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

educational performance

allows the country to position

itself ahead its North African

neighbors

By Neziha BERZOUGA / Lamia BOUFAIED –

FIPA ‐ TUNISIA

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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.

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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


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 –

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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.



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

TThhee SSeeccttoorr’’ss AAcchhiieevveemmeenntt iinn 22001122 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

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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


Tunisia a highly successful offshoring industry 2013 (1)

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