elays in product delivery by high-tech-services companies are a godsend to public relations practitioners, who are more than happy to bill at an hourly rate as they work to forestall any negative publicity that such hold-ups may incur.

Their efforts will mostly be directed towards the average user of that new operating system or software product not on its way to store shelves at the promised time.

But what about other stakeholders, such as the corporate investors, stock analysts, retailers, shipping companies and advertisers whose own products and services are scheduled in unison with yours? For them, the prospect of rescheduling, on the basis of “improving the product” is but empty PR spin.

A recent survey by IT Sourcing Europe, a UK-based information technology outsourcing research and advisory firm, examined the greatest challenges in outsourcing faced by Western European software companies. The results were quite telling. According to the findings, delayed product deliveries and missed project milestones are the most critical challenges confronted by most of the UK, German, Swiss, Swedish and Danish companies questioned.

As a consequence, companies within the UK have more and more factored in the geographic proximity of their offshore operations in hopes of better managing their products.

Offshoring to places such as India, with its considerable time differential from Western Europe, can present significant problems in terms of meeting product delivery schedules. Working nightshifts, so as to avail themselves of the European workday, tends to leave these far-flung developers tired, unfocused and burnt out, leading to a greater number of errors and shortcomings in the final product.

Ukraine, with its insignificant time disparity from the UK and Western Europe, offers a more productive interface, leading to a less complicated debugging process, greater exchange of ideas, and optimized product delivery.

It has been said that having a Ukrainian offshore service provider is like having your own in-house IT team.

As companies continue to rebuild and re-invest following the global economic recession, the overall outlook for the outsourcing industry is strong. Another recent survey, conducted by Duke University and PricewaterhouseCoopers, shows the outsourcing industry is undergoing a transformation owing to the emergence of more innovative providers. Established outsourcing centers such as India and China are increasingly being given a run for their money by inventive and free-thinking Ukrainian engineers.

Furthermore, many of the UK and Dutch companies that were queried in the IT Sourcing Europe survey cited cultural differences as significant issues in their outsourcing. As a European nation, with centuries of trade and historic roots in Northern and Western Europe, Ukraine possesses the cross-cultural ties that make it a culturally compatible and an extremely attractive destination for IT outsourcing.

Boasting six percent of the world’s physicists, mathematicians and computer programmers, Ukraine’s scientific inheritance is at the heart of the nation’s cultural tradition. Its scientists are renowned for their innate curiosity, inquiring about what makes things tick, and looking for networks and specific correlations. Such attributes prove most valuable in IT, with many offshoring clients taking note of the ability of Ukrainian engineers to think outside of the box and to find solutions.

Heard more and more often in the world of IT offshoring is the term “India plus one,” which calls attention to a risk control strategy whereby one avoids becoming overly dependent upon a solo location and the hazards that may befall it such as the vicissitudes of war, terrorism, geopolitical unrest, hyperinflation, deteriorating infrastructure, catastrophic weather and countless other factors. Consequently, many IT offshoring firms are looking to develop alternative outsourcing relationships with a second nation.

Given the Ukrainian tax rate, salary level, reduced developmental and operational costs, on top of its geographic proximity to Western Europe and multiplicity of scientists and engineers, the nation is a logical setting from which to mitigate the risk of engaging solely with India.

It is currently one of the fastest growing destinations for IT offshore operations, and exhibits a much lower annual employee turnover rate than the 30 to 40 percent encountered on the Indian subcontinent.

Though India seemingly possesses a built-in advantage given that English is among its official languages, it’s important to realize that most of Ukraine’s IT professionals are fluent in spoken and written English. Given their low employee turnover rates, Ukrainian offshore IT firms have the luxury of providing an additional six months of training with each new employee as well as offering supplementary classes in English.

In taking over the reins of an economy hard hit by the economic downturn of 2008, President Viktor Yanukovych views a comprehensive modernization of the economy as paramount to the Ukrainian economic revival, saying, “We have started systematic structural reforms aimed at creating a powerful and modern technological economy and ensuring high standards of living to the population.” IT will undoubtedly serve as a cornerstone in this revival.