The summary of ABSL's activities in 2019 and predictions for 2020


ABSL  2019 Summary photos — kopia.jpg


ABSL continues development of four major strategic areas of operations: Talents, Advocacy, Regional Chapters & Clubs and Sector Promotion.


Summary of the Year 2019:
  • The number of ABSL Members in Poland increased by 17%, with a total membership of 212 Members at the end of 2019 – making ABSL the number one professional business services organization in Poland.
  • We have expanded our presence in ABSL Chapters & Communities to 8 regions: Katowice&Opole, Krakow, Lodz, Poznan, Szczecin, Tri-city, Warsaw, Wroclaw with Flying Chapters in other cities, organizing 300 events including 35 ABSL Regional Chapters’ meetings, 9 ABSL Clubs’ meetings, 25 webinars with Strategic Partners and many others. In parallel, we have started talent development activities in 35 mid-sized cities. On top of that, all of activities are now wired through the new ABSL Workplace App.
  • We have successfully influenced the regulatory process: The Social Security Bill issue (blocking the increase of the ZUS cap and saving corporate remuneration budgets), Withholding Tax (WHT – successfully blocked and delayed implementation of a potentially costly tax regulation) also supporting the improvement of the process of hiring foreigners in selected regions.
  • Our major events: X-ABSL Summit, ABSL Gala, ABSL Start-up Challenge attracted over 3000 guests from business, economy, media and political circles with distinguished speakers: William Jefferson Clinton, Georgette Mosbacher, Jarosław Gowin, Jadwiga Emilewicz and 118 other speakers supported by dozen of panel discussions, inspiring case studies and insightful presentations.
  • ABSL publish four sector reports in 2019: Business Services in Poland 2019, Business Services in Katowice, Business Services in Szczecin, Medium-Sized Cities Development in Poland.
  • Actively expanding the ABSL brand in Czech Republic, Romania, Balkans (Bosnia&Herzegovina) and Baltics (Latvia) increasing the strength of our organization to support sector promotion with influenced stakeholders.

ABSL COMMUNITY – Our Members and Regional Chapters

MEMBERS

  • our community has grown to a total number of 212 Members, gaining 33 new ones in 2019.

REGIONAL CHAPTERS & CLUBS

  • 35 Chapter Meetings in main cities: Katowice & Opole, Krakow, Lodz, Poznan, Szczecin, Tri-city, Warsaw, Wroclaw, including Flying Chapter in Bydgoszcz, Lublin & Radom- working on regional activities in the following areas: Influencer, Integrator, Thought Leadership, Talent Booster.
  • 9 ABSL Clubs Meetings across Poland in the area of HR, IT and BFSI with items discussed as Smart Automation, ML, AI , Cloud driven development, Leadership, Foreign Talent, Brexit and its implications for the sector, Macroeconomic trends, Definition of complex roles / jobs in the BFSI companies.
  • 25 webinars with Supporting Partners: EY, JLL, Mercer, Randstad covering important business aspects as PPK Implementation Processes, How to accelerate your brand impact, Turn your Employees into your Employer Brand, Electronic signature in HR. Fantasy or necessity, Essentials of successful recruitment of IT professionals.
  • over 200 regional corner and communities meetings with partners, local workshops, events or webinars.

WORKPLACE

  • we created the Workplace platform, helping our members to communicate with each other, share knowledge and experience and after 9 months there are 47 actively working groups.

GLOBAL EVENTS – over 3000 participants

ABSL ANNUAL SUMMIT 2019

  • held in Warsaw, with our main speaker William Jefferson Clinton and 118 distinguished speakers.
  • 50 panel discussions, inspiring case studies and insightful presentations - speakers and panellists were discussing global trends pointing out the most important challenges for business in a fast-changing world.
  • Top media outlets including TOK FM, Rzeczpospolita, Puls Biznesu, Forbes, Business Insider.

