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No. 2 (45) | March–April 2019 ISSN 2083-8867 PRICE EUR 6 (INCL. 8% VAT)
OPEN AND FREE SPACE SYMBOLISES FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND ACTION
– interview with Zuzanna and Maciej Mikołajczyk, Board Members of Mikomax page 34
BUSINESS: Marketing expertly in the digital age |page 30
INVESTMENTS: GBS and Fintech: Lithuania’s winning combination |page 56
INVESTMENTS: Is Romania facing the same challenges as Poland? |page 48
INTRODUCTION
Editor-in-chief Dymitr Doktór dymitr.doktor@proprogressio.pl DTP Iwona Nowakowska Advertising reklama@outsourcingandmore.pl
@DymitrDoktor
Published by PRO PROGRESSIO
Dear Readers,
Editorial address ul. Sobieskiego 104/29 00-764 Warszawa www.proprogressio.pl
2019 is going to be another year of innovation and automation of business processes. After several years of greater focus on theory, a period of practical implementation and development of both, simple applications of RPA (Robotics Process Automation) and those developed by support of artificial intelligence and solutions such as RaaS (Robotics as a Service) has began.
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.
At the same time, there is a visible trend of shifting the intensity of operational activities in the BSS sector from large cities to regional cities. In Poland, cities such as Lublin, Poznań, Łódź and Katowice are currently targeted by investors who are looking for locations for new operational centers. It was mentioned, among others topics, during The BSS Forum and Outsourcing Stars Gala, which the Pro Progressio Foundation has organized on January 24th, 2019 in the EXPO Hall in Łódź. We publish the report from this event on our pages. Many interesting initiatives also take place in other CEE countries. Thanks to our Partners and foreign correspondents, we bring you interesting topics from such countries as Lithuania, Ukraine, Romania, Germany and Bulgaria. In addition, in the current issue, we started to share publications provided by Emerging-Europe Alliance – a business initiative that was established in London and aims to promote business activities in the Central and Eastern Europe region. Our main interview is a conversation with Board Members of Mikomax – an organization that has been supporting the development of the BSS sector in Poland for years, actively influencing the arrangements of operational centers and implementing office solutions that optimize the work of companies throughout Poland.
Partners
Authors: Sandy Frinton • Stephan Fricke • Mira Mech • Tom Quigley • Emiliano Ramos • Zuzanna Mikołajczyk • Iryna Zubenko • Maciej Mikołajczyk • dr Iwona Więckiewicz-Szabłowska • Yuliya Kolzenko • Loredana Niculae • Edyta Wiwatowska • Lukas Inokaitis • Artur Hajdorowicz • Anna Mielczarek • Piotr Sawicki • Anna Galicka-Bieda • Dorota Kościelniak • Yavorka Petrova • Karol Patynowski • Łukasz Dziedzic • Marek Bartosik
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
Bringing up the area of work at BSS, this time we decided to present on our pages publications from GFT and AkzoNobel – this is a practical dose of knowledge about the working conditions and operational nature of these entities. Among the publications, there is also practical knowledge, which this time experts from Chudzik and Partners directed on changing the employer’s obligations in the scope of keeping and storing employee’s documentation. Enjoy reading Outsourcing&More Magazine and I hope to see you at many business events, which our magazine proudly is supporting with Media Patronage. Dymitr Doktór Editor in Chief
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BUSINESS NEWS Łódź at the centre of interest for the BSS sector In January 2019, the city was the strategic partner of the Outsourcing Stars Gala and The BSS Forum.
OWS19 – Transforms and Inspires Global Attendees OWS19 sparked transformation, collaboration and inspiration for the hundreds of industry leaders from around the globe who convened for IAOP’s annual Summit, Feb. 17-20, in Orlando, Florida.
Industry news – Germany and international In this IT and BSS industry update from Germany we take a look at new contracts in Germany and internationally as well as see which people changed jobs on CIO level in the past months.
Painted SSC world Interview with Mira Mech, Head of GBS Center in Poland of AkzoNobel.
Marketing expertly in the digital age The traditional go-to-market methods no longer carry the same weight, momentum and therefore impact as they did as recently as 3 years ago.
Forging long-term, innovative, win-win partnerships requires maturity Essentially, innovation is a new idea, method, or product which doesn’t currently exist.
MAIN INTERVIEW Open and free space symbolises freedom of choice and action Interview with Zuzanna Mikołajczyk, Board Member and Marketing Director of Mikomax, and Maciej Mikołajczyk, Board Member and Proxy of Mikomax.
Changes to the responsibilities of an employer in the area of employee record keeping On 1 January 2019, a change was made to a Labor Code regulation in the area of employee record keeping.
INVESTMENT NEWS Number of IT Professionals in Lviv reaches 21,000 It’s not news that the IT industry is blooming in Lviv. In the last few years, the number of technology companies has considerably increased in the city.
Is Romania facing the same challenges as Poland? It seems like the business world is changing massively from one year to another.
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50 56 58 62 68 72 76 82 86 90 92 94 96 Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
Investor service in Bydgoszcz in good hands Interview with Edyta Wiwatowska, Board President of the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency (BARR).
GBS and Fintech: Lithuania’s winning combination The Baltic state’s burgeoning Fintech sector is more than just the long-term fruit of GBS investment – it’s an opportunity for self-sustaining success.
One Stop Shop powered by the City of Łódź Interview with employees of the Business Development and International Relations Bureau of Łódź.
Business climate in Kielce Interview with Artur Hajdorowicz, Director of Department for City Development and Revitalisation, City Planner; Mayor’s Plenipotentiary for city revitalisation in Kielce.
Women take care of investors in Częstochowa Interview with Anna Mielczarek, the Director of Investor Service Office of Częstochowa.
Poznan’s business support worth to be discovered Interview with employees of the Investor Relations Department of the City of Poznań.
Business scaling made in Warsaw Interview with Piotr Sawicki, the Director of the Economic Development Department of the City of Warsaw.
Regional cities on the tail of Warsaw – Kraków and Wrocław are growing into strong business centres Everything suggests market won’t slow down in 2019.
Lublin inspires business Interview with officers of the Investor Relations Office of Lublin.
Good News continue for Bulgaria’s Outsourcing Industry in 2019 For BOA, and the Bulgarian outsourcing industry, 2019 started with several good news.
Solid demand and a drop in vacancy rate throughout Poland Last year’s demand for office space was 1.5 million sq m. 744,000 sq m of office space was delivered to market while a further 1.6 million sq m is under construction.
HR NEWS
Career development made by GFT Interview with Marek Bartosik, Head of HR, GFT Poland.
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BUSINESS NEWS PANASONIC, HONDA, AND OMRON PARTNER TO BRING EUROPEAN INNOVATION TO JAPAN NordicNinja VC by JB Nordic Ventures has officially launched its new €100M VC fund in partnership with Panasonic, Honda, Omron, and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The fund will help Nordic and Baltic scale-up companies enter the technology business ecosystem in Japan and across Asia. The new fund offers investments between €2M-€5M to deep tech scale-ups in industries such as autonomous mobility, AI, VR, and IoT. In addition, scale-ups are given knowledge and technological expertise from local corporate partners to help them thrive in the complex Asian business markets.
STENA LINE LAUNCHES SMART CHATBOT Stena Line is in the process of launching the smartest chatbot into the ferry market. Stina will help make the customer experience even better by providing assistance in booking a trip as well as answering questions 24/7. The chatbot is an important milestone for Stena Line in its quest to becoming the world’s first cognitive ferry company.
As Stina is still evolving, Stena Line has initially launched her into the UK market. At the moment all customers visiting the “Need help” section of stenaline.co.uk or using the Stena Line TravelMate app are greeted by English speaking Stina. Once Stena Line is satisfied with Stina’s performance, she will be introduced to other markets and become multilingual.
Stina can give Stena Line’s customers updates regarding information on departure times, prices and can answer the most frequently asked questions 24/7. For example, if customers are allowed to bring pets on board, how to change a booking and what time they need to check in. What makes Stina unique is that she can help Stena Line’s customers to book a trip as well as keeps track of potential delays.
Besides a solid technical platform based on IBM Watson, detailed information collected from the company’s contact centres also plays a key role. When the basic knowledge was in place, artificial intelligence came into play. For each question answered, Stina asks if the answer was okay or not. Based on that information, she automatically trains herself, without any human involvement.
A team of New Nordic and Japanese industry experts from NordicNinja VC has established an office in Helsinki, with an active presence in all the Nordic and Baltic startup hubs. The team also includes Investment Director Claes Mikko Nilsen, who previously co-founded the Finnish Business Angels Network (FiBAN) and managed the Nordic Business Angel Network. Hewill now focus on matching the best new Nordic ideas with the established know-how of Japanese industrial powerhouses. Nilsen will also travel to Slush Tokyo on February 22nd as part of their official kick-off tour to meet potential investment partners and new startups.
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Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
COLLIERS PROPTECH ACCELERATOR POWERED BY TECHSTARS ANNOUNCES CALL FOR 2019 APPLICATIONS Colliers International has opened applications for the 2019 Colliers Proptech Accele rator Powered by Techstars, seeking enterprising proptech companies that will help lead the industry to the future. This program is part of our focus on strategic innovation and the belief that investments in value-added technology and data can enable our professionals to deliver smarter, more personalized services that make a difference for our clients.
COREVALUE JOINS IT SERVICES COMPETENCE PLATFORM
IT Services Competence Platform, a global-reach Capital Group, managed from Poland and backed by Oaktree Capital Management and Cornerstone Partners, welcomes a new member – CoreValue, a U.S. based software services provider. IT Services Competence Platform has announced that CoreValue, a technology company with its HQ in the U.S. and development centers in Ukraine and Poland, joins IT Kontrakt in a global IT services outsourcing Group. The project is being managed from Poland as one of the Oaktree Capital Management and Cornerstone Partners investments.
The Colliers Proptech Accelerator Powered by Techstars successfully completed its first class in 2018, with companies representing solutions across the real estate value chain such as commercial datasets for occupiers and investors; office services and tenant engagement; big data, analytics and artificial intelligence; space as a service; marketplaces and space utilization; and, Smart City and Internet of Things. The companies worked with more than 150 mentors from Colliers and the broader industry for the three-month program that culminated with demo day presentations to 600 Colliers people, clients, industry professionals and technology investors. We’re energized by the early successes from our class of 2018 and the resulting partnerships and look forward to beginning the 2019 selection process – said Dylan Taylor, President and COO for Colliers International. – By strategically investing in the right technology solutions and enterprising founders, we can shape the future of our company and the industry. In the words of Peter Drucker, the iconic thinker and founder of modern management who had a great personal influence on Colliers, ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it’ and we believe we are doing just that. The next edition of the accelerator creates many new possibilities, both for Colliers and start-ups participating in it. We are up to date with technological changes in our sector, while at the same time supporting young entrepreneurs in developing their companies. We believe that thanks to such cooperation, our clients will receive products and services that support them in their daily activities – adds Sylwia Pędzińska, senior partner | Innovation&Knowledge, Colliers International in Poland.
The expertise of CoreValue includes traditional Cloud based CRM implementation services and Mobile applications to industries such as Pharmatech, Healthcare, and Finance. Customers IT Services Competence Platform has trust CoreValue with Infrastructure software delivery centres located services utilizing qualified and expein Poland, Ukraine, Malaysia and soon rienced staff in Data Science, Data other delivery cost effective and quality Management, Database Services, engineering countries. Its develop- Quality Assurance and traditional develment strategy is based on an intensive opment. The customers of the company M&A program focused on acquiring are funded startups, mid-sized and companies in Western Europe, Fortune 50 through 500 companies. the Nordics and the USA, thus granting access to multinational clients and The investors – Oaktree Capital offering them competences, expertise, Management and Cornerstone Partand software solutions. ners – started the development of IT Services Competence Platform in 2017 As a result of the transaction, the em- by taking over IT Kontrakt in Poland. ployment volume in the Group in- Solidbrain, another Polish company, creased to over 2,400 highly qualified joined the project in the second half engineers. The merged Group will of last year, which significantly strengthreach a new level of scale, capacity, ened the Group’s potential in terms and potential in terms of providing of operations and competence, espetechnological solutions to support its cially in the area of handling managed clients’ growth. services and managed capacity projects.
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Łódź has been actively attracting investments from the BSS sector for nearly two decades and has broadly supported the development of Polish and foreign investors. In January 2019, the city was the strategic partner of the Outsourcing Stars Gala and The BSS Forum – the most spectacular events of the modern business services sector in Europe.
On 24 January 2019 in the EXPO Hall in Łódź, the Pro Progressio Foundation summarised the development of the modern business services sector. The City of Łódź was the strategic partner of this year’s edition.
This year’s edition of the gala delighted the invited guests with its breadth, visual effects and perfectly planned networking part. The event in Łódź brought together nearly 350 guests who witnessed the original and spectacular ‘Outsourcing Stars’ Like every year, the Outsourcing Stars award ceremony. The organisers made Gala was an anticipated event during sure that the character of the Gala which the most important industry was as close as possible to the image trends were reviewed and the fastest of the city, but also fully reflecting growing BSS organisations and business the nature of the modern business environment institutions were awarded. services sector. The gala gathered guests from many countries whose common goal and area of interest is the further development of BPO, SSC, GBS and IT in both Poland and Europe.
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BEST WITH STARS More and more organisations participate in the ‘Outsourcing Stars’ competition every year. Two significant changes were made to the 2018 edition. The organisers resigned from the ‘Data Archiving’ category, but added a new category called ‘Innovative Business Solution’. These changes were dictated by the outsourcing services market, which is constantly undergoing transformation. The new competition category was also the only one that was judged by a jury and not a mathematical algorithm, as is the case in all other categories. The winners of the 2018 ‘Outsourcing Stars’ competition in the following categories were: • • • • • • • • •
Randstand’s representatives – winner in the Permament Recruitment category.
Frista’s representatives – winner in the BPO category.
3M’s representatives – winner in the SSC category. 12
• • • •
Permanent Recruitment – Randstad, Employee Leasing – Sii, IT Contracting – Sii, BPO – Frista BPO, SSC – 3M GBS, Call Contact Center – S8, IT Software Development – Sii, Sales – Antal (distinction), Accounting, Human Resources, Payroll – Process Solutions, City – Poznań, Real Estate Agency – Cushman & Wakefield, Developer – Skanska, Innovative Business Solution – Skanska (for ‘Connected by Skanska’ system).
Sii’s representatives – winner in the Employee Leasing, IT Contracting and IT Software Development categories.
S8’s representative – winner in the Call Contact Center category. Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
City of Poznan’s representative – winner in the City category.
Cushman & Wakefield’s representatives – winner in the Real Estate Agency category.
Antal’s representatives – winner in the Sales category (distinction).
Skanska’s representative – winner in the Developer and Innovative Business Solution categories. Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
Process’s Solution representatives – winner in the Accounting, Human Resources, Payroll category. 13
BUSINESS
MANAGER OF THE YEAR As in previous years, the Pro Progressio Foundation honoured the most outstanding manager in the BSS sector. The award goes to the person who has achieved exceptional results in the managed institution, actively supported educational and networking
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processes and worked for the promotion of the BSS industry. This year, the title of ‘Manager of the Year’ went to Paweł Łopatka – the head of SoftServe in Poland and under whose management the company doubled employment and opened another
two operating centres in Poland. Paweł Łopatka is constantly developing the activity of his company and is looking for further development opportunities. Łódź is also being considered as another location on the Soft Serve’s development path in Poland.
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The Outsourcing Stars Gala was also an opportunity to present a SPECIAL AWARD GRANTED BY THE CITY OF ŁÓDŹ. This award went to Media4You and was given for the marketing campaign ‘Mobile Łódź’ for the promotion of the city as an environment friendly to the development of entrepreneurship, including the sector of modern business services. This campaign was a great success and became a part of wider promotional activities by the City of Łódź.
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BUSINESS NEGOTIATIONS AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL For three years now, the Outsourcing Stars Gala has been preceded by The BSS Forum – a unique full-day conference during which the participants co-create the agenda and discussion topics. The Pro Progressio Foundation – during discussions with members of the Pro Progressio Club and experts from Polish and foreign companies as well as BSS industry organisations – collected information on the hottest and most anticipated topics. In this way, a list of topics was created from which the forum’s organisers built the final agenda of individual discussion panels, presentations and workshops, as well as gathering a group of people who were invited to actively participate in the discussions. Łódź hosts many high-quality business events and The BSS Forum is one of the key events in the field of education and networking of the modern business services sector. The speakers during The BSS Forum included: Hanna Zdanowska, Elias van Herwaarden, Romek Lubaczewski, Krzysztof Senger, Adam Pustelnik, Rafał Olejniczak, Zyta Machnicka, Wojciech Herra, Karel Franchois, Radek Drzewiecki, Kerry Hallard, Krzysztof Misiak, Maciej Kulbat, Marcin Janiszewski, Michał Bielawski, Dymitr Doktór and many others. All of the invited speakers co-created a coherent message for the forum, which was ‘building the future for the BSS sector’. The ‘Building the Future’ theme permeated each of the discussed areas, including Employer Branding, Lean Strategy, Process Excellence, Sales, Games Strategy in Business, Cooperation with Start-up environments, Duopolis and many others.
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ŁÓDŹ + PRO PROGRESSIO = NETWORKING AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL Every year, the forum provides an opportunity for networking meetings which, in the current edition, was supported by the work and coworking zone prepared by the Nowy Styl Group. The Pro Progressio Foundation made it easier to arrange meetings between participants through its own Event Tiger application. The forum’s participants also benefitted from the ‘Take a Book’ programme and had the chance to leave the conference with books on management, business, continued training or public speaking. Both the Outsourcing Stars Gala and The BSS Forum brought together managers and employees of the outsourcing and modern business services sector, representatives of the public and private sector, Polish and international chambers of commerce, as well as companies that are clients of the BSS sector.
JOINT SUCCESS OF MANY PARTNERS The City of Łódź was the strategic partner of the Outsourcing Stars Gala and The BSS Forum in 2019. The events were held under the Honorary Patronage of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency and supported by partners and sponsors including: Cushman & Wakefield, Nowy Styl Group, Adaptive SAG, St. Paul’s Development, CIMA, Scandinavian-Polish Chamber of Commerce, British-Polish Chamber of Commerce, International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, Deutscher Outsourcing Verband, Emerging Europe Alliance, Riposta, Enterprise Ireland, RICS, and Focus Event.
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IAOP CEO Debi Hamill meets HCL’s humanoid robot, Pepper, who later introduces a keynote on digital transformation.
BUSINESS
OWS19
TRANSFORMS AND INSPIRES GLOBAL ATTENDEES
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OWS19 sparked transformation, collaboration and inspiration for the hundreds of industry leaders from around the globe who convened for IAOP’s annual Summit, Feb. 17-20, in Orlando, Florida. IAOP CEO Debi Hamill kicked off the preeminent event stressing the association’s key role of bringing together customers, providers and advisors who use all types of shared services models to help ignite collaborative relationships that transform businesses. As the world around us and the business practice of outsourcing changes, our association continues to evolve – she said. During the three-day event, attendees learned from engaging thought leaders, tackled pressing issues together, established and renewed relationships, and left armed with new tools and know-how to tackle the challenges that lie ahead. The role of digital technologies was a key theme throughout OWS19 and the powerful program provided the insights for the professionals to put together the pieces of their own digital transformation puzzle, Hamill said.
