{"id":1588,"date":"2010-11-24T19:10:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-24T19:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/tread-carefully-112410\/"},"modified":"2010-11-24T19:10:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-24T19:10:00","slug":"tread-carefully-112410","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/tread-carefully-112410\/","title":{"rendered":"Tread Carefully Through Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"
New data from the Central & Eastern European Outsourcing Association (<\/em>CEEOA<\/em><\/a>) points toward more sourcing dollars, pounds and euros being spent in the region. However, reaching the Promised Land isn’t always the smooth ride you may have been anticipating\u00a0when the train was leaving the station.\u00a0\u00a0Here’s our take… <\/em><\/p>\n Global Sourcing Buyers: Tread Carefully Through Europe<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Buyers care where their\u00a0providers\u00a0are because stability, talent pool, infrastructure and the business and legal environment, determine how successful the relationship is going to be. Central and Eastern Europe is a fragmented region where cost, quality and scale varies.<\/p>\n However,\u00a0firms that use a scorecard can identify different country clusters and start to make the right investment decision. As a rule of thumb, buyers find multilingual capability, stability and higher costs in the center of Europe while lower costs, IT\u00a0engineering skills and higher risk toward the east. HfS Research\u00a0recommends doing\u00a0your due diligence with care: Score the various countries to ensure alignment with your requirements (ITO or BPO) and use site visits as an essential part of the investigative process.<\/p>\n Buyers Need support To Navigate the Region<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Global sourcing buyers face a bewildering array of destinations to support their global delivery strategies but just because an economics minister says a country is a nearshore destination doesn\u2019t mean it actually is.\u00a0 Firms buy services from a vendor rather than a country. But the country\u2019s geopolitical stability, business environment, human capital, rule of law and general infrastructure underpins how successful the relationship is going to be. HfS believes buyers have to navigate the Central and Eastern European region carefully because:<\/p>\n Exhibit 1: \u00a0Software Development Rates Don\u2019t Tell the Whole Story <\/a><\/p>\n \n Cut through the confusion with a scorecard<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Buyers need to measure the maturity and attractiveness of a potential location in Central and Eastern Europe by following a scorecard approach. \u00a0Measuring the country\u2019s maturity (i.e., political and economic stability, business environment, people, and infrastructure) against its IT maturity (i.e., IT penetration; local vendor landscape; market orientation, industry expertise and the quality of delivery) provides a vital decision tool for buyers\u2014see Exhibit 2. Our own analysis reveals that the region divides into several clusters set around:<\/p>\n Exhibit 2<\/strong><\/span>: HfS Scorecard for Global Sourcing Buyers<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/a>\n
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