Research vicepresident at Gartner, Ian Marriott said that although Canada dominated the rating for language, Latin American countries are increasingly able to use their Spanish language skills in the US.

An increasing number of US companies now require Spanish language from their providers for communication with parts of their workforce that speak Spanish as a first language, he said.

Gartner used ten criteria it determined important for organisations to consider when looking at a potential location for offshore or nearshore IT or business process services. They were language, government support, labour pool, infrastructure, educational system, cost, political and economic environment, cultural compatibility, global and legal maturity, data and intellectual property, security and privacy.