When Western European companies began to outsource to Eastern Europe, the price was the decisive fact. It was the lower costs that led many to find labor in Eastern European cities such as Kiev, Vilnius and Kraków, despite cultural and linguistic challenges.

We are seeing an ongoing development where many companies are converting their outsourcing away from Eastern Europe to other places offering competitive prices and access to talent.  Our experience shows that the cost of a senior programmer in Ukraine is up to 60% higher than the cost of a senior programmer in Egypt. In Cairo, wage developments are more moderate than in Asia and Eastern Europe.

What should you be aware of?
If you are outsourcing to Eastern Europe it might be the time to review agreements.  The original reasons that made the choice of location good years back might very well have changed.  The cultural readiness might very well have increased but so have the prices.  The digitalization of the Eastern European countries are running just as fast as we see in Western Europe, and the talent pool is running dry.  In other words, you might very well be getting into exactly the same challenge as you are facing in Western Europe – now just adding distance.

We are aware that our approach to the choice of outsourcing destinations has “been colored” by our work in Egypt. However, CrossWorkers extensive experience working with Eastern Europe from previous operations in Eastern Europe and Pakistan, is why we draw attention to the changes we see.

In addition, be aware that in some countries there is a tradition that many software developers are legally employed independent contractors due to tax regulations. With the relatively new GDPR regulations, this creates a challenge for an EU based customer to secure legal and practical GDPR compliance.

There is a strong alternative
CrossWorkers offers IT outsourcing in Cairo with Scandinavian security.  We have many years of experience in IT outsourcing to Eastern Europe and Pakistan, and we know that Cairo is a very strong alternative to Eastern Europe. It is a conscious choice that we choose Cairo to build the CrossWorkers ODC.

Every year, around 50,000 IT graduates graduate from the university’s in Cairo and we have the best employees here at CrossWorkers! We do a lot to keep our talented graduates. We ensure that our employees have good working conditions and receive a competitive salary – which is why we are so good at keeping the good employees. In addition to creating an attractive work environment, we invest to further train our employees.

How to choose the right offshore country
Best practice IT outsourcing
Steps to start working with a remote team
How we recruit IT personnel for our clients