Dyson, the British producer of, among others vacuum cleaners, has open recruitment for several dozen positions, including finance and HR specialists, in the service center that is currently under construction in Krakow, which will ultimately have 300 employees. An American manufacturer of medical equipment, which may enter Poland, wants to employ the same. AT&T plans to employ over 700 people in the operations center in Katowice
200 people may be recruited by Zimmer Biomet, a NYSE-listed manufacturer of surgical equipment. Leo Pharma, a large pharmaceutical company, is considering opening a service center in Tricity, which will employ up to 300 people. The center of a company from the FMCG sector may appear in Warsaw or Łódź and employ 300 people. Only these six companies can create over 2 thousand. jobs. And the list goes on.

The manufacturer goes into service. It has the ambition to become a comprehensive provider of digital transformation solutions.
Sharp Europe is building a new IT services business unit. It is created shortly after the acquisition of the Swiss company ITpoint, specializing in managed services. The second key acquisition for the new business is the British VAR Complete I.T., acquired in 2019. Its founder, Colin Blumenthal, will lead Sharp’s new business in Europe.

Poland will play a significant role in the development of Sharp Europe’s service business. The company has established the European Technology Support Center (ETSC) in Warsaw, which will provide a multilingual helpdesk for European clients. Domestic branches, in cooperation with the Polish center, will offer Sharp’s clients in Europe various IT services supporting business, including digital security or solution monitoring.

Staples Solutions today announces that it has entered into an agreement with Lyreco, a leading distributor of office products, to sell Staples Solutions' business units in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Poland, as well as its central support services (including IT, eCommerce, Merchandising, Supply Chain Planning and Finance) primarily located in Poland and The Netherlands. The intended sale is subject to completion of certain employee consultation and regulatory procedures. "I could not be more pleased that we found such a strong match with Lyreco, a major player in our industry. Staples Solutions has been on a remarkable journey after separating from its US parent more than four years ago. We put the customer at the core of our decision making, we broadened our workspace solutions, we localized and simplified our operations; returning to profitability at the end of last year. We have become a better business, and reached a natural point in our journey for this transaction. I know that our people will continue to thrive and contribute to Lyreco's success," said Dolph Westerbos, Chief Executive Officer at Staples Solutions.
"The Staples Solution team is a highly recognized one within our industry, and we share the same Passion for our customers. I am very much looking forward to welcoming them within our organization to put our common energy together to deliver excellence. I am convinced that this intended acquisition will enable us to provide an even better service to customers of both our companies," states Greg Liénard, Chief Executive Officer at Lyreco.

New business service centers planned to be established in Poland by companies such as Dyson, Zimmer Biomet or Leo Pharma can create over 2,000 jobs.

Dyson, the British producer of, among others vacuum cleaners, has open recruitment for several dozen positions, including finance and HR specialists, in the service center that is currently under construction in Krakow, which will ultimately have 300 employees. An American manufacturer of medical equipment, which may enter Poland, wants to employ the same. AT&T plans to employ over 700 people in the operations center in Katowice

200 people may be recruited by Zimmer Biomet, a NYSE-listed manufacturer of surgical equipment. Leo Pharma, a large pharmaceutical company, is considering opening a service center in Tricity, which will employ up to 300 people. The center of a company from the FMCG sector may appear in Warsaw or Łódź and employ 300 people. Only these six companies can create over 2000 jobs. And the list goes on.
Source: Puls Biznesu (in Polish)

Sopra Steria Polska has its offices in the Altus skyscraper in the center of Katowice. He deals with digital services, consulting and creates software. The company has been present in Katowice since 2007 and was one of the first companies in the modern services sector to invest here. Today it employs around 1,000 people.

Now, Sopra Steria Polska has announced that it will employ over 300 new employees this year. People with competences in the field of cloud technologies, operating systems, databases and application support will be sought. The company is also looking for Java, .Net and Service Now specialists. There are also plans to implement projects in the areas of Data Science, automation and network security.