TRANSFORM If anyone in the main opening session for Andy Walter’s keynote address thought they were immune to business disruption, the strategic advisor debunked that notion with examples from his former company, P&G, as well as Best Buy and Walmart. No company is too big or too small to be disrupted – said Walter, founder of AJW-Advisory, a Certified Outsourcing Professional and a member of the IAOP Leadership Hall of Fame. – Companies that win are getting back to the basics. To illustrate this, Walter shared the story of how Walmart came up with a winning strategy after its model was disrupted by Amazon of leveraging digital technology to be a better version of itself versus copying their competitor’s model. Marko Kovacevic, Chair of IAOP’s European Outsourcing Council, promotes European opportunities.
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“No company is too big or too small to be disrupted. Companies that win are getting back to the basics.”
We had a lot of players who were playing not to lose – instead of to win – Walter said. – They are unwilling to find the next model. You can’t follow your current competition. You really need to understand your business model and where you need to take it. Change will not happen organically. To quickly grow its e-commerce model and get top talent, Walmart helped develop a start-up company for the primary purpose of acquiring it and has been aggressively buying up digital companies over the past several years. IAOP strategic advisory board member and Leadership Hall of Famer Atul Vashistha, COP, Chair Neo Group, moderates a panel on cyber security.
IAOP inductees its newest Leadership Hall of Fame members: Dave Brown, Global Lead, KPMG’s Shared Services and Outsourcing Advisory Practice and Manjit Singh, Group Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
Walter also shared how Dollar Shave Club disrupted P&G’s razor business by “reducing friction” with its direct-toconsumer subscription-based model that the consumer giant conceived of but failed to launch because it was then unwilling to transform. Walter spoke about the need to embrace analytics and data to truly create new business models and leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI). He also said that strong leadership and having both tactical and strategic partners are more important than ever. And shared services need to become material to the business model. The cloud also is creating new opportunities for companies of all sizes. Customers are willing to work with disruptive innovators like never before – he said. – They are no longer bound by giant monolithic systems because of the cloud and are open to partnerships. If you are a big player and won’t bring disruptive innovators to me, I will replace you with disruptive innovators. While Walmart, P&G and Best Buy have successfully transformed, other companies who have stuck with their old business models, will slowly die.
IAOP and The Rockefeller Foundation honor Global Impact Sourcing Award winners.
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Don’t be the frog in boiling water – he warned.
Launched in August, the free global app has exceeded all expectations for growth and engagement. It was the #1 In the next session on digital transforma- app in the UK app store and ranked first tion journeys and outcomes, the digital in the sports category in 70 markets with revolution was quite evident when downloads in more than 200 markets. “Pepper,” an HCL humanoid robot, introduced the next speakers and appeared On the second day of OWS19, keynotes to listen intently and make eye contact addressed the critical issues of cyberseduring the presentation. curity and governance. Before making it to the big stage at the Summit, Pepper was seen enjoying the pool area at the Marriott Orlando World Center, talking with guests and spotted wearing an IAOP baseball cap and also Mickey Mouse ears!
A panel of experts from the state of Georgia and its Technology Authority and Cyber Center, along with outsourcing partners Capgemini and NTT Data, discussed the real and inevitable cyber risks and how to combat them.
Ananth Subramanya, VP, Head of Digital and Analytics for HCL Americas, said digital has become the mainstream agenda in the C-Suite but lack of talent is creating a divide between digital strategy and execution that needs to be bridged.
The panel of experts shared that the risk of experiencing a data breach (1 out of 4) is more common than getting struck by lightning (1 in 960,1000) or dating a millionaire (1 in 220). Meanwhile, the costs of data breaches have doubled in the last five years and the frequency of cyber threats are projected to rise significantly over the next three years.
According to a recent survey, 70 percent of companies have a formal digital strategy but 44 percent feel that a lack of internal skills is their biggest barrier to achieving digital transformation. The study also found 24 percent of organizations are outsourcing implementation of digital strategies to partners in the ecosystem.
Georgia started outsourcing its IT infrastructure in 2008 – not primarily as a cost-saving measure – but instead as an executive order from the state’s governor to protect its at-risk data. Outsourcing partners were able to provide the flexibility and depth of service of around-the-clock information security to its 100,000 users that the public sector could not.
sionals through education and realworld practice while also supporting innovative companies focused on developing new technologies to strengthen online defenses. It’s really about national security – Toler said. – Together, we can win as a nation.
As a minimum guideline to getting started on cyber protection, Nat Bongiovanni, CTO of NTT Data Federal Services, recommended companies comply with Ian Fox, head of media operations the National Institute of Standards and for Manchester United, shared how Technology (NIST) 800-171 standard launching a robust cloud-based fan aimed at “Protecting Controlled Unclasengagement platform with digital Eric Toler, executive director of the Geor- sified Information in Nonfederal Inforpartner HCL was not just a technology gia Cyber Center, a retired intelligence mation Systems and Organizations”. change for the UK-based professional officer from the U.S. Army, shared These standards apply not only to prime football (soccer) club and its 650-plus updates on the $100 million state- contractors but also to subcontractors million fans but produced significant of-the-art facility that is dedicated who are frequently at risk of cyber attacks business transformation. to training the next generation of profes- – he said.
According to a recent survey, 70 percent of companies have a formal digital strategy but 44 percent feel that a lack of internal skills is their biggest barrier to achieving digital transformation.
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The study found 24 percent of organizations are outsourcing implementation of digital strategies to partners in the ecosystem.
Turning to how to keep pace with regulations in other areas, a panel of experts moderated by John Bree, SVP and Partner of NeoGroup, addressed the Evolving Governance Landscape to end the second day of OWS19. Punit Bhatia, COP, Author of Be Ready for GDPR, talked about how the new European regulations put citizens in control of the use of their personal data. While some may see the rules as restrictive for companies, Bhatia said that the General Data Protection Regulation will help foster innovation more directly. Day #3 of the Summit featured a motivating keynote presentation on How WeWork is Transforming the World of Corporate Real Estate by Craig Robinson, Global Head of Enterprise Services, Powered by We Services. Robinson started the presentation with statistics he admitted were “depressing,” indicating that people are largely dissatisfied, unengaged and unfulfilled at work. The likelihood of being fulfilled in life if not fulfilled at work is only 1 percent, he said.
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The future of a successful workforce is fulfillment, said Robinson, who described his company’s model that is creating efficiency, effectiveness and user experience for individuals using their office space around the world.
To wrap up the educational part of the Summit, attendees heard from a panel of IAOP Leadership Hall of Fame members and COPs – Jag Dalal, Chief Advisor Thought Leadership, IAOP; Dave Brown, Global Lead, KPMG’s Shared Services and Outsourcing Advisory PracWeWork’s mission is to deliver an incred- tice; and Gregg Kirchhoefer, partner ible, fulfilling experience for employees of Kirkland & Ellis. of all companies – from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies As moderator of the panel, Dalal illus– everyday, everywhere. trated the evolution of outsourcing from tactical to transactional to today being Robinson showed examples of WeWork’s transformative. While we speak about reimagined office spaces around Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), the world that use color, design, comfort- in reality, companies have really been able seating, reconfigured spaces, doing Functional Process Outsourcing the company’s own branding and (FPO) of siloed functions such as real amenities that reflect the local cultures estate, sales, procurement and logistics. to create work environments with energy where employees can be their Next generation models will move true authentic selves. It is now ex- to integrated transformation programs panding its model of creating a trans- organized around customer and internal formative human experience to retail, journeys. Dalal challenged the audience school and home environments. to think beyond now and into the future. How can we create a work environment where people feel fulfilled? – he asked the audience. – If we can do this, we’re going to do something much bigger than outsourcing. We’re going to change the world.
The association also inducted two new members into its Leadership Hall of Fame: KPMG’s Brown and Manjit Singh, Group Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
In accepting the award, Singh talked about the great change he has seen over his past 20 years from outsourcing being a cost-savings measure to becoming a strategic lever that most companies can use to respond to changing marketplace dynamics and also to better focus attention on what they do best. Brown put to rest rumors that he “outsourced his Mom”. While his mother’s job at Bell Canada was indeed outsourced to a third party, he quipped that he didn’t outsource her motherly functions. Brown went out to talk about the importance of people in this industry, sharing a story about a 40-year employee for a company whose job was being outsourced who was so passionate about her work she was willing to move from the Midwest to India to save her position. He advised her to become part of the career transition team and she later became a manager, working another five years for the company until her retirement. You people – past, present and future – will reshape the outsourcing industry – Brown said to his colleagues and peers gathered for the awards luncheon. – That’s why I love it and why I am so honored to be part of the Hall of Fame. It’s all in this room.
COLLABORATE The focus of day #3 was on collaborative problem-solving and the various sessions and events during OWS19 reinforced the importance of creating an ecosystem of trusted partners in shared service relationships. Award-winning collaborative partnerships by customer organizations were recognized with the Global Excellence in Outsourcing (GEO) honor. This year’s recipients were: the Georgia Enterprise Technology Services Team and Warner Media’s Global IT Workforce Management Team. In a popular first-time speed networking session, customers, providers and advisors had the opportunity to meet and learn about each other in fast sevenminute rounds with pre-set matches based on their interests.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
Delegates also enjoyed networking from start to finish – on the fairways at the PULSE Publisher’s Cup Golf tournament to cocktail receptions in the Global Services Mall and gathering at the Chapter Headquarters where members of IAOP’s various geographic and topical chapters met one another.
INSPIRE The Summit’s special focus on impact sourcing and women empowerment, leadership and diversity were inspiring for attendees. Delegates learned more about how impact sourcing is diversifying the BPO industry during a panel moderated by Jon Browning, CEO, Strategic Sourcing Advisors. Impact sourcing can – and is happening – every place around the world from the practice of hiring disabled veterans in the U.S. to helping workers with autism get past barriers to employment and providing opportunities for youth and women in Africa.
Browning also was recognized as “IAOP member of the Year” along with Chitra Rajeshwari, Executive Director of the Avasant Foundation, who has been a vocal advocate for the WELD chapter. Both served on the judging panel for GISA. Reflecting the continued transformation in the industry, IAOP announced the date of its next Summit – OWS 2.0 – that will be held Feb. 17-19, 2020 at the Renaissance Orlando in Orlando, Florida. For more information, visit www.iaop.org.
Author:
Sandy Frinton, Editor-in-Chief IAOP’s PULSE magazine
During the awards luncheon, IAOP and The Rockefeller Foundation honored leaders with its second annual Global Impact Sourcing Award (GISA). Selected by a panel of judges from a competitive pool, winners were: Intuit, Samasource, Rural Shores and Harambee. VIP guest Mamadou Biteye, Managing Director of The Rockefeller Foundation, attended the Summit from Nigeria and presented the awards with Browning.
23
BUSINESS
INDUSTRY NEWS GERMANY AND INTERNATIONAL
In this IT and BSS industry update from Germany we take a look at new contracts in Germany and internationally as well as see which people changed jobs on CIO level in the past months. Last we give event recommendations and a tip for an upcoming analysis on German speaker talent availability across selected CEE countries, incl. Poland.
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Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
INDUSTRY NEWS • The German Ministry of Transportation and Digital Infrastructure closes deal with Kapsch Traffic Com und CTS EVENTIM over 2 bln EUR and minimum 12 years. The deal is about toll road fees processing. • T-System and IBM co-operate on Mainframe services. Therefore T-System is selling its Mainframe services division to IBM. About 400 employees will change to IBM. The deal has a volume of about 800 mln. EUR and goes over 10 years.
• Wirecard is taking over card payment processing from germen retailer Real • The Swiss Ministry of Information and Telecommunication (BIT). Within this deal Swisscom will take over software-packaging und content delivery services. The volume for both services is 145,8 mln CHF, while this deals goes over 4 years.
COMPANIES • The Canadian Cloud Managed ERP-Services provider Syntax Systems, is buying the German IT service provider Freudenberg IT (FIT).
• German IT provider Bechtle buys a security services specialist company and a 3D CAD specialized company in Germany.
• DXC takes over Luxoft for 2 bln USD.
PEOPLE • Matthias Moeller, CEO of Bertelsmann Arvato Systems will take over the group CIO function. • Stephan Heinelt is already since September 2018 new group CIO of chemical concern Altana.
EVENTS The former “ITO&BPO Germany Forum”, will be hold under new name “Sourcing and Shared Services Germany Forum” on June 4th and 5th in Berlin. The even is the annual conference of the independent German Outsourcing Association and the only international and non-commercial conference on ITO, BPO and SSC in and for Germany. The event information will be only soon at www.outsourcing-forum.org. Requests for partnerships and content contributions can be send to s.fricke@outsourcing-verband.org.
MARKET
Author:
The German Outsourcing Association together with Workwide Group is preparing an analysis of the availability of German speaker talent across selected CEE countries, incl. Poland. The report will be available free of charge by middle of March. Stephan Fricke, German Outsourcing Association Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
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SSC
PAINTED SSCÂ WORLD
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 O utsourcing&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. In the tenth edition of SSC Lions we are presenting you the interview with Mira Mech, Head of GBS Center in Poland of AkzoNobel.
Full version of this interview is available only in paper edition of Outsourcing&More magazine or on the Pro Progressio website.
MARKETING EXPERTLY IN THEÂ DIGITAL AGE Like every other business function, marketing has been disrupted by advancements in technology and shifting consumer attention. The traditional go-to-market methods no longer carry the same weight, momentum and therefore impact as they did as recently as 3Â years ago.
Full version of this article is available only in paper edition of Outsourcing&More magazine or on the Pro Progressio website.
Author:
Tom Quigley, Owner & Chief Marketing Officer, QUIGLEYMEDIA
BUSINESS
FORGING LONG-TERM, INNOVATIVE, WIN-WIN PARTNERSHIPS REQUIRES MATURITY
BUSINESS
Essentially, innovation is a new idea, method, or product which doesn’t currently exist. Achieving something innovative certainly requires outside-of-the-box thinking. Businesses that want to achieve something different often require different knowhow to do so, outside of their core competencies.
This, however, requires maturity as both parties need to be mature enough and, unfortunately, more companies get it wrong than right. Why? Simply because most of them are locked into old-school me-first, I-win-you-lose, we’ve-donewhat-you-asked-for and transaction-based ways of doing business. Collaborative partnerships require vendor management maturity, and readiness to invest now in building long-term relationships. What is needed is a partnership that is collaborative, ethical, and that both creates and shares value over the long term – in short a new mindset that embraces a win-win, what’s-in-itfor-all of us philosophy.
A real partnership entails shared goals and shared risks and not all companies are willing or equipped to do that. Not all buyers are truly aligned with their suppliers and logistics partners. Also, not all vendors are ready to go this way — they will not invest the full team effort to earn initial trust and gain knowlIncorporating strategic outsourcing edge. Nor will they send the team onsite into an innovative project can provide at their own expense. companies with a product they could not conjure up internally without Education, education and education is massive overheads, while the supplier a must. It is one of the key goals broadens its portfolio and technolog- of the Emerging Europe Alliance for ical know-how. Having an external point Business Services, Innovation and of view can bring in a new perspective Technology, one of the flagship initiatand massive benefits. ives of Emerging Europe, a London-based business, research and media Outsourcing for the purpose of inno- platform focused on 23 emerging vation should be based on long-term Europe countries. thinking even if a project is short-term, as a trusted supplier can be relied Emerging Europe service providers on in the future and collaborate more are used to doing more with less. efficiently as a partner moving forward. Physical proximity and cultural simiThese partnerships ideally have mutu- larity thanks to connectivity makes ally beneficial goals. Not only should outsourcing to the region – the world’s a successful contractor have a long- fastest growing delivery destination term goal for their product, they need – seem not so distant, which spawned to select a partner with similar long- the term ‘nearshore’. High-level univerterm objectives to support their busi- sities, a booming technology sector, ness goals. These objectives have to be cost-efficient wages, and an unparalleled aligned in many ways to achieve success. percentage of young people studying
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
programming makes Central and South Eastern Europe stand out even more in the tech sector. This has spawned innovation-focused tech companies, operating as an external R&D wing to many notable western companies. But are they ready to work in a true collaborative partnership with global buyers? Not necessarily. Suppliers also need to be educated. A willingness to listen to an external perspective, combined with a proper education on how to select a trustful one, can lead to groundbreaking ideas. Similar to the innovations that arise from such collaborations, outsourcing in the 21st century is entering a new area. It’s up to suppliers to continue stepping up and innovating, as well as companies willingness to take on an external perspective. The Emerging Europe Alliance for Business Services, Innovation and Technology runs a series of InnoTech events in key markets: the United Kingdom, the Nordics and soon the United States, where both vendors and buyers have an opportunity to learn from industry practitioners and from one another. They can also better understand their capabilities and expectations and discuss potential synergies. InnoTech Summit: Destination UK 11 April 2019, InnoTech Roadshow: Destination Nordics 21–23 May 2019.
Author:
BROUGHT BY
EMERGINGEUROPE Emiliano Ramos, Partner, Growth & Partnerships, Emerging Europe
33
MAIN INTERVIEW
Zuzanna and Maciej Mikołajczyk.
34
OPEN AND FREE SPACE
SYMBOLISES FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND ACTION Interview with Zuzanna Mikołajczyk, Board Member and Marketing Director of Mikomax, and Maciej Mikołajczyk, Board Member and Proxy of Mikomax. Wiktor Doktór, Pro Progressio: For many years, Mikomax has been striving to provide workplace comfort in many industries, including the modern business services sector. Have the expectations of BSS companies regarding the office space changed over the past years? Zuzanna Mikołajczyk, Mikomax: The modern business services industry is close to us and we have been developing office organisation solutions for this sector for many years. We have been a Strategic Partner in the Workspace Environment under ABSL for over four years. During that time, we have been building awareness among decision-makers about the importance of the work environment to their employees. We are satisfied with the role we played in the project, as we managed to influence the decisions made by the companies in relation to the office space. We cooperated with companies such as XL Catlin in Wrocław and Luxoft in Kraków. These projects serve as the best proof that the approach within the sector has changed from “any office suitable for work” to “an office
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
specifically tailored to the work we do”. Office space is beginning to transform into something that is more comfortable for the employees, and better suited to the activities they are engaged in. This is evidenced, for example, by the fact that the number of workplaces which are utilising sit&stand desks in the sector is increasing steadily, or the fact that customers recognise the value of having access to acoustic cabins, well-suited for work and conversations. Office space has also become a significant element of employer branding, as in the era of employee worship, companies are constantly competing with each other to provide better workspaces for their staff. The office is no longer merely a place of work; it has transformed into an attractive lifestyle element.
it provides transparency, openness and flexibility. It is, however, not an ideal solution. A disadvantage of such an open space is a practically unlimited source of various sounds, such as the usual sounds of typing on keyboards and the telephone conversations of other employees. If we multiply these sounds by the number of people working within a given area, it quickly becomes a serious issue. Employees are unable to focus, to isolate themselves from the noise and work on implementing their assigned individual or team tasks. That is why we have created Hush – a line of acoustic booths, able to meet different needs of the employees, such as telephone conversations, individual work and meetings. Hush solves all of the problems of open space, while at the same time not diminishing the advantages of this soluIs the approach towards open space- tion whatsoever. Additionally, it ensures type offices also changing? And if so, that the office makes a good impression, what are the most important ele- as the booths appear modern and are ments of good open office space? equipped with new technologies. Thanks Maciej Mikołajczyk, Mikomax: For us, to these booths, we provide silence and open and free space symbolises free- the ability to concentrate on the employdom of choice and action. The main ees, while also creating an unusual archivalue of OpenSpace lies in the fact that tecture of the interior itself.
