Recently, Auxis CEO, Raul Vega, sat down for an interview with Nearshore Americas about what’s happening in the nearshore space for their new Faces in the Crowd section.
Specifically, Raul was asked about what the future holds for both Auxis and nearshoring, and what’s it going to take for those that might want to enter into the nearshoring space. Below is a quick summary of the interview:
1. What’s the most important lesson you have learned about working in the nearshore space?
After 25+ years working in the shared services industry, the advantages of nearshoring versus Asia-based models are very evident. The strong performance culture that I just mentioned can be achieved much easier when you are working under the same time zone, close geographical proximity and strong cultural affinity versus when you are not.
2. What are your core priorities for Auxis going forward?
Our priority is to continue driving innovation and automation to ensure our Nearshore Operation keeps scaling effectively while driving annual growth rates of at least 20%.
Our key service lines to drive this growth include Accounting Outsourcing, IT Managed Services , Robotics Process Automation (RPA) and Cloud Computing.
3. You joined the board of Humantelligence last year. What is your view on the role of AI in the nearshore?
I think that in order to stay relevant and compete, nearshore providers will need to continue moving up the value chain. AI should be a key part of that evolution, but we are still several years out from that being a realistic component for most organizations. Many organizations are still struggling to leverage much more basic technologies such as RPA. They need to master these before even thinking about AI.
4. What advice would you give to people wanting to move into the nearshore?
You need to have a clear strategy in place before moving forward. You need to know WHY, WHAT and HOW. Without having clear answers to these questions you will likely struggle more than you should during the journey. Executive alignment and proper expectations are critical for success.
I recommend you check out our recent study, A Deeper Exploration of Shared Services in Latin America, to gain real-world perspectives of the state of the nearshore industry.
In addition, as obvious as it may sound, business executives should keep in mind that not all countries in Latin America are true nearshore destinations to support the US. For example, countries such as Argentina, Chile and Brazil are more than seven hours away from any city in the United States, and for that practical reason they are not true “nearshoring” alternatives. English proficiency can also vary drastically from country to country, and from that perspective Costa Rica continues to be the top country in the region with over 50 shared services organizations supporting their North American operations from San Jose.
