Software developer iTexico is one of the many companies that has found nearshore success in Guadalajara. Based in Austin, Texas, with another office in Silicon Valley, it maintains not just an IT delivery center but a true, collaborative partner in the Mexican tech hub as it specializes in the mobile app world and increasingly moves into work based in the cloud.

In just a few years since opening up shop in 2010, the company has become a major player in the industry and maintains partnerships with the likes of IBM, Microsoft, and Appcelerator. Guillermo Ortega, COO and co-founder of iTexico, recently sat down to talk to Mexico IT about his company’s success, their future plans, and what makes Mexico and Guadalajara different from other nearshore locations.

“It’s not a coincidence that we are in Guadalajara,” says Guillermo Ortega, COO and co-founder of iTexico

Mexico IT: You have made quite a name for yourself in just a few years. What has been the key to your quick success?

Guillermo Ortega: We started with a lot of energy, and part of the formula that has been very successful is to work tightly with the teams in Mexico and the United States. This is not a U.S. company sub-contracting a Mexican delivery center. We are the same company. Besides that, we have been very flexible with our customers and very agile in the way that we deliver the service. We don’t have a unique formula to do this, but we like to hear what our customers have to say, and that is something the U.S. market appreciates a lot. And of course, we just put in a lot of work. We took this company from zero to 120 people in less than five years. That can only be done with a lot of passion and hard work.

What is special about the IT world in Guadalajara. Is the city something you that has helped you succeed so quickly?

Absolutely. It’s not a coincidence that we are in Guadalajara and have our deliver center here. The local IT world is very well developed and has been growing since the late ’60s when Kodak, IBM, Motorola, and the first guys came here to start developing the ecosystem. So Guadalajara is a very unique region in Mexico. It’s an educational hub, so the talent is available.

Getting the right talent is a key factor in this business because it’s all about talent. We are facing some challenges because there are a lot of new players in the ecosystem — it’s getting a little bit crowded — so we are in a constant fight for the best talent available. But even with that reality Guadalajara is still a very nice spot in the country to start an IT delivery center. It’s really a very nice city, and you can get talent from all over the country — and in our case, from all over the world. We have people from India, Croatia, the United States, Cuba, a lot of countries. It’s easy to attract people to the city because it’s just a great area of Mexico.

So, yes, more companies are coming, but more talent is coming, too. It’s the joint work between the industry, local and federal governments, and academia. There are many engineering programs here and the universities are doing a good job in recruiting new engineers and increasing the attendance. These three things — that combination — is a very good thing for the region.

You call outsourcing to Mexico “Nearshore Plus.” What does that mean?

Everyone puts nearshore locations in the same basket, and it shouldn’t be that way. Because it is not that way. The way we can interact with our customers by being in Mexico is much easier and smoother than going anywhere else in Central or South America.

What is going to happen if someone in Houston wants to go to Buenos Aires? It would take a long time. And with all due respect, going to Santiago, Chile, is like going to Madrid or London. You are on the other side of the world. The only difference is you are talking north-south instead of east-west. Whereas here, right now it is 3 o’clock in the afternoon in Guadalajara, and I can be in California tonight. It’s a two-and-a-half-hour flight, and that makes all the difference.

That’s the reason we’re calling it “Collaboration Plus.” It’s very easy for the teams here to go and work directly with the customers in the U.S. — if needed. Of course, most of the time the people are here, but this is technology. Sometimes you need to shake the hands of the developer.

Also there are the visas. With a TM visas, if you want to have a developer for a long period of time in your office in the U.S., that’s also very easy unlike some other areas in Central America or South America. Mexico is unique.

How do you see iTexico expanding in the next five years?

We are growing like crazy, so we will need to find a way to keep rolling and keep things under control. We are investing efforts into processes and at the same time keeping an agile approach to our customers and projects. It’s a very interesting challenge. But we are not just hiring any people. We really need to hire the right people who will be build the base of the company we want to be in the near future. So every single hire is very, very important. It’s strategic, I would say. For instance, I’m interviewing every single person that we are making an offer to because I’m interested in only bringing the best people to iTexico.

We are going to grow more. Next year is very important because we’re getting more customers, the sales team is doing a great job in the U.S., and people are starting to understand all the benefits of working with Mexico. To be honest, in the past, “Mexico” and “software” in the same sentence was not very common. But now things have changed. The U.S. companies are more familiar with the concept of high-technology software and Mexico. It makes a lot of sense. If you see the map, the itineraries for flights, the talent we have, how the city is, and how well people live here, you start to understand why Mexico, why Guadalajara, and why us.

Are there any innovative or particularly notable projects you’ve been working on lately?

I wouldn’t pick only one type of application. I don’t have a favorite. Every single project seems to be more exciting than the previous one. That’s one of the nice things about this job.

We have worked with the clothing industry and retail to build apps for wardrobe administration. And we have been working to make it easier for companies that provide supplies to new buildings — things like mattresses, curtains, rugs and everything they need. For healthcare, we are helping companies to build administrative systems for hospitals and maintain the clinical record for patients.

We are also working now in the Internet of Things field. We have a client based in Boulder, Colorado, that is working on a device that measures the level of gas tanks. We are building the whole platform — not only the mobile side but also the backend and the web. Here in Mexico, in the residential areas, we use stationary tanks, and we never know when we are running out of gas unless we see the tank meter. This whole platform is to avoid running out of gas for the user, and from the company’s point of view, it will improve the logistics for the distribution of the gas. You have all the power in your smartphone, and this company has investors in Colorado and Mexico, so it is a bi-national startup.

We are starting to see that combination more and more: U.S. companies partnering with Mexican entrepreneurs. That’s sort of new. I’ve been in this business for 20 years, and I’m just starting to see that.

Photo: Hector Quiñonez Villa