Remembering a Business Process Outsourcing Pioneer

 

Jamaica, currently, is described as the Caribbean’s most experienced Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market. The Government of Jamaica aims to increase the sector’s employment to 70,000 jobs by 2025. In 2023 employment numbers were just over 60,000.

The island today as over sixty companies in the global services or BPO sector, with most located in Montego Bay, Mandeville, Kingston and St. Catherine.  

Patrick Casserly, outsourcing pioneer, died in January 2025 at age 58, passing after a bout with cancer. Casserly founded eServices Group International.

On April 5, 2000, eServices  launched into business in Montego Bay with 35 workers who did back-office processing for the call centre's sole client. The company was headquartered in Montego Bay but later opened call centres across Kingston and St Catherine.

Casserly expanded the company to a workforce of 4,500, before selling it to Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) for a reported US$85 million. The businessman started out in 1997 as a data entry operator at an insurance company starting his own firm after three years. .

Under Casserly eServices reached 1,500 employees within three years, generating annual revenue of US$80 million by the time the company was sold.

Today, new sectors in BPO in Jamaica include finance, IT-enabled services, online digital services, and other in-demand fields.

The island continues to give birth to BPO companies which impact other regions. Another homegrown company in the sector is itel International, now present in the wider Caribbean, Latin America, U.S., and Canada.

The company was founded in 2012 in Montego Bay, Jamaica in 2012 by Yoni Epstein. It is considered the largest homegrown Caribbean business process outsourcer. Today, itel has over 4,500 team members and operations in 9 countries.

The company provides contact center services across a number of verticals, including Fintech, Healthcare, Energy; Travel, Logistics and Hospitality; Retail and eCommerce; and other areas.

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