Cesar CantuOver the past decade, Belize has been quietly building a reputation among BPO industry experts.
In spite of demographic numbers that barely pass the 400,000 people, Belize stands out among other Central American nations due to its population of native English speakers, with pockets of bilingualism spread throughout its territory. This has allowed the country to position itself in nearshore BPO as a prime location for higher value services, as well as for interactions which require a warmer, more empathic touch.
But there’s even more to Belize than linguistic and cultural matches. In our latest Conversation, a set of experts in the country, who’ve been delivering BPO excellence for years now, shared their thoughts on what makes Belize special in the nearshore market.
John Malic (SVP of Operations at Voyse International), Rob Johnson (SVP of Operations at Transparent BPO) and Tony Morrison (VP at Protel BPO) spoke with NSAM about the strengths that led to Belize’s BPO sector blooming, the challenges the country faces at the moment, how it compares in matters of cost with other nearshore geos and much more.
A selection of their most insightful and valuable comments can be found below.
Belize blooming
Belize is rarely mentioned among the top locations for nearshore BPO delivery in the Americas. Even then, the country has managed to leverage its innate advantages and build-up its capabilities to catch the eye of relevant players in the market.
“What kept larger BPOs out of Belize was the population size. Now we’re 420,000 people, but back in the day we were probably 250,000 people. Most BPOs wouldn’t even make the list based on that size. What’s unique about Belize is that it is English speaking, so that population is a bigger factor compared to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, where you deal only with a portion of the population that speaks English.”—Rob Johnson
“I think it would be the tenure […] There were many small players, but as the talent pool gained the skillset and the experience, other BPOs saw that it was the time to go in.”—John Malic
“You can say that the market has been, not saturating, but certainly maturing, because of the visibility and the evolution. The necessary infrastructure wasn’t around 10 or 20 years ago. In other countries you deal with rolling blackouts. That’s not the case with Belize […] It’s taken a long time. People don’t usually know about Belize, unless you’re a diver.”—Tony Morrison
What makes it special
Belize stands out among Latin American and Caribbean countries not only due to its linguistic skills, but also due to the heavily service-oriented economy. That has translated into a workforce that’s both more culturally aligned with US customers and notably cordial.
“There’s ease of travel, time zone, English language, all the basics […] One of the things I tell people all the time is that Belize is such a prideful country, and it is such a polite country, across the board […] From a people and culture standpoint, it might sound cliché at times, but it is truly one of the fundamentals of why Belize is so special.” —Tony Morrison
“I don’t consider Belize a Central American country. I see it as a Caribbean country. The people are genuinely nice.”—Rob Johnson
“There’s a very seamless cultural assimilation between employees in Belize for the US market […] Also, Belize is a very heavily service-oriented country. Many people work in tourism, and they have lots of interactions with Americans, with Europeans, with Canadians. Many of these people are no longer working in tourism. They’ve transitioned over to BPO. That ties into cultural assimilation, making them more able to have conversations [with customers in these markets]. That’s a big plus.” —John Malic
Core delivery strengths
Each country has its own core strengths for BPO delivery. Belize, once a good place for outbound calls, seems to have outgrown that skill and is now focusing on more specialized, higher-value services.
“We do business processes, collections, legal mass tort campaigns. We also do IT work, in terms of business and project analysis, business intelligence reporting, and we also do medical transcription, but the talent we hire for that are registered nurses. We also do a lot of back-office for other companies. I think the whole writing in English and understanding it really helps with the consumers, whether through chat, email, SMS. The talent is really good for that type of work.” —John Malic
“Fifteen years ago, Belize was pretty heavy in outbound sales. I think we did pretty good at it, but is it our core competency? I don’t think so. I think the next generation that comes along, people will wait months to get a customer service program opportunity. I see CS, tech support and back office; email, chat. Those programs have a lot more stickiness and employee retention.” —Rob Johnson
“We’re doing care, tech support. What I see from an opportunity standpoint, more of the professional services. Accounting, tier-1 tech support […] There are some skill sets that we haven’t tapped into, besides CS and collections. I think what the labor pool brings to the table is empathy and tone. Sometimes it has to be coached, but I think they’re very receptive to that.” —Tony Morrison
A sweet price point
Much of BPO nearshoring is driven by lower costs. Talent, voluminous workforces and other factors are still at play, but no operator will overlook an attractive price point. Belize might not be the most affordable site for BPO delivery, but its value proposition remains very attractive after so many years in the market.
