TO
TAKE THE STEP OUTSIDE your own
borders and establish your company abroad can bring many cost benefits for the
company in the long term if the establishment turns out to be a success. But to
take the final step with all the risks involved may discourage many companies
from expanding internationally.
THE DANISH COMPANY Ciklum has drawn attention to this dilemma that many
companies face, and therefore offer since 2002 outsourcing of staff in the IT
field, and for example to Swedish companies. However, this outsourcing service
is different from "traditional" outsourcing.
- We help companies to recruit staff in
the field of IT-system development in Ukraine, and then the recruits will work
for 
them only. This means that in the long run, they become their own staff, says
the Swedish manager at Ciklum, Percy Frick.
Ciklum has a solid database with many candidates to choose from and the
companies are involved in the recruitment process. It is entirely up to the
companies themselves to decide, "explains Percy Frick.
The recruitment process tends to take around four to six weeks, depending on
how many people will be employed.
In cooperation with their customers, Ciklum has developed processes and
procedures that help companies get started quickly and overcome potential cultural
and company challenges.
- For example, one of our Swedish
customers took the newly recruited staff in Ukraine to the office in Stockholm
during the first six weeks in order to get them to learn the client's
terminology and culture.
IN
ADDITION TO THAT COMPANIES get help to find, recruit and introduce suitable
staff, Ciklum also offers customized office spaces where the Ukrainian staff
work in.
- Our customers may therefore feel that
they have their own offices, although it is under Ciklums supervision. This
model allows for a very rapid establishment but with a small risk involved.
CIKLUM CURRENTLY HAS about 85 customers with their own teams and over 700 staff
engineers and administrators total. In addition to four offices in the largest
cities in Ukraine, Ciklum also has offices in Denmark, Finland, Sweden,
Netherlands, Norway, Britain and the U.S. This gives them the opportunity to
have a close dialogue with their customers and also with their potential future
customers.
SINCE THERE IS STILL A great demand for IT-skilled staff in Ukraine, the competition of talented personnel is
hard. In order to attract staff and keep them, manpower care is an important
part. For companies that have chosen to only recruit a workforce in Ukraine,
and retain the big office in another country, this may be something you can
easily forget.
- Ciklum is in charge of the entire
staff part, from performance reviews to staff meetings and ensures that the staffs
are happy.
CIKLUM CAN ALSO BE helpful to staff in the case of smaller projects.
- Sometimes the company is just looking
to get assistance with project-based
assignments such as database
programming. Of course we can help to recruit staff to these kinds of projects
as well, says Percy Frisk. No task is too big or too smal.
Emelie
Ring