COLOMBIA - Economy

Oscar Bobadilla

Managing Partner, RSM Colombia

Bio

Oscar Bobadilla has more than 30 years in the consulting field. He worked for 12 years in one of the big four and has participated in several projects locally and internationally in strategy, IT, project management, innovation, shared value, change management. He has been Managing Partner of RSM Colombia since 2013. He participates as technical leader directing the consulting strategy for Latam and is a member of the global innovation group.

TBY talks to Oscar Bobadilla, Managing Partner of RSM Colombia.

What role can RSM play for companies navigating the current regulatory and tax landscape?

The government is making many changes to the regulations, and we help our clients—and even those who aren’t our clients—understand how these changes in the regulations could affect them. For instance, in 2020 we had some 20 webinars explaining every single normative changes so they could make decisions involving employees, tax benefits, and home working procedures. We have different service lines to support them in the best way, for example business model redefinition—modifying the way they conduct business currently or support their main operations. Our services also include outsourcing non-core processes.

What do companies stand to gain from partnering with RSM?

We have clients in different industries, including oil and gas, telco, pharmaceutical, education, manufacturing, and software development, among others. By consulting with our centers of excellence we can understand the changes that industries would face. Some of our services had to be redefined, and we had to create new services to support our clients in these changing times. We are working together with the global network to develop new services including technologies such RPA and data analytics that provide more value to our clients. Many services used to be face to face; however, with the restrictions on mobility, we have platforms to securely exchange information or documents with clients. This represents a major change in the way we used to provide our services, especially in auditing, assurance, and BPO services.

What is your assessment of the Colombian BPO ecosystem, and how do you expect it to develop as a regional hub?

Many companies want to settle in Colombia due to the strategic geographical location, the quality of professional human resources, lower labor costs compared to other countries, and its technological infrastructure. The government encourages and promotes the creation and growth of BPO companies, and Colombia is therefore increasingly becoming the preferred destination for BPO service companies.