Finding Top-Tier IT Specialists Is a Challenge—Interview With Agata Tomasik

Thanks to many years of experience, we fully understand the scale of processes and risks our clients have to manage–says Agata Tomasik, Head of Outsourcing Services and the Board Member of Neontri.

Q: What was 2023 like for Neontri? Is your company susceptible to trends currently impacting the IT market?

A: 2023 was a fruitful year for both our core operations: custom software development services and IT outsourcing services, primarily for finance, e-commerce, and retail. We’ve recorded over 50% growth overall, while IT outsourcing alone has experienced over 60% increase, contributing nearly half of the company’s revenue.

As a tech company, we’re trying to stay ahead of the trends. The prominent one? Artificial intelligence. We’ve identified nine major fields of AI that our clients are interested in. In the last quarter alone, we presented as many as 45 AI use cases to clients, ranging from data analysis, report generation, chatbots, information dissemination, and full automation of business processes.

Besides AI, we’ve also observed an increased interest in Big Data and Security. We are well acquainted with these areas since we’ve been cooperating with enterprises for many years, especially in finance. Such trends immensely impact how our clients operate–they need a reliable, experienced partner to optimize their technological solutions and business processes.

Q: How does Neontri stand out in the market?

A: The key to success lies in expertise and high-quality services. We assist our clients with sourcing demanding profiles. We’ve acquired technical knowledge through implementing over 250 projects with dedicated solutions and use it in outsourcing. It doesn’t matter if a consultant we’re acquiring will work for us or the client directly.

In our recruitment process, we choose candidates for our team and always land the best specialists in their fields. Our focus is on both hard and soft skills. We have extensive experience in the candidate selection process, and we can present clients with two or three candidates with appropriate competencies within 72 hours. Our customers can also rely on our support in their purchasing processes as we offer the highest quality of ongoing service after we start cooperation. So, we stand out for our professionalism, work speed, and excellent pre-and post-sales service.

Q: In the situation we are in today, due to the shortage of skills, outsourcing is one of the possibilities for acquiring appropriate knowledge and experience. What are your ways of recruiting top-class specialists for clients? What challenges do you have to face in this business?

A: Recruiting top-tier IT specialists can be challenging, but we have successfully implemented several effective strategies for years. Our priority is to maintain relationships with a network of experts we already know well.

Since we do not provide IT outsourcing services in the agency model and have a technology background, we’ve created a multi-stage employee qualification process for our clients’ projects. Staff augmentation includes clear selection criteria and effective tools for assessing candidates’ competencies. We always give feedback to the specialists and focus on quick and direct communication with potential employees.

Another challenge in the industry is employee retention. Maintaining high-class IT specialists can be difficult due to the competitive job market and frequent changes in employers. Fortunately, at Neontri, we cope well with this challenge; last year, our employee retention was 97%. Thanks to appropriate processes and diversification of projects and industries for which we provide services, we can meet our specialists’ expectations. Understanding their needs and keeping them motivated is crucial for us.

Q: Neontri specializes in working with enterprise-scale clients, particularly in the financial industry. When working with such a partner, is there anything in particular you pay attention to?

A: Working with enterprise clients is demanding due to the complexity of the decision-making process and stringent security and regulatory compliance requirements. With years of experience, we fully understand the scale of processes and risks our clients must manage. By implementing dedicated solutions used by millions of users worldwide, we have gained a deep understanding of our clients’ needs well beyond ​​recruitment. Now, we can look at projects from our clients’ perspectives. These experiences also equipped us with the ability to manage initiatives involving multi-stakeholders to achieve success.

Long-term relationships allow us for a deep immersion in the client’s business processes, which makes it possible to connect selected specialists with the client’s project. Of course, our work does not end once we provide a specialist for the project. We regularly monitor our client satisfaction with our teams’ results and performance. We also take a flexible approach to the team scalability model. IT outsourcing is an easy, flexible way for our clients to expand their internal teams quickly and, if necessary, downsize their project teams.

Q: How do you build long-term relationships with clients? Most of them have been working with you for at least several years.

A: First of all, the long-term relationships with Neontri result from the quality of the services and quick, professional support. Customer satisfaction strengthens loyalty and, consequently, leads to good cooperation for years to come. Secondly, we offer extensive experience in the technological area, so customers know they can rely on us. We put their needs first and respond to inquiries promptly, also in the area of ​​IT staff augmentation. Our work is effective and based on trust. We do not send clients a huge number of unverified CVs. Instead, we respond to inquiries by proposing up to five candidate recommendations for one position. Our commitment and awareness of the needs of our partners allow us to maintain a high satisfaction rate. We ensure effective communication, are always available, and respond quickly to feedback from our business partners.

Q: In your opinion, what is Poland’s position on the global market of outsourcing IT services, and why is it an attractive destination for Western companies?

A: Poland has many qualified IT specialists offering high-quality services in programming, software development, testing, technical support, and many other areas.

Last year alone, 14,000 people graduated from technical universities as qualified specialists. This number will grow each year. Compared to Western countries, labor costs in Poland are still lower, which makes us an attractive place for companies looking to save through IT outsourcing. We’ve noticed an upward trend in the number of newly opened competence centers in our country over the last year. Poland has a well-developed technological infrastructure for high-level IT services, including fast Internet connections, access to modern tools and technologies, and an appropriate business environment.

The vast majority of IT specialists know English, facilitating communication with foreign clients and partners. Poland also has a stable political and economic situation, confirmed by membership in the European Union and NATO, so foreign companies can operate in a safe and predictable business environment. To sum up, we have no reason to feel we’re doing worse than other countries. On the contrary–all the factors mentioned above make it difficult to find a better place to source IT specialists.

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* This interview was translated from Polish. The original interview is available here.