Tunisia a highly successful offshoring industry 2013
1. New -Tunisia, New Opportunities
| The Global Information
Technology Report /April 2012 – P.
26 ‐ Networked Readiness Index ‘NRI’‐
Tunisia, ranked in 50th
place, leads the rankings in
North Africa. ICT development
in the country has been led by
a strong commitment of the
government to boost ICT
uptake. This commitment,
coupled with a fairly good
By Neziha BERZOUGA / Lamia BOUFAIED – educational performance
FIPA ‐ TUNISIA allows the country to position
Tunisia, A Highly Successful itself ahead its North African
neighbors
Offshoring Industry
Sustained Growth and Significant Investments in Offshoring
recorded in Post-Revolution Tunisia.
Tunisia is among the emerging offshoring locations that has in recent years significantly
invested in boosting its IT‐BPO industries as it currently recognized this sector as a priority
sector in the National strategy and a key driver of economic growth.
Tunisia has successfully managed to attract big names in this field, namely SUNGARD,
Teleperformance, Kromberg&Schubert Technology Center, STMicroelectronics, SIEMENS,
Stream, HP, Microsoft, IBM, HRAcess, ADP…Most of the above companies realized
extensions in the post‐Revolution Tunisia.
Sourcing services from Tunisia fulfills various needs, such as language skills, cost savings,
geographic proximity as well as cultural affinity. There are many other soft conveniences
related to outsourcing in Tunisia. You can save quite a bit on business flights. Legal and
financial issues are much simpler, as Tunisia has a free trade agreement with the European
Union. Tunisia also has multiple cities with higher education facilities and good
infrastructure, where real estate is affordable.
Tunisia’s Major Assets:
A Competitive Pool at European Level Talent:
With smaller price differences, all the other benefits start to work in favour of Tunisia.
Tunisians are technologically‐minded, with strong average French and English and German
skills. They share a similar work culture to people from Western Europe. They're just about
far enough to get your outsourcing a bit cheaper and just about close enough to save you
from 3 am business calls. They're easy to get along with, and that's much more important,
New –Tunisia / New Opportunities – February 2013
2. New -Tunisia, New Opportunities
than it sounds, as many offshored projects fail due to simple communication issues or
cultural misunderstandings.
A positive Ranking of the Education System
Tunisia provides World‐Class Mathematical and Scientific Education –
« The Global Information Technology Report » ‐ April 2012
Top level ICT training
– Over 50 000 students on ICT courses at university, i.e. about 14%
of all university students
– Over 13 000 new ICT graduates a year
– Over 200 university ICT courses
–
A World Class Infrastructure
Tunisia is already hosting offshore centers of major companies while offering very favorable
implantation conditions, namely completely developed business centers close to airports and
highways. The annual rent per square meter of a class A office in Tunisia is around U.S. $ 110 against
roughly a double amount in neighboring countries. The Tunisian telecommunication network is
actually among the most modern in the Mediterranean basin, with high speed multifunction switches
ensuring at the same time telephone, Internet and multimedia traffic.
New –Tunisia / New Opportunities – February 2013
3. New -Tunisia, New Opportunities
Statement: ARDIA / ACTIA Group
«ARDIA in Tunisia represents one of the main R & D centers of our ACTIA group. It is a center
where our new products will be developed thanks to the local engineering. It is a centralized
base in Tunisia to serve other subsidiaries of our group located in France and more widely in
Europe, like Italy or England or even the U.S. and China. Today it is a great success with view to our
development.”
Cyril ROCHARD, General Manager ARDIA
The Sector’s Achievement in 2012
FIPA‐Tunisia ‘The foreign Investment Promotion Agency’ through its ‘Offshoring Promotion
Department’ recorded consistent and significant investments in the Offshoring sector through 2012
year. Around 40 companies/multinationals have visited Tunisia, most of which confirmed their
intention to set up projects in the different segments of this industry. A good number of institutions
have as well shown interest to learn about the advantages of this sector, namely : Fraunhofer MOEZ‐
JETRO ‘Japan Economic Trade Organization’ – US AID ‐ The ‘Middle East Investment Initiative‐US’… ‐
Most investors mentioned that the ‘Revolution’ sustained the country’s position as an IT destination.
Indeed, the tendency recorded through the last year did confirm the strategic orientation chosen by
Tunisia and which consists in becoming one of the most attractive ITO destinations (Offshoring
Strategic initiatives for Tunisia ‐McKinney 2010)
Source: U.P.O –Offshoring Promotion Department – FIPA‐Tunisia
Key Takeaways
Tunisia is one of the most competitive destinations for companies looking to:
Offshore up to a few thousand jobs at very competitive costs while retaining
quality/productivity levels
Offshore small R&D or IT units at the lowest cost in the Euro‐med zone in various
languages (English, German, French, Italian etc)
Access a pool of talents with European‐style qualifications (engineers /
scientists/technicians)
Rely on solid local companies who are prepared to build up various types of
partnership: outsourcing, build operate transfer, joint ventures etc.
Exploit cultural and geographic ties
New –Tunisia / New Opportunities – February 2013