Outsourcing&More 39 March-April 2018

www.outsourcingportal.eu No. 2 (39) | March – April 2018 ISSN 2083-8867 PRICE EUR 6 (INCL. 8% VAT)

BUSINESS

Upgrade your marketing to win the attention game – and new business! page 32

INVESTMENTS

Large British corporates have been significant investors in Poland since the 1990s Interview with Paweł Siwecki and Michael Dembinski, British Polish Chamber of Commerce page 22

Kielce for investors. Joint offer, cohesive message

page 44

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

Facts and challenges related to recruitment of IT specialists page 68

INTRODUCTION

Editor-in-chief Dymitr Doktór dymitr.doktor@proprogressio.pl Managing Editor Kamila Czyżyk kamila.czyzyk@proprogressio.pl DTP Adrian Czyżyk Advertising reklama@outsourcingandmore.pl Published by PRO PROGRESSIO Editorial address ul. Sobieskiego 104/29 00-764 Warszawa www.proprogressio.pl

P: +48 22 213 02 45 F: +48 22 213 02 49 editor@proprogressio.pl www.outsourcingandmore.pl Print Drukarnia Jantar Legal support "Chudzik i Wspólnicy" An electronic version of the Magazine see the website www.outsourcingandmore.pl Selected photos come from shutterstock.com website.

Circulation 3,000 copies All rights reserved.

No copying, reproduction or photocopying allowed without written consent of the publisher.

The views expressed in this publication as well as the content of the adverts are not necessarily those of the editor.

Partners

AUTHORS Till Hahndorf • Marcin Janiszewski • Anna Biniek • Paweł Siwecki • Michael Dembinski • Andrew Pavliv • Zsolt Fekete • Gediminas Koryzna • Tom Quigley • Rafal Skóra • Magdalena Grzywaczewska-Łuczkowska • Loredana Niculae • Paweł Pełtak • Antonio Carvelli • Monika Reszko

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

@DymitrDoktor

Dear Readers, 2018 has started with a big and loud opening during the Outsourcing Stars Gala organized by Pro Progressio in Gdynia.

The event, as usual, has summarized past twelve months and outlined the challenges as well as the main areas the outsourcing and modern business services will focus on during 2018. This was already second time, when the Gala has been accompanied by The BSS Forum – the conference where managers representing various businesses discussed and described their biggest business challenges. It looks like this year the outsourcing and BSS industry will mainly focus on business transformation, KPIs, SLAs, Employer Branding and continue to grow the experience and operational use of robotics, automation and artificial intelligence.

This is already second edition of Outsourcing&More Magazine issued on 2018. The subjects we have decided to focus on in current edition cover business, HR, Real Estate but also international relations.

The main interview we have run with Paweł Siwecki and Michael Dembinski from British Polish Chamber of Commerce, who talk about British investments in Poland looking back to early 1990s.

This is not the only one interview. We continue the talks to Shared Service Centres Managers and this time we had a pleasure to talk to Marcin Janiszewski – the Head of Elekta Business Services who describes the scope of work provided in his Warsaw based operation centre.

Among the international publications you will find great articles coming from Ukraine, Lithuania and Romania, presenting you the most recent news coming from those countries.

This section is also accompanied by the article written by Till Hahndorf who writes about German companies applying for the fulfilment capacities of the international IT and BPO markets.

Within our continued stories, Monika Reszko asks the question: “Why do you want to be a leader?”, and legal advisors from Chudzik describe support provided to entrepreneurs in special economic zones.

I’m sure you will find a lot of interesting stories on our pages.

The next quarter of 2018 looks very promising from business perspectives and I’m already looking forward to next great stories we will deliver you on May. Dymitr Doktór, Chief Editor

3

INDEX

BUSINESS

6

BSS industry experts met in Gdynia

26

Synergy of all institutions and companies is needed for the development of IT in Lviv

German companies applying for the fulfilment capacities of the international IT and BPO markets

SSC Lions: Elekta’s Multifunctional Global Service Center

This is already fifth article of SSC Lions.

This time we’d like to present you the interview with Marcin Janiszewski, the Head of Elekta’s Global Business Centre, who talks about the multifunctionality of his Warsaw based operation centre.

20

DevOps – What it really is?

According to IT Research and PwC, IT industry in Lviv and Ukraine, in general, has big perspectives for future development. In particular, according to PwC, the number of employees working in IT and related industries may grow to 250 thousand by 2020.

14

16

36

28

The new model of outsourcing contact centre The role of business service providers is changing. Outsourcing companies are no longer expected to merely carry out the tasks while utilising costs-optimised resources. Already today, the companies expect the ever-growing demands of their customers to be fulfilled, applying not just the contract cost but, first and foremost, service quality criteria. An outsourcer should become a trusted communications consultant for the company purchasing outsourcing services.

Blueprint for successful international expansion

Adding new locations without sacrificing financial insight or operational control.

Typing in Google search phrase "DevOps what is it?" we get, about, 405,000 results.

It says a lot about the scale of the phenomenon, but it also suggests a huge amount of definitions and explanations of the subject. In this article, we will answer the question of what is DevOps and why has it gain such popularity in IT world.

38

Support provided to entrepreneurs in special economic zones versus the act on rules of supporting new investments Special Economic Zones (SEZ [SSE in Polish]) have existed in Poland since 1994. They came into being pursuant to the Act on Special Economic Zones of 20 October 1994 as administratively separated regions of the country in which investors may run their businesses on preferential conditions.

22

INVESTMENTS

Large British corporates have been significant investors in Poland since the 1990s Interview with Paweł Siwecki and Michael Dembinski, British Polish Chamber of Commerce.

42

Investment news

30

Romania’s IT sector becomes an international playground

Over the past ten years, Romania has achieved and maintained a leading ­position when it comes to the main outsourcing destinations in Eastern Europe, but also in the world, being prefered by many multinational organizations regarding project relocation or department settings in the region.

44

Kielce for investors. Joint offer, cohesive message

32

Upgrade Your Marketing To Win The Attention Game – And New Business!

So, we’re living in the digital age; smartphones, televisions, 3D printers and wearable tech - mobile and hyperconnected all the time, anytime, anywhere. Even if our businesses aren't fully ‘digitally-enabled, just having a smartphone and access to the internet means we have a digital footprint and are part of the new digital ecosystem.

4

Kielce is an administrative, economic and cultural capital of the Świętokrzyskie Province, and has an open approach to business.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

INDEX

48

Housing boom in Łódz A well-connected city with a qualified workforce and with renowned universities is a guarantee of development, providing that within its administrative borders there will be attractive investment areas on which office facilities, factories or housing estates can be built.

56

Wolne Tory – the area for the whole new district of Poznan

62

It listens, it offers, it supports.

Bydgoszcz takes care of its investors

For investors looking for attractive locations, Bydgoszcz offers much more than a diversified and easily accessible offer of investment areas or tax encouragements.

50

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

Why choose Lithuania from an ocean of opportunities?

66

HR news

68

Nowadays the most attractive investment area of the Capital of Wielkopolska is undoubtedly the Wolne Tory.

The new green district of Poznań, which is planned on this area, will cover over 100 ha in the city center, between the historic districts of Wilda and Łazarz.

52

Częstochowa – a year of new opportunities

Facts and challenges related to recruitment of IT specialists

58

Gdynia – the perfect climate for investment, modern business and living

2017 was the year of new investments. The city of Częstochowa holds areas belonging to two Special Economic Zones which attracted much interest in 2017. Ever since the SEZs were established in Częstochowa, a total of 25 tender procedures have been concluded, 11 of them in 2017 alone. Investments worth PLN 861.2 million were declared in Letters of Intent.

Interview with Paweł Pełtak, IT Recruitment Manager, People.

74

54

New regulations of temporary employees: what has changed on HR market?

Management of investment areas from the perspective of the city

Interview with Antonio Carvelli, Country Manager, Gi Group.

76

Why do you want to be a leader?

Active real estate management is aimed at proper shaping of the city space as well as achieving sustainable development.

In the current planning document, which is the Study of conditions and directions for spatial development of the city of Szczecin, the basic principles of real estate management have beenindicated, compliance with which affects the achievement of the above objective.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Known for its unique quality of life, Gdynia is appreciated by nearly 90% of its residents. Today, when recruiting employees is more and more difficult, companies base their investment decisions on more than just financial data and are also attracted by the quality of urban living.

What is the cause that some are consistent leaders that are followed by their employees and clients while there are some who keep questioning their own decisions? Why do some attract great specialists to each other while others are fighting for an employee? What have those who always calmly find time for themselves when others chase deadlines?

A recipe for being a leader does not exist.

However, it can be distinguished several features that those leaders, that we are happy to follow, definitely have.

78

Recruitment Ad

5

BUSINESS

BSS industry experts met in Gdynia Each year in January, Pro Progressio hosts one of the most important BBS business events. This time, the second edition of the BSS Forum and Outsourcing Stars Gala were hosted in Gdynia on 25 January, 2018.

Below: Discussion Panel: "Employer Branding – the way to attract Y’s and Z’s". From the left: Michał Kościanek (WNS Global), Beata Kruczek (Alexander Mann Solutions), Maja Paradecka (Kemira Polska), Karina Trafna (KiDS&Co.).

On January 25, in the early morning hours, Polish and international experts in outsourcing and modern business services gathered in the Pomeranian Science and Technology Park in Gdynia.

They came to take part in the second BSS Forum hosted by Pro Progressio.

Pro Progressio Foundation, which analyses and supports the development of the BBS sector hosts a BBS event in Poland, which sums up the most important operational and organizational issues, challenges, trends and needs.

The participants were familiarized with considerable amount of technical know-how and exchanged their experiences during the 2nd edition of The BSS Forum. Optimizing the processes, transforming operational centres, as well as performing robotic process automation are only a few of the features BSS uses to boost the operation of other industries and business sectors. The hosts of the Forum wanted these issues to be clearly heard and discussed among the national and international experts, representing such organizations as 3M, DFDS, PKP Energetyka, Nowy Styl Group, Torus, CBRE, Grupa Progres, Michael Page, Devire, Cushman & Wakefield, State Street Bank, WNS, Coders Lab, NomaSolutions, Bank Pekao, Alexander Mann Solutions, AVON Global Financial Shared Services and many others.

6

The BSS Forum gathered over 300 participants actively contributing to discussions, presentations, workshops and brainstorming. Workshops which enjoyed outstanding popularity were the Progres Group workshops dealing with effective recruitment processes as well as a training session delivered by Tom Quigley onbuilding sales relations with the British market.

Brainstorming sessions were a parti­ cularly successful experiment, we carried out three sessions during the event.

The first session dealt with the technical side of the Call Contact Center industry, the second was dedicated to performance indicators, and the last tackled the issue of attracting new BSS investments.

Due to immense popularity, the third session was moved to a large lecture hall.

The general activity of Pro Progressio consists of analysing the domestic, European and global outsourcing trends and modern business services. Through a meticulous analysis of business development, the analysts and experts at Pro Progressio gather the enormous know-how about the industry’s interests, hot topics, and fashionable trends found across the business scene, although not necessarily impacting the development of individual organizations and the whole industry. The BSS Forum collected these

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

Opening panel: "The BSS Industry - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow". From the left: Wiktor Doktór (Pro Progressio), Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychała (Vice President of Gdynia City), Violetta Małek (Gekko AdvisoryNOW), Till Hahndorf (BW Business Bridge), Kerry Hallard (Global Sourcing Association), Andrew Wrobel (Emerging Europe).

Right: Roman Świderski from Express Car Rental Group during his presentation.

Right: Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychała, Vice President of Gdynia officially opens the Forum.

Below: Piotr Rutkowski (SourceOne Advisory) during the KPI/SLA mind storm session.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

7

BUSINESS

Above: Wiktor Doktór, CEO of Pro Progressio was the main moderator of The 2nd BSS Forum in Gdynia.

Below: Forum’s delegates were very active during the discussions concerning BSS sector.

8

Above: Krzysztof Herdzik, You Can Business.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

analyses and supported by the domestic and international experts presented this knowledge to the managers of the BSS sector in Poland.

held throughout the entire day of the Forum. The Event Tiger, software used during all business events carried out

by Pro Progressio, provided support for scheduling meetings.

The selection of the topics for the Forum was based on the areas which are crucial for the BSS sector such as HR, Work Life Balance, work environment, business transformation, software development, process automation, sales, attracting foreign investment personal data protection and posting of employees. The event gathered business managers, leaders, mentors and coaches, but above all people responsible for the operational development of the BSS sector in Poland and abroad.

Forum has gained recognition and support from entities that play a key role in the development of the BSS sector in Poland, as well as internationally.

Torus was the Gold Sponsor and the Nowy Styl Group became the Gold Partner. The events were supported

by IAOP (International Association of Outsourcing Professionals), DOV (Deutscher Outsourcing Verband), Scandinavian-Polish Chamber of Commerce, Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce, British-Polish Chamber of Commerce, There were meetings in three meeting CIMA, CBRE, RICS, Lviv IT cluster, areas arranged by the Nowy Styl Group The Polish Call Center Forum, Polish Direct Marketing Association and Cushman & Wakefield. The Partners and Sponsors of the events also included BVBCup, Alfavox, BCB Business Park, KiDS & Co., Grupa Progres, Grupa Express, Riposta, Coders Lab, Unified Factory, Focus Event and decanter.pl.

The wide range of interest and support coming from the human resource, real estate, and new technologies management business environments as well as member organizations gathering international businesses enabled us at the Forum and Gala to present an upgraded level of know-how, unify the BSS industry as well as its supporting environment.

Below: Nowy Styl Group has provided comfortable office furniture to the networking areas.

Gdynia, Gdańsk and Sopot have for many years been an attractive site for the investors willing to open the BPO, SSC and ITO centres. The Gdańska Oliwa district is an example of how to perform a great management job to land many international SSC projects. However, alongside Gdańsk, as it turns out, Gdynia is starting to grow as a location where the BSS centres are gaining ground for their global expansion. Ms. Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychała – a Deputy Mayor of Gdynia – spoke about the city’s attractiveness for investment during the BSS Forum.

The main partner of The BSS Forum was the City of Gdynia, it was supported by Invest in Pomerania, and held under the Honorary Patronage of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency. Invest in Pome­rania is a key institution in the Pomeranian Province responsible for attracting and developing investments, and PAIH strongly supports the development of investments across Poland.

The presence on and support of the

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

9

BUSINESS

Forum from the local government communities and those responsible for obtaining and managing investments has shown that the development of the BSS sector is in the deep interest of the city, regions and the whole country.

TOP-NOTCH CELEBRATION

The BSS Forum presented a whole plethora of important information, but it was the Outsourcing Stars Gala, which celebrated the grandeur of the BSS sector, where the fastest growing companies and business supporting institutions were distinguished creating unforgettable memories.

Pro Progressio has once again shown that Business Galas are events of great splendour. This time the hosts prepared an unusual setting. The round stage (360o) of the Outsourcing Stars Gala was placed in the centre of the Gdynia’s Arena. This unusual setting allowed the Gala participants to sit around the stage on six specially prepared grandstands. Since Rock Your Business was the main theme of the event, rock music was being played throughout the Gala. The Focus Event Agency was responsible for organizing the whole event, and The Customs was the band who played for us.

The event started with an animation presenting the history of outsourcing, from the days of Henry Ford through the present times, to the forecasts of outsourcing development in the future.

Ms Katarzyna Gruszecka-­ S pychała, The Deputy Mayor of the City as well as Dr Krzysztof Senger from the Board of PAIH

delivered opening speeches at the Gala.

The Gala was hosted by Wiktor Doktór – the President of Pro Progressio, and was divided into three parts. The first part summed up the current state of BSS sector development, the second saw the results of the Outsourcing Stars competition and the award ceremony. The Gala finished with the networking part, which lasted until 3.00 a.m. The guests of the Outsourcing Stars Gala received the latest Pro Progressio report, including the list of Business Tigers, or people significantly impacting the sector, the information about whom is added yearly to the annual summary of the BSS sector development in Poland.

Right: Bartłomiej Kawka representing Telmon collected the award for the fastest growing Call Contact Center in 2017.

As every year, the Gala was the final of the Outsourcing Stars competition. During the current edition, we awarded prizes in 13 categories, and one distinction for an exceptional manager. The winners of prizes in individual categories are as follows: • The City – Poznań • Real Estate Agency – Colliers International • Developer – SKANSKA • HR Recruitment – Adecco • HR Body Leasing – Grupa Progres • HR IT Contracting – Devire • BPO – WNS • SSC – State Street Bank • Call Contact Center – Telmon • Document Archiving – Iron Mountain • Sales Forces Outsourcing – Adecco • Software Development – Luxoft • Accounting, HR, Payroll – TMF Group Below: Laureates of the 5th Outsourcing Stars Gala.

10

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

Left: Marcin Piątkowski from Torus. Torus was The Gold Sponsor of the Gala.

Below: Poznań for the 4th time has been awarded in the "City" category. The award was collected by Katja Lozina.

Below: Sebastian Bedekier and Błażej Kucharski represented Colliers International – the winner at "Real Estate Agency" category.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Above: City of Gdynia has been the Main Partner of the Outsourcing Stars Gala and The BSS Forum.

Official opening has been run by Katarzyna GruszeckaSpychała – Vice President of Gdynia City.

Below: TMF Group second year in a row won the award in "Accounting and Payroll" category.

On the photography Patrycja Strzelecka and Mikołaj Pluciński.

11

BUSINESS

The Manager of the Year prize was awarded to Monika Smulewicz – an outstanding manager, who besides her work at Grant Thornton has also been active as an educator in her CEDOZ training centre, founded the HR na szpilkach (HR on high heels) project, created software for managing accounting processes and actively supports the development of knowledge within the HR, payroll and many other areas.

On the one hand, the Outsourcing Stars Gala was an event closing the year 2017.

On the other, it was opening 2018 for the BSS sector in Poland. The Gala is one of the most important outsourcing and BSS events in Europe and each year is held in a different formula. This event enables Pro Progressio to show their appreciation and respect for BSS companies, which have a strong impact on the development of global entrepreneurship.

The next BSS Forum and Outsourcing Stars Gala will take place in a year’s time – on 24th January, 2019. •

Above: Wiktor Doktór, CEO of Pro Progressio acting as the main moderator of the 5th Outsourcing Stars Gala.

Above: PhD Marek Benio (Labour Mobility Initiative) during the awards ceremony in "HR/Body Leasing” category. The award has been collected

by Cezary Maciołek from Grupa Progres.

Above: Pro Progressio Team.

Right: Jakub Socała from WNS Global has collected the award in “BPO” category.

Left: Monika Smulewicz with the title of the Manager of The Year 2017.

12

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

Above: Tomasz Zydorek (Skanska Property Poland) has collected the award in "Developer" category.

Below: Devire as the winner of "HR/IT Contracting" category. On the picture – Michał Młynarczyk.

Above: Iron Mountain won the "Document Archiving" category.

The award was collected by Mateusz Stawicki.

Above: Luxoft won the "Software Development" category.

On the photography – Agnieszka Porębska.

Above: In "HR/Recruitment" category the winner was Adecco Poland.

On the photography – Krzysztof Szachniewicz.

Left: Alexander Ticehurst (State Street) collects the "SSC" category award from hands of Mariusz Szałaj.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

13

BUSINESS

German companies applying for the fulfilment capacities of the international IT and BPO markets

Till Hahndorf, Partner, BW Business Bridge

14

Bitkom, the German Federal IT industry association, has published the latest numbers on the excruciatingly painful scarcity of IT skills and capacities in Europe's largest economy: More than 55.000 positions cannot be staffed due to the lack of qualified personnel in Germany. Nevertheless, experience shows that Germany is a notoriously hard market to break into – however straightforward the prerequisites seem: Speak the language, know the market, understand the mindset. None of these seem insurmountable obstacles for the Polish BSS or IT industries.

As Pro Progressio's "BSS Forum" in Gdynia in January 2018 proved once more, Poland's offering is diverse in

its industry coverage as it is deeply focussed in it's expert areas. No other location is positioned as optimally for German market development as is Poland: The track record of Germany's biggest neighbour to the East speaks for itself and is likely to be the most effective argument for any German talk-to.

What are the most-sought-after skills and talents: Big Data is number one, closely followed (and likely soon overtaken) by IoT (under the somewhat peculiar label "Industrie 4.0" in Germany) and, of course, everything cloud-based.

In a closely related sidenote: The need for IT security experts has risen by a third over the past two years.

