SOUTHEAST EUROPE

SOURCING INDUSTRY

2019
Table of contents

Southeast Europe Sourcing Report, 2019 5

Key Findings 5
1. Overview of SEE as a sourcing destination 8
2. Sourcing analysis 10
3. Vendors landscape 12
3.1 General overview 12
3.2 Distribution of companies by incorporation date 13
3.3 Distribution of companies by ownership 13
3.4 Companies’ foreign markets 14
3.5 Languages used in sourcing 14
3.6 Shared services centres 14
4. Market size and financials 16
4.1 Market size 16
4.2 Costs 20
4.3 Profitability 22
5. Industry trends 24
6. Methodology 26
Automation triggers workforce reorganisation toward knowledge-base 27
tasks, fosters new skills
IT, outsourcing sectors drive office demand in Southeast Europe 30
Blending Talent & Technology: Evolving Customer Care For 34
The Millennial Generation
Cloud, AI, Big Data open up new opportunities for outsourcing sector 36
as demand for added value rise - BOA Chairman Ivaylo Slavov
Automation, robotics to accelerate sourcing sector’s development 40
in SEE - ABSL Vice-President Catalin Iorgulescu
Kosovo: Riding the global wave of aggressive outsourcing 42
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

About BOA Key Findings

The Bulgarian Outsourcing Association (BAO) is an independent industry or- In 2017, the Southeast Europe The sourcing industry in SEE is becoming

ganisation whose objective is to consolidate and represent the interests of the (SEE) sourcing market was esti- an important tax contributor for the countries in the re-
mated at EUR 7.542 bln, jumping gion. In 2017, the total taxes paid by all SEE sourcing
companies offering out-sourcing services, to communicate the benefits of out-
vendors increased by 8.5% y/y to EUR 88.6 mln. The
sourcing to a wider public, to boost the competitiveness of the businesses in the annually by 14.9% and contribut-
industry is among the largest taxpayers in Romania and
sector and create favorable environment to attract foreign investments in the ing 3.3% to the region’s GDP. The Bulgaria, adding more than EUR 70 mln to their national
sector. SEE sourcing market is expected to tax revenue.
double its size by 2021, as it did
The association groups companies from all spheres of the outsourcing industry
between 2013 and 2017, and ex- The sourcing sector employed more than 220,000
– companies offering services related to BPO, ITO, KPO, LPO, HRO and others.
ceed EUR 14.700 bln. In Romania, people in 2017, double the number they were five years
For more information:
the sourcing industry is already a ago. Half of them were in Romania and another 60,000
key factor, slicing a share of more in Bulgaria. Sourcing employed nearly 2.0% of the total
Bulgarian Outsourcing Association phone: +359 87 704 2142 labour force in both countries.
57, Tsar Simeon Street e-mail: info@outsourcinginbg.com than 11% in the country’s GDP. Bul-
Sofia 1000, Bulgaria www.outsourcinginbg.com garia is another SEE country with
a strong presence of the sourcing Sourcing in SEE generated EUR 3.995 bln

sector in the country’s economy – in labour costs, a figure doubled only within three years
between 2014 and 2017. ITO (Information Technology
it contributed almost 5.0% to the Sourcing) traditionally reports higher labour costs per
national economy in 2017. In the employee, with the highest value recorded in Slovenia -
About SeeNews
rest of the region sourcing is still EUR 3,739 per month, or more than double the average
SeeNews is an independent provider of business news and market intelligence for Southeast Europe. As a one-stop-shop with over 15 years
an emerging sector in the coun- monthly values in the following countries – Romania
of expertise SeeNews gives a 360-degree perspective on Southeast Europe, helping the customers to make informed business decisions.
SeeNews provides market moving news and analyses for business, finance and industry professionals. The news stories keep the customers
and Bulgaria.
tries’ economies.
ahead of the curve, while the market research and company intelligence give actionable insights. SeeNews delivers bespoke market research,
focused on emerging markets around the globe.
Despite the larger number of ITO companies,

For more information: the two main sourcing sectors are almost equal in
phone: +359 2 8012 630
terms of operating revenue with ITO’s share being just
e-mail: consulting@seenews.com
over half the total – 50.6%. Forecasts predict faster
growth of BPO and a switch of power by 2021, when
www.seenews.com
BPO is expected to contribute about 55% of the total
operating revenue.
This report was commissioned by the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association (BOA) and prepared by SeeNews, a consultancy delivering company
profiles, market reports and analysis for the emerging markets. The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and
do not necessarily represent the views of the Association, nor does the report anticipate decisions taken by the Association.

4 5
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

An increasing number of sourcing
companies based in SEE grow out-
side their national markets and
achieve regional coverage. Their
growth and possible cooperation
with peers in Central Europe will
accelerate the development of
the sourcing sector in SEE and
make the region one of the most
competitive BPO and ITO destina-
tions in Europe and worldwide.
Nearly 60% of the analyzed companies
primarily operate as ITO vendors, while the remaining
40% have BPO (Business Process Sourcing) as main
activity. ITOs are more numerous in all SEE countries
except Bulgaria and Slovenia.
After an annual decline in 2016,
the profitability of the sourcing industry in SEE recov-
ered in 2017 when it recorded a rise, reaching EUR 451
mln. The bulk, or EUR 259.4 mln, was generated by ITO
companies.
The major sourcing destinations in SEE are
the capitals of Bulgaria and Romania - Sofia and Bucha-
rest, and Romania’s Cluj-Napoca. Among the emerging
locations with promising potential are the capitals of
the other SEE countries and the large cities in Romania
and Bulgaria.
The new trends in the sourcing sector include
transformational and innovative services tailored to the
clients’ requirements, such as mobility, analytics, cloud
services, social media, digital marketing and cyber
security. The key to success for SEE is to move from
sourcing to tech innovation.
A large number of leading global tech corporations,
including IBM, Microsoft, SAP, Hewlett-Packard, Con-
centrix, Accenture, Endava, DXC, Luxoft and NTT Data
have established offices or subsidiaries in one or more
SEE countries. Companies and institutions from all
sectors in the economy open shared services centres
in SEE, most notably the World Bank, Google, Amazon,
London Stock Exchange, Samsung, Deutsche Bank, Uni-
Credit, Coca-Cola, Xerox and Siemens.
Investment in Research and Development (R&D)
sourcing in SEE is on the rise. Large multinational cor-
porations have started to invest in R&D units in SEE
countries rather than in more basic sourcing, such as
call centres, as they did before. Skilled talent pool and
government support are among the key drivers for con-
tinuing growth in R&D investments.
SEE is highly integrated into the European economy,
as four of the 11 countries in the region are EU mem-
bers and another four are EU candidates. Low corporate
tax rates are one of the major competitive advantages
of SEE over the rest of Europe. Another key advantage
is the average hourly labour costs, which are just about
36% of the EU-28 average.

SEE countries have several key advantages SEE is a preferred destination by

The workforce, which in SEE is smaller
in comparison to the other competitor regions in Eu-
rope, necessitates concentration on high-value added
tech activities performed by smaller teams and compa-
nies rather than large SSCs (Shared Services Centres)
and subsidiaries of multinational BPOs achieving econ-
omies of scale.
Multinational corporations increasingly choose
partners in Southeast Europe, instead of Indian pro-
viders, and even a number of large Indian companies
move part of their operations to the region. The reason
is that, besides creating a more comfortable environ-
ment, SEE sourcing companies are not just a provider
of services, but tend to engage actively in the clients
business development.
over other sourcing destinations: language skills and
education, cultural similarity to European and North
American clients, government support and small time
zone differences. The sourcing industry in some of the
leading countries in the region – Bulgaria and Romania,
has evolved from providing relatively basic services,
such as call centres, to offering more advanced and
complex services in the BPO and ITO fields.
Romania is the most attractive mature BPO and SSC
destination in the world, according to international
rankings. The country, the only mature sourcing loca-
tion in SEE, surpasses all its Central European compet-
itors in terms of conditions, which include talent, tax
environment, costs and IT infrastructure.
German, Swiss and Austrian com-
panies, which outsource mainly
their IT service and software de-
velopment activities. Romania is
the most popular destination in
SEE and third in the world behind
Ukraine and India and ahead of all
Central European countries. Ser-
bia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria and
North Macedonia also see an in-
creasing number of German-speak-
ing companies looking for partner-
ships.

