Andreea Paun, Griffes: “We see more sophisticated activities deployed from Romania. Companies want to bring more complex services”

“At Griffes we act as consultants at the entry gate of new companies on the Romanian market and when they make their choices. And it’s true that it’s usually Poland versus Romania, and it’s a choice that aggregates many points, many factors like the labor, the real estate, the availability of labor, the behavior, and demographics sometimes.

The product is there, and the real estate is there, but we did indeed notice a slowdown. So, the beginning of this year was a very different year compared to the last year,” Andreea Paun, Managing Partner, Griffes said during Romanian Business Services Forum organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest and Outsourcing Today.

Key statements:

• The facts are completely different now. If we were talking in the previous years of, let’s say, 10, 15 newcomers every year, and I’m talking specifically about the business services industry, right now we’re seeing at most four or five newcomers tackling the market. And out of four or five, already three or four of them have been putting their plans on hold and rethinking and strategizing whether they should approach the market or not.

• So, it is not the same growth, clear growth vibe we saw in the other years. At the same time, we have, and even amongst each other in the room, we have the leaders which are fighting and they’re growing. So, most of the growth and the interest of companies in bringing the digital services is coming from the companies who are already present.

• And most of the leaders are growing and are fighting desperately with all their weapons to bring the digital business back. We see a little bit more complexity. We see more centers that are not just offering simple call centers or contact centers as we usually had in the last decade.

• We see more sophisticated activities deployed from Romania. Companies want to bring more complex services. Some companies are not just doing the basic contact center. They’re hiring skilled workforce. They’re going to bring engineers. They’re looking for data science people.

• We see this complexity. We are not setting up centers or call centers as we did before. We do global excellence services centers. We are in touch with more complex demands. So, this is the positive news. Although, as a volume, I would say it’s decreasing to be honest and to have a realistic assessment.

• Well, we still stand by and we still live by reputation. So, in our matrices and reasons why to come to Romania, when we present Romania as a geography for newcomers, we mainly present the location, then the language capabilities, then the quality of the real estate. And finally, I think about a certain behavior or attitude towards work.

• Just to give you some examples and some numbers, if any company entering the market in the previous years was usually starting from tens of people, maybe 50 people going to 100. Now, the average transaction we work on, or the average setup is 30 to 40 people.

• And the average occupancy has decreased. That’s because the processes that were automated have impacted already real estate. So, we are already observing this wave.

• So, I’m not sure if we should fantasize that much about how it’s going to be changed and what’s going to be changed. It changed yesterday. This is what we feel.