Belarusian design-driven software development company Agente announced the opening of its new front office in Gdansk. New location allows the company to better reach and more efficiently support their European customers.

Agente, a full-stack software development company with extensive experience in UX/UI design for web and mobile applications chose Gdańsk for its new European headquarter as this puts them closer to their customers, especially from the Scandinavian market.
Thanks to our presence in Poland, Agente can establish even closer ties with our European, especially Scandinavian clients and is better positioned to grow globally. Gdansk has a great location that makes the Agente team more accessible and flexible – says Andrew Terehin, CEO at Agente. With this move the company is moving towards nearshoring for European countries which brings more credibility to the collaborations.

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Sitel Group, a global leader in end-to-end customer experience (CX) products and solutions, is now officially launching its new office in Tricity. The company will start with a 85 people team with the ambition of growing to 500 people in the next couple of years.

For more than 35 years, Sitel Group has delivered great customer experiences (CX) for the world’s leading brands across all possible industries, from media and entertainment to insurance and government. Its leading activities include customer service, IT helpdesk, and telemarketing. Sitel Group delivers 4.5 million brand experiences every day in 50+ languages with a strong focus on digital CX strategies.
– We are pleased to welcome a new member on the scene of the Tricity Business Services Sector. Pomerania is open to new opportunities for growth and Sitel is definitely a key player in the global customer service market. The Tricity continues to be one of the best places for doing business in the CEE and we are here to fully support their activity. – says Mieczysław Struk, Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
– Gdańsk, Gdynia, and Sopot take pride in their diverse and multilingual talent pool along with an excellent education system and a culture of openness. Sitel Group opening an office in Gdansk is a sign that our efforts continue to pay off. Kudos to Invest in Pomerania for ensuring that we stay on the right track and continue to grow in investment attractiveness. Welcome to the Tricity, Sitel Group, we are confident that you will find great success here. – says Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Mayor of the City of Gdansk. 
The company values open-mindedness and a customer-facing approach – that is why they have decided to expand in the region and grow both their team and their client base.
– We observe that foreign languages are becoming more important. The knowledge of languages has always been a passport to the world, and that is why we chose Tricity. The agglomeration with 24 higher education institutions with more than 20 thousand graduates per year, is a huge potential talent pool for us. A diverse talent pool has always been important for us to meet the needs of our customers. – explains Monika Röhr-Łukasik, Country Director Poland – Sitel Polska.
– We are so glad to open our new contact centre in Gdańsk. As a result of strength, flexibility, a passionate team, and a deep expertise in CX strategies we experience a fast growth in this region. Tricity is the perfect place to invest and to run our growing business as well as to further expand our brand. – underlines Christian Sajons, Managing Director Germany, EE & Nordics, Sitel Group.

The company improves business results by pairing innovative design thinking and digital solutions – including self-service, artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and data-driven analytics. Sitel Group also has a development office in Warsaw and their Poland team consists of around 850 highly trained experts.
In the first phase of development, Sitel Group will be looking for English-speaking employees who love helping others, and have a basic technical understanding. The company will attract young talents – university graduates, offering great training opportunities. This is the place to grow.
Sitel Group is focused on keeping a flat organisational structure to stick to its values: Learn, Lead, and Grow. The company offers various benefits to the employees, e.g. periodic bonuses, financial support for childcare, sport and cultural events, as well as relocation packages.
About Sitel Group 
As a leading global provider of customer experience (CX) products and solutions, Sitel Group® empowers brands to build stronger relationships with their customers by creating meaningful connections that boost brand value. Inspired by each brands’ unique vision and goals, Sitel Group asks “what if?” applying its expertise to create innovative solutions that reduce customer effort.

