{"id":1133,"date":"2021-01-07T14:41:14","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T14:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ingemark.com\/?p=1133"},"modified":"2021-09-28T21:29:50","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T20:29:50","slug":"why-outsource-it-to-croatia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ingemark.com\/why-outsource-it-to-croatia\/","title":{"rendered":"How COVID-19 both hurt and helped Croatia as a destination for outsourcing software development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In mid-2019 a New York based startup came to Croatia in full force, looking to outsource some of their software development. They contacted our company to set up a meeting and I was happy to oblige. You\u2019ll be shocked to learn that, especially at the time, startups from New York didn\u2019t exactly flock to Croatia to outsource their software development. So, I naturally assumed they ended up here because of one of two scenarios: either a) the CEO spent the summer sailing on the Adriatic sea and loved the country, figuring they\u2019ll set up shop here so they have an excuse to come more frequently, or b) some of them have ancestors who emigrated to the US from Croatia. Given the fact that Croatia has been recognized primarily as a top tourist destination<\/a> for the last few years, and given the considerable Croatian community in the U.S.<\/a>, this seemed like a fair guess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small European country, of all places?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It turns out that it was neither a) nor b). They had no previous relationship with Croatia; they just sat down, looked at the map of the world, compiled a list of requirements, priorities and expectations of a country they would outsource their software development to, and ended up pointing their finger at one country in particular: Croatia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still half-expecting that the CEO’s maternal grandfather is Croatian and they\u2019re just pulling my leg, I asked them to elaborate, so they did: while software development is traditionally often outsourced to the Far east, to countries like India, Pakistan or Vietnam, their previous experience with that was less than ideal. While that route is cheaper, high employee turnover and cultural differences made working with them difficult. They didn\u2019t like the lack of pushback; while they could generally count on these workers to implement solutions required of them, they couldn\u2019t be expected to propose better ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not the cheapest, but the most cost-effective<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So they looked at South America and eastern Europe next, which are both still substantially cheaper than the US. South America was appealing primarily due to smaller time zone differences and somewhat lower price. However, Europe took the lead, especially those eastern European countries which are now part of the European Union, for a few reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n