Why consider Poland for IT nearshoring?

Katarzyna Iwanicka – Nearshore Director with 12 years of experience in IT, telecommunications, and sales management. With a solid background in outsourcing and project management, she has a proven track record of working with the largest Polish and international corporations, specializing in building relationships and managing international teams. Agile Project Manager and Scrum Master.

IT nearshoring and leveraging the knowledge and skills of Polish IT specialists has become increasingly popular in recent years. The Polish market boasts many qualified IT engineers who, due to their experience and competencies, pose strong competition to professionals from Western Europe or Asia. In an era of dynamically developing markets and growing cost optimization needs, choosing the right business partner becomes crucial. Poland, with its strategic location, highly skilled workforce, and competitive rates, emerges as a leader in IT nearshoring. But that’s not all – what else makes the country an ideal choice for business partners beyond Poland’s borders?

Nearshoring vs IT outsourcing

Transferring responsibilities from a company to external entities falls under outsourcing, while shifting some tasks to neighboring countries falls under nearshoring. Geographically close countries on the same continent share many commonalities, such as similar time zones, and cultural differences are less pronounced compared to countries located on different continents. All these factors contribute to smoother cooperation among entities in nearshoring. The main advantage of nearshoring for the job market is the demand for highly skilled IT specialists with excellent communication skills. Poland meets these criteria, making it an attractive destination for the development of foreign firms’ services.

Nearshoring to Poland

According to the 2024 “IT Community Study,” as many as 47.8% of information technology engineers work for foreign firms. Remote work is most common for foreign firms, which is an incredible convenience for contractors. Companies competing in the IT market must constantly seek new solutions, with IT nearshoring being one of them. It is most often used by tech startups and corporations aiming to recruit the best talents from foreign markets into their teams.

Polish IT specialists in the global IT market

According to the Emerging Europe report, Poland ranks third in competitiveness for the IT industry in Central and Eastern Europe. Polish programmers are particularly distinguished by their high level of preparedness for their duties and excellent command of the English language. As indicated by research, Poland ranks 13th out of 111 countries in terms of English language communication skills, placing it at the forefront globally. It’s also worth mentioning that 90% of Polish programmers are proficient in English, with 55% using it as their primary language at work.

Nearshoring Polish specialists is particularly popular among companies in the software development industry and by the European computer game producers, as well as firms operating in the financial market from the FinTech sector. Statistics show that Poland has the largest number of IT talents in Eastern Europe, with over half a million specialists.

Benefits of IT nearshoring

The dynamic growth of the IT sector prompts firms from various countries to seek new production solutions. Therefore, they opt for nearshoring, with Poland being one of the most preferred countries in Europe. What does transferring tasks to Polish specialists offer foreign firms?

Cost optimization

The main reason for transferring responsibilities to entities in other countries is lower costs. Hence, countries like Germany and the United Kingdom choose to hire specialists from geographically close countries like Poland. Polish specialists can provide services of a very high standard while maintaining more competitive rates. Foreign companies can achieve up to 40% annual cost savings, leading to increased productivity in other service lines of the company.

Quick project implementation and effective communication

In addition to cost optimization, foreign companies benefit from timely task implementation. Polish IT specialists pay special attention to effective communication. Similar cultural backgrounds and the same time zone, shared with many other EU countries (GMT + 01:00), are also crucial in IT nearshoring. This results in better, and most importantly, ongoing team communication. Such cooperation often yields more effective business goal outcomes.

Conducting business and nearshoring

Nearshoring represents a significant opportunity for Polish IT entrepreneurs, particularly since the nearshore idea in the Polish market anticipates steady growth. This is confirmed by several factors, especially global trends and the desire to reduce labor costs. Such information places many firms in a privileged position. Collaboration with foreign entrepreneurs allows them to achieve significant growth and work with modern, innovative tools.

The ING report “Poland in global supply chains: Global opportunities and local risks” states that Poland is one of the most popular locations for transferring business tasks closer to European markets. This solution provides foreign companies with shorter delivery times and the ability to operate within the European Union.

Nearshoring model opted for by selected Western European countries

Poland’s strategic location in Central Europe also plays a crucial role, enabling seamless cooperation not only with Western European countries but also with Northern European countries. Scandinavian countries increasingly cooperate on a nearshoring basis with specialists from Poland.

Many countries west of Poland opt for IT nearshoring and benefit from the support of Polish specialists. Countries such as Germany, France, and the UK are the most frequent users of the skills and experience of the Polish programmers. Poland’s attractive location within the European Union allows Polish specialists to guarantee Western firms the same work hours and access to advanced technological infrastructure. As a result of such cooperation between companies from geographically close states, innovative production solutions often emerge.