In 2021, the Wrocław team will increase by 110 people. The number of people involved in the development of Infor Workforce Management (employee scheduling software) will increase significantly by 35 people. Another 40 employees will be employed by the teams responsible for the development of two key ERP systems of the company: Infor LN and Infor M3. It is also planned to increase employment in the area of ​​Infor Managed Services (extended IT support), as well as specialist teams dealing with, inter alia, business analytics, artificial intelligence and big data.
One of the products developed in Wrocław is Infor Birst® – a Business Intelligence platform for collecting data and conducting business analyzes. Thanks to the use of automation and machine learning in this solution, enterprises can better understand the data and thus make the right decisions quickly. Data analysis in this product is based on data collected in the cloud only. This allows you to shorten the implementation time with an increased number of data sources. The team dealing with the Infor Birst® product in Wrocław currently consists of 10 employees developing the product and 2 consultants who conduct projects throughout Europe. The Infor Birst® team has been operating for a year. In 2021, it will increase by another 5 people with education and experience in the IT sector.
Infor is a global leader in industry-specific cloud business software. Mission-critical business applications are delivered to 67,000 customers in more than 175 countries.

Latvia is the heart of the New Nordics
The Investment and Development Agency of Latvia has delivered outstanding results in 2020 by doubling FDI inflow and workplaces compared to 2019. Around one-third of new jobs will be created by newly established ICT companies and business service centre.
Latvia has proved to be a reliable and resilient location for doing business despite the pandemic. Some industries have managed to adapt to the new reality, and even expand. The winners of 2020 were export companies including business service centres. Furthermore, the export of goods has reached a new record and grew by 1,7% compared to 2019.
A number of incentives have been implemented by the Investment and Development Agency. The fast-track “green channel” for hi-tech FDI projects (incl. IT and business service centres) that cuts administrative procedures by half (e.g. immigration, construction, etc.). The new employee training programme has been expanded and 7,9 million euro was allocated for labour force upskilling, knowledge transfer and high-quality training for specialists. In total there are more than 40 various incentives for business development, innovation and workforce development.
The notable newcomers that will create up to 900 new jobs in IT and Business Service industries were “Prime Force”, “q.beyond (QSC)”, “Swisscom”, and “Norwegian air”. Fuel and retail company “Circle-K” started to serve the US and Canada markets from their Riga office that grew from 100 to nearly 700 FTEs. Global business service industry company “Webhelp” has added another office in the second tier city (Daugavpils) and plans to employ up to 300 people in 2021. Overall we expect that business service centres will continue to expand their teams by 7-10% as in previous years.
Latvia has a low saturation rate of people employed in the business service centres compared to other capitals in Eastern Europe. Additionally, Riga has the lowest A-class office rent rates with around 170 000 sqm of office project pipeline until 2023.
Latvia is an attractive place for foreign specialists with the best housing availability index and the lowest residential price per square meter in the Baltics (by Swedbank). Furthermore, the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia has already assisted at least 17 hi-tech companies from Belarus that have already set up a new office or expanded existing one in Latvia. There is growing interest among startups since Altvia has been recognized as one of the most startup-friendly countries in the world (by Index Ventures). Foreign companies appreciate the ease of doing business, competitive tax policy, access to the markets, superior connectivity through a leading airport in the Baltics, well-established IT infrastructure, a multilingual and educated talent pool of Latvia.
At CEE Business Services Awards 2021 senior investment advisor Tarass Leo
ko (Investment and Development Agency of Latvia) will share more highlights and insights about Latvia and the business service industry in cooperation with ABSL Latvia and Riga City Council.

