26 Winners at 14th annual CEE Business Services Summit & Awards

231 top execs from 97 Business Services Centers across CEE and Baltics attended the 14th annual CEE Business Services Summit & Awards.

82 top companies were Short-Listed as finalists in 24 Awards categories.

100+ Photos here.

In a tight competition among world-class firms, votes from our 29-member VIP Jury were combined with our Popular Vote from all attendees via the Brella platform. The combined voting distinguished the following Winners:

Top Employer Branding Initiative: Rocket Software Lithuania
Top IT Outsourcing Services Partner in CEE: Stefanini Group
Emerging City of the Year: Kaunas
Most-promising New-entrant “Business Services” Investor: Danone
Best City: “After-Care Investor Services”: Vilnius
Business Centre Director – GBS – CEE: Atea Global Services
Business Centre Director – GBS – Poland: Sterling - Harry Virdee
Top CSR Initiative – Hungary: Epta International
Top CSR Initiative – Romania: Booking Holdings Romania
Top CSR Initiative – Baltics/CEE: Cencora Lithuania
Top CSR Initiative – Poland: HEINEKEN Global Shared Services
Most Vibrant Employer – Bulgaria: Elevate Change
Most Vibrant Employer – Hungary: TATA Consultancy Services
Most Vibrant Employer – Latvia: GoCardless
Most Vibrant Employer – Lithuania: Nasdaq
Most Vibrant Employer – Poland: Żabka Polska
Most Vibrant Employer – Slovakia: Holcim European Business Services
Best University-Business Cooperation – Slovakia: IBM International Services Centre Slovakia
Best University-Business Cooperation – Baltics: MSC Shared Service Center Riga
Best University-Business Cooperation – Poland: PwC Service Delivery Center
Top GBS Transformation Initiative of the Year – CEE: Elevate Change
Top GBS Transformation Initiative of the Year – Baltics: Dexcom
Top GBS Transformation Initiative of the Year – Poland: Danone
Top AI Application or Implementation Project of the Year (3 Winners, reflecting the significance of AI to the GBS sector): Roche Services & Solutions EMEA (Riga & Budapest), Tesco Business Solutions, and Devoteam.

Achievements of the Winners (3 bullet point for each entry) - posted here. 

This 14th annual event was organized by European Business Services Association and CEE Business Media, and MC'ed by Thom Barnhardt.

The Awards were preceded by the 2-day Summit, with 36 Panelists and Speakers (on topics such as AI-applied to GBS sector, GBS Transformation, Geopolitics of the CEE region, Resilience and Adaptation, FDI Masterclass, Financial Services Panel, and Newcomers Panel). Top GBSs from across CEE were also profiled in our Showcase Presentations.

Partners and Speakers of the event included: Polish Institute of International Affairs, PWC, Transparent, City of Riga, High Radius, Alcon, LocationPerspectives, IBM Locations International, JPMorganChase, BNP Paribas CIB, Societe General CIB, Proservartner, Universal Investment, and Lapp Business Services.

Attendees: Top execs from across the CEE and Baltics region's leading Business Services Centres attended, including from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine - and also guests from United States, UK, France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Denmark, Italy, India, and Portugal.


Companies attending included:
ABB, Adaptive Group, AFR, AICPA-CIMA, Alcon Polska, AmCham Slovakia, Antal, Astellas Pharma, Atea Global Services, BALL, Bank Pekao, Belvedere International, BNP Paribas CIB, Booking Holdings Romania, Brenntag, Bystronic, Capita, Carnival Cruise, CEE Business Media Europe, Cencora Business Services Lithuania, CFO Centre, Citco Fund Services Lithuania, City of Riga, Clariant, Concentrix, Cushman Wakefield, Danfoss, Danone, Devoteam, Dexcom Lithuania, DFCG (French CFO Association), Diebold-Nixdorf, Dragsholm Slot - Relais & Châteaux, Eaton, EDP Global Solutions, Elevate Change, Epta International, Equinix, European Business Services Association, Fab Lab Iasi, Forvis/Mazars, Friesland Campina, Gates Corporation, GoCardless, Goodyear, Harmodesk, HB Reavis, Heineken, High Radius, HIPA, Holcim European Business Services, IBA Group, IBA IT Georgia, IBM-Plant Location International, init Germany, Invest in Pomerania, Invest Lithuania, iSPOT, ISS World Services Poland, ista Customer Services Poland, Itelence, Johnson Matthey Global Business Services, JPMorgan Chase & Co., KaunasIN, Ketjen LLC, KLM/Air France, Lapp Group, Lexmark Budapest Competence Center, Locationperspectives, LutherOne, Malecki Executive Search, Metsa Group, Montblanc, Moodys, MSC Shared Service Center Riga, Nasdaq Vilnius Services, Norse Atlantic Airways Latvia, PerkinElmer, PISM, Plus8Soft, Praedictio.ai, Process Solutions, Proservartner, PWC, PwC Germany, PwC Netherlands, PwC SDC Lviv, PwC Service Delivery Center, Qemetica / CIECH Services, Randstad, Riga Investment Agency, Roche Services & Solutions, Rocket Software, Rockwell Automation, SARIO, Scania, SEB Global Services, Securitas, Services financiers, Simcorp, Skanska, Smith + Nephew, Societe General, Societe General Corporate & Investment Banking, Sodexo, Stefanini, Stefanini Poland, Sterling, Tata Consultancy Services, Tesco Business Solutions, Transparent, Trivium Packaging BSC, Europe, Universal Investment, WEIG, Wolves Europe, Żabka Polska.

Among the Winners was Blagovesta Karemova, Dyrektor ONE DANONE Business Services (CEN&UKI): „The EBSA awards - for two of our units - confirm the key role our Polish competence centres play in Danone's global operations. They consistently centralize and standardize processes—from transactional operations to end-to-end planning—using advanced analytics and technologies to increase operational efficiency. Both our centres in Warsaw and Katowice already employ over 800 highly qualified experts. It is these experts— planners, analysts, finance specialists, and IT specialists —who drive the strength of our competence centers. I am proud that in both locations we have created a work environment that not only ensures stable employment but, above all, provides real development opportunities in areas that will be crucial for the future.”

Save the Date: 24-25 February 2027 for the 15h annual CEE Business Services Summit & Awards.

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