The Barbados-based Caribbean Export Development (CED) has announced Jamaica will host a major business conference, the Outsource to the Caribbean Conference (OCC) later this year. The objective of the conference is to determine how best to attract more business from international companies to the Caribbean. The target business areas include; call center operations, website and animation design, and legal and accounting services.
More than 100 business leaders
The CED said more than 100 industry leaders from the public and private sectors across the region are expected to converge in Jamaica on December 6 for the event.
The first-ever OCC will be held under the theme “Leveraging the Nearshore Caribbean for Outsourcing Services.” It is being organized by the CED in conjunction with the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA) and funded by the European Union through the 11th European Development Fund (EDF).
Forcus on BPO
The conference will focus on the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector, specifically “nearshore outsourcing” which involves contracting the operations of specific business processes to third-party service providers in neighboring or nearby countries.
Executive Director of Caribbean Export, Pamela Coke Hamilton, said that outsourcing business to the Caribbean is beneficial not only to the region but to any international businesses investing here. “The Caribbean is an excellent place to do business. We have a highly skilled, educated, multi-lingual and cost effective labor pool. There’s also a flexible work environment and a supportive regulatory framework which allows for low operational costs. The Caribbean also has an advanced telecommunications infrastructure with all the necessary requirements for global connectivity,” she said,
Coke Hamilton noted the Caribbean could offer excellent BPO services in areas such as voice processing/call centers; back office automation; shared services; finance and accounting; human resources and legal processes among others.
Designed to increase awareness
Senior Advisor, Investment Promotion, at Caribbean Export, Suzette Hudson, explained that OCC2017 was designed to increase awareness of the Caribbean as an outsourcing destination for business processes.
“We want to enhance the visibility of the sector through increased communication about the value proposition of the Caribbean, generate investment leads, and increase the Caribbean’s insertion into BPO networks through connections with BPO journals, newsletters and key influencers”, Hudson noted.
She said the conference will offer participants the opportunity to fully discuss areas relevant to BPO. “Potential investors will gain insight into regional offerings and the numerous service possibilities through an impressive program of plenaries and one-on-one engagements.
