Outsourcing to Poland: Why it's a perfect solution for your business

Poland ranks 14th on the list of the most attractive outsourcing destinations in the world. With over 400,000 developers, Poland also ranks 3rd on the list of countries with the best engineers. Meanwhile, the Polish IT market will exceed $13.00 billion by 2025, and the cost of Polish developers remains affordable due to the country's low standard of living.

Still pondering whether to outsource a project to Poland? There is no denying that outsourcing IT services to Poland seems not only an obvious investment but also a wise one. Of course, more facts and figures are needed to make an informed decision. Well, let's do that. Stay tuned!

Polish IT ecosystem in 2022

The Polish IT ecosystem approached 2022 as mature and respected, largely due to the overall economic situation in the country, as well as international recognition of local outsourcing software development companies.

Economic environment in Poland

Poland is a shining example of economic transformation when in just 30 years the country managed to transform from a communist state into one of the strongest economies in Europe. Rapid economic growth began once Poland joined the EU (2004) and is underway, aided also by the country's strategically advantageous geographical location - between Western and Eastern Europe.

During the decade before the pandemic (2009-2019), the country's GDP grew at an average annual rate of 3.6%. Poland's economy grew not only rapidly, but also very steadily, which can be explained by the fact that it was the only EU country not affected by recession during the previous global crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused Poland's economy to drop by 2.5 percent in 2020, according to the GUS. And at the same time, it is the fifth-best result in the entire European Union, as the economy of the eurozone and the EU as a whole were expected to shrink in 2020 by 6.4% and 5.9%, respectively.

Of all European countries, Poland stands out for its stable and fast-growing economy:

• Significant GDP growth in 2021;
• The smallest drop in the economy during the 2020 crisis;
• GDP per capita in purchasing power standards (PPP) rose to 76 percent in 2020;
• Poland's GDP was more than 523 billion euros, ranking eighth in Europe and first among Central and Eastern European countries.

Software development market in Poland

The software development market is one of the most advanced in Poland. It accounts for about 8% of the country's GDP, is estimated at 8.8 billion euros, and is focused on international projects; about 70% of IT specialists are employed by foreign organizations and provide IT outsourcing services.

It is obvious that international technology corporations are interested in the Polish IT market:

• Poland ranked 14th among the most popular outsourcing destinations in the world;
• Poland is 3rd in the ranking of countries with the best programmers in the world;
• Poland has the most unicorn startups in the region.

The software development industry across Europe:

Recent developments in the Polish technology ecosystem to consider:

• Polish outsourcing software development companies are becoming increasingly sophisticated;
• A new wave of globally minded entrepreneurs is emerging, eager to enter international markets in the software, marketplaces, and games sectors;
• There is a growing number of not only IT outsourcing companies, but also large agencies that have already created a product/service (including MVPs) and revenue model, operate in international markets, and need funding to continue to grow.

Software development penetration across industries

Fintech, Ecommerce, Healthcare, and Telecom are some of the sectors most often served by IT outsourcing companies in Poland.

As a leading IT outsourcing center in CEE, Poland is home to some outstanding industry-specific products, such as those listed below.

Outsourcing software development companies in Poland can help you with all kinds of tasks, from full project outsourcing to custom software development, software architecture design services, testing, and digital marketing services.

If you need IT outsourcing services for projects related to eLearning, Fintech or Logistics, feel free to reach out to the DDI team. We have the right expertise you need.

Investing in the Polish IT market: why is it worth it?

Poland is considered a regional leader in terms of foreign direct investment. This success is largely due to the fast-growing IT outsourcing market. Among the largest investors are Dell EMC, HP Inc, Oracle, Lenovo, Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Cisco, Xerox, Google, and other significant names.

According to CEOWORLD, Poland is the third-best country in the world to invest and do business in 2020, behind only Singapore and the UK. For two years in a row, Poland has also ranked third among the most preferred destinations for foreign direct investment.

The CEE region as a whole, and Poland in particular, has become the fastest-growing region in Europe in terms of IT outsourcing services and invested venture capital, growing more than twice as fast as in Western Europe.

Poland also has a well-developed market for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), which serves as an additional investment attraction for the country. Thus, in 2020, 182 cross-border deals were concluded.

Outsourcing IT services to Poland

The technology sector in Poland as a whole includes outsourcing web development services, creating and distributing digital products, and distributing computer hardware.