ABSL GALA 2019

  • we hosted 350 guests and recognized leaders shaping our sector.
  • Two Special Recognitions were presented to Georgette Mosbacher, the U.S Ambassador to Poland and to Jarosław Gowin, Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Science and Higher Education.
  • 16 Cites have been recognized as supportive Cities leveraging sector development in Poland – to ensure further support.

STARTUP CHALLENGE

  • We collected 101 applications from candidates across Poland in 2019.
  • 5 member companies became our project partners in 2019 – P&G, Citi, BYN Mellon, HSBC, DSV
  • Our Startup winner Symmetrical.ai got 1st Place in Pitch to London.
  • ABSL Startup Challenge one of the most interesting Startup projects in Poland according to Bureau of Research

ADVOCACY & TALENTS – legal and educational initiatives

BLOCKING THE REMOVAL OF THE 30-FOLD ZUS LIMIT – successful dialogue with the government against the proposed changes to remove the 30-fold limit on ZUS contributions.

WITHHOLDING TAX [WHT] - successfully blocked and delayed implementation of costly tax regulation.

HIRING FOREIGNERS AS KEY FOR FURTHER GROWTH– series of meetings with regional authorities to increase process efficiency for the SSC/BPO sector.

DEVELOPMENT OF TIER 4 CITIES – 35 medium-sized cities including report publication in cooperation with the Ministry of Development.

WORKING TOGETHER – several thousand people from over 70 companies in 9 Polish cities showed how cultural diversity, cooperation, inclusive and diverse working environment can unite.

ZWOLNIENI Z TEORII – we joined forces with Zwolnieni z Teorii Foundation to help young people in shaping their soft skills, emphasizing their importance in the working environment - 150 best students found job in our member companies from the business services sector.

PARTNERSHIP WITH EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN REGIONS as SGH in Warsaw, University of Economics in Krakow, University of Economics in Wroclaw, Silesian University of Technology, University of Silesia in Katowice, Kozminski University in Warsaw.


BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE & SECTOR PROMOTION

BUSINESS SERVICES SECTOR PUBLICATIONS 2019:

  • Business Services Sector in Poland 2019 - The 10th - edition of the most prestigious ABSL publication, which comprehensively describes the business services sector in Poland
  • Business Services Sector in Katowice
  • Business Services Sector in Szczecin
  • Medium-Sized Cities Development in Poland – with a detailed description of 35 selected cities

MEDIA & COMMUNICATION ACROSS THE 2019:

  • ABSL Puls-e newsletter editions – 41
  • Facebook active users increase – 20%↑ ( 2529 vs. 3149)
  • LinkedIn active links increase - 42%↑ ( 3233 vs. 5577)
  • ABSL Dedicated mailings & Legal Alerts – 100

LOOKING AT ABSL 2020

  • Focus on Our top four priorities: Regional Chapters & Clubs, Advocacy, Talents, Communication.
  • Continuously improving ABSL core activities – Chapters, Clubs, Summit, Gala, Startup Challenge, Talks, simultaneously striving to transform our organisation accordingly.
  • Releasing new Business Intelligence – Data&Analytics reporting methodology with an expanded subscription model, starting with the publication of the EMEA Business Services Sector Report in Q1’2020.
  • Extending activities promoting the Polish sector, both on the international and on-shore level, starting from January with new ABSL web page www.absl.pl
  • Strengthening ABSL advocacy initiatives (e.g. international hires, tax regulations, digital tax , workforce policy ) by relocating and hiring more resources.
  • Developing & launching programs influencing Talent Availability: expanding programs in cooperation with universities, leveraging the flex-working environment to support the development of candidates from 35 medium-sized cities, influencing local authorities responsible for international hires, driving development programs addressed to high-school graduates, in order to prepare them for getting jobs in our sector (Exempt from Theory program), launching ABSL Mentoring program.
  • Expanding knowledge sharing with Regional Chapters and Clubs activities, further increasing the number of engaged Member Companies and Strategic Partners being leveraged by newly-selected regional representatives of the Strategic Board.