According to a recent article published by The Diplomat, E-value International (EI) has opened a call center in Romania. The new facility is the latest addition to a growing contact center market in the country.
Bucharest, Romania-based EI is owned by Organismos Tilepikinonion Ellados (OTE), which translates to the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, the leading telecom company in Greece. OTE used to be a state-run telecom, but started privatization in 1996. Since then, the Greek government has gradually reduced its share of ownership to 10 percent. Deutsche Telekom (DT), which owns T-Mobile US, owns 40 percent of OTE.
EI currently has a 20,000 square foot facility with 320 workstations that provides customer care, tech support, help desk, customer retention and sales. An additional facility in Brasov that will house an additional 300 workstations is expected to begin operations in the next quarter. EI currently provides contact center services for Telekom Romania Mobile Communications, another OTE company and will start providing services for DT and Telecom Romania Communications later this year.
It appears that EI has picked a good time to setup contact centers in Romania. According to a report by FRD, a Romanian market entry consulting firm, Romania is ranked second in Europe and ninth worldwide as a business process outsourcing (BPO) market with an estimated size of $1.6 billion. As of 2012, the market size for contact centers was $215 million and both it and the overall BPO market were expected to continue growing.
What makes Romania such fertile ground for contact centers? It has to do with a great base of employees skilled at speaking several languages. Most Romanians already know how to speak two languages by the time they are done with high school. Foreign language classes are required and typically consist of English, French, German, Italian or Spanish. About 50,000 Romanian students attend classes outside their native country, becoming not only immersed in another language, but also in another country’s culture too.
When you mention BPO, most people are likely to picture a facility located in India, the Philippines or another country in the APAC region, but this is becoming a stereotype. Romania is moving up as a global contender in BPO and will continue to be strong. The country has a large base of potential employees not only fluent in different languages, but also familiar with different cultures. That puts the region at a huge advantage when it comes to delivering a superior customer experience.