The urban mobility company, TK Elevator, will establish a shared service center in Budapest. Named Solution Center Europe (SCE), it will provide selected Finance and HR processes for the group's European and African operations. The company envisions scaling up to 70 employees within the first 12 months, with a prospective possible size of up to 220 jobs over the following two years.
Over recent decades, TK Elevator has achieved a leading position among elevator companies in the world, and in August 2020 it became independent of the thyssenkrupp AG group. With 50,000 employees, the company serves customers in over 100 countries. The product portfolio covers commodity elevators for residential and commercial buildings using cutting-edge, highly customized solutions for state-of-the-art skyscrapers. In addition, elevators and moving walkways, passenger boarding bridges, as well as stair and platform elevators are also part of the portfolio. In addition to English and German, it is foreseen that the new center to be established in Budapest will provide assistance to TK Elevator's customers in several additional languages. The company plans to employ some 70 employees in the first 12 months, then this number could increase to 220 in the next two years that follow; while training projects worth more than HUF 900 million will be launched for the development of professional skills. Ingo Angermann, as VP-Controller of the Group, will oversee the new SSC. Video at HIPA.hu For years, companies originating from the Far East have been present on the Polish manufacturing and automotive market. The business services parts of their operations have often followed in the footsteps of manufacturing plants. Among potential locations, the Tricity has proved to be one of the preferred spots and its importance should grow further in the post-pandemic recovery period, and here’s why:
Location, location, relocation The Tricity has developed a strong Business Services Sector (BSS) ecosystem in the last decade, attracting more and more foreign investment projects. Alongside the well-known US brands operating in the region, there is also a significant group of companies with Japanese origins. – Among the key global directions we look towards for FDI, we would traditionally list out the Nordics, USA and Germany or the UK. But for the last decade, mainly due to the dynamic growth of the BSS sector, a significant number of worldwide renowned brands that have their roots in Japan have launched their operations in Pomerania. We have high hopes for expanding this trend and developing the number of companies originating from the business and innovation titan. We want to prove Pomerania is a willing and able business partner, matching high Japanese standards! – says Marcin Grzegory, Deputy Director at Invest in Pomerania. The Tricity is home to leading Japanese brands, such as Ricoh, Fujifilm, Nippon Seiki, and ONE. Although these companies represent different sectors, they have shared common experiences and criteria while establishing their offices in Pomerania. With only a handful of employees, the establishment of Ricoh’s first Business Services office in Poland was preceded by a careful consideration of many other locations, both in Poland and elsewhere. – We started with a very typical shared services approach – says Jessika Jeschor, Head of Business Services at Ricoh EMEA – These were transactional activities in the area of finance and administration that involved a lot of data entry, accounting services, and sales order processing of our Ricoh operating companies across EMEA. Today, the company employs 240 people and has transformed into a very diverse and highly specialised team, at the same time taking care of a number of various processes: supply chain, data governance, leasing, sales support, professional services, e-commerce, and digital marketing. Ricoh is not the only company originating from Japan that has opted for Pomerania. Global operations While many Japanese brands in Europe still have their back-offices, as well as financial, accounting, and IT departments based in the UK, France or Germany, we can see the shift taking place, as more of these companies set up their shared services centres in Poland – including the Tricity. – I see a steady growth of Japanese SSCs in Poland – says Thom Barnhardt, founder of CEE Business Media, Inc. and organiser of award events focused on Central and Eastern Europe – Poland is well placed, with a strong talent pool and extensive SSC network. That’s exactly what convinced Fujifilm Europe to open its shared services centre in Gdańsk. Today, they are carrying out operational processes in the areas of finance, procurement, and human resources as part of Fujifilm Europe. Why was Tricity chosen as the location? – It was carefully selected with the support of a scoring matrix based on our requirements for the establishment of [such centres] – says Michał Wojciechowski, Shared Service Director at Fujifilm Europe Business Service Sp. z o.o in Gdańsk – Location, skilled staff availability, and infrastructure were the deciding factors and it is fair to say overall 100 cities were considered and in the final stage Gdańsk won against 2 European capital locations in the region. After 5 years since our establishment, there is no debate that this