35
MAIN INTERVIEW
Hush Open – acoustic space for meetings. Orgatec Fair, 2018.
Office space has become a significant element of employer branding, as in the era of employee worship, companies are constantly competing with each other to provide better workspaces for their staff.
36
Some companies arrange and furnish their offices for long years to come. This is primarily due to economic reasons, but the question is – does it meet the requirements of an ergonomic and comfortable workplace? How often should a company re-arrange the office space? Z.M.: Furnishing for years to come is not a bad solution in itself, provided that we utilise high-quality products which are easy to rearrange. Of course, standards are changing constantly. One example of this is the shift from non-adjustable desks to adjustable ones, so it is certainly a good idea to choose flexible solutions that facilitate any workplace alterations. The desk is, without a doubt, an important element, but it is not the only one. Even if we do not decide to replace it, we have numerous other possibilities to refresh the office space in regard to its functionally and aesthetics. The office should be
rearranged as often as the business needs of the client require. For some clients, making changes every two months may be necessary, whereas for others, changing something every two years will be enough. It all depends on the dynamics of change. The most important element for us is for the client to be able to determine how changes in the office environment, meant to support the teams and the processes, should be made in an ideal world. There are various trends that one can observe on the market, such as the policy of using different desks. It is a situation where an employee uses one desk on one day and then another one, located in the same or a different part of the office, the next day. Are employees really willing to accept such an approach, and does such a work model have a positive effect on the use of office space?
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
The number of workplaces which are utilising sit&stand desks in the sector is increasing steadily, or the fact that customers recognise the value of having access to acoustic cabins, well-suited for work and conversations.
Z.M.: They are willing to accept it, provided that they see in it an advantage for themselves. This may be, for example, the fact that they gain more freedom and a greater diversity of environment when they decide to give up their “own territory”, or simply the fact that they enjoy working in such a manner. We have organised a series of workshops for employees of the many clients who have decided to introduce changes in the way they work. We discussed these changes with the employees in order to explain to them why the business needs them and how such changes are going to affect the employees themselves. We believe that only through such a dialogue is it possible to enable actual change and increase employee satisfaction with their workplace. Which person within a company is responsible for the correct preparation and the décor of the office. In other words, who is Mikomax’s usual partner during talks regarding the preparation of office space – is it the end customer (e.g. BPO), or maybe a real estate agency, a fit-out company, or perhaps a facility management expert? M.M.: The choice of the person in charge of the project depends on the expectations of the client as well as the scope of activities that they are undertaking. There are projects, during which we work directly with the company management. These are mostly pro-
jects which significantly affect the company, such as relocations, significant changes in the working model, or creation of an office concept from scratch. Most projects are run by a facility manager or a real estate agency. It often happens that our activities range all the way from the design concept to the detailed space plan itself, as in the case of cooperation with DKV. Sometimes, with simpler or more standard projects, we work with people who are responsible for sourcing furniture. In such cases, our role is to support the client in regard to technological and functional solutions, with much less conceptual work involved, as it had been previously done with the help of an external architect. Let us look a bit more to the future then. What new trends or fashion can we expect in office space arrangement in 2019, and how is Mikomax responding to these trends? Z.M.: For a long time, we have been observing a trend under which the man, that is, the employee is at the centre of attention and is the starting point for any further activities. I say this with full responsibility and awareness of the fact that the 4th industrial revolution has just begun, that robotics and automation is the future, and that according to a World Economic Forum report, by 2022 as many as 75 million jobs may
Hush Meet L – mobile conference room.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
37
MAIN INTERVIEW
Mikomax stand during the Orgatec 2018 trade fair.
The number of companies that boast that they care about the health of their employees is increasing year by year.
be lost due to automation. In spite of all of these modern technologies and artificial intelligence, which is set to replace him, the “man” still occupies an important place and it is his needs that set the standards and trends when furnishing offices. In the process of designing an office, we must first answer the question of how we can positively influence the attitude of the employees, reduce stress, increase motivation, as well as promote cooperation and communication between different departments and support creative thinking, through the adequate use of the tools at our disposal. M.M.: Increasingly often, the issues related to the concept of well-being are being discussed in relation to the office of the future, i.e. what factors make employees feel good and allow them to fully release their potential.
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This concept includes elements such as acoustics, the flexibility of solutions, mobility as well as sit & stand solutions. With regard to acoustics, the era of office cabins and all other solutions included in the Hush family has undeniably arrived. The characteristic element of these solutions is primarily effective isolation from irritating noises and other stimuli from the outside, as well as mobility, good ventilation, proper lighting and a wide range of colour finishes. Solutions from the Hush family allow us to provide personal space and increase the comfort of ourselves and our colleagues. In the course of our work each day, we perform various duties that involve numerous different activities and tasks, such as phone calls, video conferences and conducting meetings with clients and team members. In order to perform these duties properly, the employees require a place
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
where they will not disturb each other, a place where they will be able to negotiate the terms of a contract without interference, or conduct a video conference call in a foreign language. One of my personal favourites of the Hush line of solutions is a market novelty called Hush Meet L. It is a cabin where, thanks to the possibility of installing an independent air conditioning system, we can freely adjust the room temperature, which is a very important factor during meetings with 6 or 8 people. In the case of this particular product, the primary challenge was resolving the issues with the water created by the air conditioning system. However, we solved it in a very practical and ecological way. Namely, we created a closed system which includes a vertical wall and which uses the condensed water to irrigate plants.
adapt to the existing space. They do not restrict or limit movement, and they give the client the opportunity to choose.
The number of companies that boast that they care about the health of their employees is increasing year by year. It is thus evident that the concept of wellbeing has become a staple element of the strategy of creating comfortable office spaces. Companies are shifting their focus to the movement of their employees, providing them, among others, with the possibility of changing the position of their bodies during work. There is a growing number of sit & stand desks available on the market, most of which are electrical versions, in which case it is necessary to connect the desk to a power supply. Desks with manual height adjustment are an alternative which does not limit the user by the necessity of being placed close The reason behind the popularity to a power outlet. An additional advanof the Hush solutions is the fact that tage of this type of solution is the speed they can be rapidly adapted to the indi- and simplicity with which the user can vidual needs of the employees, as well change the height of the desk. as the dynamic nature of teamwork. They are also easy to move, shift, and Thank you for the interview.
The issues related to the concept of wellbeing are being discussed in relation to the office of the future, i.e. what factors make employees feel good and allow them to fully release their potential. This concept includes elements such as acoustics, the flexibility of solutions, mobility as well as sit&stand solutions. Zuzanna and Maciej Mikołajczyk.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
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CHANGES
TO THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN EMPLOYER IN THE AREA OF EMPLOYEE RECORD KEEPING On 1 January 2019, a change was made to a Labor Code regulation in the area of employee record keeping. Moreover, as of that day, the Resolution of the Minister of Family, Labor and Social Affairs passed on 10 December 2018 on employee records took effect. It replaced the previous resolution from 28th May 1996 on the scope of records kept by employers for work-related purposes.
Full version of this article is available only in paper edition of Outsourcing&More magazine or on the Pro Progressio website.
Author:
dr Iwona Więckiewicz-Szabłowska, Legal Counsel in the Law Firm “Chudzik i Wspólnicy Radcowie Prawni” sp.p. www.chudzik.pl
INVESTMENTS
INVESTMENT NEWS ECHO INVESTMENT CHANGES FORMER KAROL SCHEIBLER’S FACTORY We have the ambition to make this project an integral part of Łódź – says Waldemar Olbryk, a board member at Echo Investment. – It has both unique genius loci and a great location. We want not only to satisfy the needs of residents and employees, but we also want to attract tourists or residents of the city who will want to spend their free time here, with friends and family. Various, mutually supporting functions have been planned and, as a result – creating a vibrant part of the city full of life around the clock.
Soon, former Karol Scheibler’s factor on Tymienieckiego street, in Księży Młyn neighborhood, will become an open and friendly part of Łódź, a comfortable for living, work-inspiring and leisure-attractive place. Its developer, Echo Investment, starts the revitalization of this post-industrial compound. Today, Nicklas Lindberg, chief executive officer at Echo Investment, in the presence of Hanna Zdanowska, the Mayor of the city of Łódź, presented a project of the investment. Implementation of the so-called ‘Destinations,’ i.e., city-building projects, the whole neighborhoods of cities where people can work, live and spend their free time, with respect for the history of the areas concerned, is the cornerstone of Echo Investment’s strategy – said Nicklas Lindberg, chief executive officer at Echo Investment. – The investment at Tymienieckiego Street in Łódź covering almost eight hectares of land occupying the former factory of Karol Scheibler, with the historic power plant at the center.
Tymienieckiego project will comprise of 20 buildings with various functions, 14 of which are appropriately adapted historical buildings. Historical construction of the former combined heat and power plant will be the heart of the project. As part of the investment, urban squares, common spaces and green areas will be created, with the total area of almost 4 hectares.
The investment will be implemented in several stages – the first includes the construction of two residential buildings, with 270 flats. Echo Investment has already obtained the necessary building permits. The start of the construction works There is no need to convince anyone of the uniqueness of Księży Młyn. This “city is planned in April, and the first residents in the city,” or Karol Scheibler’s factory-residential empire, has an extraordinary are expected at the beginning of 2021. Simulscale not only in Poland but also in Europe. Księży Młyn is changing; new apartments, taneously with the completion of the first office buildings, and restaurants are being created in old factories. The city renews stage, the public square in front of the power the workers’ housing estate, and the Academy of Fine Arts turns a former school into plant will be handed over, as well as the access a design center. I am delighted that the next part of the former Scheibler’s empire will from Tymienieckiego Street. turn into a vibrant place, and this task has been undertaken by a well-known and respected company – Echo Investment – added Hanna Zdanowska, the Mayor of Łódź. During the next phases, we will build one residential building with flats, office buildThe investment will be carried out at 7.7 hectares area. Echo plans to build about ings, and residential buildings. The project 90,000 sqm. of residential, office and service space as well as gastronomic, commer- also foresees a revitalization of the historical cial, service and cultural facilities. The area will provide living and working space parts of the site and transforming them into for about 6,000 people; it will also become a meeting and entertainment spot for restaurants and other retail functions to make guests and tourists. Everyone will have at their disposal such facilities as parking Tymienieckiego investment a desirable destispaces adapted to car-sharing services, bicycle paths, bike service stations, parcel nation where the inhabitants of Łódź will like locks or publicly available electric chargers. to spend their free time.
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Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
WRONIA 31 RECOGNIZED AS THE GREENEST BUILDING IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
HEWELIUSZA 18 READY FOR FIRST TENANTS
Wronia 31, Warsaw’s Ghelamco Poland office building, won the international BREEAM Awards 2019 competition in the category of Regional Award Central and Eastern Europe. In the final round, the investment has defeated five other projects, including Varso Tower in Warsaw and Turin Office in Kraków.
Heweliusza 18 is a 10-storey A-class office building with an area of 10,000 sq m with underground parking and extensive facilities for cyclists. It was designed by the renowned architectural office JEMS Architekci. An unquestionable advantage of the investment is its location in the vicinity of the main transport hub of Gdańsk, which provides excellent exposure for all tenants. The location also means Heweliusza 18 is within easy reach regardless of the direction visitors may be travelling from. Pro-ecological solutions have been implemented in Heweliusza 18, and as a consequence, the building has been awarded the BREEAM Excellent certificate. The office arrangements for tenants will also be certified. The developer has also reconstructed the intersection of Heweliusza and Rajska streets, and created a new urban square.
The BREEAM Awards competition selects the best buildings certified in the BREEAM ecological system. The jury takes into account their technical specification, architectural design, construction and management. Warsaw’s Wronia 31 office building was recognized as the greenest building in Central and Eastern Europe, defeating five competitors from Poland, Romania and Turkey in the finals. Award ceremony took place on 4th March 2019 in London.
JLL advisory firm has been appointed as the exclusive leasing agent for Heweliusza 18.
Ghelamco is the first developer in Poland to introduce into its buildings the world’s most popular ecological certification system BREEAM. For over 9 years, all Ghelamco’s projects have been built in accordance with the principles of sustainable construction and Building Research Establishment guidelines. The award for Wronia 31 as the best certified building in this part of Europe is another confirmation that we are a Polish real estate market leader in the field of green construction – says Jeroen van der Toolen, Managing Director CEE, Ghelamco. Wronia 31 is tenth Ghelamco Poland project certified in BREEAM. In August 2018, the office building received an ecological certificate at the Outstanding level for the Post Construction stage. It is the only office building in Poland certified in the latest BREEAM International 2013 News Construction system with such a high rating. The certification process of Wronia 31 office building was carried out by Sweco Consulting.
Heweliusza 18 building is part of an office and residential complex, which was built in the very centre of the city, close to the Radunia Canal, the Mercure hotel and the Madison Shopping Center – in an area that had remained undeveloped for 70 years. This prestigious location is well-served by public transport. The main railway station (Dworzec Główny), just over 200 meters away, will give tenants the opportunity to use Szybka Kolej Miejska, Pomorska Kolej Metropolitalna, buses, trams as well as inter-city PKP trains.
Wronia 31 was commissioned in autumn 2017. The object was designed by Jaspers-Eyers Architects, a Belgian studio, authors of neighbouring Warsaw Spire complex. The 15-storey office building is located in the business city in Warsaw’s Wola district. It has a total area of 16,000 sq m, of which over 15,150 sq m are top-class offices and 850 sq m are retail and service premises. For drivers and cyclists there is an underground car park for 195 cars, 54 motorcycles, as well as changing rooms and showers. Non-motorised office workers can benefit from close access to public transport, including the second metro line, suburban trains and trams.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
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INVESTMENTS
NUMBER OF IT PROFESSIONALS IN LVIV REACHES
21,000 It’s not news that the IT industry is blooming in Lviv. In the last few years, the number of technology companies has considerably increased in the city, reaching 317 by the end of 2018. It has become a tradition for Lviv IT Cluster to look back at the year that passes with an analytical study of the local IT industry – IT Research. This article presents a brief summary of the research.
4000 Number of freelancers working in Lviv
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Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
Up to 24 K 20-21 K
15-17 K
+25
Grow
th dy
2017
2018
%
nam
ics
2019
NUMBER OF IT SPECIALISTS IN LVIV
317 IT INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT DYNAMICS
247
+28
Grow
th dy
2017
%
nam
2018
ics
The growth dynamics of the IT industry in Lviv remains consistent – 28% per year. In 2018, 70 new companies have opened in the city, increasing the total number to 317. 90% of the market is still made up of small and medium-sized companies (less than 250 employees) According to the research, between 20-21 thousand IT professionals are working in Lviv as of 2018. It is predicted that by 2019 the number will increase up to 24 thousand.
NUMBER OF IT COMPANIES IN LVIV
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
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Full version of this article is available only in paper edition of Outsourcing&More magazine or on the Pro Progressio website.
Authors:
Iryna Zubenko, Communications Manager, Lviv IT Cluster
Yuliya Kolzenko, PR Manager, Lviv IT Cluster
INVESTMENTS
IS ROMANIA
FACING THE SAME CHALLENGES AS POLAND?
It seems like the business world is changing massively from one year to another. Not only that companies need to embrace technology to create competitive advantages, but what we knew as highly efficient in marketing and recruitment is also changing. rd During the 3 BSS Forum that I had the pleasure to attend in January,some ideas were highlighted as significant challenges for Polish companies. But what’s concerning is that these challenges are spreading across the entire business world, regardless of the geography. Romania is no exception to that. And the most important one is related to recruiting,retaining and developing long term relationships with employees, mostly in the IT&C sector. What are Romanian companies doing to solve it? How did this employer branding process start in Romania? Shortly said, companies embraced the change and adapted to the new generations of tech-savvy employees, while also paying attention to the national values.
WHERE DO WE STAND? Thanks to Romania’s strategic location and the favorable business climate, the country is one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union. According to the latest studies, Romania has more than 185,000 IT professionals,
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and each year it adds at least 7000 graduates. However, this growing number of specialists is not enough to fulfil the open positions existing in the IT&C companies. Each year, the government supports entrepreneurs build new businesses with grants and tax incentives, many of which are tech start-ups. We can understand now how high is the competition for talents. Moreover, half of the current IT professionals are under 35 years old. Romania has young talents in this sector, but young also means hard to get. And exactly this category of people is the most likely to leave the country. According to the latest ONU report regarding emigration, Romania is one of the top five states in Europe with the biggest numbers of people leaving the country. If ten years ago we saw people with medium education going in foreign states as they wanted a better living, now we see the opposite. A tremendous number of graduates and even highly experienced IT speciali
sts decide to move with their families across the border for better professional development, reducing, even more, the number of available professionals and increasing the competition for those who remain in the country. But statistics will change soon.
BUSINESS CULTURE – THE NEW WAY TO WIN PEOPLE’S HEARTS Being one of the most important outsourcing centers helped Romania see how things work in other companies. Major brands in Europe and the United States started to build and implement employer branding programs even before the marketing literature accepted this concept. They understood early that a culture that promotes individuals’ values and makes them feel accepted is essential for long term partnerships with employees. Romanian IT companies had a hard time at the beginning of this employer branding process, as the national culture is way different from the occidental one.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
Traditional values are still present here, and many topics that might sound common to other countries are tabu subjects here. But the struggle was worth it, and it will worth for many more soon. What was the focal point at the beginning? Employees and candidates needed security, a company culture based on this primary need. Let’s explain why. Romania wasn’t a democracy until 1989, which is not very long ago. The former regime offered citizens jobs, which was great, but there were many limitations. Long story short, ten years ago people were still living with the fear of tomorrow and what they needed to feel in a company was safety. And that’s precisely what they were offered through business cultured built with effort. But that’s a story from a decade ago. Things have changed again with the Millennials, a tech-savvy generation with high expectations and sophisticated needs.