6 7
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

North
Macedonia
Market Size EUR 108.5 mln Taxes Share N/A

1.
Number of Companies 90 Most Used Languages English; French; German
Overview of SEE as Number of Employees 3,170 Sourcing Association ICT Chamber of Commerce
GDP Share 1.5%
a sourcing destination Romania
Market Size EUR 3.943 bln Taxes Share 1.9%
Number of Companies 551 Most Used Languages English; French; German
Fig. 1 - Country Profiles
Number of Employees 117,227 Sourcing Association Association of Business
GDP Share 11.5% Service Leaders in Romania
Albania
Market Size EUR 41.2 mln Taxes Share N/A Serbia
Number of Companies 21 Most Used Languages English
Number of Employees 313 Sourcing Association Albanian ICT Association Market Size EUR 447.6 mln Taxes Share 0.9%
GDP Share 0.4% Number of Companies 186 Most Used Languages English; German; Italian
Number of Employees 17,897 Sourcing Association e-Development Association
Bosnia and GDP Share 1.5%
Herzegovina
Market Size EUR 45.3 mln Taxes Share N/A Slovenia
Number of Companies 36 Most Used Languages English; French; German
Number of Employees 1,114 Market Size EUR 513.2 mln Taxes Share 0.5%
Sourcing Association BIT Alliance Number of Companies 75 Most Used Languages English; German; Croatian
GDP Share 0.3%
Number of Employees 8,951 Sourcing Association ICT Technology Network
GDP Share 1.3%
Bulgaria

Market Size EUR 2.176 bln Taxes Share 1.3%

Number of Companies 487 Most Used Languages English; German; French
Number of Employees 61,860 Sourcing Association Bulgarian Outsourcing
GDP Share 4.9% Association SEE is highly integrated into the European economy, as Furthermore, the region has a well-developed telecom
four of the 11 countries in the region are EU members infrastructure, with Internet connection speed in some
Croatia and another four are EU candidates maintaining inten- countries being among the fastest worldwide. SEE has
sive bilateral partnerships with the rest of Europe. This a talent pool of well-educated and highly skilled pro-
contributes to the stable business environment. fessionals in the areas of information technology and
Market Size EUR 248.1 mln Taxes Share 0.4% languages, but in order to match the demand for labour
Number of Companies 121 Most Used Languages English; German; Italian Thanks to the flat 10% corpo- force and keep up with the sourcing sector develop-
Number of Employees 10,294 Sourcing Association Croatian Call Centre ment on European level, the talent pool with suitable
Association
rate and personal taxes, Bul- skills needs to be expanded.
GDP Share 0.5%
garia has the lowest opera-
Montenegro tional costs in the region. The
other countries also boast ex-
Market Size EUR 18.4 mln Taxes Share N/A
Number of Companies 13 Most Used Languages English
tremely competitive tax rates
Number of Employees 1,031 Sourcing Association Chamber of Economy compared to Central and West-
GDP Share 0.4% Montenegro, ICT Association ern Europe.

8 9
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

less attractive, option in terms of economic and politi-
cal stability and energy security. Beside Romania, SEE
also features two pioneering locations in the same in-
dex - Bulgaria ranks seventh, while Serbia came 13th
out of 15 emerging destinations. Bulgaria excels in
potential for attracting new sourcing companies in a
short and mid-term perspective are Cluj-Napoca, Var-
na and the already established destinations Sofia and
Bucharest. Romania’s Timisoara, Iasi and Brasov, along
with Bulgaria’s Plovdiv and Burgas are the other loca-
opening shared service centres in multiple locations
across SEE.
In order to match the strengths of their competitors, the
SEE countries need to collaborate. Most economies in
the region share a high level of openness and compa-

2.
Sourcing
analysis
2.1 Sourcing destinations
SEE countries have several key
advantages over other sourc-
ing destinations: language skills
and education, cultural simi-
larity to European and North
American clients, government
support and small time zone
differences. Bulgaria and Ro-
mania are the leading sourcing
destinations in SEE. The sourc-
ing industry in these countries
has evolved from providing rel-
atively basic services, such as
voice-based BPO, to offering
more advanced and complex
services in the BPO and ITO
fields.
The intensive development of the sourcing sector in Ro-
mania has turned the country into one of the most at-
tractive mature BPO and SSC (Shared Services Centre)
destinations in the world. In the latest edition of its BPO
and SSC Location Index global consultancy Cushman &
Wakefield’s ranked Romania on the top among the 35
countries in the world with the highest BPO foreign di-
rect investment over the last five years.
The only mature sourcing location in SEE surpasses
all its Central European competitors in terms of condi-
tions, which include talent, tax environment, costs and
IT infrastructure, while providing a more risky, hence
terms of favourable conditions, where it is second in
the world, but its expanding labour costs compared
to the other emerging nations turn into a competitive
disadvantage in the race with other emerging destina-
tions. SEE’s strengths lie above all in the favourable
operating conditions and enhanced connectivity, while
risk and costs indicators put the region in the middle
between Central Europe and Asia and South America in
terms of attractiveness.
SEE counts among the emerging sourcing destinations
in Europe, according to the Top 100 Outsourcing desti-
nations ranking 2018 by global sourcing strategic advi-
sory company Tholons. Among the super cities, Roma-
nia’s Cluj-Napoca is the best ranked SEE destination at
36th place, 10 positions up compared to the previous
year, when it was a new entry. This is a consequence
of the rapid transformation of Cluj-Napoca into an ITO
and Shared Services Centres hub of European scale.
Bucharest, Bulgaria’s capital Sofia and Ljubljana are the
other representatives of SEE among the global sourc-
ing locations.
The universal strength of the SEE cities in the sourcing
industry is the attractive cost level. Cluj-Napoca excels
above all in talent skills and quality, as there is still un-
tapped potential, but its weak points are business influ-
ence, infrastructure and quality of life. Bucharest, Sofia
and Ljubljana, on the other hand, stand on par with the
central European cities as far as infrastructure, digital
innovation and quality of life are concerned, but lack
quantity of qualified workforce.
Sofia, Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca are the SEE cities
where the BPO and SSC operations are of highest com-
plexity. These operations typically contain on-demand
services, flexible software platforms, cloud-based solu-
tions, social networking, and integrated online commu-
nities and reflect the evolution of these cities as key
sourcing destinations not only in SEE but in CEE as well.
Mid-high complexity BPO and SSC operations, which in-
clude predominantly HR, risk analysis, digital learning,
product training, and integrated services, are carried
out in Bulgaria’s cities Varna and Plovdiv, while Burgas
had mid-complexity BPO and SSC operations. Based
on a comprehensive analysis of business, economic
and educational factors, the SEE cities with the highest
tions that will be increasingly considered as options for
opening of new sourcing businesses.
rable levels of digitalization, which makes it sensible
to transfer experience for digital investments and reg-
ulatory policies. Furthermore, the SEE countries should
facilitate exchange of skilled workforce and innovative
2.2 Cities of the future technologies. Joint efforts will be helpful in the urgent-
ly needed reskilling of the talent pool and prevention of
brain drain from the entire region.
SEE cities and regions are
among the leaders in Europe
mainly in terms of cost ef-
fectiveness with few of them
maintaining attractive busi-
ness friendliness and a feasi-
ble FDI strategy.
Among the most promising locations for long-term
investments in the region is Romania’s capital city Bu-
charest. It features significant human capital, welcom-
ing business friendliness, along with competitive cost
effectiveness, compared to other major SEE sourcing
centres, as well as such in CEE. Other major SEE cities
with a promising development potential are Sofia, Plov-
div, Belgrade, Zagreb, Chisinau and Iasi. Some small-
er cities in the region, such as Nis, Zrenjanin, Maribor,
Prijedor, and Sabac also have potential to develop into
vibrant economic centres. All of these large and small-
er cities were among the leaders in the rankings of the
Financial Times’ European Cities and Regions of the Fu-
ture 2018/19 report. Beside cost effectiveness, the SEE
locations should focus their development strategies on
improving their business environment, FDI strategies,
connectivity, human capital and quality of life if they
want to be competitive, especially with their CEE peers.
2.3 Trans-border collaboration
More than 50 corporations are present in more than
one SEE country. They include growing local providers
that expand into neighbouring countries, multinational
IT corporations, HRO providers, BPOs and contact cen-
tres, as well as global corporations in other industries,

10 11
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

destinations of regional importance. Sofia is the city

where the biggest number of companies in the whole
region have their headquarters, even ahead of Bucha-
rest. As more sophisticated markets, Bulgaria and Cro-
atia see the spread of the industry outside the capitals

