Latin American Association of Services Exporters (ALES)
Definition
Latin American Association of Services Exporters (ALES)
The Latin American Association of Services Exporters (ALES) is a regional industry group founded in 2008 that promotes Latin America as a global destination for outsourced services. It connects roughly 35 public and private institutions across 17 countries, coordinating data, conventions, and trade promotion so member economies can compete for IT, BPO, and knowledge-services contracts.
ALES, known in Spanish as Asociación Latinoamericana de Exportadores de Servicios, operates as a non-profit umbrella body. Its job is to position the region as a credible alternative to Asian outsourcing hubs by aggregating statistics, harmonising methodology, and giving smaller national associations a louder collective voice in international markets.
Membership is institutional, not corporate. National chambers, sectoral associations, and government-linked trade promotion agencies sit at the table, which means ALES speaks for thousands of services firms rather than any single vendor. The model resembles other regional alliances such as India’s NASSCOM, which similarly aggregates IT-BPM exporters under one banner.
By design, ALES is policy-leaning. It supports services trade liberalisation, talent development, and the visibility of Latin America in forums tracked by the World Trade Organization, where commercial-services exports are negotiated and benchmarked.
How it works
ALES runs three coordinated workstreams: a regional data system, an annual convention circuit, and a promotional pipeline that targets buyers in North America and Europe. Each workstream is delivered through member associations, with ALES providing methodology, branding, and cross-border coordination.
The data backbone is SRIAM, the Regional Information System for Methodological Harmonisation, launched in 2014. SRIAM consolidates services-export statistics, sector mapping, and investment insights drawn from member countries, helping buyers compare destinations on a like-for-like basis. According to UNCTAD’s Trade-in-Services Statistics Information System (TiSSTAT), standardising services-trade data is one of the weakest links in global statistics, which is why regional systems like SRIAM matter.
The convention circuit, running since 2011, rotates through member capitals. Buyers meet vendors, governments showcase incentives, and ALES publishes outputs that feed back into SRIAM. The third workstream — promotion — packages this material for foreign investors, often in partnership with national investment-promotion agencies.
| ALES pillar | Launched | Function |
|---|---|---|
| SRIAM data system | 2014 | Regional statistics, methodology, investor briefs |
| Annual convention | 2011 | Buyer-vendor meetings rotating across member states |
| Member network | 2008 | 35+ institutions across 17 Latin American countries |
| Sector coverage | Ongoing | IT outsourcing, BPO, KPO, shared services |
Funding mixes member dues, sponsorship, and project grants from multilaterals such as the Inter-American Development Bank, which has a long record of backing services-export initiatives across the region.
Examples
Argentina’s Argencon chamber, Costa Rica’s CINDE investment-promotion agency, and Colombia’s ProColombia are among the better-known ALES affiliates. Each one feeds national data into SRIAM and hosts ALES-aligned activity within its borders. CINDE, for instance, has helped place Costa Rica on the Tholons services-locations index since the mid-2010s, citing the country’s bilingual talent pool as a draw for nearshore BPO.
Mexico is another anchor market. Through AMITI and the Mexican IT Industry Association, ALES has supported the country’s positioning as a USMCA-aligned nearshore hub for U.S. enterprise buyers, especially after pandemic-era reshoring conversations gathered pace around 2021.
Uruguay’s tech-services exports, profiled regularly by the country’s Uruguay XXI agency, are frequently showcased at ALES conventions as an example of a small economy punching above its weight. The country’s software-services exports topped USD 1 billion annually in the early 2020s, according to Uruguay XXI reporting, and ALES has used the case study in regional briefings.
Colombia’s contact-center sector, anchored in Bogotá and Medellín, is a fourth example. With Spanish-language coverage of U.S. Hispanic markets, Colombian operators have grown nearshore voice-services contracts steadily, and ALES has highlighted the segment in joint promotion with ProColombia.
Related terms
- Nearshoring: outsourcing to a nearby country, which is the core value proposition ALES sells to North American buyers.
- Business process outsourcing (BPO): the broad services category ALES members compete in.
- Information technology outsourcing (ITO): software development and IT services, a major ALES sector.
- Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO): higher-value professional services covered by ALES.
- Shared services and outsourcing (SSO): a delivery model many Latin American captives use.
- Contact center: the dominant export channel in countries like Colombia and El Salvador.
- Foreign direct investment (FDI): a key metric tracked by ALES member agencies.
- Offshoring: the broader practice ALES positions Latin America against Asian competitors within.
FAQ
Who founded ALES and when?
ALES was founded in 2008 by a coalition of Latin American services-export associations and national trade agencies. The goal was to give the region a unified voice in global outsourcing markets.
How many countries does ALES cover?
ALES covers 17 Latin American countries, from Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south, with about 35 affiliated public and private institutions sitting under its umbrella.
What is SRIAM?
SRIAM is the Regional Information System for Methodological Harmonisation, launched by ALES in 2014. It compiles services-export statistics and investor information across member states so buyers can compare destinations consistently.
Is ALES a government body?
No. ALES is a non-profit regional association. Its members include government-linked promotion agencies, but the association itself sits in civil society and is funded by dues, sponsorship, and project grants.
How does ALES compare to NASSCOM?
Both are regional umbrella bodies promoting services exports — NASSCOM for India, ALES for Latin America. ALES is smaller and federates national chambers, whereas NASSCOM directly enrols thousands of Indian IT-BPM firms.
Which sectors does ALES promote?
ALES promotes IT outsourcing, business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing, and shared services. Contact-center voice work and bilingual back-office support are the most visible export lines for many of its members.
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