IT industry in Poland is recording dynamic growth and remains one of the strategic sectors of the national economy. In 2018, as many as 75 percent of software houses operating in Poland recorded an increase in revenues by at least 20 percent, while the revenues of 11 percent of them doubled or more than doubled, according to the research conducted by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation in cooperation with SoDA. The total turnover of these companies reaches approx. PLN 1 billion per annum.
Nearly a half of the surveyed companies generate revenues amounting up to PLN 5 million, and 9 percent of them exceed the amount of PLN 25 million. As an industry, Polish software houses do well after starting their business - up to 89 percent of them reached profitability already within one year of starting operation. In 2018, the majority of them increased employment by more than 25 percent and 11 percent doubled the number of their employees. Nonetheless, significant competition for highly qualified programmers is one of the most important challenges for these companies.
"The data we gathered in the report show that the reputation of Poland as an "European IT hub" is true and well-deserved", said Aleksander Łakomski, responsible for SME clients at Citi Handlowy. "Software houses are developing dynamically - they expand the scope of their activities and services. Their growing power is reflected in their plans to expand abroad. Their success also encourages international corporations to open shared service centers in our country.
The survey shows that in the early stage of their development, the main clients of software houses are startups, both Polish and foreign. Companies in the later stage of development create software for many industries, however, banking , financial and IT sectors, as well as, to a lesser extent, logistics and consulting companies, prevail. As many as 64 percent of the surveyed entities provide services for Polish clients. The same percentage declare revenues from the American market. Great Britain and Germany are the recipients of services of over a half of the surveyed companies, while the latter country is most frequently chosen as a direction of further expansion.
"According to the conducted surveys, the surveyed companies are quickly growing entities with a very high indicator of internationalization of sales", said Jan Zborowski, Vice President of SoDA. "Thus, these companies export the most valuable and, what is important, renewable sources of our economy: intellectual work of our engineers.
The "Does Poland have a chance to become a European IT services hub?" report is a result of a comprehensive survey of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation in cooperation with SoDA, carried out by the Kantar Millward Brown research agency. The survey combined the quantitative method CAWI (15-minute-long interview) applied to a representative sample of Polish software houses' owners and in-depth individual phone interviews with the selected opinion leaders in the industry (60-minute-long interview). Data for the survey were collected in September 2019.
