Cuuumbia! Colombia's technological pace attracts companies like Amazon or Google



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Recently, Amazon, the second US-based company to break the $ 1 billion mark, opened an operations center in Colombia, joining the list of other tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Netflix, which have their eyes riveted – and its operations – in this country.

Colombia is considered by these large companies as a place of potential technological growth because of attractive characteristics such as the skilled labor force, its strategic location and the technological development of the country. [19659002] And this is not for less. According to figures from ProColombia, a Colombian entity promoting foreign direct investment, non-traditional exports, tourism and the Country brand, about 12% of foreign investment projects are software and services activities. In addition, the technology segment represents 1.57% of GDP, which was 0.6% for 2016, according to this entity.

A few weeks ago, Amazon opened its new service center in Bogotá Latin American Market.

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"We opened this new site in Bogotá because we recognize that the region does not only have people. with talent, but also Colombians are service-oriented, which is one of Amazon's core values, "said a statement sent by Amazon. Amazon has been in this country since 2017 with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) customer service platform.

Several experts agree that the country has many attractions that interest many large companies.

Human Talent

For Amazon, the skilled workforce is one of the key factors for which they opened their services.

"We are excited to invest this year in Bogota and work with the highly skilled people in Colombia, who will bring great experience and pbadion for their work," said Tom Weiland, vice president of global customer service from Amazon.

"Amazon customer service is dedicated to meeting the needs of our customers day and night, I could not be happier to launch this site in Colombia and become part of our global network," he said. added.

The company already has 400 badociates for the AWS service and already offers hundreds of jobs on its website www.amazon.jobs.

Diego Ávalos, director of Netflix's original international productions, who is behind successful productions such as La Casa de Papel, La Casa de las Flores, Elite and Salvadorian District, among others, say that human talent is the # 39, one of the greatest attractions of this country.

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"We have invested in Colombia both in terms of talent and content, either by productions or by originals, on the side of films and series, and we continue to believe and to bet and be really hungry for Colombian stories and Colombian talent that brings us diversity in our productions in various genres and stories, "Ávalos said.

Avalos, Netflix's investments in original productions multiplied by five compared to 2015 and Colombia is an "essential element" of this growth. According to him, the international audience has "an appetite for Colombian content", both in authorized Colombian productions and in original coproductions for Netflix.

Strategic Location

Another advantage of Colombia is the fact that being located in the center of the continent, as this becomes a competitive advantage for large companies wishing to establish in the region, said Paola García Vice President, Investments at ProColombia.

"It is obvious that being at the center, the question of services and goods is positive since we are at an equidistant point (…) we have no capital to more six hours from Bogotá, for example, "said Garcia.

And a country of nearly 50 million people is also attractive, as it has the third largest population in the region after Brazil (210 million) and Mexico (130 million). This according to Giovani Stella, Google's general manager for Colombia, Central America and the Caribbean.

"Colombia, in terms of its population in Latin America, is the second largest market in the region after Mexico" and Brazil, which according to Stella, is part of the Hispanic market.

"It is a country with a very good level of education and a lot of talent, with a good general education and that is why many companies, beyond the only technological sector, here, nor service centers, or customer service, "he said.

Google has offices in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile, and Colombia, according to Stella, is the third largest country in the region of Brazil and Mexico, for "its potential, for the size of its economy and for all the possibilities offered by Google (to develop) in the country ".

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Ease of doing business

Colombia appears in third place in the indexed region Doing Business of the World Bank, which measures the ease for foreign companies to do business in a country. This country is behind other countries like Mexico and Peru in this ranking.

"What does it mean? We have no barriers to foreign direct investment," says Paola García, of Pro Colombia. "We give the foreign investor the status of national company, we do not discriminate, we do not say: if he is a foreigner, he fulfills these conditions." He is a national, he does not Is not competing under the same conditions as a local company. "

Critics say that this could affect the performance of Colombian companies in competition with large foreign companies, Garcia says that this situation increases the competitiveness of domestic companies.

Ávalos, the executive of Netflix, points out that, thanks to the government of Colombia has received "open hands", the productions in this country are increasing.

"This year, we launched our first three stages in Colombia and just after the announcement of Wild District, Always Witch, Green Border, the series of reggaeton singer Nickky Jam, toured Colombia, and we announced two other special comedy programs, "added Ávalos.

"For companies that are It's easy to establish operations here," says Google's Stella, "as it works in a relatively stable political context.This is also a benefit of Colombia over the other countries in the region, "he adds.

In addition, Colombia has different development axes that are not limited to Bogotá.

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So, for example, according to data from Pro Colombia, the Silicon Valley company, Jumio, an identity verification and mobile payments online company, established its first headquarters in Latin America in Barranquilla, Medellin, in Accenture's high-tech center, and will focus on training professionals and developing technologies, as well as in Cali, a Luxembourg company According to a press release, Etix Everywhere will build a Level IV Data Center,

In Colombia, foreign investment has increased from $ 5.030 billion (first half of 2017) to $ 5.797 billion over the same period in 2018. Pro Colombia ensures that technology, which has had an investment of $ 1,850 million over the past 10 years, is expected to experience stronger growth in the medium term, with more than The multinationals have their eyes fixed on Colombia. [19659036] window.fbAsyncInit = function () {
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