Nearshoring in Argentina: This Is How We’re Doing It

Problem

Today, most IT companies outsource their business worldwide. For a long time, India and Eastern Europe have been considered the first choice by companies looking for low-cost outsourcing options. However, it seems that Argentina remains an overlooked gem. Cultural similarities and geographical proximity are just but a few benefits that US-based companies could enjoy as they not just outsource their work, but take a collaborative nearshore approach along Argentina.

Actions taken

I helped open up the office for a reputable US-based company in Buenos Aires, Solstice. What I do can be essentially summed up into a simple statement -- I helped set up and continue to support the right environment so that people, delivery and operations can sustainably grow. That growth comes from the unity between our people and cultural perspective, as well as from the perspective of how to better serve others. More importantly, I was able to replicate the company culture and convey its vision and values further to our clients.

"I helped set up and continue to support the right environment so that people, delivery and operations can sustainably grow."

What we did seems counterintuitive -- we decided not to do any maintenance, support or any other seamlessly low value-added work. Instead, we managed to achieve a synergy with our company offices in the US and UK. When we approached clients, we explained to them what are the benefits of working with Argentina, but further, we assured them that the quality of work will continue along the journey. Once the clients became confident about what we are capable of and what we can deliver, they were willing to translate that confidence into more and better programs coming our way. We usually work with multinational companies that had prior offshore experience. Sometimes, that experience can be a dreadful one, but it is my task to relieve them of any doubt. We commonly don't target startups as we are focused on more sizeable deals that last for a couple of years, although we've helped a handful of very innovation-led ones.

Lessons learned

• Many people are still unfamiliar with numerous benefits their companies will reap when working with their Argentinian counterparts. Cultural similarities, excellent English proficiency, being aligned with the US time zones, geographic proximity and direct airplane flights, and a great pool of talent are some of the most relevant ones.
• Though we originally planned to start a company that will serve as an alternative to companies going to India, we soon realized that people here are not interested in keeping high volume, low added value delivery. Following this finding, we modified our original plan.
• The way we partner with our clients is that we don't see ourselves as vendors, but we try to form long-lasting partnerships.
• Most multinational companies have experience of working in India and working in Argentina differs significantly. Don't lump together all outsourcing or offshoring experiences.
• We prefer to work with multinationals over startups as they have a more transparent and better-defined set of rules. Their ecosystem and general perspective align better with our aspirations and they are more receptive to a multinational staffing concept.