was the right choice – he adds. This opinion is reflected in many other conversations we’ve had with the representatives of Japanese-based businesses. Why Tricity Ricoh’s global business services centre in Gdańsk is supporting the company’s entities across the EMEA region, covering everything from accounts payable and receivable, general ledger, order handling, supply chain and financial control in close cooperation with the finance departments of Ricoh entities across the region. As they were looking at other potential locations in Poland and in other countries, they had a number of criteria in mind that had to be fulfilled. Political stability, good connectivity and proximity to the key markets were among the decisive factors. The Gdańsk airport has very good connections with Scandinavia, and those are the markets that we are working very closely with – says Jessika Jeschor. The company also wanted to avoid overcrowded markets. – I used to work for some time in Krakow and Warsaw, and in this case we were rather looking for a mid-sized market, where you get quality over quantity. And we’ve never regretted our decision. It’s a very good location for BSS operations and I’d say people are the most important reason – Ms Jeschor says – Talent and language availability – these were the key factors for us to locate our operations in Gdańsk. The location of the Tricity near ports is also a huge asset for foreign investment. – The development of the Tricity, and especially the visible expansion of the Port of Gdańsk, shows that the Tricity is firmly rooted on the port map of Europe – admits Reiner Zimbalski, Director of the Central Service Unit at the Ocean Network Express Ltd. (ONE). As part of the continuous improvement process, ONE’s office in Gdańsk assesses the quality of internal processes in the group, develops best practices, optimises logistics, and coordinates the flow of information between ships and seaports, serving more than 20 ports – from Scandinavia/Baltic, continental Europe to the UK and the Mediterranean Sea. Container Management is providing the containers in the right place, right size, right time, and needed volume within Europe and Africa. In addition, the team in Gdańsk also organises the processes of maintenance and repair of containers to assure availability of containers in sound conditions. People first Pomerania is the largest academic centre in northern Poland with 24 higher education institutions and over 80 thousand students in total. These include the internationally-recognised Gdańsk University of Technology, University of Gdańsk and Gdynia Maritime University. The Tricity is also home to the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology, offering not only courses in computer science, but also in such fields as New Media Arts and Culture of Japan. With a good educational offer, the Tricity is a regional magnet for talents and has a top rank in the country in terms of positive internal and foreign migration balance. Moreover, about half of the workforce is concentrated in the Tricity agglomeration, which favours specialisation of qualified personnel, thus making it easy for investors to source talents they need. Talent attraction and retention is supported by Invest in Pomerania via their Live more. Pomerania and Jobs@Pomerania initiatives. Both are focused on international business stakeholders already present or willing to move to the region. Thanks to the job portal, all clients can have access to more than 3,000 resumes corresponding to 6 most desired profiles in the region. Learn more at: https://jobs.livemorepomerania.com. We have a very good mix of talents here, in Pomerania – confirms Ms Jeschor – We are supporting companies and countries across Europe, so, besides the technical skill set, languages are important. It’s also a part of our culture that we want to have a very diverse workforce, consisting of people from different backgrounds, with different experiences, from different countries. The Tricity area is providing us with an excellent talent pool, because people here are usually well educated and English is the business language. Nippon Seiki is another example of a global company making use of the local talent pool, in this case – engineering talents. – Gdańsk, Sopot, and Gdynia are among the most desired locations to set up a new business or expand an existing one – says Jolanta Gronowska, Office Coordinator at Nippon Seiki (Europe) B.V. The local branch in Gdańsk is one of the companies operating in the automotive industry in northern Poland. It directly supplies manufacturers of European premium car brands. Engineers from Gdańsk co operate closely with Nippon Seiki’s engineering centres in Germany, the UK, and Japan. The centre in Gdańsk currently employs 80 people but is planning a further expansion by hiring Project Managers, Software Engineers, Software Test Engineers, System/Requirement Engineers, Software Quality Assurance Engineers, and DevOps Engineers, mostly seniors and mid-levels. – Our specialists work on the specification of requirements, design, creation, and testing of driving information systems software – says Wojciech Gutowski, Nippon Seiki (Europe) B.V. Branch Manager Gdańsk – We engineer software that ends up in the final product: cars from big premium European car manufacturers. The