Whether you are looking for Spanish-speaking talent or want to scale business by building offshore, creating teams in Latin America can present an excellent opportunity for growth.
Offshore operations are gaining traction for many reasons. However, it’s important to recognize the logistical groundwork that goes into building successful teams in these regions.
Without the right IT logistics playbook in place, getting a LATAM team up and running can be a challenge, and equipment snags can considerably slow business growth along the way.
Here, we’ll walk through the key considerations IT leaders should keep in mind when setting up LATAM teams for lasting success.
Offshore team building is having a big moment as companies embrace the benefits of having a diverse global footprint. From lowering costs to increasing talent, here’s a quick rundown of the top reasons companies look to LATAM and beyond.
It’s no surprise that budget objectives are a key driver for growing offshore teams. According to Deloitte’s 13th Shared Services and Outsourcing Survey, businesses across the globe are focused on transforming in ways that make their operations less costly and more adaptable.
Operating in regions like Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, and beyond can certainly save companies cash. One reason is the lower cost of living, which results in competitive salary benchmarks compared to Western countries.
“These teams can be a lot more affordable than their Western colleagues. Cost saving could equate to 20-30% annually when compared to the pay of local Western talent,” says Ahmad Zakaria, Chief Operating Officer at Firstbase.
Many Western-based businesses turn to LATAM for expansion because of the breadth of talent and resources available.
“The sheer quantity of available talent in regions like LATAM makes hiring much faster compared to the U.S., where it can take longer to find the right person,” says Zakaria.
Additionally, many companies specialize in business process outsourcing (BPO) and have already recruited and vetted large pools of talent. This allows businesses to onboard new employees quickly when the need arises.
Time zone differences can be a game-changer.
For example, depending on business needs, your company might want to hire team members who can supplement support teams in U.S. time zones where your existing employees are stretched too thin. Alternatively, you may want to expand beyond your existing Western support hours to provide your customers with 24/7 support.
When your new team members can leverage Spanish language skills, the benefits are often multiplied, allowing you to communicate effectively with a broader customer base.
Cultural knowledge of LATAM can also be a tremendous benefit if you require intimate knowledge of local markets and customs—it all depends on your company’s priorities.
So…where’s the catch? Great question. While there are many attractive benefits to establishing globally distributed teams, there are also drawbacks that have the potential to derail your offshore goals. This is particularly true when it comes to factors that impact IT budgets and logistics.
In the West, currencies like the U.S. dollar are relatively stable from day to day. The price of buying a laptop will not vary dramatically throughout the year, or from one state to another. The same cannot be said in LATAM.
“Currency is quite volatile in LATAM, particularly in countries like Argentina. Prices can fluctuate drastically—for example, a device that costs $2,000 today might cost $10,000 tomorrow,” explains Zakaria.
While there is no way to control currency fluctuations, it’s critical to work with informed partners who can help you navigate real-time currency challenges.
Importing and shipping efforts are often hampered in LATAM by complex rules and regulations.
“Procurement challenges are significant in LATAM,” explains Neil Fennerty, Senior Strategy Operations Manager at Firstbase. “Markets like Brazil have high import barriers, making equipment importation costly. Additionally, LATAM has its own set of complex tax rules that complicate shipping across states.”
Provisioning offshore employees can quickly become the Achilles heel for IT orgs, who can’t scale teams in LATAM with the efficiency that business needs require.
It’s a harsh reality that crime is more prevalent in some LATAM regions, and the proper precautions must be taken.
“LATAM is known for being a high-risk region for shipping valuable cargo, such as laptops. It’s crucial to work with a reliable vendor that ensures the safety of the equipment,” says Fennerty.
For example, if you ship a laptop in Brazil and the courier gets robbed, who takes responsibility?
At Firstbase, we use a heavily vetted vendor list and insure all client equipment cargo transports in Latin America—including popular markets like Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina—where bulk shipments are often transported in armored vehicles.
A partner with deep local expertise will grant peace of mind by using reliable couriers who ensure (and insure!) that your device investments are protected.
An added complication in LATAM is a lack of cohesive vendors, which means more touchpoints are required between the logistics team and the end user receiving the equipment.
“In LATAM, the logistics landscape is much more fragmented. Shipping nationally often requires managing multiple courier networks, with minimal tracking visibility,” says Fennerty.
