Outsourcing Benefits - Why Russia?

 There are many exotic destinations for outsourcing. Most, however, create scheduling difficulties and cultural challenges. Asia, for instance, is typically 12 or more hours ahead of the U.S. When engineers are working, their U.S.-based counterparts are sleeping - and vice-versa. In addition, the customs and business practices are quite different. It generally takes a while for both sides to come to terms with each other's preferences and peculiarities.

 Not so with Russia. For Europe, time differences are negligible, and for the Eastern Seaboard at least, there's only six hours' difference. The latter part of the Russia business day coincides nicely with the start of business in American offices.

 Further, culturally the West has more in common with Russia than with Asia. A major portion of Russia is, after all, in Europe, and, since the fall of communism, Russia has become increasingly Westernized. Years of globalization has made the country very familiar with America and its ways. Consequently, today, Western firms will find in Russia a maturing legal system, strong intellectual property laws, along with an anti-piracy mindset and a familiar framework of business practices.

 Obviously, there are labor rate advantages compared with the U.S., where salaries for American engineer can exceed $80,000 per year. A U.S. firm could obtain the same or better talent in Russia for between $14,000 and $18,000 per year. But that isn't the only way costs are reduced.

 By using Russian talent, Western firms can bring products to market far faster. How? Outsourcing can be used to hand off a range of important, but non-core tasks such as product development, maintenance and more - leaving the American or European talent free to work on its core competency. That can make a difference of months, and sometimes years, off the project finish timetable.

 Veterans of the outsourcing world, look to Russia for its skilled workforce and to diversify risks. They reason that it is better to have at least one large development hub closer to home, rather than relying its entire operation on countries at the opposite end of the earth.