All sectors of the technology industry are projected to grow in the near future:

• By the end of 2022, total revenue from the technology industry will grow 45% to $13 billion.
• The software development and IT outsourcing sectors are projected to grow by 7% annually.
• The hardware and computer software sector is predicted to increase by 3.2% per year.

With software development penetrating into nearly every industry, IT outsourcing is now a key export service in Poland, showing steady revenue growth:

Tech talent pool

Poland is not only an outsourcing hotspot but also home to 400,000 to 430,000 developers, making it the country with the largest number of engineers in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

As for areas of interest, Polish IT outsourcing developers are well versed in Python, Java, Typescript, JavaScript development, and others.

Developers from Poland regularly take first place in subject-specific competitions, such as Google Code Jam or IBM Linux Scholar Challenge. Poland is also constantly in the top 5 or top 3 of world-class outsourcing engineers according to HackerRank, TopCoder, and SkillValue.

Developers in Poland are recognized to be top-class programmers globally:

Polish developers start programming before they even get their first job. It's fine for them to be self-taught, find clients for IT outsourcing and get hands-on experience as they learn. Moreover, in recent years, interest in high-tech has grown so much that children start coding at the age of 10 or even earlier. This makes Poland one of the countries with the youngest programmers.

Poland is also called a tech nation for its tech savviness and a mature market for outsourcing development:

IT hubs of Poland

About 80% of all IT outsourcing specialists in Poland are concentrated in large cities, making them IT outsourcing hot spots. These are Poznan, Łódź, Tri-City, Katowice, Wroclaw, Krakow and Warsaw. Partnering with companies in any of these cities will give you access to a rapidly increasing community of forward-thinking technicians.

Cities with the most engineers to choose from:

• Poznan: There are about 20,000 programmers and just over 50 IT companies. It is a suitable option for small companies and startups to outsource software development tasks. The main emphasis is on IT outsourcing for German and local companies.
• Łódź: There are about 30,000 programmers in the city. Asian and Scandinavian countries make up the largest share of customers of Łódź IT outsourcing companies.
• Tri-City area: This is an area that combines three cities: Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. It is notable for its well-developed infrastructure, good transportation links, and rapid growth in the number of engineers for outsourcing development tasks. There are now more than 30,000 programmers working here. Most of the clients are from the USA, Great Britain, and Poland.
• Katowice: IT outsourcing companies based in Katowice cooperate mostly with customers from France, Great Britain and Poland. The city is known as a major transportation center and a booming IT center in the country, employing about 28,000 technicians.
• Wroclaw: The city has a healthy business environment and a well-developed office and transport infrastructure. Local technology companies mainly deal with countries such as the U.S., France, Switzerland, and Scandinavian countries. The number of programmers in Wroclaw serving the outsourcing tasks of clients is more than 52,000.
• Krakow: Krakow is the number one city in terms of the number of outsourcing software development teams - about 80,000 qualified programmers work here. Krakow is also known as the home to many startups, so it is the most suitable city if you want to launch a startup or scale-up a project.
• Warsaw: Poland's capital city leads the way in the number of IT outsourcing companies and R&D centers. Despite a slight outflow of programmers from Warsaw in the last few years, there are still more than 70,000 outsourcing technicians working here, while the competition for talent remains fierce.

How to outsource IT services to Poland

One way to outsource a project is to hire remote developers from Poland. At first glance, this task may seem to be easy, given the saturation of the IT outsourcing market. However, the huge technical talent pool, on the other hand, can only make the choice more difficult. So what does it take to make IT outsourcing to Poland a reality for you?

Below is a sequence of key steps for profitable project outsourcing, whether it's web app development or mobile development:

1. Be clear about the functional and nonfunctional requirements of the project, as well as the requirements for developers. What should they do for you? What software development metrics do you plan to use to make sure the IT outsourcing services are effective?

2. Describe the project in detail, the way the outsourcing team communicates, and the project management approach (agile project management or something else) so that the developers understand if they can handle your tasks.

3. Make a comprehensive list of hard and soft skills that developers or other project team members should possess. In addition to impeccable professional expertise, these professionals must also be good team players.

4. Properly onboard developers, no matter what model you are collaborating on - staff augmentation or full project outsourcing.

What are the key benefits of outsourcing IT services to Poland?