Denver-based ServiceSource International, Inc., is celebrating its fifth anniversary in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the ongoing growth of its employees and clients in the country.
In 2016, the company accelerated its global expansion by opening a new office in Sofia, its third office in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, bringing highly sought-after careers in customer success and digital sales to the local economy. Today, the company’s Sofia operation has grown to 300 talented professionals and supports global, multilingual programs for ten B2B technology clients, including Qlik, a provider of end-to-end data integration and data analytics solutions.
“ServiceSource’s Sofia team has been a key part of our customer success and retention strategy for years. We are thrilled to be part of this milestone and to celebrate the success that our teams have accomplished together,” said Roberto Sigona, chief customer officer, Qlik.
“We entered Sofia in line with our business strategy of building presence and expertise in places where our clients are best positioned for growth,” said Mike Naughton, executive vice president, global client delivery, ServiceSource. “Since our first year of operation, we have tripled our scale in the country, and have built a thriving culture that continues to exceed our expectations and successfully delight our clients.”
“The advantage we have in this region is through the investment in our people, talented leadership on site, opportunities for career development, and exceptional employee engagement,” said Ana Drk, regional vice president, Eastern Europe, ServiceSource. “Our success shines through our culture of learning and feeling of family.”
About ServiceSource:

ServiceSource International, Inc. (NASDAQ: SREV) is a global outsourced go-to-market services provider that accelerates B2B digital sales and customer success transformation.

“If we compare it to the same period in 2019, the increase is 170%. Moreover, the number of applications for recruitment projects has exceeded the full value of applications for the whole year 2020 in the first 5 months of the year,” according to Adecco.

Romania’s economic recovery in 2021 was estimated by the International Monetary Fund at 6% of GDP. Along with Turkey and Spain, Romania has the largest projected economic recovery in Europe. Global inflation is rising and its effects will also be felt in Romania.

The effects of this economic recovery are accentuated with the optimism given by the anti-covid vaccination campaign, which has palpable effects among the population. Consumption is increasing and this influences the need for employees in the labour market. In the first 5 months of the year, Adecco Romania has registered a 100% increase in the number of applications for open positions, compared to the same period last year.

“Until recently, we have compared 2021 with 2020 only for January, February and March. Since 2020, these have been the months that were unaffected by the pandemic. Starting with March, we had to look at 2019 as a reference, when the effects of the pandemic were non-existent. 2019 was considered by many to be the employee’s year in the labour market. Candidates were very difficult to find and recruitment projects were often difficult to implement,” said Florin Godean, Country Manager Adecco Romania.
“However, comparing the data from the first 5 months of the year with the last two years, we will see that we are facing a new reality. We cannot say that we’ve gone back in time, but instead, the labour market is going through a period of reconversion. We are dealing with a large number of applications, simultaneously with the increase in the number of recruitment projects. We have not encountered such a match between supply and demand in the last 20 years. By the end of the year we will see changes in the number of employees in some sectors. We can say that the pandemic has given employees a lot to think about and now, they are reorienting themselves towards more stable sectors. Also, the need for employees is higher than in 2019, with increased volumes in all sectors and we should prepare for a new crisis of candidates,” Godean explained.
Adecco Romania is the biggest player in human resources. The company manages over 4,000 people hired temporarily and services over 700 customers daily. The Adecco team in Romania has more than 140 people and the services offered have a wide variety, from recruitment and selection, outsourcing, mass recruitment, to outplacement and training.

European leader in the BPO sector, Webhelp pursues its development strategy in Romania and adds to its portfolio a new client, an American giant, specialized in internet services and products, cloud computing, software and hardware and online advertising technologies. Thus, the company, based in Victoriei Square, is now recruiting IT specialists.
In the next six months, Webhelp is recruiting more than 300 specialists including: 52 IT professionals, 30 professionals in Finance/Accounting, Human Resources, with or without management experience and over 250 BPO specialists, who will serve market-leading companies in the Fintech, Retail, Telecom and Travel industries.
„ Contrary to the trend in our industry, the pandemic has meant for Webhelp new customers, new capabilities and an expanded team. From March 2020 to date, 5 major global brands have trusted our professionalism and chosen us to manage their client relationships. Now, thanks to this new client, we are accessing a new business sector for us, IT. A major opportunity for our business to leverage and showcase our technology expertise, and a fantastic career opportunity for IT specialists who choose to join us and work for this Webhelp client.”, states Raluca Leonte, General Manager Webhelp Romania.

