BSS is growing the fastest in Opole

Colliers International and PAIiIZ named Opole the "Rising Star" of the market for BPO/SSC investment location. The main advantages of Opole in attracting this type of project is beneficial investment climate, availability of human resources, highly qualified employees in Opole and the development of modern office space market.

Companies from this sector may also count on support from the Opole universities, examples of which are, among others, co-operation agreements between the companies Future Processing, Capgemini, JCommerce, ista or opta date and the Opole University of Technology and the Opole University. Moreover, a Research and Development Centre of the German ifm ecolink company of industrial automation is also created in Opole. From year to year new companies with foreign capital appear in Opole. More and more foreign companies are interested in the city, especially those who have already invested in Poland in major cities such as Warsaw, Wroclaw, Krakow and are looking for
new markets, with professional personnel.

Many factors may constitute competitive advantages of Opole over other locations for the industry. According to a report prepared by KPMG Advisory these are, among others:

• location – Opole is located close to the borders with the Federal Republic of Germany and the Czech Republic, between the two major international airports. It is surrounded by a dense network of international roads and highways. In practice, entrepreneurs may benefit from lower costs of doing business in an easily accessible place,
• the most interesting location in Central and Eastern Europe for German and German-speaking investors – due to the percentage of the population declaring fluent knowledge of German,
• lower cost of living compared to neighbouring regions, in particular to Lower Silesia and Silesian voivodeships, such as rental costs or costs of purchase of property and its maintenance, through the cost of transport in the city, including cost-competitive public transport, including urban bike rental system,
• above average knowledge of foreign languages among the inhabitants of the region, 76% declares the knowledge of at least one foreign language, the most popular is English (39%), German (38%) and Russian (40%).

Companies from the BSS in Opole:

• Capgemini
• ista Shared Services
• PWC Service Delivery Center
• opta data
• Asseco
• Future Processing
• Atos
• ifm ecolink

With increased interest in Opole of shared services industry, the demand for modern office space also increases. Therefore, we have prepared an attractive offer of areas for such facilities in the city centre and in the area of Special Economic Zone. Investors who opt for this type of investment may count on relief from property tax and support in acquiring of lessees.

Largest markets in this sector i.e. Wroclaw, Katowice and Krakow, neighbouring with Opole, show the signs of "burn-out" on the labour market in the SSC/BPO sector (as reported by KPMG). Opole, on the other hand, has a considerable human potential to meet the needs of new investors, which provides a growing demand for modern office space.

In the near future developers plan to build modern buildings in Opole, which together will generate up
to 20,000 sq m of office space with a high standard. The city has also prepared 6.5 hectares for modern office district.

There are 6 universities in Opole, where more than 25,000 students gained education. Nearly 9,000 graduate each year. Almost all students from Opole questioned within the SHC (Study of Human Capital) declare that they speak English (91%), and more than half of the students declare the use of
the German language (55%) (SHC 2013, N = 904). Students can study in areas relevant to the business services sector. Universities offer studies in the fields of economic and administrative, information technology, technical-engineering and philology.

Service centres operating in Opole are willing to establish co-operation with local universities. Their goal is to educate the students (who are potential employees of centres) on modern business services sector, the specific nature of work in the industry or specific solutions used in companies. Representatives of the centres emphasize that a very important aspect of co-operation is the flexibility of Opole universities in terms of matching their educational offer to the needs of the labour market. The openness of the university authorities allows to introduce changes in study programs relating, for example, to offering courses in which students can gain practical skills useful for working in the industry. It is worth noting that universities also show openness to changes in the rules of studies allowing students of master studies to pursue individual course of study when they are already employed in the industry.

Companies regularly co-operate with Career Offices operating at universities. This allows the service centres to attract new employees and actively promote the industry and to educate young people about what business services are, what kind of employees are needed and what employment opportunities gives this sector of the economy. Representatives of service centres emphasize that the creation and gradual development of service centres in the city (apart from factors such as location, or the availability of qualified staff) is subject to the current co-operation of business with other local entities, including local authorities (City Hall) and academic institutions (universities).

According to the employers of modern business services sector, the triangle "business - local authorities - science" works very effectively in Opole. Both, municipal institutions and universities in Opole are characterised by great openness to the investor. From the very beginning of co-operation, they demonstrate a proactive attitude in making contact, offering assistance, organising meetings, or in joint initiatives aimed at, for example, acquaint potential employees with the specificity of work in the sector. These institutions demonstrate a "positive thinking" – a focus on the achievement of a common goal and finding the means to achieve it, and the "can-do-attitude" – an active attitude in providing investors with the help and establishing co-operation with them in different aspects related to the functioning of their centres in Opole.

Investors’ opinion
We have been operating in Opole since 2012, offering IT infrastructure support services and technological projects dedicated primarily to clients from German-speaking European countries. We serve the largest logistics and transport companies, as well as companies representing the automotive, telecommunications industry and the media. Our center is constantly growing. We are employing new specialists, expanding the scope of services supplied, and we acquire new clients – says Marcin Nowak, the Managing Director of Cloud Infrastructure Services Eastern Europe, Capgemini. – Four years ago, in the Opole Capgemini Center, we supported the basic services related to IT infrastructure. At this moment, we are focusing on developing our clients’ IT processes, and on offering services in dispersed structure management and services supplied in the cloud model. At the same time, the Opole center has been broadening the scope of foreign languages it has been conducting its day-to-day operations – apart from German, the center has also been running projects in English and Dutch – he adds.

Urząd Miasta Opola Biuro Obsługi Inwestorów