Brazil exports US$ 1.4 billion and ends in fifth place
Gazeta Mercantil 04/17/2009
Brazil will have to keep a continuous pace of improvement should it intend to compete abroad in the outsourcing market of information technology (IT) and business process services (like human resources, logistics and call centers) - also known as "information technology and business process offshore outsourcing" (ITO-BPO) Such an effort has a strategic sense, since this market grows at vigorous rates. Only between 2004 and 2008, the composite annual average of its expansion in the world was 40%, compared to the 3% of increase registered in the domestic markets for those services in the same period. In 2008 this sea of opportunities for the export of services amounted to US$ 70 billion in the five continents. The share taken by Brazil was US$ 1.4 billion. And this pie trends to grow. The estimates for providing IT offshore outsourcing amount to a market of US$ 101 billion in 2010.
These are some of the conclusions of the survey of the international consulting company AT Kearney, requested by the Federal Government through many entities, like the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT) and the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), the National Development Bank (BNDES), the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) and the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI), and the Studies and Projects Funding Body (Finep), in a partnership with the Brazilian Association of Information Technology and Communication Companies (Brasscom). So many sponsors for the cause of attraction of IT services to the Country makes sense. The Brazilian companies have been gaining relevant positions in the international setting: in the ranking of the ATKearney consulting company, whose worked data are from 2007, the Country climbed five positions since 2005, when it was in the tenth place in the list. According to the survey, the best chances of the Country concern a differentiated destination position, specialized in market niches for large clients of sectors that demand great specialization. Examples of such are the financial and government sectors. The main Brazilian differentials, in the assessment of the consulting firm, besides the strong domestic market, are the governmental incentives aimed at the sector, cultural compatibility and time zone convenient to the United States and Europe, besides a good standard of intellectual property rights.