Top 10 Offshore Outsourcing Destinations Globally

Textiles, automobiles and steel manufacturers were the first people to outsource jobs, and when IT came into prominence, they started doing it in small doses, until it became hugely popular, and now outsourcing is spread across several continents and countries. Offshore outsourcing is thus changing the face of the current business models of IT companies and has evolved to be the driving force in the DOT COM era of global IT. Cutting costs, quality, work completed on time, focus on core business goals are some of the advantages of entrusting the task to agencies that indulge in outsourcing work. Here are 10 of the topmost destinations in outsourcing:

1. India

Of all the top destinations for outsourcing, India scores the best. The main reason for India’s success in this scenario is because of the huge technological and technical brilliance and remarkably talented manpower with incredible language skills and the willingness to work on a budget.

Nations realising the importance of doing business in India have made use of investment friendly policies of the government and forward thinking reforms and have brought in work after work. Indians are ready to work in shifts, mostly of 8 hours, so you have someone working on your project all the time. Education is highly valued in the country, so you have highly skilled people working for you. Though Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai are the major cities where outsourcing takes place, other cities like Kochi, Hyderabad, Pune, Mysore, Chandigarh and Kolkatta have all joined in the foray.

2. Ukraine

After India, Ukraine is probably the next best country where work is sourced largely. It is said that Ukraine is home to the largest number of IT professionals in Europe. There are software engineers who are skilled in Java, JavaScript, C#, PHP and Python. They grabbed the third slot for having the best number of Node.js, ASP.NET, Ruby, Symphony, PHP and Python developers. There are more than a 1000 IT companies and 2000 startups in the country, ready to do their bit in the world of outsourcing.

3. Romania

The cultural proximity to Western Europe is one of the biggest advantages of Romania. And geographically, Romania is about 1-2 flight hours away, so business meetings are common. Highly skilled labour is available, and they have a strong aptitude for multilingual skills. It is true that Romania is not the lowest in cost, but they do provide great quality for the price they charge. They are ready to innovate, and are ready to interact with the clients in whichever language they are convenient – English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, mainly.

4. Bulgaria

Bulgaria has also evolved to be a great outsourcing destination because they provide a good business environment, highly qualified staff, and better financial background. The large talent pool of IT professionals have a strong basis in engineering science, great fluency in language, and willingness to work at odd hours. Bulgaria has set itself to be a IT business hub for small scale outsourcing ventures, and the children are taught foreign languages in schools. The main areas in Bulgaria where work in mainly outsourced are the capital city Sofia, Plovdiv, Ruse, Burgas, Blagoevgrad, Varna and Veliko Tarnovo.

5. Poland

Poland has become one of the top destinations for outsourcing because they provide great quality in their work at lower labour costs. And English being a standard in Polish schools, you will have no issues connecting to the people of the country when you want to get work done. There are some very good coders and programmers in the country, and is currently rated 5th in the world in Top Coder ranking.

6. China

China has gained serious edge as a strong outsourcing destination and is slowly closing in on India in education skills and cultural adaptability. Their move to liberalise financial markets and improved governance have also helped a great deal. The strong credentials of the outsourcing players have really helped a great deal.

However, China does have certain problems like fragmented outsourcing industry, shortage of people with international skills, and language barriers. But the country is already working on improving them.

7. Russia

With a strong basis in science and maths, and low cost investment and labour, Russia has evolved to be a popular outsourcing destination. The educational system is also pretty good and this has enabled them to produce highly-skilled engineers, and merited IT specialists. However, the true beacons of Russia’s success has been the stability of Russia’s economy and the country’s large market size. Unlike older times, English speaking Russians are on the rise, so communication is also easy.

8. Belaruse

Belaruse has become a top destination to outsource high-end software development. And this is interesting because Belaruse’s strong traditional of science and technology education has stemmed from the Soviet era. More than 3,500 young Belaruse students graduate every year majoring in the IT discipline.

Several global technological brands have also opened shop in the country, like Viber, Fitbit, Yandex, WorkFusion, Juno and Playtika; these brands have their research division functioning in full swing here. In fact, about 65 international brands have opened their R&D division in the country. The IT job market in the country is already seeing huge rise and a record number of applications from people who are highly skilled and technically adept.

9. Pakistan

Pakistan has also evolved as a major IT destination mainly because it is the 3rd largest English speaking country (past British colony) in the world. Karachi, the 7th largest city in the world emphasis great importance on the technology education. About 2/3rd of the population in Pakistan is youth, aged below 24 years and they are brought up with good work ethics and productivity. The favourable business laws in the country have made them business friendly, attracting international companies and brands.

10. Vietnam

Vietnam is also one of the globally ranked outsourcing destination, and with a positive landscape of highly talented engineers and IT professionals, there is no going wrong here. Vietnam has already started giving Romania and Philippines a run for their money. Vietnam has a great labour pool with well-trained people and young graduates ready to work economically, but with international standards.

Of course, there are several other top outsourcing destinations in the world like Singapore, Slovakia, Panama, Turkey, Spain and so on, but these countries scores above them all.

Interesting links about the topic:
Indian cities among Top 8 global outsourcing destinations
Top Global Outsourcing Destinations

Pictures: Flicker.com / ILO/ Nicolas Raymond/ shankar s.


The author: Reema Oamkumar is engaged as a thought leader at www.Software-Developer-India.com which is a part of the YUHIRO Group. YUHIRO is a German-Indian enterprise which provides programmers to IT companies, agencies and IT departments.

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