March 16, 2014
A few months ago a new client told us they were outsourcing to Ukraine but they were not getting the results they wanted from the programmers.
I asked if the demonstrations in Kiev were also an issue for them. He said, “It certainly doesn’t help.”
What do you do when your outsourced programming team is in a country beset by political disruption? Internet connections can be restricted or cut completely. Your people may not be able to get to work. Or worse.
First there were demonstrations in multiple Ukrainian cities and then shootings in Maidan Square in Kiev. Now Russia has invaded Crimea. What’s next?
Here’s what our partners in Ukraine are saying about the crisis.
The first quote is from our partner in Lviv in Western Ukraine.
"There was no impact from the events in Kiev on our business. Out of 180 employees many were at demonstrations in Lviv or on weekend demonstrations in Kiev. Only two or three people stayed longer than a weekend. In these cases we were able to reschedule the development in a way that it did not affect our clients."
"There can be some decrease in productivity, since our minds are now focused not only on the projects, but also on the politics. But this possible impact is so indirect, that I doubt customers will notice or be able to measure it."
And from a smaller city also in Western Ukraine:
"We are doing well, continuing to grow. We are far from Kyiv, the site of the main protests, and far from the Crimea, the site of the Russian invasion. "
Our partner in Kiev was closer to the demonstrations but even there employees were able to come to work and:
"The trend that we see is it is more difficult for us to get new business. But our old customers are giving us MORE business and supporting us in any way they can. So this crisis has not hit us hard, and we are really hopeful for a peaceful and advantageous resolution for Ukraine, which as of today we have lots of indication that might be the likely outcome."
It is a challenging time for Ukrainians, and all of us who value democracy and peaceful change. Accelerance continues to support our certified Accelerance partners in Ukraine and we will continue to refer clients to them without hesitation.
But those words of our client from a few months ago might resonate with you. Are you outsourcing to a company in Ukraine, Russia, or any country – and getting less than great results from the service firm you selected? Do you need a backup plan? A crisis in one part of the world is not reason enough to change service providers, but certainly may be a catalyst to evaluate your situation.
Every day, we refer companies like yours to members of the Accelerance ecosystem of certified expert software development firms in over a dozen countries, including Ukraine.