On March 1, 2011, ELEKS Software’s CEO Alex Skrypnyk participated in an on-line round table discussion dedicated to the perspectives of IT industry development in Ukraine, which was broadcasted on five major national TV channels and simulcasted online for people to view around the world.

During the telecast, over twenty-five officers of leading Ukrainian high-tech companies and IT associations exchanged their opinions on the current state of IT industry in Ukraine and discussed some urgent issues.  Representatives of major Ukrainian media outlets attended the live event.  About 500 online viewers watched the video in real time on the web site of one of the most popular Ukrainian magazines about computers and IT business - “Komp’uternoye Obozreniye”.   

For the past decade, Ukraine has proven to be a strong player on the international market of software development and nearshore / offshore outsourcing services.  In a recent 2010 report on the industry conducted by the Central and Eastern European Outsourcing Association and sponsored by ELEKS Software, data showed that Ukraine is the largest exporter of software outsourcing services in Central and Eastern Europe.  Ukraine was ranked first among all other countries in this region in the volume of software services exported, which was estimated at almost $ 700 million.  The report also showed that Ukraine ranked first in number of IT specialists and first in the number of software companies providing such services.  

Market research also showed that the market continues to grow against the backdrop of the recovering global economy and rising demand for nearshore and offshore software development services.  For the past two years, Ukraine has been the leading region in Central and Eastern Europe and was named among top 30 outsourcing destinations in the world by Gartner in 2007 and 2008. 

Additionally, in 2010, Ukraine was recognized among 20 leading countries in the area of IT outsourcing and high-tech services in the Global Services 100 List.  Ukraine climbed to be ranked # 11 ahead of Russia, Belarus and Poland in this list. According to experts’ opinion, one of the most important factors contributing to continuing growth of the software services industry in Ukraine is a highly educated and skilled workforce. Historically, Ukraine has had a tradition of strong engineering and technical training.  

When Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine’s higher education was heavily focused on engineering and science specialties.  This legacy and the presence of strong scientific schools continues and has increased the competitiveness of Ukrainian IT specialists in the world. Leading experts from around the world consider Ukrainian programmers to be some of the best in the world.  But ironically, nine out of every ten Ukrainian developers work developing software for export markets.

The IT industry has a huge potential and it is expected that the government’s assistance will help create a favorable environment for the IT sector to grow and to better serve the needs of the national market, as well as to remain competitive on the international software services market against services providers from India, China and other outsourcing destinations. In his speech, Alex Skrypnyk stressed upon the vital importance to build a productive dialogue between the government and IT businesses in Ukraine. 

“There are many ways that information technology can help the state (Ukraine), for instance, in preparation of the upcoming EURO 2012 football championship games or creating an electronic passport for Ukrainian citizens.  Furthermore, the IT industry needs the government’s assistance in the sphere of education.  Generally, the Ukrainian educational system is more demanding than those in Western countries, including most in the United States. Though Ukraine has a good knowledge base in applied sciences, engineering and computer technology, it has to focus more on learning English, starting in the early years of school,” noted Mr. Skrypnyk.

The majority of the round-table discussion participants were in agreement that Ukraine needed to have a stable strategy with regard to development of the IT industry, which can only be formed by true software professionals.  It was also noted that it is essential that the Ukrainian government creates a more favorable tax structure to attract investments in the IT and software development industry, which would ultimately help local software businesses to grow and local economies to prosper. 

As one of the next steps, officials of major Ukrainian software companies have to unite to lobby for industry interests at the national level. The Round Table discussion video is available in Ukrainian at http://ko.com.ua/node/55072 and the photo report can be viewed at http://incom.ua/content/view/374344/207/.