Central and Eastern European Outsourcing Association (CEEOA) released its annual report on the state of IT outsourcing service providers market in the region – “Central and Eastern Europe IT Outsourcing Review 2010”. In fact it’s the only report that more or less objectively describes the state of outsourced software development market in the region. As for Belarus and Ukraine, it’s nearly a single source of statistics on market volume and other important figures.
Research was conducted from February to July 2010. Respondents included more than 300 companies, counting over 30 companies from Belarus. Taking into account the traditional privacy of information in IT industry, it’s a significant number of respondents to make trustworthy market volume assessments.
“Central and Eastern Europe IT Outsourcing Review 2010” is based on respondents’ expert opinions. It provides data on 2009, as well as forecasts on the main development trends in outsourced software development in the region. One of its main objectives of the report is to provide potential clients with full and reliable information needed to make decisions about outsourcing software development to CEE region.
Let’s take a look at “Central and Eastern Europe IT Outsourcing Review 2010” key findings.
Market Volume
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Belarus was ranked 5th in the region by market volume, having retained its positions (see previous report here). Estimated Belarusian IT market volume is 384 million dollars (compared to 310 million in 2008).
Ukraine, Russia, Romania (the largest countries by population in the region) and Hungary (one of the first countries were offshore software development emerged) retain leaders’ positions.
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According to IT companies expectations, in 2010 Belarusian offshore software development market should get closer to the optimistic figure of nearly half a billion dollars.
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The explanation of this forecast is simple. The first year covered by CEEOA reports was 2007, and it estimated software development in Belarus market volume at 288 million dollars. Taking into account that 2003-2007 were the period of boosting industry growth, 7.6% outsourced software development market growth in 2008 can be considered minimal. Later on IT industry was struck by crisis and its influence was evident. However software development industry managed to recover and continued its progressive growth. In 2009 it showed 23.9% grows and in 2010 it is supposed to add up another 24.9% and make 478 million dollars in total.
Number of Companies
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According to experts estimations, last year the number of outsourced software development companies in Belarus increased by 50 and made up 560. Other markets have also shown growth in number of companies within the last years. Experts say these perturbations were caused by the economic crisis. New companies are founded; large companies are being restructured, etc.
As Belarusian IT industry experts comment, the figure of 560 can be a bit overestimated. Open database of software development companies in Belarus contains approximately 370 companies, and some of them do not even work in outsourced software development industry. All others can be small companies or sole entrepreneurs, experts assume.
Number of Specialists
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By number of specialists Belarus, with 10 400 professionals, is ranked 3rd in CEE region. Ukraine and Romania are the leaders by this indicator. Hungary is the 4th and Poland is the 5th. Meanwhile these two countries surpass Belarus by market volume, which means that they have higher rates.
Average Rates
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Average rate in Belarus is estimated at 22.95 dollars per hour. Lower rates are only in Bulgaria (22.87), Moldova (20.10) and Albania (18.00). The leaders are Slovenia (32.58), Poland (31.29) and Hungary (30.95).
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Belarusian rates by position range from 18.36 (Junior developer) to 29.14 (Project manager) dollars per hour.
Modern Trends
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Over 90% of experts forecast further Belarusian outsourced software development market growth. The majority are sure that development of quality management systems and improvements of government support will also follow.
Conclusion
According to “Central and Eastern Europe IT Outsourcing Review 2010” forecasts, Belarusian outsourced software development industry will continue its growth. The country has a serious potential, and its qualified professionals are in good demand. Despite economic crisis Belarus succeeded to retain its positions in market volume rating, giving ground only to the countries with larger population.
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