Colombia exports 7.3 million dollars in audiovisual productions and digital services to Ecuador

There are developing countries that stand out in Industry 4.0 and in the sector called BPO (business process outsourcing, for its acronym in English), also known as “professional services outsourcing”.

This includes the creation of audiovisual productions, sending software for customer care and service, plus advertising and digital marketing, among other services.

Those who stand out in this area in Latin America are Colombia, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico and Nicaragua; and the rest of the world are joined by Bulgaria, Egypt, India, Jamaica, the Philippines, Poland and South Africa.

These twelve countries are home to most of the companies in the sector. The managers of one hundred of these companies based in these twelve countries ranked Colombia in the first place, as the main destination for the development of BPO operations, according to the most recent edition of the Offshore BPO Confidence Index 2021.

Ecuador’s northern neighbor stood out in various aspects, such as telecommunications infrastructure, talent availability and economic stability.

“Thanks to our highly qualified talent and other competitive advantages, this sector will continue to be a source of jobs and will contribute to the boom in services exports, as well as the economic reactivation of Colombia,” says Flavia Santoro, president of ProColombia, an entity that promotes tourism, foreign investment, non-mining-energy exports, the image and brand of that country.

Juliana Villegas, Vice President of Exports of ProColombia, told this newspaper the roadmap to follow for the development of a service economy and Industry 4.0, and thus attract investments in the BPO sector that generate exports, as a sample of a field that could well develop in Ecuador.

Only between January and October 2021, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Colombia exported a total of $ 7.3 million to Ecuador in the BPO services sector, values ​​higher than those generated by Peru, the United Kingdom and France.

The main item is exports of Colombian audiovisual productions, which are seen on local television on channels such as Teleamazonas, with $ 2.4 million of the total.

There’s also productions recorded in Colombia, such as the most recent comic series Chichipatos, created by Snail Television for the Netflix platform, and the science fiction movie Gemini Man, starring Will Smith. And others for platforms like HBO and Amazon

Exports of the audiovisual productions sector increased 342% between January and October 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. The main receiving market was the United States, to which the Colombian industry exported audiovisual services in that period for a value of $ 106.5 million.

In total, industry 4.0 exports from Colombia reported a growth of 82.6% between January and October 2021 registering $ 592.4 million.

Villegas assures that Ecuadorian entrepreneurs see an attraction in the technological implementation plans that have been successful in Colombia, which is why they take them to Ecuador for digital transformation projects. “We have cases of Colombian companies that are already working in Ecuador, where they have positioned themselves very well.”

The geographical and cultural proximity has stimulated this commercial exchange between the two countries, he adds. Ecuador is in the top 5 of the main destination markets for Colombian goods and services. In the case of Industry 4.0 and knowledge-based services, it ranks ten.

The pandemic was an opportunity for the development of technology 4.0. “This was a sector called to provide digitization solutions by strengthening the electronic commerce channel, maintaining or improving communication channels between companies and end customers,” says Villegas.

In software and information technology services, shipments abroad increased 87.7% between January and October 2021 with $ 171.6 million.

That of BPO services grew 40.2% between January and October 2021 with $ 251 million.

The government incentive has led to the development of an optimal recording environment

The incentives given by the Colombian government are one of the keys. This country created the Tax Discount Certificate (CINA) and the Colombia Film Fund (FCC), included in Law 1556 of 2012, which translate into attractive and convenient expense reimbursements and tax discounts for those who develop films and series in the country says Villegas.

The Colombian Government offers a return of 40% of the value of expenses incurred for cinematographic services and 20% of the value of expenses incurred in cinematographic logistics services for films totally or partially shot in Colombia (feature films, telefilms and documentaries), reports ProColombia.

A video shows the advantages that Colombia offers when filming a series, movie, documentary or any type of audiovisual production, with comments from actors and producers, such as Tilda Swinton (from Doctor Strange Y The Chronicles of Narnia), Tim Roth (from The incredible Hulk), Alex Russell (de Chronicle) y Mickey Rourke (from The fighter e Iron man 2).

