The idea of improving your business by outsourcing tasks and making operations faster, more profitable, and more secure is hard to ignore.
Sending routine tasks to places like Eastern Europe is a smart way to optimize operations. You can take advantage of lower wages and cost of living in the region, and tap into an outsourcing market that helps everyone from startups to large corporations strengthen their bottom line.
The key to making outsourcing work is finding partners that align with your goals, whether you need software development services, HR support, or biotechnology (BioTech) expertise. What’s right for one company may not work for another, so it comes down to choosing a destination that fits your priorities, budget, and expectations.
This guide covers why companies are outsourcing work to Eastern Europe, which countries are well-suited to different needs, and the common challenges to watch for — along with how to avoid or handle them.
There are several compelling reasons for outsourcing, and to Eastern Europe specifically, which we’ll get to in a moment. Overall, the main idea behind sending work to be done by another company is to take advantage of cost savings. These significant savings are accessible to industries of all types, from the software and IT sector to healthcare management, marketing, digital transformation initiatives, and creative services.
Eastern Europe offers access to a large talent pool of well-educated, experienced professionals across multiple countries.
These professionals benefit from strong national investments in public and higher education. While local wages are generally livable, many pursue outsourcing opportunities to earn higher salaries from US-based companies, which still cost less than hiring employees in the United States.
This combination results in a broad pool of high-quality candidates with years of experience across a wide range of industries.
Because outsourcing often involves remote work, a strong level of technical proficiency is essential. Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries place a huge emphasis on technical education today. Whether you’re looking for help in BioTech, financial technology (FinTech), HR, or IT, you’ll find it here. This leads to lower development rates for web and app projects and a reliable pool of highly trained workers.
Several cities throughout Eastern Europe have become tech hubs, such as Budapest, Bucharest, Krakow, and Warsaw. These cities offer massive talent pools that breed innovation, and software and IT professionals have been known to relocate here for tech opportunities.
Big companies have noticed the growth of these Eastern European software and tech hubs, too. In fact, Microsoft has tech research centers in the Czech Republic, while IBM has an R&D center in Ukraine. Luckily, it’s not necessary to build an entire research compound to fully take advantage of the innovation happening in these regions. A solid outsourcing partnership will do.
The outsourcing industry in these Eastern European countries is a melting pot, and children are raised speaking several languages, leading to high levels of Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, German, French, and English proficiency.
Such multilingual capability creates huge opportunities for international collaboration between Western companies and their Eastern European partners.
One of the underrated advantages of outsourcing to contact centers in Europe is their time zone alignment with Western Europe and partial overlap with North America, minimizing the time difference and making coordination easier.
For companies based in Western Europe, Eastern European partners are usually only 1-2 hours ahead, which makes real-time collaboration easy. U.S.-based teams often benefit from a few hours of overlap each day, allowing for the best of both worlds: live daily check-ins, followed by asynchronous progress while your local team sleeps. This balance can improve productivity and speed up delivery timelines.
Thanks to multiple economic and geopolitical factors leading to cost-effective conversion rates, Western European and North American companies can take advantage of lower hourly rates from professionals in Eastern Europe.
In fact, over the last several decades, countries in Western Europe have chosen to “nearshore” many daily tasks. We’ve discussed how this benefits IT quite a bit. Let’s take a deeper look at how that works, as well as other industries you might consider when offshoring and nearshoring.
Eastern European outsourcing partners work in many capacities and industries. The most common of these are the IT industry, FinTech, BioTech, and human resources.
Many countries in Eastern Europe have a strong presence in the IT market. The widespread demand for software development outsourcing, combined with a well-established tech industry, often encourages students to pursue careers as software engineers, programmers, or IT specialists.
It’s easy to earn a technical education in these countries, too. Courses in the most important programming languages – Java, JavaScript, Python, and Oracle, for instance – are available early on in students’ coursework, meaning graduates are well-suited to join a development team or work at tech companies.
For that reason, organizations that decide to partner with European developers for low-cost IT services or tech support are usually quite satisfied with their partnerships.
