AI is changing the economics of nearshore. What comes next? (Forum article at Jornal Económico)

By Guilherme Ramos Pereira, Head of Strategic Development at 99x Portugal (original article in Portuguese published at “Who is Who in ICT” forum, Jornal Económico - page 31)

Technology is evolving faster than the way we sell and buy it. Today, that may be one of the biggest challenges facing our industry.

For the past two decades, outsourcing and nearshore have largely sold capacity measured in people and hours. AI, and autonomous agents in particular, is breaking that equation. Clients are increasingly buying outcomes delivered by people and agents working together.

At 99x, a Group with more than 700 people across Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia, and our own hub with tools and a platform for developing and orchestrating AI agents, we are experiencing this transition first-hand. And we see three major challenges ahead.

The first is talent. If agents take over more routine work, how do we develop the senior professionals of tomorrow? Portugal’s reputation as a technology destination is built on the quality of its engineers, and protecting that strength means rethinking how people learn, gain experience, and grow.

The second is governance. Technology projects increasingly involve multiple companies, cloud environments, and model providers. Yet one fundamental question remains unresolved: who is accountable when an agent makes a mistake? Contracts and regulation are still adapting to this new reality.

The third is sovereignty. The race for AI is also geopolitical, and choosing a model has become a genuinely strategic decision. Who owns the technology? Where is the data stored? These questions matter more than ever, and Portugal has an opportunity to position itself as a trusted European technology partner.

At 99x, we believe that companies that learn how to combine human talent and AI responsibly will not lose relevance. They will strengthen it.

And, ultimately, they will earn something even more valuable: their clients’ trust.