Chile

International
Service Centers:
Success Stories
CHILE, AMONG THE BEST OFFSHORE
LOCATIONS WORLDWIDE

According to the “2007 Global Services Location

Index” published by consulting firm A.T. Kearney,
Chile ranks 7th among the best locations for
offshore services. The index analyzes 50
destinations in three major categories: costs,
people skills and availability, and business
environment. “The country offers the best business
environment and infrastructure in the region, with
a robust digital network…Along with promoting
language skills, the government is also working
on ways to protect intellectual property…These
attributes make Chile a desirable headquarters
for Latin America.”
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has
published a white paper, “Future Leaders in Global
Offshoring, 2005” that evaluates 60 economies
based on a worldwide survey of 500 senior
executives.
Invest Chile
program - CORFO
In 2000 the Chilean Economic Development Agency
(CORFO) launched Invest Chile, a high technology
investment program that attracts and facilitates foreign
investment. Sponsored by the Ministry of Economy,
the program operates in cooperation with the Foreign
Investment Committee.
Invest Chile is positioning Chile as a technology and
service springboard for companies to launch
investment projects into Latin America and beyond.
The program supports the installation of businesses
from planning stages through implementation with
a variety of consultation services and practical support.
Additionally, offers a range of financial incentives to
support the realization of investment projects.

The report examines parameters such as proximity,

political and security risk, macroeconomic
stability, regulatory environment, tax regime, labor
regulations, costs, human resource skills and
general infrastructure.

The paper ranks Chile 15th worldwide, saying

“The country outshines its neighbors, luring
investment with educated workers and strong IT
skills. According to UNCTAD’s data Chile is
currently the strongest performing Latin American
country.”
IT Centers and Software Development
 Software Development Center

Overview Why Chile?

Software AG considered Chile, Venezuela

Year Established: 2005 and Argentina for its software factory. It
chose Chile for several reasons:
Location: Valparaiso
Employees: 50 Government financial support
through Invest Chile - CORFO
Reach: Serves Software AG Region
Country prestige and security
South, which consists of Latin
America, Western Europe World-class technology infrastructure
and North Africa Competitive costs

Functions A Growing Project

A world leader in XML and e-government
p r o g ra m s , S o f t wa r e AG o p e ra t e s t wo
development facilities in Chile: one in Santiago
With their software factory still in its initial
stages, Software AG predicts a large and rapid
growth in its Valparaiso operations, with a
current employee base of 50 engineers, analysts
and programmers.

and the newer “software factory” in Valparaiso.

Projects developed in the Santiago office include
a database system with online support services
for the Chilean postal service. The software
factory will be developing a range of products
for businesses on several continents, including
content management software, a Help Desk
Pioneers at the Valparaiso Technology Center
Software AG is bringing its growing operations
to the Chilean government’s new technology
center in Valparaiso. Developed by the Chilean
Economic Development Agency (CORFO)
with a US$6 million investment, the building
enjoys the latest technology in network and
communications connectivity, and offers a
multitude of additional services on-site.

product for IT call centers, and a pilot project
in Chile to bring online a municipality’s services.
Software AG Chile develops programs in English
“Chile has made important efforts in implementing
IT and e-government solutions and one of those
projects is the CORFO initiative to launch an IT
pole in Valparaiso. We plan on being the first
company to arrive at the technology center.”

and Spanish. Planning and Control Manager

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CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Chile Development Center (CDC)
Overview
Location: Santiago
Year established: 2002
Employees: 120
Reach: 22 Latin American
countries and the USA
SIGNIFICANT COST SAVINGS*
US$2.5 million saved in 2003 by centralizing
Latin American operations in Santiago
US$3.6 million saved in 2004
Junior Programmer (3-5 years experience) 66.5%
Project Manager 65%
Help Desk Support Senior 60%
*Compared to prior cost
Functions
Citigroup operates several Latin American software
and support projects from its Regional
Development Center in Santiago. The center
handles software development for Citibank and
runs a technical help desk to ensure high quality
operations throughout their Latin American
branches. Advanced telecommunications allow
them to access remotely and modify systems
located in different data centers managed by
Citigroup, whether to add functionality to an
existing product or to introduce new services.
Why Chile?
After evaluating other possible Latin American
locations, Citigroup chose Chile for several
reasons:
Cost savings
Government financial support through
Invest Chile - CORFO
Excellent telecommunications infrastructure
Time zone equivalent to USA
Low country risk
Sustained economic growth
Quality of life, attractive to foreigners
Few natural disasters
A Growing Project
What began as a pilot project of 30 people in
2002 has expanded to a team of 106, with 84
people working on software development and
22 in the technical help desk. The center
recently expanded its activities to include
software development for Citigroup entities in
the USA, and expects to grow hiring over 100
more employees.
English Capabilities
Knowledge of English is a requirement at the
Citigroup Development Center, and 60% of
their employees speak English fluently. The
entire help desk is bilingual, and they also
have speakers of French and Portuguese.
“Chile offers an optimum combination of appropriate
costs and a secure business environment.”
Citigroup Chile representative
04
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES

Overview
Year established: 1995
Location: Santiago
Employees: 350
Reach: Global
Investment: US$8 million
Functions
In 1999 Soluziona acquired a software factory in
Santiago, which it has since expanded into the
company’s principal platform for software
development in Latin America. Soluziona provides
solutions to businesses and governments
worldwide, with the private sector comprising
60% of their revenue and governments an
additional third. Its services include IT consulting,
the implementation of SAP, and the development
of e-government, internet banking and other
software products. Approximately 35% of
Soluziona Chile’s current revenue comes from
within Chile, and the remainder comes from the
exportation of products around the world.
Soluziona is currently developing projects for
countries as distant as Iraq and Macedonia.
A Growing Project
As part of Soluziona’s corporate strategy, Chile
was recently selected from among their worldwide
operations as a target for increased investment.
The company is using Santiago as its platform for
expanding further its e-government business lines,
which will experience an anticipated 30% growth.
05
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Software Development Center
Why Chile?
While other locations were considered, Chile
offers several important advantages:
Country safety and stability
A transparent business environment
Human resources with technological
know-how
Competitive costs
Double taxation agreements
Country image as a leader within Latin America
M-Government
Whereas many countries are just beginning to
launch e-government services, Soluziona is
looking ahead to the next generation of high
tech services: mobile-government. The next wave
of high tech innovation will see products and
transactions brought directly to cell phones,
accessible wherever and whenever. Soluziona
is working with governments to make services
available from the average mobile device.
Alliances with Major Universities
Soluziona invests in partnerships with Federico
Santa Maria Technical University and Adolfo
Ibáñez University, viewing student development
as an integral part of its human resource formation
strategy. The company provides internships for
some of the area’s best engineering and
programming students, and annually hires a
considerable number of new graduates.
“The vision, knowledge, and rigorousness of the
Chilean workforce make for strong investments. Chile
as a country has a vision of where it wants to go, and
Chilean professionals are of a very high quality.”
Business Development Manager
Latin American Headquarters
& IT Development Center
Overview
Year established: 1997 ( paperwork started two
years earlier)
Location: Santiago
Employees: 30
Reach: Supervises operations in 19
countries throughout Latin America
& Caribbean
Functions
ReadSoft main focus is document automation, which
is performed by an in-house built software platform.
In fact, the company makes sure that 15% of their
revenue goes to R&D.
The center in Chile is in charge of supervising
operations in the Americas, with the exception of
the US and Canada. The office in Chile has seen
the development of new regional offices in Brazil
(2000), Mexico (2001). In all other countries they
rely on official representatives, which are not only
supervised, but also trained by the Chilean branch.
In fact, they perform the same complete service
given by the company abroad: analyzing document
processing needs, customizing the solution if
necessary, training clients in the use of products,
and giving support with technical expertise.
Furthermore, is ReadSoft office in Chile the one in
charge of customizing ReadSoft technology for all
countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, so
that it meets the requirements of clients in each of
the countries they’re in charge of (e.g., tailoring the
software according to local regulations). For that
task, ReadSoft counts on a select group of Chilean
engineers.
Why Chile?
While other locations were considered, Chile
offers several important advantages:
Economic and political stability
Excellent telecommunications infrastructure
Growing economy
Qualified human resources
Quality of life
Good flight connections within Latin America
A Growing Project
ReadSoft is not shy about expanding their
operations: they would like to have presence in
all 45 countries of Latin America and the
Caribbean. That’s in line with what the company’s
doing on a global basis, with aggressive growth
plans. For instance, last year they acquired
companies like Consit, an Oracle certified
solution provider of workflow and approval
software that works with ReadSoft documents
for invoices product to automate financial
transactions inside of Oracle E business suite
applications, and Ebydos. ReadSoft Ebydos is
the leading solution provider for automation of
invoice processing in SAP environments. As an
internationally acknowledged solution expert,
ReadSoft world-leading SAP integrator in
electronic invoice processing
The acquisitions of ReadSoft Ebydos and ReadSoft
Consit has taken ReadSoft from just a pure image
capture and transaction company to now being
a true document automation company
specializing in transaction processing inside of
Oracle and SAP.
Together with the company's new software
platform this gives the right conditions for further
growth.
Within Chile, they are looking forward to
strengthening the development area, as well as
the department in charge of quality control.
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CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
 Latin American Technology Center
Overview
Year Established: 2001
Location: Santiago
Employees: 589
Reach: 9 banks in Chile, Mexico,
Puerto Rico, Colombia,
Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil,
Venezuela and Spain.
Investment: USD 23 million
Functions
ALTEC is a shared service center for Santander’s
technology development operations in eight
countries. In 2004 ALTEC rendered USD 49
million in services throughout Latin America,
making it one of Chile’s top exporters of
professional services. The center had provided
2.4 million hours of systems maintenance,
software development and technical support.
ALTEC is one of a handful of software developers
in all of Latin America to achieve level 5 CMM
certification.
Cost Savings and Product Improvements
Before establishing ALTEC, Banco Santander had
14 banks in Latin America, each handling its own
software development. By centralizing development
in Santiago, the company is:
Realizing significant annual cost savings
Standardizing technology products throughout
the bank, which results in higher quality services.
“Our Chilean software center has performed even better
than we anticipated.”
General Manager
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CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Why Chile?
After considering several Latin American
countries for its technology center, Santander
chose Chile because of the following strengths:
World-class telecommunications
infrastructure
Political stability and legal security
Low costs
Double taxation agreements with Mexico
and Argentina
Strong university system with highly skilled
graduates
Ease of obtaining visas
A Growing Project
ALTEC’s rapid growth has led the company to
outsource a substantial amount of work. The
center estimates that it currently subcontracts
over 500 additional engineers and developers
via external companies. Small companies have
sprung up in Santiago to handle the additional
demand for software development.
Over 100 university graduates have already
benefited from ALTEC’s Young Professionals
Training Program. Successful applicants receive
three months of training and then undergo
one month of on-the-job practice before joining
the ALTEC team.
Almost 30% of employees are foreign citizens,
graduated from the most prestigious Latin
American universities, therefore allowing a
better understanding of the needs of different
clients from different countries.
Software Development Center
for Latin America

Overview Why Chile?

Year established: 2006 Economic and political stability

Location: Santiago Chilean government support through

Employees: 5 (bilingual, English-Spanish)
Reach: Spanish-speaking American
countries, except Mexico.
Invest Chile - CORFO
Strong local ITC market
Simple tax structure

Investment: USD 5 million (projected) Expected growth of the health care market

Functions A Growing Project

Intersystems are mainly focused in technology Intersystems is planning on adding more people
transfer. They are looking forward to training
to their Chilean workforce, as well as
people in Chile, in order to create support centers
establishing a growing network of partners to
within the country and be able to work in other
market their products. They plan on bringing
sorts of innovative projects. The company is

especially interested in developing IT solutions international partners to establish in Chile in

for the health market. order to operate with them.

A strategic country

Intersystems has declared Chile one of its four strategic centers worldwide, alongside the US, the UK

and Denmark. The goal is to establish a place for excellence in the development of high-impact projects

for the corporation.

