Costa Rica: Cultural Similarities Make It An Outsourcing Favorite

 Just a few time zones away, managing an outsourcer in Costa Rica can be relatively easy.  

Brian Stafford wanted to tap global talent but wasn't sure how. Stafford, president and chief executive of ChemSW, a Fairfield (Calif.) software developer, liked the idea of using offshore programmers in part because his work needs ebbed and flowed, making it difficult to hire staff. He talked to outsourcing firms in India and Ukraine, but, worried about the time differences and sometimes hard-to-understand accents, never signed a deal. In summer 2008, however, Stafford found a great outsourcing partner for his 22-person, $4 million company. "Costa Rica wasn't even on our radar," says Stafford. "But they've been very easy to work with, and this allows us to get products to market much quicker."

Stafford is hardly alone in embracing Latin America as a service outsourcing hub. According to Stamford (Conn.) technology research firm Gartner, 6 of the top 30 countries for services outsourcing are located there, including Costa Rica, Argentina, and Brazil. Much of the appeal, says Frances Karamouzis, a research vice-president at Gartner, is "a high comfort level [there] with Western business practices."

By Amy Barrett, Businessweek