PLAYING `HARD TO GET` IS MILLENNIALS’ LANGUAGE The Millennials generation soon became the most active in the Romanian IT&C industry. As mentioned before, half of the IT professionals are under 35 years old. Of course, the strategies implemented by organizations for Millennials’ parents, were not valid anymore. And here is where occidental ideas started to make sense for marketing and human resources specialists. But young candidates are still hard to get. Compared to other generations that were willing to accept a job without many questions and remain in a company even if things aren’t excellent, Millennials don’t trust brands, commercials and long offers. And when accepting a job that soon turns to be frustrating, they won’t look behind their shoulders for a second time. According to the latest reports, 84% of Millennials don’t trust traditional advertising, but they are the most likely to believe other people, in this situation other employees. 51% of employees share their positive job experiences on Social Media, while 66% of candidates are sharing their negative experiences across the wealth of platforms available. There’s no wonder why so many Millennials are using social media
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when trying to find information about a company, and why they are hard to get. They have now access to plenty of information about an organization, the past, plans, scandals, and awards. They know the company’s week points and leverage them for better offers.
YOUNG, RESTLESS, BUT EXTREMELY VALUABLE
Now, let’s go back to the question in the title. Well, the answer is yes. We experience the same challenges as Poland, and the Romanian history makes things even harder for IT&C companies. But the good news is that businesses are willing to change, to embrace innovation and to become employers of choice on the human resources market. What’s next? We will live and see.
Nowadays, companies know that to be able to attract young candidates they Author: need to please the current employees by implementing additional benefits programs, while also working on their general reputation and presence in different communities. A 2019 report from My HR Lab, a Romanian recruitment company, highlighted that almost half of the IT&C companies in the country have or are working on an employer branding strategy. The same report showed that 47% of candidates are paying attention to the business reputation on the market. Moreover, 67% of Millennials reported that they would refuse a job offer if they hear negative stories about a potential employer. At first glance, Millennials seem to be only young, restless, and with extremely high expectations. In fact, they represent the fresh air any company needs. Their creativity and willingness to take responsibilities convinced businesses about their potential. And this is exactly the future for the country.
Loredana Niculae, CEO NNC Services Romania
The good news is that businesses are willing to change, to embrace innovation and to become employers of choice on the human resources market. What’s next? We will live and see.
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INVESTOR SERVICE IN BYDGOSZCZ IN GOOD HANDS Interview with Edyta Wiwatowska, Board President of the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency (BARR).
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established in 2013 and continues the activities previously carried out by the Investor and Entrepreneur Service Team operating within the structures of the Bydgoszcz City Hall. The establishment of the Agency allowed us to act more flexibly and much more effectively in the comprehensive handling of all investment projects in the City. Investors in Bydgoszcz are our partners and have our support in all possible areas. We see the value of investments in the City, which is why we treat investors as a priority.
Wiktor Doktór, Pro Progressio: Some time ago, the City of Bydgoszcz focused on professionalising the investor service in the City and established the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency (BARR). What is the origin of the Agency and what influenced your decision that the Agency, and not part of the City Hall, would provide the services to investors? Edyta Wiwatowska, BARR: The Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency is the effect of the City’s consistently implemented policy to support investments and entrepreneurship in the region. The Agency was
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What are the three main areas of activities carried out by BARR? Our tasks focus on supporting investment processes in the City, supporting and stimulating entrepreneurship in the region, as well as broadly understood economic promotion of the City. We carry out investment projects in a “one stop shop” formula. We offer support from a dedicated coordinator who listens to the needs of entrepreneurs and individually supports them on every stage of the investment process. These activities include aiming to find the optimal solutions for the investors, assistance in finding suitable land or built-up space for the investment and obtaining the necessary permits, support to the investors during the recruitment processes or when applying for investment
incentives available in the City, e.g. in the form of real estate tax exemptions. Investors can also use the online database of investment offers maintained by the Agency. We also help entrepreneurs under the so-called post-investment care. In BARR, the investors receive support when applying for available funds for the development of their activities, participate in cooperative exchanges, numerous training courses and business workshops. We focused part of our activities on broadly understood business education. We support entrepreneurs from the region by organising dozens of trainings, conferences and cooperative meetings every year, during which participants have the opportunity to improve their competences, e.g. in the area of law, taxation, management or marketing, as well as to establish contacts so important in business. Since the Agency was established, approx. 6,500 entrepreneurs, employees and those interested in starting their own business have taken part in the non-commercial trainings alone. In cooperation with companies operating in the City, BARR also implements educational projects for high school students, such as practical lessons in entrepreneurship and business games, which give young people entering the labour market an opportunity get to know Bydgoszcz employers better and see the potential of the local economy.
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Above: BARR team. The Agency celebrated its 5th anniversary last year during the Investor’s Gala organised in Bydgoszcz. Photo: Robert Sawicki
By successfully realising the concept of the “City open to outsourcing”, Bydgoszcz became the headquarters of more than 40 BPO, SSC, IT, R&D centres in a relatively short time and the number of workplaces in the sector has already exceeded 10,000. In addition to supporting investment and educational projects, BARR is active in the field of business promotion of Bydgoszcz and the region. BARR promotes the investment offer of the City in numerous economic events in the country and abroad, oriented to both the real estate market, as well as the BPO/ SSC, ITC, logistics and production sectors. The meetings often result in further inquiries from specific investors interested in locating their business in Bydgoszcz.
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Which sectors of the economy are currently key for the development of Bydgoszcz? Where is the BSS positioned in these sectors? Bydgoszcz has been an industrial centre of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship for many years. Companies from this sector employ almost half of all people working in the City, and the industrial past of Bydgoszcz is an important context for creating a modern economic climate of the City
and the development of Bydgoszcz enterprises, creative industries or modern technologies and production. A well-developed production sector in Bydgoszcz, which manufactures many products for foreign customers, plays a dominant role in regional export. Additionally, its development and internationalization actively support the activities of the Bydgoszcz Industrial Cluster, which has had the status of the National Key Cluster since 2016.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
Invested in the city
The convenient location of Bydgoszcz on the map of Poland, in the triangle between Warsaw, Poznań and the Tri-City, also favours the growth of the warehouse and logistics market in the area. This can be seen in the growing number of distribution centres located in the area, as well as the emerging storage areas, which currently come up to approx. 345,000 sq m. Meanwhile, more than 210,000 sq m of modern high-standard warehouse parks remain under development or are being planned. In recent years, the sector of modern business services in Bydgoszcz has been showing a spectacular growth. By successfully realising the concept of the “City open to outsourcing”, Bydgoszcz became the headquarters of more than 40 BPO, SSC, IT, R&D centres in a relatively short time and the number of workplaces in the sector has already exceeded 10,000. Thanks to the companies from the IT industry investing here, we managed to create a strong local specialisation. According to last year’s report prepared by the Association of Business Service Leaders (ABSL), the share of IT services in the employment structure of BPO, SSC, IT and R&D centres in Bydgoszcz is the highest in comparison to other centres in Poland (in our City they generate over 80% of workplaces in the sector). In the last year, more companies such as Meelogic, Sii or Cognifide located their offices in the City.
A large part of the office areas is located in modern buildings, commissioned for use in the last 3 years. Another 85,000 sq m is under development or planned for the near future. Smaller does not mean less attractive. Investors such as PZU, Nokia, Mobica, Cybercom, or Asseco are talking about your investment attractiveness. What attracted them to Bydgoszcz? Bydgoszcz offers a stable business environment and access to human resources. It also creates a good climate for new investments and the development of existing business. In addition, investors pay attention to the convenient location of the City, as well as the availability of modern office parks and areas for investment. When analysing and selecting a location for their businesses, entrepreneurs often value Bydgoszcz because of the potential of its local human capital. Around one million people live in the City and the surrounding area within a radius of 50 km. Being the largest academic centre in the KuyavianPomeranian Voivodeship and actively supporting the cooperation between business and science, Bydgoszcz offers investors access to qualified staff, tailored to their needs.
What entrepreneurs and employees are looking for today – and they do find it in our City – is also the desired work-life balance. Bydgoszcz is not only an important and energetic business As a consequence of the develop- or academic centre, but is also imporment of the BSS sector in Bydgoszcz, tant in respect of culture and sports. the amount of available office space The City is developing dynamically, which currently reaches the total area at the same time taking care to be of 100,000 sq m is also increasing. a friendly place to live.
Name of the investor: PZU Group Country of origin: Poland Number of workplaces: 550 Sector: Insurance Occupied place: 2,900 sq m
Bydgoszcz is very important city for PZU Group in area of customer service. The only one backoffice center dedicated to after-sales service was established here in 2012. Since 2016 there is also a team that organizes support for PZU clients as part of assistance services. We follow the strategy of the PZU Group, in which one of the objectives is a new approach to building customer relationships. We integrate all areas of business activity around clients, which enables us to tailor products to their needs. We focus on a modern and innovative approach to our work, providing complex services at the highest level. Support for this process is the use of tools based on artificial intelligence. One of the major projects that we are currently implementing is automation in after-sales service. It aims to improve the quality of integrated customer service.
Mirena Masłowska, Client Service Director, PZU Group
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According to last year’s report prepared by the Association of Business Service Leaders (ABSL), the share of IT services in the employment structure of BPO, SSC, IT and R&D centres in Bydgoszcz is the highest in comparison to other centres in Poland (in the City they generate over 80% of workplaces in the sector).
For international companies with a recognized position on the global market, it is important that the environment in which they operate reflects the global nature of their work, while providing access to technical knowledge and excellent infrastructure. All this is available in Bydgoszcz. Relevant substantive preparation and good cooperation with local government and local secondary schools or universities are also important. BARR is making sure to actively support investors in these areas on a daily basis. As a result, they have the opportunity to provide added value to the core business of their branches in Bydgoszcz and to achieve even more ambitious business and development goals. The quality of services provided by investors located in Bydgoszcz is often emphasized by capital groups deciding on the development of a given location. In this aspect, good examples are PZU (which runs a nationwide customer service site in our City), ATOS Global Delivery Center (providing services for the Olympic Games from Bydgoszcz) or Livingston International (providing international customs services for global corporations).
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Bydgoszcz is open to investors and realises a proper strategy focused on openness and ensuring the best possible conditions for economic development, which is evidenced by international awards granted to the City. Among the most important were: the first place in the World Bank ranking “Doing Business in Poland 2015”, the title of the “Emerging City of the Year” awarded twice in the CEE Shared Services and Outsourcing Award in 2016 and 2019, or honours in other prestigious real estate industry plebiscites, such as CIJ Awards Poland or Eurobuild Awards.
ue these efforts and expand the offer of BARR to include additional support instruments for entrepreneurs, giving them impulses and real tools to allow them to grow. This year’s BARR calendar will include economic conferences and business events organized in Bydgoszcz, often in cooperation with renowned entities from the BPO/SSC sector, production or warehousing and logistics sectors. Our representatives will be present at many domestic and international industry events, such as the annual ABSL conference, Innoform Fair, Transport Logistic and Expo Real, or the “bITconf” technology conference held for the second time in Bydgoszcz. We will also systematically expand our offer for supporting entrepreneurs, especially in the area of their internationalization or increasing innovation and competitiveness.
This also does not slow down the pace of new investments. At the beginning of the year, Deepsense – a company specialising in robotics and automation – announced its debut in Bydgoszcz. Another project is being launched by ATOS, which announced to create 550 new workplaces in Bydgoszcz. We are also conducting advanced discussions with investors from the e-comFinally, a question about the nearest merce sector, which we hope we will future. What are the plans of the Byd- soon be able to announce. goszcz Regional Development Agency for 2019? Where will your represent- More information: atives be seen and is there anything new that will happen this year? The activities of BARR have so far brought very positive effects that help to develop a positive economic image of Bydgoszcz. New investments Unii Lubelskiej 4C Street 85-059 Bydgoszcz in the City and further awards for Phone: +48 52 585 88 23 Bydgoszcz in the industry plebiscites e-mail: barr@barr.pl confirm that it is worth to contin- www.barr.pl
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
INVESTMENTS
GBS AND FINTECH: LITHUANIA’S WINNING COMBINATION The Baltic state’s burgeoning Fintech sector is more than just the long-term fruit of GBS investment – it’s an opportunity for self-sustaining success.
Lithuania is already synonymous with excellence in the world of Global Business Services (GBS). But these days, you’re equally likely to hear the Baltic powerhouse mentioned in another context: as a rising star in the financial technology sector, with reported growth last year of a record 45%. Together, the two industries now form
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a partnership for success – a ‘virtuous circle’, in which the talent unlocked by GBS now fuels the Lithuanian Fintech boom, delivering innovation that keeps both sectors ahead of emerging trends. Lithuania’s GBS story began in 2009– 2010, with the arrival of the first key international players, Western Union
and Barclays. Drawn by the country’s ‘can do’ attitude and versatile, multilingual talent pool (Lithuania’s population speaks an average of 2.7 languages per person – and an incredible 97% of the population speaks at least one foreign language), the country’s fledgling GBS sector quickly delivered a stream of IT and finance specialists.
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The effect of this skills explosion became evident a couple years later. Specialists who had received their training with big players such as Barclays began to create their own startups – or to attract the interest of more disruptive newcomers such as ride-sharing service Uber. That supply of talent shows no sign of drying up. Today, Lithuania’s GBS sector boasts more than 70 centres, employing over 17,000 specialists deli vering services in 35 languages – yet the market is nowhere near saturated. The award-winning GBS hub centred around the cities of Vilnius and Kaunas remains a magnet for major international operators. International credit ratings giant Moody’s, Dutch travel industry giant Booking.com, and international IT services company HCL Technologies were among the newcomers in 2018.
PROGRESSIVE REGULATION While the growth of Lithuania’s GBS sector provided the talent, another vital ingredient was necessary to spark the country’s Fintech boom: the emergence of the Bank of Lithuania as one of Europe’s most progressive regulators. A series of reforms have cut red tape and sped up processes – giving Lithuania’s Fintech sector the agility it needs to succeed. Streamlined licensing pro cedures enables financial institution licences to be granted in as little as six months – the fastest approval process within the EU. In addition, the Bank of Lithuania’s “lite” banking licence introduced in 2017 requires initial capital of just €1 million – five times less than a standard banking licence. Last year, Revolut – the ambitious UK unicorn seeking to become “the Amazon of Banking” became the first international entity to be granted this licence.
The country’s regulatory framework is now exceptionally friendly to Fintech start-ups. As a result, they spend less time jumping through hoops, and more time on what they do best – innovation. The appetite for these reforms among Fintechs has been enthusiastic. So far, the Bank of Lithuania has issued three Specialised Banking Licences (SPBs), 33 Payment Institution licences (PIs) – and a staggering 47 Electronic Money Institution licences (EMIs), making it the EU’s leading issuer of such licences. To put that in context, Luxembourg, another of Europe’s leading Fintech hubs, has issued just seven EMIs.
FACTS AND FIGURES The results of this Fintech-friendly environment have been dramatic. In 2018, the number of companies making up Lithuania’s Fintech sector rose from 117 to 170. Around 2,600 specialists are now employed in the industry. And this growth is set to continue into 2019, with a recent survey of Lithuania’s Fintech sector revealing that 88% of respondents planned to expand their operations in the coming year. Also important is the support network that has grown up around Lithuania’s Fintech sector. Incubators and accelerators have sprung up in the nation’s capital, Vilnius – as well as more than 20 co-working and flexible office rental spaces. Innovation hubs including Vilnius Tech Park, Rise Vilnius and the Blockchain Centre bring Fintech’s brightest minds together to meet, discuss and collaborate at the forefront of technology. In doing so, they have formed a close-knit community that fosters creativity and ensures the sustainability of the country’s Fintech revolution.
Together with the country’s progressive regulatory environment, this talent has also succeeded in attracting some of the heaviest hitters in the global financial industry. Newcomers to Lithu ania’s Fintech sector in 2018 include the already mentioned UK-based Fintech Revolut, valued at €1.6 billion – and Google. Both companies secured EMI licences from the bank of Lithuania, while Revolut was also granted a Specialised Banking Licence. The company announced in February that it plans to open a customer service centre in Vilnius this year, employing a 70-strong team. But the continuing success of the sector lies not just in its size, but in its diversity. Alongside established Fortune 500 giants such as Nasdaq are mouldbreaking newcomers like Blockchain. The UK-based Blockchain announced in February 2019 that it would open its 5th global location in Vilnius, employing dozens of designers, customer support staff and software engineers.
SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS The quiet revolution that began a decade ago is now taking shape. From the groundwork laid by the country’s 1st big GBS players, to the Bank of Lithu ania’s push towards a startup-friendly legislative environment, Lithuania’s powerful partnership between GBS and Fintech marks the piecing together of a complex economic jigsaw – a carefully balanced ecosystem of talent and technology. With a continuing supply of talent who are equally at home with innovation as they are delivering firstclass support services, Lithuania has, it seems, created a recipe for sustainable GBS and Fintech success. Author:
PIPELINE OF TALENT Regulatory sandboxes, including the ground-breaking blockchain sandbox LBChain, enable innovative financial products to be developed and tested under the watchful eye of the Bank of Lithuania, before being scaled globally.
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The skilled specialists developed by major players in GBS continue to provide a steady pipeline of finance and IT talent for the more complex and innovative functions of new Fintech players entering the market.
Lukas Inokaitis, Senior Investment Advisor, Invest Lithuania
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ONE STOP SHOP POWERED BY THE CITY OF ŁÓDŹ Interview with employees of the Business Development and International Relations Bureau of Łódź. Outsourcing&More: Business Development and International Relations Bureau – this is exactly the name of the unit operating at the City Office, which is responsible for servicing investors. What is the structure of the Office at the moment, how many people does it employ and what exactly does it do? Investor Service of Łódź: Business Development and International Relations Bureau is a unit whose main task is to serve investors in the “one-stopshop” system. Every strategic investor in Łódź, during the whole investment process and after its completion, is supported by a dedicated Investor Support Manager, specially designated for a given investment project. The Investor Support Assistant, with the help of senior officials and specialists at the City Office of Łódź, shall immediately provide information on, among others, availability of potential staff according to specialization, available real estate, warehouses and office space, available or required infrastructure in a given location, list of permits required, permit application procedures, dates and decision makers, or available public aid and its sources. The unit currently employs more than 30 people, and the following departments are at its core:
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• Department for New Economic Initi- Łódź is committed to reinforcing its atives, which attracts new invest- image of a city dedicated to the above ments to the city, industries, which is why in 2013 and later • Department of Development and Re- in 2017 we had the opportunity to be lations with Investors, taking care of the host city of the ABSL Conference, and companies operating in the city, in early 2019 – to hold 3rd BSS Forum and • Department of Cooperation with Uni- the 6th Outsourcing Stars Gala organized versities supporting City-University- by the Pro Progressio Foundation. -Business Cooperation, At the moment, Łódź is experiencing • International Relations Department. an intensified process of re-investment What are the main sectors that carried out by investors already located the city is interested in and what does in the city. Within the BSS sector, apart the modern business services sector from the tendency to gradually increase employment by all companies in this look like against them? In addition to logistics and trans- sector, Infosys, Fujitsu, Clariant, Nordea, port, which are natural development Commerzbank, Digital Teammates, directions for Łódź due to the central Philips Healthcare or Signify are planlocation in the country, the priority sec- ning dynamic development. tors are also BPO/SSC, IT, R&D, home appliances and the electronics indus- Let’s take a closer look at the investtry. The trade and exhibition activi- ment incentive program. What incenties, tourism, modern textiles, biotech- tives can an investor in the BSS sector nology and the film industry also play count on? Does any type of investment qualify for such incentives? an important role. In 2018, Łódź was rated by the ABSL Łódź has been recognized as one organisation as the second best Polish of the leaders among centres dedicated local governement supporting the BSS to modern business services as well industry. It was possible thanks to the ofas modern technology centres. Currently, fer of unique tools conducive to recruitthere are over 22,000 employees em- ment and building the brand on the local ployed in over 80 companies in the BPO/ market. The main asset of Łódź in this area is invariably the ‘Youth in Łódź’ program SSC/IT sector.
