Business: Itel-BPO Takes Granada

Jamaican contact center and back office services provider Itel-BPO Solutions has taken full control over Granada Corporation, a bilingual customer service provider with a focus on work-at-home delivery.

The acquisition was finalized on December 29, 2017, with Granada’s 200 people being folded into Itel’s Nearshore operations. Currently, all of Granada’s agents are work-at-home in the United States, with the company’s management support teams working from Monterrey, Mexico.

“The whole work-at-home field is a big driver for becoming a major player in the field,” said Yoni Epstein, CEO and Founder of Itel-BPO Solutions. “We thought it necessary to be a part of that to further entrench Itel as the largest indigenous player in the Caribbean, as well as becoming a truly international player with unique differentiators that allow us to compete with the big boys.”

Exact financial details of the purchase were not disclosed, but Epstein revealed that the merger increases Itel’s overall business by 35%.

ItelBPO was founded in the Montego Bay Free Zone in 2012 with just 7 employees, growing to a headcount of more than 1,000 by the end of 2017. With the acquisition of Granada, the company now employs 1,250 people across 4 countries.

Integrating Mexican Operations

Yoni Epstein – “We wanted to further entrench Itel-BPO as the largest indigenous player in the Caribbean, as well as becoming a truly international player.”

With new presence in Mexico, the plan, according to Epstein, is to eventually expand Itel-BPO’s client base within the national market.

“As we have grown, we have had more demand for bilingual service, which we can’t really provide from Jamaica,” he said. “Mexico will certainly provide the opportunity to do this as more deals come in, as well the stateside opportunity of bilingual services from home.”

Granada started as a bilingual services company, so has a fair mix of English to Spanish, with the core 70% of services in English and 30% in Spanish.

“Monterrey has a high availability of college educated talent and a pretty significant call center presence, so the differentiator for Granada has been our ability to leverage Monterrey talent to manage US-based resources,” said Felix Serrano, CEO of Granada Corporation. “This has been very appealing to the available talent in the city and we have employees who have stuck with us since the company as formed.”