Business intelligence is the best solution if you need to effectively collect, aggregate, and analyze stockpiles of information. Well-recognized vendors including Amazon and American Express are already making data-driven decisions with the help of data warehousing. According to Gartner’s latest data, by the end of 2022, 30% of leading global enterprises will formally adopt business intelligence practices [1].
As more and more vendors want to optimize their business strategies, the demand for BI specialists is increasing. Starting from 2022, the unfulfilled need for data engineers will grow by 50% per year. [2] In these circumstances, one of the ways out is to look for business intelligence experts worldwide. So, where can you find qualified BI developers? What expertise should they have and how to choose the vendor to partner with? Let’s find out together.
Eastern Europe: a perfect destination to look for BI developers
Eastern Europe is home to 1.3M highly skilled engineers. The region boasts not only quantity, but quality: local IT specialists hit top positions in TopCoder and Skillvalue lists of hard skills. Let’s take a closer look at 3 countries with the largest talent pool and the number of engineers with relevant expertise: Ukraine, Poland, and Romania.
Business intelligence developers in Ukraine
With a talent pool of 200,000 well-versed engineers, Ukraine is a good decision for business intelligence outsourcing. Global market leaders such as Cleverbridge, Gogo, and Orbus hire BI developers in Ukraine.
Local tech expertise is recognized in global rankings: the country is positioned 5th in the Skillvalue list. Extending your team in Ukraine will give you access to sound Big Data expertise. According to LinkedIn, the country is home to 2,000 BI specialists and 10,000 developers with experience in Big Data. The knowledge of programming languages such as Python and Java is likewise crucial for every BI developer. In Ukraine, the approximate number of experts in these languages is 32,000 and 48,000 respectively.
The Ukrainian education system offers a number of Data Science STEM programs. For instance, Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) has a Master’s program in Data Science. In addition, UCU has set up Lviv Data Science Summer School — an initiative to study Data Science and Machine Learning technologies. Furthermore, with the support from Lviv IT Cluster, Lviv Ivan Franko National University launched the Undergraduate Statistics & Data Science program. The course was devised with input from N-iX specialists.
According to Clutch, there are 75 vendors that provide business intelligence services in Ukraine. Top BI outsourcing companies in Ukraine include N-iX, Ciklum, SoftServe, and EPAM.
BI developers in Poland
Poland boasts a talent pool of 330,000 skilled IT experts. According to LinkedIn, around 4,000 of them specialize in BI. With a wide array of talent to choose from, many well-recognized companies such as Salesforce opt for Poland as a BI outsourcing destination. In addition, many events for BI developers such as Big Data Tech Warsaw, Devoxx Poland, Big Data Technology Summit, and Big Data Technology Summit take place in Poland.
According to LinkedIn, 20,000 Polish developers have experience in Big Data. Moreover, Poland is home to 60,000 Python coders. Polish specialists deliver top-quality development services: the country takes 3rd position in the Skillvalue ranking and 7th place in the TopCoder list.
Warsaw and Wroclaw are two major destinations to study Big Data in Poland. Warsaw University of Technology, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, and SGH Warsaw School of Economics offer Master’s programs in Data Science.
The Polish BI market is thriving with 118 enterprises involved in business intelligence development. Leading Polish vendors that provide BI services are Itransition, CoherentSolutions, QBurst, and SoftwareMill.
Business intelligence outsourcing in Romania
Romania is a promising destination in terms of BI development. In general, its talent pool amounts to 131,000 software engineers. According to LinkedIn, 2,000 business intelligence developers reside in Romania. The country’s BI engineering potential is supported by 8,200 Big Data specialists. Among the top clients that outsource BI to Romania are Microsoft, ING, and Oracle.
As for the BI technology stack, Romania has a lot to offer. The destination’s talent pool includes 24,000 Python developers and 47,000 Java engineers. The country’s engineering workforce is highly qualified: it is positioned 16th in the TopCoder ranking. Romania has gained 3 positions since 2021, so its delivery quality is constantly advancing.
Talking about Big Data education programs, BI developers in Romania are rather limited in their choices: only Babes-Bolyai University offers a Big Data Analytics program. However, a lot of BI-themed initiatives such as Bucharest BI & SQL User Group meetups or Big Data Week create an environment for learning and knowledge sharing.
18 Romanian vendors are currently engaged in business intelligence development. The most distinguished IT market players are Qubiz, Softelligence, and Incrys.
4 steps to find the best business intelligence developers
Choosing a reliable vendor for BI outsourcing among dozens of competitors is not always quick and easy. So, where to begin? We prepared a guide that will help you select the perfect BI partner.
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Assess expertise in BI technologies
Checking in with the company’s applied expertise will narrow the circle of potential collaborators. Your potential team members should have a sound knowledge of the BI technology stack. Generally, a qualified BI developer should be well acquainted with the following tools:
- Scripting languages: Python, SQL, Java, JavaScript;
- Data warehouse tools: MS SQL, Redshift, Azure SQL Data Warehouse;
- Analytic tools: Microsoft Power BI, Oracle BI, Tableau, Dundas BI, SAS Visual Analytics, Pentaho;
- Data visualization libraries: D3, Google Charts, Highcharts;
When business intelligence developers integrate their BI solution with the client’s product, they also need to be familiar with the corresponding tools. The most common solutions are Hadoop, AWS Kinesis, and Apache technologies.
