Business-Process Outsourcing Booming In S. America

A survey of business leaders in South America, conducted by Yankelovich Partners Inc. for PricewaterhouseCoopers, reveals heavy business-process outsourcing. The survey included interviews with senior executives from companies in Argentina and Brazil that averaged $2 billion in revenues and 28,00 employees. Forty percent of respondents said that they outsourced one or more business-process to external-service providers. Of that 40 percent:

• 40% outsourced real estate
• 30% outsourced internal audit
• 30% oustourced logistics
• 20% oustourced application processes
• 20% oustourced payroll
• 20% oustourced claims administration

Tim Phillips, PricewaterhouseCoopers managing director of BPO Operations, South America, believes that outsourcing is a painless way for foreign companies to gain entry to or expand their operations in South America. "It provides the infrastructure companies need to operate at world-class performance levels, regardless of location," he notes. Currently PricewaterhouseCoopers manages outsourcing programs for more than 500 organizations around the world.