BELIZE CITY, Belize, Sept. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — After 2 years of remote operations and less than one year since construction began, itel has now officially opened its Belize City location. The 40,000 square foot facility will eventually house over 700 call center agents plus support staff signaling a huge investment in the Central American country.
This expansion is part of itel’s strategic growth into untapped markets that are ripe for innovation and offer competitive advantages that support customer experience (CX) delivery for emerging high potential industries. Despite an ongoing economic downturn that has affected many CX providers globally, itel has remained resilient and steadfast in its commitment to diversifying its nearshore operations to attract North American brands.
Belize has a relatively young outsourcing industry that has experienced tremendous growth of over 80% since 2005. It’s considered a great value destination due to its high workforce availability, skilled labor pool, a low attrition rate of 10% and the government’s competitive investment program aimed at diversifying the country’s economic activity beyond tourism. Belize City is the country’s hub for its outsourcing industry and itel’s facility is located at the commercial center with easy access for team members to travel in and out of the city from the surrounding areas.
“We’re seeing strong interest from clients who are recognizing Belize as a great alternative to some of the saturated markets, both in the region and offshore, where it’s getting harder and more expensive to recruit and retain talent,” stated Yoni Epstein, CD, itel’s founding Chairman and CEO. “We dipped our toe into the market in 2022 through a partnership and work-at-home model, but we decided to go all in in 2023 and we are opening our doors with a committed base of clients and a pipeline eager to discover what Belize has to offer.”
Belize is the only Central American country with English as its official language. UNESCO ranked the country 13th globally for investment in education in 2021 and its bilingual talent pool has a strong affinity to North American culture. For these reasons, as well as its proximity to the US, Belize offers competitive advantages that clients can leverage to provide tailor-made customer experiences and lower their CX delivery costs by staying closer to home.
“We’ve been impressed with the welcome itel has received in the country so far and look forward to continuing to partner with the Government of Belize, local vendors and other stakeholders as we bring clients in to explore its infrastructure and culture. It’s time to invest in Belize outsourcing and as the Caribbean’s largest homegrown CX partner, we’re ready to lead the way,” expressed Epstein.
SOURCE itel
