Occupying the western edge of South America and extending as far south as the very tip of the continent at Cape Horn, only 644km from Antarctica, Chile is one of the most diverse nations on the planet in terms of ecosystem. This is an attractive element for foreigners looking to relocate and experience new adventure, however, the benefits and pull factors of choosing the Latin American nation extend far beyond the landscape.
Today we will be taking a focus on the potential that exists within Chile in terms of outsourcing, and to be even more specific, the outsourcing of software development and IT services to the Latin American nation.
What is outsourcing?
If you are unfamiliar with the term outsourcing, it is when a company subcontracts another company overseas with the purpose of undertaking a role that would be cheaper and more efficiently completed outside of the nation where the main business is based. With this in mind, we can look into what software development outsourcing is and how Chile has become such a good option for companies in the US.
So, what is software development?
In essence, this is the work done by IT professionals, mainly those specialising in programming, software engineering or software development. This work encompasses numerous operations from application software to system software, the former being on a smaller scale than the latter, including the apps we use every day on our phones or management software to make work easier while the latter involves the development of operating systems and other digital management.
This is where some of the appeal to outsourcing software development to Latin America is made more prominent, as specific businesses set up to handle a high capacity of work are on offer to foreign businesses at a reasonable price for a high quality.
However, there are other benefits, the likes of which manifest themselves under different categories, these being: the economic landscape and communication.
Please find below a subsection for each of these benefits in some more detail to hopefully help you make a decision on whether Chile could be a practical outsourcing solution for your business:
Economic Landscape
We have discussed some other choices for foreign businesses with regards to software and IT outsourcing in Latin America already on our blog, however, while they may have cheaper costs in terms of salary than Chile, there is certainly more to making the final decision than simply labour costs.
The executive director of the US branch of the Chilean Economic Development Agency has been quoted as saying that it is a ‘very low-cost profitable country to invest in’, demonstrating the viability of outsourcing investment in the nation and embodying the reasons as to why companies outsource abroad, the ability to expand profit margins.
In terms of the broader economic landscape in the IT industry, the Chilean government provides incentives for companies finding themselves within it, allowing for quality and the number of professionals to grow exponentially and not compromise the quality of the service provided.
Communication
A theme we've spoken of lately is nearshoring, as there are many benefits tied into it relating back to communication.
Due to the proximity with the United States when compared with more traditional software development and IT outsourcing locations such as India or China, the time difference is infinitely smaller, specifically, Santiago is only one hour behind Washington D.C, making the working days broadly the same and with such an overlap, critical meetings at short notice are as easy to organise as it would be should the outsourced company be situated locally.
Furthermore, travel becomes easier and with start-up visas available for companies looking to Chile for tech developers, as well as high levels of English proficiency, the nation really does stand out above the crowd.
So, if you are interested in finding out more about Chile as an option for business outsourcing, contact us today! Below this article you will find a link to set up a free fifteen-minute consultation with us to discuss your options further.
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