Bulgarian outsourced offshoring service providers remain optimistic about the short-term future of the industry, according to the latest report "Sentiment on the Bulgarian outsourced off shoring services market - industry expectations for the next 3 years" by advisory firm eXentix.

The market size is presently estimated at between 100 and 150 mln. euro in Bulgaria and is set to further grow in the short-term.

The majority of the sector representatives expect an increase in the number of new contracts in the next three years, which will lead also to increased recruitment activities. A total 44.4% of them plan to hire up to 100 new staff and 22.2% - up to 500.

Over two thirds of the interviewed executives think the number of the employed in the sector will increase by up to 100% by 2013 from the current 10,000 to 15,000 employees.

The industry by project type

Call center services (including telemarketing) and customer support services are the ones which are expected to generate the greatest demand among the rest of the service types - 18.6%. Just over 16% of the respondents say clients will be looking for IT services, and 14% say software development will be most sought after.

English and German will be the languages in greatest demand - with 22.5%. Spanish comes in third with 10%, followed by Dutch and Scandinavian languages with 7.5% each.

Germany tops the list of source countries of potential clients for offshoring services in Bulgaria with 28%.

USA and the UK rank second with 20% each. They are followed by Austria and the Netherlands, both with 8%.

Asked about the industries, which are expected to generate the highest demand for offshoring services, the surveyed executives selected IT and Internet as the uncontested leaders with almost 35%, followed by the telecommunications sector with 22%.

The regional picture

Unsurprisingly, managers in the outsourcing industry in Bulgaria consider India to be the country's biggest global competitor with 41.2% of the responses. It is followed by Egypt with 17.6% and the Philippines with 11.8%.

Within the region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the surveyed managers say Poland and Romania are Bulgaria's biggest competitors. Both countries were singled out by 22% of the respondents. Slovakia and the Czech Republic came in second with 11% each.

The macroeconomic view

Most of the industry leaders are confident that Bulgaria will retain its top position in the European ranking of the most favourable destinations for outsourcing in the next three years. Just 10% percent of them think it will lose ground to rival locations.

On a macroeconomic level, half of the respondents say Bulgaria's exit from the currency board will affect negatively the industry. A total 38% think it will not have any influence whatsoever.

All of the service providers regard the global recession more as a catalyst to the industry rather than as an impediment. This assumption is evidenced also retrospectively, as 88.9% of them say the crisis has led to an increase in their activity, with the rest stating it has not affected in any way the size of their operations, shows the research.