Outsourcing to Virtual Assistants: Latin America vs The Philippines
A few years ago when large companies started outsourcing their customer service departments, the first destination was always India.
This country represented three important aspects to take into account:
1. It was an English colony so English was its second language.
2. There was a lot of competitiveness in the labor market, so if a citizen wanted to stand out, they must prepare themselves strongly to apply for the best positions in the growing companies, this made the candidates be specialized agents.
3. The costs that customer service agents represent could be a 4th and sometimes 5th part of what would be paid to an employee in the US.
Certainly, every time someone had thought of outsourcing in an American company, they could count on India being the best option.
Then, more competition came to the outsourcing experts.
The Ever-Changing Outsourcing World
Now, Filipino virtual assistants have become very popular due to the growing outsourcing industry in the Philippines.
Actually, the Philippines became one of the most popular outsourcing destinations after India.
This is because Filipino VAs are affordable and fluent in English, but again, there are new opportunities to outsource.
Latin America has become the jewel of the continent because of its growing development in the area of BPO.
Reviewing the last 10 years, we can how much countries as Colombia have grown.
A lot of countries in Latin America have created opportunities for American companies, especially in the BPO sector.
This year, above all, we can see exponential growth in the outsourcing industry.
American companies needed to reduce costs and maintain an excellent service to their clients so they started to expand the outsourcing processes in Colombia, more than any other year.
The result: more growth for the economy, more jobs, cost reduction, and maintenance of companies during the economic crisis that generated the pandemic.
Thinking about it, we consider it is important to highlight other characteristics to take into account when hiring VAs.
Specifically why a Latino virtual assistant is the best option compared to a virtual assistant in one of the popular destinations to outsource: the Philippines.
Latin American Culture is Closer to US Culture
Given the proximity of Latin America to the US and Canada, many Latino virtual assistants have had the privilege of traveling, studying, or even working in those countries.
In many cases, they had direct contact with the culture. In addition, there is a large number of US companies that do business in Latin America.
Furthermore, many companies that hire VAs have Latino clients and there are some 50 million Spanish speakers in the US! These factors contribute to Latino virtual assistants being a better option for some US businesses and entrepreneurs.
Filipino and Latino Virtual Assistants Work in Different Time Zones
THIS IS THE BIG ONE!
The time difference may not be a problem if you hire a virtual assistant to work a night shift.
However, if you need to communicate with your virtual assistant during the day, the time difference could be an obstacle.
The Philippines are in the UTC+08:00 time zone as are China, Singapore, and parts of Australia.
This means that the time difference between the Philippines and the United States can be 13 hours (for example if you’re in Miami) or even 16 hours (Los Angeles).
So if you want to hire Filipino VAs, you should think about how you can schedule meetings or calls, organize reports and even agree on delivery dates.
This means that if there is a problem, your VA will have to wait for a time to contact you.
Instead, Latino virtual assistants will be able to communicate with you at the same time and avoid unnecessary waiting.
This really does make a massive difference. One of the main complaints about working with VAs from the Philippines is that the time difference makes things difficult.
Latino virtual assistants are fully bilingual
Latino virtual assistants are completely bilingual, this means that you can be confident that there won’t be language barriers.
And also, because of the number of Spanish speakers that exist in the US, it is much more likely that a virtual assistant that speaks in Spanish and English will work better for you than a virtual assistant that speaks in Filipino and English.
Outsourcing When Environmental Conditions Get in The Way
The Philippines has a typhoon season from June to November every year and can be a hard situation for its residents.
This year they suffered the consequences of Typhoon Vamco which is recorded as the worst typhoon in the last 45 years.
Needless to say, it is a rather distressing situation for the residents…
Unfortunately in typhoon season, the job of Filipino VAs becomes much more difficult due to failures in electricity.
Fortunately in Latin America, despite not being free of setbacks, these situations aren’t as common as in the Philippines.
Where to hire Latino virtual assistants
If you have decided to hire Latino virtual assistants, at There is Talent you will find well-qualified virtual assistants from Latin America. Our virtual assistants have extensive experience with clients in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, among other countries. We have virtual assistants for realtors, marketing, sales, management, and much more. All our VAs are fully bilingual and best of all work in the same time zone!
If you are looking for the best virtual assistants in Latin America, do not hesitate to contact us.
