The report was based on the answers of 61 representatives of IT companies from 12 countries that, if put together, employ 38,000 people. Thanks to the research we found out, among others, about the conditions of IT services in Poland and predictions for the future.

1. IT companies in Poland – how many are there?

Starting from the general information, ABSL informed that there are 140,000 people working in IT companies in Poland, which in 2013 constituted around 1,7% of the value of the global IT market. There are almost 61,000 IT companies in Poland (including one-person companies). The cities with the largest number of them are Warsaw, Cracow and Wroclaw. Right behind them is Katowice agglomeration.

2. How much is the IT market worth?

The research shows that the value of Polish IT market in 2013 was $3.14 billion. The highest market value was brought by the design service market (52%), followed by the support service market (29%). The IDC analysed that the most IT profit in 2013 was generated by the following sectors: finance with around 24% of the market, administration with around 21% and media and communication with 16%.

3. Reach of IT services delivered by Polish companies

From the ABSL report we find out that most Polish companies provide their services globally (49%) and 10% of them offer services to companies from a single country. The companies working with external clients usually find them in the Western Europe (80%), right after that are Polish businesses with 74% and Eastern Europe with 51%

4. What are the trends and predictions for IT sector in Poland?

In the years 2013-2018 the number of IT outsourcing companies is predicted to grow by around 4%. Poland is bound to grow the most in hosting infrastructure services (the growth of 17,5%) and hosting application management (around 17,6%). However, the market value of the IT outsourcing services will grow from over $590 billion to almost $865 billion.

Expansion plans look well because over 93% of Polish companies plan to grow within the next two years and 91% are bound to increase their employment in 2015.

Current trends in the IT spin around Big Data and mobile services solutions. Companies will need to focus on finding specialists in these, still not popular, fields. However, companies also plan to offer specialised training programmes to their employees.

Another aspect in the trend section is ‘business intuition’, which is stepping outside the box in the IT sector and may help to get the competitive advantage.

5. IT being the most popular field of study in Poland

Future IT specialists come to the market every day, since IT is the most popular field of study in Poland. Currently, there are 70,000 people studying IT. 94% of these students speak English and 31% of them know German. Technical skills are incredibly strong in Poland, with many international award-winning developers, which makes us even more attractive to international companies.

IT services market in Poland is definitely thriving. Years ahead can only strengthen its position worldwide. Polish IT companies will most likely become more and more attractive to work with, amongst the biggest companies in the world. This is definitely a future worth looking forward to.