Outsourcing - BPO
Ukraine IT Myths Dispersed
While Ukraine is becoming a new popular IT outsourcing destination,
there are still many myths about it and no clear understanding
of the opportunities outsourcing to Ukraine can present. Let us
look closely at some of those myths and find out whether there
is any truth behind them.
Myth No. 1 – Ukraine is politically unstable
This myth has seen its rise in November-December 2004 during
the events around the presidential elections that led to the Orange
Revolution. However, presently there are no grounds for concerns.
During the Orange Revolution, the Ukrainian people have shown
their devotion to the democratic ideals and prevented the worst
scenario from happening, bringing the legitimately elected president
to the power. The new Ukrainian government has clearly voiced
its intentions to move towards the goal of joining the EU and
is making logical steps in that direction. The overall political
situation in the country is stable and predictable. Unlike some
popular Asian outsourcing destinations, there have never been
any threats of terrorist acts in Ukraine.
But even during the most critical events in November and December,
no threat existed for the clients of the Ukrainian outsourcing
services providers. There were no power shortages, Internet and
telephone lines functioned as usual, and no danger was posed to
the outsourced project. Many companies did join the national strike
that was going on, but the most urgent tasks could still be done
uninterrupted. Ukraine has proved that it is a civilized 21-century
European nation.
Myth No. 2 – Ukraine’s IT infrastructure is poorly
developed
Ukraine’s IT infrastructure is rapidly developing. As the
recent research conducted by the Ukrainian Democratic Initiatives
Fund and Kiev International Sociology Institute has shown, 13.1%
of Ukrainians have a computer. 14% use Internet and/or email either
at home or at work. Internet connectivity, being one of the primary
concerns, is also developing rapidly. Telecom is one of the fastest
growing markets in Ukraine, and fibre optics are continually being
laid and new companies are continually opening new connectivity
services, which continually lowers cost. For example, monthly
fees for a DSL connection are lower in Ukraine than in India.
It is considered indispensable for an IT company to have a broadband
Internet connection and several telephone lines. Furthermore,
there is no shortage in high quality hardware, and IT companies
provide their development teams with powerful, modern computers
and servers.
Myth No. 3 – Ukraine is software pirates’ paradise
WTO ascension is a top 2005 priority for Ukraine’s government.
As Ukraine moves towards this, its intellectual property laws
are being revised to comply with WTO standards. While a lot of
private users may still be using the cheap pirated copies of the
most popular software products on their home computers, companies
specialized in software development are under severe control,
and to avoid problems with law, switching or have switched to
licensed products. Those companies who can’t afford the price
of more expensive software products choose Open Source solutions,
but the problem is being tackled in one way or another anyway.
Ukrainian companies are looking to work legally and don’t
want to risk their good reputation.
Moreover, a large part of professional software aimed specifically
at software developers has never been available as pirated copies
in Ukraine, hence it has always been used in its legal, licensed
form (take IBM RationalTM products as an example, as well as many
others).
Myth No. 4 – Ukraine is not secure when it comes to sensitive
information
Special measures must be taken to protect sensitive information
no matter where your project is developed. However, according
to the recent reports, India is much more dangerous than Ukraine
when it comes to sensitive information leaks or theft. While it
is reported that it is difficult to run background checks on employees
in India, it is not that problematic in Ukraine. It has become
a common practice in Ukraine for the outsourcing customers to
sign NDAs with every member of the development team. Additional
security policies can also be implemented to protect your sensitive
data.
Myth No. 5 – Ukraine’s IT sector lacks support from
the government
The new Ukrainian government is showing its extreme interest
and support to foreign investments into the country's economy
and international cooperation. While Ukraine moves towards joining
the EU and WTO, the laws, including those covering the IP issues,
are being revised to create better environment for the economy’s
development and growth. This applies to the software development
as well, IT being the most rapidly developing sphere of the Ukrainian
economics.
According to the reports, the volume of export of Ukrainian IT
services and products rose by US$ 40 million or 57% to US$ 110
million in 2004. The export of the IT sector of the Ukrainian
economy is the most dynamically developing. At the same time,
the total number of IT specialists operating on the market reached
15,000 toward the end of 2004. This was an increase of 50%, compared
with 2003.
Myth No. 6 – Ukraine’s IT workforce is cheap
Ukraine’s IT salaries level used to be low, but as the country’s
economy develops and integrates into the European and world market,
it is growing, even though it is still lower than the salaries
of EU and US IT specialists. The Ukrainian programmers possess
high level of education and skills, as the IT sphere of the Ukrainian
economy develops the demand for them increases, hence their highly
intellectual labour cannot be cheap. However, outsourcing customers
need to realize that cheap workforce is not a good reason to choose
an outsourcing provider, as it is likely to cause problems in
the long run that will lead to an increase in expenses instead
of savings. The reason behind many outsourcing failures is actually
the customers going for cheap workforce and overseeing the quality
and efficiency issues.
Outsourcing is seen as a way to cut down the development costs,
but this should not be done at the expense of the developers’
salaries and therefore, quality. There are better and more effective
ways to save. If a company employs methodology allowing for faster
development, better quality source code, automated code generation,
less developers involved, etc., this actually does reduce the
development costs while still providing a satisfactory software
solution.
Myth No. 7 – The language and cultural barrier
It is certainly important to be able to communicate with your
outsourcing development team on a level allowing for a smooth
development process, and the language and culture differences
can be an obstacle.
However, Ukraine is a European nation, and the mentality of people
does not differ greatly from that of your country, be it anywhere
in Western Europe or the US. There is no striking difference as
you would encounter in some Asian countries. Besides, before outsourcing
software development came to Ukraine on a large scale, many Ukrainian
IT specialists used to go to the Western Europe and USA and work
for IT companies there, which means they are familiar with the
approach traditional for Europe and America and the procedures
used for software development in those companies. Moreover, different
international agencies are now offering courses in management
providing necessary management skills to the Ukrainian specialists.
Thus, all the business processes in a development team can be
organized according to the international standards.
While English is not the native language to the Ukrainian developers,
this issue is also being actively dealt with. English is the language
of choice in the universities and in the schools it is now required
from an early age. Several universities are conducting their entire
programs in English. Oral and written comprehension is high among
software engineers, given the amount of text they have to read
for their degree and work programs and the amount of English language
programming available in the country. Communicating with the Ukrainian
developers through online chats, instant messaging and e-mail
in English should not be a problem. While not all the development
team members might be completely fluent in English, those who
communicate directly with the international customers will speak,
read and write in English at the proper level. Many companies
conduct in-house English language training programs to improve
the language skills of their personnel. Specialists speaking other
languages, such as French or German, can also be found, though
these languages are not as popular as English.
So as we see, not everything looks as bad as it can be assumed.
Care should be taken when planning an outsourcing deal, as is
in any business move, but if done wisely, outsourcing to Ukraine
can leave you satisfied and meet your expectations.
Julia Lukianova has several years of experience in the outsourcing
software development business in Ukraine. She is a marketing manager
of Metasoft Ltd. (http://www.metasoft.com.ua)
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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