Colombia's BPO Playbook: Tackling Turnover and Seizing Growth with Carlos Duque

Explore the evolution of Colombia's BPO sector with Carlos Duque. Learn about its growth, main challenges, new hubs, and the impact of AI and foreign investment

Colombia's BPO sector is no longer a cost-saving play; it has successfully pivoted to a high-value, knowledge-based industry that is now a critical pillar of the nation's economic growth.

This analysis explores the profound evolution of Colombia's Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, tracing its journey from a cost-competitive contact center hub to a strategic partner for global business. We spoke with industry expert Carlos Duque, Sales Manager at Human HR, to dissect this transformation, examining the macroeconomic impact, the critical role of government incentives, and the new development hubs emerging outside of traditional centers.

We also tackle the sector's primary challenges, talent turnover and skill gaps, and explore how leaders are leveraging AI, automation, and nearshoring to secure Colombia's position as a regional powerhouse for high-value services.

Interview with Carlos Duque

How has the BPO sector in Colombia evolved in recent years?

In recent years, Colombia has consolidated its position as one of the leaders in Latin America’s BPO industry. The country has evolved from being a cost-competitive destination to becoming a regional hub for high-value-added services, driven by bilingual talent, digitalization, and operational stability.

The maturity of the tech ecosystem—together with the adoption of analytics, CRM, and business intelligence tools—has enabled companies to offer more integrated solutions in customer experience, technical support, sales, and back-office services. Today, Colombian BPOs not only provide services but also design transformation strategies for global clients.

Macroeconomic weight and growth: The BPO industry in Colombia has built a significant base in both employment and value creation. Official estimates place it at over 750,000 direct jobs and around 3.5% of GDP, growing nearly 6% annually in recent cycles—evidence of resilience even amid mixed macro conditions.

From cost competition to value competition: The advantage is no longer just labor cost; time-zone proximity to North America, growing bilingualism, and tech adoption (cloud, analytics, AI) have elevated the value proposition from “contact centers” to CX/EX, specialized back-office, fintech ops, content moderation, RevOps, KPO, and analytics services.

Boom in nearshoring: LATAM continues to see expansions in delivery centers; regional projections exceed US$17 billion in 2024, growing annually. Colombia stands out for its talent pool, time zone, and tech ecosystem.

Clusters and specialization: Competitiveness is supported by innovation ecosystems (e.g., Medellín) and free trade zones dedicated to exportable services with preferential tax regimes.

“Colombia went from selling hours to selling specialized operational capacity: omnichannel CX, analytics, and automation. This has allowed us to improve SLAs and NPS and attract higher-value programs from North America.”

What are the main challenges facing the sector?

Colombia’s BPO industry is at an interesting stage of maturity but also faces structural challenges that directly affect productivity and business sustainability.

One of the biggest is high employee turnover, especially at operational levels. Many workers see BPO jobs as temporary rather than career paths, causing constant knowledge loss and disrupting process continuity.

Additionally, skill gaps remain—particularly in digital skills, bilingualism, and specialized customer service—which limits companies’ ability to handle higher-value operations.

Another challenge is the lack of formal professionalization of BPO roles. There are still gaps between how fast technology evolves and how quickly education adapts to prepare talent with technical, analytical, and managerial skills.

Finally, productivity suffers from rigid work models, low automation of repetitive tasks, and short or reactive training processes.

The future of Colombian BPOs depends on their ability to turn talent into a strategic advantage, professionalize operational roles, and evolve toward more sustainable, knowledge-based models.

Key challenges:

• Turnover and experience: High turnover at operational levels erodes productivity (short learning curves) and increases total costs (recruitment + training). About 63% of the workforce is young (18–29)—a scalability advantage, but it requires career paths, continuous upskilling, and retention plans from day one.

• Skill gaps (bilingual and digital): Persistent gaps in functional English, CRM/BI tools, QA, content policy, trust & safety, and data literacy limit the move toward KPO and knowledge-intensive services.

• Infrastructure and hybrid models: Stronger networks, security, and BCP are needed for work-from-home/hybrid operations (SD-WAN, VDI/DaaS, endpoint management, compliance, productivity monitoring).

• Regulation and non-salary costs: Labor/tax changes and local asymmetries can raise delivery costs unless leveraged through free trade zones, cross-border telework, and export incentives.

Mitigation playbook:

1. In-house academies + partnerships with SENA/universities to create bilingual, job-ready pipelines.

2. 6–9-month career paths with skill badges (QA, WFM, T&S, RevOps).

3. Automation of repetitive tasks (RPA/AI) to improve WFM and AHT.

4. Total compensation models that reward retention (quarterly vesting bonuses, micro-promotions).

What has been the government’s role in supporting the BPO sector?