Itransition, a software services provider with the network of delivery/development centres across the US and Europe, has announced plans to open a software development and delivery centre in Vilnius. The company is looking to hire up to 30 developers and other IT specialists in the near future.
Itransition was born in 1998, when ten IT engineers established the company’s first development centre in Belarus, followed by representative offices in the US and the UK, that quickly turned into their US and European headquarters. Today, Itransition is one of the leading software services companies in the world, employing more than 2,200 specialists across 10 development centres globally. To support the company’s continuous growth, Itransition is seeking to expand its presence in Europe. Opening a development centre in Lithuania is a key step in this endeavour.
“Expanding our portfolio of European clients is one of our strategic objectives,” says Yaroslav Myakotkin, Director of Itransition’s Lithuanian office. “The opening of the new Vilnius office will help us strengthen the connection with our current and facilitate the acquisition of new EU-based customers.”

Itransition’s development and delivery centre in Vilnius will carry out full-cycle software development, DevOps, QA, and sales/account management functions.
“In the foreseeable future, we plan to grow our Vilnius team up to 30 people,” says Mr. Myakokin. “We are happy to work with developers, project managers, business analysts, and QA engineers of senior, middle, or junior levels.”

Dematic, who is an intralogistics innovator that designs, builds and supports intelligent, automated solutions has expanding its presence in Lithuania. The company has announced plans to hire another 100 specialists in Controls, Mechanical engineering, Software Development and Solutions Development in 2021.
When Dematic opened its Engineering and Consulting office in Kaunas in 2007, the plan was to hire 60 specialists to work in engineering and computer simulation areas. With Dematic’s continued global growth and the steady local supply of highly qualified specialists, the company expanded its Lithuania-based teams during the first 10 years of operations. After a successful 2016, Dematic decided to hire 40 additional specialists in 2017–2020.
Dematic’s growth in Lithuania has exceeded these expectations threefold – adding another office in Vilnius, the company currently employs more than 180 people. In 2020 alone, during the peak of the pandemic, Dematic Lithuania managed to grow by 56 employees.
“Dematic is continuously expanding, and we need more and more specialists with great engineering skills to work both in Lithuania and abroad,” says Vadim Major, Head of Engineering and Director at Dematic’s Kaunas office. “Dematic is committed to Lithuania because of its large pool of well-educated, skilled and highly motivated individuals who are the key to providing high value-added engineering services.”
“Based upon continued growth plans over the coming years, Dematic is committed to continue growing the Lithuanian team by hiring 100 mechanical, controls, software, solutions development, systems integration engineers and their managers. “Controls engineering, software development and mechanical engineering are the core functions at our office,” Major explains. “We provide comfortable base for engineers to develop their skills to world-class professional standard in their home country with opportunities to travel and apply them on projects abroad.”

Lionbridge, a global leader in translation and localization solutions, confirmed the close of the previously announced sale of its artificial intelligence (AI) division, Lionbridge AI, to TELUS International, a digital customer experience innovator that designs, builds and delivers next-generation solutions for global and disruptive brands. TELUS International is a subsidiary of Canada-based TELUS Corporation (T-TSX; NYSE-TU), a leading communications and information technology company. The transaction closed on December 31, 2020.

Lionbridge AI will complement TELUS International's expanding portfolio of next-generation digital solutions as the organizations team up to support the rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence. The sale of Lionbridge AI will further Lionbridge's commitment to delivering innovation for its core language customers across technology, life sciences, games, digital commerce and more.
"Combining Lionbridge's AI business with TELUS International's advanced set of digital platforms will create a newly formed company with a unique set of cutting-edge solutions. In addition to enhancing TELUS International's go-to-market strategy, we felt this merger was a very good cultural fit for our talented global team given our companies' shared commitment to employee engagement and well-being," said John Fennelly, CEO of Lionbridge. "I have no doubt that our AI team and their expanding community will continue to thrive as part of TELUS International."
"2021 will mark the 25th anniversary of Lionbridge and there is no better time for us to return to our roots, lead the way in transforming the language space and continue to deepen our relationships with our customers," continued Fennelly. "I'm excited for the possibilities in store as we enter this next chapter and accelerate our focus on innovation, technology and bringing new products and services to market."

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Lionbridge in connection with the transaction.