Venezuela crisis, Colombian wages and AI - a reality check for LATAM BPO & GBS
From Good Morning BSS World by Wiktor Doktór
January 7, 2026 · 42 min · Episode 141
About this episode
The episode discusses the impact of Venezuela's crisis and Colombia's wage increase on the BPO and GBS industry in Latin America.
In this episode of Good Morning BSS World , I return to Latin America for our regular monthly update on the BPO and GBS industry, and I am joined once again by my good friend and LATAM expert, Mauricio Velasquez. Based on most recent Venezuela’s crisis our conversation begins with a timely look at this country – a country that historically played a significant role in regional shared services and IT operations, and which may or not once again attract attention in the coming years. Without diving too deep into politics, we focus on business realities, talent availability, and the long-term potential of Venezuelan professionals both at home and across the region. We then move to one of the hottest topics impacting nearshoring decisions today: labor costs. Mauricio shares his on-the-ground perspective on Colombia’s recent 23% minimum wage increase and explains why this is a major challenge for BPO and GBS providers operating in the country. We discuss how this shift may influence investor decisions, regional competition, and geographic diversification across Latin America. The discussion also touches on AI adoption, bilingual talent availability, and the evolving balance between…
People in this episode
Host: Wiktor Doktór
Guest: Mauricio Velasquez
Topics covered
- Venezuela crisis
- Colombian wages
- AI adoption
- BPO industry
- GBS market
- labor costs
- talent availability
Keywords
- Venezuela
- Colombia
- BPO
- GBS
- minimum wage
- AI
- talent
- nearshoring
- automation
- service delivery
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: BPO, GBS
Places: Venezuela, Colombia
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