Looking at the development from the past 25 years: While yesterday was the period in which everyone wanted to work for German clients, we see a rather different scenario today: German companies applying for the fulfilment capacities of the international IT and BPO markets. And if Germany cannot come to terms with their own approach to this international market – and become a more attractive and less difficult market to conquer – tomorrow might not see Germany in quite the leading position it has today. •

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

L E T ’ S M E E T AT

T h e B S S To u r K ra kow

THEME

Organizer:

KPI/SLA inspirations in Krakow

DAT E

VENUE

April 17th, 2018

Inspiration Centre of Nowy Styl Group

www.bsstour.com/krakow

BUSINESS

SSC

SSC ELEKTA’S MULTIFUNCTIONAL GLOBAL SERVICE CENTER

BUSINESS

Word of admission: SSC Lions is a new project run

by Pro Progressio and focused on the communication support provided to Shared Service Centres.

On ­Outsourcing&More Magazines’ pages we will present business cases and interviews with leaders of Shared Services Centres, industry experts and consultants.

Our interlocutors will provide the answers to the questions related to best business practises, project manage­ ment and employer branding.

This is already fifth article of SSC Lions. This time we’d like to present you the interview with Marcin Janiszewski, the Head of Elekta’s Global Business Centre, who talks about the multifunctionality of his Warsaw based operation centre.

BUSINESS Outsourcing&More: Marcin – on daily basis you run the Shared Services Centre for Elekta in Poland. When you centre has started its operations activities and what processes do you run in your centre?

Marcin Janiszewski: Elekta is a global Swedish company operating within the medical technology sector with an aim to improve, prolong and save the lives of people suffering from cancer and brain disorders. We have been innovating solutions in neurosurgery and radiation therapy for over 45 years, developing equipment and software used by over 6 thousand hospitals worldwide.

The Polish Elekta Business Services center began its operation on the 1 June 2016. The future development plans for the company were a key factor in setting up the center in Poland. Our office, localized in Warsaw, is the only Elekta Shared Service Center in the world.

Thanks to this, we can effectively develop, improve and optimize them.

The support process is a system of interconnected vessels that act very much like a human organism – indis­position of a single organ has an effect on the functioning of the entire human being. Such an analogy is something that we can identify with, since we do business on the medical market. Being responsible for processes from their beginning to their end means that we can create a healthy business support for the company.

Your office is located in Warsaw – what made you to have your centre in capital of Poland? Did you consider other cities or countries?

The selection process has started long before the official ribbon-cutting ceremony. Of course, different countries and cities were taken into consideration. At the end, the winner was Poland and Warsaw.

our partners see an increasing value in the centralization of the support functions, they are willing to hand over more tasks that have a more direct impact on the business value.

The history of our center attests to the fact that this is how things are in practice. We still have a chance to set up yet another business line in Warsaw this year.

It is not about finding and employing ”the best employee on the market”.

Such person does not exist. Everyone is different, has different values, knowledge and experience; this is why such person might do better at Along with the development of one employer’s place, while worse various business activities and an at another’s, even when the name of increase in service advancements, we the employee’s role is the same in both

„THE SUPPORT PROCESS IS A SYSTEM OF INTERCONNECTED VESSELS THAT ACT VERY MUCH LIKE A HUMAN ORGANISM – INDISPOSITION OF A SINGLE ORGAN HAS AN EFFECT ON THE FUNCTIONING OF THE ENTIRE HUMAN BEING.”

Elekta was aware of Poland’s merits, which are the reason why our shared services market develops at the rate of 20% annually. The human capital has been appreciated first and foremost – great experts and people experienced in the building of centers and leading So, what does it mean in practice? Our transformations on an international portfolio today includes all countries scale and the fact that the Polish in which Elekta has its offices, market is saturated with tens of thouspanning from North America sands of highly qualified, ambitious to New Zealand (excluding China). people, whose knowledge, experi- will be heavily investing in automaThis is a rather unprecedented ence and work ethos are extremely tization, robotics and process transscenario on the Polish marketplace. valued in today’s world. formation. This will allow us to But for us, it’s a perfect opportueliminate the simplest, most routine nity to fulfill the ambitious tasks, Warsaw was selected, among others, activities and wastes. We will be which have been laid in front of us due to the fact that Elekta had reaching out for talents and experts by the Group. We are responsible its office here before the Shared from the market; however, we do for improving the quality by way Service Center was even set up. Its not plan to significantly increase of increasing standardization and strength was an extremely well- the employment level in the center, decreasing the time required for -developed communication network since the growth will be balanced business processes. Having the whole with Europe. This is something that out by the space we are going to team in a single location, we save time I personally cherish, as I am bound create after the implementation of on tasks that would normally involve with Warsaw workwise only, since I improvements. the transfer of processes to another live in Łódź and commute to work center, since this is a standard proce- on a daily basis.

It is quite common to hear that we dure for companies that have a SSC have the employees’ market. Is it a network scattered all over the world. How big is your team and do you significant challenge for your HR We also have the comfort of centrally plan to increase the employment in Team to attract employees to join managing Elekta Business Services coming months?

Elekta Business Services Team? and its communications.

From the moment the center was set We know that the trick of enticing up in the middle of 2016, we have employees does not work! This is why The uniqueness of our situation is dynamically increased the employ- we do not enter into work relations also connected with the scope of our ment rate. We started with a group with a candidate from the position activities. Multi-functionality means of 25 people. Today the Elekta team of a sales rep, who will try to cone that we can deliver an extremely has over 120 best in-class specialists, the candidate into buying something extensive scope of services related to leaders and managers. and then never see him again, at the financial processes, IT, HR, quality excuse that any trick will do. management, logistics and service We plan to continue our growth support. We conduct such processes within the existing functions. We We always speak openly, honestly end-to-end, meaning from their also plan to extend the scope of and realistically about one’s work actual beginning to the very end. our services to new areas such as place, tasks, challenges and potenThis gives us an invaluable oppor- purchasing, marketing, sales support tial difficulties that the person may tunity to assess how those processes or order fulfillment, among others. encounter in the company on a daily overlap and interact with one other. I call this a snow-ball effect. When basis. We talk about things that the We have assumed from the very beginning that we have to establish a global and multi-functional center.

After almost two years, I can honestly say that we have met this objective.

18

new employee can expect, about the rules for compensation and benefits, work regulations (for e.g. rules involving home office).

instances, while the scope of responsibilities is similar. The company culture, ways of work and accounting for ones scope of responsibility have a huge effect on how a person makes progress professionally within a company. Companies frequently forget about that and concentrate mainly or exclusively on hard skills.

We put a lot of time and effort into getting to know a candidate and allowing him or her to get to know Elekta, before a decision is made by both sides to enter into a work contract.

We look for people who understand that a work contract, as every contract, is two-sided and that both sides come to a joint agreement.

If the offer of one side meets the expectations and needs of the other, and vice versa, then that’s fantastic.

This means that we will work well together.

It is important for us to know that the employee we hire will be willing to have an impact on the things he or she does at work and will be willing to change his or her reality. At the same time, it is important for us to know that every new member of our team has the respect for the already devel-

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

oped solutions and for people who implemented them. The right attitude and approach to tasks, responsibilities, colleagues and clients is very important for us. We want to build our team on mutual respect and we want our team members to be the kind of people we can rely on or turn to for support or with a question. We want them to have a drive for work and to be able to see the glass “half full” rather than “half empty”. You can explain how Excel works to almost everyone; you cannot, however, teach everyone how to have a positive attitude.

It is not easy to find such employees.

This is why we pay great attention to the recruitment processes, so the interviews with candidates may last even few hours. However, thanks to the time spent on the recruitment process by both, the HR team and the direct superiors, we manage to avoid recruitment errors. When meeting

the new candidate during his/her first day at work, we know what we can mutually expect from one another.

We try to create the kind of environment in which the employee feels relaxed and welcome, doesn’t have the “finally Friday” syndrome, likes his/her work and allows it to become his or her passion. This ensures that such person will not only remain with us for the long time but will also invite his colleagues to apply to Elekta (which is something we encourage by way of the referral program).

ship rather than on being executional.

It’s high time to finish putting people into Client-Supplier category with the assumption that “I am a supplier and do only what you are paying me for and no more than this”. While having such an approach, it is difficult to implement improvements, optimizations and, what is most important, team growth.

Secondly, being open. Perhaps everyone, who worked in this market sector, has come across the opinion that ”we know better, as we had to deal with tougher clients in the past”. This is not the approach that allows one to build relations based on partnership.

Such thinking blocks dialogue and mutual understanding, which are, after all, a key to long-term and valuable business relations, and not only.

If you could share some of your manager’s expectations related to the modern business services sector – what, from your perspective, is missing and would be beneficial for both managers and people inter­ ested to grow their business career in BPO/SSC world?

The answer here is again the same: Another element is curiosity and looking at things within a wider having the right attitude!

Firstly, an approach based on partner- context. In Elekta, we are able to

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

operate on an end-to-end basis within all processes we are in charge of. As a result, we know how important it is to look at the business environment from a holistic perspective. As managers, we should train ourselves in having such an approach and handing it down to our teams. This will allow us to have a real influence over our company and making it change in a positive way.

At the end, I wish to stress the importance of networking. It allows exchanging knowledge, while such constant exchanges of thoughts, ideas and experiences make the technology sector grow in Poland. Today networking functions well within the highest ranks of management.

It is worth, however, to encourage the growth of contact networks and share one’s knowledge and experience with the entire team.

Thank you very much. •

19

BUSINESS

Blueprint for successful international expansion Adding new locations without sacrificing financial insight or operational control.

As we move further from the financial crisis, companies are again consi­dering expansion abroad. Tempering the enthusiasm though are cautionary tales from the businesses whose international adventure didn’t go according to plan.

Businesses with networks of subsidiaries, where HQ failed to achieve the control or the insight they’d hoped for. Given their time again, these companies would undoubtedly do things differently. With their lessons learned, how should the SMB considering international expansion look to proceed? How should they organize their growing enterprise for the best chance of ongoing, sustainable growth?

POSITIONING PROFIT RESPONSIBILITY

The importance of the right product/ market combination in creating effective business units.

When an SMB expands into new terri­ tories, the temptation can be to create new end-to-end businesses in each and every location. If a company’s offerings are highly localized, this can make sense. However, if multiple locations are offering the same portfolio of products and services, a geographical organization is probably sub-optimal. When it comes to determining the profit-responsible business units, leadership must look at product/market combinations above location.

Markets and products

Let’s say product A will be launched in 3 new countries. That could mean 3 new end-to end businesses. Though that might feel necessary to properly support local teams, in reality it brings damaging complexity. If each country can

20

use the same marketing and customer support mechanisms, it should be possible to make one international business unit responsible. One management team with profit responsibility for the product, producing one set of results, and managing three local sales operations.

which the CFO has limited direct control.

Furthermore, these dispersed teams tend to generate disparate information. That makes group reporting, global compliance and corporate auditing more difficult and resource consuming than is necessary.

In search of commonalities

One team

Even in a more complex scenario, simplicity must guide the way.

How much in common will the key strategic processes have for each product line? How will the marketing work?

What form is the typical sales cycle likely to take? How are the products going to be supported? How does R&D contribute?

Given these challenges, the aim should be to create one central finance team with all finance professionals reporting to financial managers. The entire financial apparatus then runs in one line, creating easy access to information and global transparency. Centralized processes feed easily into a single source of truth information ‘pool’, without the need to align and integrate multiple spreadsheets working with varying definitions from multiple locations.

Efficient central management of all nonstrategic processes is the key objective for the financial leader.

Are there significant financial or legislative differences between the new countries? Wherever there’s synergy, there’s the opportunity to manage the commercial processes together.

CENTRALIZATION OF FINANCE – ENABLING THE CFO AS STRATEGIC BUSINESS ADVISOR

One central financial organization for economy of scale and operational excellence.

When each location runs its own end to end financial organization, it results in large, dispersed F&A organization over

Faster, smarter, cheaper

With data less likely to go missing or be corrupted moving between systems, the figures are on the table quicker and more trustworthy. With no discussions on validity necessary, leaders can get on with actively driving the business forward.

ENABLING CENTRALIZATION – GLOBAL DATA STANDARDIZATION FOR EFFICIENCY AND INSIGHT

Facilitating one way of working business-wide creates critical volumes for automation.

Efficient central management of all nonstrategic processes is the key objective for the financial leader.

To achieve it, information from across the business needs to be bought together effectively and that means information standardization is essential.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

One system, one approach

Standard, but local

CONCLUSIONS

In practice, every geographical location needs to be administered in a standardized environment. Where every process and administration uses a global standard of definitions – generating clean, consistent information that can be quickly and easily combined and aligned organization-wide.

While working with the same software system everywhere is a powerful enabler, it’s certainly of major added value if your vendor can offer versions compliant with local regulations. All international organi­ zations will have localized reporting and compliance obligations, with each and every country’s local bookkeeping needing to be completed in a timely and accurate manner. When standardized systems can also offer local language and legislation coverage for each location, everyone can work with the minimum of effort.

The holy trinity for today’s financial leader: standardization, centralization, automation.

IT the oil in the machine

Ideally the growing international business should run the same administration software with the same global definitions in each location. All individual administrations can then communicate easily with one centralized master data store, making a global chart of accounts possible, global consolidation faster and easier.

Within a growing organization, it’s essential that finance continue to actively guide top level management. Trustworthy, up-to-date intelligence to empower strategic discussion is the new standard.

Standardization and centralization of all financial and accounting processes, away from the commercial business units in shared service centers, enables automation and reduced administrative headcount. The introduction of business IMPLEMENTING CENTRAL PROCESS control within the commercial business units then completes the picture. Free MANAGEMENT – THE FINANCIAL SHARED SERVICES CENTRE from administrative and reporting duties, Freeing the business from non-commer- the controller is empowered to use the high quality output from the central cial activities, empowering finance. finance organization to analyse performance and guide the business.

Centralizing accounting and reporting functions allows rigid reconciliation between reporting systems and creates the opportunity for consistent reporting formats.

All financial processes, including accounting, under one roof

IT is the glue holding it all together

Data needs to continue to be collected, processed and analyzed effectively.

Consolidated to create useful insight into new challenges and opportunities as they arise. As such IT also needs to be planned carefully. Disparate (legacy) systems lead to mistakes in collecting and collating information. Standardized ERP and BPM across all locations is the key to success. It makes it possible to enter operational information easily, rapidly consolidate local operations into business unit overviews, manage global processes from a central location, and create top level overviews of the quality required for successful decision making – from local management, right up to the c-suite. •

Centralizing accounting and reporting functions allows rigid reconciliation between reporting systems and creates the opportunity for consistent reporting formats. In addition to removing the workload from each business unit or local operation.

Safeguarding the system

Systems should also support the automation of key controls. Globalized roles and rights allow for effective segregation of duties. Having trustworthy insight across the entire business enables hasslefree audit (internal and external), and supports the Tax department by facilitating an appropriate tax and transfer pricing strategy.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Anna Biniek, Marketing Communications Specialist, Exact Software Poland Sp. z o.o.

21

BUSINESS

The UK is strong in professional services.

Not only are the big advisory firms such as PwC present in Poland, there are also many large UK law firms and real estate companies operating successfully here.

22

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

Large British corporates have been significant investors in Poland since the 1990s Interview with Paweł Siwecki and Michael Dembinski, British Polish Chamber of Commerce.

Wiktor Doktór: BPCC is one of the big­ gest chambers of commerce operating in Poland. What is the main role of the Chamber and what are the benefits for your members?

Paweł Siwecki: Investor support is at the heart of what we do. The BPCC initiates activities across the industry sectors where our members are present, and across job functions – CEO, CFO, HR and Sales & Marketing. We are a bilateral chamber and we integrate Polish- and UKbased businesses through policy group meetings, macroeconomic analysis, one-to-one introductions and interaction through digital media.

When it comes to foreign investments in Poland – British capital is one of those who are on the top of the most frequent investors. What is the size of British investments in Poland and what industries are the biggest players? Is it FMCG, food, manufacturing, renewal energy or something else?

PS: In a world of international capital, it's difficult to say where a given investment is from (Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling AG, for example, the Swiss-headquartered former Greek subsidiary of the US firm listed on the London Stock Exchange is a major player in Poland's soft-drinks market). It's nearly impossible to place a value on the inward investment out of one country into another.

since the 1990s – the market is simply too big to have ignored. Nearly a third of the firms listed on the FTSE 100 index are present in Poland. British retailers like Tesco and Kingfisher (in Poland as Castorama), BP and Shell; manufacturers like Rolls-Royce, GKN or Johnson Matthey; healthcare firms like GSK, AstraZeneca or BUPA (in Poland as Lux Med); banking and financial services such as HSBC, Aviva, Provident or Prudential.

Renewable energy has been a patchy story – the challenge is to have a predictable legislative environment allowing for long-term investment plans, be it wind, solar, biogas, bio mass or wasteto-energy. Today, off-shore wind and small-scale hydroelectric projects are of interest, but larger commitment from UK investors is yet to happen.

British firms have been a part of Poland's BPO/SSC boom over the past few years.

However, there is now a recognition among businesses looking to locate some of their back-office activity to Poland as Kraków and Wrocław are overheating in terms of access to skilled employees.

Warsaw remains popular because of its Overall, British investment in Poland has universities and its capital-city status. tended to have been global corporations rather than small- or medium-sized Looking at food and FMGC, Poland is firms. Progress over the past ten years home to Associated British (AB) Food's up the World Bank's Doing Business exotic sauces plant in Nowa Sól and ranking – from 76th in the world to 27th to Twining's Tea blending and packaging – has resulted in a noticeable increase in facility in Swarzędz. BAT and Imperial medium-sized firms from the UK setting Brands both have factories in Poland. up in Poland.

The UK is strong in professional services.

Not only are the big advisory firms such as PwC present in Poland, there are also many large UK law firms and real estate companies operating successfully here. And British professional bodies, such as the Royal Institute of Chartered Having said that, large British corporates Surveyors, Chartered Institute of Managehave been significant investors in Poland ment Accounts, Association of Chartered

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Certified Accountants or the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply all have qualified members in Poland.

It’s worth mentioning the presence in Poland of the British Standards Institution (BSI Group), which is actively promoting best practice, certification and standards to Polish and international businesses.

British firms have been a part of Poland's BPO/SSC boom over the past few years. However, there is now a recognition among businesses looking to locate some of their back-office activity to Poland as Kraków and Wrocław are overheating in terms of access to skilled employees.

If we take a look at Poland are there any cities or regions where British in­ vestors are more active or have strong­ er presence?

PS, Michael Dembinski: Historically, British investment in Poland has focused on the south (Wrocław and Kraków in particular) for manufacturing investments and for shared services/BPO (Aon, Shell,

23

BUSINESS

BP, HSBC, Capita all having large centres in Kraków), and Warsaw for corporate headquarters and development centres such as Sage and Hargreaves Lansdowne.

As Poland's regions become more specialised (automotive in Silesia, aerospace around Rzeszów), so British investors are tending to move there. Rzeszów is a good example, with recent aviation-sector investments there from Bodycote International, MacBraida and Rolls-Royce's joint venture, Aero Gearbox.

What would you recommend to compa­ nies who’d like to start doing business in UK? Should they contact the BPCC, Polish Embassy in London? What steps they should follow to be successful in building business in UK? MD: Polish entrepreneurs looking to scale up and go global should definitely consider the UK as the ideal springboard for expansion. Tech firms with IT solutions that can be sold around the world (rather than just for Poland) would do well to set up in London. Firstly, it has a worldclass financial ecosystem – finding investors, be it business angels, venture capitalists or private equity funds – is far easier than in Poland. Secondly, the 'Made in UK' label is recognised around the world and is a powerful brand. Thirdly, the informal personal links between Britain and the Americas, the Middle East

24

and the Far East, make entering those businesses with global potential. markets via the UK much easier than dir­ We are seeing more and more of these, ectly from Poland. in particular in sectors such as FinTech.

I mentioned that Poland is ranked 27th in the world in terms of ease of doing business. The UK is seventh. Polish entrepreneurs who have set up in the UK marvel at how little bureaucracy hampers their activity, letting them focus on growing their business rather than dealing with paperwork.

2017 was the best ever year for bilateral trade between the UK and Poland, the value of goods sold between the two countries was over £15.9 billion.

Who to contact? The British Embassy in Warsaw can certainly help innovative scale-ups looking to go global via the UK. There are many ways in which the British government is supporting inward investment from entrepreneurs with innovative

It's too early to say how the new ZBH (foreign trade office) will support Polish exporters to the UK. The ZBH replaces the old WPHI (trade and investment promotion department) at the Polish Embassy in London on 1 April this year.

The BPCC has a different form of activity in the UK than in Poland (originally our chamber was set up in 1992 to integrate British investors into the Polish economy).