The number of companies includes more than 10 for equipment rental, more than 90 for production services, 40 animation studios and 70 for video games.

The result is that more than 39 films and more than 30 foreign series have already been filmed in this South American country..

An example is government support for plans such as strengthening the supply of talent by investing in bilingualism programs in English.

One of the objectives is to position the Colombian audiovisual industry, says Villegas, from three points of view. “We want to achieve co-productions with international companies, promote locations so that they roll more and more in Colombia and inform potential clients about the incentives that the government” of that country has to produce in the South American nation.

Villegas ensures that the development of the BPO sector does not happen overnight. “You have to have consistency, a stable behavior and that every year that presence grows.”

There are three keys for the large global chains to choose Colombia as a provider of services and content of intellectual property. The first are the existing locations. “Colombia has a very clear diversity of landscapes in which international filming can be done, we have all the thermal floors, humid forests, dry forests, colonial towns, beaches, places declared World Heritage Sites, cities. All the spaces that an audiovisual producer is looking for will be found in this country ”.

The second is the human talent. “It is an industry that has more than 50 years of experience. In this sector there are more than 50 companies with pre-production, production, post-production, dubbing, sound issues, equipment rental, recording studios. This helps to guarantee the highest quality content internationally, ”says Villegas. A developed infrastructure that is needed to shoot these series, reality shows, movies, music videos.

The third key, says Villegas, is the government incentives. “We have one of the most structured film industry promotion policies in the region, said by neighboring countries, strategic allies, partners who ask how Colombia has done it.”

Since 2003, with Law 814 of that country, different incentive schemes have been created that benefit international producers who want to film different projects in Colombian territory. And as of 2012, the aforementioned Law 1556 is in force.

Ecuador has investments in Colombia with the realization of productions for the country such as MasterChef.

“The incentives were a gateway for Teleamazonas to make productions in Colombia and receive a benefit of 35% of the investment made. This has to do with negotiations with taxes, ”says Villegas.

One of the obstacles in Ecuador, he adds, are the restrictions on advertising and marketing that come from other countries. “It is not necessarily possible to carry the product totally made in Colombia, but a requirement and obligation is to develop content, especially advertising in Ecuador”, as established in the Organic Law of Communication.

The BPO sector includes the performance of services for other countries such as contact centers

The sector Outsourcing of services generates more than 690,000 jobs in Colombia, of which 280,000 correspond to contact centers. This industry is characterized by being a generator of massive, formal and young employment. It is estimated that 80% of the employees in this sector are in the 18 to 28 age range. In addition, 67% of the workforce that is part of the industry corresponds to women.

“Today, the sector contributes to the Colombian GDP (gross domestic product) with 2.8%. Before we didn’t even appear on the map. This has to do with the good work that is being done, which is reflected in the trust of national and international companies and customers. Even in the pandemic, we managed to maintain ourselves by keeping jobs, training staff in ICT (information and communication technologies) and soft skills, expanding services and generating new vacancies to meet international demand, “said Ana Karina Quessep, Executive President of the Colombian Association of BPO.

Industry figures show that, during 2020, while this country lost 3 million jobs and experienced a 6.7% drop in its GDP, multinational companies from contact centers, which account for 70% of the industry, generated close to 30,000 new jobs and grew at a rate close to 20%.

“The articulated work that is being developed between the public sector and private companies is key so that today Colombia has managed to consolidate itself as one of the best environments in the world for the development of BPO operations. From Bogotá, we continue to bet so that new international companies in this industry can take advantage of the competitive advantages that the city offers and contribute to the economic and social development of the capital ”, says Isabella Muñoz, executive director of Invest in Bogota.

Aspects such as economic stability, the solidity of the industry and the scalability of operations appear as the most prominent in Colombia in the Offshore BPO Confidence Index 2021 report.

The index is the result of surveys of about 100 managers of BPO companies, who rated their level of confidence in various categories, such as political and economic stability, government support, security, real estate market, availability of multilingual talent and strength of the industry, among others.

Colombia appears in the first place of the index, followed by India, Bulgaria, South Africa and El Salvador. (I)