An Outsourcing nation

The ‘Mysterious Outsource’ The growth of the outsourcing in Ukraine is one of the most considerable achievements of the country over the past few years. In fact, outsourcing generates the development of Ukrainian IT market. Now it’s the most fast-growing area in comparison with other segments. Six years ago, Ukraine headed the list of the top outsourcing countries for software developments. But does the situation remain the same? Is the outsourcing in Ukraine still cheap? Is it true that IT-specialists from this region are more hardworking than Indians? Let’s consider some pros and cons of Ukrainian outsourcing so that you could make a right decision for your business. In Ukraine, IT ranks third after metallurgy and agriculture industries and is on a par with chemicals exports. Statistics published by DOU, popular online tech journal, show that some of the local and global companies have big offices in the major Ukrainian cities like Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Odesa. They are expanding so rapidly that have already employed from 2000 to 4000 programmers according to the different estimates. Over the last six months, the total number of staff members in these companies increased by 2.5%. Nowadays, Ukraine has the largest information technology labor supply in Europe. In 2015, the country made more than $2 billion from exports of various IT services and local software. These figures show the accelerating growth of Ukrainian tech industry from year to year. The top 5 on the DOU’s list of the biggest IT companies in Ukraine are all outsourcing companies like GlobalLogic, Luxoft, EPAM, SoftServe, and Ciklum. The main importer of the software and IT services produced in Ukraine is the United States. It is estimated that they are buying about 80% of Ukrainian tech exports, writes Ukraine Digital News. The Ukrainian companies create IT-clusters in the major cities across the country to develop IT outsourcing at a local and international level. Such clusters take the initiative in providing regular changes in IT-infrastructure of the city. Besides, over the last years, special attention is given to education sphere. For example, new educational plans have been developed to make programming more accessible. Also, cluster members communicate with the representatives of universities in order to update programs, popularize IT and strongly influence the future of the sector. Every month, there are industry conferences, exhibitions, and business events throughout the country. At such events, specialists share their knowledge, experience and learn about current IT-trends. Why is outsourcing to Ukraine useful for business development? Attractive prices and fees Affordable development rates are one of the primary reasons why Ukraine is the best country for IT outsourcing. According to the Cost of Living Index, Ukraine is ranked 4th among countries with the lowest cost of living. Only ten years ago, the cost of labor was the lowest in the world. But with the market changes, IT experts want to charge more. Despite that fact, overall prices still stay attractive for the clients from the US and CEE. Placing their centers of IT development in Ukraine, foreign corporations are likely to save 40–60 percents of their corporate expenses. High-skilled labor: more quality for less money For many decades, Ukraine has been a center of science and technological development. And these fields is still strong today. Each big city has tech universities. Besides, every efficiently-run company has launched own courses for designers, programmers, quality engineers and other related careers to create a skilled and trained workforce. By the end of 2015, the number of IT experts has increased to 90 000, which was 20% higher than in 2014. Focusing on education, Ukraine takes 4th place among countries with the highest number of certified IT specialists. Many of them are well-known professionals who have proven their knowledge on the international competitions around the globe. Perfect English is a MUST Becoming a professional developer without a decent level of English is impossible. Ukrainian specialists make every effort to grant this demand and work on their English skills. It’s a common practice for outsourcing companies to hire English teacher or cooperate with local language schools. Generally, it takes half a year for a team to polish their English and connect with the client directly. In major Ukrainian companies, multilingual managers are the rule rather than an exception. Convenient time zone Ukrainian time zone (GMT +2) is super convenient for European business owners, as their work hours will be practically the same with the remote team from Ukraine. Even if you’re located in the US, this option is still better than India or China. Quality technical equipment and cheap broadband Internet According to The Web Index, Ukraine is at the 21st place among other European countries regarding average broadband speed. But there is one undeniable fact — Ukrainian Internet is cheap and fast as well. In big cities, 100Mbps connection with unlimited traffic costs approximately $5 per month! To sum up, Ukrainian outsourcing companies offers one of the best business models for successful interaction. Focusing on strong long-term relationships, managing outsourced operations as the in-house, reducing time-to-market — all these features bring value to the Western client and boost close cooperation between customer and provider. Over the past few years, the English proficiency level among Ukrainian IT specialists has increased significantly. Despite some political turbulence, the ranking of the country in the global business venue has improved, while the taxes for IT companies have remained relatively low.