London, 25 February, 2008 Research by independent market analyst Datamonitor reveals that Mexico will continue to be a location of choice for offshore contact center services*, but will face considerable regional competition from other countries in the region going forward.

In an address on March 4, 2008 at the IP & Contact Forum International Congress in Mexico, Peter Ryan, head of contact center outsourcing analysis with Datamonitor, will outline the key emerging trends in the Mexican contact center industry, pitched against other Latin American offshore contact center destinations.

According to Datamonitor, Mexicos value proposition will be driven by high quality call center agents**, multiple urban centers in which to house facilities, in addition to relative ease of travel from the US. It will also be ongoing demand from the American Hispanic market that fuels investment in customer care from Mexico.

Ryan also notes that new locations such as Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica and Panama could compete against Mexico for a share of the burgeoning US bilingual market.

There is no mistaking the need for contact center agents that are fluent in both Spanish and English, states Ryan. Not only is the US Hispanic market growing in sheer size, but its level of household income is also increasing at a rapid rate. The capacity to service end-users in their mother tongue has gone from a luxury to a necessity, and leveraging Latin America in this regard has become a priority for contact center executives. The question is whether Mexico is able to handle this level of demand over the long term, or will it filter into other parts of the region, says Ryan.

For an advance copy of the presentation or to arrange an interview prior to, at or post the event, please contact Datamonitors Press Office. (contact information follows below)

Ends

Notes for Editors:

*Offshore outsourcing: outsourcing destinations located abroad. Outsourcing entails allowing another company to handle specific needs of the primary firm, which that firm cannot or does not want to do. This allows companies to focus on their core competencies and contract out other types of services.

**Call Center Agent position - Agent positions are desks from which call center agents make and/or receive telephone calls to internal or external customers. This is taken to imply that the call in question involves communication between the agent and the customer. Multiple agents can use the same agent position during varying shifts in a day.

Peter Ryan is head of contact center outsourcing analysis at Datamonitor. He brings with him a wealth of experience in the technology sector, gleaned through strategic marketing work with the Bank of Ireland Treasury & International Banking, Gateway Computers, and NFO Prognostics. His areas of research expertise include:

Datamonitor is the world's leading provider of online data, analytic and forecasting platforms for key vertical sectors. We help our clients, 5,000 of the worlds leading companies profit from better, more timely decisions. Through our proprietary databases and wealth of expertise, we provide clients with unbiased expert analysis and in-depth forecasts for seven industry sectors: Automotive & Logistics, Consumer Markets, Energy, Financial Services, Healthcare, Retail and Technology. Datamonitor maintains its headquarters in London and has regional offices in Frankfurt, Hyderabad, New York, San Francisco and Sydney. See www.datamonitor.com for further details.