Timișoara, the third center of the business services industry, has 12,000 employees
“Keeping up with the speed of change” is the theme of the event organized in Timisoara by ABSL.
Change is a constant in the business services industry. It has become increasingly important for companies in the field to be very agile, have flexibility in business and a great ability to innovate and implement new solutions and technologies.
Within the event, the discussion topics were: change management in organizations, optimization of the recruitment process, how the workspaces will look in the future, the transformation of the industry in the coming years.
Timisoara is one of the most attractive cities in the business services industry in Romania, next to Bucharest, Cluj and Iași. Unlike other industry centers, in Timisoara most of the companies in the industry are SSC (shared services center), centers that deal with certain activities of the company for a large geographical area or globally. Services provided include IT support, procurement, HR (Administration, Reporting and Payroll) and Finance – Accounting. Linde, Continental, Nokia, Bosch or Hella are some of the companies that have shared services in Timisoara.
In the local business services industry, over 12,000 employees work and one of the lowest departure rate in the company is registered.
Locally, companies are looking out for employees who are experienced in financial services or procurement and who speak foreign languages such as German, Dutch or Nordic languages.
The business services industry in Romania offers entry salaries up to 30% higher compared to the minimum on the economy and better opportunities for career development, according to the ABSL study on payroll.
The salary for the entry level of inexperienced employees in the industry can, in many cases, be up to 30% higher compared to the economy minimum of employees with higher education.
The study, conducted in partnership with KPMG, analyzes seven processes / types of industry positions, as follows: Project / Process Management, Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Customer Services, Procurement and Procurement Services, Software Development (IT) and Top management.
For the project management specialists, the monthly salary can start from RON 5000 gross and can reach in some cases up to RON 20,000 RON / month.
For specialists working in the field of Financial Accounting, or Customer Services, the entry salary can start from RON 3300 gross per month, and for those working in Supply Chain from RON 3000 gross / month.
According to the study, most companies offer language bonuses. French, German, Italian and Spanish are the most sought after languages by employers, these being paid with bonuses ranging from RON 270 gross and RON 3,000 gross per month. Those who know less spoken languages can receive bonuses up to RON 3,600 gross / month, in addition to the salary.
Another benefit granted to the employees is the extra free days, apart from the mandatory ones, which can vary between one and six days a year.
The study carried out by ABSL together with KPMG was made through a questionnaire to which 19 of the member companies replied.
In 2018, 33% of the employees offered Customer Management services, 25% IT services and 23% worked in the Financial Accounting field.
According to the same study, the average age of the workforce is between 26 and 35 years, with women representing 61% of the employees in the industry.
According to the survey, on average, an employee stays in the company between 1 and 5 years. Most people working in the industry have at least a university degree, and 24% are masters or doctoral graduates.
Automation – one of the big changes in the industry
The back-office or call-center employee spends up to 80% of their daily time completing forms, processing data or orders, meaning a multitude of activities vital to the final customer, but which take a long time for employees.
Automation does not replace the workforce, but it is ideal for activities that involve repetitive and predictable processes.
Software robots are able to solve the activities, for which they are programmed, five times faster, compared to the personnel of the company.
According to the study carried out by ABSL, 76% of the interviewed companies use Robotic Process Automation (simple based rules) in the company’s activities.
By adding artificial intelligence and cognitive automation, software robots are capable of performing many repetitive and predictable actions, without the need for employee intervention (automatic mail, virtual agent, Interactive voice response). 21% of the companies interviewed use cognitive automation.
Most companies, 57%, develop these simple automation solutions internally. 25% of the interviewed companies have internally developed centers of excellence for the development of automation processes.
Robotizing activities means giving employees the opportunity to carry out activities where they can express their skills and creativity better. The team has more time to dedicate to projects and initiatives that add high value to the business and thus, people will have greater satisfaction than a normal and repetitive activity for standard activities.
According to the study carried out by the Association together with KPMG, ABSL estimates that the outsourcing industry generated revenues of approximately 4 billion euros in 2017 in Romania, and 125,000 people work in the industry.