3.
– Varna and Plovdiv have developed into the largest 3.2 Distribution of companies 3.3 Distribution of companies
Vendors non-capital sourcing centres outside Romania in the
by incorporation date by ownership
region, while Rijeka also makes fast progress and is
landscape home to 10% of Croatia’s sourcing vendors.
Romania and Serbia have the most uniformly distribut- The outsourcing industry in SEE has been one of the The majority of the SEE vendors in the sourcing sector
ed sourcing sectors in geographic terms. Bucharest re- fastest developing sectors for the last 10 years. Most are owned by individuals or legal entities based in the
mains the heart of Romania’s sourcing, but Cluj-Napoca of the companies – 415 BPO and 480 ITO, or 52.4% of respective country. Out of the 1,708 sourcing compa-
3.1 General overview develops very rapidly and is the third most important the total, were established after 2008. More than half nies in the region, 726, or 42.5% are of foreign major-
city for the industry in SEE after Sofia and Bucharest of these companies were registered in the period 2013- ity ownership. ITO is more widely represented among
with more than 100 companies operating in it. Iasi and 2017. The years 2018 and 2019 continued the trend the foreign-owned vendors with 382, while BPOs num-
The sourcing industry in most SEE countries is almost
Timisoara, whose progress is fuelled mainly by com- ber 344. However, the share of foreign-owned BPOs is
exclusively concentrated in their capital cities. This is with 27 newly created sourcing vendors. Among the
panies opening secondary offices, also grow to mature considerably higher than in the ITO segment – 48.6%
valid especially for smaller and underdeveloped mar- large sourcing destinations in SEE, Bulgaria, Serbia
sourcing centres and host more than 60 offices each. against 38.2%.
kets, where the second stage of development, i.e. sat- and Croatia maintain the dynamics of the sector with
Serbia’s capital Belgrade is home to more than half of Entities from 56 countries own majority stakes in SEE
uration of the primary national sourcing location and more than 35% of all companies established after 2013,
all Serbian sourcing vendors, but Novi Sad and Nis also sourcing companies. More than half of them are owned
expansion to other cities, has not been reached yet. while Romania and Slovenia show signs of market sat-
gradually expand their base of companies. by investors originating from five countries – the Neth-
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, uration and the resulting slowdown in the number of
erlands, the UK, Germany, the USA and Italy.
Kosovo, Montenegro and Moldova have more than 90% newly created entities in recent years.
of the companies in the sector headquartered in their Bulgaria and Romania are the SEE countries with most
Fig. 3 - Number of SEE Sourcing Companies by Year of Establishment
capital, with very few secondary offices in other cities. investments in other companies within the region – 10
2019 2
of the sourcing vendors in the rest of SEE have Bulgar-
Sofia and Zagreb also occupy the lion’s share in their 2018 25
ian direct owner and further 10 - Romanian. Serbia and
2017 49
country’s sourcing sectors, which makes them major 2016 118 Slovenia also expand as investor countries in the re-
Moldova 2015 111 gion.
Fig. 2 - Major Cities by Number of Sourcing Companies 2014 119
Chisinau 2013 101 Fig. 4 - SEE Sourcing Companies with Foreign Owners
65/0 2012 104
Cluj-Napoca Iasi 2011 87 Foreign Owners
78/34 33/37 2010 75 ITO
Netherlands 48 46
Maribor Timisoara 2009 54 BPO
Ljubljana 11/2 29/30 UK 36 46
46/3 Romania 2008 77
Zagreb Novi Sad 2007 92 Germany 51 23
Slovenia 82/0 Croatia 37/2 2006 84
USA 40 21
2005 74
Rijeka Belgrade
11/4 2004 67 Italy 11 32
Bosnia and 115/0
Bucharest 2003 48
Austria
Herzegovina 295/32 2002
20 21

Sarajevo Serbia 42
France 21 19
2001 42
24/1
2000 41 Switzerland 23 15
Nis Varna 1999 27
14/9 27/35 Cyprus 20 11
1998 21

Montenegro Kosovo Bulgaria 1997 12 Hungary 6 8

Podgorica Pristina Sofia 1996 12

420/19 Israel 5 9
12/0 34/0 1995 14
Plovdiv Belgium 5 9
1994 20
Skopje 21/39
81/3 1993 16
Luxembourg 3 8
North 1992 24
Bulgaria 64
Tirana Macedonia 1991 17
Headquarters 1990 12 Romania 5 5
22/0
Secondary location 1989 6
Albania 1985 1
Others 82 67

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 50 100 150

12 13
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

3.4 Companies’ foreign 3.5 Languages used in sourcing

markets Given the nature of the sourcing industry, foreign lan-
guages are the main components of the companies’
Sourcing companies in SEE have a very broad client activity. SEE sourcing vendors cover more than 30
base which includes local companies and partners foreign languages from around the world. English is
from 103 countries outside the region. Western Europe- the working language in more than 1,000 companies,
an and North American clients dominate the customer or 63.2% of all sourcing entities in the region. It is by
structure of SEE sourcing vendors. More than 600 SEE far the most widely used foreign language in each SEE
sourcing providers are active on the European market, country. German and French follow with shares bare-
mostly in Germany, the UK, Switzerland and France. The ly touching 10%. The other popular foreign languages
second most important customer region for SEE sourc- in the sector include Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Polish,
ing companies is Central Europe, represented by Hun- Turkish and Swedish.
gary, the Czech Republic and Poland. Russia and Tur-
key are also markets of growing importance, while the 3.6 Shared services centres
most clients from outside Europe and North America
are based in Australia, China, Japan, the UAE and India. Shared services centres rapidly transform the structure
of BPO in SEE, most notably in Romania and Bulgaria.
Fig. 5 - Number of SEE Sourcing Companies Servicing Foreign Their entry into the local markets has happened consid-
Markets erably later than the rest of the sourcing segments and
nearly half of the 45 SSCs in SEE as of end-2018 were
established in 2016 or later. SSCs are still present only
in the larger sourcing markets in the region – 67.4% of
them are in Romania and 18.6% in Bulgaria. The rest
Sweden are located in Serbia, Croatia, North Macedonia and
42 Russia
26 Montenegro. Together, all SSCs in the region generated
Denmark
a turnover of EUR 593.7 mln in 2017 and accounted for
25
Ireland Nether- 7.9% of the total SEE sourcing market. They employed
22 lands Poland
UK
164
84 Germany 19 close to 12,000 people, or 5.4% of the overall sourcing
Belgium 184 Czech Republic
38 19 workforce.
Austria
France Switzerland 52 Hungary
83 94 22 Romania is the major SSC hotspot in SEE with global
Italy
55
technology companies fuelling the development of the
Spain
24 Turkey
sourcing industry with their shared services centres in
25
Bucharest, and increasingly in cities such as Cluj-Na-
poca, Timisoara, Iasi, Sibiu and Craiova.
SSCs generally fall in the medium-sized or large enter-
prises category and rely on a wide pool of talent, which
Canada Australia is readily accessible only in larger countries and big cit-
38 24 ies. SEE represents a significant opportunity for global
USA organisations seeking less crowded markets, but in
233 order this trend to be sustainable, inflow of suitably
skilled talent into the national workforce is necessary
in the short term.

14
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

4. Market size
and financials
4.1.2. Employment

The successful development of the sourcing sector in

SEE is reflected by its constantly growing number of
4.1.3. Operating revenue

In 2017, SEE’s sourcing industry was worth EUR 7.5 bln

in terms of operating revenue. Romania and Bulgaria
growth rate of 18.4%. The uptrend was more stable in
the region’s leading five markets – Romania, Bulgaria,
employees. In the 2014-2017 period, they grew by an were the region’s main sourcing powers, contributing Slovenia, Serbia, and Croatia rather than in the other
annual average of 19%. As of 2017, more than 220,000 a combined 81% to the total sum. The operating reve- countries, where there were some fluctuations.
4.1 Market size people were working in the sector, or double the num- nue of the sourcing sector in the region rose steadily
ber they were just five years ago. BPO with its various in the period 2014-2017, achieving an average annual
4.1.1. Number of companies segments accounted for the bulk, or 66% of the total
sourcing staff.
ITO is the leading sector of the SEE sourcing industry in
Fig. 7 - Average Number of Employees in SEE Sourcing Fig. 9 - Operating Revenue and Employees of Sourcing
terms of number of companies. In 2017, they numbered Industry by Country Sectors in SEE
more than 900, while the BPO sector boasted about
120,000
660 companies. HRO and VBPO providers dominated
the BPO sector, accounting for 60% of its total num- 100,000 201,863 350,000
ber of companies. The Albanian and North Macedoni- 99,971
15
an sourcing markets are the most ITO-focused – more 80,000
186,910 300,000
than 80% of the sourcing companies in the countries 92,566
operate in this sector. Slovenia and Bulgaria feature the 60,000 173,065
160,245 85,709
highest share of BPO providers with Slovenia being well 12 79,360
148,375 250,000
ahead – more than 60% of its sourcing companies were 40,000 8.099
73,482
131,736
in the BPO field, while in Bulgaria their share was 52%. 64,820
20,000 114,346 6.669 200,000
9

people
93,570 56,673
0 47,765
5.491

EUR bln
Fig. 6 - Number of SEE Sourcing Companies by Sector in 2017
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 71,517
4.522 150,000
40,482
43 Albania Croatia Romania 6
135 3.723
Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro Serbia
3.162
Bulgaria North Macedonia Slovenia 100,000
2.804
178
Total: 2.207 6.823
3 1.712 5.901
1,580 5.104
Fig. 8 - SEE Sourcing Companies Size - Number of Employees 4.415 50,000
3.819
2.992 3.403
ITO 236 380 186 64 2.538
2.137
227
BPO 142 186 182 126 0 0
48 913 HRO 47 61 64 46 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
36
VBPO 46 52 48 26

KPO 9111410
ITO Operating Revenue (EUR bln) ITO Employees
FAO 1115 7 3
ITO KPO VBPO SSC
Other BPO 26 43 36 23 < 10 >249 BPO Operating Revenue (EUR bln) BPO Employees
FAO HRO Other BPO
SSC 3 413 19 10-49 50-249

16 17
 SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

Fig. 10 - Operating Revenue and Employees of SEE Sourcing ITO Operating Revenue (EUR bln) ITO Employees
Industry by Sector and Country
BPO Operating Revenue (EUR bln) BPO Employees