Over the years, the BPCC has worked closely with the Polish Embassy in London to promote Poland as an inward investment destination for UK firms. In terms of support for Polish entrepreneurs in the UK, there's the very active Pblink.co.uk network – more about that later!

Brexit is creating a number of uncer­ tainties for nearly two years now; there are lots of questions concerning possi­ ble opportunities. Do you think Brexit will help to grow business relations between Poland and UK or there won’t be significant difference comparing to current situation?

PS, MD: It depends very much on the sector. Let's start with the fact that 2017 was the best ever year for

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

bilateral trade between the UK and Poland, the value of goods sold between the two countries was over £15.9 billion (£5.1 billion from UK to Poland, £10.8 billion from Poland to UK). For the majority of Polish exporters, a Brexit that will see the UK leave the single European market and the Customs Union will be a challenge. From today's frictionless borders, the reintroduction of country-of-origin certification, VAT issues, checking paperwork at port of entry, may slow down the just-in-time supply chains between our countries. This is critical in two of the biggest sectors of Polish exports to the UK – automotive and food. And the UK represents for Poland the third largest export market (after Germany and Czech Republic) and the second-biggest trade surplus (after Germany). A slow-down in trade with the UK could harm Poland's current account if that surplus falls.

And should the worst-case scenario occur, and World Trade Organisation tariffs are to be applied on all goods coming from the EU, Polish products will retain their competitive advantage over those from higher-cost western European sources.

Many UK consumers would be forced to pick cheaper alternatives as a weaker pound and inflation hit their wallets.

For IT firms from Poland, in particular those with global ambitions, the UK will

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

remain a springboard to global markets come what may, as we mentioned above.

There are no tariffs nor border controls on zeros and ones. For Polish entrepreneurs interested in the 66 million consumers in the UK, the market will continue to be attractive. There will be restrictions on the freedom of movement of Polish workers to the UK, so the competitive advantage that Polish builders, for example, currently have will be limited to a certain degree as it will be harder to bring over skilled craftsmen from Poland.

So, it'll be a mixed picture – some may gain, some may lose.

As we know Polish business is very interested to get familiar with British business environment. What business events would you recommend to the companies who are interested to in­ crease the business networking with British diaspora in Poland and British business in UK? What are the main BPCC business events or mixers in Poland and UK? PS, MD: The BPCC began working with Polish entrepreneurs in the UK back in 2006, at first organising Polish-language events for them in London. But since 2012, with the formation of PBlink. co.uk, helped by the BPCC, there has been a strong support network for Polish

entrepreneurs right across the UK, from Scotland down to the south of England.

Events are now held in English, and many of the speakers are other immigrant entre­preneurs, from India, Africa or the Middle East, showing to Polish entrepreneurs that the UK is not just a market of a million Poles – it is a diverse market of 66 million consumers. PBlink.co.uk events offer business information, case studies and inspiration together with high-quality networking critical to business development. Thanks to PBlink. co.uk, a strong community of Polish entre­p reneurs has been established across the UK, which can help newcomers find potential business partners. Pblink. co.uk is now developing a sector focus; in March it will be holding the second British-Polish Construction Forum in London for Polish business owners – contractors, subcontractors, developers, architects and engineers.

Thank you. Just for the end of our conversation – if you were to give just one tip what to avoid when talking to British businessmen, what would it be?

PS, MD: Brexit is a touchy subject.

Emotions run high on both sides of the fence – like religion and politics – steer well clear, unless you can get a sense of what your interlocutor really thinks about it! •

"British investment in Poland has tended to have been global corporations rather than small- or medium-sized firms."

– Paweł Siwecki, CEO, BPCC

"Polish entrepreneurs looking to scale up and go global should definitely consider the UK as the ideal springboard for expansion."

– Michael Dembinski, Chief Advisor, BPCC

25

BUSINESS

Synergy of all institutions and companies is needed for the development of IT in Lviv According to IT Research and PwC, IT industry in Lviv and Ukraine, in general, has big perspectives for future development. In particular, according to PwC, the number of employees working in IT and related industries may grow to 250 thousand by 2020. IT Research predicts a 20% annual growth of Lviv IT. We talked with the Supervisory Board Chairman of Lviv IT Cluster and N-iX CEO Andrew Pavliv and learned in which direction IT industry should move. Read about the digital revolution, synergy and innovation triangle between Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil.

Outsourcing&More: Andrew, what would you say about synergy, inno­ vation triangle and growth prospects of IT industry?

Andrew Pavliv: In 2016 the number of IT specialists in Lviv grew by 15%.

To reach our goal – more than 30 thousand IT employees in 2020 – we need to speed up the pace of industry development. One job in IT creates 3,37 jobs in related industries. If we achieve our goal, this would add over 100,000 work places.

This is a big part of the workforce. Moreover, it will accelerate the development of the city.

The recipe for the successful development of IT consists of many components. The most important ones are – promoting jobs in IT among the youth, modernizing technical education and creating comfortable living conditions in order for IT specialists to choose Lviv.

It is a very difficult, troublesome job that calls for the joint synergy of every institution, every company and every citizen of the city.

Similar goals are being achieved thanks to organizations like Lviv IT Cluster.

The cluster’s projects apply to all of these

26

areas, and he hopes that this work will be even more intense.

We need to continue working on projects related to improving the welfare of IT employees. These are projects like IT House which help to feel more comfortable living in the city. A proper flight connection is equally important for comfortable living conditions. Thus, IT Jet project, in particular, the study of flights conducted by IT specialists and an attempt to influence the number of flights in Lviv airport will also attract new IT employees to work and live in Lviv. It is a common thing, that IT specialists coming here have 4-5 or more years of work experience. They are rather well-off already, thus, comfort is among their requirements to the city – in particular, an ability to travel around easily. This is important for clients as well.

Increasing the number of clients will lead to increasing the number of IT specialists.

Can Lviv be promoted as end IT-hub?

Projects like IT Arena and Innovation District IT Park are contributing to the city’s promotion. They have gained a lot of publicity recently, thus a lot of Lvivites and Ukrainians, in general, know about IT in Lviv thanks to these projects.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

To make IT employees remain in Lviv, education should be developing rapidly as well. A lot of professionals are ready to relocate only for their kids to get a quality education. Thus, the city has According to the to work on this – in order to expand the research of the variety of education options.

European Commission, despite the rapid development in IT, by 2020 Europe may face a shortage of IT employees amounting 900 thousand.

These are the three components which will provide comfortable living conditions for IT specialists in Lviv. Otherwise, they will move to other cities, looking for better conditions. Especially since the competition for staff is rather serious in Ukraine.

By the way, in order to improve the competitiveness of Lviv on Ukrainian and global markets, I suggest to unite Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk in a so-called innovative triangle (on the model of the innovative triangle between Toronto, Kitchener and Waterloo).

Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk – are located not far from one another, that is why their efforts can be united easily.

Working this way, with a little more concept, we are uniting our 17 thousand with nearly three thousands of IT employees from these cities as well as adding their development potential.

development in IT, by 2020 Europe may face a shortage of IT employees amounting 900 thousand. This means, that people who will choose or have chosen the career in IT will have plenty of opportunities for development and choice of work.

Would you agree that digitalization of everything is the second trend?

Soon there will be no companies which are not connected to IT. All companies are undergoing digital transformation. There are practically no companies that do not require digital solutions.

Some industries are transforming totally.

The story with Privatbank is a recent example here. What customers feared the most – was to lose the IT-system they are so used to. This means, that people are not loyal to a particular bank or brand, According to the research of the Euro- but to the convenience of its services. pean Commission, despite the rapid Now companies are competing more not over their main product, but rather in the digital field. For example, Uber with its development level made Uklon improve its services and mobile app.

And how digital revolution, competi­ tion and the future of IT sector looks like in your opinion?

I treat myself as a person with a strategic vision of IT development.

I am constantly following global trends and extrapolate them into the development of IT industry in Lviv and Ukraine. The main prediction – a lot of new opportunities open for Ukrainian IT industry.

Even big companies are transforming from those which require a lot of employees to digital companies without them. They have systems, which are adapted to customers and they are becoming even more convenient. This is happening in all industries.

In my opinion, since Ukrainian companies have a huge work experience and professional developers, they can provide customers with ready digital solutions for their customers. Moreover, many clients require a quality analysis and a plan to keep their business afloat.

Therefore, in the near future there will be a huge demand for digital consultants on the market.

photo: Vitaliy Solopchuk

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

How would you summarize the growth of the industry?

Prerequisites for the growth of the industry from the standpoint of trends are very big. We should work hard without slowing down. We are used to be proud of small achievements, but this has to be changed. In the book “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” there is a quote: “One who thinks he is a good father is not a good father; one who thinks he is a good husband is not a good husband.

One who thinks he is one of the worst husbands may be a good one if he is always trying to be a good husband with a single-hearted effort.” •

27

BUSINESS

The new model of outsourcing contact centre The role of business service providers is changing. Outsourcing companies are no longer expected to merely carry out the tasks while utilising costs-optimised resources. Already today, the companies expect the ever-growing demands of their customers to be fulfilled, applying not just the contract cost but, first and foremost, service quality criteria. An outsourcer should become a trusted communications consultant for the company purchasing outsourcing services.

Technological integrators operating as consultants should therefore be partners in a dialogue with managers responsible for business more than a a dialogue with IT managers.

The opinion that outsourcing of contact center services is motivated by the reduction (optimisation) of operating costs is still common in the market. Not long ago, when outsourcing process management, companies expected almost complete shifting of the communication function to the outsourcer. These included human resources on the one hand and, on the other hand, technology, still very expensive at the time. Therefore, an outsourced contact center was, and still is, a competence centre, providing both operational and technical elements necessary to run communication processes. Today we know that this definition is insufficient.

THE OUTSOURCER MUST BECOME A CONSULTANT AND ADVISER

Continuously growing expectations of the customers motivate us to reformulate our understanding of the role of contact center outsourcing. The cost element, although it is still important for businesses, gives way to service quality paradigm. Today's customers express their expectations regarding their contact with

28

the brand more clearly than ever before.

In order to fulfill these expectations, the outsourcer must act as an adviser in their area of expertise – handling of contact between the company and its customers. In accordance with the original

idea of outsourcing, clients companies need partners to implement their business vision and strategy. Communication is becoming increasingly complex in its form and increasingly demanding in terms of customer requirements.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

PROCESS, PERSON, TECHNOLOGY More and more often it is possible to find a model in which the client company shares its own tools with the outsourcer – access to CRM systems, notifications, complaint handling systems and even the telecommunications system (contact center).

Forget about the contact center as a place where the company - customer contact operations are carried out. Nowadays, it can take many organisational forms, perform various roles and functions, use different communication channels, and engage various specialised resources. A modern contact center requires the involvement of three types of competences: • process – i. e. a planned sequence of tasks and operations, • human resources – i. e. operational capabilities, • technology – i. e. tools combining the business logic of processes with available resources.

But what makes a real difference is the fact that these competences do not have to (or even should not) be concentrated in one "hand". Especially in organisations with their own contact center structures which at the same time outsource some tasks, the processes are the domain of the client company. The resources – managers, consultants, specialists and experience – are the greatest value of the outsourcer. And finally, technology and its effective use is in the realm of expertise belonging to IT integrators. Today, a contact center is more of a concept than a separate structure, and it requires consultants able to connect.

TECHNOLOGY SERVING BUSINESS

The effectiveness of customer service provided by a contact center is a result of the efficiency of business processes and the technology used to implement them.

Only a few years ago, contact center technologies focused on setting up connections between the company and its customers, supporting the organisation of teams' work and the running of campaigns. Today, the role of the technology necessary to provide customer service extends deep into the client organisation.

At a time when the entire organisation becomes responsible for communication, data flows through the company in all directions and customer contact points take different forms and are located in many places, it is important to plan the key processes accordingly. Efficient

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

information management requires more and more often automation at the company's core level in order to be able to provide the customers with consistent and up-to-date information, regardless of the contact channel. Technological integrators operating as consultants should therefore be partners in a dialogue with managers responsible for business more than a a dialogue with IT managers.

A NEW MODEL FOR CONTACT CENTER OUTSOURCING

If the outsourcer of contact center services is to be an attractive partner for businesses, it has to meet the constantly growing requirements of the end customers. New communication channels, changing formal and legal conditions, generational changes among customers and consultants who serve them, new tools and ways of using them: all these factors make up a real challenge for any business outsourcing contact center services. Bearing in mind that the basic competence of outsourcing contact center structures are their operational capabilities (human resources, work organisation processes and experience in communication) while the key objective of the company should be to ensure continuity of processes and the optimal use of information that enters the organisation, a natural model for outsourcing is tripartite cooperation of the client company, the outsourcing contact center and the technology integrator (not just the contact center).

More and more often it is possible to find a model in which the client company shares its own tools with the outsourcer – access to CRM systems, notifications, complaint handling systems and even the telecommunications system (contact center), while the outsourcer provides its key competences, i. e. operational capabilities. The strength of such a solution lies in the full control and ability to develop key communication processes on the client company's side. At the same time, the outsourcer can focus on the development of their key business competences with fully optimised technology investment costs. •

Zsolt Fekete, President of technology companies, Algotech Poland and Geomant Poland

29

BUSINESS

Romania’s IT sector becomes an international playground Over the past ten years, Romania has achieved and maintained a leading ­position when it comes to the main outsourcing destinations in Eastern Europe, but also in the world, being prefered by many multinational organizations regarding project relocation or department settings in the region. With its strategic position within Europe and human capital with high qualifications and potential, Romania has gained an excellent reputation in the IT industry.

This competitiveness arose as a result of the Romanian technical and proactive operational capabilities, which allow businesses that came here to have quick access to qualified personnel, technical experts, lower costs, flexibility, but also higher effectiveness and speed. It’s been more than a decade since Romania has been providing such services and its professional maturity is increasingly visible.

ROMANIA’S IT SECTOR IN NUMBERS

Romania’s software industry overall is on a positive trend and is capable of providing more than 10% of GPD in the coming years, comparing to its current 6%. According to the latest ANIS (Employers’ Association of the Software and Services Industry) report on Software and IT industry in Romania, more than 70% of the industry is currently controlled by significant foreign investors, which gives Romania a considerable advantage when it comes to reliability of its labor market.

The KeysFin survey, an information services company, also explains the advantage of having big players in the Romanian IT market. According to the experts, the 17.000 start-ups existing in Romania see revenues of less than one million euro, while the largest foreign companies have turnovers of over 50 million euro each, improving the economic environment overall. Moreover, at the end of 2017, there were

30

almost 20.000 active software companies, by 1.000 more compared to 2016, generating a profit of 571 million euros, twice as much as five years ago, according to statistics.

In terms of geographical distribution, in 2017 there were 42% of companies operating in Bucharest, followed by North-West development region. But it seems like the second tier cities, such as Cluj, Timisoara, Iasi, Sibiu, and Brasov are also excellent destinations for companies around the world. And the best aspect is that they are willing to hire juniors with little or no experience for relatively high salaries and ensure training procedures.

According to the recruiting agency Brainspotting, Romania has a significant Most of the market size is owed advantage when it comes to its labor to outsourcing activities. The main differ- market. 98% of the Romanian developers ence between Romania and Western speak English, and judging from their Europe is that the living costs are recent analysis, most Romanians speak low here, which make the salaries to be at least three languages at different relatively small compared with other levels. French, Spanish, and German are spoken by 10% of developers, countries. helping companies fill the language The entry of foreign investors has influ- gaps. Productivity is also showing enced the labor market massively in a positive trend in Romania, moving the IT sector. The top companies in from almost 36.000 euro/employee this industry have absorbed more than in 2013 to 45.000 in 2017, and it is 12.000 employees, which means 12% expected to reach 55.000 by 2020. of the industry’s total personnel. In the IT and outsourcing industry, there are EDUCATION – THE FOUNDATION FOR more than 60.000 people working, and ROMANIAN IT INDUSTRY the predictions for the next five years say Education plays an essential role in that another 150.000 jobs will be created preparing the playground for the foreign companies. Romania invests around the country.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

Moreover, since 2001, the country’s universities have been every year in the top three in the IEEE Design Competition.

On the other hand, Romania has more Informatics and Math Olympiad medals than any other European country and is placed the third globally after Russia and Romania’s software China.

According to Transfer Pricing Services report, today’s students are better prepared compared to 20 years ago.

University professors are involved in business, in R&D projects, start-ups, innovation labs, which give them a more accurate view of the current IT market. Companies have also identified the opportunity and created internship programs and summer camps to facilitate the employment process of the junior students.

industry overall is on a positive trend and is capable of providing more than 10% of GPD in the coming years, comparing to its current 6%.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP TREND RISES

The statistics also show that Romanian developers are becoming entrepreneurs, creating products aimed at a global market in the central tech hubs of the country mentioned before. Even if the Romanian start-ups don’t have substantial revenues for the Romanian economy, the fact that people are starting their own businesses in the IT industry shows a real development of the country.

Romanian tech start-ups increased substantially in the past year. In the first eight months of 2017, the funding for small IT companies raised to 38 million euros, while 2016 had only 11 million euros invested in this part of the industry.

more and more in preparing the future generations of developers, making the higher system of education to adapt to new perspectives. Since 2015, there has been implemented a new strategy for tertiary education, aiming to improve the participation in schools, to develop and adopt high standards study programs that are relevant to the current labor market and can ensure the involvement of IT&C sector.

As a result, IT&C companies have been actively cooperating with major universities, especially departments like Information Technology, Telecommunications, and Electronics or Automation and Computer Science, where they are running mentoring programs for the students. Starting with their first year of education, students can involve in those

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

mentoring programs, which help them develop practical skills, along with their theoretical knowledge.

The top universities in Romania include five Polytechnic Universities, 59 domain-specific universities and 174 private colleges with technical specialties. This leads to a 70% of Romanian IT&C professionals with tertiary education, according to Brainspotting research. The strong pool of skilled talent is an essential mark of Romania’s great IT industry, and companies are always willing to hire resourceful, open-minded and creative individuals, specialized in a variety of technologies.

There are more than 70.000 graduates each year, which gives companies the opportunity to expand their departments fast.

The primary factor that drove the technology start-ups boom in Romania is the high-speed Internet. According to the State of Internet report, Romania is the European Union leader with the best Internet speed, and the sixth in the world. This strong position stems from the fact that Romanian broadband was set directly with fiber, which gave Romanian a real step forward compared to the European peers that had to adjust their Internet network in time.

Despite its slow start in the IT industry after the Revolution, the constant advancement and real desire for growth have given Romania the chance to enter the global IT&C sector, capitalizing on niche technologies and strengthening foreign relationships. Moreover, the market maturity is visible now in the technological field through the quality of outsourcing Loredana Niculae, product provided, which mostly exceeded CEO NNC Services the clients’ expectations. •­ Romania

31

BUSINESS

Upgrade Your Marketing To Win The Attention Game – And New Business!

So, we’re living in the digital age; smartphones, televisions, 3D printers and wearable tech - mobile and hyperconnected all the time, anytime, anywhere. Even if our businesses aren't fully ‘digitally-enabled, just having a smartphone and access to the internet means we have a digital footprint and are part of the new digital ecosystem.

40% of the businesses I reviewed had websites that contained out of date content. Some displayed this content on the home page.

The result of these incredible advancements in technology has profoundly impacted consumers, the full extent of which has still to be felt. But what we do know and understand is that there has been a fundamental shift in how we search and discover, evaluate, purchase and transact, and this phenomenon also means consumer attention has shifted away from the traditional channels to which we had historically marketed to them, and onto digital platforms and social networking channels.

We all understand that customers have between six and eight digital interactions before making a purchase; they might Google to find a list of potential vendors, they’ll search for reviews or testimonials, dip into user forums, message friends, or utilize their own company intranets. They will certainly look at your website, plus your Facebook and Twitter accounts and any other social media. The whole customer journey these days has become a digital experience and is the reason why organizations are undergoing digital transformations – to engage and

32

transact with customers on the plat- You Tube just by putting out videos of forms that consume their attention. him unboxing toys!

Disagree? Check out the statistics in the The key principles of leveraging social sidebar on the page 34. media and networking platforms are: It’s the reason why Accenture, one of the largest organizations in global BPO, has spent the last five years buying up more than 15 digital creative marketing agencies all around the world – to ramp up their digital expertise, and provide their customers with an end to end digital capability, beginning at customer acquisition.