08
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
 R&D Center

Overview

Functions
Year established: 2006

Location: Santiago Synopsys’ center of R&D of high technology is

mainly dedicated to software development, later
Employees: 100 projected
included in products commercialized by
Synopsys The company is the leading provider
Reach: Worldwide
of electronic design automation (EDA) software
and services used to design complex integrated
Investment: USD 3.2 million, approximately
circuits (ICs), field-programmable gate arrays
(FPGAs) and systems-on-chips (SoCs) for the
Why Chile?
global semiconductor and electronics industries.

Economic and political stability

Availability of highly-skilled human capital
Competitive costs
Open to the rest of Latin America
Part of a global network
Synopsys has a worldwide presence (with sales,
The center in Chile will be actively devoted to
defining and developing specific lines of products
for the company, as well as supporting
commercial activities. This is Synopsys’ first
center in Latin America. Products developed in
Chile will be sold worldwide, particularly in
North America, Europe, Japan, Asia/Pacific and
Israel. In the future, and based on market
development, they could be sold in Chile and
the rest of Latin America.

support and R&D offices) currently spanning

across 60 plus countries, including China, India
and Israel, all of which are regarded as
technological poles.
Synopsys Chile R&D Center will develop projects
for 2 business units, SEG (Silicon Engineering
Group) and IG (Implementation Group). Those
projects are: CATS (Mask data preparation),
PRESTO (Language conversion) and TCAD
(Technological Computer Aided Design)

09
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
IT Service Center for Latin America

Overview Why Chile?

Year established: 2006 Economic and political stability

Location: Santiago Business environment
Employees: 26 Cost-saving location to operate in, both in
terms of infrastructure and salaries
Reach: Provides in-house technology
services to Mexico, Colombia, Personal security
Brazil, Argentina and Chile Own infrastructure already in place in Chile
Investment: USD 600,000-700,000 allowed for fastest implementation

New Opportunities Functions

At first, Santiago was chosen to replace Miami This technology hub based in Chile is in charge

as home for in-house developed IT services only of developing and adapting corporate

because it was a cost-wise decision to make applications aimed to support two areas,

(Santiago was evaluated alongside Buenos Aires). namely trading desks and back-office

So operations started with 10 employees, same operations.

number as Miami. It was after establishing in

Chile that the company found a new opportunity:
changing platforms for back-office operations, A Growing Project

which led to the hiring of additional personnel.

This year the center should incorporate JP
This would have never been possible in the US,
Morgan’s operations in Brazil to its network
since costs are just too high (especially office
of clients, therefore fulfilling its goal of serving
space and salaries).
all Latin American operations.

10
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
 IT Center for Latin America

Overview Why Chile?

Year established: 2002 Economic and political stability

World-class technological and
Location: Santiago
telecommunications infrastructure
Employees: 180 (both internal and Competitive operational costs
external) Oldest private pension funds system
worldwide (that being the core business)
Reach: Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Peru,
Colombia Great quality of life for expatriated executives
Santiago’s the safest capital city in Latin
Investment: approximately USD 80 million America

Functions A Growing Project

CMA (Centro de Mantenimiento de AFP, or CMA wants to consolidate itself as the software
Pension Fund Administrators Maintaining Center)
is responsible of developing and maintaining all factory for developments pertaining Nacar
information systems for BBVA’s Pension Fund
Administrators (PFA) in Latin America. Recently, Ligero for BBVA worldwide. This will carry an
it also has been chosen as the software factory
for BBVA worldwide for all components developed increase in the number of expert professionals
in Nacar Ligero, a technology developed by BBVA
with support from the main technological hired, all of which are trained at CMA.
consultants around the globe.

CMA is in charge, at first, of implementing the

Also a learning center
Unified Pensions Platform (developed at CMA)
and, when that is already operating, moves on to
the maintaining stage, which includes all tasks At CMA, two courses concerning the training
involving software development, whether it be of new interns have already taken place. There,
for legally mandatory procedures or because
with help from consulting companies that
evolution, automatization or modernization of
operations make it necessary. For all of this, CMA provide services to CMA, young professionals
relies on national and international experts in the have acquired training related to the
pension funds sector.
technologies used by CMA and the pension
CMA executes, annually, more than 320,000
fund business overall. Over 70% of those
hours of system maintenance, software
development and technical service/support. trained have joined CMA’s team.

11
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
IT and BPO Center for Latin America

Overview Why Chile?

Economic and political stability

Year established: 2002
Location: Santiago with branches across the
country
Employees: 1,500 (10% approx. bilingual,
English-Spanish)
Reach: Provides technology services (BPO
& IT) to over 100 clients including
Chilean, Regional & Global
companies
Investment: Over USD 30 million
Functions
TCS maintains a BPO (Business Process
Outsourcing) center in Santiago which
comprises over employees providing diverse
services to over 1500 clients, including
financial institutions, pension funds, public
sector, health insurance institutions, retail firms
and small & medium-sized companies.
Services include Documents Management,
Check Processing, Finance & Accounting
Outsourcing, Customer Care, Transactions
p r o c e s s i n g , I T S e r v i c e s & O p e ra t i o n s
outsourcing among others.
Excellent business environment
Competitive costs
High-quality & professional human resources
World Class infrastructure
Recognized hub for Latin America
A platform for TCS
TCS chose Chile to be its BPO hub for Latin
America. Having already set up a successful
IT business in 2002, in November 2005 it
acquired a leading Chilean BPO firm,
Comicrom, to set up its platform for serving
clients in Latin America and eventually in the
US & Europe. The firm also intends to
consolidate Chile as a global Banking &
Financial services expertise center.
“In line with our global ambitions, we intend to be
market leaders in Latin America as well. Towards
this, Chile is an important base for us since it
provides a solid platform for growth, with a superior
mix of talent, infrastructure and business conditions.”
Chief Executive Officer

A Growing Project

Already the leading IT (Information Technology) firm in India, the company has ambitious global plans,
planning to jump from 3 billion dollar revenues to 10 billion in the next 5 years. In Latin America TCS
intends to become a leading firm in the future and has been growing its operations at over 100% every
year. The firm employs almost 4,000 people in Latin America, a number projected to grow by 4 to 5
times by 2010.

12
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
 IT and software development

Overview Why Chile?