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In 2018, Łódź was rated by the ABSL organisation as the second best [Polish] local governement supporting the BSS industry. It was possible thanks to the offer of unique tools conducive to recruitment and building the brand on the local market.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
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(‘Młodzi w Łodzi’), which consists of instruments designed to help employers meet their staffing needs: promotional campaigns, co-financed internships and promotional events. Subsequently, the BSS sector, which is a priority for the city’s development, can count on the support of the office in terms of formal and administrative matters. The existence of a specially established cell within this institution makes sure that all projects undertaken by the city take into consideration the needs of investors – such dimension has, among others, the shape of the network of city bike stations. The support offered by the Łódź Special Economic Zone, which allows investors to make use of tax relief within the paid CIT tax, remains a strong, commercial incentive. So far, the largest players in the sector, such as Fujitsu or Infosys, have benefited from such a privilege. With regard to the reform of the func-
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tioning of economic zones in Poland, this support may also be available for smaller projects, provided they meet the quality criteria. Łódź is currently a huge construction site in the area of modern office space. How many square meters are going to be handed over to operation in 2019 and 2020? Łódź is the seventh largest office market in Poland and one of the most dynamically growing. The constant increase in the office resources of Łódź is the result of a strong interest in the city from both international and local companies. New office buildings perfectly illustrate the qualitative change in the product available on the market. Most of the new investments meet the conditions of the A-class standard, which is a response to the growing needs of leaseholders and the advantage that the company gains thanks to such space when looking for new employees.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
It is worth emphasizing that we are one of the most attractive office markets considering the rent. The highest transactional rents are usually 1–3 euro/ sq m lower per month as compared to Kraków or Wrocław, which gives Łódź an advantage in the case of competition for a new investor.
The ’Youth in Łódź’ program has been operating for 10 years and constitutes a unique platform for cooperation between entrepreneurs, universities and the city. By implementing program ini tiatives, such as, among others, internships, trainings, scholarships, a discount card or a competition for start-ups, we jointly encourage young people to plan We not only offer space in the newly their future in Łódź, help them find a cabuilt facilities, but also in the post- reer path, and thus support companies -industrial city buildings character- operating in the city in obtaining high istic of the nineteenth century, which quality human resources. have been revitalized and adapted to the needs of the office space. This cooperation brings measurable effects. 10 years of the program operaCurrently, the largest and most dyna tion means over 540 winners of the ‘Youth mically developing office areas are: New in Łódź’ scholarship program, in which Centre of Łódź (NCL) – last year, mBank scholarships, dormitories and courses and Nowa Fabryczna office buildings raising qualifications for the most active were handed over and rented in that students of selected faculties are fundlocation. The investments in the course ed by employers, over 1,700 trainees of implementation are currently the City of the ‘Your apprenticeship in Łódź’ Gate (Skanska), Łódź Work (Okam) and (‘Praktykuj w Łodzi’), almost 80% of a multi-functional facility of Ghelamco whom continue to cooperate with comof more than 2 ha, located on the most panies financing internships or almost expensive plot in the NCL. The planned 8,000 students participating in free facilities include: a new commercial training sessions conducted by trainers investment of HB Reavis (a developer from Łódź’s companies. The program who chose Łódź as the first regional also means the significant support for city after Warsaw) and the Fabryczna start-ups offered as part of the ‘I have Office Centre – implemented by a local an Idea for Start-up’ competition (‘Mam company, JJ Invest. The second area is pomysł na Start-up’) – people with an idea the Central Axis of Łódź – at the moment for their own business can count not only the largest and most popular office on training and consulting support, but area among leaseholders, concen- also on individual assistance of a mentor trated along Aleja Piłsudskiego Street from the business world. Over 200 compa(mainly due to the good public trans- nies already operate on the market thanks port system). The most significant to the participation in the competition. investments planned or being under construction in this region include 2018 was the year of the dynamic imMonopolis investment implemented age-building campaign of the city, by Virako (revitalization of the old aimed at attracting both new investvodka factory into a multi-purpose ments and new residents. Did the Busifacility), as well as Imagine (Avestus) ness Development and International and Hi Piotrkowska. Over 52.5 thou- Relations Bureau participate in this sand sq m are going to be handed over project? If so, how? only in 2019. One of the most innovative projects promoting the city in 2018 was ‘Mobile ‘The Youth in Łódź’ program (‘Młodzi Łódź’, with an unicorn as a symbol. w Łodzi’) has been operating in The project was aimed at potential citythe city for many years. How is this -dwellers and aimed at promoting Łódź program implemented in cooperation as an agglomeration, where one can with local entrepreneurs? comfortably live, work and spend quali
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
ty time with friends. Łódź has set out new trends trends in promoting the city in the open areas of other agglomerations. Using unconventional methods, the unicorn of Łódź in the form of a specially prepared mobile unit moved around Poland, and all actions accompanying its tour involved the guests visiting that vehicle to learn about the wide range of offers that the city of Łódź has for its residents, tourists and employees. We would venture to say that, thanks to this campaign, we could observe a kind of Employer Branding of the city, extended by the promotion of tourist and housing advantages. For the end, a topic we have already mentioned on Outsourcing&More pages – Duopolis. How will this project be promoted in 2019? Duopolis is our flagship product and an incentive for the BSS industry in the coming years. Until now, Duopolis was an abstract vision, which was difficult to convert into specific benefits and include, for example, in a comparative model, developed to compare potential locations for new BSS projects. This year, we are planning to identify the advantages of Duopolis, talk about the project in the language of potential benefits, which will be possible thanks to the implementation of the strategy in partnership with a renowned entity in the industry. Thank you for the interview.
More information:
Business Development and International Relations Bureau Piotrkowska 104a St. 90-926 Lodz Phone: +48 42 638 59 39 Fax: +48 42 638 59 40 e-mail: boi@uml.lodz.pl
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BUSINESS CLIMATE IN KIELCE Interview with Artur Hajdorowicz, Director of Department for City Development and Revitalisation, City Planner; Mayor’s Plenipotentiary for city revitalisation in Kielce. Outsourcing&More: Who provides investors with assistance in Kielce and how big is this team? Artur Hajdorowicz: In the Kielce City Hall, there has been a dynamically functioning team of people who perfectly know the conditions of running a business and the problems of local entrepreneurs. Although it consists of only 5 people, the Investor Assistance Centre of the Kielce City Hall (IAC Kielce) has been already well-known in the local business environment, thanks to its consistent and persistent activities. Among the team’s most important achievements there are implementation of coherent economic promotion of the City and creation of efficient communication with the local business. Not only the newsletter and Facebook profile serve these purposes, but also industry meetings for entrepreneurs, allowing for an in-depth discussion about the problems of individual enterprises, bring more and more effective results. The team also succeed-
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ed in establishing fruitful cooperation with the municipalities of the Kielce Functional Area to create a joint investment offer. Investment Offer Database available at: www.mapa.invest.kielce.pl is a tool for developing these contacts. Commitment of IAC Kielce’s team members allowed them to develop knowhow that cannot be obtained without close observing the local economy and listening to the local entrepreneurs. The IAC Kielce’s employees engage themselves in promoting numerous undertakings implemented in the City, such as investment projects, business events, trade fairs. They also participate in economic events as well as take part in educational and marketing activities. All these allowed to create a favourable environment for making discussions, among people and business environment institutions,on the economy and emerging new development challenges the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Region is facing.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
Investment area in Kielce - location for an office building.
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Kielce has been associated with the dynamically developing Kielce Technology Park for over 10 years. What types of industries are developing in the Park? Entrepreneurs already operating on the market and those who have an idea for business can count on comprehensive support of the Kielce Technology Park (KTP). There, they will rent office space and production hall, get help in running the enterprise and access to the latest technologies. In the KTP which has already been existing for over 10 years, there are, among others, IT, R&D, cosmetic, medical, creative, and production industries represented both by enterprises recognisable in Poland, as well as by those entering the market, including startups.
Among the Department for City Development and Revitalisation team’s most important achievements there are implementation of coherent economic promotion of the City and creation of efficient communication with the local business.
In the KTP, IT industry is primarily represented by Transition Technologies PSC. This enterprise, which has been operating in Kielce since 2014, employs about 50 specialists in the field of programming in Java and technologies based on this language. Podopharm, awarded by the World Bank as the Champion of Innovation, produces cosmetics and tools for feet, including a patented podobrace. Cabiomede, in turn, designs face shields and limb prostheses for people after accidents. Cossi uses non-standard solution ingredients in their cosmetics, reaching for shungite, the remaining meteorite. The KTP also consists of production enterprises, both in the food industry (Lyofood which produces freeze-dried food popular among professional athletes) and the technological and machine industry represented by Tegeno and Marbach (specialised tools and spare parts for cutting and welding). Enterprises, representing different industries, like those specialising in design and production of outlet clothing for children, youth and adults are represented by Mouse in a House and Mad Mosquito. These clothes are sold to customers looking for original and unusual designs and who ready for fashion experiments. These are often culturally and geographically remote markets for Poland, such as China and Japan. The KTP has consistently been focusing on such enterprises for many years – especially for their needs there is the Fashion Design Centre, which is equipped with a photo studio, prototype workshop, sewing room and a showroom for organising fashion shows. Such elements definitely distinguish the Kielce Technology Park from other business environment institutions. Apart from the Kielce Technology Park, there are a number of other enterprises developing in Kielce. As compared to all investments in Kielce, how does the service sector, i.e. IT, R&D, BPO and Shared Service Centers look like?
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In Kielce, modern business services were located primarily in the Kieleckie Business Centre (formerly Exbud), a well-known office building in Poland, where a number of enterprises from the BPO, R&D and ITO sectors found their seats. The most well-known one is CCIG providing call center services for large corporations. It has been ope rating in Kielce for 10 years and has extensive experience in providing such services as well as established market position. Moreover, Comarch – a Polish provider of IT solutions and a produ cer of widely used software for managing warehouses, human resources, finances, production and other business processes – has its branch office there. Kielce is also associated with Medicover which provides patients with medical services. The office located in Kielce is responsible for the majority of customer service processes in the form of call centre. At the Business Station located in a revitalised building after a former bakery at ul. Głęboczka there are other enterprises representing the business services sector: Onwelo – a provider of IT solutions and Telbridge specialising in the outsourcing of sales processes in the business-to-business and business-to-customer relationships. When thinking about Kielce, one cannot forget about the most recognisable press and FMCG suppliers in Poland: the Kolporter group was established in Kielce and has been inseparably tied with the City for almost 30 years; although without expansion to other regions, it would not be possible to achieve such a spectacular commercial and image success. Infover, K-Ex (now Geis), BC&O are also the enterprises that had been previously established to service Kolporter’s newer and more ambitious projects, and then were turned into independent and thriving companies of indisputable reputation. Kielce still offers a lot of opportunities and an excellent market for developing the service sector: 10 institutions of higher education and over 20,000 university students, well-developed metropolitan functions of the City, BSS enterprises that have been operating for years, as well as experienced human capital make it a favourable climate for making investments in IT, BPO, F&A and R&D. Not without significance is the new
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
city authorities’ favour towards investors, including Mayor of Kielce City – Bogdan Wenta who considers good contacts with entrepreneurs as a priority element of his local policy. A real quantum leap forward for Kielce will be the construction of laboratory campus of the Central Office of Measures. Many cities across the country were striving for this laboratory campus, but it was Kielce that succeeded in this competition. Very good geological conditions, a well-prepared investment plot and the close proximity of other urban centers which may provide highly-qualified employees and partners from the enterprise sector were the key reasons for choosing Kielce among other Polish cities. Implementing this investment project will strengthen the links among higher education, R&D sector, innovation system, and business. By concentrating highly-qualified staff and the most modern laboratory equipment in Kielce, it will become an important research and development centre, and that will translate into development of the entire Świętokrzyskie Region.
A real quantum leap forward for Kielce will be the construction of laboratory campus of the Central Office of Measures. Many cities across the country were striving for this laboratory campus, but it was Kielce that succeeded in this competition.
If you have to create a list of priority investments in Kielce, which industries will you focus on? History of the region and availability of mineral resources mean that the sector of building materials as well as the metal and metallurgical industries have been
Real Estate Forum in Kielce, 2019.
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the leaders in the Świętokrzyskie Region for ages. These factors also shaped Kielce’s economic landscape, where enterprises from the machine and automotive sectors are present. Particularly numerous are enterprises producing components and spare parts for machines as well as specialised car equipment, such as KH Kipper (dump lorries and cars for mining and agriculture), Stolarczyk (cars for fire brigades), Aebi Schmidt (equipment for winter road maintenance), SHL Production and MA Polska SA (services and equipment for automotive industry), NSK Bearings (rolling bearings).
At the end of 2019, an office and service high-standard property covering 2,000 sq m will be completed. Plaza Park is a multifunctional investment undertaking prepared for enterprises from the IT outsourcing, finance and accounting, and shared services sectors.
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and accounting, and shared services sectors. Currently, the leaseholders are being looked for, not only those who want to develop their business activity in Kielce, but also enterprises from outside the Region, seeking a new location in order to diversify processes and services geographically. In addition to office functions, modern apartment buildings and commercial space, a kindergarten and a health clinic will also be built in the Plaza Park. This will ensure the multifunctionality of the area in accordance with the current trends in arrangement of urban space, which require combining urban and social functions with business. An additional Kielce is primarily the main service advantage of this location is the immecentre of the Region and its adminis- diate vicinity of the Silnica River Valley trative, academic, cultural and social Park and the Kielecki Reservoir, i.e. a zone capital. That is why, the development of greenery and relaxation. of metropolitan functions of the City and creation of good conditions for The office building that is most willthe development of services sector ingly chosen by the BSS enterprises are so important. A well-implemented in Kielce – the Kieleckie Business Centre service project is Kielce Trade Fairs (famous “Exbud”) also wants to develop. whose activity started 26 years ago. Its An investor is being looked for to build activity has built a new image of the City a new facility on the area directly adjaas a renowned trade fair and exhibition cent to the already existing office centre, and has changed the nature building. This investment site, one of of tourist traffic in the Region for busi- the most attractive in Kielce, is located ness tourism. In spite of trade fairs in the immediate vicinity of the intersecand congress centres numerously tion of express road no. S74 and national emerging in other cities, Kielce remains road no. 73 (Warsaw-Tarnów). Along the vice-leader of the trade fair industry the site’s borders lay the campus of in Poland, with flagship events organ- the Jan Kochanowski University and ised every year, such as MSPO – Inter- the Astra Park office complex, where national Defence Industry Exhibition, Echo Investment SA and Cersanit SA have PLAST-POL or AGRO TECH. their registered seats. A few hundred meters away is the Kielce University of It is also worth remembering about Technology, the largest technical insti the growing sector of modern business tution of higher education in the Region. services. Year by year, new BSS enter- Nearby, there is also the Echo Shopping prises are being established in Kielce, Centre being one of the largest shopping and those which have been present centres in Poland. The site has already here for years are still developing. had an issued decision on building This proves the growing demand for conditions (July 2018) for an investment outsourcing services and the conven- project comprising three office and ient conditions that the City offers service buildings. Another interesting to such enterprises. Having new lease- proposal for the shared services sector holders in mind, new office space will in Kielce is the Business Station – an office be available in Kielce this year. building offering approximately 800 sq m of modernly-arranged office space, fully At the end of 2019, an office and adapted to the expectations of a demandservice high-standard property cover- ing BSS customer. Additional advaning 2,000 sq m will be completed. tages of this building are undoubtedly Plaza Park is a multifunctional invest- the restaurant located on its premises, ment undertaking prepared for enter- convenient communication connection prises from the IT outsourcing, finance with other parts of the City and a short
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
More information:
Investor Assistance Centre Kielce City Hall: Strycharska 6 Street, 25-659 Kielce Phone: +48 41 36 76 571, 41 36 76 557 e-mail: coi@um.kielce.pl www.invest.kielce.pl/en www.mapa.invest.kielce.pl/en
Office complex Astra Park in Kielce.
distance from the city centre (about 1.5 km). One may find some detailed information about free office premisses is available in the Investor Assistance Centre of the Kielce City Hall.
for organising various events. There are 22 hotels operating in the City, and the five-star Odyssey Hotel was built just next to the border with Kielce.
Among the tourist attractions available for congress and trade visitors, one can mention the most beautiful in Poland – Raj Cave, the charming ruins of the medieval castle in Chęciny, the Łysa Góra Mountain in the heart of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, as well as numerous geological reserves. And that is not the end of surprises. Already in 2020, the first tropical pools in Poland will be opened as part of the Binkowski Resort hotel complex – it will cover 17 pools with tropical vegetation and the largest sauna in Poland for 130 people. For those who love winter sports, well-prepared ski slopes await in the Świętokrzyskie Region (2 out of 7 lay within the administrative borders of Kielce!). There are also ice rinks; and in Summer, congress guests can take advantage of rope parks as well as canoeing and hiking rallies. The conditions for organising conferences and congresses are undoubtedly excellent, and the Investor An additional advantage of the City is Assistance Centre of the Kielce City Hall the wealth of tourist attractions in offers its assistance and comprehensive the Region and the availability of hotels information in this regard. of different standards. Each of local hotel centres has conference facilities allowing Thank you for the interview. Cities organise or support various business initiatives – has the calendar of business events planned for 2019 in Kielce been already known? The most known business events in the City are organised by Kielce Trade Fairs owned by the Kielce City. The newly built infrastructure of the Congress Centre (19 halls of different size) and exhibition halls (36,000 sq m) allows for organising various congresses and trade fairs. Not without significance is the convenient location of Kielce on the Polish map – there are several large agglomerations (Warsaw, Kraków, Katowice, Łódź, Lublin) within a radius of 200 km, well-connected with Kielce via good road and railway links. Guests also cannot complain about the access to air transportation: Radom, Balice, Pyrzowice and Okęcie are the nearest airports, and it takes no more than 2 hours to reach each of them.
