Advantages of Romania

Why Offshoring in Romania?

Offering an exciting nearshore alternative to Indian, Chinese or Russian offshore offerings, Romania can easily outperform these major counterparts.
Here are some of the main advantages of this country when it comes to outsourcing operations, especially IT related ones:

Impressive language skills

Although the official language of Romania is Romanian, a large part of the population is multilingual. The Eastern European Translators Association classed Romanians as “the best foreign language speakers in Eastern Europe" (60% of the Romanian people speak a foreign language, 25% of them speak 2 foreign languages and 4% of the Romanian people speak more than 2 foreign languages, according to a study by this organization).
Almost 60% of the Romanian IT specialists speak English. French, German, Italian and Spanish are among the other languages commonly spoken by Romanians. Their excellent linguistic skills granted them the first place in the Certificate of Proficiency in English exam at Cambridge University.

Excellent government support

The growth of the IT industry is supported by both the IT ministry and the Agency for Foreign Investment (ARIS). The government adopted a set of measures in order to develop the IT industry. These measures include the consolidation of the national information infrastructure, accelerating the construction of an information society, education, training and nationwide IT projects. The government has also signed trade agreements with 83 countries and offers incentives to attract foreign direct investments.
The Romanian government supports the IT industry, developing the country's infrastructure with the help of EU programs, improving its IT capabilities and recognized competencies, establishing the required standards and increasing computer literacy.

Large labor pool

With about 8,000 university graduates per year, Romania’s density of software graduates per thousand inhabitants is significantly higher than in the USA, is five times that of Russia and about seven times that of India. Having an IT labor pool of 86,000 specialists and providing high quality software outsourcing services, Romania is a competitive provider. Multinational firms have opened centers here and competition for skilled labor is high.

High quality technical education

Romania has a long history of education and research in all fields of engineering and software. From a total of 116 universities, 36 have a computer science related faculty. There are 35 accredited ECDL test centers and several universities have adapted curricula to accept the ECDL as proof of practical IT ability. IT support to the educational system is provided with the help of governmental programs. Business management courses have been introduced in cooperation with institutions in Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Being well-known for its high-quality technical education, Romania attracts foreign direct investments, which leads to a harsh competition among outsourcing companies in need of educated talent.

Low costs at European standards

Romania is one of the least-expensive countries in the European Union. And although wages are rising, they are lower than those in the Western European countries. The cost of basic IT labor is around one-eighth of that in the US and the cost of skilled IT professionals is one-third of that in the US or in Europe. Doing your software development in-house can cost up to 75% more than if you outsourced it to Romania.

Stable political and economical environment

Lately, Romania has undergone major improvements in terms of freedom of expression, employment and judicial system. Legislative packages that render freedom of expression consistent with European standards have been adopted by the government, in order to create a favorable economic environment for the media. The country’s unemployment rate is low and there is a very good business climate. With the judicial system in transition to EU norms, we can say that Romania is a stable country.

Great cultural compatibility

Unlike other countries competing in the offshore market, such as China or India, Romania has a cultural affinity to both Europe and the US. It is part of the Western culture and has a stable, safe social environment. Romania’s historic ties with many countries, such as Bulgaria, Italy, Greece, Russia, Turkey, Poland, Hungary, Moldova and Germany, have created an exceptional mixture of diverse ethnic background. This is one of the reasons for the richness of the country in language skills.
Similar culture, along with close geographical location, time zone proximity and high-quality education, make Romania a great place for expatriates.

Progressive global and legal maturity

Following its accession to the EU in January 2007, Romania has a member-state status and is bound to adopt the entire EU community rulebook, including the European and global trade requirements. The government is committed to solve the problem of corruption which places Romania as 69th out of 180 countries, according to Transparency International's 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index and 54th out of 150, according to World Audit.
World Audit ranks Romania 50th out of 150 countries for democracy and 56th for press freedom. The World Bank rates Romania 48th out of 178 countries for ease of doing business.    

High data and intellectual property security and privacy

Romania is a full member of the EU, WTO and many other trade associations. In 2004, it adopted the EU Directive 2002/58/CE on personal data processing and privacy protection in the electronic communications sector. The country’s intellectual property security and privacy standards have improved and there are strict punishments for e-commerce crimes. Romania continues to improve the situation regarding these issues under the supervision of the EU.

Offshore Romania 2003, a report by Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) presents Romania as the ideal outsourcing idea. If you take into consideration all the advantages mentioned above, it all makes sense.