Year Lowest country risk

established: 2007
Best business environment ranking
Location: Santiago Fewest incidences of political corruption
Very competitive cost structure
Employees: 300 (projected 450)
Best IT infrastructure
Reach: USA
Best availability of senior management
Investment: US banks, financial services Strongest financial industry presence
organizations, telecommunication,
media, insurance companies, and US
Consumers among others
A long term solution

The operation will grow to 450 employees

Functions
Experian’s first services and operations center in
Latin America provides software development and
maintenance services, IT applications update and
support, financial data analysis, risk management,
marketing, support for the global technological
infrastructure and database management, as well
as back office customer support services, attending
thousands of digitized requests received daily
from customers in USA.
by mid-2008, all fully bilingual with
background in IT and customer service. “The
magnitude of our investment in people,
capital and one time set-up charges in
f a c i l i t i e s a n d h i g h - e n d t e ch n o l o g y
infrastructure is a clear indicator that
Experian has come to Chile as a very long
term solution to its near shore servicing
needs”, explains Carlos Medina, Vice
President and General Manager of Experian’s

Latin American Operations.

A good start

Experian has found excellent cost savings and other advantages in Chile, including a well educated,

high work ethic labor force with excellent and diverse experience and backgrounds, as well as a great

infrastructure.Experian also enjoys partnerships developed at CORFO, Chile’s Development Agency, as

well as The Santiago Chamber of Commerce, AmCham Chile, and various Universities among others.

13
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Shared Service Centers
 Financial Shared Service Center
Overview
Year Established: 2001
Location: Santiago
Employees: 76
Reach: South America
Functions
BHP Billiton’s shared service center provides
administrative support to several of the
company’s businesses located in South America.
The operation centralizes transactional functions
ranging from supply processes to accounting.
The office also handles human resource
responsibilities such as personnel maintenance,
benefits, recruitment and management of
international assignments. BHPB’s center is one
of the company’s four shared service operations
around the world, which all operate at a “best
business practice” level of excellence. Santiago
shares this distinction with Houston,
St.Johannesburg (South Africa) and Adelaide
(Australia).
Cost Savings and Improved Efficiency
Through its shared service center, BHP Billiton
is able to reduce costs, improve the quality of
its services and strengthen its competitive
position. The centralization has resulted in the
realization of economies of scale derived from
processing large volumes of transactions within
a simple structure. Consolidation has also
allowed BHP Billiton to improve its efficiency
and more easily apply methodologies such as
Six Sigma.
15
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Why Chile?
Chile was selected over other Latin American
locations for the following reasons:
Competitive operating costs
Availability of qualified human resources
Professional standards
Political stability
Security and safety
Technology infrastructure
A globally connected country
Excellent Human Resources
“The capacity of Chilean professionals is excellent
and Santiago possesses an ample labor market
that makes easier the search for qualified people.”
Manager
A Favorable Business Environment
“We have not encountered any obstacles to
operating in Chile, and I think that the present
government’s efforts to strengthen Chile as an
international business platform have strongly
promoted and facilitated the installation of similar
centers.”
Manager
A Growing Project
BHP Billiton began its Santiago shared service
center with 36 employees and 1 client, and
now it has 5 clients and annual revenues of
US$5.7 million. The company plans on
extending the center’s reach to the rest of its
South American businesses, and will continue
to pursue innovation as it increases the range
of services offered.
 Global Support Center
Overview
Year established: 2007
Location: Santiago
Employees: 100 (200 projected)
Reach: Services for Oracle and its
clients in the Americas
Investment: almost USD 3 million
A Growing Project
Oracle plans to add 200 new employees in the next
two years, more than doubling their current payroll
in Chile.
On a first stage, people will join back-office
operations for Oracle University, serving both Latin
America and the US and Canada. Second stage is
about implementing Oracle University Sales in
Santiago. The third part of this project, will incorporate
people for certifying programs, as well as web and
software developers.
A platform for Oracle
Oracle’s plan is to centralize in Chile a diverse
series of services currently being provided from
a variety of countries, including Colombia,
Argentina, India and the United States.
By delivering all of these services from one place,
the company is looking forward to taking
advantage not only of Chile’s competitive labor
costs, but also from a highly-skilled pool of eligible
workers, an internationally praised business
environment, political stability and
state-of-the-art telecom infrastructure.
Why Chile?
Economic and political stability, plus
advantageous regulatory framework
Country takes advantage of technological
opportunities
Low labor costs
Excellent ICT infrastructure
NRI Index ranking Chile as 29th worldwide
Same time zone as clients bound to serve
Spanish language skills (as opposed to
countries like India)
Functions
Oracle will set a shared services center for
Oracle University that will do back-office work
regarding sales in Latin America and auditing
for the US. They will also build a call center
for Oracle University’s sales representatives.
Moreover, a Global Operations Center for
Oracle University will be inaugurated. It will
certify programs, plus web and software
developers from Oracle University.
Finally, some areas belonging to other divisions
within Oracle will also set forth operations
from Chile, namely Oracle Support, Oracle
Direct, On demand and Oracle University.
16
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
 Financial Shared Service Center

Overview Why Chile?

Unilever chose Santiago through a rigorous

Year established: 2002
selection process in which
Location: Santiago PriceWaterhouseCoopers evaluated 12 different
locations in 7 countries: the USA, Mexico, Costa
Employees: 200 Rica, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile.
Chile’s winning characteristics included:
Reach: Latin America and Caribbean
Competitive costs of high-quality human
resources
Investment: US$11 million World-class telecommunications infrastructure
Political and economic stability

Functions
A Growing Project
Unilever’s Financial Shared Services Center is part
Unilever’s Santiago center has steadily
of Harmony, an ambitious project integrating the
continued integrating Latin American territories
entire company’s information systems throughout
into its services since the center’s inception in
Latin America. The Santiago center manages
2002. Today the center attends Chile, Peru,
accounts receivable, accounts payable and other Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela,
financial processes for Unilever’s businesses Argentina and Mexico, Central American and

throughout the region. Caribbean countries. Unilever plans to

continue building on its successful shared
services platform and is studying expanding

World-Class Shared Services the services it offers from Santiago.