• Understand in detail who your customers are • Do not simply push products and features • Engage; like, share, comment, agree, disagree • Humanize your content • Be sociable • Be creative with imagery and video • Stay native to the platform you are using • Storytell

The message is clear. If you’re not engaging with your customers and prospects on the platforms that have their attention, then you’re doing no more The first serious question I ask a client than circling the drain. or prospect I meet is not ‘Tell me about your business’, it’s ‘Tell me about your customer’. It’s astonishing how little ON SOCIAL MEDIA BUT STILL NOT some businesses know about their GETTING CONVERSIONS? Being blunt, the chances are you’re customers. They can articulate their probably leveraging these platforms market verticals are, they might also be completely wrong. Even the simplest able to describe their target audience concept, leveraged correctly, can (typically C-suite), but often they produce significant results; there’s a six struggle to provide any granular details year old in the US who made $12m from about customer personas.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

Data has become the currency of business in the digital age. Google, Amazon, AirBnB, Uber and other businesses who’ve achieved massive scale have large oceans of 1st Party customer data and the ability to mine this data in order to provide a ‘1-1’ digital customer experience, personalizing the UI on digital platforms. And whilst small-mid market businesses don't have the same capabilities, they still need to have the same ‘obsessed with the customer’ approach.

I recently audited 20 Polish organizations for a BSS event and found the following most common failings for digital customer engagement: WEBSITE NOT LIVE

3 of the 30 companies I audited had no live website to speak of. One had no website at all, and the other two had landing pages with variations of the message ‘site under construction – check back later..’. Given today’s world where people are time-pressured and have the attention span of less than a goldfish, prospects who see this message are probably going to go straight onto the next option in their Google Search…

NO SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT

I was surprised to find that nine companies had no social media accounts.

The premise here is simple; you might have the greatest value proposition or most innovative product in the world, but if you’re not speaking to prospects on the platforms that are absorbing all of their attention, then you don't have their attention. I you don't have their attention, you can’t sell them anything!

The message is clear. If you’re not engaging with your customers and prospects on the platforms that have their attention, then you’re doing no more than circling the drain.

NO COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

18 of the 30 businesses were not engaging with their community. By this I mean they had a variant number of Followers (and were Following other businesses), but they were using the platform to simply push out information about them and

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

33

BUSINESS

their products. There were no conversations, no Likes or shares or camaraderie between the organization and ANY of their social community.

BEING UNCLEAR ABOUT WHAT YOU DO

DID YOU KNOW...?

Twitter has 330 million monthly active users

LinkedIn has 467 million monthly active users

Instagram has 800 million monthly active users Facebook has 2 billion monthly active users

5 billion videos are watched very day on YouTube Google crawls over 20 billion websites per day and performs 38,000 searched per second

34

30% of the businesses I checked did not articulate clearly what their purpose / value proposition was. Again, in an attention-deficit world you need to be very clear and concise about what you do, and publish it ‘high above the Fold’ (in other words, in the top half of the page before a prospects needs to scroll down).

OUT OF DATE CONTENT

40% of the businesses I reviewed had websites that contained out of date content. Some displayed this content on the home page. This can put customers off, as it shows a lack of attention to detail or poor customer focus. Imagine how annoying it would be if you checked a website for latest cinema showings and it listed movies from 6 months ago!

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

NOT MINDING YOUR LANGUAGE

In my experience, Central and Eastern European business professionals have an excellent command of English, considering it is a second language. English in the written format is a bit harder to master, however, and at least 10% of the businesses I audited had poorly translated content.

USING A ‘STERILE’ TONE OF VOICE

An organization’s Tone of Voice both embodies and expresses the brand’s personality and set of values and informs all of its written copy, including its website, social media messages, emails and brochureware. It sets you apart from the rest of the pack, builds trust and can be leveraged to influence and persuade.

In my audit I found that 30% of the businesses had a ‘sterile Tone of Voice. By that I mean the content they showed was overwhelmed by statistics, datasets and facts, and the words and sentences used themselves were very formal and un-engaging – a bit like being stuck with the resident bore at a party!

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

GIVING AWAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION UP FRONT

Six websites gave away too much information too soon, resulting in overcomplicated landing pages. Businesses who do well inherently understand the key stages of their customer buying journey. Once you’ve mapped this out, all your marketing collateral should be created with the purpose of helping to manage customers onto the next stage of the buying process.

If you give them too much information right at the beginning you’re shortcutting the journey and running the risk of losing the prospect without having had any meaningful engagement with them.

LACK OF STORYTELLING

I’ve left this to last but it is without a doubt the single most important factor in getting and retaining customer attention among the 1 billion websites in existence and 5.5 billion Google searches that are performed every single day. I found over 55% were lacking in any creative storytelling across their digital platforms.

That is, the content did not meet a number of basic hygiene factors that should be considered when creating content for your target audiences.

Leadership teams need to recognize that marketing is a strategic investment and not a discretionary spent; if you don't invest in your marketing strategy as much as you do your sales or R&D strategy, you’ll either fail to reach your target audience at scale, fail to capture their attention, or fail to engage them strongly enough to get them to buy your product or service.

If you want to succeed, its time to change how you value marketing – remember the old proverb, “If you always do what you've always done, you’ll always get what you've always got.” •

Tom Quigley, Owner & Chief Marketing Officer of QUIGLEYMEDIA. Director of Outsourcing for EMERGING EUROPE

35

BUSINESS

DevOps – WHAT IT REALLY IS? Typing in Google search phrase "DevOps what is it?" we get, about, 405,000 results. It says a lot about the scale of the phenomenon, but it also suggests a huge amount of definitions and explanations of the subject. In this article, we will answer the question of what is DevOps and why has it gain such popularity in IT world.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IS THE ROAD TO SUCCESS

Rafal Skóra, Senior IT Project Manager / Solution Architect at ESKOM IT Sp. z o.o.

36

However, before we go to DevOps, about which the world heard in 2008, let’s go back a few decades, more precisely to 1986. Then Masaaki Imai presented in his book term Kaizen – a practice of continuous improvement and at the same time the key to Japan's competitive success. In a big shortcut, Kaizen philosophy can be defined as a continuous improvement of the production and management process at all levels of the organisation. These are daily, sometimes small at a first sight changes, which over time begin to create a huge difference. What Kaizen has in common with DevOps? In both cases, it is about striving for the maximum quality of improvement through continuous improvement, close cooperation between the teams and, above all, the highest efficiency of these activities, mainly in terms of reliability and competitiveness of the product.

Thanks to this collaboration it is possible to produce software incomparably faster. DevOps is inherently designed to stimulate this cooperation and influence innovation. It is also worth adding that the lack of cooperation departments has greatly contributed to the concept of DevOps. Many companies on their own skin felt how expensive this type of "uncooperating" of key trial participants could be. So, the old saying is confirmed here that there is no bad thing that would not work out well.

More and more companies began to put on their own applications, designed exclusively for their clients, which ultimately led to the emergence of separate departments of programmers who learned to quickly produce dedicated software. However, system and application administrators have never put on speed, but on their stability and nonfailure. The clash of these two worlds must have led to the development of new cooperation systems to maintain COOPERATION ABOVE ALL the continuity and security of the appliDevOps places great emphasis on the cations and systems, on the other hand, close cooperation of programmer, enable the rapid delivery of the value operation and support departments. created by programmers.

It is worth to adding that previous Cloud Computing concepts or Hybrid IT was created (and sold) by the hardware and software manufacturers. DevOps however has huge potential and is successfully implemented in so many companies because of its philosophy of interoperability, created by programmers and administrators together.

To conclude, we can tell that DevOps is: • The response to the increasing emphasis on manufacturing speed and the quality of application maintenance • Philosophy, and above all, effective interoperability between programmers and administrators • Concept created by the developers and administrators themselves.

FEEDBACK WORKS WONDERS

High quality of the product is of importance in the software manufacturing process. Colloquially speaking too many "falling apart" applications saw the light of day. DevOps is intended to prevent similar cases, not only through the already mentioned close cooperation of

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

the developers, operations and support departments, but also by streamlining the process of creating and verifying the created software. With automated tests, any errors are already detected at the product stage. What's more, they are detected quickly. The feedback works miracles here and makes it possible for the responsible people to make all necessary modifications in a regular way, a little on the principle: "kill the monster while it is still small".

DevOps AND THE TIME FACTOR

At first glance, it might seem that the introduction of DevOps rules in the company may severally increase the product's creation and verification process.

In fact, it is completely the opposite.

The detection of errors already at the production stage, as well as the interplay between the employees of the departments, bring tangible benefits also in terms of time savings. Errors noticed early enough are usually easier to remove.

Increasing the sense of responsibility for activities among employees – YES – sometimes requires time (mainly in terms of changes in mentality), but it results in

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

excellent teamwork soon, which also positively contributes to the improvement of the process of formation. The quality of the final product and the acceleration of the implementation itself.

It can be said that DevOps is materialised saying "time is money" and at the same time a very good investment, which will quickly return and will benefit in the future.

As a time, factor, DevOps is therefore:

FOR WHOM DevOps?

Above all for companies that produce • Streamlining the software developand implement a lot of software. DevOps ment and maintenance process works great especially when the software • Factor accelerating the implementa- requires frequent and dynamic changes tion itself or modifications. At the same time, • A factor that increases the quality companies from the financial, media, of the final product. telecommunications or insurance sectors as well as internet portals and companies DevOps AND THE COST FACTOR related to e-commerce immediately come Companies that wonder whether the to mind. Applicability of DevOps is huge, introduction of DevOps will have an and the effects of its introduction are impact on the cost reduction, they have invaluable. no way of wondering. This restriction is already affected by the shortening of Company ESKOM has many years of product development and deployment experience in implementing solutions for time. DevOps: DevOps also has HPE Platinum Partner and Premiere Red Hat partnership. ESKOM • Prevents downtime will organize your company's manufac• Reduces testing costs and reduces turing processes according to the concept the time required to repair errors DevOps and provide the appropriate tool • Minimises the problems with launsupport. • ching the product on the market.

DevOps places great emphasis on the close cooperation of programmer, operation and support departments.

37

BUSINESS

Support provided to entrepreneurs in special economic zones versus the act on rules of supporting new investments Special Economic Zones (SEZ [SSE in Polish]) have existed in Poland since 1994. They came into being pursuant to the Act on Special Economic Zones of 20 October 1994 as administratively separated regions of the country in which investors may run their businesses on preferential conditions.

SEZs came into existence to boost the business development of some selected country regions. In Poland, there are now 14 SEZs with their geographic locations in: Kamienna Góra, Katowice, Kostrzyń-Słubice, Kraków, Legnica, Łódź, Mielec, Pomorze, Słupsk, Starachowice, Suwałki, Tarnobrzeg, Wałbrzych and Warmia-Mazury. SEZs are present in all provinces. Time of SEZs operation in their existing form has been extended until to 31 December 2026.

Entrepreneurs run their businesses in SEZs on preferential conditions based on special permissions. Such permissions are issued as administrative decisions by entities administering a given zone under the authority of the minister having competence over for economic matters.

Basic privileges entrepreneurs in SEZs may enjoy, among any other incentives encouraging the investment in such zones, are: tax exemptions (CIT or PIT) and real property tax exemptions (in some communes).

38

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

BUSINESS

To get and continue to have an aid the funds and which amount to at least 25% entrepreneur is obliged to: of the investment qualified costs.

• run a business in the zone on a continuous basis, • keep the ownership of asset components involving investment expenditure, • keep newly established job positions, for a minimum of 5 years, and in case of small and medium-sized enterprises for a minimum of 3 years. Significantly, if the permission for operation in the zone expires, or if it is withdrawn, an entrepreneur loses the entitlement to any tax exemptions and has an obligation to pay all public liabilities for the entire period in which such an entrepreneur has enjoyed tax exemptions.

INCOME TAX EXEMPTION

Income tax exemption is the major advantage entrepreneurs consider when deciding about making investments in a given area and which is a part of investments in SEZs.

Pursuant to the Regulation of the Minister Council of 10 December 2008 with regard to public aid given to entrepreneurs, whose business operation is based on the permission to run a business in the areas of Special Economic Zones, a new investment is regarded as the investment in fixed assets and intangible fixed assets involving either the establishment of a new enterprise, or extension of the existing enterprise, or diversification of the enterprise production through the introduction of new, additional products, or through a fundamental change in the entire production process of the existing enterprise. Also, the purchase of an enterprise, which is in liquidation or would be liquidated but for its purchase, is regarded as a new investment. Then, newly employed employees are those who are employed after the permission in relation to the new investment has been obtained, however, not later than within 3 years following the investment termination.

The number of employees is the number of full-time employees employed during the year based on employment contracts, part-time and seasonal employees.

Tax exemption becomes effective as of the month in which first expenses on investments have been made in the period beginning when the permission is obtained until the date on which permis- Qualified expenses that are required to be sible regional aid has been exhausted. incurred in order to obtain public aid are specified in the Regulation. Costs of the Regional investment aid is given to entre- entrepreneur's investment less the value preneurs as tax exemptions pursuant added tax (VAT) and excise liabilities are to art. 17 sec. 1 point 34 of CIT Act and regarded as qualified expenses, if they are art. 21 sec. 1 point 63a of PIT Act, and incurred in the Zone area in compliance involves income earned in business run in with the permission given. They include, the area of Special Economic Zone based among other, the land or perpetual on the permission given. usufruct right purchase price, the acquisition price of fixed assets or costs of manuPublic aid given to entrepreneurs as tax facturing them, provided that they can be exemptions is a regional investment aid considered a part of the taxpayer's assets given due to: under separate laws, costs of extension or modernization of existing fixed assets, • costs of a new investment, calculated acquisition price of intangible assets as a product of the aid maximum involving a technology transfer through intensity in a given area and costs the acquisition of rights to patents, of investment qualifying for such an licences, know-how or non-patented aid, or technical know-how, costs related to land • creation of jobs, calculated as a proor buildings tenancy or lease, acquisiduct of the aid maximum intensity in tion price of assets other than lands and a given area and 2-year costs of newly building constructions subject to tenancy employed employees, including costs or lease. A minimum amount of investof their gross pays, increased by com- ment costs is EUR 100,000. pulsory contributions covered by the entrepreneur as of the date on which Now any business activity in Special such employees are employed.

Economic Zone does not impose on an entrepreneur any territorial restrictions as Public aid for a new investment is condi- to do business in Special Economic Zone tional upon the participation of the entre- only. Each entrepreneur may run their preneur's own funds, which are not public businesses outside the Zone, however,

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

39

BUSINESS

any income earned in the business run outside the Zone, or exceeding the limits of the permission obtained will be subject to taxation on general rules. This also regards any business activity, which is excluded from SEZ permissions, e.g. fuel production or gambling centres.

Public aid for a new investment is conditional upon the participation of the entrepreneur's own funds, which are not public funds and which amount to at least 25% of the investment qualified costs.

EXEMPTION FROM REAL PROPERTY TAX

It is required that the resolution of respective local authorities be adopted to exempt entrepreneurs running their businesses in SEZs from taxes. The permission can be obtained particularly on condition that investment expenditures are made and new jobs created. Furthermore, a respective revenue authority has to be notified about an intention to use public aid funds plus the investment must be continued in the region for 5 or 3 years, respectively. The permission to be exempt from a tax depends on the resolution adopted by local authorities each time and on regulations effective in a given commune.

CHANGES…

However, in the next few weeks a draft act on rules of supporting new investments will be submitted to Parliament and it will provide for new rules of supporting entrepreneurs in their new investments.

The act on supporting entrepreneurs as planned is to replace the existing act on Special Economic Zones. New regulations will be in effect together with the present ones on SEZs. They will finally replace them after 2026 when SEZs stop existing.

Zone permissions given on conditions being in effect so far can be given until the date on which secondary legislation of the new act becomes effective, i.e. regulations on providing public aid under new rules and in respect to the areas for which responsibility is taken by particular authorities administering such areas (present Administrators of SEZs).

Magdalena GrzywaczewskaŁuczkowska, Legal Counsel in the Law Firm "Chudzik i Wspólnicy Radcowie Prawni" sp.p. www.chudzik.pl.

40

A major change in providing such a support is the removal of territorial restrictions. As it appears from the explanation to the draft act, the purpose of the new act is to ensure stable and uniform investment conditions. Pursuant to the new act any such support will be given to entrepreneurs making new investments when establishing a new plant,

increasing production capacities, or the county where a new investment will a changing the production process of the be made. The draft act also provides for Records of Investment Support with plant already existing. an intention to support economic and Such a support will be given to entre- regional policy by the area adminispreneurs whose investments will satisfy tering authorities. the project qualitative and quantitative criteria and will involve qualified costs. New regulations provide for the excluIt will be competence of Minister of sion of an entitlement to exemption Economy to issue the support decision. where an income from any business The support for new investments will be subject to an aid will result from actions given to entrepreneurs in the form of aimed at getting income tax exemption income tax exemption, or in the form of mainly, or where any such actions are not specific services rendered to investing of real nature, also in the situation where entrepreneurs. Such a support decision a taxpayer enjoying such an exemption will be issued to a given entrepreneurs takes legal steps, including any steps for not less than 10 years and not longer in businesses, which are not subject to exemptions, with a major intention than 15 years. to avoid taxation.

In its regulation, the Council of Ministers will provide what businesses will New rules of providing entrepreneurs with not be eligible for aid as well as what support are aimed at encouraging investqualitative and quantitative criteria will ments. However, it is only after the act be, i.e. requirements of compliance with and secondary legislation are submitted medium-term investment strategy and in their final form, we will be able to see a minimum investment size as corre- whether entrepreneurs shall be actually sponding to an unemployment rate in given optimal investment conditions. •

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

INVESTMENTS

INVESTMENT NEWS

the intention of the originator is to actively promote young Polish art – explains Dr Marcin Marcinkiewicz.

Author: Walter Herz

Savills launches an Investment Hub • •

Topping out ceremony at K3

The shell of the IMMOBILE K3 building at 3 Plac Kościeleckich in Bydgoszcz has just been completed. The symbolic topping out ceremony was held on 8 February 2018.

The event was attended by The Mayor of the City of Bydgoszcz Rafał Bruski, the Chairman of IMMOBILE S.A. Holding Rafał Jerzy, architect Karol Fiedor, representatives of the IMMOBILE S.A. companies, representatives of the media and collaborating companies, Holding’s employees and the heroes of the event – construction workers and inspectors.

The office building is to breathe a new life into Plac Kościeleckich.

It is worth mentioning the historic significance of the place. It is the place where ages ago there were the city walls and the city was vibrating with trade.

Sales and Management Director Maciej Wawrzyniak said that the first agreements with the tenants have been signed. These are the insurance, financial, information technology or the promoted in Bydgoszcz BPO/SSC (combined services) companies. Maciej Wawrzyniak emphasises that the agreements with the brands which have been present in the city are being concluded but there are also on-going negotiations with the enterprises which are not present in the local market. He ensures that the ground floor aimed at services is to be bustling with life until late at night.

The gathered guests could also see the so called mock up that is the installed sample on one of the façades. In this case, the part of the façade on the eastern wall of the building on the 2nd and 3rd floors and a part of the railings on the fourth floor were mounted. The used elements such as glass, aluminium and sandstone are very impressive even now. The glass pane (the average weight of one of the mounted elements amounts 850 kilos) reflects the surrounding buildings.

Accompanied by the sounds of music, the topping out ceremony was performed by construction manager Stanisław Kulawiak and contract manager Jarosław Sak. Due to the Fat Thursday tradition, donuts were served during the ceremony.

Walter Herz to commercialize Ratuszowa 6 Walter Herz became responsible for carrying out the commercialization process of a new, specialized culinary concept – Ratuszowa 6 – which is currently under construction

42

in Warsaw’s Praski Park.

The inspiration for the design of the Ratuszowa 6 complex, which will be opened in Warsaw's old Praga district, are such places as Chelsea Market Industry City in New York, Time Out Market in Lisbon and St. Lawrence Market in Toronto. The construction of this unique culinary concept is to begin soon, it is to be commissioned at the turn of 2019 and 2020.

The modern cultural and gastronomic center will be located in a four-storey building on an area of 2.6 thousand sq m, situated on a plot of about 4.4 thousand sq m at Ratuszowa Street in Warsaw. It will be one of the most interesting points on the culinary map of the city. The design of the building is based on the solutions similar to those used in Hala Koszyki, or currently implemented EC Powiśle. In addition to the gastronomic function, the complex is also to promote Polish modern art.

The initiator of the project established cooperation with young artists who will take part in decorating and finishing the facility.

The walls of the building are to be decorated with murals, and the green roofs will refer in their form to the surrounding Praski Park and the nearby Zoo. Ratuszowa 6 will provide a rich and diverse gastronomic offer. The complex will accommodate numerous restaurants and cafes, as well as stands with organic food and sophisticated culinary specialties from all over the world.

