The agreement was signed by Monika Slomska, president of the HOA and Áron Kincses, deputy president of the KSH.

The cooperation agreement aims to jointly develop a professional and technical framework for the exchange of information that will enable mapping the activities of service centers in the future. The professional organization and the statistical office will support each other in understanding the Hungarian service sector, in identifying the specific characteristics of its operational activities and in related structural, geographical, and trend analyses.

The cooperation agreement also provides a framework for possible future separate agreements between the KSH and the HOA, the press release notes.

"The agreement with the KSH will allow for an outstanding professional cooperation, which will further strengthen the business services industry, also known as the flagship of the Hungarian economy, in the region, thus contributing to attracting further new investments and creating new jobs,” said Slomska.

According to Kincses, the cooperation between the KSH and the HOA is an essential milestone in the more complete exploration of the characteristics of the Hungarian SSC sector and the professional analysis of the interrelationships.

"I am confident that the annual KSH data collection on the SSC sector and the related report on the activities of service centers will contribute greatly to this," Kincses added.

According to the HOA's own industry research, more than 205 regional and global business service centers are operating in Hungary, employing some 74,000 people, and these numbers are set to grow significantly this year. Some of these service companies provide services to clients other than the parent company, ranging from finance, payroll, and network design to high-level engineering and business process automation.

The sector is constantly evolving, with centers representing an ever higher added value, the association adds.