Outsourcing to any given country provides advantages and disadvantages, and Romania is no exemption. Outsourcing IT to Romania provides clear-cut examples of the advantages; a hard working labor pool whose wages are much lower than those doing a similar job in the U.S. As some of the advantages of outsourcing to Romania are clear, so is one major disadvantage; time difference. The time difference between Romania and the United States’ east coast is seven hours. Nonetheless, my belief is that the advantages of outsourcing to Romania outweigh any disadvantage that may be found.
One of the main concerns of a company that chooses to outsource a project is cost. Romania is the European Union member with the lowest wages. In fact, when Romania began focusing in outsourcing at the beginning of the last decade, the cost of outsourcing there when compared to India was lower.[1] This provided Europe with a good alternative to India, since the cost was lower and time difference was minimal. But this advantage also provided U.S. companies with a good alternative to India. Currently, Romania’s wages remain at a fraction of those found in the United States. A software developer currently earns under $16,000 on average per year. Cost may be the main factor that many companies consider when outsourcing, but it is not the only advantage that Romania provides to those who outsource there.
Romania has a good upper education system that stresses importance on IT, with the realization that outsourcing is an important sector of the economy. This realization has helped tear down a language barrier in the country, where people knowledgeable in languages such as English, French, and Italian, among others, are not hard to find.[2] The lack of a language barrier makes it attractive for American companies to outsource to Romania. The importance that Romania has stressed on IT and outsourcing has led Romania’s current generation to be highly skilled and motivated. This has led companies such as HP to expand their operations in the country. Hewlett-Packard announced earlier this year the hiring of an additional 600 people to their operations in Romania, bringing the total to 3,700 employees.
Romania’s focus on attracting IT outsourcing has also led them to have a large segment of the population specialize in IT. According to the executive director at the Association of Software Developers, Valerica Dragomir, Romania has the largest population of high-quality IT specialist in Eastern Europe.[3] The skillfulness of Romanian workers is an advantage that should be carefully considered when planning to outsource. While some nations claim to have almost unlimited IT resources, the quality of work is mediocre at best, since many focus on the numbers instead of quality. In Romania the quality of work is taken very seriously, since they realize that if the work is done poorly, that leaves a negative impression and a loss of customers.
Despite the time difference inconvenience for American companies to outsource to Romania, the country provides magnificent advantages that should be considered when outsourcing. The combination of low-wages, very skillful IT talent, and the lack of a language barrier make Romania very competitive in the world of IT outsourcing. When considering outsourcing for the first time, Romania should always be considered. If time difference is not a significant disadvantage, Romania should be near the top of anyone’s list for best places to outsource. If time difference is important, but not significant, the time difference disadvantage can be reduced with good local management. The skillful nature of Romania’s developers almost guarantees complete satisfaction to those who decide to outsource there.
[1]http://news.cnet.com/2100-1011_3-5074725.html
[2] http://www.globalservicesmedia.com/Destinations/Europe/Romania-Rises-as-Outsourcing-Target/25/19/0/GS10030268118
[3] http://www.globalservicesmedia.com/Destinations/Europe/Romania-Rises-as-Outsourcing-Target/25/19/0/GS10030268118
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