According to Dr Marcin Marcinkiewicz, who is representing the investor, the center will be a very lively and active place, with numerous culinary and cultural events. – The complex will host various events, exhibitions and openings. Visitors to Ratuszowa 6 will be able to take part in lectures, trainings and workshops related to the subject of culinary art and healthy eating as, well as widely understood culture, art and design. Moreover,

• • •

Savills introduces a new comprehensive investment market service Tomasz Buras appointed as head of Savills Investment Department Marek Paczuski promoted to deputy head of Savills Investment Department Kamil Kowa becomes a management board member of Savills Poland A new profile of the Corporate Finance & Valuation Department (formerly Valuation & Consultancy).

Real estate advisory firm Savills has consolidated and reorganised some of its business lines in Poland. It has set up an investment hub providing a comprehensive range of advisory services on the commercial real estate investment market through cooperation involving individual departments.

As part of Savills reorganisation, Tomasz Buras was appointed as head of the firm’s Investment Department and will continue as the managing director of Savills Poland.

Tomasz Buras is one of the most experienced leaders on the commercial real estate market.

In two years after he took the top position in Savills’ Polish office, he has doubled the firm’s revenue and headcount in Poland.

In his new role, Tomasz Buras will work with Marek Paczuski, who was promoted to deputy head of the Investment Department.

Marek has thirteen years of experience in the commercial real estate market. Throughout his professional career, he has successfully advised on investment transactions totalling nearly EUR 2bn.

Savills has also extended the scope of services delivered by its Valuation & Consultancy team, now renamed the Corporate Finance & Valuation department, which will be headed by its current director Kamil Kowa (now also a member of the management board of Savills Poland).

For the past three years, Kamil Kowa has been consolidating the firm’s position on the valuation market using proprietary

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

INVESTMENTS IT solutions supporting real estate due diligence processes. Capitalising on his skills acquired during his nearly twelve years with consulting firm EY, Kamil is now developing comprehensive advisory services for investment funds with a special focus on portfolio transactions and emerging asset classes such as rented residential properties (PRS) and student housing.

Monika Janczewska-Leja, who joined Savills in February 2018 as Head of Retail Advisory & Transactions, will develop retail property services within the new investment hub. She is implementing the firm’s new strategy in response to the growing impact of e-commerce on traditional retailing. In addition to delivering landlord and tenant representation services, Monika will work with Savills’ other teams in retail asset acquisitions and disposals, sharing her retail market expertise and insight.

Savills is one of the fastest-growing commercial real estate advisory firms in Poland. It frequently receives prestigious industry awards, including the Best Office Broker Team of 2017 and individual awards for Tomasz Buras, the managing director of Savills Poland. Savills is regularly engaged in major transactions on the Polish real estate market, advising in recent years on such deals as 2016’s largest office lease brokered by an agent on the Warsaw market, 2017’s second largest office deal in Warsaw, and Redefine Properties’ acquisition of a majority shareholding in Echo Prime Properties in what was a record-breaking transaction in the history of the Polish investment market.

Skanska is taking off with the second office building as part of the Nowy Rynek Complex Skanska has commenced construction works of the second office building in its Nowy Rynek complex, developed in Poznan in close proximity to both Dworzec Glowny railway station and Poznan's Old Town.

Ultimately, the area of 3.8 ha will include buildings with various functions, an urban market which will be open to the public, and other areas that will promote recreation and entertainment.

In August 2017, Skanska launched the construction of the first office building with an area of approx. 25,000 sqm of space. The second building will provide almost 12,000 sqm of office space. Its delivery to market is scheduled for Q3 2019. Phase I, consisting of two office projects, was designed by the Maćków Pracownia Projektowa design studio.

Buildings developed in the Nowy Rynek project will apply for an “Building without Barriers” certificate. This means that the project's facilities will be adjusted to the needs of people with disabilities, parents with children, seniors, and those who do not speak Polish.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Nowy Rynek – key facts and numbers: • Total leasable space: over 10,000 sqm • Under construction: Office building I: 25,000 sqm (completion scheduled at Q3 2019); office building II – 12,000 sqm (completion scheduled at Q3 2019).

• Garage underneath both building I and II will provide 267 + 125 parking places respectively.

• Certification: LEED Gold.

• General contractor for the building: Skanska S.A • Author of the architectural design of both buildings under construction: Maćków Pracownia Projektowa.

Office investment transactions in regional markets were ahead of Warsaw According to data by JLL, the volume of office investment transactions concluded in Poland for 2017 was approx. €1.6 billion.

A record breaking €970 million of office investment deals was reported in major cities outside of Warsaw.

Among the most important transactions concluded on regional markets were the portfolio transaction of three buildings – A4 Business Park, West Gate and Tryton Business House – sold by Echo Polska Properties to Griffin Premium RE; the sale of the DOT Office complex in Krakow by BUMA to Golden Star Estate; the sale of Maraton office building in Poznań by Skanska Property Poland to Union Investment as well as the sale of Przystanek mBank in Łódź

by Ghelamco to LCN Capital Partners.

Sound investment results are being fuelled by high demand for office space. In 2017, the demand for office space in the major cities outside Warsaw, totalled nearly 675,000 sq m, a 15% increase on the previous year. 201,000 sq m was leased in Kraków alone.

Dolby Poland relocates to Business Garden, creates cutting-edge work environment Wroclaw’s new Business Garden complex at Legnicka Street 48 is a 117,000 square meter campus designed to fit the needs of the modern company. It consists of nine office buildings with a restaurant pavilion and a surrounding garden. Each individual office building has an intelligent building management system (water and electrical energy economy combined with the HVAC system), and the complex boasts a restaurant pavilion. The opening of the

kindergarten and the medical center remain in the plans.

Through innovative research and engineering, Dolby Laboratories creates breakthrough experiences in entertainment and communications for billions of people worldwide. Dolby has relocated its Poland office to the Business Garden complex in

Wroclaw, securing nearly 3,500 m in space.

The design, project, and cost management work was managed by global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, who supported Dolby in analyzing the workplace environment, curating the interior design, and identifying subcontractors and equipment suppliers.

Inspired by Dolby’s commitment to creating spectacular experiences, Dolby Poland’s new home is a place where art meets science in inspiring ways, including green walls constructed entirely of ceiling to floor plant installations and 12 onsite labs separated by acoustic walls to eliminate noise pollution.

It is a physical representation of modernity, innovation, and technological advancements and a spectacular work environment for Dolby employees.

Source: Cushman & Wakefield.

Colliers International announces new hotels advisory service line in Poland

Industry-leading global real estate services firm, Colliers International, today announced the launch of its new Hotels Advisory department in Poland, led by Rafał Rosiejak, who has been appointed as Director.

Rafał has over ten years’ experience in the hotels market in Poland, having been appointed general director of the Italian chain Domina Hotels & Resorts in 2004.

His experience includes being responsible for the accommodation strategy and delivery for sponsors and fans of the UEFA EURO 2012™ European Football Championship.

He has also worked for FIFA in Zurich, as head of accommodation, organising the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. At the same time Rafał was the director of the Conference Center at the National Stadium in Warsaw, where he organised over 1,000 events, congresses and conferences, including; the UN Climate Summit, the annual congress of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and NATO summit. Prior to joining Colliers, Rafał was the director of one of the largest exhibition and congress facilities in Poland – Expo Mazury in Ostróda – before joining the Hotel Professionals team where he managed for the opening and launch of a new hotel, Hampton by Hilton in Gdańsk Oliwa.

43

INVESTMENTS

Kielce for investors.

Joint offer, cohesive message Kielce is an administrative, economic and cultural capital of the Świętokrzyskie Province, and has an open approach to business.

The city offers a potential investor a number of proposals – from finding a suitable investment area and creating a tailor-made offer, through providing support during investment processes, and after that, guaranteeing the post-investment care.

An additional magnet for new investment projects is the express road S7, now being extended, which links the north and south parts of the country as well as Kielce with the largest Polish cities – Warsaw and Kraków. This has been already translated into the growing interest of investors in areas located along the express road. Within the range of 120 to 180 km from Kielce, there are the largest Polish agglomerations – Warsaw, Kraków, Katowice, and Łódz. This constitutes a market populated by almost 10 million of potential customers.

INVESTMENT AREA OFFER

Kielce’s investment offer consists of both greenfield and brownfield areas. The city is also open for cooperation with neighbouring local governments. An example of a good partnership initiative is the joint Investment Offer Database for 15 municipalities which mostly belong to the Kielce Functional Area.

The city’s investment offer is available on-line through a tool called as the Investment Area Database (IAD), accessible via the link www.mapa.invest.kielce.pl.

44

The Database is a part of the Kielce Economic Portal (www.invest.kielce.pl) and was created on the basis of electronic maps and information provided by landowners. It allows for collecting and sharing a range of information about investment areas. Among other things, thanks to an efficiently operating Urban Spatial Information System, a modern Geoportal, as well as reliability, availability and transparency of the data gathered, the Database is a great source of knowledge about the investment potential of Kielce, Kielce Functional Area /KFA/, and even the whole region.

The offers presented via the Database come from 15 municipalities, including those in the KFA, because the policy of joint promotion and cooperation for the economic development of the region builds a positive image of the provincial city, also through the prism of its support for the areas surrounding it.

Both the Kielce Economic Portal and the Investment Offer Database are bilingual, user friendly, constantly updated and adapted to the latest standards, also those set by the Polish Investment

and Trade Agency, with which Kielce has been cooperating since 2006.

The Database was created not only as an instrument of promotion, but also as a response to the growing demand for easily accessible and comprehensive information about investment areas.

Each offer includes aerial and ground photographs as well as a number of technical parameters and layers showing the scope of environmental protection.

All this data can be generated in a PDF form or given to a potential investor as a link to a particular offer. An important feature of the Database is quick access to the Kielce Geoportal which allows for more detailed verification of spatial development plans, available transmission networks and other information important for investors. The Database is divided into a few categories. Apart from investment areas, the Database includes office spaces, production halls and cooperation offers available in Kielce. In total, the Database currently presents over 500 ha of municipal and private grounds intended for various types of investment projects.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

INVESTMENTS

The Investment Offer Database managed by the Investor Assistance Centre is an essential tool in everyday work. Quick access to the most important information about chosen properties and the ability to view spatial development plans and generate a comprehensive investment offer are functions that not only accelerate the preparation of a tailor-made offer, but also present the investment potential of the city and the whole KFA in a transparent and uniform way – says Anita Lagierska, the Mayor’s Plenipotentiary for Entrepreneurship and Deputy Director of the Department of City Development and Revitalisation.

when deciding where to promote the city’s investment potential (along with the sport and cultural offer of what to do in Kielce “after hours”), only those events are taken into account, which are participated by a wide and diverse group of potential investors. Dedicated offers, on the other hand, are created either for an entrepreneur contacting with the Investor Assistance Centre and interested in a particular industry, or for a potential investor whom the Centre would like to encourage to invest in Kielce. Production in the automotive as well as metal and machinery industry,

logistics, and warehousing are the most common proposals for development of local investment areas. It cannot be said that the city’s economic promotion is not related to the activity of Kielce Trade Fairs which has been successfully attracting exhibitors from around the world, including potential investors, to the city for 25 years. During the most important trade events, Kielce always has its stand where it presents the economic values of the city and the region, investment areas, human capital, conditions for running a business, etc.

The city’s investment offer is available on-line through a tool called as the Investment Area Database (IAD), accessible via the link www.mapa.invest. kielce.pl

CITY’S PROMOTION

Promotion of the city’s investment attractiveness is not only based on tools available on-line. It is also done while participating in various industry events and through the activity of Kielce Trade Fairs – the second organiser of trade fairs and exhibitions in the Central and Eastern Europe, which has already been present on the city map for 25 years! The city’s investment offer is dedicated to representatives of various industries, therefore

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

The Investment Offer Database managed by the Investor Assistance Centre is an essential tool in everyday work. Quick access to the most important information about chosen properties and the ability to view spatial development plans and generate a comprehensive investment offer are functions that not only accelerate the preparation of a tailor-made offer, but also present the investment potential of the city and the whole KFA in a transparent and uniform way – says Anita Lagierska, the Mayor’s Plenipotentiary for Entrepreneurship and Deputy Director of the Department of City Development and Revitalisation.

45

INVESTMENTS

Investor Assistance Centre Kielce City Hall: Strycharska 6 St., 25-659 Kielce p: +48 41 36 76 571, 41 36 76 557 coi@um.kielce.pl www.invest.kielce pl/en www.mapa.invest. kielce.pl/en

of usable area consisting of 2 technology incubators, 5 halls, 4 competence centres and nearly 20 hectares of lands for investments, including about 11 ha of “tailor-made”, i.e. properly developed and well-connected investment areas; and a further 7.5 ha of land is now being prepared thanks to, among others, the funds obtained from the Regional Operational Programme of the Świętokrzyskie Province for the years 2014-2020.

The KTP will receive over 4 million of the EU support for the preparation of the so-called B and C zones (http://www. technopark.kielce.pl/pl/co_oferuje_ park/tereny_inwestycyjne). Technical and transport infrastructure as well as The offer which enjoys the interest of impressive development plans put the property developers is a 1.5 hectare Kielce Technology Park at the forefront plot located in the vicinity of the express of institutions of this type in Poland. road S74, in close proximity to the city centre and in the immediate neigh- One of the most attractive offers bourhood of the campus of the Jan from the KFA for investors is held by Kochanowski University and the Kielce the Morawica Municipality located University of Technology. An ideal near Kielce. This dynamically develpurpose for this property would be oping municipality attracts entreprea private high-standard students’ dormi- neurs with well-prepared investment tory desired by the student community areas included in the “Starachowice” which is estimated in Kielce at over Special Economic Zone. Recently, such companies as Termetal, Formaster and 30,000 people.

Skanska SA have invested there.

Another interesting offer for small and medium enterprises is certainly the offer Also noteworthy are investment areas of Kielce Technology Park (KTP) which is located in the Chęciny Municipality, celebrating its 10th anniversary of exist- which lay in the immediate vicinity ence this year. The Park’s achievements of the express road S7, and for which during this decade include over 80,000 a special local spatial development plan sq m of land with nearly 32,000 sq m is being prepared.

INVESTMENT AREAS

CITY’S SUPPORT

The most interesting investment areas in the Investment Offer Database include a land plot of 45 ha (photo below) located in the south of Kielce. Its advantage is its location within the city’s boundaries, in the area dominated by the activities of various companies, including production plants. In terms of size, transport accessibility and existing technical infrastructure, it is one of the best prepared places for investments.

In the past, a food processing plant had been located there, and then, a brewery producing local beer. Currently, the entire area has been intended for sale.

The process of selling investment areas belonging to the city is handled by the Department of Property Management and Geodesy, appointed by the City Mayor for these purposes. The promotion of individual investment areas and other investment offers, acquisition of investors, preparation of tailor-made offers, handling of investors’ inquiries, etc. belong to the competences of the Department of City Development and Revitalisation, or more precisely – the Office for Economic Activation and the Investor Assistance Centre.

A well-prepared and connected investment area will always find an investor.

In Kielce, the example for confirmation of this thesis the investment area intended for building the Central Laboratory of the Central Office of Measures. A few years ago, this investment area was awarded by the then Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency with a title “First-Class Land”. Its location, geological characteristics, transport accessibility, as well as the city’s involvement in the implementation of the government’s project of building the complex of specialised laboratories for the Central Office of Measures made this investment to be carried out in Kielce, as it is supposed to have a positive impact on the economic and technological development of the entire region and the country. •

Investment area in Kielce 45 ha.

46

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Walter Herz provides specialized consulting services in commercial real estate.

We support Polish and international companies in all aspects of tenant representation, like improving functionality of the office, renegotiating lease agreements, optimizing costs and subleasing.

Tenant representation

Space optimization

Relocation management

Workplace strategy

Process coordination

Cost analysis

Project management

Please visit our website www.walterherz.com and download the latest map of office facilities and institutional tenant guide.

For more information call us 22 11 200 11

INVESTMENTS

HOUSING BOOM IN ŁÓDŹ A well-connected city with a qualified workforce and with renowned universities is a guarantee of development, providing that within its administrative borders there will be attractive investment areas on which office facilities, factories or housing estates can be built.

The area of so called the New Centre of Łódź attracts most the investors of real estate industry. This area involves 100 ha in the very centre of the city, limited by the streets Piotrkowska – Narutowicza – Kopcińskiego – Tuwima.

48

Does Łódź posses the features mentioned above? Well-qualified workforce, good cooperation of business and scientific environments and also competitive rental prices of office spaces are only some advantages of Łodź that attracts new investments to the city. The most important national and European transport routes cross near the agglomeration – intersection of the A-1 and A-2 motorways in Stryków provides fast connection with Warsaw, Poznań, Gdańsk and Toruń, and proximity of S8 and other express roads give the opportunity for fast connection among others with the Silesian agglomeration. Accessibility of two international airports including one located 15 minutes from the centre of Łódź is an additional advantage. However, the thing that has recently attracted new investors, mainly from real estate development industry to the city are attractive offers of investment areas.

dynamically. Currently, 60 cranes work on building sites in Łódź and in 2017 the record number of building permissions was issued – 3,751. – This has been a record for many years and a good prognosis for the future. In 2017, the city issued 3,751 building permissions which constitutes the greatest number in the history of Łódź. Near the EC1 a “Brama Miasta” building is being raised. “Nowa Fabryczna” and “Przystanek mBank” has already been opened in the New Centre of Łódź. Despite winter, the cranes work on the “Ogrodowa office” site and Puro hotel located vis a vis Poznański Palace. The year 2018 is marked by huge construction in our city – said Mayor of Łódź, Hanna Zdanowska.

In Łódź, both office developers (for example Skanska, Ghelamco, Echo Investment and soon HB Reavis), logistics industry developers – such as Panattoni; hotel – among others Puro Hotels as well as residential developers (for example SGI, Atal or Murapol) RECORD NUMBERS are developing and further investCommercial real estate market in Łódź ments are at the preparation stage or has recently been developing very will start soon. The area of so called

the New Centre of Łódź attracts most the investors of real estate industry.

This area involves 100 ha in the very centre of the city, limited by the streets Piotrkowska – Narutowicza – Kopcińskiego – Tuwima. Thanks to revitalization activities in the area of the modern Łódź Fabryczna railway station a district which will restore splendour to the city-centre of Łódź will be developed. The whole area is included in the spatial development plan that allows for construction among others new residential, office and service facilities in the area of the New Centre of Łódź. The widely understood revitalization process will have a great impact on the real estate market.

For the investors the most important fact is that the New Centre of Łódź is not a virtual project but a bustling and dynamically developing process.

The first spectacular investment is the revitalized former heat and power plant EC1 that was adopted for cultural, educational and entertainment needs – currently a cultural institution called

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

INVESTMENTS

“EC1 Łódź – Miasto Kultury” acts in the and "Sepia Office" investments at to construction commencement. facility.

Piotrkowska street.

The most popular are the areas located in Widzew district in South East part of In the New Centre of Łódź new office PLENTY OF CHOICES... Łódź. investments are being created, including A lot of investors, both developers and newly commissioned “Nowa Fabryczna” final investors from the office, resi- Significant movement on the real built by the Skanska company, which dential, hotel, warehouse and service estate market in Łódź has contributed substantially all was rent before commis- sectors, are attracted by the areas in to founding in Łódź new branches sioning, the second investment of this Łódź, that will be sold in the near future of consultant company from the real company, currently at the development through a tender. This can be proved estate sector and developers who have stage – “Brama Miasta” or “Przystanek by the number of conversations that formerly invested in the city more mBank” by Ghelamco and next build- city representatives held at the MIPIM and more often report to Investor ings will be developed on sites bought real estate fair in Cannes or EXPO Real Service and International Cooperation in Munich, as well as more frequent Bureau of the City of Łódź Office in

by Ghelamco and HB Reavis. visits of companies’ representatives in order to find an interesting property for Other places in Łódź where invest- Łódź. The offer of investment areas is future office, warehouse or residential ments are also eagerly under- presented during direct meetings and development. Support of the Investor taken are also worth mentioning. is also regularly updated and posted on Service and International Cooperation In the close vicinity of Manufaktura and the city’s website by the Department of Bureau includes widely understood help Poznański Palace the “Ogrodowa Office” acquisition and sale of Real Estate. in an investment project, including the building (Warimpex) is being build, most efficient way of dealing with the works on the intersection of Piłsud- Investment areas in Łódź are sought required administrative procedures. • skiego and Śmigłego-Rydza streets in not only by office or residential but connection with the construction of also by production and warehouse the "Imagine" office building (Avestus) developers. Free plots for such activity will start soon, Orange Property are sold extremely quickly and tenants Group implements the "Teal Office" find the newly-built spaces even prior

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Investor Service and International Cooperation Bureau Piotrkowska 104a Str 90-926 Lodz p.: +48 42 638 59 39 fax: +48 42 638 59 40 e-mail: boi@uml.lodz.pl

49

INVESTMENTS

Why choose Lithuania from an ocean of opportunities?

