Outsourcing to Palestine
Over the last decade, the Palestinian ICT sector has shown continuous growth in products and services. 13 universities have ICT-faculties, with 2500 yearly graduates. There are more than 300 ICT-related companies, both in the West Bank as in Gaza, with a total of around 5000 employees. A quarter of the employees have an academic background and 15% has at least ten years of experience in software-engineering.
The Palestinian Territories can be considered an upcoming nearshore outsourcing destination, since it is only 4 hours by plane and there is hardly any time difference. American and European organizations are already using Palestinian ICT services. A specific advantage of Palestine is the loyalty within companies, resulting in a low turnover of staff. This loyalty makes outsourcing easier, and the local firms can be considered interesting partners, also for small and medium sized European clients. Well‐known users of Palestinian IT services are Alcatel‐Lucent, Volvo, HP, Intel and Cisco. For a short overview on outsourcing to Palestine: see the online course of Technical University Delft.
GPI Consultancy participated in the 'Dutch Palestinian Bilateral Forum' and has also been involved in a project of CBI (Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries) in order to promote Dutch outsourcing to Palestine. For this project, a number of highly qualified, reliable and capable ICT service providers in Westbank and Gaza were selected. This project also offers assistance to European companies (free of charge) in order to explore outsourcing opportunities in Palestine.
Recent events or ICT-missions related to Palestine
seminar "Business and Investment Opportunities in Palestine" - The Hague, 28 June 2018
ICT & BPO-mission to Palestine (Ramallah, 10 - 14 December 2017) - by GPI Consultancy
Impression of a business visit to to Palestine - Anne Sedee, Therp
Some of our articles in English about the ICT-cooperation with Palestine
ICT cooperation with Gaza. Opportunities from a Dutch perspective - GPI Consultancy
Example of a Palestinian service provider (ITO/BPO) - Unit One
Corporate Social Responsability (CSR) when outsourcing to Palestine (example of Gaza) - University of Manchester (Paul Tjia, Nick White)
Outsourcing to Palestine - what about Gaza? - Unit One
Dutch-Palestinian Bilateral Cooperation Forum (The Hague, 29 October 2015) - GPI Consultancy
Meet a Palestinian ICT-delegation in Stuttgart or The Hague (26 - 30 October 2015) - GPI Consultancy
Impression of Dutch ICT-missions to Palestine and Dubai - GPI Consultancy
CBI presents Palestinian ICT companies - CBI (Centrum Bevordering Importen Ontwikkelingslanden)
Palestine and ICT Offshore Sourcing: from CSR to Long-term Economic Impact - University of Manchester (Paul Tjia, Nick White)
Meet Palestinian IT-companies in Europe (e.g. CeBIT Hannover, 2013) - GPI Consultancy
Examples of ICT-cooperation with Palestine
There are various examples of ICT-collaboration with Palestine, and we will mention an American and a Dutch example:
Cisco
After a visit of CEO John Chambers, Cisco decided in 2009 to invest 10 million dollar in the ICT-cooperation with Palestine. Other Amerikan high-tech companies would follow this example. A YouTube video gives an impression about the beginning of the outsorucing cooperation between Cisco and a number of Palestinian ICT-partners. “It started with hesitation and doubt, but became a good business investment”. Zika Abzuk, manager, Cisco
Fanack.com
When Amsterdam-based news organisation Fanack needed to build an app, it was planning to outsource the work to a local software company. After a meeting with GPI Consultancy, they also communicated their plan with a few Palestinian providers. Dutch projectleader Homayun Zahidi explains his decision to outsource to Exalt from Palestine in a video made by the Dutch NOS television.
Interested in exploring Palestine?
Contact us in case you are interested in exploring outsourcing to Palestine. We will provide you with information and we can connect you with a number of qualified ICT companies (both in Westbank and Gaza). We have selected these companies through projects of the Dutch CBI (Center for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries. We also have contacts with PITA, the Palestinian ICT-association. We can also arrange your visit to the region (a visit to the annual Expotech conference and trade fair is also worthwile).