Unilever’s Santiago facility is leading the

“We wanted to be closer to our customers and
company’s efforts to centralize services worldwide.
found that Santiago offered the best combination
The center is Unilever’s best practice model for
of cost and quality of life. Chile has emerged as a

shared service operations in other regions, very competitive regional business platform.”

including Europe and the United States. President of Unilever Bestfoods Latin

America

17
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Back-Office Operations Center
Overview
Year established: 1999
Location: Santiago
Employees: 80
Reach: the Americas
Functions
SGS’ back-office center in Chile is mainly
devoted to issuing pre-shipment certificates for
countries in the Americas exporting to any other
that has a contract with the company for these
duties (import verification). SGS-IVP programs
enable the proper identification of goods prior
to shipment, with regards to quality, quantity,
tariff classification, import eligibility and the
provision of valuation information for customs
purposes. These programs allow for the correct
assessment of import duties and taxes by
customs to the advantage of both government
and trade. Since 1965, over 40 countries have
adopted SGS programs to protect government
finances and/or facilitate trade. Currently SGS
holds 21 mandates for IVP programs which
incorporate a large array of services both in the
country of export and import.
Why Chile?
Desire to have 2 global processing centers
instead of one (the other one is located in
the Philippines, serving all countries outside
the Americas).
Lowest unit cost for processing files
originating from North/South America
Experience with SGS Chile office (high
quality / professional service)
Good supply of qualified labor
Good network communications
A Growing Project
Since its inception in 1999, this has been an
ever-growing endeavor for SGS, including what
now amounts to 80 jobs arising directly from
this back-office center arrival in the country.
At first, the center started serving only a handful
of South American countries. Then, it
incorporated the rest of South America. After
that, came Central American countries and,
finally, North America. For the near future, the
firm plans to add around 10 new employees,
since new operations are to be added soon,
specifically attending Portugal.
One of two worldwide centers
The center set up in Chile is of critical importance
for SGS, since it is one of only two operating at
the time to provide the described services. The
other one is located in Manila (Philippines) and
is in charge of operations in Europe, Asia, Africa
and Australia. But now they are relying on the
Chilean-based office to handle some of their
work load, which further stresses the importance
of operations in Santiago.
18
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
 Shared Service Center

Overview Why Chile?

Year Study conducted by Spanish consulting firm

established: 2006
Capgemini among Latin American countries
Location: Santiago concluded Chile was best option for several
factors (some mentioned hereinafter)
Employees: 10
Economic and political stability
Reach: Currently, Chile, Honduras and Mexico Excellent business environment
Competitive labor costs
Investment: USD 800,000 only in new infrastructure
(main infrastructure already in place, Availability of qualified human resources
since Lafarge acquired Chilean Telecommunications infrastructure
company Melón)

Functions
Lafarge’s Shared Services Center in Chile mainly
serves three purposes, all meant for the company’s
own productive units (i.e., it does not sell its
services to other companies). First, it helps with
management activities (using Oracle’s JD Edwards
EnterpriseOne), ranging from sales, acquisitions,
inventories, payrolls, payments, collections, etc.
Secondly, it helps units in different countries with
everything related to managing physical assets,
namely its operation and maintenance (using
MRO’s Maximo Asset Management). Finally, it
provides managers with business intelligence
(using Cognos), mainly statistical summaries of
critical information (e.g., sales figures sort out by
region, type of client, dates, etc.). Users can
connect and access any of these services from
their respective countries at their need.
A Growing Project
Lafarge, a world leader in terms of building
materials, currently has operations in the
following countries from the region: Mexico,
Honduras, French Antilles, Ecuador,
Venezuela, Brazil and Chile. Today, the
center only serves Mexico, Honduras and
Chile. But there are ambitious growth plans
to incorporate, in the future, each and
everyone of the above mentioned countries
to the list of “clients” the center provides
services to. For example, Venezuela should
be incorporated, an important addition since
it represents a market nearly the size of
Chile. By 2008, Brazil and Ecuador should
be added as well.

A diverse working place

Lafarge plans to bring in professionals from around the region to work at their Shared Services Center.
They plan to have Honduran nationals and new additions will be evaluated as new countries get
incorporated to those served by the center.

19
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Back-Office Operations Center

Overview Why Chile?

Year established: 2006 Economic and social stability

Location: Santiago
Trust-worthy Justice System

Employees: 21
Government support for foreign investment
Reach: Central America, Venezuela,
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Available professional talent

Functions A Growing Project

The center established in Chile manages Growth plans include new offices for 2008,

accounting- and financial-related tasks for the plus 15 new employees projected to join the

company, such as accounts payable, travel

company gradually until 2008. Moreover, the

expenses, Treasury operations, consolidated

company plans to add Argentina to the list of
accounting and payrolls.
countries served by this center.

About the country

Merck has found in Chile a great business environment, in which they underline business ethics as a

key feature. In terms of human resources, they are satisfied about local available talent. Finally, Merck

says expatriated employees have adapted well to Chile and its way of life.

20
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
 Shared Service Center

Overview Why Chile?

Year established: 1992 High political stability

Excellent availability of high quality human

Location: Santiago
resources
Employees: 80
Competitive costs
Reach: Chile, Peru & Congo

Functions
A long term solution
The center provides most of the services
The Shared Services Center in Santiago began as
needed by each mine, including legal,
the first mining services provider in Chile, an
accounting, purchasing, global supply chain,
independent unit of Phelps Dodge providing
communications, IT, human resources
services to its mines in Chile including legal,
management and financial services. It
accounting, and treasury services. As Phelps
continues to do so now that the operations
Dodge expanded its operations in South America
have become part of Freeport-McMoRan
the center provided services to an increasing
Copper & Gold Inc.
amount of mines, extending its operations into

Peru and growing its offer of services to include

A Growing Project
purchasing, global supply chain management,

human resources centralized IT and financial The center will provide an increasing amount
services. Chile’s center is currently also providing of services as the new operation in Congo
services for a mining project being developed in expands, as well as possibly providing
Congo, called Tenke Fungureme. services to other new projects worldwide.

21
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Customer Service and Technical Support
 Latin America Reservation Center

Overview Why Chile?

