Computacenter latest big VAR to open Budapest service outpost
UK's biggest resellers joins Misco in opening facility in increasingly attractive-to-business Hungarian capital
Computacenter has become the latest big channel player to open an outpost in Budapest, with the UK's largest reseller forming a 50-strong service desk team in the Hungarian capital.
The new facility is being opened today by group chief executive Mike Norris, in tandem with the Hungarian secretary of state. The office will be helmed by Computacenter international service director and native Hungarian Mark Badi.
A total of 50 staff, offering support in multiple languages, will initially be based at the facility, with space to expand to 230 workers. The VAR claims this is its 10th service centre to open in the last two years, with more than a million users currently supported from various locations in Spain, Malaysia, Germany, South Africa, the US, and the UK.
Employees in the Hungarian capital (pictured above left) will serve customers across all territories and market sectors. Paris-based industrial gas company Air Liquide will be the first client supported from the new office. Computacenter indicated that the majority of the workforce at the site will be made up of new posts.
Badi said: "Expanding to Budapest is our next step in ensuring that customers in the UK, France and Germany are provided with the best possible service. I am delighted that we have been able to open quickly, whilst also maintaining our global industry standard and very much look forward to the official opening."
Computacenter is the second of the UK's 10 biggest resellers to open a services centre in Budapest in the last 12 months, after Misco opened a centralised EMEA facility for various back-office functions in the city last year. The Systemax-owned VAR reportedly considered a number of locations in the east of Europe before settling on Hungary.
Budapest is becoming an increasingly attractive location for western European firms as it combines a well-developed infrastructure with a comparatively low cost of living. The 2012 edition of consultancy Mercer's Quality of Living Survey ranks Budapest as the world's 67th best city for infrastructure, placing it top of the list for eastern Europe, ahead of Vilnius (74), and Prague (75).
The Hungarian city is also considerably cheaper to reside in than UK counterparts. Cost-of-living website Expatistan calculates it as being 63 per cent less costly than London, with housing being 76 per cent cheaper. When measured against Manchester, Budapest emerges as being 42 per cent less pricey.