How to Start a Remote Development Office: Key Points

Dmitry Ovcharenko

CEO Alcor

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Professional areas include business structuring of tech companies in Ukraine, business & team management, leadership practices.

21 September 2017

4 min

Every 4 years Ukrainian IT market is growing twice in size. The forecasts of experts for the near future predict doubling in size by the year 2020. Many international companies have already decided to join the Ukrainian IT market. Being experienced in the opening of the offices of foreign clients, Alcor BPO Company gives 4 main bits of advice.

Establish the Scale of Your Task

Ukraine has its own rules about the amount of space per employee in a commercial company. Based on the number of employees who will work in the company, the amount of square meters of the desired facility is to be determined. The ideal space per employee is 8 square meters.

Make allowance for the scarcity of office buildings in major cities of the country, the sooner a foreign company enters the Ukrainian market, the more likely it will find a high-quality office space. Experts say that in the year 2020 around 150 thousand specialists will be working in the Ukrainian IT industry, which means that the deficit for the office places will continue to grow. Property developers are ready to help out with the situation and promise to build more business buildings over the next 5 years.

Alternatively, IT companies can hire remote developers in Ukraine and don’t worry about finding perfect office premises. If you decide to do so, I advise using remote team management tools to facilitate the workflow.

Analyze the Basic Requirements of Your Business

Most of Alcor customers are companies that have from several hundred to thousands of employees hired. Despite the acute scarcity of huge business areas in Ukraine, with the correct approach, it’s still possible to find the compartment premises. It can be a building in the business center in the city, as well as out of the city: refitting office rooms of the former state-owned enterprises or the construction of your own office building. But the range of the buildings suggested is based on customer requirements for the technical equipment of the building and general criteria which give rise to the specifics of work in the field of IT.

The list of basic requirements of customers is the presence of constant power supply, powerful air conditioning system, availability of secure and large space for server rooms. Safety and Security of a facility is also one of the important requirements. What we have to remember is that some companies need to have 24/7 access to the offices and not all business centers in Ukraine have such an option.

Establish the Requirements for
the Infrastructure of Your Office Building

From our experience, IT companies have specific demands on infrastructure facilities. Taking into consideration the irregular working schedule of IT specialists (they work with clients from different time zones), the company’s headquarters should be comfortable not only for working, but also provide the possibility to eat, do sports and recreation activities along the day. Ukraine follows the path of the world’s most innovative practices. In Lviv, for example, they are building a “working town” which include: office centers, hotels, sports center, conference hall, supermarket and even residential houses for employees. The majority of Ukrainian IT offices have cafés equipped with their own kitchens, gyms, showers, recreation areas, and watched car and bicycle parking.

If a company decides to open an office away from the subway station, they need to take care of shuttle buses which will transport employees.

Contractual Relations: Invite Consultants

For foreign companies, the legislation of Ukraine is quite difficult to understand. When signing the lease contract a lot of factors must be taken into account: which company is responsible for the maintenance of office space, parking, and cafes and for transporting employees from stops of public transportation etc. Moreover, there are plenty of opportunities to optimize rental costs of premises, which are absolutely legal but hidden from the surface. Therefore, Alcor, as partner and consultant, can help their clients avoid potential risks when signing the contract and save money for the future.

In Ukraine, you have to entrust the opening of the office to professionals. Take proper account of the local specific features a foreign company may face many challenges while opening its office. The solution for most problems requires an investment of time and money. If the company prefers to invest them in their business development, it’s better to leave the entire process of the office opening to professionals – Alcor. In a short time, you will receive several offers on space and budget, which will enable you to make the right decision. Alcor’s Consultants will also accompany you while signing the contract and provide you with the best possible conditions.