business – Spanish-English Translation

Translated by Alejandra Castaneda

This translation will by no means strive to exoticize the text as the reader is not searching for better cultural understanding of Latin American business. They require a domesticated text that will make them feel as if Canadian/American business professionals wrote it. The language used in the translated text will need to cater to business standards including a professional and informative tonal register. Nevertheless, since the text was originally an audible verbal exchange of words, the tone may also be conversational and less formal than a strictly written account of ideas.

Elaine and Luis

Elaine Ferreira, Latin American President of Altitude
Luis Terra, Commercial Director of Altitude Software in Latin America

Interviewer –- Elaine, what is the future vision for unified communications?

Elaine – Well, unified communications is a topic that has been talked about a lot in the past little while. In all of the conferences we attend it is a topic of great interest for people. Truthfully, there are many companies that have yet to start using unified communications, but they have is a lot of intention to do so. Look, there are various studies that indicate this is a topic present in companies’ investment plans in the next three years. Truthfully, the main point of unified communications is the idea of mobility, which in today’s world is present in people’s the day-to-day life and also in the Contact Centers. In fact, it gives them more productivity and allows them to work and perform operations “offshore” and other sorts of operations that do not exist there.

Interviewer –- Luis, What is the impact of mobility on unified communications?

Luis – Well, with respect to mobility and in terms of unified communications the impact is very high, considering that the mobile devices today have more and more capability to place applications of high aggregate value. They also allow the end clients to have voice access over IP or other kinds of communications. Companies that own unified communication channels that are free for clients are utilizing this as a form of contact. Consequently, I would say the impact is very high. This is a very very strong tendency of the market and increases the client’s ability to be in contact with the companies and the contact centers through the mobile devices. Nevertheless, there is much discussion over traditional telephones, but the purpose of additional communication channels goes along with the idea that mobile devices are going to be able to accept various communication channels.

Interviewer –- And what are your thoughts on the adoption of unified communications in Latin America?

Elaine- I see that it is starting strong in Brazil, immediately after in Mexico and some corporations, some companies have already adapted in Colombia, in Chile, and Argentina. Last year was a little difficult on a global level, but for this year we have heard of many companies that have already included in their budget working a little more in depth on mobility and unified communication projects.

So, we hope that this year the utilization of this kind of technology is more pronounced than in the past year.

Interviewer — Luis, What developments are you hoping to see in Mexico this 2010?

Luis – Well, Mexico is a country that was also very affected by last year’s crisis. This was not only in unified communications but in general terms. This year we plan on restarting all of the growth projects that had to be halted last year. Then, in terms of room for growth there is talk of between 10 and 20 percent, I believe we will be within this range if we recommence everything that was discontinued last year, as this is the tendency that has been observed even at this event. It has been noted that many of the halted projects have been recommenced and the formation of new projects focused primarily on unified communication. What I mean to say is that whoever already has partnerships with traditional contact centers will now be looking for the movement to or adoption of unified communications.

Valeria Perez

Interviewer – According to your active work in the field of social responsibility,
which story has satisfied you the most on a personal level?

Valeria – The story that has satisfied me the most on personal level has to do with the introduction of non-traditional profiles to the labor market. Particularly, a project dealing with the introduction of labor profiles that are not commonly available. It gave me a great sense of fulfillment, the project in and of itself and its evolution. It is a very difficult project because of its inherent characteristics enabling it to manage all of the underlying aspects in the labor profile introduction. The learning I took away from this project was substantial, including the knowledge to be able to create projects of social inclusion for people with disabilities or for the elderly or for single mothers or for others that are not habitually taken into account to carry out a tasks like that of a telephone operator at a contact center. In all honesty, on a personal level this was what fulfilled me the most.

Translated by Kyla Burke-Lazarus

The article is taken from El Mercurio, a newspaper from Santiago, Chile. The article is found in the “Economía y negocios” or the “Business and Economy” section of the paper. The article addresses the impact the earthquake, that shook Chile on February 27th, 2010, had on the Chilean economy. The article continues to weigh proposed plans to fund the reconstruction, and stresses the need for reconstruction. The ST is informative and persuasive, the text tries to convince the reader that tax increase are not necessarily the most beneficial way to raise the required money.

Source text: “Empresarios piden al Gobierno entregar plan de financiamiento y acelerar reconstrucción”

Employers call on the Chilean Government to Deliver a Financial Plan to Accelerate Reconstruction
Lina Castaneda and Victoria Reyes

To respond to the recent earthquake the Chilean government must now raise U.S.$9.3 billion. Whatever the plan to finance this large sum may be, it will have drastic implications for the economy. The union managers of banking, construction, mining, agriculture, and trade agreed that the final arrangements adopted should not rely n one source of funding but rather be as balanced as possible.