Recent years have seen Lithuania experience a steep upward trend in the number of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects it has received, with the country now attracting more large-scale manufacturers than ever before. Among recent newcomers are the automotive giants Hella and Continental, and Danish window-maker Dovista.

What has given Lithuania the edge against its regional competitors?

50

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

INVESTMENTS

According to World Bank Group’s most recent Doing Business Ranking, Lithuania takes 16th place compared to other economies.

Major investors, such as Hella and Continental, usually have a wide selection of countries from which they are able to choose. This means there needs to be a real value driver that would single out any one country. Here, Lithuania’s combination of a skilled workforce and a high Ease of Doing Business rating can be named as its main advantage. For example, Hella’s main selection criterion was that its country of choice should be able to provide a steady supply of skilled

Lithuania is globally 4th in Enforcing Contracts, 12th in Dealing with Construction Permits, and 3rd in Registering Property. engineers to set up and operate semi- or fully-automated manufacturing lines.

And Lithuania was an ideal match where this was concerned. According to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2017, the country is 2nd globally in terms of technical skills prevalence. Talking to the local media in autumn of 2017, Shayan Ali, Director of Continental Automotive Lithuania, emphasized that the local workforce had great potential for training and qualification, as specialists communicate well and comply with the standards prevalent in the highly-demanding automotive industry.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Of course, having an attractive talent pool is largely irrelevant if the process of starting operations in the country proves to be a difficult and lengthy ordeal. Thankfully, this is far from the case in Lithuania. According to the World Bank Group’s most recent Doing Business Ranking, Lithuania ranks 16th position globally. With such a high overall score, Lithuania falls in the same category as Ireland and Canada. According to the Ranking, Lithuania is globally 4th in Enforcing Contracts, 12th in Dealing with Construction Permits, and 3rd in Registering Property. When it comes to the latter, Lithuania also has the advantage of applying a single-window system.

Having chosen Kaunas Free Economic Zone (FEZ), both Hella and Continental will also benefit from the favourable conditions offered by dedicated industrial parks. Lithuania’s six Free Economic Zones have been built to match the needs of various industries: from furniture in Marijampolė FEZ to construction materials and textile in Šiauliai FEZ. Kaunas FEZ, with an area of 534 ha, is oriented towards electronics, logistics, MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations) and aviation. Klaipėda FEZ is located near the city’s ice-free seaport, which brings additional benefits to companies that hold a strong market share in the Nordic countries.

The shipping lead time to Karlsham, Sweden, is just one day. Traditionally, Klaipėda FEZ has been popular with plastic manufacturers, with one of the largest PET producers in the world – Indorama – having established its factory there in 2006.

Above all, both local and foreign capital companies in FEZs operate under a facilitated tax regime. Up until 2018, Lithuania allowed new companies to operate with a 0% corporate tax rate during the first six years. This can deliver real benefits to companies looking to build their operations, especially when you consider that the tax rate for many FEZs outside of Lithuania is 15%. And this offer has just gotten even better. Commencing from January 1, 2018, companies operating within Lithuanian FEZs will be subject to a 0% corporate tax for the first ten years. After that, for six years they will benefit from a 50% cut, reducing their tax to a mere 7.5%.

In addition to a favourable price-quality ratio and a competitive incentive package, Lithuania offers manufacturers more ways to build on this competitive advantage.

The average price for electricity ranges from €0.054/kWh to €0.080/kWh, whereas natural gas price ranges from €22.0/MWh to €27.7/MWh.

Gediminas Koryzna, Director of Business Development Department at Invest Lithuania

All of this gives a clear indication as to why Lithuania is quickly becoming a preferred destination for new large-scale manufacturing projects. As we can see from recent reforms and improvements in the legal framework, the government is prioritizing FDI projects and is keen and ready to improve the conditions for incoming business. In the coming years, Lithuania is determined to attract more largescale players from a variety of sectors, in particular, the automotive, aviation and medical technology industries. •

51

INVESTMENTS

Częstochowa – a year of new opportunities 2017 was the year of new investments. The city of Częstochowa holds areas belonging to two Special Economic Zones which attracted much interest in 2017. Ever since the SEZs were established in Częstochowa, a total of 25 tender procedures have been concluded, 11 of them in 2017 alone.

Investments worth PLN 861.2 million were declared in Letters of Intent.

Two investments in the automotive and glass industries are considered key. Within an area of the city included in the SEZ, a second branch of Guardian glassworks will open, offering over 150 new jobs.

Following months of talks and negotiations, the investment was possible thanks to the collaboration between the Częstochowa city authorities and the Katowice Special Economic Zone, allowing Guardian Glass to carry out from scratch the biggest equity investment in its history. Once the investment is in place, Guardian will launch a modern glasscoating line allowing production volumes of one thousand tons a day. This will give the group an opportunity to strengthen its market position among the European glass manufacturers. Guardian has also announced a transformation of its existing plant in Częstochowa next year. All those measures are a response to the growing demand on the domestic market and on the markets of the neighbouring countries.

electronics supporting advanced safety systems, which will be auxiliary to active and passive safety systems production lines, including new generation video cameras and electronic systems improving passenger safety, such as airbag control systems.

The new plant is due to open by the end of 2019 and, once the full production capacity is achieved, it is to employ 300 staff. One particular asset to this investment is the application of innovative state-of-the-art technologies in the production process. Further dynamic growth of the plant is also guaranteed by the fact that this is only the initial stage of the product lifespan. This investment is significant not only for the city itself, but also for the entire northern subregion of the Silesian Voivodeship.

The local selfgovernment’s priority is to attract not only new investors, but also new workforce and new residents, which is why the authorities actively promote its city’s valuable investment areas along with the opportunities the city has to offer.

Development of production plants will be followed by subsequent investments in the BPO industry, namely, financial and engineering centres.

ZF Global Electronics is expanding Częstochowa is now frequently taken production in Central and Eastern Europe and has chosen Częstochowa as the location for its next investment, namely, a production plant manufacturing

52

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

INVESTMENTS

into account as a location of Self of investment areas. Such incentives help Service centres. spread the image of a city that is open to business and original solutions, which Nowadays, with so many vacancies on the brings a positive response from the world labour market, it is no longer sufficient of business. to offer attractive investment areas or modern office centres. The crucial factor Last year’s edition of the festival, held which attracts new investors to the city in May, was accompanied by Monstfur’s are well-educated and work-ready human tour of the European capitals, taking resources. For years, Częstochowa has the city’s SEZs promotion to another been reactivating vocational schools and level. Information on such unusual event changing the image of vocational educa- reached both Americas. This year, the tion among pupils and their parents. organizers have changed the concept and invited students from high schools The local self-government’s priority is and vocational schools offering computer to attract not only new investors, but graphics, photography technology and also new workforce and new residents, related programs to create festival works. which is why the authorities actively promote its city’s valuable investment The unusual IRON OXIDE FESTIVAL is areas along with the opportunities the not the only unconventional method city has to offer. Entrepreneurs pay much of promotion of the city’s investment attention to the business environment opportunities. In 2016, the “Invest in created by local authorities. It is impor- Częstochowa” brand was promoted by tant for self-government to be the one a young, Częstochowa-born racing driver, to reach out and meet the needs of Bartłomiej Mirecki, a two-time winner of business by facilitating completion of the Kia Lotos Race Championships. Until administrative procedures, creating tax now, Mirecki has been the only driver incentives, organizing conferences, trade from Poland or the entire Central and fairs and other business events. This is Eastern Europe to have participated exactly what is being done in Często- in the Ferrari Driver Academy and the chowa. It is the local self-government, FIA Young Driver Excellence Academy acting under the “Invest in Częstochowa” tests. Since 2015, Bartek Mirecki has been brand, that inspires numerous events a Formula Renault driver. In December bringing together the people of science, 2017, the young driver promoted Częstoeducation and business. Our genera- chowa’s investment areas during the tion is witnessing a globally progressing Barbórka race. transformation of functioning of modern urban agglomerations. It is extremely Such unusual methods of city promotion important to develop new methods and also prove that Częstochowa is home means of communication with residents, to open-minded people who willingly for a city which attracts new students and accept new challenges. residents will also attract new investors.

In June, Częstochowa was awarded the The city authorities promote the invest- European Medal of Honour. The award ment areas in an innovative and uncon- has been granted since 2000, and ventional manner. One example of this never before in its history has it been approach is offered by the IRON OXIDE given to a city. Active promotion of Street Art Festival held on the Euro Park Mielec SEZ premises. As the SEZ authorities and the co-organizers from the Monstfur group emphasize, this is an unprecedented instance of promotion

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Częstochowa with a view to attracting new investments, as well as activities aimed at developing entrepreneurship, vocational and technical education, are the elements which received Medal-winning recognition. Also appreciated was the city’s efficiency in acquiring EU funding, activities aimed at preventing social exclusion, care for the elderly, large families, vaccination programs and numerous educational campaigns, presenting an image of a city which shares the highest EU values.

Investor Service Center Department of European Funds and Development City Hall of Częstochowa Waszyngtona 5 St. 42-217 Częstochowa p: +48 34 3707 212 Investor Assistance Centre p: +48 34 3707 213 coi@czestochowa. um.gov.pl fer@czestochowa. um.gov.pl www.czestochowa.pl

The interest in the SEZ areas of the city is not waning. Due to the upcoming tenders, planned to start in January, the city authorities will soon intensify their actions aimed at including more municipal ares into the Special Economic Zones.

Anna Mielczarek Regular events, such as Zawodowiec, Iron Oxide Festival, or the Jurassic Congress, will be continued, however, their form will be certainly modified to meet the residents’ needs and promote Częstochowa’s investment and HR education opportunities in the best possible way, as such is the requirement nowadays, bearing in mind the situation on the labour market.

We will continue our collaboration with secondary education institutions and pay even more attention to creating a suitable environment for the development of the BPO industry. •

In June, Częstochowa was awarded the European Medal of Honour. The award has been granted since 2000, and never before in its history has it been given to a city.

53

INVESTMENTS

Management of investment areas from the perspective of the city Active real estate management is aimed at proper shaping of the city space as well as achieving sustainable development.

In the current planning document, which is the Study of conditions and directions for spatial development of the city of Szczecin, the basic principles of real estate management have been indicated, compliance with which affects the achievement of the above objective.

One of them is to conduct an active policy in the field of real estate management, consisting the sale, purchase, exchange and consolidation of land for the purposes specified in the planning documents. Every year, the city develops an investment offer for creating conditions for the economic development of Szczecin addressed to potential domestic and foreign investors. Promotional activities are carried out, the most important of which are:

Urząd Miasta Szczecin Plac Armii Krajowej 1 70-456 Szczecin tel. (+48 91) 435 11 64 fax (+48 91) 435 11 65 www.invest.szczecin.eu

54

• creating a positive image of the City, • informing about the activities of the City in terms of its development, • informing on the leading economic sectors developing in the City, • informing interested potential investors about the possibilities of investing in our city by offering urban areas for sale, perpetual usufruct or lease for commercial, residential, recreation and leisure and industry purpose, • establishing contacts with potential investors (eg. through fairs, presentations, conferences).

Activities in this area include tasks such as: • preparing and issuing investment offers of the City, • adaptation of the offer to the requirements of potential investors depending on the given project, • establishing cooperation with domestic and foreign investors, including providing investors with comprehensive information about the procedure of investing in the City – services for investors, providing information on national and local investment incentives.

•

•

•

These incentives consist of: • introduction of facilitations in setting up and running a business – for this purpose, it operates Entrepreneur Service Centre in Szczecin City Hall, • granting credit guarantees and loans to entrepreneurs – Szczecin Metropolitan Development Agency Ltd. gencja Rozwoju Metropolii

•

•

Szczecińskiej) and Szczecin Loan Fund Ltd. (Szczeciński Fundusz Pożyczkowy) – with 100% City participation, supporting the implementation and innovative activities of Szczecin's entrepreneurs – Szczecin Science and Technology Park Ltd. (Szczeciński Park Naukowo-Technologiczny) – with 100% City participation, granting an exemption from property tax: a) a s part of regional investment aid for initial investment, b) a s part of de minimis aid for creating new jobs. the possibility of obtaining income tax exemption in the Szczecin Sub-zone SSE Euro-Park Mielec area, possibility to use Labor market instruments provided by the Poviat Labor Office. organizing meetings with potential investors interested in carrying out investments in Szczecin, to which representatives of substantive departments providing comprehensive information are invited,

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

INVESTMENTS

Every year, the city develops an investment offer for creating conditions for the economic development of Szczecin addressed to potential domestic and foreign investors.

• presentation of the City in country and abroad, preparing presentation materials on the City’s website, • participation in organizing conferences, symposia and business seminars, • cooperation with publishing houses and mass media in the area of publishing information about investment opportunities and City's investment offers, • participation of the City in promotional events, fairs and exhibitions of an economic nature, • cooperation with the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH).

The objectives of the promotion are treated as guidelines for the implementation of the entire economic development objectives of the city. They result from the intentions, plans and directions of economic development adopted in the Development Strategy of the City of Szczecin 2025. They also result from the effectiveness of previous activities supporting economic development and previous promotional effects.

website: www.invest.szczecin.eu and www.miastooferuje.szczecin.pl The list of properties prepared for sale in 2018 includes areas located within the Szczecin Sub-zone SSE Euro-Park Mielec in Trzebusz and Duników. Details of the offer can be found on the above mentioned City pages.

Simultaneously with the promotion of municipal investment offers, the promotion of investment offers prepared by other economic entities in Szczecin is also being conducted, when they turn to the City with a request for cooperation in the subject matter. It is one of the forms of cooperation with the local business community, consistent with the Szczecin Development Strategy 2025.

In addition to the preparation of investment offers, multimedia presentations are being developed. They show not only the economic advantages of the city but also its potential for tourism and landscape, scientific and social advantage of a number of universities and analyzes.

Every year, a list of land properties Investors are in contact with the City: prepared for sale for single-family, multifamily and commercial buildings as well • directly during fairs or conferences, as a list of built-up properties is avail- • through the information on various websites (the City of Szczecin, ARP able at the Public Information Bulletin Branch Mielec – SSE Euro-Park Mielec, of the City of Szczecin. All information Polish Investment and Trade Agency related to the investment offer of the (PAIiH), Investors and Exporters' city can be found on the dedicated

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Center of the West Pomeranian Marshall Office (COIiE), • directly through people working in COIiE and SSE Euro-Park Mielec, • through consulting companies, such as CBRE, JLL, Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers International, Pro-Invest / Capital High and others, • through law offices (local and supra-local).

Tasks related to the turnover of investment areas are carried out in the City Hall in two organizational units: • Department of Resource and Real Estate, • Strategy Office.

A City that cares about the economic development of its region and the acquisition of as many investors as possible must fully meet their needs and requirements, using well-trained and competent staff. Therefore, people involved in real estate trading, both in the promotional and informational part related to direct servicing of investors, as well as workers preparing real estate for sale, take part in training, conferences and postgraduate studies related to the wider real estate management. •

55

INVESTMENTS

Wolne Tory – the area for the whole new district of Poznan Nowadays the most attractive investment area of the Capital of Wielkopolska is undoubtedly the Wolne Tory. The new green district of Poznań, which is planned on this area, will cover over 100 ha in the city center, between the historic districts of Wilda and Łazarz.

Land development plan for Wolne Tory in Poznań.

An unquestionable advantage of the Wolne Tory is their location: in the immediate vicinity of the Poznan Main Station, the Poznan International Fair and the city center.

56

The area of Wolne Tory was a subject of a city-hosted contest, aim of which was to create an urban development plan for the post-industrial railway area. The plans developed by the contest winners have been the basis for the Municipal Urbanism Workshop in Poznań to develop an consistent, substantial and well fought zoning plan concept for the development of the Wolne Tory area. The new district in the center of Poznań will be a multifunctional space with modern residential and

service development. What attracts attention the most is the green footbridge over the railway tracks, which is a link between the Wilda and Łazarz districts.

Tory offers easy access to Poznan Airport and the A2 motorway. No wonder that the actions of the City and the owners of majority of the areas: PKP and ZNTK related to the preparation of properties for sale are already under the watchful THE MOST INTERESTING PROPERTIES observation of entities from Poland IN POZNAN An unquestionable advantage of the and abroad.

Wolne Tory is their location: in the immediate vicinity of the Poznan Main Station, In the new urban concept of developthe Poznan International Fair and the city ment of the Wolny Tory area, building center. It is worth nothing that the Wolne quarters are planned. In the northern part

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

INVESTMENTS

of the area service functions will prevail, in the southern part – residential ones.

Plots for recreation, schools and a church have also been planned.

Other interesting investment areas in Poznań are located near the Posnania Shopping Centre and The Rataje traffic circle. Łacina, which is the name of district as well as an investment offer of the City, consists of 6 investment fields designated for commercial buildings or residential construction, which are located around Posnania – the largest shopping center in the city. This is a very attractive area due to its favorable location (proximity to Malta Lake, good communication, wide commercial and service offer nearby). For years, urban planners have been planning to make Łacina a new district of Poznań with an exclusive housing development. Since mid-2017, the City has been systematically trying to list tenders for plots located in this attractive area. Both the areas of Wolne Tory and Łacina are waiting for potential investors since they are priority projects of the Poznań City Hall.

The offer of Poznań investment areas also includes real estate intended for residential, service, hotel, recreational and industrial development. On the City website you will find the current offer of individual plots, as well as a specially prepared catalog of real estates selected as attractive for investors operating in the hotel industry.

CITY PROPERTIES SALE

The promotion of the municipal real estate is the aim of the Investor Relations Department of the City of Poznan, which supports investors interested in renting or purchasing municipal properties.

The process of preparing specific offers and then the entire investment portfolio would be impossible without cooperation with other departments of the City of Poznan (including the Real Estate Department). The Real Estate Department designates areas that the City of Poznan offers to potential buyers.

Head of the Real Estate Department – Bartosz Guss explains that the municipal services constantly analyse the real estate market and, on this basis, the offer of properties for sale is updated and adapted to the preferences of buyers, among others, in terms of location, size, or destination.

Then, the portfolio of investment offer is prepared. It includes relevant information

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

about plots (including current use, If the query is of individual nature, it is outbuildings, available infrastructure). prepared a direct offer consistent with the investor's requirements. At the meeting Current investment offers are published with a potential buyer, the expectations on the website of the Investor Relations regarding a plot are discussed as well Department (poznan.pl/mim/inwestycje) as detailed information, which often in the "Invest in Poznań" tab. In addition, needs to be developed in cooperation dedicated thematic offer catalogs are with other departments of the City Hall. created – the latest catalog concerns At buyer's request, the Investor Relations plots designated for hotel properties. It is Department also organizes the on-site worth noting that investment offers are verifications in the selected area. All the prepared both in Polish and English. plots from the Poznań offer of investment areas are sold by way of an open The Poznań offer of investment areas is oral tender. updated twice a year due to the international real estate fairs. The first update WHERE ONE CAN FIND INFORMATION? is always published in March in connec- The full offer of the call for tenders, tion with MIPIM, the most prestigious organized by the Mayor of Poznań, trade fair that has been organized since is made public – on the notice board 1990 in Cannes, France. The next update in the Poznań City Hall, as well as on of the investment offer takes place in the website: October before EXPO REAL in Munich, Germany. Thanks to this, the updated • http://poznan.pl (real estate for sale – portfolio of the investment areas of the current tender offer), City of Poznań is promoted in an inter- • http://bip.poznan.pl (announcements, decisions, registers/informanational environment. In addition, the tion for announcements/sale of real full offer along with dedicated catalogs estate – current tender offer). is used at other promotional events, in which employees of the Investor Relations Department participate.

The Investor Relations Department is available to help with any investor SUPPORT FOR INVESTORS inquiries. The investment offer specialist The investment offer specialist provides remains available to prepare specific all the information about the real estate proposals for plots and meetings with in which the investor is interested in. investors. •

Investor Relations Department City of Poznań 1 Za Bramką Street 61-842 Poznan p: +48 61 878 54 28 inwestor@ um.poznan.pl www.poznan.pl

57

INVESTMENTS

Gdynia – the perfect climate for investment, modern business and living Known for its unique quality of life, Gdynia is appreciated by nearly 90% of its residents. Today, when recruiting employees is more and more difficult, companies base their investment decisions on more than just financial data and are also attracted by the quality of urban living. Focusing on knowledge and engagement of their staff, more and more businesses are keen to offer them the best working and living conditions. And Gdynia, contrary to other cities, has the answers.

