Wayne Sinclair, president of the Global Services Association of Jamaica (GSAJ), outlined that Jamaica’s outsourcing sector is at a crucial stage in its development and evolution and urged all stakeholders to take good and decisive steps to ensure its continued longevity and prosperity.

Sinclair alluded to the Deloitte 2024 global outsourcing survey, which found that the digital workforce consisting of AI-enabled workers and automation bots is emerging as a distinct talent. “Of surveyed executives, 83 per cent are seeking service providers that leverage AI as part of their outsource services and/or can demonstrate seamless integration with legacy AI systems or what they call AI outsourcing, and 20 per cent are already developing strategies to manage these digital workers, and of course competition from different geographies around the world is steadily ramping up,” he said.

He said that the GSAJ has taken note of these disruptive and transformative developments in the industry. “As a result, we recognise that it is imperative for the sector to provide services that move higher up the value chain while maintaining the quality of the more traditional services that form a foundation of the excellent reputation that we hold in the global marketplace and that has built up over the many years that we have been in Jamaica.

Sincair emphasised that through the responsive and innovative initiative from the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, a working group comprised of GSAJ members, JAMPRO, and Special Economic Zone meets on a weekly basis to advance the strategies that are required for the sector’s continued growth and development. “The working group has developed an action plan centred around three key areas or three key pillars: marketing and promotion, workforce and skills development and just deeper public-private sector engagement.

“This action plan has some 35 different solutions…so from a marketing standpoint, we seek to redefine Jamaica’s value proposition to be more in step with its global market trends. To this end, inbound events, such as the GSAJ conference, and other sector linkages will continue throughout the year,” he added.

He also outlined that the GSAJ has identified specific outbound missions like call centre week or customer contact week, which is scheduled for June in Las Vegas.

This is one of the largest conventions in the sector, with over 8,000 annual attendees and over a thousand companies participating, he said.

He expressed that through the tremendous efforts on the part of the working group, the GSAJ members can access a 20 per cent discount on the cost of event passes.

Sinclair said from the standpoint of workforce and skills development, the restart of the Global Services Skills Council will also see companies in the sector working closely with the relevant public sector agencies to establish sector-specific skills development programmes to address emerging trends.

“This follows some very successful programmes that were implemented earlier between 2019 and 2024. The global services sector, including Jamaica’s contributions, is on a trajectory to make remarkable growth and transformation. So as we navigate this evolving landscape, it’s crucial that we embrace technological advancements, foster innovation, and focus on value creation to ensure sustained success and competitiveness,” he added.