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WOMEN TAKE CARE OF INVESTORS IN CZĘSTOCHOWA Interview with Anna Mielczarek, the Director of Investor Service Office of Częstochowa. Outsourcing&More: Investor Service Office is a key unit that includes the success of the city’s development and promotion. Who in Częstochowa deals with investor service and what are the three most important activities of this unit which have the greatest impact on the development of investments in the city? Anna Mielczarek, Investor Assistance Center of Częstochowa: The Investor Assistance Center with the Manager in a four-man (Aneta Herbuś, Beata Stryjewska, Magdalena Wytrzymała), female warehouse is responsible for investor service in Częstochowa. IAC as a special section is part of the European Funds and Development Department, headed by the Head Piotr Grzybowski. All of these people were previously associated with the private sector and/or the academic community. The investor service in Częstochowa, however, is not only the promotion and sale of urban investment areas. Częstochowa IAC has significantly increased its operational scope over the last two years. The city assumed that plots could be armed and sold by anyone and this is not a sign of investment advantage. Educated human resources is a real investment incentive nowadays and Częstochowa decided to bet
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on it. Since March 2017, the Investor Service Center has also been the Center for Better Workplaces. CFBW is one of the components of the presidential program BETTER JOB NOW. BJN focuses on improving employment conditions in the city – the city tax reliefs are linked to the quality of work. Actions to improve the quality of work in the city must be two-vectored – the city encourages employees to offer the highest salary and all bonuses for employees but also tries to train the future staff as well as allow retraining and further training if required. Under BJN, through IAC, internships and apprenticeships are organized by employers from Częstochowa whose aim is to show young people the potential of the Częstochowa labour market. As we do not want to limit ourselves only to the promotion of technical education at the high school level, we also support universities. Within the framework of ACADEMIC CZĘSTOCHOWA, each year the city allocates about 200,000 PLN for the promotion of higher education in Częstochowa for laboratory equipment and activities within the framework of the “Let’s study in Częstochowa” campaign. Economic contests such as the FAIR PLAY Employer and THE PROMOTER
OF CZĘSTOCHOWA ECONOMY are also organized by Częstochowa IAC as part of this program. I think this is a tele graphic abbreviation of our activities. Częstochowa enjoys a fairly wide range of interest from various investor groups. Which industries are the strongest in your city? Częstochowa, which during the system changes lost the status of a provincial city with serious consequences, is now trying to use all the possibilities to be attractive for investors. A few years ago the direction of the city’s development changed. It has seen its opportunities in the development of tourism and being a centre of religious worship before. Now Częstochowa focuses on the development of industry and services for business. A city with more than a hundred years of industrial traditions has a lot to offer, mainly in terms of the culture of work and educated staff. The self-government knows that nothing “will do itself”, that you have to constantly modify your offer to adapt to the high expectations of investors and that kind of approach is also important. Hence the urban real estate tax reliefs for entrepreneurs who create new jobs and for developers building B+ and A-class office buildings.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
Photo: Nina Mazuś, Raków Business Club, City Hall.
Small and medium enterprises, often with a multi-generational tradition, feel good in our city. They are expanding and taking advantage of the opportunities for further development, just as existing since 1894 Wulkan S.A. or Staltim from the metal products industry which invested in the area of the EuroPark Mielec. Thanks to the possibility of buying land in the zone another Polish-owned company could return to Częstochowa. This is what happened in the case of the Baby Design Group which has transferred some of its existing activities from China to Poland.
to extendthe plant in the context of logistics halls. On October 2, 2018, the cornerstone was laid for the cons truction of the new Guardian plant (USA). The plant is being built at Korfantego Street in the vicinity of the already existing one, in the area covered by the Katowice Special Economic Zone. The production will start in the first quarter of 2020, creating over 150 new jobs. It will provide 1000 tons of glass production per day and will be equipped with a technologically advanced glass coating line. The investment will consume a total of 200 million euros. This includes expenses not only for the construction of the factory itself but also for the railway line that operates it. Apart from the location it is mainly qualified staff who contributed to the decision to build a float glass factory in Czestochowa (clear glass, construction glass, and glass for solar collectors). This investment is, first of all, “know-how”, that ing well. STOLZLE Częstochowa SA means the most modern solutions (Germany) develops and increases in the field of flat glass production employment – it is worth mentioning and processing, practical and effecthat the history of the Częstochowa loca- tive marketing and a modern human tion dates back to 1897, originally there resources management system was the “Paulina” glasswork. In 2018, as well as ultra-modern glassworks after changes in the company’s manage- because Guardian is currently one ment, the plant conducts intense activi- of the most modern steelworks glass ties in the field of CSR. It is also planned in the world.
Częstochowa has also become a location for global, large companies that report demand for new employees and the need to expand their proper ties. The automotive industry with the largest representatives of ZF TRW (Germany), CSF Poland (USA), Brembo (Italy) and CGR (France) still dominates in Częstochowa. In addition to production plants, automotive companies in Częstochowa also locate their financial service and engineering centres, cooperate with Częstochowa universities and take an active part in the life of the local community. Czestochowa glassworks are also do-
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the most powerful. However, there is no doubt that the largest companies are foreign capital. The city has already been appreciated by German, American, Italian and French companies. This confirms the statement that companies invest willingly in culturally close countries. However, in Częstochowa also appeared Japanese capital which appreciated the development opportunities in the food industry. The end of works related to the con struction of the “Częstochowa” section of the A1 has intensified inquiries regarding the purchase of land for the needs of logistics and warehousing halls. Investors buy lands located at the junctions. Thanks to that the attractiveness of the areas adjacent to DK1 has also increased in the context of the same activity. One city, two economic zones – what type of investment is located in the economic zones in Częstochowa? Since June 2014 there are actually two zones in the city – it is very late in comparison with other cities. The zones were located in the metallurgical areas near DK1 and in the immediate vicinity of A1. In total, there are three locations called: “Kusiecka”, “Korfantego” and “Skorki”. Częstochowa was one of the first cities, if not the first one, which decided to give small, local companies the opportunity to develop in the zone. For this purpose compact, small plots between 4,000 and 8,000 sq m were created in one of the post-metallurgical locations of the zones. Thanks to this move several small companies have a chance to operate and use public aid within the SEZ. This also resulted in the presence of small, four-generation family businesses in one location with an x-kom company and a domestic producer of ecological furniture for children in the neighbourhood with CGR or ZF. This diversity is definitely beneficial for both – the city and entrepreneurs. Częstochowa IAC organizes workshops for zonal entrepreneurs four times a year so that they can exchange their experiences and make it easier for them to cooperate with each other.
Despite the presence of giants, the SME sector is indeed the lifeblood of the regional economy. From the point of view of employment stability in the city it can be considered even more secure. Opening up to SME problems and good cooperation with the sector is not the only direction of the city’s development. Taking into account the cross-section of the enterprises existing New investors entering the city needs in Częstochowa, domestic compa- a lot of information – what kind of innies with Polish capital are still formation they can get from you?
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The fact that we find a property or adapt it to the needs of an investor is no longer a new thing either in the region or in the country. In Częstochowa we also believe that a good real estate price or even a perfect location – as in our case – is not always the best incentive. Today the greatest investment incentive is educated human resources. An investor appearing in the city (but also the majority of entrepreneurs) is primarily conducted by us through administrative procedures, we contact them with media managers, and if necessary, we conduct talks on their behalf. If you need help in recruiting employees (depending on the time until the end of the investment), we are able to contact the company with a technical or industry school with appropriate training profiles. As people who are aware of the future of the city in the investment context, we also have an im-
ed in the city. The specificity and urban layout of the city do not allow for building skyscrapers here – due to the Jasna Góra Tower – forcing at the same time kind of innovations necessary to adapt to the requirements of the neighbours. New surfaces are one thing but another interesting offer is very attractive historic properties in the city centre with great potential which are waiting for buyers. A necessary factor which encourages investors from the sector is securing the availability of human resources. Here the activities of the self-government are conducted in two ways. On one hand, we profile school pupils and try to educate them in cooperation with business representatives. On the other hand, the local government tries to make the city more attractive for pupils and students – future residents. The number of cultural and entertainment events, places for recreation, kindergartens, nurseries, low crime
• ZAWODOWIEC fair – promote our vocational education but only and exclusively with business partners. Last year we also organized the first edition of FOTO INVEST Outdoor Photography – it promotes invesment areas and presents profiles of the companies. This year we are also planning a few surprises. Aside from that, we have regular series of breakfasts with entrepreneurs of the Regional Development Agency, training and conferences organized in cooperation with the Silesian Center for Entrepreneurship and the Marshal’s Office and also workshops organized with BCC, RIPH or IFR. Thank you for the interview.
In Częstochowa we believe that a good real estate price or even a perfect location - as in our case - is not always the best incentive. Today the greatest investment incentive is educated human resources.
pact on profiling these classes, we help in the creation of patronage classes. In the case of demand for engineering staff, we support investors in co-creating new fields such as Glass and ceramics engineering (GUARDIAN) and Ac counting in shared service centres (ZF) The Investor Assistance Center is primarily a link between business/industry and education in the city – only this tripartite cooperation can bring tangible results... to everyone.
rate – all of this makes Częstochowa an attractive city not only to invest in but also to live in. It is a great environment for development companies as ZF, SGP, Havier, Exact System, Sii and so on. In Częstochowa more and more is happening in the business sector. Aside from investment workshops and meetings with investors, all cyclical events which started a few years ago will continue to be present in the city’s calendar:
Heavy industry, light industry and services. How IT, BPO branches and • IRON OXIDE Street Art Festival from Shared Service Centers look in combeing art and industry festival only, parison with all other investments after the involvement of students from and what makes them interested Częstochowa technical schools, it also in the city’s investment offer? became an educational event. In order to support the develop- • The Jurassic Economic Congress during ment of the shared services sector, which the awards of the PRODUCT an act which relieves developers who OF THE YEAR and statuettes of FAIR PLAY create office space in the B+ and highEMPLOYERS will be distributed. er standard from real estate tax was es- • PROMOTER CZĘSTOCHOWA ECONOMY tablished. Since that time several ar– promotes companies that are, by chitecturally interesting buildings with themselves, the best advertisement very high standards have been creatof the city.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
More information:
Investor Service Center Department of European Funds and Development City Hall of Częstochowa Waszyngtona 5 Street, 42-217 Częstochowa Phone: +48 34 3707 212, +48 34 3707 213 e-mail: coi@czestochowa. um.gov.pl, fer@czestochowa.um.gov.pl www.czestochowa.pl
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OUTSOURCING STARS
POZNAN’S BUSINESS SUPPORT WORTH TO BE DISCOVERED Interview with employees of the Investor Relations Department of the City of Poznan. Outsourcing&More: The Investor Relations Department of the City of Poznan point for both Polish and foreign investors that enables them reaching the city. What are your key areas of operation? The Investor Relations Department: We are the first place in the Poznan City Hall contacted by the investors and act as the competent focal point throughout the entire period of preparation and implementation of the investments in Poznan. The area of operation of the Investor Relations Department is comprehensive. We are involved in promoting the investment potential of the City of Poznan in Poland and abroad and promote the offer of available real properties owned by the City of Poznan. Our tasks include also handling the inquiries of the investors from the sectors of priority for Poznan i.e. modern services and technologically advanced production. The potential investors receive access to the City data. We organise their visits and meetings with the representatives of the City and university authorities as well as with the representatives of the office space and HR
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sectors. In addition, we provide support What initiatives do you implement to the Poznan and Greater Poland com- for the existing investors in Poznan? panies in their expansion abroad. As any other large city in Poland, Poznan faces the issue of insufficient According to your experiences, is it number of employees for dynamically true that the investors can be handled developing companies. In cooperation using the “one size fits all” approach, with our investors from the modern or whether each inquiry is different? service sector, we take joint initiatives It can be seemed that the inquir- to ensure that the employee skills meet ies of the investors from the same sec- the requirements of the labour market. tor – modern services – will be generic The initiatives taken by the Investor and standard. The reality is completely Relations Department target various redifferent. Each company that contacts cipients. The BPO/SSC Week, i.e. workus has its own style and nature, which is shops for the upper secondary school reflected in the inquiries. These are very students combining a company from specific. The companies specify in details a given industry or sector with a spewhat employee skills and competenc- cific school, is one of our key projects. es are required – for example foreign The students can familiarise with worklanguages or programming languages. ing in the specific industry, which deThe inquiries about the students and spite the number of employed persons graduates of universities, specific fac- has not been widely known yet. Our ulties or specialisations are more than other activity responding to the invesfrequent. Good relationships of the City tor needs, is promoting the German of Poznan with the universities enable language or IT sector. We have also inus acquiring highly precise data. The fact troduced the scholarship programme that the investors increasingly frequent- for the Poznan students financed from ly draw equal attention to the figures, the City of Poznan budget. Supporting quality of life and openness to the for- the gamedev sector is our innovaeigners is worth mentioning. tive initiative.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
It can be seemed that the inquiries of the investors from the same sector – modern services – will be generic and standard. The reality is completely different. Each company that contacts us has its own style and nature, which is reflected in the inquiries. These are very specific. The companies specify in details what employee skills and competences are required – for example foreign or programming languages. The inquiries about the students and graduates of universities, specific faculties or specialisations are more than frequent.
Za Bramką Office, the seat of Investor Relations Department.
Above: Meeting of the Mayor of the City of Poznań Jacek Jaśkowiak and representatives of Investor Relations Department with the founders of the local IT comapny VentureDevs. Below: Stand of the City of Poznań during the 9th ABSL conference in Poznań (June 2018).
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The modern services sector companies willingly join the projects coordinated by our Investor Relations Department, including e.g. the BPO/SSC Week addressed to the upper secondary school students. The investors with which we cooperate appreciate favourable investing conditions in Poznan and support provided by our Department.
What is the key to success? Marketing, activity at the business events, or something else? You have been successfully attracting the BSS investors to Poznan for years and no end in sight. This is confirmed by the awards of Outsourcing Stars, of which you have a kind of collection. How do you build trust among the new investors? Establishing good relationships and preparing the initial meeting with the investor at the top level is of key importance. We apply a partner approach rather than a sales one. We present all advantages of our city to the company representatives with a view to their needs. Development of investors already operating in our city is the true hallmark of success. We receive regular messages that the centres operating in Poznan acquire the subsequent processes and increase the employment. The modern services sector companies willingly join the projects coordinated by our Department, including e.g. the BPO/SSC Week addressed to the upper secondary school students. The investors with which we cooperate appreciate favourable investing conditions in Poznan and support provided by our team. This information certainly reaches the companies that consider locating their processes in Poznan and acts as the best confirmation of quality offered to the investors.
also draw attention to foreign languages – at the moment we speak English, German, French, Russian and Estonian. Finally, the question about non-standard things – what was the most demanding or the most unusual investment question and have you managed to handle it? The greatest challenge during the meetings with the investors is unexpected situations, such as for example delayed flights. Last year we had an appointment that was supposed to last nearly 5 hours. In effect of poor weather conditions the investor reached Poznan about 3 hours later than he planned. We had no other option but to invite our tired with travel guests straight to dinner during which we presented key information in brief. We still remember this situation as a „presentation between the first and main course”. We must be prepared also for such cases. Also the dates of visit change frequently – which is an obstacle, in particular if we have already scheduled a reference meeting between our guests and a presi dent of a company operating in Poznan. Difficult questions include also these on the number of expats of a given nationality living in our city. The available statistical data frequently fail to reflect the reality since not all foreigners register themselves in the voivo deship office. It has also happened to assist in finding an apartment for the foreign managers having difficulties with Polish language or provide information on English and German language preschools and schools.
Let’s return to your Team. How many persons work in the Investor Relations Department team and how you divide competences? Currently, the Investor Relations Department employs 12 persons of different seniority. Early in 2019 we employed one more person in the marketing department. We have also the specialists Thank you for the interview. in the area of investor assistance, investment promotion and investment offer. Since our work involves frequent travels and representing the City in the international arena, these competences overlap More information: each other. Each of us contentedly works for the City during fairs, conferences and meetings with the investors as well as in preparing the events or promotional materials. The Investor Relations Investor Relations Department Department is international. The Head City of Poznań Za Bramką 1 Street, 61-842 Poznan of Department, Katja, comes from Phone: +48 61 878 54 28 Estonia, what enhances mutual under- e-mail: inwestor@um.poznan.pl standing with the foreign investors. We www.poznan.pl
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A new city district in Poznań which is to spread out in 100 ha Post-industrial area
More details about "Wolne Tory" area: Investor Relations Department | City of Poznan, Poland inwestor@um.poznan.pl |+ 48 61 878 5428 www.poznan.pl | www.fb.com/investinpoznan
INVESTMENTS
Outsourcing&More: When a new foreign investor is interested in setting up business in Warsaw, a question arises – where should they take their first steps? Piotr Sawicki, the Economic Development Department of the City of Warsaw: Within the structure of the City of Warsaw operates the Economic Development Department, whose remit is to provide information support for investors. It is there that investors can obtain comprehensive data on the city’s econo mic potential, the level of development of particular sectors and the possibilities of cooperation in various areas. They can also count on assistance in their search for office space by being given contacts to experienced real estate agencies. The Department’s employees also provide recruitment support, offering direct contact with HR agencies and universities. An important aspect of the Department’s activity is post-investment support. This unit deals with the coordination of municipal initiatives supporting cooperation in the triangle of business- -science-local authorities.
ges that the Economic Development Department is facing? The major challenges are related to the changes in the structure and tasks of the Development Department. We are going to develop a consistent investor service procedure engaging many City of Warsaw departments and units that are key to this process, and also we are going to strengthen the investor service team so as to make the EDD a real one-stop-shop for companies planning to invest or those already ope rating in Warsaw. We are going to focus on providing really good conditions for investment in Warsaw. We are planning to achieve this through various incentives for the investors who contribute to the sustainable development of the city, ensuring wide availability of highly qualified staff and R&D facilities, as well as offering a high quality of life. The quality of life aspect is paramount for attracting key employers to Warsaw. Access to modern infrastructure and smart city solutions, good air and water quality, convenient mobility, a wide range of available leisure activities, access to a diverse housing resource – all these factors affect people’ decisions to find a job and settle in the city.
When talking about successes and contributing to development, one should keep in mind how difficult a road it is. From your perspective, We are going to develop cooperation what are the most important challen with the market through partnership
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projects – including PPPs. Warsaw has huge untapped potential in investment land. This capital should work for the benefit of the residents and for the economic development of the city. We are preparing a package of projects for public-private partnership; some of them will be promoted at the MIPIM investment exhibition in Cannes in March this year. Building a structure for partnership projects will require hard work, including establishing trust between public and private partners. Today, the property market in Warsaw is approaching PPP-related topics with considerable reserve.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
BUSINESS SCALING MADE IN WARSAW Interview with Piotr Sawicki, the Director of the Economic Development Department of the City of Warsaw.
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those from the sector of modern business services (BPO/SSC). How does Warsaw attract such investors? In Warsaw, employers can count on the availability of a wide selection of qualified employees. Not only is the capital’s pool of talents, which includes nearly 200,000 students and over 50,000 graduates annually, the largest in the country, but it also stands out among other major cities in Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw is also a robust business centre and the undisputed regional leader in terms of economic development and the maturity of the office market. Currently, the capital of Poland offers 5,400,000 sq m of modern office All these activities will also be reflected space, and a further 740,000 sq m is in the implementation programmes for under construction, strengthening our the #Warszawa2030 Strategy, coordi- position as the main business hub nated by the Department. The Economic of the region. Development Department, in dialogue with its external partners and experts, The rich and diverse office market is will come up with the objectives for able to meet the expectations of every programmes aimed at improving condi- company. Whether it is a global corpotions for business growth, driving inno- ration looking for an ultra-modern office vation, attracting talents and leaders in a prestigious location, a medium-sized to Warsaw, and promoting Warsaw company, for which the priority is its as an international centre of inspiration employees’ convenient commute to the office, a small enterprise that wants for the world. to remain close to their key clients, Warsaw is a highly diverse market, or a start-up looking for a creative and it continues to appeal to many work atmosphere in the co-working well-known international investors. space – each of them will find a place A wide pool of investors includes in Warsaw that suits their needs.
