According to IDC, the top six Latin American countries leveraging Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software systems are Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Columbia and Venezuela. Largely due to their market size, Mexico and Brazil are expected to show the largest investments, and the highest growth rates, for CRM software adoption and payback. Open source CRM software products are the biggest market share gainers, followed by traditional vendors SAP, Oracle and Microsoft. Salesforce.com is proving the SaaS CRM model successful, but not at the adoption levels witnessed in the rest of the world.
Central & South America CRM
A surge in business process outsourcing is increasing CRM adoption in Latin America. Continued demand by U.S. companies for offshore outsourcing is moving near shore and bringing increased CRM software adoption for those companies looking to earn that business. Near shore outsourcing taps into Latin countries which are culturally and geographically closer to the U.S. and offers benefits such as common time zones, English language skills and easy travel.
Latin America is adopting CRM software at a faster pace than most of the world. Chuck analyzes and debriefs the research findings from Gartner and other analysts along with regional growth projections and key differences in CRM strategy, CRM software and Social CRM solutions in Latin America - as compared to the rest of the world.
Business factors such as call center industry growth, IT outsourcing and U.S free trade agreements as well as technology advancements such as software as a service (SaaS), social CRM and open source CRM software systems are influencing the adoption and growth of CRM software solutions by Latin American companies.
Factors such as personal relationships, regulatory requirements, account ownership and software system data structures demonstrate some of the uniqueness of Latin America CRM software and business strategies. Despite a fragmented market, global CRM vendors such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and Salesforce.com are showing increased market share traction.
Latin America CRM Thought Leadership Views
The New Latin America IT Hub: Brazil
Outsourcing Outlook: Latin America
CapGemini acquires CPM Braxis for $300M. Forrester says the Latin American market for outsourced services is growing 12% to $8 billion. Go To ...
The Latin America IT services sector has grown rapidly—nearly doubling in the past five years. In Brazil alone, IT has become a more than $9 billion per year market. Go To ...
Latin America Market Briefs
C&W Panama Plans $4.5M Data Center Investment
Cable & Wireless Panama is advancing a $4.5M data center in the Panama Pacific Special Economic Area, or AEEPP. The data center will be a non-captive facility for business customers in Central America and the Caribbean. Jose Quintero, executive director of technology at C&W Panama, said "The decision to locate this data center in the AEEPP is due to the location of a fiber optic cable crossing Panama's 'Bridge of the Americas' that enables high speed transfer of information in both directions.
More References
Jesus Hoyos is the authority on CRM and social CRM in the Central and South American hemisphere. His blog, www.jesushoyos.com, delivers an up to the minute pulse on the events occurring in the customer relationship management industry.
CRMespanol.com provides a good mix of CRM strategy, software descriptions, best practices, current technology (mainly software as a service), social CRM and a blog with case study successes and other helpful information.
Latin America Facts & Forecasts
A survey conducted by the Instituto Mexicano de Telemarketing (IMT) forecasts high contact center and CRM software adoption within Mexico. The Mexican call center and IT outsourcing industry employs nearly half a million people, including over 9,000 call centers with over 200,000 agents. Continued growth is predicted at 16 percent.
Contact centers are expanding at double digit rates and acquiring CRM software business systems as the infrastructure for their businesses. According to research firm Datamonitor, Brazil, Argentina and Chile provide the lowest fully-loaded contact center agent price within the Americas and are appealing to U.S. companies due to their large labor pool, strong English skills, proactive marketing to the U.S. and efficient use of CRM software systems. Mexico, despite being nominally more expensive, is also a cost-effective and growing location.
According to Forrester, the Latin American market for outsourced services was expected to grow 12% to $8 billion.
The Latin American IT services sector has grown rapidly—nearly doubling in the past five years. In Brazil alone, IT has become a more than $9 billion per year market.
