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Betting on Distributed Agile in Mexico

Betting on Distributed Agile in Mexico

Between the buzz around cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and blockchain, there’s an avalanche of new technologies that businesses want to leverage to stay competitive. This race to the top is creating demand for specialized skills.

Even in Silicon Valley, technical talent is a scarce resource. This scarcity of talent has led more than a third of businesses to invest in resources abroad to bridge the skill gaps in cybersecurity and AI alone. This demand for specialized skills is only poised to accelerate. Enterprises, more than ever before, need development partners who can pioneer and architect technical solutions in today’s digital landscape.

Rethinking the way teams work

Distributed agile is the new normal. Major companies continue to expand their operations around the globe, and distributed development is a smart, strategic move for most. The key is to structure development and delivery in a way that makes sense for the business, in a region that makes sense.

Where should companies go?  We believe that collaboration and cultural compatibility are important factors when selecting a partner whose work will have a deep influence on how a company operates and delivers. This is what makes nearshoring—the practice of transferring development and delivery operations to a country nearby—so appealing.

Advantages of working with Mexico

A recent Gartner study outlines why Latin America has the most appeal as a nearshore option for American businesses. Mexico, in particular, has one of the biggest and most established IT and business service markets in Latin America and continues to expand rapidly. Nearshore proximity, multilingual talent, and cultural compatibility make for significant advantages.

“You’re starting to get the second or third generation of technologists who have experience building scalable products. And it’s not only the talented people that are there, but the ones we can attract to live there.” 

  • Time zone compatibility:

With projects that run on tight deadlines, every hour counts. Our Mexico-based engineers are able to hold daily standups with our clients in New York, Florida, and California, at a time all parties are comfortable with.

  • Cultural compatibility:

Our Mexican neighbors are in-tune with the social, cultural, and business trends that are valuable to American businesses. This presents a significant advantage when working on products built around media, sports, or consumer brands, and clients experience pleasant interactions when ideas and concepts translate well culturally.

Wizeline CEO and Mexican-American entrepreneur, Bismarck Lepe, is a strong proponent of the benefits that Mexico offers American tech companies. “You’re starting to get the second or third generation of technologists who have experience building scalable products. And it’s not only the talented people that are there, but the ones we can attract to live there.”

Beyond tourism and tequila

Mexico is Latin America’s second largest economy with a $1.26 trillion GDP, placing it as the 13th largest in the world. It has become a very attractive market for foreign investors. Why?

Government support

The Mexican government has created policies to allow venture capital investment to expand. In 2006, Mexico’s corporate legal framework was updated to enable Mexican companies to effectively consider venture capital (VC) investment.

The Mexican government has created institutions specifically intended to favor entrepreneurship through education and incentives, and the creation of private equity and VC funds, such as the National Institute of Entrepreneurship (INADEM).

Investments are being made by funds with Mexican and foreign capital across a broad spectrum of industries, from consumer and financial services to technology, healthcare, e-commerce and consumer goods.

With roughly half a population under twenty-seven years of age, Mexico is tech-savvy and hungry for innovation. 

Technical talent

More notably, Mexico has a young population. With roughly half a population under twenty-seven years of age, Mexico is tech-savvy and hungry for innovation. The university system is producing more than 130,000 engineers every year. In short, Mexico is a hotbed of technical talent. Wizeline recognized this early on and has since been bridging the gap between the amazing talent in Mexico and the market opportunities to help companies worldwide.

The Wizeline way

At Wizeline, our clients categorize our services as nearshore, but they describe us as a consulting partner. Why? Wizeline brings a wholly different experience to our customers than our competitors.  We focus on developing and hiring high-potential talent in Latin America, so our engineers are empowered to tackle business problems and consult directly with clients. We encourage adopting an entrepreneurial mindset when problem-solving.

Relative to established nearshore firms like Softek, Wizeline is heavily betting on its people. We offer multi-disciplinary and multi-national career development that is unrivaled by our competitive set.  We have established career tracks for engineers as individual contributors as well as people managers. We use our own Academy resources to foster career growth for all employees, whether its improving language skills or public speaking prep for a big conference.


Sarai Castañeda

Posted by Sarai Castañeda on August 30, 2018