Outsourcing of software development tasks has become a reality for most successful companies. The question today is not whether to outsource or not, but where to outsource. Speaking of countries, there are some options that are more obvious, and yet there are some that can become your best partners and friends forever. Let’s take a closer look at Belarus, an Eastern European country nestled between Poland and Russia, recently named in the top 5 IT outsourcing countries in Central and Eastern Europe by the Central and Eastern European Outsourcing Association.
Some 30-40 years ago, Belarus was known as the assembly shop of the entire Soviet Union. The best technical personnel, engineers and skilled workers moved here to work in the high-tech industry of the time. Belarus became home to several technical universities. Since then, innovative industries have flourished here with the unceasing support of the state, resulting in the creation of the Hi-Tech Park, an office space for IT companies, in Minsk in 2005.
A long history of innovative development made Belarus a great pool of engineering and technical talent. According to the UN Human Development Index, Belarus ranks 68 (Russia 71, Ukraine 85) out of 182 countries. It is located in the group of countries with high human development. And as recent research by Forbes magazine shows, “Belarus’s per capita income from exporting IT services equals India’s and far exceeds Russia’s.” The government controls the quality and maintains the high level of computer education. This means training not only in programming, but also in a deep understanding of engineering, mathematics, physics, and other fundamental sciences. Belarusian student teams often win prizes at world programming tournaments.
Belarus is geographically located in Europe and borders three EU countries: Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The time zone is GMT +2, which is only 7 hours behind New York. Clients in the United States use a continuous project management model, in which they review the results of the day’s work in the morning, and then have all day to work on new tasks and send them back to Belarus. Belarusian software developers are working, while their clients abroad are asleep. Typically, the two have no less than two common working hours for various management-related purposes. Being geographically close does not necessarily mean being easily accessible, but Belarus is not the case. Minsk, the capital of Belarus, is only a two and a half hour flight from Frankfurt and a three and a half hour flight from London. The Belarusian visa is easy to obtain at the airport upon arrival.