investment potential of the Tricity results from its rich educational and business offer based on the proximity of major companies and universities forming an inter-connected hub. – The Tricity is a well-known location across Europe, being an academic and business cluster attracting many investors, which leads to the rapid growth of the whole region due to prompt technological know-how and human capital exchange resulting in constant development – Mr Gutowski says. International work culture Global companies also choose Pomerania for another reason: the possibility to instantly implement an international work culture. – As an international, well-known corporation, the subsidiary in Gdańsk follows cultural standards of an international corporation and, from that perspective, it is not impacted by the ownership structure. In addition our local approach is heavily focused on People – explains Michał Wojciechowski, Shared Service Director at Fujifilm Europe Business Service Sp. z o.o in Gdańsk. The proximity of Polish and Japanese work cultures allows for the adoption of Japanese traditional values in the local context. Ricoh was founded more than 80 years ago in Tokyo, today, it is a global company. Still, it tries to keep the founding spirit alive. We call it the spirit of 3 loves – says Jessika Jeschor – Love your neighbour, love your country, love your work. Admittedly, whenever I explain it to new people joining the company, I’m aware it can sound a bit odd and old-fashioned nowadays. But if you translate it into the contemporary context, it is more valid than ever and reflects our CSR engagement and commitment to global sustainability goals – she adds. When asked about some of the biggest differences in the business culture, Ms Jeschor says: On the surface and compared to other cultures, the decision making processes in Japanese-heritage companies can be seen as slower, but I think there is a lot of value in this different kind of agility. The tacit cultural differences underlie all aspects of working life, from how you relate to your boss to how a decision process is made. Japanese work culture has many “highs”: they have very high standards in quality of product and quality of processes, they fully expect high trust, they expect high performance outcomes. – Agility is key and has helped us to accelerate our digital services portfolio throughout the pandemic – says Jessika Jeschor – In order to define our strategic direction here in Ricoh, we are working based on global mid-term plans and I find that a very good way of working, everybody is aware of the strategic goals, where we are going, and what are the steps to take us there. The testimonials above come from representatives of Japan-based companies present in the region. Hitachi ABB Power Grids, NordGlass, and Yusen Logistics are other examples of international companies with Japanese roots that have also decided to invest and expand their businesses in Pomerania. Post-pandemic future The pandemic has caused all businesses to take a step back, re-strategise and come back with even bigger plans. As can be seen in our annual state of BSS report, the BSS is a sector that stands a chance of benefiting from the situation. As more companies will be looking to consolidate their activities in shared services, one can expect a bigger appetite to place more work with the business services providers. – COVID has changed our perspective, as probably for anybody else – says Ms Jeschor – It’s a phase of uncertainty, so we are in the process of adjusting our plans. However, generally speaking, and I would imagine this applies to the whole BSS sector, as many companies are required to restructure in the view of declining revenues and adjust their cost side, I do think that opportunities for our line of business are there. – She expects the Ricoh centre in Gdańsk to come out of the phase of stabilisation soon and gear towards further growth throughout this year. The Nippon Seiki Europe office in Gdańsk is also planning to expand. In order to meet the increased needs of the European market, the centre will create new positions in engineering as well as in administration. The Gdańsk team will play an increasingly important role in the development of future Nippon Seiki products that will also be manufactured in Poland – We want to continue to add more enthusiastic and capable resources to our existing highly experienced team so that we may continue to support the rising customer demands for our exciting and stimulating products. The investment we are making in Poland is an important part of our plans across the globe – Wojciech Gutowski says. This vision hinges not only on the triad: talent pool – infrastructure – location but also on cultural proximity – Japanese culture is actually very close to Polish culture – concludes Ms Gronowska – and we are, of course, cost competitive and have a stable economic and political situation. These and other benefits attract international investors. Close relationships with Scandinavian companies, for which CEE is a nearshore destination, is just an example. This ecosystem is favourable to forming new, convenient international partnerships and strengthening the existing community. Think globally, act locally The Tricity is as diverse as the brands operating in the whole