The missing link

I just travelled from Brazil to India via Germany then back to Brazil via the UK. Quite a trek, but it was worth it to catch the annual NASSCOM India Leadership Forum in Mumbai. This is an annual conference hosted by the Indian hi-tech trade association NASSCOM [www.nasscom.in], focused on both ITO and BPO.*View more articles by Mark Kobayashi-HillaryÂ Though this conference is based in Mumbai and has always been quite India-centric, it has matured in the past few years to be one of the most important global events focused on outsourcing. Over thirty countries were officially at the event presenting the case for their region and promoting global outsourcing in general, including wealthy developed nations such as Canada and the UK.But there was no Brazil.I hunted all over the event for a Brazil stand. I looked around for someone on the agenda who might be talking about the two million or so IT workers in Brazil. And I found nothing.Eventually I did find someone who mentioned to me that there was a representative of the Brazilian government there at the event. I managed to track down a phone number and found that AndrÃ© Limp, an officer from the trade promotion agencyÂ ApexBrasilÂ was at the event.I had a conversation with AndrÃ© about the lack of support for one of the biggest outsourcing events in the world. [You can watch our conversation on video here.AndrÃ© explained: "We are in the middle of a low-profile strategy, because of the federal government transition that began at the end of October last year and will continue until the end of February as key government posts are filled. In short, we are saving our bullets in terms of trade promotion right now."He is referring to the presidential election that took place towards the end of 2010 where the popular President Lula handed power to his preferred candidate Dilma Rousseff. Clearly the government posts have yet to settle down, so there was nobody on board to set up any delegation for an event in India during February. AndrÃ© did explain that they have a six-year support strategy that breaks into 2-year cycles with very specific targets, such as supporting major events or hosting trade and media delegations.On the one hand, it’s disappointing to now be working in Brazil and to then go to such a major event only to find there is no visibility at all. But on the other hand, I can see what AndrÃ© is saying. All countries go through these periods of political paralysis in the run-up to an election and in the months after – the United States is probably the worst example of this, as their election campaigns seem to start soon after the previous election finishes. I’m looking forward to seeing the ApexBrasil campaign ramping up in the months to come.*View previous Blogging from Brazil blogs by Mark Kobayashi-HillaryÂ

The missing link

Upcoming Events

Malaysian Shared Services and Outsourcing Week 2026

De-Risking SAP Modernization: Ensuring Data Integrity in Your SAP S/4HANA System

AI-Driven Invoice Automation with Basware’s Invoice Lifecycle Management

Avoiding Buyer’s Remorse in E-Invoicing Compliance

29th Annual Shared Services and Outsourcing Week Australasia

IntelliChief AP Automation: AI + Advanced ERP Integration for Performance, Confidence, and Value

Follow Us

Latest Webinars

From Transactions to Trust: Transforming AP, AR, and Communications into Customer Experience Drivers

The Power of Thinking Differently: Why Process Mapping Falls Short in the Age of Agentic AI

Smarter AP, Reduced Risk: How Medius uses AI to detect fraud and strengthen supplier engagement

Recommended

Egypt: The Next Country North American Shared Services Should Consider IT and Bu...

How Do Sourcing Objectives and Criteria Determine the Sourcing Approach ?

The Outsourcing “Conundrum”: Securing the Benefits You Expect

EP17 The critical link between digital transformation and GBS (Global Business S...

BPO = Business Process Outcomes [not Business Process Outsourcing]

5 Ways Your Business Process Management System Could Be Failing Your Back Office

"Parts Is Parts" - The Key to Differentiating Yourself

Tech Demo: Accelerating Invoicing to Overcome Workload, Speed and Regulatory Cha...

What Will Save BPOs?

Shifting to SaaS may not eliminate the “Technical Debt”

Offshore Engineering R&D Centers Will Continue to Flourish in Current Crisis

Play Nice, Outsourcing Providers. There will be life after COVID-19

FIND CONTENT BY TYPE

SSON COMMUNITY

ADVERTISE WITH US

JOIN THE SSON COMMUNITY

The missing link

Upcoming Events

Follow Us

Subscribe to our Free Newsletter

Latest Webinars

Recommended

FIND CONTENT BY TYPE

SSON COMMUNITY

ADVERTISE WITH US

JOIN THE SSON COMMUNITY