technology (CIT) also provide training in IT skills, including certification from HEART's Cisco Academy. Credit for the education goes in part to - you guessed it - IT graduates of India's top colleges. (One might better describe Jamaica's rivalry with the subcontinent as "coopetition.")

Jamaica boasts other advantages. Agent wages (including per rep telecom costs, benefits, office space, etc.) are $15.50-$16.50 per hour. This compares with $27-$29 per hour in the US. Jamaica also offers competitive rates for office space ($8-$12 per square foot); duty-free imports on capital equipment in the free zones; plus vibrant tourist and hospitality industries.

Caveats to Consider

Jamaica has to address drawbacks in its quest to become the premier near-shore location. Topping them is high crime. The problem is particularly concentrated in Kingston and neighboring St. Andrew, though not in the heavily gated free zones.

While businesses enjoy fiber and satellite links to points worldwide, optimal telecom transport costs (7 cents per minute) and speeds (200 milliseconds switching between fiber and satellite), are, respectively, higher and slower than in the US.

Support services outside the free zones, too, are lacking: Delivering a check through the mail is a risky proposition. And while some available commercial offices feature raised floors to house cabling, none that I viewed provided fire-dousing sprinklers.

Jamaica's conditions mirror those present throughout the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America. But the outlook, on balance, is positive. For call centers requiring low-cost site selection alternatives, and for good neighbors looking to create jobs and attract investment, that merits a smile, and a toast, with fine Jamaican rum.

Where can call centers find eager and talented young people willing to work for rock-bottom wages for years to come? India and the Philippines no doubt come to mind. But we see little reason to travel half the globe when you can find the same great workers next door: In the Caribbean and Latin America.

A Stone's Throw Away

As Services Editor Brendan Read illuminates in his site selection coverage of these regions and Canada, the "near-shore option" presents an increasingly attractive alternative to "offshore" locations. The competition hinges not only on favorable geography.

Near-shore countries - Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama, among others - are doing much to woo call centers. They're establishing or expanding vocational schools to train workers. They're deregulating their telecommunications sectors, thereby lowering transport costs. And they're building networked facilities in free zones that are ready to go live.

I had the occasion to see the activity first-hand when I traveled to Jamaica in early July at the invitation of the Jamaica Promotions Corp. (JAMPRO). For three intensive days, I and five other guests visited free zones where call centers and IT businesses have set up operations. These are in Montego Bay and near the capital, Kingston.

Much impressed me, starting with the caliber of the labor. All the call center managers and executives I met with - at Apple Vacations and outsourcers SITEL Caribbean and TeleServices Direct - spoke glowingly of their reps. The agents, I heard repeatedly, work hard and act professionally. And, because the reps view their jobs as careers, they stick with their companies.

They're also top-performers. Patricia Totton, president of TeleServices Direct, which markets credit cards to college students, noted that her staffers on some days outsell their counterparts in Atlanta.

The reasons are not hard to fathom. Unemployment in Jamaica is high: 17%, or about 163,500 people, most of them under the age of 35. Call centers are able to cull the cream of the crop among job hunters - and with little effort. When tour operator Apple Vacations needed to fill 20 positions, the outfit received some 1,500 applicants. And, says Apple Vacations' reservations manager Jennifer Solomone, they all learned about the positions by word-of-mouth!

Apple and other call center operators can count on educated applicants. Candidates are, at a minimum, high school graduates. Most have received intensive training in PC and soft skills. And many have been pre-trained in vendor-specific products and services. A chief source of the training is the HEART Trust, a government-funded national training agency.

HEART and the Caribbean Institute of Technology (CIT) also provide training in IT skills, including certification from HEART's Cisco Academy. Credit for the education goes in part to - you guessed it - IT graduates of India's top colleges. (One might better describe Jamaica's rivalry with the subcontinent as "coopetition.")

Jamaica boasts other advantages. Agent wages (including per rep telecom costs, benefits, office space, etc.) are $15.50-$16.50 per hour. This compares with $27-$29 per hour in the US. Jamaica also offers competitive rates for office space ($8-$12 per square foot); duty-free imports on capital equipment in the free zones; plus vibrant tourist and hospitality industries.

Caveats to Consider

Jamaica has to address drawbacks in its quest to become the premier near-shore location. Topping them is high crime. The problem is particularly concentrated in Kingston and neighboring St. Andrew, though not in the heavily gated free zones.

While businesses enjoy fiber and satellite links to points worldwide, optimal telecom transport costs (7 cents per minute) and speeds (200 milliseconds switching between fiber and satellite), are, respectively, higher and slower than in the US.

Support services outside the free zones, too, are lacking: Delivering a check through the mail is a risky proposition. And while some available commercial offices feature raised floors to house cabling, none that I viewed provided fire-dousing sprinklers.

Jamaica's conditions mirror those present throughout the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America. But the outlook, on balance, is positive. For call centers requiring low-cost site selection alternatives, and for good neighbors looking to create jobs and attract investment, that merits a smile, and a toast, with fine Jamaican rum.