Warsaw - Capitol of Poland
If you looking to save money, while not compromising on control or quality and want to develop a strong relationship with a flexible supplier, outsourcing your software development to Central or Eastern Europe could well be the answer for you. According to the Gartner Dataquest predictions, in the next four years Central and Eastern Europe is expected to outstrip the rest of the offshore development market concentrated mainly in `classical` locations like India.
While each country offers its own distinct advantages and considerations, as a whole the Central and Eastern European region offers a range of benefits to UK and other Western European companies.
Why outsource software development to C&E Europe?
Some of the advantages of traditional destinations are eroding:
- According to NASSCOM, the costs of offshore development in Central and Eastern Europe are now on a par with Far Eastern destinations.
Bucharest - Capitol of Romania
Equally some perceived disadvantages of farshoring are seen as increasing:
- Security in some destinations has become a greater concern. As an IDC analyst in India recently commented: “Terror is just one of many factors [in the decision on where to outsource], but it could tilt the balance in favour of other locations.” Developer churn also continues unabated in many destinations.
Kiev - Capitol of Ukraine
At the same time, some of the advantages of Central and Eastern Europe are becoming more important:
- Countries in the European Union (EU) adhere to EU Intellectual Property law.
- A short time difference means ease of management and many problems can even be resolved within a single working day.
- Most Central and Eastern European destinations like Poland and Russia offer extremely good higher education systems and therefore can provide a highly-skilled work force. For example, according to the OECD, in Poland 45% of 18-22 year olds are studying at higher education institutions compared to 40% in the UK.
- Most destinations typically have a very low churn rate. In Romania, Poland and the Ukraine, for example, the average length of stay for a developer in an outsourcer is four years.
- Another key point is that some Central and Eastern European destinations are deliberately not geared up to offer large-scale, fast ramp-up operations. Instead, some are choosing to offer more niche, bespoke services, trading on quality as their differentiator.