With economic globalization, offshore IT outsourcing is set to grow rapidly. In fact, as a percentage of U.S. IT spending, offshore outsourcing is expected to increase from 5% to 23% by the year 2007. Many financial institutions decide to offshore outsource in India and China, moving essential IT services far away in order to cut costs. Despite the strengths of these markets, does it come at too great of a cost? Are there not better alternatives?
With nearshore outsourcing, all of those costs vanish. No longer must you fly thousands of miles through varying time zones with multiple stopovers just to pay a visit to your technology provider. Jetlag, lost productivity and other complications become a thing of the past with nearshore outsourcing, since your financial institution and your vendor are in practically the same time zone. Serious gaffes, confusion, communication breakdowns and a lack of understanding also are eliminated. When they nearshore IT outsource, financial institutions can be in a similar culture. Nearshore outsourcing is about mitigating risk in your global outsourcing strategy.
The ideal place for U.S. financial institutions to nearshore outsource is Brazil. When deciding upon a vendor for nearshore outsourcing, government support is vital. In Brazil, the government has mandated that Brazil become "the" largest nearshore location to the U.S. The country also must have geopolitical and economic stability, something Brazil also enjoys. Additionally, Brazil has a highly-educated workforce, and investment pours into computer sciences education. Its number of IT professionals is soaring, and professionals who speak English are a dime a dozen. Having served the country's highly sophisticated financial institutions through both turbulent and prosperous times, Brazilian vendors are recognized as world's leaders in bank technology.
One bank technology company in Brazil stands alone: Politec. This 35-year-old firm is Brazil's largest IT services provider and leader in nearshore outsourcing. With 6,500-plus employees and growing, Politec offers application development and maintenance, legacy transformation and infrastructure monitoring. The company's main expertise is financial services. Its solutions include risk analysis, credit analysis, customer relationship management, home banking, internal processes automation and Basel II compliance, among others.
By maintaining and supporting the systems of the largest banks in Brazil, with more than 5,000 branches each, Politec has become synonymous with trust and success. Banco do Brasil, Bank Boston, Banco Bradesco and Grupo Santander Banespa are but a few of Politec's Brazilian clients. Now Politec is bringing its rich experience to U.S. financial institutions.
"We feel that with the U.S. market keen on offshore outsourcing and due to the Brazilian government's decision to call IT services one of its four sectors that it will energetically support, now is the right time to make the U.S. number one in our global reach strategy," says Dalton Luz, CEO of Politec USA.
With Politec, your financial institution will have unparalleled service offerings and an unrivaled cost-benefit ratio. And in a culture that will remind you everyday of the benefits of nearshore outsourcing your IT.
