18 tech companies in Ukraine among world’s top outsourcers

Eighteen information technology companies operating in Ukraine have made it onto the list of the best tech firms in the world – the 2018 Global Outsourcing 100.

Twelve Ukrainian-founded software developers, along with six international IT companies that have Ukrainian offices, are on the list of 100 most successful tech companies worldwide.

Compiled by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), the alphabetical order list has now been posted on the IAOP’s website. The main criteria for ranking the companies were profitability, team growth, customer recommendations, and level of corporate social responsibility.

The top 100 outsources list is designed to help IT companies find business partners by highlighting the best of them.

The Ukrainian firms are located in the country’s biggest cities – Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro. They are: Ciklum, Infopulse, Miratech, Innovecs, Softengi, SoftServe, ELEKS, Intellias, N-iX, Sigma Software, Program-Ace, and AMC Bridge.

Three tech firms with Ukrainian offices have their headquarters in the United States (EPAM, TEAM International Services, Softjourn) and other three are originally from Switzerland, Norway, and Russia (Luxoft, Itera, and Artezio).

AMC Bridge, Artezio, Innovecs, Infopulse, Intellias, Itera made it into the ranking for the first time.

The Global Outsourcing top 100 has been presenting its annual ranking of the world’s best outsourcing service providers for twelve years. Over the last few years, Ukraine has made considerable progress – only four Ukrainian tech firms made the list in 2015. The number grew to 10 in 2016, to 13 last year, and now to 18 in 2018.

It took Kyiv-based Innovecs six years to develop from scratch to one of the world’s 100 best tech companies.

“It’s such an important ranking for us. It shows that we have chosen the right strategy,” Iryna Chubur, the chief brand officer at Innovecs, told the Kyiv Post. “We’re glad that this prestigious rating marks us out as an (industry) leader.

The results are also based on feedback from customers, not only revenues and turnover.

“We’re glad that our clients are satisfied,” Chubur said.

Innovecs co-founder and CEO Alex Lutskiy has also won the Ukrainian “Man of the Year” prize in the “Digital Industry Leader” category.

In contrast to Innovecs, Ciklum has been on the IAOP list for three years in a row. But according to Ciklum’s senior advisor to the board of directors, Maryna Vyshegorodskikh, they are still glad to get the prize, as “it shows we’re going the right way.”

“It’s important that IAOP recognizes healthy long-term Ukrainian businesses, which are planning to develop not only by selling themselves, but also for having an impact on Ukraine. Those who think ab out the future have been recognized as the best companies,” Vyshegorodskikh told Kyiv Post.

Vyshegorodskikh said Innovecs and Intellias are great companies. She said they also helped Ciklum organize Ukraine House Davos, a five-day World Economic Forum sideline venue, featuring discussions, panels and receptions, which was held at the forum in Switzerland in January.

Andrew Pavliv, the CEO of another nominee N-iX, thinks the fact that more and more Ukrainian companies are included into this list means the Ukrainian IT industry is progressing, and thus improving Ukraine’s international image.

According to Pavliv, the growth rate of the Ukrainian IT industry is about 20 percent a year, and some individual companies grow even faster. Pavliv’s N-iX, for example, has grown by more than three times over the last three years.

“It’s great that it’s not only the quantity of IT companies that is increasing, but also their quality,” Pavliv told the Kyiv Post.

The entrepreneur said he was optimistic about the future of the local IT sphere, and believes that Ukrainian tech will change the whole nation for the better.

The Kyiv Post’s IT coverage is sponsored by Ciklum and NIX Solutions. The content is independent of the donors.