Year Established: 2001 Air France evaluated several possible countries,

including Argentina and Mexico. The airline
Location: Santiago
ultimately chose Chile because of:
Employees: 41
Political and economic stability
Reach: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Chilean government financial support through
Venezuela and Mexico Invest Chile - CORFO
Call Volume: 30,000 monthly World-class telecommunications infrastructure
Investment: US$1.3 million Competitive costs

Functions Centralization and Standardization of Services

Air France’s call center handles a variety of
reservation and sales services for the airline’s
Latin American operations, attending the general
public and a range of travel agencies. The
Santiago site acts as an internal cost-saving
center for the airline, centralizing services that
were previously done at the local level in each
country.
A Growing Project
What began as a pilot project with 5 employees
has since added 36 additional workers, with
significant expansion plans in the works. In
April 2005 Air France merged with KLM airlines,
and the Santiago call center has begun attending
KLM customers in Chile, Peru and Ecuador as
well. Air France intends to hire another 45
employees by 2008 - 2009 to accommodate
the additional call volume and develop an
internet services platform.
Motivated to improve services and achieve
cost efficiencies, Air France began
centralizing its telephone reservation and
sales functions in 1998. The company
consolidated its European and North
American services into 3 locations and in
2001 turned to Latin America. The company
now provides uniform services across its
South American territories and has gained
strategic flexibility by centralizing operations
in Santiago. Its other centers are located in
Wembley, Montreal and Ft. Lauderdale,
servicing Europe, Canada and the USA,
respectively.
A Good Decision
“Country stability and telecommunications quality
were key factors in the decision to locate our
Latin America Call Center in Chile. The country
has proven to be a good platform for regional
activity in South America, with high tech
development and air connections that have
allowed us to expand our activities.”
Director

23
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Latin America Contact Center

Overview Why Chile?

Year established: 2000 Delta also considered Peru, Panama and Costa
Rica, but ultimately chose Chile because of:
Location: Santiago

Employees: 98 bilingual Government financial support through

Invest Chile -CORFO
(Spanish-English) Low telecommunications costs
Reach: Latin America and Caribbean Political and economic stability
Availability of skilled human resources at
Call volume: 70,000 monthly competitive wages
Excellent quality of life, including very low
Investment: US$3 million crime rates

Functions A Growing Project

Handling Delta’s phone reservations for all of
Latin America, the contact center plays an
essential role in generating Delta’s US$33
million annual Latin American sales. The facility,
which consolidated operations from 6 countries
into the Santiago center, uses state-of-the-art
technology to provide the entire range of Delta
reservation services.
State-of-the-Art Telecom Infrastructure
The center has been a clear winner for Delta Air
Lines, reflected in its ongoing growth with the
incorporation of the Mexican reservation services
and the help desk service previously run from
Miami. The center is also ready to begin receiving
calls from the Caribbean. Other current projects
include implementing a Vendor Call Transfer
Service with Hotels.com, a Sales Support Center
for Mexican sales and marketing, and additional
functions for the Sky Miles Support desk. Delta
will continue to capitalize on the center’s large
call capacity and may use it to serve additional
markets within the western hemisphere, such as
Belize. The center also has the capacity for
attending calls from Brazil and the Spanish-
speaking population in the USA.

“Chile’s robust information technology and Confidence in Chile

telecommunications infrastructure provide the reliable
voice and data transfers that are the lifeblood of any
contact center. Furthermore, Chile’s communications
costs are among the most competitive in Latin America.”
General Manager
“Delta Air Lines’ decision to establish its call center
for Latin America in Chile was a clear sign of confidence
in the country. Chile’s political and economical stability,
the high technological capacity and cultural diversity
were the main factors considered for this important
investment in the region.”
Manager

24
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
 Client Service Center

Overview Why Chile?

Year Established: 2003 Shell considered other locations, but Chile

presented several attractive strengths:
Location: Santiago
Competitive costs
Employees: 60 Government financial support through
Invest Chile - CORFO
Reach: Argentina and Chile
Political stability and legal security
Call Volume: 28,000 monthly World-class telecommunications
infrastructure
Availability of skilled human resources
Strategic geographic location
Functions

Shell’s call center handles client inquiries regarding

fuel and lubricant orders, dispatches and a variety
of customer accounts, including the company’s
credit card businesses. It receives calls from
throughout Argentina and Chile, and provides
24-hour attention for some services.
A World-Class Center
Higher Quality Services
Shell decided in 2003 to consolidate its client
services in Latin America, motivated by a desire
to standardize quality and reduce costs. Now
delivering from Santiago a range of offerings
across two countries, Shell can easily track
customer needs and maintain statistics to
continuously improve its services throughout
the region.

Shell’s center is one of several shared service

facilities the company employs around the world. Excellent Human Resources

Santiago is in the prestigious company of select

cities that host Shell’s client attention centers.
A Growing Project
With call volume continuing to increase, Shell
anticipates hiring additional workers for client
services.
“Human resources availability in Chile is a critical
factor to our success, given that our client service
center requires professionals with a high capacity
for adapting to technological, commercial and
organizational innovation. We find these qualities
in a country like Chile that maintains a high level
of development and growth.”
Manager

25
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
International Center of Excellence
Overview
Year established: 2002
Location: Santiago
Employees: 70
Reach: Worldwide
Functions
In 2002 General Electric Company opened a
center dedicated to generating the sophisticated
technical manuals that accompany each aircraft
engine GE manufactures. Once approved by
GE engineers and the United States’ Federal
Aviation Administration, the digital manuals
are exported to countries all over the world.
The center is owned by GE and outsourced to
Adexus, an experienced Chilean IT integration
company.
State-of-the-Art Center
“The benefits that GE’s center brings to Chile include
having a local center associated with state-of-the-art
knowledge and technology from the aerospace industry,
the creation of new jobs within this field, the development
of products aimed at an important export market, and
the strengthening of professional capacities in the industry.”
Regional GE Executive
“Chile wins, GE wins, my customers win, and it’s
going to grow.”
President and CEO, GE Transportation
Why Chile?
While other locations were considered, Chile
was selected based on several key factors:
Stable long-term economic outlook
Availability of well-educated technical
workers with English language skills
Offset program credit through CORFO
Low costs
Ease of implementing the project in Chile
Time zone
A Growing Project
Its International Center of Excellence has
proven to be a very successful investment for
General Electric Company, based on the high
quality products consistently produced by its
team of bilingual engineers, designers, and
aerospace technicians. GE is committed to
continuing the center’s growth, and will have
200-300 workers operating at the Santiago
location in the coming years. The company
hopes to take advantage of the center’s
excellent technical platform and expand the
services it offers to other GE businesses.
Enriching Chile’s Workforce
General Electric Company provides funding
to Federico Santa Maria Technical University
for aerospace courses. One of Chile’s most
prestigious universities, UTFSM trains
aerospace engineers in studies essential to the
work done at GE’s Center of Excellence. Each
year several of the program’s graduates go on
to internships at GE.
26
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
 Center for In-Spanish News and Services

Overview Why Chile?