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While full details are not yet available, the centre will be run by Katarzyna Zalewska.
Plans include an SSC servicing European operations, including F&A and HR.
Husqvarna is a global brand, with annual revenues of about 4 billion euro.

The first Global Business Services Center of the Ammega Group is being built in the center of Katowice. The center will implement global processes in a comprehensive manner for the Group's global operations.
Ammega will look for specialists, creating together an environment that supports loyalty, commitment, development opportunities, and use an innovative approach to creating processes using world-class technologies.
The Ammega Group is a global leader in fluid power transmission, conveying systems and distribution with recognizable and trusted global brands such as Ammeraal Beltech, Megadyne and Jason Industrial.
"Any information about new investments in progress or planned in Katowice is very important to us. This is a confirmation of the relevance of the direction we have chosen for the development of Katowice's economy towards the sector of modern business services, innovation and new technologies. The GBS center, which is being opened in Katowice by Ammega, is for us the investment that the city needs the most, as it has a significant impact on the increase in employment and the use of modern office space. The appearance of the Ammega company is yet another strengthening of the Katowice business services sector this year, confirming the investment attractiveness of our city, which in many rankings ranks among the leading places in Poland, as one of the best locations for business development", says Marcin Krupa, Mayor of Katowice.
For over 60 years, Ammega has provided industrial services in 150 locations around the world, to over 50,000 customers. The dynamic growth of the demand for automation in many key industry sectors, in each geographic region, supported by Ammega products, contributes to the continuous growth of the Group's customer portfolio. The investor's products are used in almost every industrial sector in the world, including the food industry, logistics, aerospace, automotive, pharmaceutical, retail and telecommunications. The new Global Business Services Center is one of the key initiatives in Ammega's ambitious growth plan.
"The activities of the Ammega Group are focused on cooperation with the best specialists and teams as well as building a brand that is recognizable and attractive to employees. Our goal is to strengthen and harmonize support for the strategic areas of the group and to ensure effective, integrated processes at a global level", says Marcin Nowak, Managing Director of Ammega Business Services.
The Ammega Group strives to be the preferred power transmission technology partner around the world.
The Ammega Group Global Business Services Center is located in the heart of Katowice. It is here that the company will design and comprehensively improve "end-to-end" processes for such key business areas as: finance, IT, HR, marketing, supply chain management, environmental protection, forecasting and evaluation of production data, using modern, digital solutions. The choice of the location of the office in the center of a bustling metropolis completes the direction of development of the organization focused on creating the most experienced teams and developing business relations. Thanks to its strong market position, Ammega offers stable employment and long-term prospects.

For more information: +48 532 393 555; [email protected]

