Infosys intends to increase back office processes in Poland
India’s second largest IT firm Infosys Technologies initiated moves to increase the company’s back office processes in Poland over the next two years with a view to provide business process outsourcing services to additional European as well as global clients.
Quoting Krystian Bestry, Infosys BPO (vice-president) for Poland, a news agency says that Infosys plans to increase it workforce from the existing 1,000 to 1,500 professionals by 2012 during the current year at the firm’s Lodz BPO establishment in Poland to offer services to a minimum of 20 clients through different verticals in the European as well as the American markets.
According to Bestry, presently Infosys Poland provides services in as many as 22 languages to 10 active clients that include major European companies engaged in manufacturing as well as consumer goods sectors.
Another online news quotes the agency report saying that the global software frontrunner, valued at $4.8 billion, operates two major back offices in Poland as well as the Czech Republic to offer transaction services in assorted domains, such as accountancy, finance, taxation, procurement and compliance issues. Currently, Infosys has three operational hubs at Lodz and additional two in Prague employing approximately 450 professionals who provide non-voice transaction services. In fact, the company’s investment in the infrastructure in Poland has been very discreet $10 million, the company’s main assets (almost 95 per cent) in this country is in the form of its workforce since they comprise the major expenses in terms of remunerations and incentives.
Elaborating further, Krystian Bestry said that the company employs people belonging to different European nationalities, in addition to some from other countries depending on the needs of their clients worldwide. And most of the company’s employees in Poland are post-graduates in finance and business management and economics. Stating that Infosys decided to set up its back office operations in Poland keeping since it is centrally located in Europe. Even Lodz is located in the heart of Poland.
Meanwhile, S. Dandapani, head of Infosys BPO pointed out that apart from its strategic location, Poland also has a large talent pool, inexpensive labor, a pro-active government as well as political stability – which attract people interested in making investments abroad in the services and manufacturing segments.
In fact, the revenue generated by Infosys’ subsidiary in Poland is approximately 13 per cent of the company’s total earnings. During the 2010 fiscal, ended on March 31, Infosys Poland earned revenues to the tune of $352 million.
Infosys BPO, which provides end-to-end services, presently has 12 delivery hubs across the globe – five in India and the remaining seven in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America (Mexico and Brazil), and with a total workforce of 18,500 professionals abroad serving round-the-clock.
Director of the Polish foreign investment department, Iwona Chojnowska-Haponik says that Poland has been able to emerge as a leading back office services destination in Europe owing to its large talent pool as well as its demographics – like in India, 50 per cent of the population in the country is below the age of 35 years. In addition, the tax exemptions offered by the government to the local as well as foreign firms establishing operational hubs in the special economic zones in the country as well as financial grants through the European Union funds as working capital have made investing in Poland attractive.