Outsourcing in Bulgaria

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing referrs to a company that contracts with another company to provide services that might otherwise be performed by in-house employees. Many large companies now outsource jobs such as call center services, e-mail services, and payroll. These jobs are handled by separate companies that specialize in each service, and are often located overseas.

There are many reasons that companies outsource various jobs, but the most prominent advantage seems to be the fact that it often saves money. Many of the companies that provide outsourcing services are able to do the work for considerably less money, as they don't have to provide benefits to their workers, and have fewer overhead expenses to worry about.

Outsourcing also allows companies to focus on other business issues while having the details taken care of by outside experts. This means that a large amount of resources and attention, that might fall on the shoulders of management professionals, can be used for more important, broader issues within the company. The specialized company that handles the outsourced work is often streamlined and often has world-class capabilities and access to new technology that a company couldn't afford to buy on their own. Plus, if a company is looking to expand, outsourcing is a cost-effective way to start building foundations in other countries.

Outsourcing: Thriving at Home and Abroad

In spite of the troubled global economy—or more likely, because of it—one of the few business sectors that continues to thrive is outsourcing. No wonder: Companies looking to cut expenses in the face of soft demand are keener than ever to hand off parts of their operations to lower-cost providers. As a result, outfits providing everything from third-party customer support and information technology services to back-office processing saw revenues grow last year by an average of 13% and expanded their workforces by 18%, according to the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals.

Conclusion

Outsourcing is here to stay. It helps companies remain focused on their core business and leaves the back-room, non-core business to the experts without losing control. Accountability is the key to a successful partnership. Lord Kelvin, a pioneering British physicist who lived in the late 1800s, had it right way before his time when he wrote, “When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it…your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind.”

A solid outsourcing company will be able to consistently provide you with the numbers and technology you need to manage your business. In the last few years, Bulgaria has become one of the most attractive destinations for outsourcing of business activities, due to a number of strengths and opportunities that the Bulgarian market offers to foreign companies. Famous international companies like Hewlett Packard, Reuters, Boeing, Siemens, IBM, Ericsson, SAP and Ford Motor Co have already chosen Bulgaria for some of their outsourcing activities. According to the annual ranking of the American consultancy company A.T. Kearney, for 2007, Bulgaria is the ninth most attractive destination in the world for outsourcing a business. Bulgaria is evaluated to be the best place for outsourcing among the European countries.

Why outsourcing in Bulgaria

• low labor cost (salaries in Bulgaria are six times lower than in USA and Great Britain and three times lower than in the Czech Republic);
• low operating costs;
• EU membership;
• Attractive taxation (the corporate tax was reduced to from 19.5% to 10%);
• well-educated and professionally trained work force that could provide high quality work implementation;
• stable business environment;
• stable political environment;