The following are some of the most significant reasons for IT outsourcing to Poland:

• Well-educated engineers
• Strategic geographic location
• Dynamic IT ecosystem
• Global mindset and cultural compatibility
• Home to R&D centers and startups
• Security issues resolved
• One of the top value-for-money destinations

Well-educated engineers

Poland's pool of technical talent offering IT outsourcing is saturated with well-educated professionals due to its strong STEM education background:

• There are more than 400 higher education institutions in Poland, including more than 40 state universities and about 20 state institutes of technology;
• The most popular universities are the Krakow University of Technology, AGH University of Science and Technology, and the Warsaw University of Technology;
• Some Polish universities are among the top 1,000 in the QS World University Rankings;
• The number of students in Poland exceeds 1.2 million, and more than 66,000 of them studied ICT in the 2020/2021 academic year;
• Poles show the highest level of English proficiency in CEE.

Strategic geographical location

Poland is also suitable for IT outsourcing your project because of its geographical location. Germany and Switzerland are within walking distance, and well-organized air traffic makes it easy to get to any other place in Europe. The convenient time difference also facilitates outsourcing to Poland, allowing tasks, especially urgent ones, to be solved quickly.

Poland is in the GMT+1 time zone, which means the following:

• For European customers, the time zone is the same as that of their IT outsourcing partners in Poland.
• For customers from the east coast of the United States, the time difference is 6 hours, for the west coast, it is 9 hours.

Given this fact, you can make a list of tasks in advance and agree with the team you are outsourcing tasks to about the time of work calls.

Dynamic IT ecosystem

The IT industry accounts for 8% of Poland's GDP. This sector as a whole is one of the most significant in terms of economic growth in the country, which makes it an important area worth developing. Consider also the fact that Poland has a favorable business climate, government support for the business environment, and consistent economic growth (see the paragraph "Economic environment in Poland" above).

And since local specialists are constantly exchanging experience with their colleagues from Western countries, it allows them to effectively solve any problems on your projects while providing outsourcing services.

Global mindset and cultural compatibility

Poland is a member of the EU, which means it provides IT outsourcing under the same rules and business codes that Western countries adhere to. Poland is a country with a progressive Western mentality and culture. It is a Catholic state, which means that most holidays in this country coincide with religious holidays in the United States and Western Europe, which is convenient in terms of coordinating work schedules. The values and attitudes of Poles are also in tune with those prevailing in the West. Poland is used to focusing on long-term partnerships when performing its outsourcing duties; one-day tasks are of less interest to local specialists.

What kind of partnership are you interested in?

Home to R&D centers and startups

As of 2022, there are more than 400 R&D centers in Poland, including Google, SABRE, ABB, Fujitsu, Delphi, IBM, Shell, and others. In addition, there are about 50,000 software companies in the country, and about 1,000 of them offer custom software development solutions.

There are 496 startups in Poland, including such well-known ones as Brainly, Docplanner and Booksy. Moreover, according to a new report, Poland has more startups worth more than $1 billion than any other CEE country.

In addition, compared to the EU, Poland has more startups in corporate software, marketing solutions and games.

Security issues resolved

Rapidly gaining momentum in IT outsourcing services, Poland naturally pays special attention to data security. The country operates under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which consists of a set of privacy and data protection rules for individuals in the EU.

And because Poland also maintains close ties with U.S. customers, Polish IT professionals usually have a good understanding of the needs and requirements of their U.S. customers.

One of the top value-for-money destinations

As in any other country, the rates for software outsourcing in Poland depend on the experience of specialists, the complexity of assigned tasks, the scale of the project and other factors. Nevertheless, one of the decisive factors is the cost of living. Since the standard of living in Poland is relatively low, this contributes to keeping the prices for IT outsourcing services at a comfortable level for clients.

For example, the cost of skilled developers in Poland is from $30 to $50 per hour. Compare that to the rates of American contractors - about $150 per hour, or Canadian companies - about $100 per hour.

At the same time, you can count on getting an advanced and highly competitive software solution through high-quality software outsourcing services.

Bottom line

If you are looking for a reliable partner to outsource your project, turn to Polish contractors. Forward-thinking companies choose Poland for its quality, experience, integrity, and cultural fit. Poland is also an attractive IT outsourcing destination due to its value-for-money IT services. A strong community of technical specialists also contributes to the industry and attracts strong experts.

Poland is the place where you will do both - find a reliable technology partner and make a profitable investment.

DDI Development is a Polish-Ukrainian IT outsourcing company with offices and R&D centers in Poland, Ukraine, and the USA. Our desire to be closer to our customers to better understand their needs, as well as the constant strengthening of our team with strong technical specialists allows us to confidently enter new markets with profitable offers related to software solutions.

Let us know your challenge. We will be happy to help your business reach new heights through an effective software solution.