The Upper Silesian conurbation with its capital City of Katowice is the third largest power in Poland in terms of BPO/SCC tenants number. The research was published by Colliers International in February 2014.
The analysts identified 59 outsourcing, shared service and R&D centers operating in the conurbation at present. Upper Silesia follows Kraków (80 centers) and Warsaw (168) on the list. In fact, the total number of new business service centers in the conurbation can be even higher as the Colliers data does not include such companies as Future Processing, Tele-Fonika, Sine Qua Non or HireRight.
„Katowice has been an active player in the SSC/BPO landscape in Poland for a number of years. The City has a mix of BPO providers and local and international shared service centers. However there is still plenty of room for new centres to establish themselves and operate in Katowice. The City has access to a huge labour pool and lies in close proximity to Kraków and Wrocław giving it access to business service specialists from two of Poland’s largest business service cities. In recent years there have been significant improvements in the infrastructure of both rail and road including highways to the airport, and investments in class A office space” – said Paul Jasniach, director, PwC Shared Services Advisory Centre of Excellence, quoted in the ABSL’s last year report concerning the service centers market in the Silesia Metropolis.
It is assumed that by the end of 2014, employment in the industry in the conurbation will reach 15 000 people, which is almost double when compared to the beginning of 2012. Employment in Katowice now exceeds 8 000 people. The majority of business service centers in the Silesia Metropolis are located in Katowice, which constitutes approximately 65% of total employment in the sector in this area. The largest new services centers being present in the conurbation include Capgemini (Katowice), Gallup Arteria Management (Ruda Śląska), Orange (Katowice), ING Services Polska (Katowice), Future Processing (Gliwice) and Ista (Gliwice, Katowice).
