This week, Latam-Outsource contacted Rosalba Reynoso, CEO of the software development company Blue Trail Software. We sent her a few questions about her company, which has offices spread out across Latin America. With the demand of software outsourcing booming in Latin America, Rosalba Reynoso gave us an insider’s peek into the inner workings of the Latam IT outsourcing phenomenon.
Latam-Outsource: Thank you so much for accepting this interview. Could you please start by introducing Blue Trail Software to us?
Blue Trail Software is a leading IT development company with offices in the USA, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia.
We provide pools of skilled engineers and developers to our clients to help them grow their IT development power while efficiently controlling costs. Our solutions are agile and scalable, and we work with businesses of all sizes, from seed-funded startups to global players such as Samsung. We developed IoT apps, AI systems, providing solutions for companies in all sectors.
Our USA-to-Latam business model includes a nearshoring model with our dominant presence in Mexico, and a multi-shoring model with our development teams spread out all across Latin America. Our teams are composed of talented juniors, seasoned seniors with higher management skills, and IT veterans who oversee global operations. We’re international and very driven by innovation.
Latam-Outsource: Can you tell us how Blue Trail Software was created?
I co-founded Blue Trail Software in 2012 with my husband Rémi Vespa. Rémi comes from the IT industry. I come from the service industry. We combined his visionary ideas on business development and my experience with human resources to create a new kind of Pan-American IT company.
Before Blue Trail Software, Rémi provided IT outsourcing solutions in Latin America for US companies, yet he quickly realized that he needed his own offices in the region to provide a solid, reliable solution to his clients. I stepped in. I provided the know-how and the logistics to set up operations in Latam. We designed the perfect development and human resources strategy for an IT company that we called Blue Trail Software. I’m in charge of global operations since we launched.
Blue Trail Software opened its first Latam office in Tepatitlan de Morelos, a Mexican city near Guadalajara in Jalisco. Setting up in a small town was a bet and a strategic choice. A bet because we were not sure if potential employees would accept to move to a small city for a job. A strategic choice because we did not want to engage in salary wars against a growing competition in newtech hotspots. We made the right choices: Our employees love where they work, and we stand away from the rapid inflation that affects major Mexican metropolitan areas where most of our competition is based.
Between 2013 and 2015, Blue Trail Software opened more offices in Argentina (Buenos Aires and Tandil) and Uruguay (Montevideo). Our aim with a Latam coverage was to diversify our access to pools of talents. Thanks to this multi-shoring strategy, we’re extremely resourceful when it comes to committing large teams to tight deadlines.
Latam-Outsource: We read everywhere that the Latam IT outsourcing market is booming. What’s the status on Blue Trail Software? Is the company feeling this trend?
You’re absolutely right, the demand for IT outsourcing in Latin America is exploding. Blue Trail Software is riding the wave and growing exponentially right now. We were prepared for this, we’re weathering this boom with control and confidence.
There are many development axis we are considering at the moment. First, we may want to focus our short-term development on Mexico. Not that we want to move out of other Latam countries, but our US-Mexico nearshoring strategy is what feeds our multi-shoring model, so we need to secure this axis.
With the galloping demand for engineers and developers on the Mexican market, we cannot afford to lose track of Blue Trail’s development in other countries to secure our access to wider pools of talents.
Blue Trail also serves European companies, but full-blown international development is not on the table at this moment. We must secure our leadership on the Latin American region, then we’ll see.
The Latam IT boom is turning the region’s tech companies into marketing bulls. We now have increased financial means, and the growing press interested in the rise of the Latam IT market is giving us a boost of self-confidence. We’re now looking to exit our comfort zone by targeting all industrial sectors through augmented marketing operations. As examples, we consolidated our sales process, refined our sales pitch, and cross-channeled our communication.
Last but definitely not least, in the global IT race, innovation is key. For us, this means staying on top of the industry’s trends by hiring the right people. Our clients usually have top-notch CTOs, engineers, and developers, you definitely can’t fool this crowd, we have to deliver quality from top to bottom, or else we can’t last long in this fast-paced market. You can monitor technology news, market stats or industry reports all you want, you can’t beat the flair of a talented, dedicated team.
Latam-Outsource: Since you mention talents, what’s your feedback on the state of education and technology in Latin American countries?
Blue Trail Software has always worked with graduate students, offering internships with competitive pays and post-diploma hiring opportunities. Technology education is new yet massive in Latin American countries.
Yet, as a mid-size player on the Mexican market, we still find it a tad difficult to develop long-lasting ties with major IT schools. Those schools were primarily developed to fill the North-American offices of global IT companies with highly-skilled developers, but show little interest in broadening their network to small and midsize operators like us. This defeats the idea of a healthy free market, but I believe this will evolve.
Latin America countries are also suffering from their outdated IT education system. Too often, their IT education programs don’t fit the short-term, ever-changing growth logics of the IT market. The startup spirit is not strong enough, Latam policy-makers are still way more interested in inking deals with global players for large and wide impacts, neglecting some key dynamics of the tech industry along the way.
We are considering the idea of developing our presence in smaller cities closeby regional IT schools. These regions are usually ignored by the global players, there is an opportunity for us to build more constructive partnerships with technology schools there. That’s our philosophy: When facing an issue, get creative.
Latam-Outsource: What do you think makes Blue Trail Software so different on the market today? Why should investors place their bets on you?
We’re not actively looking for investors at the moment. We have a healthy balance sheet and grew bootstrapped since day one. Since inception, out intention was to create a company that, while relying on a lucrative process to exist, holds a greater purpose.
At Blue Trail, our greater purpose is to fight social exclusion. A major goal of the company is to bring more women in the tech sector. We managed to reach a modest 1/3 ratio of women employees. Our expectations are higher, but attracting more women in the tech industry is a global challenge that requires time and dedication to be addressed properly.
Blue Trail Software also sponsors local associations where we have offices. We offered computers to schools and sportswear to soccer teams. We believe in the “Think global, act local” motto, and while it’s better to teach a man how to fish, we also always believe in direct action for short-term relief.
On a wider scale, we thrive to become an organization that runs on the empowerment of our employees. We’ve worked hard on developing an innovative organization model based on the value-driven autonomy of our employees. We nurture a startup-like atmosphere both structurally and culturally. And it works! The work environment at Blue Trail Software is stimulating professionally and fulfilling socially. I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved so far.