Friday, February 8, 2008

Consolidation in Eastern Europe: Who is Still in the Outsourcing Game?

For a long time the management of EPAM Systems, Eastern Europe’s largest software development company, was looking to enter the Russian outsourcing market. At the same time the labor market in Belarus, with a population of nearly 10 million and EPAM’s first offshore location, began heating up. So the need for new resources became more urgent.

EPAM management selected Vested Development (VDI), a Russian software development company headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. “We looked at a number of companies, but with VDI we knew each other for many years and there was a strong level of comfort,” says Arkady Dobkin, CEO of EPAM. VDI, founded in 1993, began life as an offshore software development company. However, since the beginning of 2000, the company has placed a strong focus on the Russian market.

Such is the picture across Russia: many software development companies have seen more success on the local IT market than abroad. The Russian economy, rich in natural resources, finally showed a need for the talented engineers back home. Besides, unlike publicly-listed Western companies looking to squeeze every cent of efficiency out of their outsourcing business case, privately-owned Russian businesses pay well to keep the best suppliers delivering the best results.

The growth of the IT industry in Russia has been remarkable. According to the estimates of Russian information agency RosBalt, in 2007 the IT market in Russia grew by 25 percent compared to the previous year; the market has maintained that growth rate for a number of years in the past. The increasing local market need for IT professionals, exceeding existing supply, resulted in the first signs of the industry consolidation.

…As for EPAM Systems, the acquisition was a success; it completed the post-merger integration in 2007. “As a result of the merger we’ve got interesting CIS clients, and now 50 percent of our resources are in Russia and Ukraine,” concludes Arkadiy Dobkin.

Source: GoalEurope

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