Harvard event showcases Russia as outsourcing site

IDG News Service - Lower wages than in the U.S. and an abundance of highly skilled computer programmers make Russia a good fit for companies aiming to bolster research and development or lower development costs, according to representatives from major Russian IT outsourcing firms.
Officials from the Russian companies were at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., yesterday to raise the profile of Russia as a low-cost destination for high-quality software development. The second annual event, known as "Russian IT Seasons," featured short presentations by the companies in front of an audience that included representatives from major U.S. corporations and software engineers looking for career opportunities.
The sophistication of Russian programmers allows the country to occupy a "niche" in the IT outsourcing market, supplying customers with talent capable of more sophisticated design and development work, which often results in novel and patentable technology, according to Valentin Makarov, president of Russoft, a professional association for software developers in Moscow that helped organize the event.
A series of speakers from both U.S. and Russian firms reinforced Makarov's core message, painting a picture of Russia as a "more stable" country with tremendous human resources eager to help U.S. companies tackle difficult technical challenges.
Len Erlikh, chief technology officer at Russian IT outsourcing company BridgeQuest, said his company helped Relativity Technologies Inc. in Research Triangle Park, N.C., overhaul its signature product, which helps developers maintain and enhance Cobol code.
More than 90% of the 90-person R&D team used by Relativity was based in Russia, with just 10% based in the U.S., Erlikh said.
Contrary to the image of Russians as reluctant workers raised in a system that spurned private enterprise, Erlikh said that he found engineers there to be highly motivated. "You talk about fire in the belly, these guys have got it. They're very dependable," he said.
Derrick Robinson, speaking for major Russian IT outsourcing firm Luxoft, sang praises of "cosmopolitan" Moscow and said that, as with Indian outsourcing firms, U.S. companies that move development to Russia can save as much as 65% on development costs.
However, Russian programmers have a different mentality than their counterparts in India or other centers of offshore development. A greater emphasis on accuracy, thorough documentation and contingency planning could add to upfront development costs compared with projects managed in other countries, but that pays dividends "when things don't go right," he said.
Most of the speakers reported a strong interest from U.S. companies in outsourcing to Russia.
"The cultural barriers to outsourcing are breaking down," Erlikh said. "It's more common that major companies today are [outsourcing] or actively looking into it than