The New Face of the Outsourcing Industry in Sofia and Bulgaria – Joint Press Conference by Sofia Investment Agency and the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association

The outsourcing industry in Bulgaria is changing rapidly and is looking for new specialists. About 20 000 new job openings are expected by 2020. This was announced at a joint press conference of Sofia Investment Agency (SIA) and the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association (BOA), where Plamen Tsekov, member of the Management Board of BOA, and Vladimir Danailov, Chief Executive Officer of Sofia Investment Agency, presented current data on the outsourcing sector from reports of the two organizations.

The industry has fundamentally changed its content in recent years. Based on key customer support services (call centers) in the period 2010 -2013, where processes and technologies were relatively standardized and uniform, the need of the business grew into customer service with high added value. It demanded the processing of far more complex processes involving much more analytical activity, building, maintaining and providing growth in core business activities such as marketing, sales, accounting, human resources, etc. That is why this sector is in need of specialists in human resources management, financial and accounting outsourcing, IT specialists, Plamen Tsekov said. Some 80-90% of the outsourcing activities in Bulgaria are concentrated in Sofia. The added value of the outsourcing sector in Sofia reached a record-breaking BGN 2.2 billion, according to official statistics, Vladimir Danailov said.

The problem with the staff is in the focus of SIA and together with the business and the Ministry of Education and Science, a new digital platform is being developed to give schools and universities a specific opportunity to work with business representatives in the city, Danailov stressed. Nowadays, our sector of the economy requires not only proficiency in two or more foreign languages, but also engineering and business skills, Tzekov added.

According to the Bulgarian Outsourcing Association’s report, the outsourcing business is expected to generate a turnover of EUR 2.5 billion by 2020. The sector is seen to reach 4.3% share of GDP and to increase its number of employees to 62,500. By the end of 2016, more than 47,800 people have been employed in this industry and the data for 2017 is expected to report an increase of about 12%. A total of 1.5% of all income taxes paid in the state treasury in 2016 come from the outsourcing industry and 0.9% of companies’ operating income is for taxes.

The outsourcing industry is the backbone of the middle class in Bulgaria and employs many young people who prefer to stay here than live abroad, said Tsekov,

This industry accounts for 6.5% of the total wage costs in the country and 5% of the insurance costs. The number of companies in the sector reaches 24,000 or 20% of the total number of companies in Sofia, Vladimir Danailov explained and pointed out that the data from the report on the development of the outsourcing industry is public and is available on the website of the agency.

Danailov and Tsekov said that in recent years there has been a process of consolidation due to the entry of several large enterprises. The number of large companies employing more than 250 people went up to 19 in 2016, compared to 11 in 2011. The number of their employees increased to 18% of the employees in the outsourcing industry in Sofia in 2016, from 9% in 2011.