       OFFSHORING: PARTNER SELECTION CRITERIA
Price is one of the priority elements verified by companies seeking offshore IT service providers. As a result, the most popular offshore centers in the world are Asian countries. The outsourcing centers located in this part of the world make perfect remote service partners for companies located relatively close to them. The situation is different when the company making use of the services of IT providers from India or China is located in Western Europe. Being located in different time zones and cultural differences sometimes hinder communication and hold back timely execution of tasks. In situations when IT jobs outsourced by Western European countries require frequent meetings, and tasks are executed at the customer’s site, an advantageous alternative to Asian offshoring are offers provided by “old” outsourcing centers located in Central and Eastern Europe. The immediate response time of consultants and their availability at a relatively lower price are the key competitive advantages of these countries. Furthermore, due to the smaller geographical distance, it is much easier to supervise the offshored process. Poland is among the CEE countries that offers highly attractive offshoring conditions, and ranks 7th according to a rating conducted by Ernst&Young in 2007. This tendency is supported by other classifications, such as one carried out in 2007 by the research company Gartner Inc that placed Poland among the thirty most favorable locations worldwide. Another element demonstrating the attractiveness of the offers of CEE countries is the high quality of services rendered. For example, it is worth noting when considering IT services related to the development of the SAP ERP system that SAP has been the standard management support system in Poland for more than 15 years. Experience, knowledge of unique SAP solutions, and involvement in the development of the application together with SAP AG are only few of the reasons why companies choose to cooperate with suppliers from Poland. It is also worth mentioning that the high level of qualifications of employees in CEE countries includes their language skills: fluency in at least one foreign language among SAP consultants has become the standard. HICRON specializes in the designing of dedicated IT solutions and the provision of services related to the implementation and development of SAP ERP. The company is active in Poland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria, and cooperates with such companies as Volvo, MAN NF, Porsche AG, Amag AG and Andritz AG. In 2010, together with its partners in Switzerland, it established HICRON Schweiz AG, providing customers in Switzerland with even greater support in project implementation. |
