Egypt breaks into Gartner’s top 30 leading locations for outsourcing services
In fresh evidence on its growing fame as a hotspot for global outsourcing, Egypt has joined Gartner’s alphabetically-ranked annual list spelling out the world’s top 30 leading locations for outsourcing services.
Egypt joins the heavy-weight list for the first time and Gartner’s thorough analysis of the country highlighted substantial support by the Egyptian government to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. The analyses also indicated the cost competitiveness of the country and its attractive location for businesses.
One of Egypt main traits as a favored outsourcing location is its abundant and sustainable talent pool regarded by the country as the long-term investment. The government pays special attention to devising and implementing programs to ensure there is enough supply of qualified and trained professionals to its growing outsourcing industry.
Dr. Hazem Y. Abdelazim, CEO for Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) commented on the Gartner report by saying: “This is a great achievement for Egypt and we are delighted that our hard work in promoting Egypt as a viable global outsourcing location has been recognized. We hope this will encourage companies to take advantage of the progress we are making in developing our ICT infrastructure and the investment we are continuing to make in the outsourcing industry.”
In order to compile such a robust report, Gartner gathered information from numerous independent sources and devised ten categories for assessment including language, infrastructure, labor pool, cost and educational system.
Egypt is receiving enormous support from the government, particularly in the ICT industry with a reported $2 billion investment in its telecommunications infrastructure. It also benefits from its close proximity to Europe, operating on a similar time zone, and this coupled with its highly skilled and multi-lingual workforce mean it is an ideal location for those wishing to take advantage of the competitive costs it has to offer, without compromising on quality.
The Gartner report aims to provide clarity for organizations, advising that sourcing managers and service providers should use the list of countries and ratings to help determine which locations are right for their organizations.
Inclusion in the report will mean that Egypt will be considered alongside other long established outsourcing locations. With its dedicated technology and contact center parks, excellent infrastructure and highly skilled workforce, it cannot fail to attract investment from companies looking to realize the benefits of outsourcing to a country with so much opportunity.
Further to this report, Egypt was also named Outsourcing Destination of the Year at the 2008 National Outsourcing Association Awards highlighting the progress Egypt is making within the ICT sector and helping to position it as a future leader in global outsourcing.
