The Annual LISA Forum Europe

Outsourcing is an increasingly integral part of any global strategy. By developing international teams, enterprises are able to cost-effectively leverage the best skills around the world to deliver quality products in less time than ever before. Outsourcing has thus increased the number and economic importance of global teams. It is now common to have teams in China, India, Russia, Brazil, and Vietnam all working together on a project with teams in the heart of Europe. Integrating such teams and leveraging the skills available around the globe challenges developers. As they face the task of internal globalization the strategic importance of external globalization will also become more apparent.

Today the European Union is one of the largest political and economic entities in the world, with around 500 million people and an estimated GDP of US$13.4 trillion. Central Europe and the Baltics play a key role in the region: their highly skilled workers, low costs, and proximity to major markets have combined to make them highly attractive destinations for outsourcing in the >$30 billion/year globalization industry. With their growing prosperity they are also coming to be seen as major consumer markets in their own right that can command increasing levels of globalization investment.