What You’ll Learn in This Nearshore CX Location Scorecard
Most CX sourcing decisions are effectively made before anyone boards a plane. By the time a shortlist reaches the executive team, the delivery geography has usually already been chosen — and that one decision constrains everything after it: how often leadership can visit, how much of the working day overlaps, how fast an escalation resolves, and how long a trained team stays in the seat.
Increasingly that geography is being chosen in the Americas rather than across the Pacific. Peter Ryan, Principal Analyst at Ryan Strategic Advisory, has tracked the shift closely, and his conclusion runs in three parts: the nearshore is winning enterprise favor, Mexico is winning within the nearshore, and Monterrey stands out within Mexico.
Inside you get the analyst commentary in full, the PACES Framework — Amalga Group’s own five-criterion scorecard for any delivery location — Monterrey scored against it with the reasoning and source shown, a side-by-side comparison of nearshore Mexico against the Philippines and India on flight time and time-zone overlap, the three score bands and what each one means for your next move, and a 90-day evaluation sequence with a named owner per phase.
Six Things This Scorecard Will Help Your CX Leadership Team Do
Score Any Delivery Location on Five Defensible Criteria
PACES — Amalga Group’s framework: Proximity, Affinity, Connectivity, Experience, Site — scored 1 to 5, out of 25, with three named bands.
Compare Nearshore Mexico Against the Philippines and India
Flight time, time-zone overlap, same-day visit feasibility, and language coverage, side by side.
Tell Lived Cultural Affinity Apart From Trained Cultural Affinity
Why thirty years of cross-border trade and media produces something a training program cannot.
Understand Why Monterrey Keeps Coming Up
An independent analyst’s account of the longest-serving contact center destination in Mexico.
Pressure-Test What a Provider Tells You About Its Own Site
The Site criterion is scored on the facility, not the city. Here is what to look for when you walk the floor.
Run the Evaluation in 90 Days
A three-phase sequence — define, shortlist and score, visit and pilot — with a named owner for each.
Peek Inside the Guide
Table of Contents
Intro: The decision is made before the site visit
Section 1: The shift toward nearshore
Sidebar: What the proposed FCC onshoring rules would change
Section 2: Nearshore vs. offshore — a direct comparison
Section 3: Why Mexico, specifically
Section 4: The case for northern Mexico
Section 5: Monterrey — built for CX
Section 6: The PACES Framework — Amalga Group’s five criteria, and how to score them
Section 7: Scoring Monterrey against PACES
Section 8: Amalga Group’s dual-site nearshore model
Section 9: Your 90-day nearshore evaluation sequence
Close: Score us, then come walk the floor
Method and its limits
The shift toward nearshore
Show transcript
Hey, I'm Peter Ryan, principal analyst at Ryan Strategic Advisory.
If there's one thing I enjoy chatting about, it's the extent to which the nearshore in the Americas has become such a major factor for success in customer experience.
The research that I'm doing is showing that there are so many enterprise CX decision makers in the United States and Canada that are favoring the nearshore, and why not?
The reality is that nearshore is so much easier to get to. It is no longer a fact that you need to spend literally up to 12, 15 hours on an airplane to get to your CX delivery point. You can spend perhaps three, four hours at most.
Now, equally speaking, the cultural and commercial affinity that gets brought to the table by agents in the nearshore is one of the biggest factors for success and why so many enterprises are looking for BPO partners that are located in this region.
I'd have to call out the issue about modern network connectivity. The destinations in the nearshore have been investing significantly in what it takes to make sure that interactions are seamless from a communication standpoint.
And then there is the established factor about how well the nearshore does in driving great interactions. The reputation of the nearshore is significant. And this is why so many different individuals are going back into the nearshore from an enterprise standpoint, finding partners that can deliver from the nearshore, and are looking to try and expand their footprint in this region.
The most recent research that we conducted amongst enterprise buyers of CX Services indicates that in both the US and Canada, the American nearshore is the number one most favored region when it comes to looking for a partner.
Amalga Group is at the heart of the nearshore discussion, and it's important to recognize that as an established and growing provider, Amalga Group is embracing all aspects of the nearshore.
Why Mexico, specifically
Show transcript
Well, there's no two ways about it. The American nearshore is truly at the heart of all CX discussions when it comes to US and Canadian enterprise decision makers. At the same time, the nearshore is a very, very big region. So what's a decision maker to do? Where do they start?
Well, one of the things I always counsel my clients who've asked this question is: start with Mexico. Now look, the reality is Mexico in 2026 is the most favored nearshore destination for both American and Canadian CX leaders.
Mexico has proven itself as a destination of choice for a number of reasons. The commercial and cultural affinity that Mexico brings to the table is truly second to none, as are the elements around the relationship it has from a trading standpoint. The growth of trade and commerce between Mexico, Canada, and the USA has only grown over the course of the past 30 years. And this has been crucial in terms of integrating not just the corporate culture, but also the culture when it comes to media, when it comes to an understanding of individual nuances and language. This all is very important in terms of cementing relationships from Mexico agents with enterprises and their consumers in the US and Canada.
The Amalga Group has embraced Mexico for servicing consumers in the US and Canada, and that's a very wise decision. From their site in Mexico City, they are in a great position to be able to recruit enterprise clients that are interested in looking to try and leverage the nation's capital. They've also planted their flag in northern Mexico, but more on that in a second.
The case for northern Mexico, and Monterrey — built for CX
Show transcript
When it comes down to Mexico, there's some amazing locations and some amazing regions from which to deliver CX services. But I would say that probably the one that's got the closest affinity with the United States and Canada is going to be northern Mexico. And that just makes sense. Agents and their families are consuming North American media on a regular basis. So many individuals from northern Mexico travel in and out of the United States on a very regular basis as well. It just stands to reason that there's going to be a great commercial and cultural affinity between agents in northern Mexico and those individuals that they're servicing in North America.
At the heart of northern Mexico on the eastern side of the country when it comes to a CX angle is the city of Monterrey. I've visited Monterrey several times and I can say to everybody watching that this city is truly on fire when it comes to customer experience management. Customer service is in the DNA of those individuals in Monterrey. It might be the longest-serving destination in Mexico when it comes to contact center management from a nearshoring perspective.
I love the fact that the Amalga Group has embraced Monterrey as a fantastic base of operations for nearshoring in the US and Canada. With a facility that's modern, compliant, ergonomic, and welcoming to agents and the clients who are working with the Amalga Group, there's so much that can be recouped from a value proposition in Monterrey for enterprises that are looking for a nearshoring partner based in this very dynamic city.
Now the reality is Monterrey has a legacy of contact center delivery. It's got a modern infrastructure. The accessibility is fantastic getting in and out of Mexico into major commercial centers across the US and into Canada. These are factors that simply can't be beat.
The Amalga Group has embraced Mexico, it's embraced the nearshore, and it's embraced Northern Mexico and Monterrey. These are all factors that are contributing to the growth of this very exciting emerging BPO.