Nearshore Americas Announces Winners of Illuminate Awards 2018

SAN FRANCISCO - July 3, 2018 - PRLog -- A number of talented professionals, fast-growing cities, and innovative businesses across the Caribbean and Latin America were awarded in recognition of their efforts to support the Nearshore industry, as well as for solving problems and building solutions for US clients.

"The interactions and projects that are taking place in the Nearshore region demonstrate an impressive level of cross-border collaboration. In other words, the services provided from the Nearshore are worth recognizing, worth talking about, and certainly worth advocating for," said Kirk Laughlin, Managing Director at Nearshore Americas, the tenured media company that presents the awards each year.

The first award, Nearshore Executive of the Year, went to Miro Batista, President of Latin America Operations at Alorica, a global BPO and call center provider. During his tenure at Alorica, Miro has directed the expansion of the company's footprint, now encompassing 20 contact center locations with over 14,500 local employees. Most recently, he has helped Alorica continue to expand its operations in Latin America with two new offices in Jamaica and Guatemala, both of which service the largest e-commerce company in the world.

The coveted Nearshore City of the Year award was given to Kingston, Jamaica, the fastest growing city in the Caribbean as it relates to outsourcing. The city is in the midst of a major upward swing, as 5,000 new positions are being created among existing and new BPO players. Kingston has seen over US$22 million spent on real estate in both new construction and refurbishing of existing properties to meet the demand for the industry growth over the last 12 months.

"We are on a mission to let people know that Jamaica is more than tourism, said Claude Duncan, Vice President at JAMPRO, the nation's investment promotions agency. "In the outsourcing space we have doubled the BPO workforce from 15,000 to 31,000 in five years. Companies have come to Jamaica for the talent pool and the trust element – if you can trust your honeymoon to Jamaica, you can trust your customer service to Jamaica."

Nearshore Entrepreneur of the Year was awarded to Ricardo and Gustavo Pares, Co-founders and Partners at Nearshore Delivery Solutions, a company dedicated to creating 'nearshore' delivery capabilities for global IT service companies that need to establish and maintain operations in Mexico. Gustavo and Ricardo have exhibited a unique ability to stay nimble in their development of technology solutions, working extremely hard to create real innovation. This is evident in their range of artificial intelligence solutions being built for global clients.

Carlos Pallotti, Former Undersecretary of Technological and Productive Services at Argentina's Ministry of Production, took home the Nearshore Investment Promotions Executive of the Year award due to his deep efforts to strengthen one of Nearshore's most impressive markets.

"This is important for a person like me who is trying to consolidate this industry," said Pallotti when accepting the award. "Outsourcing and Nearshore is important for Latin America, and the third export market for Argentina — already, it has brought it US$6.5 billion dollars and has thousands of IT professionals in different disciplines. Latin America is working to bring more services to the world, but we need to improve this business because the market is waiting for our offer. The goal is to move from the Nearshore model to the Valueshore model."

As one of the more unique awards, Nearshore Voyager of the Year is designed to shine a light on the exceptional professionals who have grown up in one country and brought their skills and talents to a new market. Past winners have included professionals for Cuba and Spain, and this year's winner hails from Argentina. As the CEO of Softvision, Andres Angelani is responsible for both the day-to-day operations and the strategic vision of the firm. Possessing passion, creativity, and digital expertise described as "unparalleled" in the Nearshore industry, he has been at the forefront of addressing the growing customer demand for digital IT services and has managed transformations for some of the largest and most technologically advanced companies in the world.

Finally, the most prestigious award of the year, Nearshore Company of the Year, goes to software development giant Tata Consultancy Services Latin America, which has one of the largest Nearshore presences in Latin America, with 6,000 consultants working across the region for clients in major markets, including the US and Europe. TCS has placed cities like Guadalajara, Queretaro, and Montevideo on the Nearshore map, partnering with more than 40 universities and enabling thousands of graduates to enter the digital world through training and recruitment.

"I humbly accept this on behalf of thousands of TCSers spread across the region," said Rajeev Gupta, Regional Vice President for TCS Latin America. "Nearshoring continues to gain momentum, so this award represents the collective success of all companies and people who represent Nearshore, and the force behind it. It's no longer just about being in the same time zone or in proximity to clients. This day, in the Business 4.0 age, we are now all competing with next generation technologies, making it a Greenfield opportunity for all of us."

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About Nearshore Americas

Nearshore Americas (http://www.nearshoreamericas.com/) (NSAM) produces authoritative and independent news, analysis and research on the fast-emerging Latin America and Caribbean business process, IT, software and call center industries. Our team is dedicated to expanding knowledge around Americas-centric investment and innovation.


NSAM is owned by Next Coast Media (http://nextcoastmedia.com/), a digital media and integrated marketing services firm based outside of New York City.

Media and public relations contact: Jessica Reyes jessica@nextcoastmedia.com