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What is particularly important, however, is the fact that Warsaw is already an extremely attractive place not only to invest, but also to live in. This is evidenced by the results of many rankings comparing cities in various respects, but also by the opinion of its residents about their satisfaction with life in the city. The well-developed public transport system, extensive cultural and entertainment offering, good access to educational facilities, as well as abundant green spaces, which constitute about 40% of the entire city area – all these assets have an effect on the decisions of investors. Big business on the one hand, but support for start-ups on the other. What can small entrepreneurs count on at the start of their business activi ty in Warsaw? Warsaw start-ups can count on the scaling of their business thanks to co-operation with numerous corporations operating in the city, many international events and international promotion. The city is also committed to establishing relations within the whole ecosystem as it cooperates with the organisers and co-organises events such as the Wolves Summit, Innovative Youth, InnoShare, and Pixel Heaven. We promote Warsaw start-ups at the Dusseldorf Woche and at the pro perty exhibitions in Cannes and Munich, among others.
bility, which means that start-ups can grow here while operating in comfortable conditions and great investors can find modern and large enough spaces for themselves. This creates excellent conditions for international corporations to partner with start-ups. On top of that, Warsaw offers excellent national and international transport links, a high quality of life, a broad cultural and leisure offering and lots of green spaces. A high level of education, particularly in the field of ICT, concentration of creative industries in the metropolis, or places like the Google Campus or Microsoft Startberry make Warsaw exceptionally attractive for start-ups representing the spectrum of IT/ICT/IOT or the gaming sector.
The City runs its own incubator called Centre for Entrepreneurship Smolna, which offers easy access to information on running a business, assistance in registering business and renting office space.
The City runs its own incubator called Centre for Entrepreneurship Smolna, which offers easy access to information on running a business, assistance in registering business and renting office space. The Centre offers recurring training, consulting, networking programmes, workshops and lectures to young entrepreneurs. The City has commissioned acceleration programmes as part of which 250 project teams have already received support. This year, we are launching the next edition of the Warsaw Booster acceleration programme. In total, more than 10,000 entrepreneurs have been trained in the Centre for Entrepreneurship Thanks to the presence of the key insti- on Smolna Street within 5 years. For two tutions and funds, as well as the largest years, a new place has been operating domestic and foreign companies, and in the district of Praga – Targowa Centre due to the academic and research for Creativity – with offices to let and and development options, Warsaw is venues for networking events building an excellent location for development the potential of the creative sector. also for the SME sector. It is Warsaw that hosts the highest number of busi- There are several areas in Warsaw that ness events in Poland (about 17,000), attract business. At present, what loand almost every new office building cations are the City’s authorities most provides co-working space (service focused on in view of the city developand co-working offices total about ment? Is it the very centre of the city, 150,000 sq m which makes up 3/4 of this or perhaps some other district? type of space in Poland). Global brands There is no doubt that the very censuch as Mindspace, Brain Embassy, and tre – the Central Business District – should WeWork are opening further branches be considered as one of the major arein Warsaw, increasing the number as of the city, though not the only one, of such places to over one hundred. in which the business infrastructure The Warsaw office market is charac- will be developed. Nevertheless, we are terised by an exceptional price flexi- creating more such business locations
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Currently, the capital of Poland offers 5,400,000 sq m of modern office space, and a further 740,000 sq m is under construction, strengthening our position as the main business hub of the region.
in Warsaw (by means of spatial planning policy and investments). In recent years we have seen an exceptionally dynamic development of the area near Rondo Daszyńskiego in Wola, which tempts companies with its excellent public transport, among others. Two additional business locations are also being developed: in the north – covering the area around the Dworzec Gdański railway station and in the south: in the vicinity of the Dworzec Południowy railway station, where the City also owns a large portion the land. The adopted local spatial development plans provide for space to develop business capabilities in both locations. Also in the city centre, but on the right bank of the Vistula, there is an area of great potential for the development of office and service space. This is primarily the area of Port Praski and the National Stadium, as well as the surroundings of the Dworzec Wschodni railway station. The assets of these locations include excellent transport services (two stations – railway and bus, tram routes, a new metro line) and local spatial plans in place, shortening the process of investment preparation. Warsaw promotes its investment appeal both at home and abroad. The city has been present on MIPIM for many years. What is the calendar of business events in which the City will participate in the coming months? Warsaw regularly takes part in the MIPIM, an international investment and commercial property exhibition in Cannes and the EXPO REAL in Munich, which take place in March and October each year. We promote the city as a rapidly developing place, and at the same time, we encourage investors to look at its promising prospects and to invest here. The capital city of Poland presents its development plans and data showing its growing international significance. Today, Warsaw is becoming one of the most attractive places for investment across Europe. Foreign investors emphasise that Warsaw is the best spot to set up and develop business in Central and Eastern Europe. The constantly developing in-
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frastructure and availability of office spaces adapted to the needs of tenants are undoubtedly the assets of the capital city. There are over 5.4 million sq m of office space available in the capital of Poland, nearly half of which are A-class office premises. In addition to large international exhibition events for investors, the city also co-organises and partners in events whose aim is to share knowledge and experience and present the achievements of the city’s partners. These include thematic meetings for representatives of creative industries – Creative Mixer, which we organize in cooperation with the British Council, or the above mentioned major start-up event: the Wolves Summit – the largest international meeting of novice entrepreneurs and investors in this part of Europe. InnoShare, a conference creating a culture of innovation and cooperation; the Congress of Innovative Economy, addressed to large players and institutions; and the Innovative Youth conference, open to adepts of entrepreneurship, are all also pro-entrepreneurial. Periodic conferences of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Foundation, the Job and Entrepreneurship Fair or the Warsaw Days real estate conference are also important. In the recent 5 years, over 30,000 people have taken part in at least 120 confe rences and congresses supporting entrepreneurship. And finally, if we finally had to state what the biggest investment advantages of the City of Warsaw are in three words, that would be... A rich pool of talents, a wide selection of modern office space and business maturity. Thank you for the interview. More information:
Economic Development Department Smolna 4 Street, 00-375 Warsaw Phone: +48 22 443 07 56
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
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Participation and partnership info via event@outsourcing-verband.org
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REGIONAL CITIES ON THE TAIL OF WARSAW KRAKÓW AND WROCŁAW ARE GROWING INTO STRONG BUSINESS CENTRES
Both cities have a lot to offer developers, domestic and foreign companies and banks. They are mature, rapidly developing business, academic and cultural centres that have no trouble attracting new investments. Their huge business potential is reflected in the situation in the office market.
REGIONAL NUMBER ONE Kraków is now the second largest office market in Poland after Warsaw. In 2017, it was the first regional city to exceed 1 million sq m of modern office space. Since then, the city has maintained a high rate of development, and in the last year, for the second time in a row, it broke its own record in terms of the volume of leased office space. As in 2017, over 200,000 sq m was leased, mostly in new buildings. – The city is enjoying unflagging interest. Developers already present in the city are looking for new investment land, while other are investigating this significant regional market. Currently, approximately 250,000 sq m of modern office space is under construction, and the same amount again is planned for the next 3–4 years. These numbers speak for themselves – in the near future Kraków will strengthen its position in Poland’s office map – says Anna Galicka-Bieda, Partner, Regional Director of Colliers International in Kraków. In previous years, Kraków was a landlord’s market, where tenants had to plan relocations or expansions well in advance due to the low vacancy rate, ranging from 4 to 7%. – This state of affairs has changed only slightly in the last two years, when office space has been available in newly completed buildings.
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This is a healthy situation for the market, although we still are not seeing a significant increase in the vacancy rate – says Anna Galicka-Bieda. Kraków proudly bears the title of the largest centre of BPO/SSC services in Poland. In recent years, it has been modern business services that have been the driving force behind the development of the office market. – This is slowly changing, because in 2018, the share of tenants in the IT sector increased in the market – notes the Colliers International expert. The share of expansions and relocations in the lease volume is growing significantly. This is a sign that companies operating in Kraków are developing, increasing their number of employees and they need more and better quality office space, she adds. Employment growth and business development are being recorded by both Polish and international companies. – Investors from outside Poland were responsible for the majority of transactions in the Kraków office market in 2018. Investors are attracted to our city primarily for its human capital the availability of qualified and well-educated staff, still competitive in terms of pay, as well as the international business environment, top-quality office space and the unique atmosphere of Kraków, which is leads Polish cities with the highest quality of life index – explains Anna Galicka-Bieda.
WROCŁAW IS CHASING KRAKÓW The stable and mature real estate market in Wrocław in terms of size (1 million sq m) and the quality of office space places the city just after Kraków.
The high supply of state-of-the-art office space, global corporations signing lease agreements at the building construction stage and interest from international funds are features of the office market in the two most rapidly developing regional cities in Poland: Kraków and Wrocław. Everything suggests neither market will slow down in 2019.
– Currently, over 180,000 sq m of modern office space are under construction in the capital of Lower Silesia. This large volume is already absorbed by the market at the project implementation stage – preliminary lease agreements are signed several months in advance. In 2018, over 160,000 sq m of offices were leased in the city – says Dorota Kościelniak, Regional Director of Colliers International in Wrocław. As in Kraków, the demand for the Wrocław market is generated by the SSC, IT and new technology, modern business services and R&D sectors, especially in chemistry and engineering. – According to our data, there are over 45,000 people employed in the BPO sector in Wrocław, including nearly 6,000 in R&D, and these numbers are still growing rapidly – says Dorota Kościelniak.
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The supply for new offices in 2018 was mainly shaped by the relocation and expansion of existing tenants, although there were plenty of new agreements. – One of the largest transactions, in which we had the opportunity to participate, was the lease of 5,700 sq m in the Retro Office House building by Olympus, which opened shared service center for Europe, the Middle East and Africa in Wrocław – says Colliers International expert.
In Wrocław, there are several locations that are particularly saturated with newly-built office buildings. At the moment, the area within 2 km around the centre near the Main Railway Station is growing fastest. Investments such as Sagittarius Business House, Wroclavia Offices and Retro Office House are being built there. Another location is the western business area located between the city centre and the airport along Strzegomska and Legnicka streets. Wrocław has been developing rapidly Complexes with two, several and even since 2008, when many international more than a dozen stages are being companies started operating there, built there, including: Cu Office, Wrocław including Google, IBM and Hewlett- Business Garden, West Forum, Wrocław -Packard. Big companies are looking for Business Park and the latest West one location for all their branches – like 4 Business Campus project. The third Nokia, Capgemini, Credit Agricole and most popular location among develSantander, or a new office fully adapted opers is the very centre (including to the size and growing demands of their Dominikańska, Nowy Targ streets), teams. Local developers offering tenants and the southern business axis where as part of their office parks the oppor- one of Poland’s tallest buildings, Sky tunity to grow their business on one site Tower, is located. is a good response to this trend – says MORE AND MORE COWORKING Dorota Kościelniak. One of the similarities that connects The Colliers International expert also both local markets, as well as a signifipoints out that the 10-year pres- cant development trend for the future, is ence of global giants in the city shows the increasing popularity of coworking how the local business real estate space, which is more and more seen market has changed. In 2008, devel- in new office buildings. According opments were much less adapted to to Colliers International experts, it the standards of international compa- constitutes a perfect complement nies than they are today, with tailor- to what developers both, domestic and made projects at the highest global foreign, offer in large cities. level. The attractiveness and investment value of Wrocław’s office build- – The investment process is quite compliings is evidenced by the fact that inter- cated and takes time. Tenants who find national investment funds, including the right area have to wait until the plans from Germany, Austria or Spain, are and valuations have been completed, contracts signed and the space is then interested in them.
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finally arranged and adapted. A perfect solution that allows a company to operate during this preparatory period is the lease of coworking space. At the moment, many developers are allocating entire floors for this because they are aware that this is an important bargaining element – explains Dorota Kościelniak. – In Kraków, space in serviced offices is very popular. The limited availability of office space for sublease has meant that the majority of our clients seeking temporary solutions have been using serviced offices. Just last year this accounted for over 400 work places. We note that this market segment is growing as rapidly as the demand for this type of space and subsequent operators are planning to open new locations in Kraków – says Anna Galicka-Bieda.
Authors:
Anna Galicka-Bieda, Partner, Regional Director of Colliers International in Kraków
Dorota Kościelniak, Regional Director of Colliers International in Wrocław
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
INVESTMENTS
LUBLIN INSPIRES BUSINESS Interview with officers of the Investor Relations Office of Lublin.
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Outsourcing&More: Responsible for investors assistance in Lublin is Investor Relations Office. What is the structure of the Office? Investor Relations Office of Lublin: Two teams of specialists operate in the Investor Relations Office. One is responsible for the modern business services sector, while the second one deals with the industrial sector. Both teams are coordinated by the head of the unit, who is responsible for proper communication between them at the same time. Also in the Office team we’ve got marketing people and an expert on EU funds, who provide substantive support for the processes carried out by both teams. The managing person is Director of the Office. What are the key industries for the city and how is their scale in the city presented at the moment? In the Lublin Development Strategy for 2013–2020, priority sectors for the development of the Lublin economy have been defined taking into account the available of intellectual potential, economic traditions, geographical conditions of the region and available infrastructure. These include: IT / ICT, BPO / SSC, food-processing industry, logistics, automotive and machinery industry and biotechnology. Each of these sectors is represented by at least a dozen medium-sized and large entities. The estimated employment in each of these industries is several thousand people, for example, in the automotive and machinery sector it is about 3,000 employees and in the IT sector about 5,000. It must be emphasized that employment is estimated on the basis of data received from the biggest companies in each sector. Therefore, real and total employment, which takes into account small entities, may be even a dozen percent higher.
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What are the main advantages of Lublin and what kind of investment incentives are offered to investors? Can any type of activity receive support from the city? Investors assistance in Lublin offers comprehensive support for entrepreneurs both at the stage of investment preparation, during its implementation and after its completion. The Investor Relations Team operates in a one-stopshop system, i.e. providing comprehensive assistance during the investment process in one place. To each investment project there is assigned a Project Manager who assists in the process of implementation of the project at all its stages.
tion is granted for the implementation of a new investment project and applies to both undeveloped land and buildings set in the project. It is also worth mentioning that the municipality successively develops the economic ecosystem in the city, constantly cooperates with business environment organizations and supports cluster initiatives. A high quality business environment is a key factor for increasing the city’s investment attractiveness and distinguishing Lublin from the competition, and as a result, it provides significant benefits for all entities locating their business activities in the city.
In Lublin, you can count on the highest public aid level in Poland, ranging from 50% up to 70%. The Office supports investors i.a. by streamlining the processes of agreements and obtaining all permits, conditions as well as administrative decisions.
No less important is the city’s activity in the area of scientific cooperation, both at the academic and vocational level of education. Educational institutions in Lublin conduct a dialog with entrepreIn Lublin, the rule is applied in prac- neurs in order to implement the policy tice saying, that no investor, regard- of retaining talents and adapting educaless of its operation scale, will be left tion programs to the needs of the local unattended. The Investor Relations labour market. Office adjusts the rules of service to the standards set by the business. Among industries mentioned above, All official matters are dealt promptly there is this modern business services and with an appropriate commit- sector. In this basket, we can find IT, ment, which creates a positive atmos- R&D, BPO and Shared Service Centers. phere around the process by building What does the dynamics of developpartner relations. ment of these companies in Lublin look like? One of the largest resources of the city The modern business services secis human capital, i.e. the availability tor in Lublin has significantly developed of relatively young, highly qualified in the last few years. This is indicated staff. At the same time, Lublin offers all by hard data, since 2010 employment investors exemption from real prop- in the IT and BPO / SSC sectors has inerty tax for a period of 2 to 3 years-de- creased by over 200%. This is the effect pending on the size of the company of the city’s economic promotion, aniand investment parameters. The exemp- mation of cooperation between busi-
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ness and science, as well as systematic cooperation with the commercial real estate companies who delivered over 100,000 square meters of modern office space within a few years. As a result, Lublin has a total of nearly 205,000 sq m of modern office space, and with this number it ranks seventh among office markets in Poland. Adequate supply of office space on the market together with the quality of human capital in the city have enabled a very dynamic development of the services sector in the city.
people. Over 60% of residents are of working age, and the percentage of people with higher education is at the level of 27%. The total population of the city is over 340,000, and the Lublin Metropolitan Area, covering Lublin and towns and municipalities within a distance of about 30 km from the city, is a population of 715,000 inhabitants. The academic resources of Lublin currently exceed 65,000 students. Each year, the walls of 9 universities leave about 18 thousand graduates. The city can boast
The Investor Relations Team operates in a one-stop-shop system, i.e. providing comprehensive assistance during the investment process in one place. To each investment project there is assigned a Project Manager who assists in the process of implementation of the project at all its stages.
Today, Lublin is the largest center of modern business services in eastern Poland, with the highest supply of modern office space from other regional cities in the east and an appropriate reputation and brand that is noticeable even among the largest service companies and consulting partners operating in Poland. If we were to encourage to invest in Lublin in three words, then these words would be ... and why exactly? Lublin inspires business. These words describe precisely the attitude of the city to business support and the development of the city’s economy. By creating the local economic ecosystem and supporting the business-related sector as well as cluster initiatives, Lublin encourages entrepreneurship among both startups, SME’s and large entities looking for a new place for their operations.
of the highest rate of university internationalization in the country through the presence of almost 6,5 thousand foreign students. Also, there are nearly 90 secondary schools in Lublin, a large part of them are technical schools educating high-class technicians.
It is also worth emphasizing that Lublin is characterized by significantly lower living costs compared to other agglomerations in Poland. It is shown in reports on Polish metropolises, which assess the quality of life in the city far above the national average. Each investor is personally being looked after by a dedicated Project Manager. And it is still only a fraction of what the city can offer to potential investors. Finally a question about the office market. How will this area develop in 2019? How many square meters offices space can investors expect to be delivered this year? Currently, there are 51 office buildings in Lublin offering modern office space for rent. In total, all these facilities provide the supply of office space at the level of nearly 205,000 sq m, of which over 30,000 sq m are available for immediate let. Over 107,000 sq m is an A-Class space offering the highest office standards. To stress is also the fact, that more than 91,000 sq m of modern office space are under preparation and under construction.
An important asset of the city is its location. Lublin is the largest economic center on the eastern border of the European Union, in the direct vicinity of the capital In addition, we estimate that the current city and communication links with office space should be sufficient to atwestern Poland. The location of Lublin tract the interest of global developers to along the Via Carpathia route creates the investment offer of the city of Lublin, great opportunities for logistics park which should stimulate much more dyoperators and their tenants. Huge invest- namic development of the office space ments in the infrastructure, that has supply in Lublin in the coming years. taken place in recent years, provided the city an international airport and an expressway-class-ring road located along the S12/S17/S19 national roads. The national road S17 will connect Lublin with Warsaw by the end of 2019, and More information: S19 will enable an easy access to the A4 motorway near Rzeszów.