Albania 500
Croatia Serbia 4.1.4. Average revenue per
120 employee
15,000 25,000
400 500 1,200
100
12,000 In 2017, an employee in the sourcing industry in SEE
400 1,000 20,000
80 300 generated an average of EUR 34,000 of operating reve-

EUR mln
EUR mln

EUR mln
9,000 800 nue. It was close to the average for the whole five-year
300 15,000
60
200 600 period between 2013 and 2017 – EUR 33,800. In 2017,
200 6,000 10,000 the average operating revenue per employee varied
40
400
100 widely among the countries in the region. The peak was
20 100 3,000 5,000
200 registered in Albania where about 300 sourcing employ-

people
people

people
0 0 0 0
ees achieved operating revenue of EUR 41 mln, or EUR
0 0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 131,000 per employee. Montenegro was on the other
end with just EUR 18,000 per employee. The sourcing
leaders in the region, Bulgaria and Romania registered
Bosnia and Herzegovina North Macedonia Slovenia an average of EUR 34,400 per employee.
60
5,000 15,000 Fig. 12 - Operating Revenue per Employee (EUR) in SEE
200 1,000
50 2,000 Sourcing Sector by Country
4,000 12,000
800 200,000
150
EUR mln
EUR mln

EUR mln
40 1,500
3,000 9,000
600 150,000
30 1,000 100
2,000 400 6,000
100,000
20 500 50
1,000 200 3,000
50,000

people
people

people
0 0 0 0 0 0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Albania Croatia Romania
Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro Serbia
Bulgaria Romania
Fig. 11 - Operating Revenue by SEE Sourcing Sector (EUR mln)
Bulgaria North Macedonia Slovenia

100,000 10,000
10,000 200,000
5,000 Fig. 13 - Operating Revenue per Employee (EUR) by SEE
80,000 8,000 8,000 Sourcing Sector
4,000 150,000
EUR mln
EUR mln

50,000
60,000 6,000 6,000
3,000
100,000
40,000
40,000 4,000
2,000 4,000

2,000 50,000 30,000

1,000 20,000
2,000
people
people

0 0 20,000
0 0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
10,000
ITO FAO VBPO Other BPO 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
BPO HRO KPO SSC ITO FAO VBPO Other BPO
BPO HRO KPO SSC

18 19
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

4.2 Costs Fig. 16 - Average Monthly Labour Costs per Employee (EUR) in
SEE Sourcing Industry by Country
ITO
BPO

The rising labour costs in the SEE countries in the five-

Bulgaria
year period up to 2017 were especially notable in the
sourcing sector. Employment expenses in the industry 4,000

jumped by an annual average of 25% in the period under 3,500

review. Bulgaria and Romania played again a key role 3,000 1,339
1,251
in SEE’s sourcing industry by slicing a combined share 2,500 1,058 1,102 1,154

of 83% in the total employment expenses in the region. 2,000

The average annual growth in labour expenses is slow- 1,500
ing down. In 2017, it reached 20%, down from 24% in 2,114
2,182
1,000 1,869 1,902 1,918
the previous year.
500
Fig. 14 - Labour Costs by SEE Sourcing Sector (EUR mln)
0
6,000 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

5,000
Croatia
4,000 3,500

3,000 3,000
1,048
2,500 886 986 940
2,000 925

2,000
1,000
1,500
2,044
0 1,987
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 1,000 2,001 1,918
1,906
ITO FAO VBPO Other BPO 500
BPO HRO KPO SSC
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Fig. 15 - Total Tax Costs (EUR mln) of SEE Sourcing Companies
by Sourcing Sector
Romania
200

150
ITO
BPO 3,500

3,000
1000+
SOFTWARE
200+
CLIENTS
100+
AWARDS FOR
74.8 1,193
2,500 1,091 ENGINEERS WORLDWIDE EXCELLENCE
63.1 1,004
2,000 893 877
100 53.2
44.8
1,500
37.8 2,079
37.8 35.6 1,952
105.3 1,000 1,792
50 28.7 1,623
87.8 1,576
73.2
19.1 61.0 500
46.1 46.2 50.8
37.6
24.5
0 0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 www.scalefocus.com

20
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

Serbia Fig. 17 - Net Profit/Loss (EUR mln) of SEE Sourcing Industry

by Country

3,000 250
2,500
922
863 200
2,000 765 783 748

1,500 Application BPO

150
Support and Services
1,000 1,780 1,704
1,455 1,499
1,558 Maintenance
100
500

0
50
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

0 Network
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Services
Slovenia Albania Croatia Romania
Data Center
Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro Serbia
6,000 Bulgaria North Macedonia Slovenia Services
1,737
5,000 1,659
1,673 1,588 1,739

4,000

3,000 Fig. 18 - Net Profit/Loss (EUR mln) by SEE Sourcing Sector Helpdesk /
2,000 3,329 3,176
3,739 Service Desk
3,294
3,382 300 End-User Outsourcing
1,000 Device
250 Support
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 200

150

4.3 Profitability 100

50

In 2017, the SEE sourcing industry enjoyed a total net

0
profit of more than EUR 450 mln. For the whole period
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
2013-2017 the industry’s net profit totalled almost EUR

IT Managed Services
ITO FAO VBPO Other BPO
2.0 bln. Overall, the total net profit of the sourcing in-
BPO HRO KPO SSC
dustry in the region was on the rise in the 2014-2017
period. The average uptrend was 17%, while it varied

People-powered solutions!
widely from country to country. Montenegro posted the
highest average jump, of 45%, while profitability fell
down by 5.3% in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
We partner our clients with the best minds and services
to adapt, explore and seize opportunities to outperform.
Our range of services and solutions enable you to rapidly
22 increase productivity, efficiency and agility. modis.com
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

5. Industry
trends
SWOT analysis of SEE Sourcing

The key steps to be carried out by SEE policymakers Strengths Opportunities

to maintain sourcing globally competitive in the future
• Low corporate tax rates are one of the • The key to success for SEE is to move
include:
major competitive advantages of SEE against from sourcing to tech innovation.
- Promote modern secondary and tertiary education the rest of Europe. • Concentration on high-value added tech
with strong emphasis on STEM skills and more relevant
• Proficient language skills and education. activities performed in smaller teams and
to technologies majors;
• Cultural similarity and geographical companies.
- Support private digital skills education for adults of
proximity to Western European clients. • International collaboration between the
all ages;
• The region has a well-developed telecom countries in the region can bring multiple
- Invest in improvement of coverage and quality of IT benefits and boost their sourcing power.
infrastructure, with Internet connection
infrastructure;
speed in some countries being among the • Intensive government support.
- Develop the necessary environment for innovations fastest worldwide.
and entrepreneurship.
• The countries in Southeast Europe hold
Demand for sourcing will con- competitive rental rates for prime office
premises compared to their main sourcing
tinue to grow, with clients
competitors - Slovakia, Poland and the Czech
widening their scope of need- Republic.
ed services. The reasons that
drive the development of the
sourcing sector are also chang-
Threats Weaknesses
ing with companies focusing
more on achieving customer
• In order to match the demand for labour • Lack of specialized sourcing
centricity and improving their force and keep up with the sourcing sector organizations in more than half of the
technological capacity, rather development on European level, the talent countries.
than seeking just cost cutting. pool with suitable skills needs to be • Tightening labour force due to
expanded. the demographic crisis in some SEE
Global research of artificial intelligence (AI) shows
that currently existing AI solutions can be adapted
• SEE still lags behind the EU average countries.
to replace at least 30% of the activities performed in
in terms of STEM (Science, Technology,
some economic sectors. Among the most vulnerable to
Engineering, and Mathematics) skills of its
AI automation are finance and insurance, professional
human capital.
services and IT, media and telecommunications, where
data collecting or synthesizing accounts for nearly half
of the professionals’ time at work. These sectors are
heavily outsourced, which means that the growing de-
ployment of AI in them will change the amount of work-
force needed in the medium and long run.

