IT Outsourcing and Outstaffing in Ukraine
Ukraine’s IT-market is growing steadily and attracting interest from international investors. In 2019, N-IX published a report that estimated the number of software developers at 200 thousand. There was also a reference to the previous Kearney’s Global Services Location Index (GSLI) – a biennial overview of global services locations to help international companies with investment decisions. As of 2019, Ukraine took its place among the Top-20.
The most recent GSLI report, however, showed a decrease of the country’s standings due to adverse effects of sharply increased labor costs. The current rating is 5.24 – the same as with South Korea, but the latter has better business environment, people skills, and digital resonance – three of four main components comprising the rating. On the other hand, Ukraine outperforms in terms of financial attractiveness.
Digital resonance is a new scoring introduced by Kearney in 2019 to measure various elements of the IT realm: IT skills available, IT output, legal mechanisms to protect intellectual property, etc. Ukraine’s rating, for now, is 0.64, and apparently, it is lower than South Korea (0.94). Moreover, it is unmatched against the chart’s highest digital resonance ratings of the United States (1.15), Sweden, or the United Kingdom (1.11).
Where to Search for IT Staff in Ukraine?
On the one hand, we see the financial attractiveness of Ukraine as one of the world’s services hubs. On the other – despite its great potential, it isn’t the most prominent digital hub today. This raises a big question: if talent availability is not the strongest side, then how to add more to it in order to reap the benefits of foreign investments?
According to the official statistics of the Department of Justice, the number of private entrepreneurs working in the IT industry has increased during the last year by more than 29 thousand and is now 212.5 thousand in total. The growth rate has decelerated a bit, but it is still plus 16% annually. The question is – where to find the people?
This is done easily with an IT outstaffing company Ukraine can offer. Ukraine’s IT labor market has its specificity, for instance:
- The most popular activity is “computer programming”, as officially indicted by the DOJ for 143 549 registered IT specialists. The recent release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl trailer reminded millions of world gamers of Ukrainian developers from GSC Game World, also being authors of the Cossacks game series.
- The second and the third places go digital transformation consultants and data specialists, together holding more than 1/4 of the market.
- Socially oriented business is now a global trend, which means that foreign investors should pay attention to issues of gender equality and inclusion. This may potentially be an issue on the local market because at the moment, there are only 27% of women among all IT specialists. That’s plus 1% as compared to 2020, but still not too much.
- Geographical location also matters. Whilst the biggest concentration of the IT labor force is understandably in Kyiv, Eastern regions demonstrate the worst discrepancy between private entrepreneurs registered in the IT sector and their number actually working in the region.
Why to Ask for Assistance With IT Outsourcing and Outstaffing?
With IT outstaffing companies, international investors don’t have to worry about the specificity of Ukraine’s IT labor market. That way they may be sure to get a team of IT specialists needed for successful project development according to the set goals and expectations. Acquiring the human talent pool has never been easier under the guidance of the ones who know the market inside out!