Ukraine is fast becoming a popular destination for IT outsourcing, especially data science and analytics, and its export services are projected to generate $8.4 billion in revenue by 2025, up from $5.7 billion in. It is no wonder that companies such as Samsung Electronics, Microsoft, Apple, Boeing, Skype, and several other large tech companies have established their R&D offices in the country.

In Eastern Europe, Ukraine is a leading artificial intelligence solution provider with 150 suppliers in 2020 and the government is allocating a budget to specifically develop the industry in the country. It is fast becoming a hot destination for outsourcing to data analytics service providers. Some of the key reasons include

Data-Science UA has organized a rapidly growing community of data scientists, with more than 8000 CV/ML engineers in their database to make Ukraine the global hub for data science service providers. Organizing coursework, workshops, and meetings are part of its activities that enable IT engineers to become skilled in this field with mentorship from the best in the business.

Ease of Working

For western countries, Ukraine provides several advantages. Being a European country, its culture and values are very similar to the EU and US, with focus on quality and transparency. Fluency in spoken and written English is another advantage. The time zone being GMT+2, there is an overlap with many of the European countries and at least a few overlapping hours with the US.

Ukrainian higher education institutions were already providing quality IT education. Now they have stepped up focus on data science. The Science and Technology Center of Ukraine offers a large data science program with the intention of nurturing technology professionals. Further, a Master’s program with a specialty in data science is being offered by the Ukrainian Catholic University.

Providing training and development for their employees in data science is another trend that is emerging, with IT companies setting R&D centers across the country for this purpose. This has enabled several Ukrainian software development companies to offer data science solutions as well.

Cost is another advantage that Ukraine provides. Compared to the hourly rate of the average hourly rate of $60 to $100 in the US, Ukraine offers anywhere between $25 and $49. This without compromising on quality.

Ukraine’s Capabilities

Java and Apache Spark have long been their strength, which makes them a perfect fit for evolving into data science consulting. Ukraine offers the following capabilities:

  • Data warehouse development
  • Business intelligence
  • Data mining
  • Data Science /Advanced analytics
  • Machine learning/ Deep learning
  • Analytics Consulting

The Ukrainian data scientists have capabilities across the tools and technologies essential for the successful implementation of data science projects, including:

  • Hadoop ecosystem and Apache Spark
  • SQL/NoSQL databases
  • Cloud-based tools such as Snowflake, BigQuery,  EMR
  • RedShift, Athena, Hive
  • Python, Scala, Java
  • Kubernetes constructs
  • Kafka, AWS Kinesis, Apache Pulsar

Working with a Ukrainian Partner

Having decided to outsource your data science and machine learning project to Ukraine, you may find identifying the ideal fit a little overwhelming.

  1. Due Diligence: Without a doubt, understanding the capabilities, business ethics and delivery model of your potential partner is essential. Be sure of the skills and experience you are looking for, how much experience should they have in your industry niche. Decide whether you will have a dedicated team working with your partner. Be clear about your objectives and seek a proposal. Evaluate it minutely and don’t get carried away by promises.
  2. Run a Pilot: Before awarding the complete project and signing along-term contract, let the potential partner do a pilot for you. Based on its success, you can decide whether to go the whole way.
  3. Involve Your Team: It has been established that data science projects should be enterprise-wide and not have a narrow focus. This therefore requires the involvement of the relevant teams so that their interests are also taken care of, maximizing the benefits of implementing the data science/ML project.
  4. Ensure Data Security: Takeresponsibility for your data that you share with the partner and ensure that it is secure. Also ensure you understand the partner’s approach towards, attitude about and capabilities for data security. Don’t miss out signing the NDA (Non-disclosure Agreement) before providing them with access to complete records. Though Ukraine doesn’t have a separate regulation for data security but follows the Personal Data Protection Law of Ukraine.
  5. Be Involved: Though you have outsourced your project, nurture it as a “partnership” with mutual participation and being involved in the process. Be up to date and establish a process to receive regular reports. This is not just about displaying your commitment but also to be able to take effective and timely decisions.

Data Science/ML Solution Providers in Ukraine

N-IX: With 17 years of experience in IT outsourcing, the company has development centers in Ukraine and Poland and representative offices in the United States and Sweden. Its data science expertise spans database management systems, database design and architecture, programming and frameworks.

Intellias: Headquartered in Lviv, Ukraine, several offices across the country and a representative office in Berlin, it has developed projects using big data for developing learning solutions and a mapping and navigation solution.

Sigma Software: A Kharkiv, Ukraine, based company, it delivers big data solutions for a US-based video advertising company. They have developed the client’s big data infrastructure and make predictions about customer behavior.

Ciklum: Offering data preparation, data modeling and prediction, data visualization, and grouping solutions, the firm can help with data analytics to achieve business goals.

Eleks: With over 25 years of experience, the company offers predictive analytics, big data processing and deep learning services.

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Blurb: Data Science skills, work culture, cheaper costs without compromising on quality and the overlapping time zones with most of Europe and the US make Ukraine an ideal outsourcing destination for ML projects