After years of robust growth, the Polish IT market has slowed to a crawl. But does it have what it takes to rebound despite global trends?
There’s no sugarcoating it – the boom period in the Polish IT market has stabilized. As recently as 2022, the demand for IT specialists was so high that experience and length of service often took a back seat, but in 2023 and early 2024 the recruitment market noticeably slowed, and the availability of candidates significantly increased.
Is this slowdown likely to become the new normal, or can we expect a return to the halcyon days of the immediate post-pandemic period? Let’s take a look at how we arrived at this point, see what the future may hold, and hopefully provide you with enough info to make up your own mind about the future of the Polish IT marketplace.
The current state of the Polish IT market
While a few high-profile foreign investors such as Intel and Aptiv have either downsized their technical workforce in Poland or chosen not to invest at all, the fundamentals of Poland’s IT market continue to stay healthy. Poland has the largest number of tech professionals in the CEE region (approximately 850,000), which still makes it a prime destination for IT outsourcing.
Poland’s IT services market also continues to evolve, with more than 60,000 technology businesses operating in the country and an annual influx of approximately 15,000 computer science graduates. Moreover, Poland ranks as the safest outsourcing destination in terms of IT protection and data security, scoring 70.74% in the 2023 International IP Index.
Despite these undeniable successes, it’s important not to overlook a few potential flies in the ointment. IT professionals in Poland trend young, and there has been a rapid increase in the amount of female and foreign-born talent available. Accordingly, there is a large amount of anecdotal evidence that IT teams in companies need to be mindful of generational and cultural differences and create an environment friendly to the widest possible range of employees.
A high percentage of specialists also consider their work to be inefficient, regardless of whether they work remotely or not. Data and anecdotal evidence also indicate that burnout is a real problem in the Polish IT industry, with the most effective remedies to these issues being a solid balance between remote and office work and improved communication between management and employees.
What will 2025 bring to the Polish IT market?
Generally speaking, Poland’s position as a leading IT outsourcing destination is expected to remain strong. The country’s combination of a skilled and educated workforce, a favorable business environment, and competitive labor costs should continue to make it an ideal location for companies seeking high-quality IT services.
According to a recent Mordor Intelligence analysis, Poland’s IT market size is estimated at $28.68 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach $46.51 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 10.15% during the forecast period (2024-2029).
There are a few key reasons for this overall rosy assessment. Despite a few hiccups along the way (accelerated inflation, a rising national debt, etc.) Poland’s economy continues to expand steadily. The country’s current governing coalition shows every sign of recognizing the strategic importance of the IT industry and has implemented new policies and initiatives to support its development.
For example, the government recently announced a plan to provide 931,000 households with access to broadband internet, while giving 380,000 people cybersecurity training and constructing 4,200 5G stations to provide high-speed internet across the country.
In addition, digital transformation is increasingly reaching other business sectors, including finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail, which are increasingly adopting more sophisticated digital technologies to boost efficiency, improve customer service, and gain a competitive edge.
An outstanding example of this is BLIK, Poland’s pioneering mobile payment system. Introduced in 2015 as a joint effort by six local banks. BLIK lets users conduct a wide variety of transactions securely and effortlessly, including eCommerce payments, point-of-sale (POS) transactions, and peer-to-peer transfers, with a high level of security guaranteed by the use of unique, time-sensitive codes for each transaction.
In conclusion
At the end of the day, the ability of Poland to grow its IT market in 2025 (and beyond) will depend on the country’s ability to keep up with trends like cloud technologies, Big Data, the Internet of Things, and cybersecurity, while replacing present growth drivers like low labor costs and EU subsidies with original, proprietary solutions and exploitation of market niches.
The good news is that the conditions are well in place for this to happen, and nearly all market forecasters expect their prognostications of growth to become reality over the next 12 months.
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