24 25
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019
6.
Methodology
The purpose of the SEE Sourcing Industry
Report 2019 is to summarize the sector’s de-
velopments in Southeast Europe, consisting
of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Moldova,
Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia,
in the period 2013-2018 and provide reliable,
comparable, comprehensive and independ-
ent data about the market stakeholders.
The main focus of the report is the analysis
of the ITO and BPO segments of the sourcing
industry, including voice-based BPO (VBPO),
finance and accounting sourcing (FAO), hu-
man resource sourcing (HRO) and other ven-
dors specialized in providing more than one
type of services. KPO is included as a sep-
arate sub-category of BPO in the analysis to
reflect its growing significance within the in-
dustry. For the same reason, we take shared
service centres out of the Other BPO and ex-
amine it as a separate sub-category of BPO
throughout the report. SSCs are included in
this report only in cases when they are sep-
arate legal entities. We have also listed the
global companies active in other sectors that
operate own SSCs as part of their trading and
manufacturing subsidiaries in SEE and not as
separate legal entities.
The report was prepared between February
and April 2019.
The SEE Sourcing Industry Report 2019 en-
compasses 1708 companies from all sourc-
ing segments. We have included 555 compa-
nies from Romania, 501 from Bulgaria, 190
from Serbia, 121 from Croatia, 90 from North
Macedonia, 76 from Slovenia, 66 from Moldo-
va, 37 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 36 from
Kosovo, 23 from Albania and 13 from Monte-
negro. The identification process consists of
the following steps:
- The initial pool of companies is derived by
individual desktop check of all companies in
our database with industry classification in
one of the following fields (NACE rev. 2.0):
58.29; 62.01; 62.02; 62.09; 63.11; 63.99;
78.10; 78.20; 78.30; 82.11; 82.20. Then, only
companies with turnover available and more
than five employees for at least one year
between 2013 and 2017 are shortlisted. In
the process of company identification, com-
panies performing at least some amount of
sourcing activities are included in the pool.
- Sourcing, IT and other relevant associations,
clusters and other industry organisations for
new players are checked and added to the
pool if they meet the criteria.
- News and reports in English and local lan-
guages are checked to identify additional
sourcing companies not identified through
the previous steps.
- Manual desktop research to classify each
26
company into one of the previously defined
segments. In cases where a company per-
forms activities in more than one segment, it
is classified only in the segment which can be
defined as primary.
- Final check of the pool and distribution by
segments.
- Sending of the final pool of companies to
national sourcing and other relevant associa-
tions, clusters and organizations for verifica-
tion and confirmation.
The financial analysis consists of three chap-
ters – Market size, Costs and Profitability.
We have used the official non-consolidated
company records of all vendors to collect
information about financial indicators such
as labour costs, operating revenue, taxes,
net profit and loss for five consecutive years
- 2013-2017. Time analysis is based on the
aggregated indicators of all companies for
2016 and 2017. Forecasts for the period
2018-2021 are calculated based on the CAGR
of the companies in the respective segment
in the five-year period 2013-2017. Companies
from Kosovo and Moldova have been exclud-
ed from the financial analysis in the three
chapters Market size, Costs and Profitability,
as well as the employment figures due to lack
of full financial data in the official sources in
these countries. Thus, the financial analysis
is based on the results of the 1,606 compa-
nies in the remaining nine SEE countries.
Forecasts also exclude, besides Kosovo and
Moldova, companies from all other countries
established after 2017, due to high possibility
of abnormal growth rates that could give an
incorrect notion of the growth of the overall
market.
Average annual employment figures are tak-
en from the financial indicators pool with all
identified companies. Calculations include
sum by segment and average by segment.
Where differentiation of employees by activ-
ity (sourcing or not) or between segments is
not possible, we consider the full headcount
of the companies in the calculations of their
primary segments.
In the market size chapter operating revenue
is used as an indicator of market size. Calcu-
lations include sum by segment; average by
segment; revenue/employee ratios. Labour
costs and social security costs, total taxes
from official financial reports are used in the
costs chapter, where calculations are the
same as in market size.
Net financial result, taken from the individu-
al financial reports of the companies in our
databases, is used as an indicator of profita-
bility. Calculations include sum by segment;
average by segment; profit/employee ratios.
Net profit margin is calculated as net profit/
loss over operating revenue.
All original data is taken in the local currency
of the respective country and converted into
euro using the official exchange rate by the
respective national central bank as of the end
of the period to which the data refers. Only
macroeconomic indicators reporting average
data for the period under consideration are
converted into euro using the average annual
exchange rate for the respective year.
Information for the analysis in the chapters
SEE as a sourcing destination, Sourcing fac-
tors, Sourcing analysis and Industry trends is
derived from official government sources, in-
dustry reports by global consultancy compa-
nies, international institutions, news articles
and expert opinions.
Factsheet data about all SEE countries is
gathered from official government and statis-
tical sources. Economy forecasts are taken
from the latest available edition of the IMF
World Economic Outlook.
Factors, such as labour and electricity costs,
taxes and office space developments are ex-
amined based on desktop research of official
national and EU sources and consultancy re-
ports (Eurostat, Colliers International, CBRE).
Talent pool analysis is based on data from
the national statistical institutes, as well as
international rankings. The number of uni-
versities preparing potential employees for
the sourcing sector is determined by manual
checking of the databases of licensed higher
education institutions of ministries of ed-
ucation in all SEE countries as of 2018. We
have defined professional areas suitable for Аutomation triggers workforce reorganisation
the sourcing industry as follows: Language
studies, Administration and Management,
Economics, Mathematics, IT and Computer
toward knowledge-based tasks, fosters new skills
Science and Communication and Computer
Technology.
The positions of SEE countries in global rank-
ings are derived through desktop research of Southeast Europe’s young and generous with their social Managing Director at Stanton
international rankings relevant to sourcing by Chase, comments. “In many
different consultancy companies and institu-
and highly-skilled multilingual benefits programmes. At the
cases the sourcing industry
tions. workforce has been the main same time, automation opens up
requires intellectual agility
Information concerning internet infrastruc- driver of the rapid development of opportunities for development of to handle complex functions
ture, speed and costs, standard and cost of
living, university quality rankings and STEM the sourcing industry in the region. a new skillset in employees and and interaction within matrix
skills is obtained through desktop research
The companies operating in the engaging them in more interesting structures. The dynamics of
of international rankings and publications
of consultancy companies and databases of sector are perceived as highly jobs as it prompts companies to the sector seems to be both
self-reporting websites. Salaries, education attractive and challenging for
statistics, digital and language skills are ana-
appealing to job seekers with the reorganise towards knowledge-
many professionals.”
lyzed based mostly on official national statis- opportunities they offer for the based tasks.
tics and Eurostat data for the latest consist-
ently available for most countries year. acquisition of managerial skills
In the Vendors landscape chapter, for each and a quick climb up the career During the last several years
company we identify: headquarters (accord- the outsourcing industry is
ladder, coupled with an attractive
ing to the national trade registers), second-
ary offices in the respective SEE country and remuneration package. Yet as perceived as one providing very Competition forces
abroad (through desktop research of corpo- good professional opportunities
rate websites, news and job sites), ownership
the sector thrives, competition sourcing industry to
both for people at the start
structure (latest available official data), cus- for talent has intensified sharply, of their career and for
tomers by country and languages (through
desktop research of corporate websites, exacerbated by the ongoing professionals with solid track
be highly creative in
news and job sites). Companies from Koso-
vo and Albania are taken into account in the
braindrain in most countries in record in the specific area. talent attraction,
the region. Talent identification The industry offers excellent
analysis of the vendors landscape.
Corporate investments are taken from online and retention has become a vital working conditions, cross- retention
and printed media, news integrators, compa- country and cross-cultural
ny websites and annual reports. Events are
issue for the sourcing companies,
collaboration, opportunities for
gathered through desktop research and in- forcing them to be extremely developing leadership, project
clude events relevant to the sourcing sector
in SEE and the rest of Europe. flexible in terms of working and process management
conditions they offer and creative capabilities,” Darina Peneva,
27
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019
Competition for talent, however,
is heaping pressure on the
companies.
“The industry is fiercely
competitive for attracting rare
talents and the companies are
becoming increasingly creative
in identifying and retaining
them,” Peneva says.
A recent study by human
resources consulting firm Mercer
shows that concerns around
talent migration and corporate
responsibility to address societal
issues have increased significantly
since last year. Add that to
cybersecurity risks and changing
business regulations, and
companies are facing pressure
on multiple fronts. The traditional
mantra of “attract and retain”
is being replaced with “attract
and continually attract”, the firm
concludes in its Mercer Talent
Trends Study 2018/2019.
Flexible working hours and a cool
working place are becoming an
indispensable part of the package
that sourcing companies offer
their staff in a bid to beat their
industry rivals.
In the sourcing industry 50% of
employees want their company to
offer more flexible work options,
the Mercer study shows. For 54%
of employees managing their
work/life balance is one of the
top five things their company can
do to help them thrive at work.
Compared to 40% in 2018 and 26%
in 2017, the shift in the employee
mindset is significant.
To deal with the shortage of talent,
most of the companies in all sub-
sectors of the sourcing industry
are already targeting young
28
professionals from university and
even from high school by hosting
open-door events or career fairs
as a means of expanding their
network.
50% of employees
in sourcing industry
want more flexible
work options
As many as 80% of people still
do not realise that they can have
their first job while they are still
studying, Milev says, adding that
this is a win-win for the employees
and the company.
“Some of our colleagues started
work with us in their first or
second year in university,” he
notes. “Even while they are
still in university, employees
may become team leaders
of dozens, even hundreds of
people.”
For entry-level roles a trend
is observed to attract young
foreigners who are mobile and
open for new experience outside
of their home country, according
to Peneva.
At the same time for senior roles
still many companies hire expats
with strong background in the
industry and focus on continued
improvement of processes,
work efficiency, leadership
and development of people
competencies.
The most challenging roles to
fill are middle management
positions where the migration of
talents between industry players
is higher and hence the demand,
according to Peneva. Regardless
of the nature of hierarchy in
the organisational structure
such roles require equally high
level of soft skills and people
management capabilities as the
C-level positions, she notes. The
above factors drive salary levels in
the sourcing industry upwards at
a faster pace than the increase in
work efficiency and productivity.
In search for employees, a number
of companies are shifting their
attention outside the capital to
cities with universities, offering a
steady flow of multi-lingual young
workers. In Bulgaria, cities such
as Veliko Tarnovo, Plovdiv, Burgas
and Varna are emerging as new
industry hubs.
The use of contingent workers
too is rising, especially for
transferable skills such as project
management. According to the
Mercer study, 82% of employees
say that they would be willing to
consider working on a freelance
basis.
At the same time, largely as a
result of labour arbitrage, the
Western Balkans are becoming an
increasingly attractive sourcing
destination.
For entry-level roles
sourcing companies
seek to attract
foreigners
Аutomation, smart
technologies to fuel
further growth
With automation already an
integral part of the sourcing
industry, companies are now
fostering the development of
new digital or soft skills in their
employees and engaging them in
more creative and interesting jobs.
Most outsourcing companies are
implementing in some domains
automation, robots and chat bots.
This is helping them successfully
manage some transactional tasks
and processes considered as
routine and unattractive, Peneva
says.
“Аutomation triggers the
reorganisation of the workforce
in the industry toward
knowledge-based tasks. Smart
technologies and AI bring
opportunities for offering more
complex and value-added
services to clients which are
expected to fuel further the
growth of the outsourcing
industry,” she stresses.
More than 50% of executives
expect AI and automation to
replace one in five of their
organisation’s current jobs,
according to the Mercer study. But
this is only half of the story, as AI
and automation will also create
58 million net new jobs by 2022,
according to estimates from the
World Economic Forum.
As many as 60% of the companies
plan to increase their spending
in automation, the Mercer
study found out. The executive
perspective on technology
investments, related to HR
processes and employees include expectations for an economic
chatbots to improve employee downturn is that the BPO
self-service; AI to identify industry is less vulnerable to
recession than other industries.
employees at risk of leaving;
Furthermore, de-
AI to recommend job openings pending on the customer mix
and career paths; AI as part of and the portfolio of services
the performance management offered, a recession for some
process; AI to customize may mean more jobs for the
BPO industry,” Milev also said.
compensation or improve pay
benchmarking.
His optimism is shared by Peneva.
“Certainly, AI and automation
are taking away part of jobs,
mostly end-customer support
“Within the next three to five
years we expect that both BPO
activities. However, they are and ITO segments will continue
definitely putting in place to grow. We would rather
more complex relationships say that due to the world’s
between our clients’ various digitalisation the ITO sector
products and platforms,
will be of higher interest for
which too require support,” potential professionals.”
Milev says. Considering that
interconnectivity between
various devices is growing With the advancement of AI,
exponentially, even if the share data analytics and data science
of support for the end-user may Stanton Chase expects also
be smaller, the latest estimates
significant growth in the KPOs
show that the jobs needed to
sub-sector. The firm also sees
meet customer care needs will
potential for growing business
not be fewer.”
and services and for offering
professionals more complex and
challenging roles.
For senior roles
many companies
hire expats with
strong background in
the industry.
In his view, emerging disruptive
industries such as Uber and
Airbnb too prefer to rely on
professionals with a proven
process management track record
and multilingual staff for their
customer service.
“Finally, something
important that we need to
note in connection with the
29
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019
IT, outsourcing sectors drive office
demand in Southeast Europe
The companies active in the IT
and outsourcing sector have
emerged as the main driver of
demand in the largest office
markets in Southeast Europe (SEE)
– Romania and Bulgaria - over the
last years, playing a key role in the
introduction of the latest trends in
office space utilisation on the local
scene.
“The outsourcing sector
impacted to a large extent
the office markets across
SEE,” Stanimira Pashova,
Head of Office Space,
Cushman&Wakefield Forton,
comments.
“In Bulgaria the IT and BPO
industry was the main driver
of market recovery after the
financial crisis. Similar process
was observed on the Romanian
market. This industry has been
on rise during the last decade
which translates into increasing
demand for high-standard office
space in the capitals and the big
cities,” Pashova adds.
According to Colliers International,
another real estate consultancy,
the companies from the IT and
outsourcing sector accounted for
80% of the transactions on the
30
Sofia market in the second half
of 2018, which is slightly above
97,000 sq m.
For the last few years, companies
in the IT and Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO)/Shared Service
Centers (SSC) have been the most
important demand generator on
the office market with about 70%
share of the take-up volume in
Sofia and more than 40% in Bucha-
rest, according to Pashova.
Oracle is the largest office occupier
in Bucharest with total space of
about 60,000 sq m, according to
Cushman & Wakefield Echinox, For-
