Software Information |
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)
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
DVD Burning Tips CD and DVD replication is a process that works by creating discs from scratch. Not to be confused with duplication (the act of burning information onto readymade, commercially-available blank CD-Rs and DVD-Rs), replication relies on the use of molds to produce actual discs that already contain digital data. Dashboard Widgets for Windows For a windows user like me, just can watch with envy the new eye candy features in Mac OS X and wondering how I can have the same feature on my belove windows.Before Apple introduce dashboard in their latest Mac OS X, most of mac users already can have widget on their desktop using Konfabulator by Pixoria Inc. Dig Out That Worm Internet worms.Is your PC infected?If your computer has become infected with a worm, don't panic, it is not the end of the world. Increase Office Efficiency With One Simple Tool When you need a phone number, you do a quick search on the Internet and in a few seconds, you've got the information you need. And you probably receive a lot of contact information right inside the emails you receive every day. What is Fleet Maintenance Management? Fleet Maintenance Management is a critical position in any company that has a number of commercial vehicles. The individual responsible for the management and maintenance of fleet vehicles performs a variety of functions. Daffodil DB: Web Database What is a Web Database?A web database is a database for the internet. You can get access to your data via the internet from anywhere in the world. Top Questions to Ask Before Buying a Help Desk & Asset Management Software #5 All your hardware components like Printers, PCs etc come under various maintenance contracts with different maintenance vendors. Do you know which batch of PCs are under warranty & for what number of PCs is the warranty about to expire (so that you can plan for an AMC)? Can you split up & tell how much AMC charges do you pay for each hardware component & how much for each vendor? Can you re-calculate the costs if an AMC with a vendor is to be renewed?#4 Typically your company gets hardware parts and accessories from different vendors. Four Easy Ways To Prevent Spyware How would you like to prevent spyware and adware from getting into your computer? You need to stop adware and spyware before it gets into your files. That way you're protecting your private information such as passwords, credit card numbers and other documents that you don't want to share with anyone. Making The Decision To Automate Your Software Testing Not every software testing project can or should be automated. Before your department accepts a new test automation project, you should establish a process by which projects are reviewed and either accepted or rejected. Instant Messaging is a Sweet Way to Communicate MSN messenger is a pretty cool invention. I mean I'm not really into serious discussions on the email, answers to questions can often take a few days to arrive because people are so busy these days. What is Fleet Maintenance Software? Simply put, fleet maintenance allows companies to monitor and maintain their fleets of commercial vehicles more efficiently.Fleet maintenance requires a great deal of organization and management skills. S is for Spying, Surveillance -- and for Software as Well Words we choose to describe things and phenomena often show our attitude towards what we say. They imperceptibly reflect our opinions and judgments, prejudices and preferences, moral convictions and beliefs. The Death of Windows I have always regretted how Microsoft price gouges and rips off computer users. I really regret Windows XP activation. Microsoft Great Plains: Getting New Users Licenses - Annual Service Plan FAQ Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Solomon, Navision, Axapta, Microsoft CRM require existing customer to be on active service contract: enhancement program. Minimal maintenance plan gives you free new software version (however upgrade itself, if it is done by your MBS partner is not free). Great Plains Custom Development: Dexterity, VBA, SQL, Crystal, eConnect - Overview For Programmer Microsoft Great Plains is main Microsoft Business Solutions accounting package for the US market. It has multiple customization/modification/reporting tools. Navision Customization: C/SIDE, C/ODBC, C/FRONT, XBRL - Development Options Microsoft bought Navision, Denmark based software development company, along with Great Plains Software. Now Microsoft Business Solutions offers following ERP applications: Navision (former Navision Attain), Microsoft Great Plains (former Great Plains Dynamics/eEnterprise), Solomon, Axapta. SQL: Querying Microsoft Great Plains - Overview for Database Administrator/Developer Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more and more popular, partly because of Microsoft muscles behind it. Now it is targeted to the whole spectrum of horizontal and vertical market clientele. Microsoft Great Plains Implementation for Midsize & Large Corporation: Lockbox Processing Microsoft Great Plains is now targeting large and midsize businesses and being matured ERP has advanced, but still very simple in use modules and features: Lockbox Processing for Accounts Receivables, Customer/Vendor Consolidation, Multicurrency etc. We'll try to cover these features in the series of small articles to help decision maker and end user understand the feature and how does it work to make a decision to purchase additional nice modules. Microsoft CRM: Implementation, Customization, Support - Consultant Overview Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is present several years on the US software market plus it makes advances in Europe. We expect substantial number growth of Microsoft CRM implementations across USA. Tripwire for Linux File Integrity What is Tripwire?Tripwire is a form intrusion detection system (IDS) that helps you keep tabs on the integrity of the files on your computer. Quite simply it will help identify files or modifications made to your system in the event someone compromised your system. |
home | site map | contact us |