of Pomerania. The development of the region is directly linked to FDIs from various fields, implementing a wide range of products and services and searching for all kinds of talents. This goal can be achieved only in cooperation between local entities and both existing and incoming global brands. Japanese companies are a strong pillar of the regional FDI landscape and they continue to increase their share. Building on the “we care more” creed, what distinguishes the Tricity from other Polish cities is its pioneering vision for the building of diversified human resources based on openness to migrants, rooted in the Hanseatic traditions. The awareness of the added value of diversity and its enormous potential for boosting economic and social growth is shared by all sectors and milieus: local administration, businesses, academia and social organisations. The immigrant integration and the equal treatment models, constitute a practical implementation of this vision. The region cohesively and seamlessly brings together all the players to offer a synchronized and unified interface consisting of extensive and in-depth toolkits, single-window services, tech visas and much more. It’s an economy based on creativity, cooperation & a friendly business environment, where R&D meets the needs of businesses; tapping into the international flow of information, knowledge and economic cooperation. A strategic location in terms of connectivity and access to both local, domestic and international markets. A world-class education system with public-private partnerships and innovative courses is what makes the Tricity a great place to be in. Keywords Studios, the international technical and creative services provider to the global video games industry, today announces the expansion of its Katowice facility in Poland, which aims to provide more than 300 new jobs locally in 2021.
The office in Katowice was established in 2018 with 200 staff in the Player Support department (PS). The studio quickly ramped up capacity – driven largely by growth in its Functionality Quality Assurance (FQA) offering and stable growth within Player Support and Localization Quality Assurance (LQA). Keywords currently has 700 employees in Katowice, working to provide Functionality QA, Localization QA as well as Player Support to video games publishers and developers. Now Keywords is seeking to hire 300 additional player support and customer service specialists as well as video games testers, who share their passion for games, technology and content to build better digital experiences for people throughout the world. Keywords is also recruiting for support function teams, including IT, HR, Finance and Administration. “The gaming market has been experiencing growth in value for a long time worldwide. The city of Katowice has also noticed the importance and power of this industry and decided to cooperate with the Intel Extreme Masters. Thanks to the collaboration Katowice emerged on the world map of e-sports and over time gained strong position. We believe that our engagement in this cyclical event facilitated the establishment and development of computer game companies based in Katowice, such as Keywords Studios. I would like to congratulate Keywords Studios on their dynamic development, both in terms of the number of employees and lines of business. This investment is of significant importance to us because it generates employment and professional development opportunities. Moreover, as a vast majority of people working for Keywords Studios are passionate gamers their job is a perfect combination of work and hobby. I wish everyone had such possibility of self-fulfilment at work.”- says Marcin Krupa, Mayor of Katowice. Katarzyna Zareba, Branch Director at the Katowice studio, about the expansion: “Despite the pandemic and difficulties related to COVID-19 in 2020, we continued to develop very dynamically and created new jobs by successfully recruiting new employees in remote mode. In Katowice, in 2021, we plan to further increase the size of the team by at least 300 people, reaching approximately 1,000 employees and associates.” Full Story: BiznesPolska.pl ABSL New Board Members
Thursday, June 17, ABSL organized the Annual General Assembly. Together with presenting the Association’s accomplishments for 2020 and 2021 plans, this year ABSL community elected the new Board of Directors. ABSL will be represented for the next two years by: - Cătălin Iorgulescu, General Manager & Partner at Deloitte Regional Audit Delivery Center - Ecaterina Ion – General Manager & HR Leader in Hungary and Romania, at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Operations Center - Bogdan Pelinescu – General Manager, at Luxoft Central Europe - Francesca Postolache – Audit Partner at PwC Romania - Adrian Baron, EMEA ITSM Lead at Stefanini - Catalina Elena Crișan – Head of Opreations Partner Romania at UniCredit Services S.C.p.A . Ciprian Dan, Timisoara Location Head for Wipro Technologies, was elected President of ABSL. This is his second term in this position. Reduced market entry thresholds, a simplified qualitative assessment of investment projects, and a higher level of support in selected locations are the major changes in the government's grant programme that could attract more business services investors to Poland.
