For many years, Colombian economy has been mainly based on activities closely related to the primary and secondary economical sectors-e.g. cattle farming, agriculture, mining- which not only are they dependant of the weather conditions but also quite risky for human life.
Examples of the above may be seen on the latest news about the heavy rains destroying acres of arable land with their corresponding products and the many landslides and deaths caused mining.
But nowadays, with the increase of skilled labor in Colombia and investors' confidence rate in the country, a new kind of business seems to begin its magic in Colombia: KPO.
But What is KPO?
Knowledge Process Outsourcing- or KPO- is , in a nutshell, a type of outsourcing , in which high added value processes chain where the achievement of objectives is highly dependent on the skills, domain knowledge and experience of the people carrying out the activity; thus shifting from standardized processes to advanced analytical thinking, technical skills and decisive judgement based on experience which are closely related , yet not necessarily restricted to nformation Technology (IT) or Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) sectors, but also including services as specialized as Investment research services ,(equity, fixed income and credit, and quantitative research),Market research services, Legal research services (also known as LPO), Patent Research, Services, Engineering Services, Web Development application, CAD/CAM Applications, Business Research and Analytics, , Clinical Research, Publishing,etc.
How is that important for Colombian Companies?
Through BPO or KPO, Colombian companies may be able to become more competitive worldwide by outsourcing non-core activities which will lead to the reduction of cost in their product value chain and the improvement of efficiencies as well as the business as a whole, providing the managers of the company some breathing space so that they can focus on key areas of the business activity.
On the other hand, with the efforts made by the Colombian government at different levels to shift foreign investor's perspectives of the country, with programs such as Ispeak in which investors may see the potential of the citizens of this country in the commando over the English Language as well as the quantity of skilled labor they will find in here.
In addition to this, emerging/current Colombian companies may see in BPO/KPO a great business alternative, since Colombia as a whole has a lot of highly skilled labor to provide this kind of outsourcing services to either foreign or domestic companies, reducing the overall cost of the product which will, in the end, provide better opportunities for those still working in coal/gas mines, Agricultural activities and the like to find a less climate dependant job as well as protecting the environment from this non-ecof-friendly activities, a great asset for Colombians and the world itself
