KPMG Named Lviv, Ukraine among 'Locations to Watch' for Next Outsourcing Boom

Lviv, Ukraine  /  March 17, 2009

Lviv, the city where SoftServe's European headquarters is located, was included into the list of highlighted destinations, according to KPMG's Advisory practice. The KPMG claims that Europe as an outsourcing hub offers great diversity, excellent infrastructure and numerous niche specialisms.

The Financial states, the credit crisis seems set to prompt a new rush for outsourcing services across the I.T. sector, with a number of new locations worldwide emerging as viable Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) hubs, according to KPMG's Advisory practice.

Launching their Exploring Global Frontiers report at this week's NASSCOM outsourcing event in India, KPMG claims to have identified 31 cities which are rapidly emerging as leading pretenders to the BPO crown held by the traditional powerhouses such as Bangalore, Chennai or Shanghai.

As those locations rapidly approach saturation point, there is a sizable opportunity for these new and emerging locations to swallow up a large proportion of the new outsourcing work which the credit crisis is apparently creating.

Speaking at the report's launch, Edge Zarrella, Global Head of IT Advisory at KPMG and a partner in the Hong Kong firm, said: "Traditional sourcing locations, which have been at the forefront of the outsourcing boom, were always going to reach saturation point. Corporates now need to know which locations to consider next for their outsourcing activities. There are many locations around the world which are able to supply a credible outsourcing capability. However, there are subtle nuances in terms of labor skills, niche specialisms and government incentives which have led us to highlight these 31 locations as stars of the future."

"The need to develop new, cost effective, viable outsourcing locations has been highlighted by the economic events of the past few months. Companies are focused on reducing their cost base, both for short-term and long-term gain. As a result, more organizations are considering savings obtained through outsourcing parts of their operations. Most importantly, they should be convinced that by doing so, they are not sacrificing performance for the sake of cutting costs. Our location study aims to highlight the benefits brought by the different city choices available to them."

The 31 locations are an eclectic mix, ranging from well-known cities in developed countries to lesser-known places in the emerging markets, well off the tourist track. The full list includes 10 locations in the Americas (Buenos Aires, Campinas, Curitiba, Calgary, Winnipeg, Santiago, Guadalajara, Queretaro, Boise, Indianapolis); 10 in Asia-Pacific (Brisbane, Changsha, Hangzhou, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Nagpur, Penang, Davao City, Iloilo City, Ho Chi Minh City); and 11 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Sofia, Zagreb, Cairo, Port Louis, Belfast, Gdansk, Cluj-Napoca, Rostov-on-Don, Belgrade, Tunis and Lviv).

About SoftServe, Inc.

SoftServe is a leading global provider of proven high quality software development, testing and consulting services. At SoftServe, we are passionate and committed to bringing the best commercial software to market for new and established independent software vendors and software-enabled businesses. To accomplish this, we created AbilitonTM, an approach that develops an assessment and certification framework making it simple to create the right standards, certifications, tools and team structure to repeatedly deliver development success for our clients. Through the years, SoftServe has partnered with hundreds of companies globally on a wide range of products and technologies, successfully completing over 2000 projects. Founded in 1993, SoftServe is headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, with an award-winning development organization based in Ukraine and the Philippines. For more information, please visit www.softserveinc.com.