LKQ Europe is opening a new Innovation and Service Centre in Katowice in mid-2021. The new centre in Poland will act as a catalyst for the company’s innovation and digitalisation strategy. This centre will enable LKQ Europe to offer innovative digital products and solutions to its customers while strengthening cost competitiveness and process efficiencies. A LKQ digital team in Poland will soon start creating an innovative digital hub to develop European-wide solutions for a state-of-the-art customer experience. LKQ’s team members throughout Europe will drive forward the company’s digital agenda and enable digitalisation and innovation.
From this year on, digital, IT and administrative operations will be also carried out by LKQ experts in Katowice. In the medium term, the site will have approximately 200–250 employees. The recruitment process started in April 2021.
“The establishment of the Innovation and Service Centre in Katowice will boost LKQ Europe’s innovation and digitalisation strategy. The city of Katowice offers an outstanding infrastructure and international talent. I am delighted that LKQ will be part of Katowice’s success story. We are seeking the most qualified people and offer them an international working atmosphere and a unique business experience to support our customers across Europe, today and in the future,” said Arnd Franz, CEO of LKQ Europe.
“We are very pleased that LKQ chose the city of Katowice for their new Innovation and Service Center and that our city gained another strong corporate partner that is committed to investing in our city and community. The company’s choice has confirmed our strong position as a center for modern business services. This decision was motivated by the access to professionals, our growing office market and by the fact that the city is easily accessible by plane, road and train. The presence of another well-known brand in Katowice will reinforce the city’s position on the investment map of Europe,” said Marcin Krupa, Katowice City Mayor.
Katowice – a city that is transforming from an industrial past to a digital future – offers a highly attractive working environment for digital natives and highly qualified employees. The LKQ Innovation and Service Center will be located centrally in the downtown district of Katowice, a vibrant spot that will support LKQ’s dynamic development and business performance as a market leader in innovation and new technologies. The Katowice facility comes in addition to LKQ’s already very successful established operations in Bangalore, India. With Katowice and Bangalore, LKQ will be able to develop future technologies for even more innovative services for its customers.

Shared services centres (SSCs) are increasingly investing in strategic capabilities to create value for parent organizations, as most of them (87 percent) are focusing on expanding remote working capabilities to ensure business process continuity, 61 percent are working on accelerating digital agenda, and 59 percent intend to increase virtual practices, due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, according to the 2021 Deloitte Global Shared Services and Outsourcing Survey conducted on over 600 leaders in 45 countries, including Romania, with shared services locations across nearly 75 countries.
The new workplace strategies in the wake of the pandemic have emerged as a key difference in this year’s survey. Organizations are searching for opportunities to generate additional cost savings and increased productivity, as almost three quarters of the respondents (73 percent) are planning to adopt a hybrid – in-office two to three days a week – or mostly remote model (14 percent) – in-office only a few days a month – and only 9 percent plan to return to the office on a daily basis. Consequently, organizations are aware of the fact that these workplace strategies will impact work culture, well-being, and future location strategy, as respondents reported developing a strong culture (77 percent), emphasizing well-being opportunities and flexible work practices (62 percent), and continuing improvement and innovation opportunities (62 percent) as the top approaches to retaining shared services employees.

The survey also highlights that digital enablers—essentially, digital technologies that improve and optimize the services provided—are critical to how SSCs innovate across functions to deliver cost savings. High-performing organizations that have successfully achieved three or more SSC objectives have adopted digital transformation as a strategic agenda: 72 percent of those have already successfully implemented RPA (robotic process automation), 55 percent have single-instance ERP (enterprise resource planning), and 53 percent have adopted cloud solutions. Process and technical complexity were cited by 43 percent of the respondents as the biggest challenge to automation.
”As companies increasingly rely on global service delivery models to provide higher value at lower cost, they are investing in the strategic capabilities of SSCs, prioritizing talent and new ways of working, and leveraging digital transformation to find a competitive advantage. Romania is the one of the leading destinations in Central and Eastern Europe for shared services centers. The development of the IT sector has made it an enabler for the automotive sector, the aerospace industry, the chemical industry, agriculture and many others,” said John Ploem, Partner, Delivery Center Enabling Services, Deloitte Romania.  
From a global perspective, India continues to be the top preferred location across most industries (consumer, energy, financial services, telecom etc.), followed by the USA. While not making the top list, Portugal and Lithuania continue to receive attention and secure global business services investments. Colombia, previously ranked in the top ten in 2019, continues to see interest, but has dropped from the list in 2021.
The study also found that most organizations reported standardization and process efficiency as their top strategic objective for SSCs in 2021 and that 78 percent have successfully achieved it. Reducing cost (top priority in 2019) and driving business value follow closely and have remained immediate and tangible benefits of establishing an SSC. Of those organizations identifying cost reduction as an objective, 88 percent had achieved their cost reduction goals.