Why Central Europe is a perfect place to outsource your software development project.

Market Overview

WHY CENTRAL EUROPE IS A PERFECT PLACE TO OUTSOURCE YOUR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT.

65% of companies that outsource do so in Europe. What is the reason behind that?

Short answer is: central Europe provides low rates for software development and a high degree of English fluency. Companies find Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) attractive as it provides a highly affordable and vast technical talent pool that does not compromise on quality. Outsourcing partners excel at the in-demand skills of software development and IT.

Top-notch Technical Education

Strong educational emphasis on STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) together with tens of thousands of specialists graduating every year from local universities is the reason why the Central and Eastern European region is gaining increasing recognition across the UK, German, Nordic and US outsourcing markets. CEE is a vast talent pool of highly educated technical resources who are one of the most skillful, knowledgeable and competent engineers in IT. The confirmation of this thesis is that polish developers are widely recognized as the best software developers in the world. They score high in all sorts of international programming contests, such as Microsoft Imagine Cup, the Central European Programming Contest (CEPC), TopCoder and Google Code Jam.

Much can get lost in translation with offshore outsourcing partners

English is spoken widely in CEE, local engineers have a high level of spoken language which is a useful trait for Western companies with increasingly global supply chains and customers. Many professionals speak English in their day-to-day life. What is more, the education system in the region focuses heavily on linguistic capabilities (English is taught in school from a very early age) as dealing with foreign countries is one of the main sources of economic and business activity. That all leads to smooth communication and no language barriers.

Close Cultural Alignment with the West

Partnerships with CEE vendors enjoy a close cultural alignment with the West. Direct style of communication makes it easier to provide valuable input to the development of projects than in many other parts of the world and to drive results. Engineers in CEE are more inquisitive and solution-oriented than in many other parts of the world, which is a clear advantage now that we operate in a world of perpetual technological change. CEE vendors are mindful of collaborative processes, they are more likely to question and challenge what they are asked to do, all of which helps to deliver higher quality and reduce costly misunderstandings. It’s safe to assume that software developers in Central Europe will do anything they possibly can do to deliver the best results. Such an approach differs much from cheaper vendors from India where they are more eager to say yes to everything and don’t drill down at all on business requirements.

EU Membership

Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia are all members of the European Union (EU). It is advantageous to do business with a company that’s located in an EU member country as the EU aims to be a competitive agreement and economic alliance that is open for international business. The EU has done an immense effort to standardize and unify IP protection laws across all member states. On top of that European Union enforced strong General Data Protection Regulation (introduced in 2016), resulting in even more robust security policies when it comes to protecting sensitive information. EU membership clearly translates into political and economic stability that is also alluring for many companies that consider outsourcing partnership with businesses from the CEE.

Location

Time zone overlap might be another point that speaks in favor of CEE outsourcing partners. Unlike most of Asia, Central Europe is located within more convenient time zones – just several hours ahead of New York City’s Eastern Standard Time and for Western Europe CEE is a nearshore location. Such a small time difference provides a competitive advantage, especially in the age where many projects have to be developed in a dynamic, real-time, agile environment.

Conclusion - The Best Value for Money

Central Europe is a cost-effective, high-skill with no cultural or language barriers outsourcing destination that can be the dream partner that many businesses are looking for. The common values and business culture prevalent in CEE are a superb foundation that can be the basis for a long-term working relationship. You can reduce your development costs without sacrificing quality.

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