The Colombian government has been a key ally in strengthening the BPO sector, mainly through employment promotion policies, tax incentives, and bilingual training programs.

Initiatives such as Colombia Productiva and ProColombia have attracted international investment, while free-trade-zone incentives and training programs in tech and service skills have boosted competitiveness.

The challenge now is to maintain agile collaboration between the State, companies, and academia to adapt public policy to new service models based on AI, data analytics, and automation.

Key government supports:

• Investment and export promotion: ProColombia and Invest in Colombia facilitate country positioning, soft-landing, and sector intelligence; free trade zones offer a 20% preferential tax rate for service-export operations.

• R&D and training benefits: Companies can access a 30% tax credit on R&D and specialized training projects—useful for corporate academies, applied AI, and platform modernization.

• Bilingual and youth employment programs: The SENA–BPrO partnership and local initiatives (e.g., Barranquilla) strengthen the talent pipeline.

How to leverage it: Set up operations under a free-trade-zone entity, classify service exports, certify R&D/training projects for tax benefits, and partner with SENA/universities to scale bilingual talent.

How have foreign investment and expansion impacted the industry?

Foreign investment has been key in scaling operations and positioning Colombia as a regional hub. Multinationals have found a favorable environment to expand customer service, logistics, and shared services centers thanks to the country’s strategic location and skilled workforce.

International capital inflows have also boosted public–private partnerships and technology transfer. From experience leading BPO expansions across LATAM, foreign funding accelerates operational efficiency models with measurable returns in productivity and customer satisfaction.

Key dynamics:

• Technology transfer and global standards: FDI doesn’t just fund facilities—it brings methodologies, compliance, WFM systems, and tech stacks (QA, speech analytics, bots, RPA, T&S), driving productivity and upgrades to KPO.

• CapEx/OpEx financing for modernization: Cloud contact centers, automated QA, security, and data management require investment; local, multilateral, and corporate funding instruments support cloud migration and Zero-Trust security.

• Confidence signal: The combination of talent, incentives, and local ecosystems has attracted new players and expansions of existing ones.

FDI correlates with improved NPS, AHT, and FCR, fewer errors, and faster time-to-competence after adopting analytics and bots.

Are new BPO development hubs emerging outside of the main cities?

Beyond Bogotá and Medellín, cities like Bucaramanga, Manizales, Pereira, and Barranquilla are emerging as competitive BPO hubs. Their success stems from young talent, university infrastructure, and attractive operating costs.

These new hubs help decentralize employment, enhance national coverage, and diversify service offerings. Companies are betting on multi-city models with distributed, resilient operations ensuring continuity and scalability.

Regional dynamics:

• Bogotá and Medellín (mature): Bogotá retains critical mass; Medellín is now the second largest hub, with 19.4% of BPO employment, supported by its innovation ecosystem and STEM talent.

• Caribbean Coast and Coffee Axis (growth): Barranquilla leads bilingualism (~6% of BPO employment, ~20,000 workers); Bucaramanga, Pereira, and Manizales stand out for costs, universities, quality of life, and retention.

• Localization logic:

  1. Universities + bilingual/tech talent programs.

  2. Digital infrastructure and BPO-ready real estate.

  3. Local incentives and quality of life (key for reducing turnover).

Multi-site strategy: Combine hub (Bogotá/Medellín) + spokes (Coffee Axis/Caribbean/East) for redundancy, BCP, and skills segmentation.

How is the sector adapting to global trends like AI, automation, and nearshoring?

Colombian BPO companies are transitioning from traditional outsourcing to operational intelligence models, integrating automation, AI, and advanced analytics. This enables predictive and personalized solutions for North American and European clients, reinforcing the nearshoring trend.

The pandemic accelerated this shift: today, the goal is not just cost reduction but value creation and agility. The most successful companies combine technology and human management—keeping people at the heart of service, empowered by data and digital efficiency.

Key trends:

• AI-assisted automation (not replacement): The competitive edge lies in human-in-the-loop setups—bots/IVAs, agent copilots, speech-to-insights, and automated QA—freeing talent for complex or high-value interactions.

• From AHT to “value per interaction”: Metrics are shifting toward CSAT/NPS, CES, LTV, assisted sales, revenue-per-hour, and product insights. AI turns the contact front into a driver of product improvement.

• Tiered nearshore offerings: Portfolios now combine multilingual CX, regulated back-office (finance/insurance), content safety, e-commerce ops, RevOps, and analytics-as-a-service. U.S. demand values time zone alignment, compliance, and Spanish–English bilingualism.