For many years Southeast Asia has been the most active player in the field of outsourcing services. Companies from around the globe traditionally extend their software development teams with professionals from the Far East. But though India, Philippines and China are still dominating the outsourcing ratings, Europe also has something to offer. Meet Krakow, the cultural gem of Poland and the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) hub of Eastern Europe that recently stormed into the top 10 business process outsourcing destinations.
The beautiful city of Krakow was founded in the 7th century, but it wasn’t until 1993 that it took up outsourcing. Comarch was the first major IT outsourcing client, successfully extending its operation to Krakow. Price Waterhouse and Motorola followed. The modern-day Krakow can boast long-term collaboration with over 100 companies from 94 countries. Heineken, Rolls Royce, State Street, Lufthansa, Shell, Brown Brothers, Philip Morris and others satisfied their growing business needs with offices in Krakow.
As far as IT is concerned, Krakow hosts offices of multinationals like Google, Samsung, IBM, Cisco, Capgemini, Oracle, Nokia Networks and Autodesk, to name a few. Enterprises from the USA, Israel, China, the UK, Finland, Norway set up their R&D headquarters in Krakow.
Offshore and nearshore outsourcing is an integral part of Krakow’s IT business success. Dedicated teams that offer design, development and testing of software and mobile applications is what attracts investors as well as software development specialists from other countries. The World Investment Report 2011 by the UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) named Krakow the best location for global BPO projects in the world. Here are some more facts about Krakow’s outsourcing potential:
- Krakow has been in the top ten of Tholons Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations three years in a row.
- Google opened one of its R&D offices in Krakow.
- Krakow is home to more than 360 IT companies.
- 7% of Krakow’s population will be employed in the BPO and IT outsourcing spheres by the end of 2016, according to the ASPIRE Headcount Tracker 2015 report.
- Krakow is the major startup hub of Poland.
- There is a powerful talent pool of skilled graduates in Krakow thanks to the largest technical university in Poland – Krakow University of Technology.
Now let’s look at the big picture. Krakow is the second largest city in Poland, a country that is the eighth largest economy in the European Union. Poland was named the second best country for IT outsourcing in the world in the 2014/15
KPMG IT Outsourcing Service Provider Performance & Satisfaction Study (Please note, to be able to read the report, you should be registered on the KPMG website). Nearly 70% of IT companies here provide BPO services to major technological enterprises from the West, according to the Investing in Poland 2014 report by Price Waterhouse Coopers. In recent years the country has also become the R&D focal point of Eastern Europe with more than 40 research and development centres set up by world-renowned companies.
Thanks to EU’s investment in the Eastern & Central Europe, Poland has become a part of a bigger commercial market. It attracts investors from the West with a stable economy, reasonable tax system, low business-related risk, dynamic IT market and skilled professionals. In 2012 Ernst & Young gave Poland 7th place in their investment attractiveness report, and in 2013 it was called the number one country worth investing in Central and Eastern Europe. Geographical and cultural proximity together with skilled multilingual professionals are also appealing to investors from Europe and the USA.
All the factors combined make Krakow an excellent outsourcing environment. Krakow is truly one of the best places in Europe to extend your software development business. With skilled resources and favourable government policies, assembling a dedicated team for your project in the marvellous city of Krakow will be a pleasure. And pwrteams will gladly help you with that.
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