Tijuana Becoming the New Bombay for Call Centers

The city of Tijuana, located just south of California on the Baja Peninsula of Mexico, is known as a prime tourist destination as well as a bit of a wild party spot. Surprisingly, the city is becoming one of the biggest global call center hubs, rivaling India and being touted as the “new Bombay.”

The number of call centers in Tijuana has risen from 10 to more than 60 over the past two decades, driven by low wages and operating costs as well as an abundance of English speaking agents. U.S. deportees make up the majority of the workforce, attracted by higher pay than construction, retail and other types of jobs. Tijuana’s call centers attract companies from as far away as India and the Philippines, as well as California-based organizations that simply can’t keep up with the state’s rising minimum wage.

“Tijuana has become like the new Bombay,” Jose Salvatierra told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “India is no longer the first option.” Salvatierra works for Redial BPO as an experienced call center recruiter. The company moved to Tijuana a few years ago and counts around 90 percent of its agents as U.S. deportees. Redial BPO claims deportees make attractive agents because of their English skills, as well as their ability to make small talk about American culture.

A wide variety of global companies are already outsourcing their call center needs to Tijuana, including Bose, FoxConn, Kyocera (News - Alert), Plantronics, Samsung and Sony. And call centers like Voxcentrix are actively courting deportees to fill positions, luring them in with benefits like paid training and vacations and social security.

Outsource Consultants claims that using a Tijuana call center can reduce a company’s costs by up to 75 percent. The company cites additional benefits as well, including the city’s close proximity to the U.S., making scouting and management visits convenient. And with an industry that has been growing over the past two decades, Tijuana boasts highly skilled agents from diverse backgrounds, leading to increased customer satisfaction.

According to Next Door Solutions, the BPO and call center services industry in Latin America is worth $10 billion, boasting a seven-percent annual growth rate. And Mexico has roughly 500,000 IT professionals already working in the BPO industry. For companies interested in saving money on their call center outsourcing expenses without sacrificing quality of customer service, Tijuana is a very attractive option indeed.

Edited by Maurice Nagle

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