OUTSOURCING INDUSTRY IN BULGARIA TO GROW BY 50% IN 2011
IT operations costs in our country are 25% lower than in Poland and 30% higher than in India.
The outsourcing industry in Bulgaria will grow by about 50% in 2011, one of the largest independent outsourcing companies in Eastern Europe - CallPoint New Europe - predicted. This means that the sector will hire at least 3,000 new employees and the total number of people working in it will reach some 9,000 - 10,000, explained the company. The market for such services in Bulgaria is estimated at around €100-150 mln and has the potential to increase at least tenfold, Economy Minister Traicho Traikov who participated in the conference entitled "Bulgaria on the Global Map for Outsourcing and Offshoring", organised by AmCham, reckoned yesterday. According to data of the International Research Agency A.T. Kerney, quoted by Traikov, Bulgaria is 13th in the world and first in Europe in terms of outsourcing. "It is not a bad idea for the Economy Ministry to outsource some of its activities. For example, the management of Operational Program Competitiveness can be entrusted to foreign companies. Whenever I see someone not doing his job, I say that we will pay someone else to do it and this usually works," said Traikov.
The industry is expected to reach $230 bn globally by the year 2015 and $449 bn by 2020, experts from the consulting company McKinsey pointed out. The cost savings which outsourcing provides are still the main motive for companies. Alongside, however, the access to new technologies, the quality of services, flexibility, etc. gain more importance. The average annual growth of offshoring services is 25%. In Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the industry was increasing by over 20% a year before 2008, McKinsey announced. During the crisis in 2009, almost all markets in the region reported a decline and the average growth of the industry was 11%. The only exception from the negative trend were the markets in Hungary and Slovakia. McKinsey also believes that in 2011 the growth in CEE is likely to recover and exceed 20%. The well-educated labour force and the particularly high percentage of engineers are among the strongest advantages of Bulgaria, pointed out McKinsey. It turns out that IT operations costs in our country are 25% lower than in Poland and 30% higher than in India.
