This text was published as part of the special supplement on Business service centres, prepared in cooperation with AmCham Slovakia BSCF.
When they started arriving in Slovakia in the 1990s, most business service centres (BSCs) could be described as call centres. Even though some activities are still purely transactional, the centres have developed and many processes have become automated in order to eliminate repetitive tasks.
As a result, BSCs require a specific skill set, which includes advanced analytical and communication skills, along with good judgement, from their potential employees, Christian SchultzSchulz, President of Henkel Slovensko and Head of SSC Bratislava, said at the December 2018 conference in Bratislava, organised by the Business Service Center Forum (BSCF), which runs under the American Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia.
His company has managed to adapt to the changes, but there are still some problems they have to tackle.
“I see an increasing gap of the entry qualification of fresh graduates we are hiring and the effort we have to put in to get them ready for the position,” SchultzSchulzsaid, adding that what once took three or four months now takes one year. This also requires additional funds for increasing one’s qualification.
Language skills still required
Wolfgang Fischer, CEO of the Zurich Insurance Company, agrees that people often lack critical skills.