Representatives of various economic sectors gathered yesterday at the seminar, “Economic Projections: Solutions for Sectors,” organized by the Santiago Chamber of Commerce. It was agreed that the government should devise a financial plan that will accelerate reconstruction.
A major concern for the Agriculture Sector is how the funding plans will affect the strength of the dollar. “Unfortunately the days pass, and we continue to wait for a proposed plan. The uncertainty doesn’t help,” says Ema Budinic, manager of research at the National Agriculture Society (SNA).

The Treasury needs to finance about U.S.$ 2,500 million for the next four years. The various potential funding sources will have different impacts on relative prices, explains Alejandro Alarcon, the general manager for the Association of Banks. For example, suppose everything was financed with fiscal deficit, as a result the exchange rate would fall and interest rates would rise.

In the same vein, Javier Hurtado, head of research at the Chilean Chamber of Construction, explains that “if funds are raised by borrowing a lot of dollars internationally, the exchange rate would be negatively affected; if it is mostly local borrowing it will impact the interest rate, and if comes from tax increases, it will affect productivity. ”

Projections by sector:

Banking It’s projected that loans will increase by 10 % this year. For March, April and May, a negative Monthly Index of Chilean Economic Activity (IMACEC) is projected. This figure, which is measured by the Central Bank, aims to estimate the progress of the Chilean net production of goods and services during the period of one month and is an approximation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the short term. GDP for the first quarter is expected to be close to zero. An inflation of 3.5% has been calculated, with an investment growth of 15%, and a GDP of 4.5% for the year.

Mining Mining will grow by 6% this year, producing five million eight hundred thousand tons of copper and exporting U.S. $ 43 billion worth of materials. The price of copper is projected to be around U.S. $ 3.2 and $ 3.3 per pound.

Agriculture The current realized loss in this field is estimated at U.S. $ 760 million and future losses are expected to increase by 5%. The wine sector will fall between 8 and 10% and crops between 5 and 8%, due to smaller harvests and climate problems.

Industry This sector’s activity should grow between 1.5% and 2.5% over the course of the year. March will show a sharp drop in industrial production and will be the month hardest hit by the earthquake. Exports in March fell from U.S. $ 1.5 billion to 1.0 billion dollars.

Trade It’s estimated that the trade sector’s GDP will be 6%; investments will grow by 15%; and household expenditure by 4%. Sales will increase by 5% and employment by 2.5%. An increase in late fees in the earthquake-affected areas is foreseen. In any event, the South African World Cup should be beneficial to this sector.

Construction Due to the earthquake, housing costs are calculated to increase to U.S. $ 3,943 million and lost capital from stocks is anticipated to reach U.S. $ 20 billion. The sector will grow by 7.2%, even though industries will be affected by a lower income. Investments in reconstructions will enhance the infrastructure of the construction sector, this trend will continue to grow.

Tax Hikes: Not a Good Time

Not all trade unions firmly reject a possible increase in corporate taxes, but the consensus is that it is not a good time to do so.

In that vein, Alvaro Merino, head of research at the National Mining Society (Sonami), affirms that any tax increase carries with it higher costs to business.

As a general rule, higher taxes on production affect investment decisions. At a time when investment companies are ready to support reconstruction, the manager of Research of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (CCS), George Lever, believes it would be a good idea to explore ways to help channel this support, instead of resorting to the traditional tax hikes.

“We must be very careful in making temporary tax decisions in times of crisis, because historically the increases became permanent and only tax reductions are able to be reversed,” says Lever. He added that there are divisions within large companies that have been badly affected by the disaster and are unlikely to survive even a minimal tax hike.

He sees the initiative to raise donations for disaster relief as a good way to channel the goodwill that exists in businesses.

The National Agriculture Society (SNA) would prefer if the plan to fund reconstruction did not have a component to raise taxes at all. However, because this unrealistic, they hope the increase will be as small as possible, explains the manager of Studies, Ema Budinich.

This, he says, is because tax hikes do not always result in a proportional increase in revenues. This is because there are different loop holes, within the existing legal standards, that companies use to pay less taxes.

Budinich also stresses the need to improve the disaster relief innitiative’s ability to distribute the revenues in a decentralized way, “This is a concept that aims to achieve a democratic system where taxpayers express their preference for how theur tax money is spent.”

However, Javier Hurtado, of the Chilean Chamber of Construction (CCHC), warns that the U.S. $155 million expected to be collected from the initiative does not compare with U.S. $ 9,300 million the Treasury needs to raise.