Image source: http://polishcallcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/contactus_bg.jpg
Few years ago Airline companies had everything organized themselves. They had their own air planes, airports, pilots, stewards, meals, sales offices etc. Somebody could have hardly imagined that it could had been done differently at that time. Nowadays, it is enough to open a sales office and build a brand name. Everything else may be outsourced.
K.Marcinkiewicz
(Acting Warsaw City President,
former Prime Minister)
This is just to give a basic example of BPO and what the II Forum - Outsourcing Roadshow was about (OCT 20th). Another Forum takes place in Cracow next month.
There is a high global competition in BPO market. Large, multinational corporations, and not them only, are eager to open their service centres anywhere where cost is low, labor is qualified and government supports investments. On the other hand, countries are trying to attract these corporations with different programs and supports. Why should the CEE region be winning these competitions, usualy worth millions of Euros? What does the region has more to offer than Asian countries?
The CEE region has many advantages. CEE countries are very well geographicaly situated. People are well educated and speak foreign languages. For American and Western European countries the cultural differences are not that big and the political and economical situation in these countries are stable. EU membership is another big advantage. "The region is winning over Asian countries because Asians think that confession to mistakes is a weakness", ads another good reason Ms. Anna Sienko - Stragegic Outsourcing Manager of IBM. And why did IBM decide for Polish Cracow?" IBM has chosen Poland, because the Polish students are winning all European IT Olympic games and Cracow is an academic and cultural centre of Poland" further explains Ms. Anna Sienko.
BPO growth brings a lot of business to developers and Facility Management companies. "Everything needs to be done fast, fast", describes Mr. Richard Petersen - Managing Partner of Cushman and Wakefield - the requirements of BPO investors. Investors want a high quality office space, but there are not so many experienced developers in Poland.
Cracow, Wroclaw and Warsaw- these are the most successful Polish cities in attracting the BPO investors. Poznan's authorities haven't even prepared any program for BPOs what explains why the investors aren't opening any BPO centres there.
BPOs stay here for 5 years. After this period they review their situation and decide whether they stay longer or move further east, says Mr. Richard Peterson. The labor cost is very much important for them.
As Andrzej Kaczmarek, Polish Minister of the Economy claims, by the year 2013 we can expect the economy to be based on know-how and the number of people employed in modern business centers, exceed current 15%. The key to achieve that should be investments into innovation. This turn in thinking resulted in redefining the value of investment, which these days is not measured in absolute numbers but in number of vacancies created as well as the share of BPO investments.
M.Kaszuba (Director FDI,
Ernst&Young, former Deputy
Minister of Economy),
A.Kaczmarek (Deputy Minister,
Ministry of Economy), S.Mikosz
(Spokesman, Roadshow Polska)
We can ask why is BPO investment so valuable? First of all, it's more durable then investment into factories - it's easier to relocate a factory then to relocate business centre based on human resources. Secondly, it's more beneficial for the local society as it requires investment into human resources - mainly fresh graduates, who will later on turn into qualified labor-force. Last not least, "money follow money" and clients of investors follow them.
Key factor of BPO investments is a well-defined system of incentives, which supports service centers and resource and development centers, says Marcin Kaszuba, Director FDI of Ernst and Young. Fortunately, this is what receives most budget contribution. Talking about BPO we should clarify a common perception of those services as call centers or similar sort of service centers. This is a misunderstanding. BPO are same important as accounting or other financial services. Thanks to BPO American companies can reduce their cost by 50%. This makes our region attractive enough to consider outsourcing their services here. Now, we should find out how to serve them better. In Philips we are currently facing a problem of finding low-qualified workers. We are missing 500 employees- says Mr. Kaszuba.
Investors also consider how often the programs and laws of the countries are changing. Ernst and Young was preparing a brochure for BPO investors. At the time when the brochure was about to be published, one third of the content was already out of date" says Mr. Kaszuba.
Changes in educational system are required, thinks Mr. Jeremi Mordasewicz - Advisor to the Board, Polish Confederation of Private Employers - Lewiatan. The educational boom in 90s happened mainly due to the private schools, the public sector has been short of sources.
There needs to be a dialogue between schools and companies. Companies are able to predict their future for up to 20 years ahead. Professors should ask the companies what kind of people and education they would require by than.
BPO has the highest employee fluctuations which reach up to 30 %. This is a result of the job itself and also of the high competition among the different service centers. High fluctuation results in salaries' inflation.
To sum up, the CEE region is very good in attracting foreign investors and there is still huge potential left for further growth. In the global outsourcing market, the region has only 1% share. But is it also good in preparing programs how to keep them in?
Poland shouldn't loose its investors in next 5 to 10 years as it has a huge untapped potential in comparison with other countries. Poland expects another 100 000 vacancies as a result of BPO.
Mr. Sebastian Jakubik - Director of Hewlett Packard - sees an opportunity in cooperation between the BPOs. HP has opened a financial and accounting centre for the whole HP group in Wroclaw and it also has launched Point" - Polish outsourcing initiative.
Roadshow Polska proved to be a huge success. The organizers deserve congratulations for a very interesting program, professional organization and execution of this event, attended by some leading top executives.