A strategic location, mature labour market, a diverse office proposition are major reasons for why Poland is a leading location in the CEE region for the business services sector. What is more, the Polish Council of Ministers amended the programme supporting investments that are deemed extremely important for the Polish economy. These changes aim to increase the competitiveness of Poland as an investment location, according to the latest report by JLL and Hays Onshore, Nearshore, Offshore: Unsure?. We can say that the initial shock and pausing of investors’ plans in the business services sector is already behind us. For some time now, we have been seeing an increasing number of companies from this industry locate their most advanced business processes from various countries, including Asian as well as some Easter European countries, to Poland. A number of companies from Western Europe, including the UK and Switzerland, which are looking to access qualified employment pools at competitive cost levels, are also looking at Poland. The country’s attractiveness to foreign companies is even greater because business services centres in Poland can apply for state aid, which is unavailable in other European locations. Recently, the state aid support programme was amended to better address the needs and expectations of investors, commented Iwona Chojnowska-Haponik, Business Location Consulting Director, EMEA, JLL. Investors from the business services sector can benefit from various instruments including corporate income tax exemption under the Polish Investment Zone (PIZ) national scheme and non-repayable grants for the hiring and training of employees. The latest changes in the state aid support programme have made the Polish incentive system one of the most attractive in the CEE region. So what can business services investors expect from the amended programme?
Requirements for state assistance were loosened and are dependent on the type of investment, the size of the entrepreneur and the location of the project. Previously, the requirements to receive financial support by a business services centre was to create 250 jobs and invest PLN 1.5 million. Now, a large investor making their first investment or expansion on the Polish market is required to employ 100 people and incur a capital expenditure of PLN one million within a five-year period. A quality assessment of the project will determine the exact scope of state aid, explained Rafał Szajewski, Business Location Consulting Director, EMEA, JLL. In the case of R&D activities, the requirements are significantly lower - 10 new jobs and PLN 1 million. These changes are in line with trends that are shaping the modern business services sector. We have seen for some time that the scale of new investment projects is smaller. The growing maturity of the industry is illustrated by business services centres focusing on the quality of processes rather than quantity. Less advanced services are increasingly being automated. On top of this, if a centre’s operations expand, then the company has the opportunity to apply for incentives once again. One cloud on the horizon involves the European commission and its changes to state assistance which will come into effect at the beginning of 2022. This may see state assistance for new investments become very much limited in a number of countries. However, this concerns Poland to a lesser extent because in some of the country’s regions the state aid level will in fact increase, added Rafał Szajewski.
The business services sector has repeatedly called for a simplification and shortening of procedures which evaluate investment projects. Because of the changes in Poland, projects will now be evaluated according to criteria similar to those introduced for CIT exemption within the Polish Investment Zone. The evaluation will take into account issues such as how advanced the business process is, the pro-export character of the centre, job security, the willingness to invest in smaller locations with higher levels of unemployment, as well as the welfare, and competence development of employees.
Investor who enters one of Poland’s major metropolitan areas may receive maximum support per new job created that ranges from PLN 3,700 to PLN 15,000 for BSS projects and PLN 5,000 to PLN 20,000 for R&D investments. Additionally, companies can use a training grant which covers up to 25% or 50% of costs, depending on the investment location. Higher levels of support are targeted at underdeveloped locations and regions impacted by high unemployment, for example, Eastern Poland. Such a policy of awarding grants is an important step towards levelling the playing field between different regions of the country. The winners may be smaller cities, such as Rzeszów or Białystok, which have less in the way of sector investments, but do have substantial labour markets, adds Rafał Szajewski. The interest in incentives for investors from the business services sector is high and increasing all the time due to the amendments that are introduced to the scheme as well. It is important for companies to be able to fully assess opportunities and risks so that they can fully utilize tax exemptions and grants. With this in mind, the maturity of the business environment, which can offer comprehensive advisory services based on know-how and previous experience, is extremely important. Advisory firms, such as JLL, as well as investor assistance offices and thriving industry and business organizations, work hand in hand to increase foreign direct investment in Poland. As a result, despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, the business services industry in Poland looks set for an even brighter future, says Iwona Chojnowska-Haponik. |
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