Poland now world’s third favourite CX delivery location

Poland is now the world’s third favourite offshore CX delivery location, according to new research from Ryan Strategic Advisory, which provides market research and consultative services to stakeholders across the contact centre and BPO spectrum. 

Poland is the world’s third most favoured offshore customer experience (CX) delivery location in 2021, according to the latest Ryan Strategic Advisory Front Office BPO Omnibus Survey.

The annual survey this year sounded the views of 628 enterprise contact centre decision-makers across the demand markets of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the USA.

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Poland saw one of the biggest jumps amongst leading locations, which, says Peter Ryan, CEO of Ryan Strategic Advisory, “speaks volumes to the extent that outsourcers and their clients see Poland as a scalable, multilingual destination from which to drive customer interactions.”

“The extent to which Poland was favourable in demand markets was solid in continental Europe, the UK and Australia. As more global and regional BPOs target the nearshore for CX delivery, there is no question that Poland is likely to at the forefront of choices,” Ryan tells Emerging Europe.

“We saw a huge amount of interest in Poland from the UK, and that ties in with enterprise managers telling us nearshore destination capacity and the ability to access nearshore locations were very important factors. Poland was again quite popular in Germany, as it was in previous years, and we also added Italy to the survey this year, where Poland also performed well.”

Overall, South Africa placed first out of 53 different locations, after a number of years in second place.

It was a clear first amongst survey participants in the US and Canada, tied for first place with India among UK respondents and was a strong second in Australia. It also had a very respectable showing in Germany. Aggressive promotional campaigns in key demand markets by South Africa’s CX services stakeholders are certainly a factor in this country’s showing.

So, too, is the view among enterprise CX buyers that South Africa is a high-quality service delivery destination.

India, which took first place in 2020, drops to second this year. Notwithstanding the ongoing surge of interest in the world’s longest-serving offshore delivery point, India was pipped at the post by South Africa’s 2021 showing among western enterprise CX buyers.  That said, it is clear that this overseas destination is here to stay for contact center service buyers.

Significant interest

However, it is Poland’s showing that is perhaps the most noteworthy.

It now ties for third alongside the Philippines and Malaysia among survey respondents. Anecdotal evidence has been pointing to significant interest in the European nearshore for some time, and Poland is top of mind in this regard.

Shut out of the top five most favoured offshore CX delivery locations last year, Egypt makes its return to this prestigious group in a strong 2021 comeback, claiming fourth place. Driven by a reputation for high-quality multilingualism, and technologically adept agents, the interest that Egyptian CX delivery continues to garner from enterprise buyers in key demand markets was evident in this year’s study.

Northern Ireland rounds out the top 5 in 2021.  This destination’s especially strong performance across the UK and continental Europe cements its reputation as a niche multilingual hub that has proven the value of investment for some of the most well-known global BPO players.

Key takeaways

Perhaps the most obvious takeaway from this year’s survey is that investment promotion counts in today’s competitive CX site selection environment.

Among the leading countries, South Africa, Northern Ireland and Egypt have presented customer experience services buyers in key demand markets with consistent messaging that positions effectively their respective jurisdictions.  In the case of each of these destinations, their efforts have borne fruit as per this year’s survey results.

It is also clear that buyer favourability is fluid. This marks the third straight year in which the Front Office BPO Omnibus Survey recorded a different most favoured offshore CX delivery location. As such, South African outsourcing stakeholders cannot rest on their laurels.Industry players in that country will be under intense pressure to maintain this prestigious ranking.

In addition to the rest of the 2021 top five, there were strong showings from several upstart offshore destinations, each of which is eager to take the coveted top spot next year. For South African BPO providers, keeping an eye on how the needs of CX players in key demand markets are changing, and thereby evolving their location’s value proposition, will be crucial in maintaining their status as 2021’s best of the best.

Poland’s performance is notable as it is the first time that a Central and Eastern European nearshoring destination has been included in the top five most favoured offshore destinations.

It speaks to the value that both outsourcers and buyers of services realise in delivery from Poland, and positions that country strategically for winning business from a variety of demand markets.

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