“I’ve seen wage escalation in Belize because there’s more competition for employees.Not dramatically, but they [wages] have gone to where they should be, probably. We’re not going to be the super low-cost provider that you’ll find in Ethiopia or some of those countries in Africa. For nearshore, we’re going to be pretty much aligned with Jamaica.” —Rob Johnson
“I think the quality of service being provided, for the value, can be absolutely justified in Belize, and you’re still saving 30% to 50% compared to US costs. But even across nearshore, it is nearing the price points that the Philippines has now, depending on what firm you’re going with. I think it is very competitive in the nearshore, and it remains undervalued in terms of what you’re getting.” —Tony Morrison
“You have the Philippines of the world, countries that are cheap but that come at a cost in terms of quality. We looked at Monterrey (Mexico), Panama and Costa Rica. Costa Rica turned out to be more expensive compared to what we’re paying in Belize. Monterrey and Panama were kind of on par. Panama was more in line with what we were paying for hour in Belize.” —John Malic
Spanish speakers
Although Belize’s officially an English-speaking country, it has gained a considerable portion of Spanish speakers throughout its history. The country is far from being entirely bilingual, but pockets of bilingualism give it an extra edge to service the US market, where the Spanish-speaking Latino community just keeps growing.
“According to our most recent census, about 52% of the country is bilingual. Having Central American neighbors on two sides of the border helps tremendously. We have a lot of people coming from Central America to settle in Belize […] The reason why you don’t find that many bilingual agents in Belize City is because most of the migrants, generationally, would settle along the borders. With Mexico, in Orange Walk and Corozal; with Guatemala, in Cayo.” —John Malic
“51% or 52% is the number that’s advertised, but yes,you’ll find pockets. Belize City is probably more like 10% or 15%, but there’s a very large Spanish-speaking culture that can be tapped onto, for sure.” —Tony Morrison
“In Belize City, Spanish-speaking is a bit more limited than if you go west, into Cayo [District], or north into Orange Walk and Corozal. Once you get into those areas, you’ll have more than 50% of a Spanish-speaking population. We find pockets where people speak Spanish. They’re not quite ready for prime time, but we do find other places where they have very acceptable Spanish, like in Cayo and Orange Walk.” —Rob Johnson
Going hybrid
Alternative work setups have become the norm for many organizations, including BPO vendors. Unfortunately, not all nearshore geos have what it takes to allow for successful hybrid operations.
“We call our hybrid model ‘hub and home’, which means that people will always start in the office, or when we launch a new program, as they get assimilated into our company and our client’s culture […] Early on, COVID forced us to work remotely. We were able to implement several technologies for that. The fact that our ISP rolled out fiber throughout the country, giving most of our employees fiber in their house, was a game changer.” —Rob Johnson
“Prior to COVID, in the company I work for, we were 100% in the office. After COVID, we went 100% WFH. After the first year after COVID, we landed in the hybrid model, which has worked really well for us because we have really stable electricity. Comparing that to what we see globally, the Internet connection is solid. Power outages happen, but it’s not as frequent as in other countries. Besides, hybrid has become a huge incentive for employees.” —John Malic
“Sounds like we are all pleasantly surprised with the results [of hybrid]. But we do have some people who want to come back to the office, because of the social aspect. Infrastructure played a role in the success of the hybrid/remote model.” —Tony Morrison
Issues for concern
No location is perfect. Belize, as attractive as it has become in the eyes of many BPO vendors, still has issues to solve if it wants to achieve a higher profile in the market.
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