This is a unique challenge compared to offshore locations like India, which despite its vast size has a more sophisticated infrastructure.
Be prepared to manage a large network of couriers in LATAM, which can sap valuable IT time and energy.
The alternative to these challenges is to work with a remote equipment lifecycle solution like Firstbase who is dedicated to handling the complexities of LATAM logistics on your behalf.
At Firstbase, we offer end-to-end device management that takes the headache of LATAM procurement, provisioning, and planning off your plate.
Before you can provision your offshore employees and begin working with Firstbase or another partner, your company will need to determine your hiring method:
“It depends on what you’re trying to achieve, but if your goal is simply offshoring labor—like hiring a team of engineers or support professionals—this is where Firstbase, combined with an employer of record (EOR) or Professional employer organization (PEO) service, can help,” explains Fennerty.
Similarly, Firstbase offers a solution that allows you to bypass the need for setting up an entity, which can be an incredibly long and expensive process.
“If you want to avoid setting up an entity, you can leverage the Firstbase infrastructure in LATAM to handle procurement and distribution seamlessly,” says Fennerty.
Once you have your hiring practice in place, you can partner with Firstbase to start getting your LATAM team the equipment they need, when they need it.
Secure Stable Pricing
It might be routine to shoot off a vendor email asking, “Hey, can you ship a laptop out today? What's the price?” At Firstbase, we add stability by quoting a set price for the laptop style you select and locking that price for six months, with no unexpected changes.
Pre-Enroll Devices
When you buy equipment from vendors today, you need to enroll each device in a Mobile Device Management (MDM) system such as Apple Business Manager or Windows Autopilot. At Firstbase, we take care of that for you, ensuring devices are set up and ready to go when they arrive at your employee’s door.
Deliver Equipment Efficiently
Thanks to our established and trusted courier network, we can set realistic shipping window estimates even in a fragmented region like LATAM. Whether it’s a five-day turnaround in Mexico or eight days in Brazil, the burden of estimating and adhering to a delivery schedule is off IT’s shoulders.
We send WhatsApp updates to offshore employees and coordinate with multiple vendors on your behalf to ensure equipment moves efficiently from point A to point B.
Fix Damaged Devices
When an employee’s laptop breaks down in LATAM, the repair process is on us. Any laptop that you purchase through Firstbase comes with optional warranty services like AppleCare. If issues arise, we'll manage the warranty for you.
Conduct Equipment Retrieval
When employee turnover occurs, recovering devices can be a tedious process if you’re not familiar with it.
“When employees leave, we handle retrieving devices across different regions of LATAM. Our team coordinates pickups, follows up diligently to ensure devices are returned, and brings them back to our warehouse,” says Zakaria.
Our processes help control your company’s investment in new laptops, reduce cash flow strain on your IT budget, and allow used devices to be cleaned up and redeployed to new hires with ease.
Long after your offshore team is up and running, it’s important to make sure you’re continually optimizing your processes for device management—and Firstbase is by your side to help.
To further combat volatile pricing in LATAM, we offer flexible solutions that enable you to scale up as business demands. While Firstbase cannot control device pricing, we’ll help you navigate changes with confidence.
“Through our export service, we can advise customers on when it makes more sense to export rather than buy locally. Additionally, we allow customers to source and ship products to us if their team finds better prices elsewhere," says Zakaria.
We also work with you to understand your headcount forecasts so we can manage your inventory appropriately.
“If you say, ‘I want five devices in my warehouse at all times,’ we will manage that minimum for you so laptops are always available,” says Zakaria. “Otherwise, your IT team has to manage inventory in an Excel spreadsheet. The Firstbase platform gives you the ability to set it and forget it.”
The ability to set-and-forget IT logistics can be the deciding factor in the success of offshore teams.
When you try to scale in LATAM on your own, IT organizations often bear the brunt of execution. Countless hours can disappear into shipping and customs efforts, while security is compromised due to a lack of local storage and device retrieval systems.
Investing in a platform like Firstbase will add valuable ROI on time, labor, warehousing, and logistics so you can scale LATAM teams with confidence.
Equipping LATAM teams has never been easier. Learn how Firstbase supports teams in over 100 countries and counting.