Year established: 2005 Legal framework

Personal security
Location: Santiago
High quality of life

Employees: 25 Telecom infrastructure/costs

Investor friendly
Reach: Worldwide Low costs relative to US

Functions More Than Just A News Agency

Reuters center in Chile receives reports from Although mostly known as a news agency,
journalists throughout Latin America. These reports
Reuters also provides news services for the
are processed and edited in Santiago, after which
they are transferred onto Reuters’ global network,
financial world. In fact, more than 90% of
in both English and Spanish.

worldwide revenue comes from financial

Furthermore, the center in Santiago receives
reports from all over the world (already written services. Economic, financial and political

in English) that are to be translated into Spanish,

therefore serving both Latin America and Spain.
Facilities in Chile include state-of-the-art
technological and communicational equipment,
stressing the long term character of this project.
news aimed for investors are also processed
from Santiago. Plus, new services are now
being developed from their offices in Chile.

27
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Help Desk for Latin Ameica

Overview Why Chile?

Year established: 2000 Presence of important potential clients, many

of them multinationals
Location: Santiago with branches across Economic and political stability
the country Excellent business environment
Infrastructure
Employees: 200 approx. Recognized hub for Latin America

Reach: Chile, plus services for Latin

America & Caribbean A Growing Project

Unisys is a multinational company, with world-

Functions
The main idea was to build in Chile a Help
Desk, sort of a high-tech call center oriented to
solving problems of final users from different
countries.
To give an example, currently they work for
Endesa España, via Synapsis, in Chile, Perú and
Colombia; they also serve Dell, giving services
in English, Spanish and Portuguese, monitoring
over 150,000 calls annually.
The company also manages servers and networks
from its offices in Chile for clients within Latin
America, excluding Brazil.
Finally, they work with the Argentinean branch
of Unisys, managing phone calls from clients
there that come in after labor hours (i.e., 6 p.m.).
“Being based in Chile gives you a lot of credibility when
talking to foreign investors”
Commercial Director
wide sales around USD 6 billion. Latin America
contributes with USD 500 to 600 million, with
sales in Chile in the order of USD 20 million.
Currently, operations in Latin America are divided
into 3 areas: Mexico, Brazil and the rest of
the region.
Unisys policy is to continually invest as projects
undertaken by the firm require those investments.
In Chile, the core business are outsourcing
operations, representing 60% to 70% of sales.
As new outsourcing contracts are signed, new
disbursements are required to comply with the
new obligations imposed by those agreements.
A single project may require Unisys to invest
from USD 200,000 to 1 or 2 million.
Following Clients
A paramount reason for Unisys to operate in
Chile was that many of their international clients,
the ones they cooperate with on a world-wide
basis, where already doing business in the country.
Around 70% to 80% of their customers in Chile
are firms with which they already operate overseas.
As Francisco Guzmán says, not being in Chile
means you putting at risk global relations with
some of their best clients. Examples of these types
of contracts are Dell, Lexmark and Telefónica.

28
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
 Call Center and BPO Providers

Sitel

Place of origin Canada

Start-up date 2006
Location One center in Santiago
Employees 1.000
Serves Spain
Operations in Latin America Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Brazil and
Argentina

Transcom

Place of origin Sweden

Start-up date 2006
Location Two centers in southern Chile
(Concepción and Valdivia)
Employees 550
Serves Spain
Operations in Latin America Only Chile

Unisono

Place of origin Spain

Start-up date 2006
Location Two centers in Santiago
Employees 641
Serves Spain
Operations in Latin America Only Chile

Teleperformance

Place of origin France

Start-up date 2006
Location One center in Santiago
“Being based in Chile gives you a lot of credibility when
Employees 1,450 (250 bilingual)
talking to foreign investors”
Serves Spain and USA
Operations in Latin America Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, El Salvador
Commercial Director
and Dominican Republic

29
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
 Call Center and BPO Providers

Konecta

Place of origin Spain

Start-up date 2006
Location Two centers in Santiago
Employees 1,400
Serves Chile and local market
Operations in Latin America Argentina

Atento

Place of origin Spain

Start-up date 1999
Location Four centers in Santiago
Employees 7,600
Serves Chile
Expansion plans To serve the US and Spain from Chile
Operations in Latin America Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela,
El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico

Emergia

Place of origin Spain

Start-up date 2006
Location 1 center in Santiago
Employees 900
Serves Spain
Expansion plans To serve Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico
and US from Chile
Operations in Latin America Office in Miami

