consolidate and streamline their "back-office" operations and focus on their core area of expertise to maximize the potential benefits of the EMU. An important factor that raised interest in BPO is the slowing of the global economy which resulted in companies adopting prudent fiscal strategies and cost cutting exercises.

Although larger companies have the most to gain from BPO, for they operate across borders and have sizable 'back office' (administrative and transactional) departments, it is an appealing prospect for large and small operations alike. As multiple processes are outsourced, synergies can be identified. Thus, smaller companies can benefit from the pan-European reach of the outsourcing partner, because these partners can help them manage operations in countries where their resources are limited.

Companies can centralize one or more activities, or operations, for an entire regional market in a single office, or office warehouse combination, to create and enjoy the benefits of economies of scale, increased efficiencies and resultant cost savings. However, a complexity presented by operation centers, particularly in Europe, is the need to gather a group of professionals from many different countries under one roof to work together. While Europe often presents itself as a single entity on the world economic stage, it still consists of Germans, Frenchmen, Italians, and Spaniards with vastly divergent business cultures. To avoid problems associated with this diversity, some companies have even gone so far as to set up e.g. a virtual Shared Service Center, which centralizes administrative functions in a company's system, but not in an actual physical location. At any Operation Center (or SSC), people management and team building are essential.

And this is exactly where one of the great advantages of the Netherlands comes into play. The Netherlands has a diverse multicultural and multilingual nature and a long tradition of bringing Europeans of different nationalities together on neutral ground. This makes it the ideal location for pan-European operations such as an SSC, where serving a common interest is of the essence.