Abstract
It is no secret that the costs of doing business
in CE are rising quickly. Salaries, rent, and overall costs
of living have risen dramatically in recent years. This has
made the CE region noticeably more expensive than its neighbors
to the east, which are now aggressively competing for their
share of the offshore/nearshore business. With costs rising, the CE
region will need to highlight its experience when trying to
win new business. The countries of CE are all capable
of delivering quality services, which will become a key differentiator,
especially as prices throughout CEE continue to rise. By focusing
on other key indicators, like market experience, and not solely
on costs, CE countries will still win business over those
countries not yet as experienced in the offshore/nearshore sourcing market.
It
should be noted that there are additional indicators that may
be of interest to a company looking to set up
offshore. An in-depth analysis of a company' s business requirements should
be developed, which can then be mapped to the respective
country indicators. A customized study can then be developed to
determine which country best suits a company' s business requirements.
In the
first of a three-part study of 13 countries in CEE,
IDC has developed a comprehensive and in-depth framework to evaluate
individual countries' readiness and suitability for technological and business process
outsourcing.
The data and results of this study are intended to
help IT and business services providers, as well as end
users, to gain a clearer picture of the suitability of
individual countries in the region as sourcing locations for different
types of technological and business process outsourcing.
This study analyzes four
CE countries with regard to the following five factors:
- Skills resources
- Economic
and political
- Infrastructure
- Business and regional
- Financial
The study profiles each country based on
quantitative data relating to the above five categories for the
years 2007 and 2008 (where data is available and relevant;
data relating to education and language learning is from 2006
and 2007, and data related to language proficiency is from
2002 and 2005) and offers a qualitative analysis of the
data. In addition, this study provides comparative analysis between the
countries and with Ireland. Data on Ireland is provided for
comparison, as the country is considered a mature provider of
outsourced services in Europe and thus serves as a benchmark
for European offshore/nearshore outsourcing.
"The countries of CE remain, to varying
degrees, very suitable sourcing locations. While costs have risen in
recent years, the countries have benefited from being at the
forefront of the offshore/nearshore boom. They have proven themselves capable
of staffing numerous types and sizes of centers, whether BPO,
IT services, or R&D. The economic crisis, by stunting wage
growth and bringing down costs in other key sectors of
the region' s economies, has actually served to help the CE
countries regain some of the attractiveness they had lost as
sourcing locations." – Senior Research Analyst Curtis Robinson, IDC CEMA
Table of Contents
- IDC Opinion
- In This Study
- Methodology
- Executive Summary
- Situation Overview
- CE Countries Competitive Despite Rising Costs
- CEE: A Bona Fide Global Services Market Competitor
- Resources Skills Factors
- Education Levels
- Language Education
- Language Proficiency
- Resource Availability
- Work Culture
- Analysis of Resources Skills Factors by Country
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
- Poland
- Hungary
- Economic and Political Factors
- Political Commitment
- Administrative Burden
- Intellectual Property Protection (IPP)
- Economy
- Analysis of Economic and Political Factors
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
- Poland
- Hungary
- Infrastructure Factors
- ICT Infrastructure
- Transportation
- Analysis of Infrastructure Factors
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
- Poland
- Hungary
- Business and Regional Factors
- Perceived Country Attractiveness
- Employee Acquisition and Dismissal
- Experience Hosting IT Services and BPO Centers
- Real Estate
- Analysis of Business and Regional Factors
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
- Poland
- Hungary
- Financial Factors
- Compensation
- Tax and Country-Specific Costs
- Capital and Variable Costs
- Analysis of Financial Factors
- Czech Republic
- Slovakia
- Poland
- Hungary
- Future Outlook
- What Does This Mean?
- Resource Skills: Crisis Brings Sanity to Labor Market
- Economic and Political Factors: CE Still Competitive in Face of Crisis
- Infrastructure: CE the Best in CEE
- Business and Regional Factors: Small Cities Offer Big Advantages
- Financial Factors: Numerous
- Essential Guidance
- Crisis Will Deepen CE Capital City Labor Pools
- CE Experience A Key Differentiator
- Establish in Secondary Cities, Recruit Abroad
- CE Can Take Advantage of Nearshore Business in the Near Term
- Learn More
- Related Research
- Definitions
- Methodology
- Selection of Profiled Countries
- Resources Skill Factors
- Economic and Political Factors
- Infrastructure Factors
- Business and Regional Factors
- Financial Factors
- Synopsis
- Table: Comparison of Resources Skill Factors (%)- Tertiary Education levels, 2006–2007
- Table: Comparison of Resources Skill Factors (%) – Language Learning, 2006–2007
- Table: Comparison of Resources Skill Factors (%) – Language Proficiency, 2002 and 2005
- Table: Comparison of Resources Skill Factors (%)- Resource Availability, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Resources Skill Factors – Work Culture, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Economic and Political Factors – Political Commitment, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Economic and Political Factors – Regulatory Environment, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Economic and Political Factors – Intellectual Property Protection, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Economic and Political Factors – Economy, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Infrastructure Factors – ICT infrastructure, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Infrastructure Factors – Transportation, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Business & Regional Factors – Perceived Country Attractiveness, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Business & Regional Factors – Employee Acquisition and Dismissal, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Business & Regional Factors – Market Experience, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Business & Regional Factors – Real Estate, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Financial Factors – Compensation, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Financial Factors – Tax and Country-specific costs, 2007–2008
- Table: Comparison of Financial Factors – Capital and Variable Costs, 2007–2008