GETTING THE WORK-LIFE BALANCE RIGHT. THE CLEANEST AIR IN POLAND

In keeping up with European standards, Gdynia has opened up its public data resources and become one of Poland’s few cities to share their municipal datasets. The idea is to make public data easily accessible for investors, start-ups, residents or visitors.

58

the Social Monitoring Council run by Janusz Czapiński. In 2017 Gdynia came first in the general category and was awarded the title "Polish city of the Future 2017/20018" in the prestigious ranking of the fDi Magazine, part of the Financial Times group. Gdynia became the leading city among medium-sized cities for its economic potential and business services. The city also topped the list for its human capital and lifestyle. The international jury of CEE Shared Services and Outsourcing Awards 2017 voted to award Gdynia, as part of the Tri-City Conurbation, the title of the most dynamically developing city. Every year Gdynia wins awards in the French competition of ECO-VILLE (ECO-CITY), and in 2018 it came first in as many as three categories.

With its strategic coastal location, a modern port, skilled labour, business centres to cater to the needs of the maritime industry, IT and innovation, Gdynia guarantees a good climate for investment and a work-life balance.

The city’s proof is in the research results and accolades it has won, all based on concrete data. Life in Gdynia is good thanks to many factors, among others, its high levels of safety, environmentally-friendly transport, clean air, unique modernist architecture, high quality education, culture and sports, the sea and forests within easy reach and prominent events such as the Open’er Festival, Polish Film Festival, Red Bull Air Race shows, Gdynia Sailing Days, Ladies’ Jazz Festival and Poland’s biggest triathlon race - A clear advantage over other major cities Ironmen 70.3. is Gdynia’s clean air. The city was reported to have had Poland’s cleanest air in the As well as consistently scoring high January report of the Polish Smog Alarm. on quality of life among the people of Gdynia, the city’s good track AN OPEN CITY WITH A VISION record is confirmed by the experts. OF THE FUTURE Gdynia has been named Poland’s best It has always been Gdynia’s ambition city to live on several occasions, a result to grow dynamically and wisely. Having established in the Social Diagnosis of a vision and hard data is key to winning

over investors. Adopted in 2017, the Strategy for Gdynia 2030 is a resource of knowledge which helps investors understand the city’s current and future potential. The document is designed to respond to new trends and externalities such as the global economy, fast pace of technology advancement as well as social and cultural changes.

Gdynia is also Poland’s and this part of Europe’s first city to receive ISO 37120, a smart city certificate. Registered on the international platform www.dataforcities. org, the city can now be compared against other global leaders such as London, Amsterdam or Dubai. Having a sustainable development certificate plays to the city’s advantage when talking to investors. It puts Gdynia on the map as an attractive and competitive city worldwide, both in economic and social terms, with very strong and sometimes excellent results across the board.

In keeping up with European standards, Gdynia has opened up its public data resources and become one of Poland’s few cities to share their municipal datasets. The idea is to make

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

INVESTMENTS

public data easily accessible for investors, start-ups, residents or visitors.

Gdynia runs Poland’s first portal to use an innovative connection for collecting and distributing data. Collected actively from a variety of sources, data are standardised and stored on the portal and automatically visualised. Users can view Poland’s record high number of 115 datasets which can then be used to create apps and other IT solutions.

PROFITS DELIVERED ON THE GROUND

With its eye firmly on technological advances and how investors search for properties, Gdynia has created a website dedicated to the city’s resources: www.investgdynia.pl. The platform is a one stop shop for investors to find out everything they need about the city’s current investment offer, auctions of Gdynia’s and the government’s sites and properties, land available for lease and properties for rent. The investgdynia. pl website publishes the latest on what the city has to offer and how it is likely to grow to help with business decisions.

A tool to help investors navigate across the city, the website includes an interactive map of Gdynia with details of plot boundaries, sizes, numbers and public or private ownership.

Some of the featured city-owned plots available for sale include: • Ejsmonda 1 – a site with a seaside location, surrounded by woodland, designated for tourism and sport services • Orłowska 13-15 – a seaside property some 50 m away from the Orłowo pier with the stunning cliff nearby, designated for tourism and culture services • Folwarczna-Wrocławska – a plot with excellent accessibility, designated for services and multi-family development • Dworcowa 11 – a plot in the city centre, designated for services or multi-family development • Chwaszczyńska 155 – a site off the Tri-City Bypass, designated for production, warehousing, services.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

59

INVESTMENTS

SUPPORT EVERY STEP OF THE WAY

The authorities of Gdynia build individual relations with each investor and provide bespoke support to match the type and size of the investment. The range of services includes marketing, branding, networking and reference meetings.

With its eye firmly on technological advances and how investors search for properties, Gdynia has created a website dedicated to the city’s resources: www.investgdynia.pl

unmatched by anywhere else in Europe.

It’s where the city meets the port, right next to its teeming streets in a city with a population of a quarter of a million.

What used to be an industrial site will now be home to a business and residential city centre with hotels and services.

Town planners have estimated that over the next ten years or so the Waterfront Prestige Zone, which is the combined area of the waterfront and Międzytorze, may attract up to fifteen thousand new residents and provide jobs for eleven and a half thousand people. •

The Department for Development and Investor Services is Gdynia’s dedicated team that can effectively and efficiently help with a range of questions. As well as liaising with business and offering guidance on Polish legal procedures, the team are also responsible for promoting the city’s development sites at Europe’s biggest international real property and investment fairs – the MIPIM in Cannes and Munich’s Expo Real. The fairs are an opportunity to learn about the new real property trends and investor needs. They are great for understanding investors’ points of view and exchanging experience with other cities. The Department’s staff attend and speak at conferences and debates that bring together investors from industries such as BPO/SSC, maritime, transport and hospitality.

Investment offers are also presented at individual meetings with investors and Poland’s cyclical housing fairs. Social media are used increasingly often for investor communications. Offers are also presented in the official channels such as tender announcements in the press, the government’s official website (the BIP) and on City Hall’s noticeboard.

The city also works with Invest in Pomerania, a regional initiative set up by the Pomerania Development Agency. As well as helping to organise investor visits to the region and international business missions, the agency works directly with the Polish Investment and Trade Agency.

SEA CITY – A PLACE LIKE NO OTHER IN EUROPE

Gdynia City Hall Investor Support Division ul. 10 Lutego 24 81-364 Gdynia Phone: +48 58 668 20 18 politykagospodarcza @gdynia.pl www.gdynia.pl

60

The development of the Fishing Pier and the redevelopment of disused shipyard sites are going to revolutionise Gdynia’s city centre. The scale of the project is comparable to the transformations the city and port had gone through when they were first built in the 1920s. Adding up to 33 hectares of attractive investment land, Gdynia’s waterfront is a space

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Laureates of the 5th edition of Outsourcing Stars contest telmon telmon

Document Archiving

Call / Contact Centre

BPO

Developer

HR / Body Leasing

IT – Software Development

HR / Recruitment

SSC

Accounting, HR, Payroll

The City

HR / IT Contracting

Real Estate Agency

Sales Forces Outsourcing

Manager of the Year Monika Smulewicz

INVESTMENTS

It listens, it offers, it supports.

Bydgoszcz takes care of its investors For investors looking for attractive locations, Bydgoszcz offers much more than a diversified and easily accessible offer of investment areas or tax encouragements. Individual consulting and professional investment service in the City is provided by experts of the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency – a municipal company that provides comprehensive support during the investment processes realised as a "one stop shop" service and post-investment care.

The offer of investment areas is targeted not only at new investors, who would possibly like to establish their business activity in Bydgoszcz but also to these who have already been operating in the City area and need more space for expansion or construction of new objects, mainly production halls or warehouses. In addition to typical, undeveloped areas of greenfield type, Bydgoszcz also offers brownfield areas with manufacturing and production halls and office spaces of various classes, including open space.

PLOTS AND MODERN OFFICE SPACES

Bydgoszcz presents a nationally unique offer of extensive areas available for sale, located within the administrative boun­ daries of the City. The available area of 88 hectares is covered by the Local Land Development Scheme and is currently owned by the Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage company in Bydgoszcz. More and more companies appreciate the advantages of the investment offers available in the Bydgoszcz Industrial and Technolo­ gical Park (BPPT). At the initiative of the City, a 280-hectare dedicated economic zone was created in a post-industrial area in the south-eastern part of the City.

62

BPPT is one of the youngest and investors to concentrate only on the largest business parks in Poland with selection of a plot that would fit their approx. 70 hectares of land located only needs. In addition, an attractive option for the investors is to run their business activity on preferential terms within the area of the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone, operated locally by the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency (BARR).

In addition to typical, undeveloped areas of greenfield type, Bydgoszcz also offers brownfield areas with manufacturing and production halls and office spaces of various classes, including open space.

3 km from an international airport, in close proximity to national roads and convenient access to railway transport.

The whole area has been comprehensively equipped with road and technical infrastructure to allow the potential

As part of its investment offer, Bydgoszcz provides attractive areas for the services sector – a total of approx. 74,000 sq m of existing office area with another 18,000 sq m under construction and 54,000 sq m that is planned to be erected.

Currently constructed objects such as Arkada Business Park (11,000 sq m) or Immobile K3 (8,800 sq m) offer the highest standard of office spaces with underground car parks and modern technical infrastructure in an attractive location of the City Centre and convenient access to public transport.

ONLINE CATALOGUE OF OFFERS AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT

A reliable source of information is an online database of Bydgoszcz investment offers run by BARR. The catalogue contains the details on areas and

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

INVESTMENTS

Our investment is located in a dynamically developing city with increasing economic activity. The extensive communication infrastructure, the International Airport and modern railway stations are the trademark of the City. Positive demographic indicators – young and educated society and the fastest decline in unemployment in Poland – are not without significance.

Bydgoszcz responds to market needs and successfully adapts its potential to the requirements set by developers, which makes the City an attractive place for investment – Andrzej Rosiński, the Chairman of Waimea Holding S.A.

objects of various purposes available in the area and is available under http:// barr.pl/en/baza-ofert-inwestycyjnych/.

The items in the database are very diverse in order to allow any entrepreneur, regardless of the size of the company or its business profile, to be able to select an optimal property for their use. Some areas are prepared for operations in the dynamically developing warehouse and logistics industry.

The proposals include communal areas, objects owned by the state, municipal companies as well as private entities.

The offer comprises of both developed and undeveloped areas of various sizes and purposes, mostly covered by the Local Spatial Development Scheme.

The online investment offers section on the BARR website is available in three languages – Polish, English and German, which allows the Agency to reach the potential investors from home and abroad. In addition, the BARR employees present the offers via e-mail contact with potential investors, as well as directly during face-to-face meetings in the BARR headquarters, in the offices of the investors, as well as during national and international fairs and conferences. Investors value such a proactive approach from the Agency which, not only provides the database of the investment offers but also, is a mediator in the meetings between the investor and the owner/perpetual usufructuary and provides comprehensive post-investment service. Unlike typical real estate offices, BARR does not charge the investor with any commission for this service.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

63

INVESTMENTS

OFFICE INVESTMENTS EXEMPT FROM REAL ESTATE TAX

Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency Unii Lubelskiej 4C St. 85-059 Bydgoszcz p: +48 52 585 88 23 barr@barr.pl www.barr.pl

In addition to the aforementioned assistance from BARR, investors seeking a convenient place to locate their business can rely on additional incentives in the form of real estate or income tax exemptions within the area of the Special Economic Zone, as well as instruments supporting the creation of new workplaces.

As part of the regional investment aid offered in Bydgoszcz, newly erected buildings that constitute an initial investment which leads to the creation of new workplaces (5 new workplaces for micro and small enterprises, 15 workplaces for medium enterprises and minimum 50 workplaces for other companies) are exempt from property tax for a minimum period of up to 3 years.

In January this year, the City Council adopted another resolution enabling

a 3-year tax exemption for entrepreneurs realising initial investments in the form of high standard office or conference spaces. The aim of introducing such an incentive is to stimulate the development of infrastructure for the sector of modern business services and to encourage the realisation of further investments in the City by the development of high-quality office buildings for rent.

Additional programmes supporting investors in acquiring and educating employees or creating jobs are implemented by the Poviat Employment Office in Bydgoszcz. In addition, BARR specialists offer assistance in applying for government grants available from the Polish Investment and Trade Agency to support investments of major importance for the Polish economy. Starting this year, BARR extended its offer by covering other forms of support, namely low-interest loans for entrepreneurs. It is

worth mentioning that depending on the preferences and needs of a given entrepreneur, Bydgoszcz offers various forms of incentives and BARR specialists individually advise investors on the selection of the most advantageous solutions.

The convenient location of Bydgoszcz on the map of Poland, combined with access to investment areas and office parks, as well as appropriate human potential allows the City to effectively compete for further investment projects. The right strategy of its leaders, focused on openness and ensuring the best possible conditions for economic development is also evidenced by new investment inquiries flowing to BARR, as well as international awards granted to Bydgoszcz – the most investor-friendly city in such prestigious plebiscites as CIJ Awards or Eurobuild Awards. •

C

M

As part of its investment offer, Bydgoszcz provides attractive areas for the services sector – a total of approx.

74,000 sq m of existing office area with another 18,000 sq m under construction and 54,000 sq m that is planned to be erected.

64

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

HR NEWS Daniel Czarnecki to lead Monika Janczewska-Leja appointed a new Landlord Representation Team director at Savills at Savills In 2017, the Office Agency of real estate advisory firm Savills advised on lease transactions totalling more than 90,000 sq m, the best performance in the history of the firm’s operation in Poland. Following its rapid expansion, Savills is consolidating its organisational structure and has promoted Daniel Czarnecki to Head of Landlord Representation in its Office Agency.

Daniel Czarnecki joined Savills in 2015 from advisory firm EY. At Savills, he was initially responsible for supervision over commercialisation of property portfolios owned by investment funds. He advised such clients as Deka Immobilien, GLL Real Estate Partners, Penta Investments and Predom. Daniel completed master and postgraduate studies at the Warsaw School of Economics and a business program at European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin. He is fluent in German and English, and is a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM).

Monika Janczewska-Leja has joined global real estate advisory firm Savills as Head of Retail Advisory & Transactions with a major role to implement the firm’s new strategy and develop its retail property services.

Monika Janczewska-Leja has 20 years of experience in the real estate market, having worked at managerial positions in GTC, Immochan and Kleppierre. With a strong command of three foreign languages she has successfully delivered a large number of cross-border projects. Throughout her professional career she has advised on commercialisation processes of such retail schemes as Sadyba Best Mall in Warsaw, Galeria Jurajska in Częstochowa, Galeria Kazimierz in Cracow, Novy Smichov in Prague and a portfolio of 22 Auchan hypermarkets. Monika graduated from Warsaw University, Faculty of Law. She also studied at the University of Edinburgh, the United Kingdom.

A new offer of Savills’ Retail Advisory & Transactions Department (formerly Retail Agency) comprises an extended range of tenant and landlord services, support of the firm’s investment team in The restructuring of Office Agency at Savills asset acquisitions and disposals, and in-depth consulting through will not affect the tenant representation team that will carry on operating as before and fully its global skills platform. To complement this, Savills will further independently of landlord representation. The enhance client representation services for expansion in high streets and through ground-floor retail and service units in office buildings. tenant representation department will contiSavills’ retail sector clients in Poland currently include Costa Coffee, nue to be headed by Jarosław Pilch. However, Gravity, Komfort, North Food, LeCreuset and retail schemes Savills’ offices in Cracow and Wrocław will commercialized on an exclusivity basis: Bolesławiec City Center, expand in 2018 in response to the acceleraCentrum Krakowska 61 (CK 61), Galeria Rumia, Kalinka Retail Park, ting growth of regional office markets.

Karpacka Retail Park, Morski Retail Park, Plac Vogla, Stalchemia Office Agency at Savills delivers comprehenRetail Park and convenience shopping centres owned by Arcona sive advisory services to tenants and owners Capital Real Estate Poland. of modern office buildings. The portfolio of the landlord representation team comprises 285,000 sq m of office space in buildings such Cushman & Wakefield appoints as Atrium International, Blue Office, D48, Chair of EMEA Capital Markets Edison, Ethos, Galileo, Griffin House, Grzybowska Park, IBC, Liberty Corner, MarynarEric van Dyck re-joins firm for which he worked for 27 years. ska Point II, Newton, Nobilis Business House, Cushman & Wakefield has appointed Eric van Dyck as Chair of North Gate, Pascal, Renaissance Building, its EMEA Capital Markets business as the firm continues to drive Szyperska Office Center, Temida and Zaułek growth across the region.

Piękna.

Capital markets specialist Van Dyck re-joins Cushman & Wakefield

66

from Redevco B.V. which he joined in 2010 first as COO and latterly as Chief Investment Officer. He was at Cushman & Wakefield previously for 27 years, serving as the Managing Partner for Belgium and as a board member. Van Dyck, who takes up his new position on 12 February, will continue as a non-executive board member at Leasinvest.

In his new role, he will support Jan-Willem Bastijn, Head of EMEA Capital Markets, in structuring the expanding business, supporting key clients and tracking capital flows.

He will also work closely with Michael Rodda, Head of EMEA Retail Capital Markets, Stephen Screene, COO, EMEA Capital Markets, and Paul Boursican, Head of Business Space, EMEA Capital Markets.

He will be based in London but work across the EMEA region.

Cushman & Wakefield’s 380-strong EMEA Capital Markets team has transacted and advised on over $64 billion of real estate in the last 24 months. Last year, the team undertook multiple record-breaking asset transactions in markets across the region, including: the IKEA Centres pan-European portfolio – exclusive real estate advisor on the largest retail transaction in Europe (lot size €900 million); 20 Fenchurch Street, London – UK’s largest-ever single asset property transaction (lot size £1.285 billion); and The Leadenhall Building, London – iconic City of London tower sold to Hong Kong investor, CC Land (lot size £1.15 billion).

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

Facts and challenges related to recruitment of IT specialists Interview with Paweł Pełtak, IT Recruitment Manager, People.

Outsourcing&More: Poland’s invest­ ment attractiveness is not a surprise for anyone these days. We are among the leading countries as far as the num­ ber of new investments is concerned.

This trend has also reached the IT sec­ tor. Do you think we are likely to main­ tain this strong position?

Paweł Pełtak: Definitely. Polish experts are assessed as great professionals and are renown both in Europe and worldwide. In HackerRank’s ranking of the world’s best programmers, Polish specialists have been listed in third position, right behind China and Russia. And our Java developers have been ranked first in their category. Additionally, we’re a very attractive market for new investors as far as economic stability is concerned.

And costs, which are relatively lower than in Germany, France or Great Britain work in our favour. The fact that global players have decided to trust us and open their IT centres in Poland can also be seen as a form of recommendation. Companies like HP, Lenovo, Dell, IBM or Accenture have been present on our market for years and nothing indicates that it’s about to change. I mean, the decisions to choose Poland were not made spontaneously [laughter]. Everything had to be thoroughly analyzed and each aspect had

68

to be checked. Such companies cannot young people are willing to enter the sector and that there are facilitations make mistakes. for those who want to change their We have to agree on that one. How­ever, career paths seems to be a solution it’s been estimated that our market to this problem. lacks specialists – according to various Yes, but we should not forget about sources we need 30 to 50 thousand automation. Scripts which will almore than we have now. Doesn’t it low to optimize some processes are being tone down the investors’ enthusiasm? created. For example, an automatic tester Yes, this is right. The insufficient num- could today write a script capable of hanber of IT specialists is a problem. The de- dling the workload of 10 younger testers. mand for those specialists is always on the rise, but let’s not forget that more Does it mean automation is our hope? and more young people want to develop In a way. Of course, machines will their careers in the IT sector. Universities not do everything, but technological produce more and more graduates every advancement may put an end to some year. Also state-run projects which help understaffing. people change their profession and become IT specialists have emerged. One Let’s go back to universities for a mo­ of those projects allowed its participants ment. There’s still the problem of com­ to take interest-free loans which they panies which require candidates to be could use to pay for studies, trainings graduates of a faculty of Informational and certifications. It should be noted that Technology. Do you think limiting their Poland is not the only country where the interest to scientific minds only is the sector is short-staffed. This is a global right approach? problem.

It is true that for some companies, technical higher education is crucial, but According to a report prepared by the in my opinion experience and skills are European Commission, by 2020 the much more important than a universiwhole European Union will be short ty diploma. Of course, having a degree of 825 thousand IT specialists. This da­ helps, but it’s not a substitute for real exta is shocking. Of course, the fact that perience on the market. Some very good

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

69

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

programmers I know have never studied, others dropped out from university after a year or two. Now these people occupy prestigious posts in various organizations, and I have to admit that a diploma wouldn’t really be of use to them.

