Experts in IT are short in supply and prices for freelancers are constantly on the rise. This brings nearshoring into focus on IT Development. Especially small and medium enterprises (SME) recently  started to accept nearshoring as a cost-effective alternative to mandating developers on homeland .

According to a recent survey of the GULP project marketplace  about two thirds of German-based freelancers demand hourly rates ranging from 60 to 80 Euros with no imminent end of this increase of fees to appear.

„As an alternative to the rather high fees demanded by freelancers located in their home country, prospective clients more and more consider Nearshoring when looking for highly qualified developers“, – says Serge Salenko, Business Development Manager of Qualium Systems Ltd., headquartered in Kharkov, Ukraine. – „We have noticed a steady increase in inquiries and requests for experts in all fields of IT development. “  Increasingly this is especially true for small and medium sized corporations and online-agencies in search for developers that offer a wide range of IT expertise, from outsourcing parts of projects all the way up to hiring complete teams of developers abroad.

In order to successfully execute such a cooperation model, it is crucial to follow some important rules: besides a transparent and to the point means of communication,  detailed technical specifications, clear milestones and project goals have to be formulated.

„Each cooperation we undertake with clients abroad follows a specific set of rules which are also clearly outlined in legal contracts. This has worked very well for us and our past clients and gives each contract party the peace of mind necessary in cross border cooperations.“ – said Olga Krivchenko, CEO at Qualium Systems Ltd.

One trend that has become quite popular its the request for so-called „Dedicated Development Teams“. DDT is a model of cooperation, accordingly with which the specially formed team is completely engaged with customer’s tasks without being distracted by extraneous projects.

„Our IT experts in dedicated development centres work eight hours a day, five days a week exclusively on a specific clients project. All work and development is controlled and overlooked directly by the clients themselves“ – said Olga Krivchenko.  This type of cooperation offers clients considerable cost savings, having a team of developers „on-board“ for a specific time period without the need of hiring longterm employees themselves. Besides, clients considerably profit from income disparities between Western countries and East-Europe.

The market for IT development has become more open-minded for Nearshorig Cooperation Models in recent years. Many companies have recognized the considerable potential savings whilst discovering additional development ressources that can be mandated quickly – at the same time being able to focus on their own core business.

A recent survey of the „Ukrainian Hi-Tech Initiative“, the leading association of IT cooperations in the Ukraine, has uncovered the massive growth of the IT sector in the country: revenues within the industry for IT outsourcing and development have risen to 1.1 Billion Euros in 2011 whilst the number of IT experts has grown by 20% to 25.000 employees. By far the largest IT technology centre in Ukraine is Kharkov – the silicone valley of Ukraine – which is also the headquarter of Qualium Systems Ltd.

About Qualium Systems

Qualium Systems Ltd is a German / Ukrainian software development company specializing on  software development services of all kinds. Our work is based on the principles of mutually beneficial collaboration. Our services are more than a set of technologies or a team of programmers. Qualium Systems is located in Ukraine and Germany and serves the IT markets in the USA, Australia, Canada, and Europe.

Qulium Systems develops mobile apps, social media applications, web- and desktop applications of all kinds as well as Flash and Flex technologies. Qualium Systems employs more than 50 highly skilled programmers and developers and serves clients around the globe.