ton’s Romanian partner. Traditional
BPO companies, such as Genpact,
Accenture, WNS, Telus Internation-
al, and CGS are also present on the
Romanian market.
In Sofia, the largest tenants are
HP, Telus, VMWare, all of them
occupying more than 20,000 sq m
office space. Technology compa-
nies such as Progress, Visteon and
Experian, as well as BPO providers
such as 60K and Sutherland are
also among the major tenants.
Catering to the needs of their
predominantly young, highly skilled
and fastidious staff, the compa-
nies in the sector are pushing up
for higher standards and workplace
flexibility. As competition among
the IT/BPO companies intensi-
fies, state-of-the-art office space
becomes an essential part of the
package that employees get.
“Due to the specific tenant
requirements related to two
significant property search
parameters – 1) workplace
flexibility, and 2) short periods
between the request for space
and the actual delivery, the
sector has played a major role
in motivating office landlords
to start introducing some of
the most contemporary office
space practices. This has also
positively influenced the high
quality of the fit-out works
carried out by the owners,”
Colliers International says.
Looking forward, IT and
outsourcing companies seem
poised to maintain their leading
position in terms of the total take-
up volumes in Sofia and Bucharest.
“In 2019 we expect the IT &
outsourcing companies to keep
the highest share of total take-
up volumes for Sofia,” Colliers
International says.
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019
This view is shared by Pashova.
“As for the 2019, we expect
the sector to keep its leading
role on the office market.”
Furthermore, more global industry
players are sizing up the local
markets.
“Companies new to our market
plan to set up operations in
Bulgaria, assessing the capital
and other major cities in the
country,” Colliers International
said.
According to Pashova, the plan of
the World Bank Group to establish
a shared service center in Sofia
will further strengthen the city’s
position as preferred location for
outsourcing operations.
In January the World Bank
Group said that it will establish
a second shared services centre
in Sofia, which will provide back
office corporate and technology
support to the group’s internal
business operations. The centre
is expected to launch operations
by mid-2019, the World Bank
Group said. The second centre in
Sofia will complement an existing
World Bank Group shared services
centre in India, which serves the
organisation with accounting,
HR, IT and other services. Some
300 people are expected to be
employed in the new centre in five
years, the Bulgarian government
has said.
32
A major player in the BPO sector,
Telus International, too has
announced ambitious expansion
plans. In February it said it plans to
hire 500 by the end of June in order
to support the expansion of its
operations in Romania.
In another interesting development
earlier this year international
IT solutions provider Softline, a
strategic partner of tech giant
Microsoft with $1.27 billion
in revenue in 2018, entered
the Bulgarian market, after
successfully launching operations
in six Eastern European markets.
The Bulgarian Outsourcing
Association too announced plans
in the beginning of this year to
open at least 13,000 new positions
in the outsourcing industry in
Bulgaria by 2021. According to
Colliers estimates, converting
this data into office space, the
expected new take-up is at least
140,000 sq m, or about 70,000 per
year in 2019 and 2020.
With a close focus on talent
development and workplace
flexibility, most companies opt
for leasing space, rather than
acquisitions.
“We observe that most of the
companies in the outsourcing
sector are looking for workspace
flexibility and are trying to be
in line with the international
trends in this respect.
Therefore, leasing space is the
preferred format of transaction
over acquiring,” Colliers
International comments. “The
main investment, companies
are willing to make, is in talent
development. When it comes
to real estate, employees
remain the primary focus –
that is providing a workplace
that supports productivity and
wellbeing is a business priority.”
Looking at the dynamic pace of
development of the sector, the
outsourcing services landscape
seems bound for changes. As
competition for employees tight-
ens in the capital cities, more
organisations are investigating the
opportunities to set foot in smaller
cities.
“With the capital cities
becoming increasingly
competitive in terms of skilled
workforce and labour cost,
increasing number of IT and
BPO companies are looking for
second and third location in
the secondary cities,” Pashova
comments.
This trend is evidenced by
companies such as Amazon,
Oracle, Microsoft, Genpact, and
UniCredit in Romania, which
are present with offices and
operations in Cluj-Napoca, Iasi,
Timisoara and Brasov.
In line with this trend, in March US
digital services company Globant
opened a development centre in
the Romanian northwestern city of
Cluj-Napoca.
In Bulgaria, the offices of Suther-
land in Burgas, Sitel and Concen-
trix in Varna, Telus and Bulpros
in Plovdiv are among the notable
examples. However, in both coun-
tries the capital cities represent
the industry’s main local office
market.
“In the short and medium term,
we expect this sector to remain
the most active occupier in
both capitals and main regional
cities,” Pashova says.
A detailed research performed by
Colliers International on behalf
of a potential new entry in the
BPO sector reveals that Varna
and Cluj-Napoca are cities with
good potential for establishing as
office locations for outsourcing
companies, at the top of a short
list of eleven cities in Hungary,
Romania or Bulgaria, after an
assessment of country and city
factors providing a broad scope of
consideration across the business,
economic and educational
spectrum.
ADVERTORIAL
Blending Talent & Technology:
Evolving Customer Care
For The Millennial Generation
How you can blend talent and technology within the evolving customer care space
Digital innovations are
revolutionising CX
At TTEC we are seeing a number of trends
across the CX industry, not just customer
care. Trends such as a multitude of self-
care channels and options, automation of
simple and repetitive functions, increased
efficiency and lower workload, reduced
failure demand volumes, and greater
consistency in customer experience.
The proliferation of channels, data and
innovation make it more complicated than
ever. Automation is not a silver bullet and
companies need a thoughtful approach to
managing artificial intelligence/machine
learning (AI/ML) as customers still want
to talk to a human, and companies still
want to talk to their customers.
According to Gartner, by 2020, customers
will manage 85% of their relationships
with brands without interacting with a
human. So it is certain that automation
will continue to play a larger role
throughout the global CX industry. New
technologies and the quest for cost
savings have already led industry leaders
to rely more heavily on robotics.
Google’s AI Assistant is getting so smart
it can place phone calls and humans think
they’re talking to real people. It has a
convincing voice and can save you time by
performing simple tasks such as reserving
tables, scheduling hair appointments and
more. Google does say there is more
work to be done before it is ready.
AI and chatbots however, in our opinion,
are still not able to replicate the human
element, for example they lack empathy
and that will not change any time soon.
The human element is still very much
essential.
Given the developments we’re already
seeing in the AI and machine learning
area, we will see robots “mature” and
become more useful over time. So how
do you blend humans and technology
34
and ensure you deliver excellence at
every touchpoint in the customer journey
with a blend of People, Process, and
Technology?
Well first you have to have the right people
with the right training, tools, knowledge,
and mindset. There are many ways to
do this. For example, develop an all-star
team around a culture of caring and
passion, delivering the best possible
experiences for your customers and
brand, provide training, technology, and
facilities to represent your brand to your
most important assets – your customers
and your employees, and implement
solutions such as a digital recruitment
engine, an ongoing learning approach, or a
web-based business intelligence platform
that provide real-time views of employee’s
performance.
Channel preferences are
shifting by generation.
We have also seen 64% of baby
boomers prefer voice versus only 12% of
millennials, with ‘doomsday predictions’
that this is the end of contact centres
being overly zealous & inaccurate. The
work that will remain, however, will be
complex and challenging as customers
will raise complicated issues that could
not be solved by AI or automation. These
problems may not have defined solutions.
Also some customers will simply prefer
not to leverage self-care and will demand
human care. There are also customers
who we want to contact proactively,
with automation shifting contact centre
volumes from failure demand to value
demand. This will require account
relationship management where
representatives focus on maximising a
customer’s lifetime value.
A symbiotic relationship
Automation, bots, and omnichannel
solutions are making it easier for
customers to interact with a brand and
this presents an opportunity to deepen
and expand customer relationships.
We envisage a hybrid workforce where
Bots, or digital Guides, work seamlessly
with our human Guides – the digital
Guides simplifying and human Guides
engaging, allowing us to reduce cost,
increase sales, and improve the customer
experience.
The IVA (an Intelligent Virtual Agent) is
trained with the same materials used for
live agents, structured into a format it
can “read” within the Training Platform. A
symbiotic relationship is formed and only
after the IVA is proven during interactions
with live agents is it released for direct
interaction with customers.
In the digital revolution, a more
highly skilled Workforce is even
more critical.
We are seeing rapid change in the
expectations of potential and existing
talent. The competition for quality labour
is increasing and Millennials and Gen Z
are more discerning decision makers.
Gen Y/Z change jobs more than other
generations. We are in a job war for
talent in most if not all of our markets. It
will mean more complex work as agents
interactions have a higher likelihood to be
emotive and have a higher value, therefore
there will be a different skill requirement
such as complex problem solving and
critical thinking, with a higher expectation
for personal and career development.
The challenge for contact centres today is
retaining the higher skilled talent needed
in the future. Organisations that will be
successful will be those that adapt their
customer care value proposition.
For more information on how TTEC
is driving digital transformation and
omnichannel customer experiences in
EMEA, visit www.ttec.com/emea.
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019
What are the main trends
shaping up the development
of the outsourcing sector in
Bulgaria and the region of
Southeast Europe?
The outsourcing sector is going
through major changes on a
global level, which are driven
by new technologies such as
Cloud Technologies, Artificial
Intelligence and Big Data. All
these have a significant impact
on the profile of the requested
outsourcing services and open
up new growth and development
opportunities within the sector.
The traditional project-based
approach is not the preferred one
anymore as demand for added
value is increasing and companies
INTERVIEW are now looking for shared
services, outsourcing of business
processes, human resources,
Cloud, AI, Big Data open up new opportunities
for outsourcing sector as demand
The industry is
for added value rises making a transition
towards high value-
added knowledge
process outsourcing.
Ivaylo Slavov is the chairman of the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association.
He is actively working to intensify collaboration and communication with foreign
associations in the IT and BPO sector in order to position Bulgaria as a preferred facility management, etc.
outsourcing destination, providing products and services with added value on a global In this context, the SEE region
level. The other main focus of his work is building an effective strategy for developing and and Bulgaria in particular have
attracting qualified experts, developing the potential of several Bulgarian cities (besides become attractive outsourcing
Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna) such as Blagoevgrad, Veliko Tarnovo, Burgas and Ruse, and destinations for several reasons
turning them into attractive outsourcing destinations. such as the favorable environment
Ivaylo Slavov has more than 20 years of international experience in the fields of regarding finance, business,
Information Technology, Financial Services, IT-Outsourcing, Business Process Outsourcing infrastructure, the competitive
and Human Resources. labour costs and the large number
of well-educated and highly skilled
In 2010 he co-founded BULPROS - a company which currently has over 1,200 employees in
19 offices across North America and Europe.
professionals and IT experts.
Another important trend shaping
He is also a member of the Board of Directors of American Chamber of Commerce in
the industry on a national level
Bulgaria (Am-Cham).
36
is the development of second
tier cities such as Plovdiv and
Varna into preferred outsourcing
destinations. With 90% of the
employees in 2017, the capital
Sofia remains the center of the
Bulgarian industry; however,
Plovdiv and Varna have
recorded significant growth
over the last few years and have
become important outsourcing
destinations. Cities such as
Burgas and Veliko Tarnovo also
have great potential and one of
BOA’s main priorities is to develop
them as outsourcing centres.
The companies in Southeast
Europe engaged in information
technology outsourcing (ITO)
outnumber those active in
business process outsourcing
(BPO), yet the share of
revenues they generate is
similar and BPO companies
employ a far greater number
of people, according to data
for 2017. Do you expect any
change in the coming years?
Besides the gradual transition
towards high value-added
knowledge process outsourcing,
another industry trend is that
boundaries between ITO and BPO
are diminishing. According to
the statistics, the differentiation
between ITO and BPO is gradually
fading as the complexity of the
companies’ products and services
evolves.
The declining workforce in
the country, together with
Second tier cities such as Plovdiv and
Varna are developing into preferred
outsourcing destinations.
the diminishing number
of graduates intensifies
competition among companies
for qualified personnel. How
are the companies in the sector
tackling this issue? Do you see
room for tighter cooperation
with the universities?
The lack of skilled and qualified
workforce is one of the biggest
challenges not only for the
outsourcing industry, but for all
other industries. The Bulgarian
outsourcing industry is expected
to reach more than 2.5 bln euro
and contribute over 4.2% of the
country’s GDP by 2020 but this
growth depends heavily on the
labour force. In order to retain this
positive trend, the government,
the business and the educational
institutions need to collaborate
and to focus on relevant
measures.
On the one hand, we need to
motivate the well-educated and
qualified Bulgarians to return to
their homeland and work here
by creating favorable conditions
for professional and personal
development. Transforming the
education system and providing
high schools and universities
which are competitive to the
educational institutions in Western
Europe and the U.S. is one of the
key factors that can convince the
talented young people to stay
in Bulgaria, as well as to attract
the qualified professionals and
their families to return to their
37
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019
hometowns. On the other hand,
we could develop a program
for attracting experienced
professionals from other countries
and nationalities to choose
Bulgaria as a preferred country to
work and live in.
Do you see opportunities for
closer cross-border cooperation
in Southeast Europe to address
the challenges facing the
sector?
Yes, as I mentioned, we have
common goals – to develop the
whole SEE region as a preferred
outsourcing destination by
creating stable and secure
business and economic
environment, as well as to focus
on developing and attracting the
qualified young professionals.
How is automation of processes
affecting the sector?
Another trend transforming the
industry is the implementation of
Artificial Intelligence (AI) which
allows the automation of some
business processes. For example,
one of the services which is often
offered by the BPO companies is
company profiling. Since a person
38
can make 40 calls per day and
an AI based solution – 150 calls
per day, the automation of this
process will lead to significant
time and budget optimisations.
The new technologies will change
and transform many industries,
but they will also offer new
opportunities for the employees
to acquire new skills. As there is
a high demand for IT specialists,
the industry can benefit from
this trend and attract new
professionals.
Boundaries between
ITO and BPO are
diminishing.
Do you see any risks for the
sector arising from a possible
Brexit?
In 2015, Bulgaria won the National
Outsourcing Association (NOA)
Award of the United Kingdom for
an Outsourcing Destination of the
Year. The annual industry report
from 2017 shows that Western
European and UK clients dominate
the foreign customer base of the
Bulgarian outsourcing companies.
In this context, I believe that the
United Kingdom’s withdrawal
from the EU could have a positive
impact on the outsourcing sector. CYBER DIGITAL
SECURITY WORKSPACE
Brexit could have
a positive impact
on the outsourcing
sector.
INDUSTRY CLOUD AND
DIGITALIZATION SUPPORT SERVICES
The UK-based Global Procurement
Association predicts that a
possible Brexit will have a positive
effect on outsourcing providers
in Central and Eastern Europe,
including Bulgaria in the long
run. The main reason is the
expected shortage of skilled
labour in the UK due to the limited
migration and the strong business
motivation of British outsourcing
companies, especially in ITO, to
maintain their existing relations
within the EU.
TECHNOLOGY SERVICES SALES SERVICES
www.bulpros.com
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019