Biotech companies often run into limits with internal resources, making it difficult to support ongoing research or production demands. Outsourcing offers a practical way to expand capabilities and move faster without taking on the full cost of doing everything in-house.
Outsourcing to countries with lower costs and more flexible or established supply chains can help fill these gaps, giving companies access to infrastructure and materials that may be harder or more expensive to source locally.
That’s why several biotech startups have blossomed in countries like Poland, Russia, and Estonia. These countries have ample resources at hand for biotechnology research and development, making them ideal to take on related outsourced work.
All companies need excellent oversight of thier financial accounts. The good news is, there exist many partners in Eastern Europe well-suited to help you with your FinTech needs.
While it's common to outsource financial services like accounting and bookkeeping, more advanced FinTech work often calls for specialized technical skills. Eastern Europe has become a strong choice for this type of support, thanks to its engineering-focused education systems and a growing FinTech sector. Many companies in the region are equipped to handle complex financial software needs and provide long-term support for evolving regulatory and security requirements.
Several countries in Eastern Europe are commonly chosen as an outsourcing destination for IT services. Let’s take a closer look at the best countries for software development outsourcing in Eastern Europe.
Poland is a top choice for IT outsourcing in Eastern Europe, with a strong talent pool of over 400,000 professionals and a large number of experienced software development companies. Its developers rank highly in coding assessments and are known for their skills in enterprise software and cybersecurity. English proficiency is widespread, and EU membership ensures compliance with data regulations. Poland’s strong tech infrastructure and deep pool of IT talent make it ideal for long-term partnerships across various industries.
Ukraine has a large, resilient tech workforce known for its expertise in web and app development and IT support. Many Ukrainian tech professionals speak fluent English and work across time zones. Ukraine offers excellent value and talent for businesses worldwide.
Romania continues to rank among the top IT outsourcing destinations due to its education system and low costs. As an EU member, Romania complies with GDPR standards, ensuring data protection and regulatory alignment. Romanian developers are often fluent in English and have strong technical backgrounds. The country’s growing tech sector and convenient time zone make it a reliable choice for companies seeking long-term outsourcing relationships.
Bulgaria has become a popular outsourcing hub thanks to its affordability and strong English proficiency. Bulgarian teams specialize in software development and support services. The country’s emphasis on math and engineering education, combined with low operational costs, makes it an efficient and dependable partner for global outsourcing.
The Czech Republic offers a stable, innovation-driven business environment. Known for its strong infrastructure and well-educated developers, the country excels in custom software, embedded systems, and enterprise IT. Prague is a growing IT hub, attracting global firms and startups alike. Czech developers typically speak excellent English, making collaboration easy for Western teams looking for technical precision and reliability.
Hungary is a solid choice for software development outsourcing projects. Its capital, Budapest, is home to a growing number of tech firms and skilled software engineers. Hungarian developers often have strong STEM backgrounds and are experienced in mobile app development and automation. Competitive pricing, good English skills, and convenient time zones make Hungary a dependable option for nearshoring.
There are, of course, challenges that come with outsourcing to Eastern European tech talent as well. Distance, language barriers, and cultural differences can all post unexpected roadblocks if you don’t know to look for and manage them.
Rather than reverting to more expensive and time-consuming in-house positions, though, it’s better to simply prepare yourself for what these challenges might be, and learn to avoid them. These include, but aren’t limited to:
For FinTech, BioTech, and IT companies, outsourcing work to Eastern Europe is a no-brainer for cutting costs, streamlining your business, and sleeping better at night. That’s assuming you find the right company to help you out, of course.
Not quite sure how to navigate finding the right outsourcing partner in Eastern Europe (or anywhere else)? That’s where TDSGS comes in. We can help you narrow down the thousands of options out there and find the best-fit outsourcing partner for your particular needs. We take a carefully curated approach to each client, reviewing your needs and matching them with the perfect outsourcing company in the location that works for you.
Want to learn more about our services and find out why we’re a leading global provider of outsource company matchmaking? Get in touch today!
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