The above actions have to be obviously confirmed with hard data. And in this case the city has several impor- Another important feature of the city tant stand-out advantages. which marks it out compared to other centers in central and western Poland Human capital is the key potential are relatively low costs of labour, runof the city. Lublin is a city of young ning a business as well as access to
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qualified staff. In Lublin, you can also count on the highest public aid level in Poland, ranging from 50% up to 70%.
Łukasz Goś Director of Investor Relations Office Lublin City Hall Phone: +48 81 466 25 42 e-mail: lukasz.gos@lublin.eu
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
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GOOD NEWS CONTINUE FOR BULGARIA’S OUTSOURCING INDUSTRY IN 2019
For BOA, and the Bulgarian outsourcing industry, 2019 started with several good news. The first one is the strategic investment in training further talent for our and other tech industries undertaken by the Bulgarian government and the industry jointly.
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Beginning in late 2018, BOA co-developed with the Bulgarian Education Ministry (MoE) a new national education program aimed at developing key competences and skills for the sector. In early 2019 the program was adopted, and together with another 16 national programs will support the modernization of Bulgarian education – by motivating teachers, applying innovative approaches to teaching and learning, early career guidance, as well as opening schools to other institutions. The Bulgarian MoE has allocated a total of EUR 39 mil for these programs during the 2019/20 school year to cover schools’ and teacher’s involvement. The corporate sector is co-funding several of the programs. The specific program which BOA has led is titled “IT Companies in Schools and Teachers in IT Companies”. The program includes competence, skills and thematic trainings and early career guidance for students from 1st to 10th grade delivered by corporate professionals in collaboration with schools. – Under the same program we’ll experiment with training opportunities for teachers within ITO and BPO companies – teachers will get into “immersion training”, to update their knowledge and skills, but we’ll also platform options for companies to incorporate teachers in developing specific products and services of joint relevance – shared Dr. Anna-Marie Vilamovska, Executive Director at BOA. The program is led by BOA as key facilitator between
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
companies, the MoE and schools across the country. The beginning of the year was marked also by several important investment and deals news – relevant to the industry’s overall image. Two new noteworthy companies are entering the Bulgaria outsourcing landscape. – The establishment of a shared services center of The World Bank in Bulgaria and Facebook’s decision to choose Sofia for several key operations jointly contribute to the country’s overall image within the sector on a global scale – commented Ilia Krastev, Member of BOA’s Board of Directors and a CEO at A Data Pro. Under preparation are a few other strategic entries, to be announced later in 2019. Combined with preliminary industry performance data on Q4 and trends for 2019 Q1 we anticipate that in 2019 the Bulgarian outsourcing industry will continue its positive development. – Right now the sector’s dynamics is driven mainly by existing players’ growth (mostly shared service centers) and not so much by new investors. Bulgaria is already recognized on the world map and we don’t need to explain our advantages so much anymore. Another phenomenon that is observed is the development of the start-up ecosystem, which generates the interest of hi-tech players like Uber, Bosch, etc. News about the classic
form of call centers is getting even rarer. But even the little amount of such news is related to the implementation of innovation and digitalization in partial or entire processes within companies – adds Stefan Bumov, Member of BOA’s Board of Directors and CEO at HeleCloud. – The recognition of the outsourcing industry by the Bulgarian government as one of the drivers of the Bulgarian economy, as well as our industry repositioning, and continued affirmation as a global value investment destination providing critical high added services are our three industry-level strategic directions that already are giving positive results to our business. BOA is a multiplier of all three. I believe that the experience gained by the Bulgarian companies and the high quality of our services give our country the opportunity to create a sustainable ecosystem in the outsourcing field on Western Balkans and thus help out the development of the entire region – commented Ivaylo Slavov, Chairman of BOA’s Board of Directors and CEO at Bulpros.
Author:
Yavorka Petrova, Communications Lead, Bulgarian Outsourcing Association
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INVESTMENTS
SOLID DEMAND AND A DROP IN VACANCY RATE THROUGHOUT POLAND Construction activity in 2018
1.6 mln sq m Tenant activity in 2018
1.5 mln sq m Warsaw outside Warsaw
720,000 sq m
45%
858,000 sq m
57%
645,000 sq m
New modern office space – 2018
744,000 sq m
234,000 sq m
31%
510,000 sq m “Flex” space in 2018
230,000 sq m 170,000 sq m
74% 60,000 sq m
900,000 sq m
Last year’s demand for office space was 1.5 million sq m. 744,000 sq m of office space was delivered to market while a further 1.6 million sq m is under construction.
Warsaw, 4th February 2019 – As indicated by a report prepared by JLL, 2018 was a year of economic prosperity for Poland (with estimated GDP growth at 5.3% – the best result since 2007*). This was a key factor in the healthy demand for office space and the high construction activity. One of the most interesting trends was the dynamic The increase of the flex sector is a result of start-ups developing at an enormous pace, and the excellent conditions for business in Poland. According to a ranking by CEOWORLD Magazine, Poland ranks 7th in the world and 3rd in Europe for the most friendly market for conducting business of this type. A natural place for start-ups is flexible office space that promotes creativity and networking, but flex spaces are also gaining traction among corporations. As a result, major flex operators are currently offering 230,000 sq m of office space, of which 60,000 sq m is located outside Warsaw – comments Karol Patynowski, Director of Regional Markets, JLL.
Deloitte in Warsaw (22,100 sq m, Q22), IBM in Wrocław (17,800 sq m, Wojdyła Business Park), Santander Bank in Wrocław (17,000 sq m, an owner-occupier deal) and Nokia – also in Wrocław (16,200 sq m, Green Towers).
SUPPLY – REGIONS GO FOR 5 MILLION
By the end of 2018, the vacancy rate in Warsaw was 8.7% (the lowest result since 2012), and outside the capital – 8.4%. The lowest vacancy rate was found in Szczecin (5.1%), and the highest in Lublin (15.4%). Available space represents 8.5% of the total existing volume of office space in the country.
In 2018, the office market in Poland expanded to the tune of 744,000 sq m of modern office space, with major markets outside Warsaw accounting for over 500,000 sq m. As a result, the total volume of space nationwide exceeded 10 million sq m – says Łukasz Dziedzic.
In the centre of Warsaw, prime rents are currently quoted at 17.0 to 23.5 EUR/ sq m/month, while prime assets located in the best non-central areas lease for 11.0 to 15.0 EUR /sq m/month. Currently the highest rents outside Warsaw are quoted in Kraków (13.5 to 14.6 EUR/ sq m/ month), Poznań (13.6 to 14.5 EUR/ The biggest office projects completed sq m/month), and Wrocław (13.7–14.5 last year are located in major cities EUR/sq m/month), while the lowest is outside Warsaw. These include: Olivia in Lublin (10.5– 11.5 EUR/sq m/month). Star and Olivia Prime A in the Tri-City, Sagittarius Business House in Wrocław, More reports and office market analyses Ogrodowa Office in Łódź and Equal Busi- can be found at www.officefinder.pl. ness Park C in Kraków.
Construction activity currently stands at 1.6 million sq m, with Warsaw accounDEMAND – KRAKÓW LEADS ting for 720,000 sq m. Outside the capital, THE WAY FOR MARKETS OUTSIDE a total of 900,000 sq m is under construcTHE CAPITAL tion , and considering the scheduled deadAuthors: Last year’s tenant activity was nearly lines for the delivery of a number of objects 1.5 million sq m, with almost 645,000 sq m to the market, we expect that the total leased outside Warsaw. Kraków remains office volume in 2019 on regional markets at the head of the regional markets is likely to exceed the five million sq m with lease deals totalling almost mark – adds Karol Patynowski. 210,000 sq m of space. This accounts for 32% of total demand for office space The largest office project under recorded outside the capital. A great construction in Warsaw is now Varso result was also registered in Wrocław, Place (developer: HB Reavis; space over with the city almost matching last year’s 100,000 sq m) and outside Warsaw record – explains Łukasz Dziedzic, Senior – Business Garden in Wrocław (develMarket Analyst, JLL. oper: Vastint Poland, space: 70,000 sq m).
The largest lease transactions on AVAILABLE OFFICE SPACE the Polish office market last year were AND RENTS concluded by such companies as: As a result of strong demand for office space, the vacancy rate declined in all *Source: Oxford Economics. major markets across the country.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
Karol Patynowski, Director of Regional Markets, JLL
Łukasz Dziedzic, Senior Market Analyst, JLL
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CAREER & DEVELOPMENT
HR NEWS MICHAŁ GRABOWIECKI HAS JOINED TO CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD IN LUBLIN
Michał had worked for the Lublin Municipal Office since 2014 as an Investor Relations Manager with responsibility for providing comprehensive support to and attracting BSS investors, analyses and preparation of reports on the modern office market, as well as promotion and presentation of investment offers in Poland and abroad. In 2014–2017, Michał coordinated the project of Lublin IT Upland to integrate and boost the local ICT sector.
Michał is an economics graduate of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Michał Grabowiecki has joined in Lublin, where he had spent ten years the regional office of global real estate as an assistant lecturer at the Faculty services firm Cushman & Wakefield of Economics, Department of Managein Lublin as a Negotiator. ment Information Systems.
GRAFTON RECRUITMENT REPORT: HOW MUCH DO COMPANIES OPERATING IN THE BUSINESS SERVICES SECTOR PAY AND WHAT BENEFITS DO THEY OFFER? The latest edition of Business Services 2019 Salary & Market Trends Report from Grafton Recruitment explores the theme of creating a new organization and introduces the challenges and ways to maintain employee engagement. A key part of the report are the payroll tables for more than 270 positions, an increase of more than 100% in the number of roles surveyed compared to 2018 data. The report contains information on eight cities in Poland, i.e. Łódź, Katowice, Kraków, Poznań, Szczecin, Tricity, Warsaw and Wrocław. Payroll data are the result of the work of Grafton Recruitment experts on nearly 6,000 records and own data. The report provides comprehensive knowledge about extra-salary benefits. Three tables show the two worlds,
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i.e. benefits that are important for employees and candidates and those offered by the companies surveyed by Grafton. The differences allow very interesting conclusions to be drawn. For example: for candidates and employees, benefits such as discounts on cultural events, free fruit, the possibility of obtaining professional certificates, flexible working hours and “home office” are of the greatest importance. For companies the most important things are medical care, access to sports cards or team building trainings. In Business Services 2019 Salary & Market Trends Report experts representing the HR and BPO/SSC industries, including representatives of: ProProgressio, Nais, Nielsen, Six, Equatex, Rehau and BFF Banking Group share their views.
It’s worth perusing the report to find answers to questions such as: •
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How to ensure continuity and initial competencies in the organization after full recruitment of the team and simultaneous transfer of processes when creating a new company? Are the expectations and commitment of employees from the first waves of recruitment different from the expectations of currently recruited employees? What are the challenges in terms of motivation and building commitment of the first employees and how to meet them? What are the three main elements to maintain employee engagement and team stability after the first year of operation?
The Grafton Recruitment report will help the Business Services industry representatives plan their payroll policy and will tell you how you can approach the expectations of candidates regarding benefits. The study is addressed mainly to: process managers, service centre managers, HR directors, recruitment managers. IT industry leaders can also find in the report some helpful information: directors, department or division heads, e.g. CFOs, IT, HR or operations directors. The list will be helpful for foreign investors who want to learn about the realities of the Polish remuneration market and benefits in this particular area.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
SAVILLS EXTENDS ITS BUILDING AND PROJECT CONSULTANCY SERVICES Real estate advisory firm Savills has extended its building & project consultancy services by setting up two business lines dedicated to property tenants and owners. In addition, two new experts have been hired to further strengthen the skills base of the two teams.
Following the recent restructuring, the project management team at Savills has been renamed building & project consultancy, headed by Jakub Jędrys, an expert with 16 years’ experience in real estate, who joined the firm last year. The two business lines of the building & project consultancy team will be led by Savills two employees: Łukasz Michalak, who together with his team
will deliver tenant fit-out advisory services, while Krzysztof Kuciński will coordinate asset technical advisory assignments. The building & project consultancy team at Savills delivers comprehensive services in construction project planning, budgeting, design and oversight. This includes office, retail and warehouse fit-out project management, workplace strategy solutions, technical due diligence and advice on green certification of buildings. In addition, two new professionals have joined the building & project consultancy team as project managers. Piotr Stańko will be responsible for project coordination, oversight and due diligence processes. Previously, he was a contract manager at CBRE Global Workplace Solutions for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and a construction engineer at cmT. He had earned an engineering degree from the Warsaw University of Technology. Piotr Ziąbrowski will be responsible for office fit-out advisory. Prior to joining Savills, he worked for Reesco. Piotr is a graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology.
RESI4RENT STRENGTHENS ITS TEAM As of the beginning of February Sławomir Imianowski joined a management board of Resi4Rent – a new player in Poland’s residential property market. By taking the position of CEO, he also became responsible for sales, marketing, and operational activities in the company. Until now, he was the head of Platinum Residence – a company that manages the rental of luxury apartments in Warsaw. Sławomir Imianowski has 20 years of experience in hospitality services management. He is a graduate of the Gdynia Maritime University with a specialization in the tourism and hospitality management. He also completed postgraduate studies at the Warsaw School of Economics, gaining a diploma in the field of human resources management. Sławomir Imianowski joined the Resi4Road board, which includes experienced managers: Barbara Sikora, CFO, responsible for finance and administration, and Piotr Gromniak, COO, accountable for the development of the Resi4Rent platform.
ADAPTIVE SOLUTIONS & ADVISORY GROUP IS GROWING In the first months of 2019, another diverse and multi-cultural business talented managers have joined environments. the company. Arek Gostkowski, Program Manager Marta Baran, Program Manager – she – he has over 15 years of relevant brings over 13 years of relevant busi- business experience in producness knowledge. Marta is experienced tion companies as well as shared in project management and has great services with a practical expertise understanding of process migration in the domains of master data and methodology. Over her career, she has O2C. Arek is the expert in Master Data been responsible for transition of P2P Management area driving governdomain, increasing the quality of internal ance agenda, efficiencies, transitions control framework and accounting and transformations also in O2C area. processes, ‘As Is’ process documenta- He has valuable and hands-on knowltion within R2R domain, process opti- edge in setting up Internal Controls mization, planning and preparing tran- and compliance environment. Arek sition projects. Marta is well-organized is passionate about leadership – he professional with strong interpersonal, has been responsible for leading 90+ leadership and organizational skills. She FTEs teams in Polish and international has ease of establishing contacts among environment.
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
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CAREER & DEVELOPMENT
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
MADE BY GFT Interview with Marek Bartosik, Head of HR, GFT Poland. Outsourcing&More: What can a person planning to work at GFT expect from the employer? Marek Bartosik, GFT: GFT is a global company with branches in 12 countries. We are an organization large and mature enough to ensure stability and predictability for potential employees, and flexible enough to take care of our employees individually. In other words, applicants for a job at GFT should be expecting contact with a professional Talent Acquisition team, fast, efficient and transparent recruitment process, and after becoming our employees they can expect that someone will take care of them, helping them to understand the company’s processes and rules. We make every effort to make our processes as seamless as possible for everyone. We can find the “Career map” tab with the “We will build your career together” slogan on the GFT website. How does building career together look like in GFT and what kind of help can an employee expect in this regard? Our company employs the best and works for the best. GFT employees have the opportunity to work with excellent experts from Poland and other GFT countries. In the past, we focused on working for the financial sector and provided domain training for our employees to help them understand the industry. GFT (Rule
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Financial back then) was one of the first, if not the first IT company working for the investment banking sector, so trying to find people in Poland with knowledge and experience in that domain resembled searching for Yeti. This is why we have invested in training and staff development through internal training. Those who started a few years ago from learning basic investment concepts are now experts and teach their less experienced colleagues. Currently, investment banking is still an important part of our business, but other areas are gaining more and more importance, which is reflected in our training policy. We deal with cloud solutions, DLT, and explore Data Science and AI. We have dynamic communities focused on cloud and Industry 4.0 solutions. We conduct training courses within the GFT Academy where our experts share the highest level of knowledge not only with their colleagues, but also with individuals outside of GFT who would like to develop in a specific area. We also conduct a lot of training courses in soft skills, team management, and foreign languages. The career in GFT is not limited to one country. As part of a large Global Mobility program, we support the internal migration of our employees between GFT units in various countries. Most importantly, we constantly monitor the needs and
improve our programs – not only those related to training. What did your career path look like? Was HR always your first choice? Definitely not. I can say that my presence in HR is a bit of a coincidence. I am an astrophysicist by education, I have been working a lot on analyzing data from major astrophysics experiments and at the same time programming in C++ to analyze these data. I also taught students programming and numerical methods. I started working at an IT company in Łódź as a developer due to my fascination with technology. For several years, I developed software for the manufacturers of mobile network relay stations. I also created applications for mobile devices for one of the largest mobile phone manufacturers at the time. Over time, I started managing teams and became Project Manager. I joined GFT (Rule Financial back then) in 2011 as Project Manager and after a few years became General Manager of the Poznań branch, where our office is located in the iconic Okrąglak office building. The view from our terrace is unique and I dare say it is the best viewing terrace in Poznań. Then, the time has come for HR. The role of General Manager in Poznań involved many HR aspects, and I also enjoy working with people, so it was not a big change for me. However, I did not com-
Outsourcing&More | March–April 2019
plete the full path in HR – basically, my HR career started from the position of HR Manager. I had to learn a lot and do it fast. Fortunately, I have a great team and this learning process was effective and pleasant. Besides, I do not like stagnation, and in HR it is impossible to get bored.
are ambitious. GFT is opening to new markets and industries, starts projects for new customers, and is a partner of companies offering cloud solutions. For this, we need experts. We have many of them within our company – our employees are very good professionals – but we need more of them. So we are recruiting, and we would like to inRecruitment is the first stage where vite you to join our team. the employee develops an opinion and the first impression about Thank you for the interview. the company. How do your recruitment processes look like? We are aware of the fact that people in our industry do not have to worry about finding a job, so there is no place for mistakes and delays in the recruitment process. We have an internal team of excellent recruiters who work not only for Poland, but also support colleagues from other countries to help them face their challenges. This is possible due to the fact that although the local markets differ, the most important aspects are common for the entire company – caring for candidates, precise and frequent communication and a short, well-defined process, during which the candidate can rely on the support of our team at all times. Which experts are currently most in demand? The market is evolving faster and faster and job positions are changing. It is important what base, skills (not only hard skills), and attitude the candidate has. Today, we are looking for DevOps and developers with Guidewire knowledge, in a week we will still be looking for them, but we may also look for Data Science specialists. The final question is about the size of the GFT organization. How many employees do you currently have and are you recruiting only in Poland? GFT employs 5,500 persons in 12 countries and is constantly growing – our company is still craving for more. We carry out recruitment processes in all countries where we operate, but we are not limited to them. GFT is a multicultural company and actively supports this diversity. Of course, plans and expectations are different in individual countries. Poland is at the forefront and plans
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