The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centre US-based Accenture company opened in Bucharest last year may become the company's biggest European outsourcing centre, according to Alasdair Glen, the former Center Lead, who has recently handed over the top position to a Romanian, Aurelian Sima.
"At present, Prague is the biggest and oldest centre we have in Europe, which we opened six years ago. We estimate Bucharest may gain the top position," says Alasdair Glen, who ran the Bucharest services centre for 15 months.
Accenture now has around 200 employees domestically and will reach 2,000 people on medium term. "We will reach 2,000 employees, but how long this will take depends on projects, customers and the labour force market," says in his turn Aurelian Sima, the new head of Accenture's BPO centre and also the first Romanian to run such a business on the domestic market.
The main arguments Accenture officials' projections are based on are related to the advantages the domestic labour force market is offering and on Bucharest's close proximity to the company's customers. In Europe, Accenture owns centres in Prague, Bratislava and Warsaw and an IT centre in Riga, and Bucharest is the biggest European city where the Americans have an outsourcing centre. "There's room for growth. We are counting on the advantage offered by the high number of students Romanian universities are turning out," says Aurelian Sima.
On the other hand, the positive estimates are also related to the development of the economic environment. "The high interest investors have in Bucharest proves this is the place to be," says Glen.
With regard to the shortage of specialised personnel for BPO centres, Accenture officials say that despite the race for people getting fiercer, there are no signs for the time being that the market could collapse due to the shortage of people.