Experience is what really counts.

It looks like the problem is companies’ awareness, isn’t it?

Yes. Sometimes these companies go even further and create a list of higher education institutions whose diplomas they accept. A candidate who didn’t graduate from one of those institutions will not be hired, even if he has a broad knowledge and years of experience. He’ll simply get rejected due to formal reasons.

But that’s really anachronistic. Are you trying to say that such a big short­ age of IT specialists is also caused by limitations imposed on the market by employers themselves?

Unfortunately, yes. And surely there are great well-known examples of people who never graduated from university but succeeded internationally – among them Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and many more.

Looking at the numbers, all companies should strive to meet these expecta­ tions. Using commonplace patterns and labels doesn’t seem to make sense any more.

I think, that’s what they should do.

And I really hope they start doing it.

The employee shortage is a fact. If firms choose to ignore this fact and select candidates using strict criteria, they won’t be able to close recruitment procedures for months or even years. And even such a long time might not guarantee that they’ll find their perfect candidate.

Eventually, they’ll be forced to hire someone who doesn’t match their initial requirements.

And how about career changes? This seems much easier in other sectors.

I know many people who used to work in HR, administration, marketing or accounting and now are IT specialists.

during which an intern gets tasks to complete. Of course, he or she also gets all the necessary tools and a training cycle.

Bootcamps and online courses for programmers are also in demand.

But can anyone choose these paths to become a programmer?

Unfortunately, no. Some kind of aptitude is really necessary. Analytical thinking, patience and the ability to derive pleasure from coding. Trust me, most of us wouldn’t be able to do it. You have to be terribly patient, cause it’s a really laborious process. A good programmer must also be always willing to learn and develop new skills. You have to be upto-date with new technologies or else you won’t be able to keep up with the market. New versions and tools are created all the time. You constantly have to learn and the world of new technologies doesn’t ever slow down. Fortunately, in the entire IT sector there are also positions which don’t focus so much on hard and technical skills.

All right, but how did they do it?

Internships are becoming more and more popular. The money is never big, but it’s more of a training course than real For example a scrum master is responsible work. Usually an internship takes the form for a team of programmers’ methodology of a three-month remote employment and the way they work. This undoubtedly

We have to avoid schematic thinking about IT specialists.

People have to stop seeing them as geeks in funny t-shirts who love comic books and watch Star Wars.

70

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

requires getting to know the entire work characteristics and the application’s architecture. But there are not so many technicalities involved, soft skills are much more important. A good scrum master simply has to know how to talk to people. He has to show the programmers how they are supposed to code- not the technical side but the schedule. In this job the crucial part is communicating with people, not machines.

Is there any chance for people who do not have scientific minds?

Absolutely. Companies also seek people responsible for business – people who could visit clients and make lists of their requirements concerning the way an application should be written. All needs of a customer should be taken into account.

IT Key account managers?

More like business analysts [laughter], but it’s based on the same rule. An analyst gathers business requirements and passes them to developers, who create the entire technical side. It can also be described as the job of a translator, who notes down the needs of a client in colloquial

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

language, translates this text into a sys- like this, but we already have a few in tem programming language and gives it Poland. It really works. to coders in this form. This is not a fully technical role.

Is creative work environment the key to making programmers stay at an This means, there is some hope for organization? humanists and people who gener­ Yes, because they can develop their ally do not have a thing for exact skills and do what they like most. They alsciences. Have you managed to create so fulfill their everyday duties of course, new methods of attracting candidates? but they are able to do creative things In the IT sector it’s hard to attract and they can really influence their shape. a candidate and it’s even harder to keep him or her, which is why projects have And how about benefits? We don’t ex­ to be interesting and meet the candi- pect anything interesting has emerged. dates’ expectations. Programmers do not Many things that used to be treated want to use old technologies. They are as benefits are now considered standnot interested in maintaining what al- ard. Nowadays benefits take the form ready exists. Nowadays they want to cre- of certifications, trainings or thematic ate new things, to have real influence on conferences connected with each canthe way applications work, to share their didate’s skills. Investing in an employee ideas and make them come to life. Some is necessary. Without doubt the range of firms have even made letting coders work benefits available in Poland is becoming on their own applications one day a week wider and wider, but it’s still way behind a standard. the ideas from Silicon Valley. One of the leading tech companies there ofHaving that said, companies allow fers its employees two months of paid their employees to develop in quite an vacation for the trip of their dreams.

They can go anywhere they want to go. unconventional way.

Yes, but don’t forget that it has to be The only condition is that they really have somehow connected with the firm’s field to go somewhere [laughs]. The firm pays of operation. for everything. Another example is a company which in case of an employee’s sudAre we correct to understand, that it’s den death keeps paying this employee’s a novelty on the IT market? family half of his or her salary for the next Yes, it has appeared mostly in tech- ten years! nologically advanced firms. Organizing hackathons is another interesting thing. Wow, it seems like the only limita­ I see the way you’re looking at me. A hack- tion is the level of a given company’s athon is a coding marathon. In a nutshell, creativity. you give programmers two days, for exExactly. One corporation offers womample Thursday and Friday to design an en the possibility to freeze their eggs if application. They can present whatever they do not wish to become mothers they want and nothing restricts their cre- right now but want to still have this opativity. If the application turns out to be tion in the future. advanced, original and, most importantly, in line with the company’s field of oper- Total science fiction! ation, the employee is rewarded. More Without doubt. We’re about to enter often than not it’s some sort of financial the third decade of the XXI century. gratification, but prizes in the form of expensive certificates and trainings abroad In the context of everything you have also happen. Additionally, the worker can said, have you changed your methods keep on working on his or her product of attracting new candidates? and developing it. The only condition is First of all, I have to say that IT specialthat the results of this work are to be left ists are very demanding candidates. They at the employing organization. know they are sought-after. They are offered large sums of money. And they are It looks like nowadays an IT firm is sim­ aware that their skills are in high demand ply a creative agency. on the market, so classic recruitment proIt depends on how you look at it. cedures just don’t work. More sophisticatThere are still not too many companies ed methods are needed to reach them.

71

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

What are these methods?

Generally IT specialists are not people who actively seek employment. They don’t visit websites with job offers unless they are really dissatisfied with their current employer. So, in order to reach them, you have to stand out. Your offer has to catch their attention. Otherwise you just won’t be noticed.

OK, but your last poster depicted Iron Man and the caption said “We’re looking for a superhero – a security architect”.

That’s actually in line with what I’ve just said. On the one hand we appreciate their skills, their role in today’s world and the fact that they are indispensable for this world to function, and on the other hand we want to emphasize that they are All right, but how? normal people and belong to our reality.

First of all, we have to avoid schematic I can’t disclose more details. I just hope thinking about IT specialists. People have the campaign we’ve prepared will clear to stop seeing them as geeks in funny all your doubts. t-shirts who love comic books and watch Star Wars. They are not a unified group! I can’t wait to see it. And what positions More and more women are entering the will be most popular now? Is there field – they also want to be active and no- anything new? ticed. We have a full scope of personalities The situation changes all the time, and characters in this sector and we really new technologies come and create dehave to take it into account. We must first mand for people who are not even on the meet their needs and focus on their di- market yet. Many technologies are in their versity. On the other hand we want to flirt infancy. A couple of years ago in Poland with them. We want to break that spell there were no positions like UX Designer, that gives them their superhero treat- DevOps Engineer, Pentester, Scrum Masment. We want to play with them a bit. ter, Hadoop Specialist or Cloud Architect.

These posts were not even there, and now they are really popular. And those specialists form quite a big part of the entire number of people employed in the IT sector. New needs and things we have never heard of are created every day. As far as novelties are concerned – there’s Blockchain Engineer who is directly responsible for “Bitcoin mining”. Another interesting position is Machine Learning Specialist – he or she teaches machines how to do their tasks. Without doubt, all positions which today are new and not very common in a few years will be as standard as Java Programmers are now.

Thank you very much. •

Some very good programmers I know have never studied, others dropped out from university after a year or two.

72

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

New regulations of temporary employees: what has changed on HR market?

Interview with Antonio Carvelli, Country Manager, Gi Group.

Kamila Czyżyk, O&M: The first of June 2017 is a date known by everyone who is interested in the temporary worker recruitment market. On that day provisions of the Act of 7 April 2017 which regulated the so-called le­ gal loophole regarding employment entered into force. The main change consisted in reducing the term a worker can be employed by the same employ­ er up to a maximum of 18 months over the course of 3 subsequent years. Each of us wondered the same thing: what now? So, how did the market deal with this provision and was a solution found which satisfies both parties – the work­ er and the employer?

Antonio Carvelli, Country Manager, Gi Group: In our opinion, amendment of the Act expedited the natural process in which role of the Employment Agency

74

towards Employer-Users evolved. This role has been changing over the past years as companies have been becoming more aware of the fact that their Agency is not just a regular service provider but a partner which is able to support the development of their business comprehensively by taking over the entire burden of administrative and recruitment process related to hiring of workers.

Until recently, the keys to success on the Polish market, which helped Poland stand out from among other countries were: flexibility of employment forms, a transparent tax system, openness and the legislator's business-friendly attitude.

When the legislator reduced, i.a., the possibility of applying flexible employment forms, a risk appeared that some companies would have to limit their development and investment plans.

Companies are unable to promptly adjust to those changes, thus facing what for them are difficult market conditions in which they are forced to operate, i.a. very

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

low unemployment rates, high turnover If you were to be quite frank – from the of staff and increasing financial demands. point of view of an HR Agency, did the new provisions introduce more posi­ In all this confusion arising after the tive changes or more negative changes amended provisions entered into force (disrupting previous processes) into the it became clear that to maintain their market? Who gained and who lost? competitive advantage, employers There is no clear answer to this quesrequire customised solutions which tion. As I have already mentioned, on satisfy the needs of their companies. One the one hand the new provisions forced possible option is using the employee employers and agencies to develop outsourcing service. Agencies such as new solutions in terms of employment Gi Group prove to be essential in this which required significant investments. process, as they take over the burden Employers had to dedicate a lot of time of recruitment, complete accounting and resources. This increase of employand administrative support regarding ment costs attributable to those changes employment of staff, ensuring neces- may lead to a reduction of investment sary qualifications, trainings, etc. Thus and development plans, thus decreasing the employer does not need to analyse the number of available jobs. On the other amendments to provisions, leaving that hand, many employers may now consider to us, and can concentrate on meeting increasing hiring workforce under employthe company's business objectives. ment agreements, which is more favourable to employees. Time will show which of An HR Agency represents a third party these scenarios will actually be adopted. of this "confusion" as an intermediary operating between the employer and employee. How has your role changed in light of the new provisions?

Provisions which entered into force last June significantly limited employment under temporary work agreements. It resulted in a need to apply other solutions in this regard and their implementation requires close cooperation with experts at the Employment Agency. We become trusted advisers who get to know essential processes inside the organisation and optimise them in cooperation with the Client. Such cooperation also constitutes an incentive to improve qualifications of our employees, increase responsiveness to the employer's needs and significant changes in our internal structure.

We must be ready to satisfy an urgent recruitment need of even the largest client in terms of HR and accounting as well as match the candidate's competences to the company's needs. One shouldn't forget that the Employment Agency's responsibility in not only towards business, but also the society. We are responsible for the thousands of workers we employ.

However, the Act on temporary work may constitute in a certain screening test for entities operating on the employment agencies market. Only those agencies which are able to swiftly analyse processes adopted in the Client's company as well as anticipate changes and provide an added value for the market will survive. Smaller agencies will simply not be able to offer all that.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

We are of the opinion that it is necessary to improve the quality of dialogue between parties engaged in developing legislation on temporary work, that is, the Legislator, Agencies, Employers and Labour Unions.

The new regulations also concern preg­ nant women. What are these regula­ tions specifically and will they cause greater reluctance among employers to hire women?

Yes, there is a concern that provisions will have a negative effect on employment of women in productive age, who currently constitute 47% of all temporary workers. According to the new provisions, all employment agreements concluded with pregnant women, even those concluded for a very short term (several days and even several hours), which would terminate after the third month of pregnancy, will be extended until the day of

delivery. In practice that means that an agency which employs a temporary worker will have to find a new employer-user if the agreement for a specified period concluded with the original employer terminates. Even if the agency manages to do that, it cannot send an employee to work at a new employer-user without her consent. As a consequence the demand for employment of women may be reduced, which will limit their ability to actively participate in the labour market due to the reduced interest in this form of employment.

In your opinion, do new provisions ad­ dress all essential questions in regard to temporary workers or are there still areas which require a public discussion?

We are of the opinion that it is necessary to improve the quality of dialogue between parties engaged in developing legislation on temporary work, that is, the Legislator, Agencies, Employers and Labour Unions. We must keep in mind that each market has its specific needs and its own pace of development. That is why it is unfavourable to introduce changes in legislations without considering the fact that the contemporary labour market needs balance, not more rigour.

If we introduce statutory provisions which impose certain solutions without taking into consideration flexibility of the labour market, it's seasonality, trends and global variability, we run the risk of economic slowdown and disruption of the natural evolutionary process of the labour market.

In this pursuit of regulations we forget that work of each person constitutes an added value to companies and drives their development.

To sum up, we urge all engaged parties to maintain an open dialogue in order to find solutions which satisfy everyone involved. This will require time and dedication, but we believe it is possible. After all, our objective as an agency is finding adequate work for everyone, work which matches their education and skills and not simply provides them with any job.

Thank you for the interview. •

75

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE A LEADER? What is the cause that some are consistent leaders that are followed by their employees and clients while there are some who keep questioning their own decisions? Why do some attract great specialists to each other while others are fighting for an employee? What have those who always calmly find time for themselves when others chase deadlines? A recipe for being a leader does not exist. However, it can be distinguished several features that those leaders, that we are happy to follow, definitely have.

Authenticity, consistency, credibility are undoubtedly characteristics that make others trust us and willingly interact with us. Additionally, consequence, because I do not know a person who would not like to be more consistent. And if you add charisma and bold, ethical visions, then you will follow a man like in smoke. Well, it would seem a ready recipe for being a leader. The only question is, how many people that you know in your environment actually have such features?

If you have reached ten, believe me, you also have these features. It is impossible to have around oneself people different from each other. Similarities hold close to similarities. So, if you want to surround yourself with such people to a greater extent, first of all it is worth to check your conscience and analyze whether you are the leader that you would like to follow.

and building self-awareness will certainly take you there. If you feel any discomfort in the place where you are, then read on and determine whether you want to make a change effort or reduce self-requirements – it will also be OK.

Years of work with the managerial staff have shown me that due to the pressure of the environment, fashion and other strange external phenomena, we absolutely forget about what we want.

I saw dozens of unhappy managers who did not refuse the promotion, because, as they said, "it did not fall out".

I also met directors, managers, project managers who wanted to have more confidence, less stress or more freedom in relation to their employees. You spend so much time at work, so it is worth it if it would give something more than a pay.

Who knows, maybe your place is really somewhere else. However, if you have a vision of yourself in the chair of your THERE IS NO OBLIGATION president, then only your own developTO BE A LEADER Manager or leader? First of all, I loudly ment will allow conscious creation and announce that I am far from evaluation not the sum of accidental reactions. what is better. The idea is to understand the difference and find yourself where it IT'S NOT A POSITION, IT'S AN ATTITUDE will be fine. It is important to determine for What if you think of the word "manager" yourself which of these characters you are differently? If for a moment you would and / or you want to be. If, as a result of stop treating it as a position in the structhe analysis, you find that you want to be ture and looked from a wider perspective? somewhere else, then working on yourself A manager is not a position. It's a certain

76

attitude. Just like the leader. I wrote a few lines ago, I asked you to specify which of a character you are. You can take a manager position and be a leader.

You can also run your own business and act as a manager. The manager accepts the goals, the leader sets them.

The manager controls, the leader moderates. The manager has urgent matters, the leader has important matters that determine development. The manager sees the cause of the failure outside, the leader looks for the solution inside itself. Where is the secret? In self-reliance – self-reliance of thinking and making decisions.

In self-confidence and self-assessment of reality. Manager or leader? It's a state of mind when you either feel independent or not.

The first one works tactically: plan, implementation, empowering people, pointing out tasks. The manager accepts external

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

goals and he tries to do them best. In the company, such a person sometimes experiences discomfort, he knows that things can be done differently, but he adapts to the whole: to company, culture, leadership style. He acts operationally, he always has a lot of things on his mind, he is not sure if he employs the right people.

And the leader? The leader has a well-integrated team, and on the board, he openly says what he thinks and what ideas he has. He creates a place where others want to join. He creates his own reality and attracts people to whom he later allows to work. He trusts them and himself. He is attentive, he does not follow the opinion of others, he is not under the pressure of the surroundings, he does not neither undergo of a halo effect, nor the temptation to do everything himself. He is neither too far right nor left – he goes forward.

The manager accepts the goals, the leader sets them. The manager controls, the leader moderates. The manager has urgent matters, the leader has important matters that determine development.

The manager sees the cause of the failure outside, the leader looks for the solution inside itself.

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

GOOD NEWS

At which pole did you find yourself?

Perhaps in the previous paragraph you had mixed feelings. Because as a manager you make decisions yourself, you have your goals, not only those from outside. You create your life, have a family and live in your own way. You make choices and you think strategically, and your team performs their tasks. As a leader, you know that sometimes you have to let go, because life surprises and sometimes you have to deal with urgent matters and act locally. So, if you found yourself in both characteristics, that's good news.

Because you cannot be a good leader without being a good manager. Just as you cannot be a good manager without being a leader. However, the difference is the sense of inner peace, self-trust, full agreement on what you choose and on the actions, you undertake. The difference relies also on confidence and acceptance of yourself, and above all awareness of current resources and what you want to improve.

WEIGHT OF WELL-BEING

So far, everything seems to be clear – I am the manager and I am the leader.

Well, not completely. Because there is also a question of magical responsibility, which the manager does not have to take on himself, however the leader, if he is really him, decides to take. There would be no article if it was not for the fact that numerous people I worked with, dreamed of becoming a leader who would be respected, valued and surrounded by a retinue. But, but ... it's not the leader's dream. The leader does not seek for favors. So, if you dream about something, look carefully at it. Note all components: responsibility, risk, uncertainty – the higher up in the hierarchy, the more it will

be. And when you look at your authority, other than the chair he/she occupies and the people who surround him/her, notice also the way he/she got there.

Evaluate how ready you are, and above all, how much you really want.

TWO QUESTIONS

Regardless of the position you occupy, the most important thing is: who do you feel like. You cannot break away from your private life. Private and professional life are two wheels of the same bike. You can take both positions freely – the choice is yours. However, to have peace of mind and make a decision deliberately, answer two following questions:

Monika Reszko, Communications Expert, Business Psychologist.

– Why are you doing what you do?

– How do you want to be seen?

The answer to the first question will give you a solid dose of internal motivation, thanks to which you will not succumb to outside temptations that have nothing to do with your plans. In addition, it will be power for you in times of doubt that will surely come. The second answer will define what to do more, less and maybe stop completely to get you closer to the goal.

FOR THE END

Regardless of which attitude is closer to you, first of all, do not give up on what is important to you. Continue what you dream about, because when you stop it you will become nervous, with the feeling that you missed something, the risk of blaming other people is also very big. And yet it's your decisions. It is said, that people are the most important. It's hard to disagree. However, if you do not take time for yourself, no man will help. •

77

CAREER & DEVELOPMENT

Recruitment Ad RECRUITER:

CONTACT: ARTUR MANKA-CHRZANOWSKI A.MANKA-CHRZANOWSKI@LEASINGTEAM.PL

FINANCIAL CONTROLLER (SALARY 11,000 - 14,000 PLN/m gross) Warsaw

Tasks: • • • •

Preparing partnership’s budgets based on certain standard Preparing monthly operational reports regarding company’s financial results Providing reports and financial datas for Financial Director Controlling and examining the effectiveness of services delivered by company

Requirements: • • • • • • •

78

Ability to prepare economic and finance analysis Excellent knowledge of the total costs in manufacturing and trading companies Ability to analyse financial statements Very good knowledge of MS Excel Good knowledge and experience in working with databases Fluent English language skills Ability to work under pressure

Outsourcing&More | March – April 2018

Trusted IT outsourcing and solu�ons

Backup and archiving

Cloud Services

Informa�on and Systems Security

IT monitoring

Networks

Servers environment

HelpDesk

So�ware audits

Visit: eskom.eu | Call us: +48 22 486 36 63 | Send an email: sales@eskom.eu