How does Serbia stack up against its well established rivals?
David Taylor, Partner Success Manager, Contact Centre Panel
When we think about outsourcing in Eastern Europe, thoughts may immediately turn to the likes of Albania, Poland and Romania for your outsourcing needs. However, as pointed out in my previous article on Kosovo, there are many more hidden gems within Eastern Europe, like Serbia for instance.
Serbia, over recent years, has worked extremely hard in developing its outsourcing capabilities so that it can go head to head with its local neighbours who have dominated this space for the past 10 years plus.
Fun fact – did you know that Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, is one of the oldest cities in Europe – with human settlements existing in Belgrade for over 7000 years. This history and culture have enabled the likes of Belgrade and other cities in Serbia to grow and maintain a talented workforce, with access to many Western European languages – making it another prime destination for multi-lingual contact centres.
This includes (but is not limited to):
- Serbian (official language)
- English (placed 14 out of 112 countries on the English proficiency index)
- German
- Spanish
- French
Serbia is located in the UTC +1 Central European Timezone, 1 hour ahead of UK time. Whilst this is perfect alignment to UK/European business operating hours, it also means you can access the country in less than 3 hours flight-time from London, and less than 2 hours from Berlin. Serbia has also seen lots of interest from businesses based in the US, due to its availability of languages and competitive rates. Most of all, Serbia aligns well with the business culture of countries like the UK and the US.
As part of this insight into Serbia, I caught up with Serbia’s own Tijana Dmitrovic of Contact Service, to get her thoughts on why Serbia has become one of the go-to destinations in Eastern Europe:
“More and more organisations domestically and internationally are deciding to outsource their operations and open their offices, here in Serbia. The main reason why companies outsource is to reduce costs and outsourcing to Serbia is no exception. Serbia is a modern European country and its culture is similar to other continental cultures. Being geographically located between the West and the East of Europe has resulted in creating a diverse culture, which enables employees to easily adjust. Besides the location and language potential, I’d like to emphasise other important factors such as a high focus on education, skilled employees and a significant talent pool in three university cities allowing quick expansion of operations. The people of Serbia are passionate and highly motivated, mainly as a result of their good education and high work ethic. We understand that outsourcing in a new location is not an easy process, but once businesses outsource in Serbia, they never want to leave!”
Looking to outsource in Eastern Europe or set up a contact centre in this area? Get in touch, we’ll be able to help.
