CEE Trends For An Emerging Europe

An interesting video series on the website of Emerging Europe magazine recently explored some of the new trends and opportunities for IT and outsourcing in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region.

The 8-part video series looks at various aspects of outsourcing in Eastern Europe, but I found it particularly interesting to see that there was a strong focus on emerging locations and current Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) trends in the CEE region.

Many new locations are developing as the larger CEE cities find that their BPO industry matures. With strong competition between service providers it makes sense to explore smaller cities, especially those where universities provide a strong flow of talented people ready to work in the BPO industry.

BPO itself is also undergoing a change of attitude. Previously BPO was associated only with contact centres and many graduates are no longer interested in those jobs, however the more complex BPO being undertaken in CEE today comprises a wide range of business services – this is much more attractive than contact centres alone.

Complex industries, like financial services, being supported by suppliers in the CEE region are finding that they are developing new solutions and systems rather than taking existing processes from another region and copying them offshore. This is because many entire industries are changing fast and sourcing services from the CEE region helps them to perform in a more agile and competitive way.

This also creates a learning culture in the CEE companies where people are not just expected to copy processes from western Europe and the client companies. They are expected to anticipate how industries are shifting and to then meet the new needs of their clients – a much bigger and more exciting challenge.

The huge mega-deal of the past is less common today thanks to smaller teams of best-of-breed suppliers that can work together on deals.

The entire CEE area and the type of services being provided is dramatically evolving. I recommended watching the entire video series from Emerging Europe to get some great advice on what’s really happening.