skillset or language and unused interest from investors in third prerequisite for any business case

INTERVIEW talent in other geographical areas. tier cities, especially in university and I think the governments can
We need to address this issue hubs like Brasov, Craiova, Galati, help a lot in this respect. Another
and see it as an opportunity to Oradea and Sibiu. Around 50% of important factor influencing
grow. Cross-border cooperation ABSL members have operations the growth of our industry is
Automation, can be a solution for attracting in Bucharest as well as in another our educational systems which
more projects in the region – for Tier 2 or Tier 3 city. Moreover, new need to be adapted to the new
robotics to example Romania excels at Latin delivery solutions (e.g. work from requirements of the labour
languages while Bulgaria has a home) will help companies access markets.
accelerate significant talent pool able to work untapped resource pools.
I know it is not easy, especially
in Slavic languages.
sourcing sector’s Do you see any risks or
opportunities for the sector
when we talk about state
administration, but the investment
arising from a possible Brexit?
in education drives talent pool
development in SEE development and hence growth.
Investor interest in Great Britain is one of the biggest In 2015 ABSL Romania launched,
university hubs is outsourcers in the world and a in partnership with the Bucharest
lot of companies from this region
rising. provide different services for the
University of Economic Studies
(ASE), the Business Services
Catalin Iorgulescu has been present in the ABSL Board during the last 5 years and actively UK. We will have to see how future Master Program. In 2018, 98% of
supported its development from the start to the present level by initiating and deploying the PR taxation and labour migration the first batch of graduates were
strategy aimed at increasing the Brand awareness and recognition of ABSL as the most prominent changes induced by Brexit will employed in the sector. This
Romania and Bulgaria, their
voice of the Industry. influence the industry – this is clearly confirms that investing in
capital cities in particular,
have been at the centre of the uncertain now since Brexit terms education is an essential pillar for
During this time, he also acted as an ambassador of ABSL by bringing new members, representing are still being negotiated.
development of the sourcing the future of our industry.
ABSL in various meetings with potential investors and State Authorities, and helping organize sector in the region but new
major ABSL events. cities have been emerging
Do you see the development of
Over the last 20 years he was General Manager for Samsung SSCE, Managing Director of WNS as hot locations. How do you
the sector opening up demand
expect that the sourcing
Romania, CEO for Craft Worldwide Romania and held top management positions within McCann industry landscape in Southeast Cross-border for new skills?
Erickson Group and Deloitte. Europe will change in the
coming years?
cooperation can help Our industry is at the forefront of
Catalin is a Fellow ACCA member and holds an ISACA Certification as Information Systems
Auditor since 2002 and respectively 2003.
address uneven innovation. A lot of our services
We are one of the most desired are new or have been transformed
talent distribution in significantly in the last five years.
nearshoring destinations for local
and multinational companies SEE. Our companies are investing in
What are your expectations industry and strong technological and relentless change of the which are expanding their R&D and talent development in
regarding the development expertise played an important market conditions is the new parallel and that is constantly
operations in the region due
of the outsourcing sector in role as well, and I expect that normal, where technological to skilled workforce and labor How can the governments in
creating new jobs based on new
Romania and across Southeast
Europe and what are the key
automation, robotics and artificial innovation, blockchain and arbitrage. For sure, Bucharest, the region support the sector? skillsets.
factors influencing it? intelligence will accelerate the artificial intelligence are reshaping Cluj, Iasi, Timisoara are at
sector’s development in the the nature of the industry. the center of our industry but, Fiscal and legislative stability
In the past few years, Southeast region. compared to the last years, we are a must for economic growth
What are the main challenges have observed an increased
Europe has strengthened its because predictability is a
that companies in the industry
position as a leader in nearshoring In Romania, the business services need to address and do they
for many global brands. Cultural industry is already mature but create opportunities for cross-
and geographical proximity, continues to grow. I expect the border cooperation?
highly-skilled workforce and costs companies will accelerate the
savings bring value to businesses digital transformation of their I think that one of our challenges
and create opportunities for business models in order to is uneven talent distribution.
innovation in outsourcing remain relevant in the next years. We have cities that experience
companies. The growth of the IT We can say that the continuous shortage in workforce for a certain