As for the mandatory expertise, BI developers need to be well-versed in:
- Data warehouse research;
- Data warehouse architecture;
- Data modeling;
- Data visualization and knowledge of business analysis;
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Learn about your partner’s BI experience
Before hiring external BI developers, check your potential partner’s portfolio. Ideally, your outsourcing vendor should have a record of successful project implementation for several domains. BI developers with experience in multiple industries have a good knowledge of business processes and data analysis. For instance, sales data analysts work with KPIs and business intelligence dashboards to monitor discount analysis, customer lifetime value, etc. In case such experts need to deliver a fintech BI solution, they may use their prior experience and suggest merging financial data with operations, sales, and marketing data. As a result, the client will have a better insight into their profits and expenses.
Additionally, you may check the company’s experience in scaling teams: the ability to successfully deliver projects that differ in size is also a plus. Also, keep in mind that larger vendors will staff your BI team much quicker than smaller ones. The bigger the company, the more likely that you get access to talent ready to commit to your project immediately.
To find fair reviews on software development vendors refer to Clutch and Goodfirms websites.
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Ask about relevant certifications
Business intelligence certification is an extra bonus for a BI developer’s CV. Certified Business Intelligence Professional is the most desired certificate among BI engineers. During the assessment, developers take a Data Foundation test plus one more exam either on Information Systems Core or Business Core. The final 3rd test is chosen from the following disciplines: Leadership and Management, Business Analytics, Data Analysis and Design, and Data Integration. In general, this certification validates the in-depth BI knowledge and means that an expert was certified by TDWI, the industry’s premier provider of business intelligence and data management education.
Some other well-recognized BI certifications are:
- IBM Certified Designer: IBM Cognos Analytics Author V11;
- Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate;
- SAP Certified Application Associate: SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform 4.2;
- QlikView Business Analyst;
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Get to know the vendor’s security policy
Do not underestimate the importance of your data protection when outsourcing BI development.
First of all, research the partner’s cybersecurity guidelines. It is important that your BI team adheres to international information security guidelines and standards, such as ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27002.
Moreover, figure out the possible security scenarios of embedding analytics into the solution. Your outsourcing partner may offer you to partition some multitenant data or secure some parts of an application. However, reshaping the solution’s existing security framework just to implement BI means doing the same work twice. We recommend looking for a vendor that can provide you with an adaptive security integration model. Managing security in one place rather than separately in your product and the BI solution is more scalable and flexible.
BI operations for leading in-flight connectivity provider: N-iX success story
Gogo is a top provider of air-to-ground connectivity and wireless entertainment. For more than 20 years the enterprise has been a global leader in the market. During this time span, Gogo became partners with more than 16 commercial airlines and installed in-flight technology on more than 2,900 commercial aircraft. With the company’s business potential continuously growing, Gogo needed to hire BI developers to make data-driven decisions. The N-iX engineering team assisted the client in migration to AWS-based cloud and building a unified data platform. Apart from AWS stack, N-iX engineers used Apache Spark, Hadoop, and Tableau.
Our experts implemented a Big Data platform powered by Data Science and Machine Learning. The challenge was to build a solution that would be able to process up to 3 TB of streaming data per day. N-iX engineers developed an AWS-based data platform that collected and aggregated data from 20 different sources.
In addition, N-iX carried out numerous BI operations and 24/7 support services for Gogo. We developed models that could predict satellite antenna failure and provide antenna health monitoring. That way, 90% of antennas' ill-performance could be foreseen 20-30 days in advance. As a result, Gogo could save operational costs on penalties to airlines for the failures of aircraft Internet services.
Read more: Big Data Analytics for Improved Maintenance and Flawless Operation of the In-flight Internet
Wrap-up
There’s no doubt that business intelligence can provide you with in-depth insights into your business operations. In order to choose your development partner among a wide myriad of IT vendors, pay attention to the company’s market reputation and prior Big Data experience. From the vendor’s size to data encryption approaches — all of these points should be researched and analyzed in accordance with your project requirements.
Technologies and expertise are the core assessment aspects of staffing the best business intelligence developers. Select IT specialists with multidimensional engineering experience, solid command of data warehouse and analytical tools, and international certifications.
How can N-iX BI developers help your business?
- Our experts will guide you through all the stages of BI development: from business analysis to solution development, and lifecycle and support management;
- N-iX has already helped global leading enterprises such as Lebara, Gogo, and Ringer to help them make better use of their data;
- We adhere to international cybersecurity standards, namely, ISO 27001, ISO 9001, PCI DSS, and GDPR to guarantee data security;
- N-iX is well-recognized for its reliability and quality deliveries, having high ratings on Clutch and Goodfirms platforms.
References
- Gartner Business Intelligence & Data Analytics research
- DICE Tech Occupations Report
