Small investment, big possibilities
Irish outsourcing company SWS Business Process Outsourcing (SWS BPO) has announced that it will soon establish a business process outsourcing center for about 400 people in the city of Łód. The center will offer services including accounting, IT, and human resources. In the first stage of the project, SWS BPO will invest just zł.4 million, but more is expected to follow. The center's clients will be European and US companies from the media, energy and food sectors.
As SWS BPO's first outsourcing center outside the UK and Ireland, the investment is a milestone in the development of the relatively small company, which has about 430 full-time employees. The firm is a leader in the Irish and UK BPO markets though, and expects rapid growth driven by rocketing demand for its services globally.
"This is an exciting opportunity to internationalize the company," said Jim Costello, general manager at SWS BPO.
Costello said his firm chose Poland due to its cultural links with Ireland, the high availability of young and well-educated workers, and its large market. A grant it received from the state was helpful, but not a deciding factor, Costello stressed.
SWS BPO's investment is valuable for Łód too. With over 750,000 people, the second-largest city in Poland has based its future development on skill-based industries.
"BPO, IT, white goods and logistics are the key areas the city wants to concentrate on," said the Deputy Mayor of Łód, Włodzimierz Tomaszewski.
