Why outsourcing to Russia?

Why are so many global companies now choosing Russia as their preferred destination for offshore software development services?

Communications and Culture

U.S. and European companies face many difficulties communicating and working cohesively with offshore teams that have significant cultural differences. Russia is based on European culture. With fewer cultural differences, U.S. and European development teams can more effectively communicate with their Russian counterparts than with offshore teams in other countries.

Technical Expertise and Experience

The Russian offshore software development industry is now more than 16 years old. There is a solid generation of software development professionals who are able to work in the international multilingual environment. Major Russian cities have excellent telecommunications and distributed computing infrastructures. Development center locations spread from the main cities (Moscow and St. Petersburg) to regional centers of technological expertise (Novosibirsk, Novgorod, Voronezh, Izhevsk, etc.).

The technical universities in these cities produce some of the top scientists, engineers and mathematicians in the world, with Russian teams consistently winning international programming competitions. Recent reports have said only a small percentage of Russian's existing IT resources has been used, leaving a very stable growth opportunity for Russia-based outsourcing vendors. This growth opportunity attracts more top Russian students to the field every year.

Russia's well established and fast growing IT industry is proven by the fact that many global technology companies have established their own development centers in Russia. These include such well-known and respected companies as Siemens, Motorola, Intel, Sun, Boeing, LG, Lucent, Alcatel, Deutsche Bank, T-Systems, etc. Gartner Group, IDC, Global Services, and other top analysts all predict that Russia's IT exports will continue to grow, mainly because of the high technical capabilities of Russian engineers.

As quoted from BTQ (Business Trends Quarterly):

Analysts and industry experts like Esther Dyson and Intel's Steve Case have said the Russians are the absolute tops when it comes to complex programming such as mainframe programming, application development, web application/ design, and content management skills. Additional areas of strength include custom R&D and design work, embedded systems development, and specialized testing. In fact, while other countries are getting projects to handle commoditized coding projects, Russia is increasingly the destination for high value, sophisticated, mission critical application development.

Geography

Another advantage is Russia's geography. Moscow and St. Petersburg have only a 1-3 hour time difference with European countries. Requests from the U.S. can be handled overnight. In addition, with 11 time zones, we are able to offer round the clock development teams strategically placed throughout the country to ensure continuous work flow and faster time to market.

Cost

Finally, cost advantage obviously plays a significant role to outsourcers. Russian labor costs are moderate, roughly 30% to 70% of the labor costs in the U.S. and European Union. But for technically complex or business-critical development projects, execution ultimately counts more - and that is where the Russian experts represent an advantage. The creativity, ingenuity, and flexibility of Russian engineers, as opposed to the process-oriented mindset of many outsourcing destinations, give companies the advantage of having highly motivated partners to help plan and solve complex issues from the start. Proper foresight and the ability to quickly adapt to changing needs and rapid technology innovations will result in faster time to market and quicker ROI than our competitors. Therefore, while developers in some countries give the allusion of lower up-front costs, Russian teams will ultimately save you time and money on the final product.