Lviv is a new IT outsourcing destination
Lviv is seen as the capital of Western Ukraine and is the seventh-largest city in the country. It is a key educational and cultural center. The city is known for its UNESCO-listed attractions and strong ties to Western European culture.
In 2009, Focus Magazine named Lviv the Best Ukrainian City to Live In. This was later confirmed by a popular poll on Ukraine’s top social media platform. FDI Magazine also ranked Lviv in the “European Cities and Regions of the Future 2010/2011.” The city placed 3rd for Cost-Effectiveness and 4th for Human Resources among large cities.
A KPMG report identified Lviv as one of 31 cities set to become a new hotspot for outsourcing. It was the only Ukrainian city to make the list.
Lviv is growing in importance for software outsourcing, offering high-skilled developers and competitive hourly rates. It’s becoming a top choice for outsourcing software development to Ukraine, attracting businesses looking for outsourcing partners and software development expertise.
Key drivers for the city to emerge as a favourable IT outsourcing destination
1. Highly Qualified Human Resources
Lviv possesses a large resource pool of a highly educated workforce, including IT specialists and engineers. These are mostly graduates of two renowned universities: Lviv National Polytechnic University and Lviv Ivan Franko National University.
11 % of the total numbers of software developers in Ukraine reside in Lviv. Student teams from Lviv consistently beat their competitors in international programming contests. There are 50+ IT companies in Lviv differing in scale and competencies range. Good English language knowledge is also a sufficient advantage.
2. Cultural consanguinity with Western Europe
Due to close historical and cultural connections with EU countries, Lviv possesses a strong Western mentality. Actually, Lviv is located 70 km from the Polish border.
Apart from this, business ethics in Lviv is also very similar to conventional European business principles. Thus, Lviv is a great choice for outsourcing software development to Ukraine.
3. Excellent IT Education
Lviv is a major educational center in Ukraine with 38 universities and institutes (with approximately 130 000 students). There are 5 educational institutions-providers of highly-skilled IT-related specialists. For example, Lviv Polytechnic University produces over 1,000 graduates from IT-related courses annually.
4. Convenient Location and Comfortable Time Zone
Lviv has a strategically advantageous geographical location and is easy to reach with numerous direct flights to Europe. Lviv airport is one of the major in Ukraine and provides extremely convenient airline connections, e.g. a flight to Munich will take 2 hours, to Vienna — 1.5 hours, Warsaw — 1 hour, New York (via Warsaw) — 10 hours.
Distances to such large centers as Berlin make 900 km, Zurich and Amsterdam — 1500 km. Time difference with European countries is insufficient (1-2 hours).
5. Cost-efficient Software Development Outsourcing
Average salaries for IT professionals in Lviv are 25% lower than in Kyiv and, naturally, sufficiently lower than in Western Europe or the USA. IT outsourcing to Lviv guarantees significant cost savings in comparison to European countries. This includes labor and real estate expenses.
All the above mentioned factors make Lviv suited for offshore delivery to Western Europe. Lviv holds one of the leading positions in IT services in Ukraine. It has several domestic IT-BPO companies, which can be used or partnered with to enter the country.
