Eastern European IT outsourcing leaders come together to represent the region at one of the industry’s most prestigious events

London, Moscow, June 29, 2009 - RUSSOFT, the nationwide association of over 60 software development companies from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, took part in the Gartner Outsourcing and IT Services Summit in London on June 15-16.  The association was represented by leading Eastern European providers Auriga (www.auriga.com), Epam Systems (www.epam.com), IBA Group (www.iba-it-group.com), Luxoft (www.luxoft.com) and Reksoft (www.reksoft.com).

This year’s conference focused on the optimization and improvement of both vendor and client outsourcing strategy. The summit has seen a surge of attendees’ interest in readjusting current outsourcing contracts, minimizing the risks of new provider engagements and new delivery models such as Software as a Service and Cloud Computing. In addition, a series of reports focused on the Eastern European nearshore industry as a new outsourcing destination.

The RUSSOFT presentation on the advantages of outsourcing to Eastern Europe, made by RUSSOFT Board member and Auriga president Alexei Suharev, provoked considerable interest. It was noted that according to Zinnov combined revenues from Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian IT services exports are second only to India, reaching $3.4bn in 2008. However, Eastern Europe currently exports more services to the US while Western Europe, despite its cultural and geographical proximity, appears to underestimate the region’s potential. It is anticipated that as more projects shift to short-term planning, the nearshore destinations with their flexible models will become more and more attractive for Western European clients.

“RUSSOFT came to London to establish the integrated resource of Eastern Europe’s Russian-speaking countries as a powerful and reliable alternative to mainstream IT outsourcing destinations, particularly for Western Europe,” said RUSSOFT president Valentin Makarov. “RUSSOFT’s participation in Gartner’s Outsourcing & IT Services Summit represented an unmissable opportunity for Eastern European leaders not only to showcase their individual capabilities, but also to demonstrate the credentials of an entire region with a long-standing history of engineering excellence and geographical and cultural proximity to Europe.”

About RUSSOFT

RUSSOFT is a nationwide association of over 60 software development companies from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine that employ over 24,000 IT engineers and generate annual revenue of $750m. RUSSOFT is the official voice of the industry and an active lobbyist for its interests in the Russian Government.