3 top companies were distinguished by HIPA and the Hungarian Outsourcing Association at its 5th annual event: MSCI, IT Services Hungary and Emese Szakács, director of AGCO Hungary.

At the event, the newest conclusions were presented from the 2019 BSC survey, prepared in cooperation with the Hungarian Outsourcing Association (HOA) and the Corvinus University of Budapest, as an academic partner.

The Hungarian BSC sector has seen an upswing in the migration of high value added activities and keeps on transitioning from the traditional captive and BPO models to a hybrid service delivery model. Tier-2 cities in Hungary are also getting in on the action, with cities like Debrecen, Szeged, Pecs, and Miskolc leveraging their strong universities, available qualified work forces, and modern infrastructure as opportunities for expansion.

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE OF THE YEAR: MSCI

Conclusion: “MSCI prominently embodies the dynamic development of the domestic BSC sector. With their exemplary operations, as well as the extension of high value-added services within their service portfolio, they contributed to elevating the attractiveness of Hungary to a great extent.”

BEST IN EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION: IT Services Hungary

Conclusion: “IT Services Hungary places special emphasis on education in Hungary and has made significant efforts to promote the cooperation between the BSC sector and the educational institutions in Hungary. The winner has a long-established and constantly expanding collaboration with higher education institutions and secondary schools throughout the country. Based on these initiatives, they provide unique opportunities for students with IT background by offering scholarship programs, establishing training programs for business competences and business language skills.”

BSC MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Emese Szakács, AGCO

Conclusion: “The BSC Manager of the Year title is awarded to executives who demonstrate professional excellence in their skills, exhibit ethical behaviour towards employees, and promote cooperation between sector players and proactively contribute to the Sector's future development. This year's awardee has demonstrated passionate and innovative leadership and has promoted cooperation with partner organisations and companies working in the BSC sector which made a significant impact on the sector's future.”

Canadian group Telus International, one of the biggest providers of business process outsourcing (BPO) services in the world, will take over European competitor Competence Call Center (CCC) for EUR 915 million (about USD 1 billion).

This deal is the biggest in the company’s history and will help Telus International consolidate its position and immediately increase the company’s value.

Founded in 1998 in Austria, CCC is headquartered today in Berlin and provides its services across 11 European countries, with more than 8,500 employees. CCC also has two offices in Romania, in Bucharest and Brasov, with over 800 employees.
Telus International also has three centers in Romania, two in Bucharest and one in Craiova, with 1,500 employees.

Telus International, which is a division of Canadian telecom group Telus, entered the Romanian market in 2012 when it took over local outsourcing firm CallPoint, founded in 2007 by a group of French investors. At that moment, CallPoint had 900 employees in Romania and Bulgaria.

After the CCC takeover, Telus International will reach almost 50,000 employees worldwide. The company prepares for an initial public offering in the next 12-14 months.

French pharmaceutical company Sanofi has opened a multi-lingual shared services centre in Budapest. Initially, it will create 100 jobs in the field of accounting, HR and finance. By 2022 the centre will be expanded to 350 employees. The BSC is led by Balazs Sooki-Toth, and they chose GTC's White House for its offices.

Sanofi considers the new office not as a simple business services centre, but as a Center of Excellence, which will feature activities of specifically high added value.

Sanofi is one of the top pharmaceutical companies in Hungary, the 16th largest exporter of the Hungarian national economy and the 21st largest company in regards to revenues.

Chemical development and production take place at the location of Budapest, as well as an R&D centre. Furthermore, the company’s logistics and distribution site at Nagytétény supplies more than 50 customers from the products of 59 factories with some 290 million boxes of medication on a yearly basis.

A multinational leading provider of integrated risk management solutions, assurance and property services SAI Global has decided to embark on a new journey and open a Centre of Excellence in Lithuania. The new center in Vilnius will be responsible for the software development and associated back-end services, it is going to play a central role in the company’s future growth. Initially, the company plans to hire up to 50 professionals for its Center of Excellence during the next year.

Headquartered in Chicago, SAI Global is a globally recognized provider of Integrated Risk Management (IRM) solutions, assurance, standard information as well as property services, technical information, and regulatory content to organizations worldwide.

Recently the company has decided to expand its global footprint and enhance its competencies in the software development field. The new Centre of Excellence in Lithuania will play a key role in building modern software solutions on a global scale. According to Bree Goodall-Beer, the global communications officer for SAI Global, the Lithuanian team will have an exciting opportunity to work at the forefront of developing, designing and building company’s new Risk Management software solutions.

“We already have an experience working with local talent and we know that here in Lithuania we will be able to find professional, ambitious and innovative people who will further strengthen our company’s products”, Bree says.

With over 2000 employees globally, SAI Global expects to grow its local team considerably to up to 50 software development professionals and capture key tech talent that exists within the Vilnius workforce.