40 41
SOUTHEAST EUROPE SOURCING INDUSTRY 2019
Kosovo:
Riding the global
wave of aggressive outsourcing
In Kosovo, the IT sector is less than
twenty years old. In spite of its young
age, however, it is making fast growth in
line global ICT trends, with strong support
from the Kosovo ICT Association, STIKK.
Its robust health is evidenced by the fact
that ICT is one of the few sectors in the
country with a positive trade balance.
According to a recent study of the ICT
sector commissioned by STIKK, three out
of four IT companies in Kosovo (74%)
export their products and services. This
is up from 58% the previous year. The
survey, based on a sample of 36 IT
companies, was conducted between
September and November 2018. Export-
marketing success came on the back of
advantages in quality (90%), technical
knowledge (83%) and pricing (76%), as
well as a Value Added Tax (VAT) rate
of 8% and abolishment of taxes on IT
equipment imports.
A majority of the stakeholders interviewed
agreed that IT is one of the strategic
sectors for the country’s development, and
that with the establishment of the Ministry
of Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
progress has improved in supporting
existing and start-up IT companies.
At the same time on a global scale,
outsourcing is moving aggressively
forward. According to a report by the
Global Sourcing Association (GSA),
42
Companies in Kosovo do face challenges,
Media intelligence
for Southeast Europe
including lack of young, educated talent,
especially in fields such as in-house
engineers.
Among those companies interviewed in
the study of the ICT sector commissioned
by STIKK, the primary area of concern
was the lack of a skilled and qualified
workforce (78%) and the negative impact
We listen to media and online conversations
of a brain drain (92%). and translate them into actionable insights
Shortage of talent leads to upside
pressure on wages and means universities Full-spectrum media intelligence services for Southeast Europe:
must urgently update their curriculum in from real-time monitoring of your brand, to in-depth reports and consulting.
response to critical industry shortages.
Furthermore, despite the rosy prospects
70% of companies surveyed intend
for their development, to ensure sustained
to outsource more, with 35% of them
growth outsourcing companies in Kosovo
planning to do so significantly. Eighty-four
must think and act like trusted advisors
percent of service providers expect the
and not just as service providers. They
outsourcing industry to grow and 37%
should offer their clients strategic tools
believe it will increase markedly.
instead of merely a cost savings model.
Offshore outsourcing is often perceived as
The days of cost saving alone are over; 150,000+ print, online Powerful media Quantitative Consulting
now they need value-added services. and social media sources listening platform and qualitative analysis and expert assistance
being centred in Asia. However, Southeast
Europe is fast taking over as a primary
outsourcing destination. Multinationals
are getting tired of Indian providers and
are turning their eyes toward Southeast
Europe, even large Indian companies that
have their European HQ in major Eastern
European countries.
Against this backdrop, it is hardly
surprising that Kosovo, with its thriving
ICT sector, has emerged as one of
Europe’s top locations for global sourcing
of IT services. Kosovo’s appeal as an Get a free consultation
outsourcing location is heightened by its
low production costs and the country’s
or request your demo now
geographic location in Southeast Europe,
with the easy connections it provides, too
is a definite advantage.
Fatmir Hyseni is the CMO of Kosbit, Contact us at sales@perceptica.com
a global full vendor for AT&T and a and cite the SOURCING2019 code
Several of the world’s multinationals
strategic advisor for Critogo, a platform
have already moved their delivery centres
for analysing web performance, user
to Kosovo, including AT&T, Vodafone,
experience, SEO audit, and mobile
Teleperformance, and Cisco. One such
friendliness. Fatmir is passionate about
company is Kosbit, a full vendor for AT&T
digital transformation and tech startups
and a global provider of managed services
and contributes to several digital and
and IT solutions, which has been active
technology blogs.
for the last two years.
www.perceptica.com