30
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Knwoledge centers
 Research Latin America
Overview
Year established: 2006
Location: Santiago
Employees: 10 PHDs
Reach: Worldwide
Functions
Hosted in the Engeneering School of the University
of Chile at Santiago, and under the direction of
Ricardo Baeza-Yates, this lab will concentrate on
research in the areas of web search and mining,
harnessing the strengths of the Latin American
a c a d e m i c s e a rch c o m m u n i t y t h r o u g h
collaborations and joint projects, in particular
with the Center for Web Research of the CS Dept.
of the University of Chile. Yahoo praises this center
as one of the few places where “people
‘understand’ the internet”.
Their main focus is to analyze what people do
on the web, therefore analyzing web contents,
its structure, links, etc. Yahoo states that “our
scientists focus on data-driven analysis, high-
quality search, algorithms and economic models”.
A Growing Project
Although the amount invested is confidential
for contractual reasons, Yahoo invests around
USD 400 million annually in R&D, expected
to grow in the future. Mr. Baeza-Yates confirms
growth plans for the Chilean lab as well,
especially by incorporating new local talent to
their team. He is confident due to the amount
of talented professionals he knows are available
in Chile, stating it will be a challenge to attract
them to join their efforts.
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CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Why Chile?
Main reason: Chile’s status as a leader
in Spanish-speaking South America in terms
of research and computer sciences. Only
other plausible and competitive alternative
is Brazil (but obviously lacks the necessary
language skills).
Output & Worldwide Reach
Results of its work are shown in the form of
publications, patents and, most importantly,
through new software developed by Yahoo, based
on info provided by the lab. There is no
development involved, just research, although
this one is meant to being applied in the
development of products later on. Therefore, it
could be said this project has worldwide reach:
a product coming out from its work could easily
reach millions of users per month (500 million
unique users estimated to use Yahoo on a monthly
basis, which is half of the internet community).
The lab set up in Santiago in January, 2006, is
Yahoo Research’s only in Latin America, being
one of two based outside the US, alongside the
one already installed in Barcelona, Spain.
“The main reason to be in Chile is the local talent. He
reaffirms this by saying that Yahoo’s strategy is to go
wherever talent can be found, and not just remain
bounded to the US.”
Director of Yahoo! Research
Latin American Center

Overview Why Chile?

Business environment
Year established: 2006
Chilean government support through
Location: Region of Valparaíso Invest Chile - CORFO
Social, political and economic stability and
Employees: 15 stable inflation, which gives the company
a better idea of costs in the future.
Reach: Latin America Outstanding personal security level
Investment: USD 1 million, approximately Almost same time zone as in the US

Functions Part of a worldwide strategy

Evalueserve has opened a Latin American The company is the first Knowledge Process
operations center in Chile with the declared
Outsourcing (KPO) firm to invest in a delivery
objective of capturing the huge market potential
center for the region. Evalueserve was also the
and offer a global delivery platform. Evalueserve’s
first KPO to have a multi-delivery location in
Chilean operations will start with an offering of

investment research services, which include equity India and China, two of the world’s most

research and financial modeling provided on rapidly growing economies.

behalf of global investment banks.

A Growing Project
"It is a high growth industry and we are one of the

Evalueserve plans to employ 120 professionals in largest players. Our plan is to grow to about 2,500

Chile by 2008 and subsequently add around 60 or 3,000 people by 2008 and then probably launch

professionals every year. “The company believes the an IPO. We also have plans to open a delivery

country could represent 10% of global revenues by 2008, center in Eastern Europe in the future, thereby

and also add business for the India and China operations” building a seamless global delivery platform,"

Vice President Chile’s Country Manager.

33
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
Assembly and Repairing Facilities
 International Technical Service Center
Overview
Year established: 2003
Location: Santiago
Employees: 53
Reach: USA, Latin America
Repair Volume: 1,000 wireless devices monthly
Investment: US$1.1 million
Functions
Cellstar’s international repair center imports,
repairs, and then exports within 15 days wireless
devices from the USA and Latin America. The
center performs a variety of repairs ranging
from the cosmetic to the highly complex on
approximately 30 different cell phone models,
and is certified for work by industry leaders
such as Kyocera, Motorola, LG, Audiovox, and
Samsung.
A Fruitful Partnership with Chile
Cellstar has training agreements with several
technical institutes whereby students gain essential
hands-on experience working in Cellstar’s repair
facility for up to 6 months. Many then go on to
full-time employment. The company is looking
to expand further its training alliances with local
technical education centers.
“In Chile we have highly skilled labor at fair rates with
overhead costs that are very reasonable.”
CEO Cellstar Chile
35
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES
International Technical Service Center
Why Chile?
Cellstar considered Chile, China and Mexico as
locations for its center. Chile offered a winning
combination of advantages:
Highly skilled human resources
Government financial support through
Invest Chile - CORFO
Low labor and logistics costs
Macroeconomic stability
Excellent infrastructure
High quality of life
Cost Savings
38% lower costs: Each wireless device
repair (including transportation and
logistics) costs Cellstar approximately 38%
less in Chile than in the USA, largely due
to Chile’s competitive labor costs.
Free Trade Agreements: Cellstar pays
0.175% import duties on cell phones and
0% on parts, and pays no export taxes on
repaired goods.
Rent: On their Santiago facilities is
significantly cheaper than in the USA.
A Growing Project
Cellstar Chile’s Technical Repair Center is a
leader in wireless device repairs, having earned
ISO-9000 certification. Since opening, the
center has advanced from performing 10,000
level I and II repairs monthly to 1,000 level III
and IV repairs, which require much greater
technical sophistication and skill. Its facilities
include state-of-the-art technical laboratories.
Cellstar Chile is looking to capitalize further
on its successful operation by expanding repair
services to a wider range of IT products.
PC and Notebook Assembly Plant

Overview Why Chile?

A fully modern financial structure

Year established: 2000
An excellent customs system
Location: Santiago
The most advanced infrastructure in the
Employees: 130
region, including telecommunications, ports,
Market Composition: 70% of sales within Chile,
30% to the rest of Latin airports and highways
America, primarily Transparent laws with little corruption Low
Argentina, Peru and country risk
Colombia
Products: PCs, notebooks, digital
home entertainment A Sales Platform for Latin America
centers
By assembling their products in Chile, Packard

Functions Bell enjoys the significant advantages of rapid

access to Latin American countries. It can

A licensed distributor of Packard Bell products in
respond quickly to changing consumer
Latin America since 1993, this joint venture
demands and technology improvements, giving
between NEC Corporation and Chilean investors
Packard Bell greater flexibility than companies
began assembling PCs in 2000. Today the plant importing completed products from outside

also assembles notebooks and home entertainment Latin America.

devices, and offers product repair services.

A Rapidly Growing Market

Excellent Human Resources in Chile Packard Bell expects to produce 25,000 PCs and

30,000 notebooks to meet the continuously

“Human resources in Chile are of a very high quality
in comparison to the rest of the region and other growing demand. The company has experienced
countries that we compete with in the production of
increases in production of approximately 20%
technological products, such as Brazil and China.”
every year since 2000, and will likely see growth
General Manager
above 50% this year.

36
CHILE / INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTERS SUCCESS STORIES