If we are half as effective as NASSCOM we will have done Poland a great service : Andrew Hallam, President ASPIRE »

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BPO Voice talked to Mr. Andrew Hallam, founding member and President of Aspire - the Association of IT and Business Process Services Companies in Poland about his views and opinion on the various trends and challenges for Poland as one of the upcoming destination for the outsourcing industry.

What is ASPIRE? What are its objectives?

ASPIRE is the first representative body for the IT and Business Process Services in Poland. It is a collaboration between my own organisation South Poland Business Link and the largest BPO and SSC companies in Krakow in the South of Poland. Since 2004, Krakow has established itself as the primary location for global outsourcing and offshoring in Central and Eastern Europe. Approximately 40% of companies operating in the sector in Poland are located in Krakow.

Our objective is to take the lead in creating an environment supportive to the industry, which we regard as the region’s best opportunity to compete in the global market place, now and in the future. This means information sharing among ASPIRE members and with local stakeholders; vigourous promotion of the sector and strong representation.

Outsourcing has landed in Poland over the last four to five years since European Union Accession, but government, universities and other stakeholders have been slow to grasp the potential of the sector or to realise its value to the economy.

The comparison with India is instructive. Whereas India has embraced the sector and worked to establish an environment in which the sector can expand, Poland has by and large been a passive recipient. There are many reasons for this - a certain lack of joined up thinking in investment promotion, a certain bias towards goods rather than services, and perhaps also a sense that the jobs on offer in outsourcing are not really the kind of work we want our graduates to be doing. This is what we want to change.

The underlying reason for these attitudes is that Poland, like other countries in CEE, is still going through post-Communist transformation and different sectors of society are moving at a different pace. Aspire aims to play a pivotal role in leading the society into the future, towards an understanding of globalisation and a dismantling of the Berlin Wall of the mind.

I suppose our objectives are not dissimilar to NASSCOM, and if we are half as effective as NASSCOM we will have done Poland a great service. It is worth noting that, unlike India, IT and Business Process Services in Poland is being driven by global companies. Domestic players are few and far between.

What?s your take on the new trend wherein the business shift is now towards the EU?

The shift I think is in filling in the quality gaps that are being observed in serving European clients from Asia.

The centres in CEE serve mainly European clients. Locations such as Krakow offer proximity. Geographical proximity is important - although we tend to think of global services as a virtual business, in fact, there is a real need for partners, customers and providers to meet face to face, and from Krakow you can be with the client anywhere in Europe within 2 to 3 hours. And then there is cultural proximity - I think this can be a little overplayed, but on the other hand, if the requirement is native or near native speakers in Dutch, Portuguese or Finnish you will find these in Krakow.

In terms of SSCs, I think the trend is for multiple centres, with centres in Asia Pacific or South America serving the US business and centres in Europe serving the European business. I don’t see this so much as a shift towards the EU, but an application of the Indian model, if we can call it that, in Europe.

What are the factors responsible for turning Poland into the next hot destination?

The key factor was Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004. It is from this time that outsourcing and offshoring has really taken off in Poland and in other CEE accession countries. The key to this, of course, was politica...

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